The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
Message Five
Living a Grace-enjoying Life for God’s Good Pleasure
THE EXTRACT OF THE OUTLINES
Scripture reading:
Gen. 26:12 And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. And Jehovah blessed him,
Gen. 26:13 And the man became rich and continued to grow richer until he became very rich.
I. Isaac is a model, a pattern, of enjoying God’s grace to please God; grace is God in Christ as the Spirit wrought into our being for our enjoyment, to be everything to us, so that He may become our constituent for the building up of the Body of Christ to consummate the New Jerusalem—Gen. 24:36; 25:5; 26:3-4, 12-33; Heb. 10:29b; 1 Cor. 15:10. (Monday)
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II. Isaac was born after Abraham’s natural strength and self-effort had been dealt with by God; Isaac was born not by the strength of man’s natural life but by the strength of God’s grace, which signifies that the time of life, which is the time when Christ becomes our life, will come only after our natural strength has been terminated—Gen. 17:15-19; 18:10-14; 21:1-7; Gal. 4:23-28, 31. (Tuesday)
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III. Isaac grew in grace; to grow in grace is to grow by enjoying all that Christ is to us as our spiritual food and living water—Gen. 21:8; 2 Pet. 3:18; Eph. 4:15. (Wednesday)
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A. The way to daily receive and enjoy grace is to turn to the spirit, exercise the spirit, and enthrone the Lord—Heb. 4:16; Rom. 5:17, 21; cf. Rev. 4:2: (Thursday)
B. The way to daily receive and enjoy grace is to love the Lord, consecrate ourselves to the Lord, and contact the Lord in His Word by means of all prayer—2 Cor. 5:14; Eph. 6:24; Lev. 6:12-13; Eph. 6:17-18; Acts 20:32.
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IV. Isaac also became the heir in grace; we also are heirs of God, enjoying Him as the pledge of our inheritance so that we may inherit Him and let Him inherit us; to know the God of Isaac means only one thing—to know God as the Supplier and that everything comes from God—Gen. 21:9-12; 24:36; 25:5; Rom. 8:17; John 1:16. (Friday)
V. Isaac obeyed in grace; whenever we obey in grace, we will see God’s provision; to return to the law is to reject this grace, set aside this grace, and fall from grace; we need to be established by grace, which is to remain in the New Testament to enjoy Christ as grace—Gen. 22:5-10; Gal. 2:21; 5:4; Heb. 13:9.
VI. Isaac had a hundredfold harvest, and “the man became great and continued to grow greater until he became very great”; our hearts must be the good earth so that the word of God’s grace may grow freely within us and bear fruit a hundredfold—Gen. 26:12-14; Luke 8:8, 11, 15; Acts 20:32.
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VII. Although Isaac enjoyed God’s unconditional grace, receiving enjoyment and satisfaction wherever he went, Beer-sheba was the only place where he experienced God’s appearing, received God’s promise, built an altar, called upon the name of Jehovah, and pitched his tent for a testimony; this unique place had a well for the supply of life and a tamarisk tree as the expression of the flowing of the riches of life—Gen. 25:11; 26:15-25, 33. (Saturday)
VIII. Isaac inherited the promise given by God to his father concerning the good land and the unique seed; this seed is Christ, in whom all the nations of the earth will be blessed; through our enjoyment of grace, the kingdom of God will be realized, and God in Christ will have a full expression for eternity—Gen. 26:3-5; Gal. 3:14, 16; Rev. 22:21.
