Digging Up the Old Wells of Abraham — Carter Conlon

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Isaac Reopens Abraham’s Wells

Genesis chapter 26 beginning at verse 16. I'm going to need my glasses this morning. This is a dim day, visually speaking. And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us, for thou art much mightier than we.

It's amazing, isn't it, that the world recognizes the strength of the church. It's quite often the church that doesn't recognize their own strength. And Isaac departed thence and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar and dwelt there.

And Isaac digged again the wells of water which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham. And he called their names after the names by which his father had called them.

And Isaac's servants digged in the valley and found there a well of springing water. And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdmen, saying, The water is ours. And he called the name of the well Ezech, because they strove with him.

And they digged another well and strove for that also. And he called the name of it Sutnah. And he removed from thence and digged another well, and for that they strove not. And he called the name of it Rehoboth, for he said, For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.

Now, Isaac is following the promise of Abraham his father that God said, I'm going to multiply you, I'm going to bless you, I'm going to make you much more than you could ever be in yourself, and then through you I'm going to bless all the nations of the world.

Incredible promise. But it's a promise, of course, that found its complete fulfillment through Jesus Christ, and today through you and me, the body of believers in Jesus Christ. Paul calls Abraham the father of faith, or those who have trusted in Christ by faith.

Now, verse 22 that we read tells us that Isaac found this place to live where his father had once lived, and in this place he had an assurance that he would know the blessings that God had promised him.

He had an assurance. Now, folks, I'm going to tell you something, starting right out this morning. If you are willing to make the journey that you're going to hear about in the Scriptures today, I can tell you that you will know the blessing that came to Isaac.

You will know an expansion of ability. You will know something supernatural begin to work in your life that only can come from God. It doesn't come from any amount of natural ability or reasoning. It comes by faith.

It's a supernatural walk with God. Now, this journey began in a time of famine. If you go back to the beginning of chapter 26, the Bible tells us there was a famine in the land. Beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham.

And Isaac went to Abimelech, the king of the Philistines, unto Gerar. Now, it's amazing. The Lord sends these things. The Lord produces this hunger. Whether it's because of the conditions of the nation around you, or I, or it's something He sovereignly works in the heart, He produces the hunger.

And if you're hungry for spiritual things, for whatever reason, even if it's because you're being so pressed in the workplace that you can hardly think clearly, thank God for it. Thank God for the spiritual hunger that you have this morning.

Verse 2 says, Don't go to Egypt. In a time of famine, beloved, don't look to anything that this world says will make you secure and blessed. Don't go there. You don't have to go there. And so many people do.

They begin to travel the highways and byways of the information world, looking for some kind of a peace. But the Lord said, don't go there. Don't go to Egypt in your time of famine. I've got something so much deeper, so much better for you.

Sojourn in this land, He says in chapter 26, verse 3, And I'll be with you, and I'll bless you, for unto you and to your seed I'll give all these countries, and I'll perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father.

He says, I'll make your seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and I'll give unto thy seed all these countries, and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. Because Abraham obeyed my voice, kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

And so verse 6 says, Isaac dwelt in Gerar. Isaac made a choice. He could have gone to Egypt, or he could have stayed in the place that his father had once dwelt. And folks, we as the church have choices to make.

In times of difficulty, if unparalleled difficulty should come to this society, we have a choice to make. We can run where others are going to go looking for solace and comfort, or we can go where our forefathers in the faith have gone.

We can go to that place in Christ where security truly is found, where life is found. And instead of just trying to survive, and that's what many Christians are doing, and that's what many are going to do in the coming days.

They're just going to try to survive. But would you agree with me this morning, we are called to much more than this. We're not called just to survive, folks. We're not called just to get to the other end and say, Ah, I made it, you know, with thousands perishing around me.

No. You and I are to be a blessing. We are to be something that is so sovereign, set in this world by God, that there's a blessing of God that literally emanates from our lives and begins to touch. The Scripture says all nations will be blessed.

Everywhere we go, the blessing of God follows. Captivity has to release its captives. Spiritually blinded eyes are given sight. Wounded hearts are healed. The glory of the Lord follows those that truly are His.

We leave a trail of freedom through this world, as confused as it might be. As we walk through it, there are people being set free all around us. And thanks be to God for this. That has to be the testimony of the church.

Digging Up the Wells of Spiritual Strength

Now, in order to know this blessing, he had to go to some of the same old wells that Abraham had gone to, and he had to draw water from them. And folks, if we're going to stand in the coming days, we've got to go to some of the old wells and draw water there again.

You see, the Philistines, it says in verse 18, had stopped them up after the death of Abraham. That's interesting. Why would somebody fill up a well? You'd think after Abraham's gone, why wouldn't the Philistines just go there and draw water from these wells?

Why do they see it as a necessity to fill these wells? I think in their mind, of course, they're walking carnally. They knew there was something supernatural in this man's life that was making his people mightier and greater than them.

They most likely thought it was from the water. I don't know this for sure, but whatever it was, it was in their mind. It doesn't make sense to fill up a well. It's like your next door neighbor dies and leaves you an inheritance, and instead of receiving the inheritance, you take it out in the backyard and burn it.

You just don't seem to have any understanding of the value of these things. Or perhaps maybe they did. But they stopped them. They filled these wells with earth. And this is a type of the devil. In the places where Christian people throughout history have found strength, the devil does everything in his power to come and fill these places with earth, cover them up as it is, so that it can't be understood by the people of God where they find strength.

And then to bring alternate reasoning as it is in, here's where to go, here's where you have to look. And no, the scripture says, no, you go where those before you have gone. You dig in the same places where they dug in their time of stress and trial and famine, and you will find the same source of strength that they found.

Folks, it's time, I believe, if we want our lives to be a blessing, we've got to dig some old wells up again. We've got to learn to completely trust that the ways of God are righteous. His ways are true.

We don't have to understand it. We just have to believe, and that's one of the first wells that we have to go back and revisit. God's ways are righteous. He is true altogether. All things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose.

No trial, no temptation comes into our life, but such has been allowed there by God in the first place. And even then He'll not let us be tempted above that we are able, but with the temptation we'll make a way to escape that we might be able to bear it.

We've got to be willing to go back and visit some of these wells. Instead of living our lives always trying to get out of the very place that God puts us where we're going to find depth, and we're going to find resource in this place.

Joseph, David, and Jeremiah in the Depths

In Genesis, think about it for a moment. In Genesis 37, verse 24, think about Joseph. When his brothers took him and they cast him, it says, into a pit. The word in the Hebrew is an empty well, a cistern without water.

And the pit was empty and there was no water in it. Now, it's symbolic in a sense. Here's a man that God's going to use to bring provision to the people of God in a time of famine. In order for this man to have the key put in his hand to the storehouse of God, his whole journey begins by being put in a well that he doesn't want to go into.

It's a place where there's no natural water. It's a place where he has to draw on a source of strength that doesn't come from his surroundings. And folks, that's what God will do in a time of famine. He will prepare a people.

He will put you in a place where you cannot draw strength from your surroundings. You've got to go deeper than your surroundings. He'll put you in a neighborhood. He'll put you on a job. He'll put you in a position.

He'll put you in a place. He'll put you in a place that you just don't understand. And you look to the left, you look to the right, you cannot find comfort in these places. Remember David, the king. He said, I looked on my left, I looked on my right, and there was no one there who comforted my soul.

Nobody could understand what I was going through. The only recourse David had was to go deeper. To go deeper and find his strength in God. Folks, I believe with all my heart, there are people here today, God is preparing you.

He's making you ready. He's going to put keys in your hand for a very, very starving time. A very difficult generation we're living in now. Don't live your life trying to get out of where God has you.

Go deeper, not trying to get out. Go deeper in the place you are. Say, Lord, you're going to be my strength in this marriage. You're going to be my strength in this job. You're going to be my strength in my neighborhood.

You're going to be my strength in my sickness. You're going to be my strength in my trial. God, I'm not going up, I'm going down deeper in you. And I'm going to find that water again. Romans 8, 28 says, all things work together for good to those that love God, who are called according to His purpose.

Now, we either believe that or we don't, folks. It's not negotiable. We either believe that all things, all things, all things work together for good or they don't. God says, everything that's come into your life, I've allowed it there.

It's there for a reason. Don't live your life trying to escape what I'm doing to bring you down deeper so that you can have a supply to be a blessing in your generation. Think of Jeremiah the prophet in Jeremiah 38, 6, sinking into the mud of an old well simply because he stood for truth.

And he warned the people of a coming judgment. They didn't want to hear it. They didn't want to know it. They were satisfied with their religious system. But Jeremiah was hearing from God. And he saw something coming.

He saw an army coming. He heard in his spirit children crying and mothers unconsolable. He saw something so tragic coming. And because of it, the people who didn't want to hear it, they put him down into a well.

This is the same Jeremiah who cried out to God. He said, God, I don't want to do this anymore. I don't know a single true prophet of God who wants to keep on doing what they're doing. It's hard to stand against a literal flood of society.

Sometimes it wants to go another way. But Jeremiah said, I don't want to do this anymore. And at one point in his life, he actually, I think, determined he wasn't going to. But he said, it was like a fire that was set up in my bones.

Something of God was so in me, I had to speak it out. I had to warn the people. Of course, the very fire in him was the compassion of God. Think of Jeremiah now, down in this well. Having to draw deep in this well.

Not from his surroundings. Because the scripture tells us he feared that he was going to die there. And so if he was going to live, he had to go down deeper than his circumstance. And he had to find something in God.

And when he came up out of the well, he was given a revelation of hope and mercy to the people who are now going into captivity. Everything he warned them about was beginning to happen. But Jeremiah comes out of the well.

And he's not saying, I told you so. He says, no, I see something. Don't go there. But in Jeremiah chapter 50, verses roughly 18 to 20, he said, I see Babylon. Babylon is just coming in and taking the people.

But Jeremiah says, no, I see Babylon defeated. I see Babylon absolutely demolished. I see Assyria demolished. I see the children of Israel feasting again on Mount Carmel and planting vineyards in Bashan.

I see God's people. And in verse 20 he says, in those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none. And the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found.

I will pardon them whom I reserve. Jeremiah says, I see something astounding. I see a people brought back out of captivity, and their sins are gone. There's absolutely no record. Jeremiah says, I don't understand this, but it seems to be something beyond the sacrifice that we've become used to in the temple.

Abraham’s Wells: Forgiveness and Obedience

It's something deeper. It's something greater. You see, he had found the supply. And the supply opened his eyes and gave him a word for a people in a very, very difficult time. Now, Abraham had once dwelt in the same place where Isaac now found himself in our opening text.

I want to show you what Abraham, go back to chapter 20. We're going to scan this very, very quickly. Genesis chapter 20. But Isaac now is in the same place that Abraham had once lived in. And Genesis chapter 20 tells us that in this place, and it's a place called Gerar.

It said he sojourned. Abraham journeyed, verse 1, from thence towards the south country, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar. That's exactly where Isaac now finds himself. Now, keep in mind, this is where Abraham dug these wells that Isaac is going to reopen.

Genesis 20 tells us that in this place he prayed for good to come to a man and his house who had unknowingly wronged him. The king of Gerar, Abimelech, had taken his wife, Sarah, into his own harem. And he'd done it without thinking that this was Abraham's sister and not his wife.

And Abraham, instead of becoming a bitter man, he chose to pray that God bless this man and God bless his house. Because the scripture says the Lord had closed the wounds of the whole house of Abimelech because of this thing that he had done.

But Abraham prayed, not just to forgive him, but that God bless him and God restore him. We heard Pastor William speak about that so masterfully during the all-night prayer meeting that we had here this weekend.

He prayed for those who had unknowingly wronged him. And that was a type, in a sense, of the wells that he was about to dig. Folks, it's not enough just to say, well, I'm going to ignore you from here on and you've wounded me.

No, we've got to pray for those who have unknowingly hurt us. Oh, people do foolish things. I've done it. You've done it. We've all done it. We don't say a word when we should. We do say a word when we shouldn't.

We do things and we hurt other people. And we've got to learn now if we're going to be a blessing in our generation to release all these debts. And not just to say, oh, well, I forget. But no, I go to the prayer closet and I'm going to pray God bless you.

I'm going to pray God bless your family. I'm going to take it a step beyond just saying, well, I'm just I'm just going to forget about it. No, I'm going to pray for you. I'm going to pray for your house.

I'm going to pray for your children. I'm going to pray for your grandchildren. I pray for your marriage. I'm going to pray for you that God bless you. In Genesis 21, after this, Abraham begins to experience the miraculous power of God.

The Scripture tells us that he was 100 years old in chapter 21, verse 5, and his son Isaac is born. Folks, when we choose to go God's way, when we choose to do what God says to do, when we simply obey him and do it, when he says forgive, we make the choice to forgive.

When he says bless, we make the choice to bless. All of a sudden, the miraculous power of God begins to be released into your life. He is beyond the ability of having a child. His wife is beyond the ability to have a child.

But that doesn't mean anything to God. There are things in your life that you can never do in your own strength. But the moment you start obeying God, then all of a sudden the miraculous begins to happen.

God comes. Hallelujah. And you could be 60 years old here today and never preach the sermon in your life. By the time you're 75, you'll be a powerhouse for God. You cannot limit what God will do. You cannot say, no, God, you can't do this.

If you are walking in obedience, the Lord will open your mind to an understanding of who he is and what he's willing to do if you will walk with him in sincerity and in truth. Genesis 21 again, verses 10 to 14, is a time in Abraham's life when he has to put away Ishmael, the bondman, and her son, bondwoman rather, and her son, Ishmael.

It's a type. He puts away the works and the reasonings of the flesh. In other words, there's a point in every Christian's life that's going to be victorious where you say, God, I give up trying to figure this out.

I give up trying to work my way out. I give up trying to make things happen, even spiritual things. I give up on the things that I even think are good. I'm putting away the works of the flesh. I reckon myself, like Paul said, dead.

And Lord, if something's going to happen in my life, you're going to be the one that's going to make it happen. But I'm putting it away. I've started to know the miraculous. Folks, once you've had a taste of the miraculous, you don't want the rest.

You don't want the works of the flesh. You begin to realize what they are, and how laborious it is, and how you've always got to try to make peace with it, and how it's always a thorn in your side, and that there's a willingness and a desire to put it away.

Genesis 21, verses 25 to 32, tells us that he made peace with men who had violently wronged him. The scripture says that Abimelech's servants came and violently took away a well that was rightfully Abraham's.

And Abraham took the initiative and made peace. Even Abimelech, he said to him, in verse 29,. What mean these seven Yolams that thou have set by themselves? You know, Abraham took the initiative, and it cost him.

It was his sacrifice. But he said, I'm going to even make peace with those who have knowingly and violently wronged me. Folks, if you're going to know what it is to be a blessing in this generation, you have to make peace with those that have wronged you, willfully wronged you now, violently wronged you.

That you might be the sons and daughters of God, who was violently wronged on a cross by humanity, and chose to forgive. And because of that forgiveness, you and I sit in this house singing the songs we sing with the great hope that is in our hearts today.

He made peace, and he took the initiative to make peace with those that had wronged him. Genesis 22 shows us that he was willing to give up all that was dear to him, if God required it. The most dear thing to his heart and to his life was his son Isaac.

He had lived for this son, and this son was the very essence of everything that God had promised him. And God says, now I want you to give even this up. And folks, in order to do this, we've got to be willing to go down deeper than where we are.

He had to find something of God in his heart and in his life that would give him the strength to be able to do this. And he took Isaac to a mountain, and he prepared to sacrifice Isaac. And when he was prepared to do this, the angel of the Lord stayed his hand.

And a miraculous thing happens. In verse 14 he says, Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-Jireh. He began to understand, God, you will make provision. You'll make provision for everything I need, everything I'm to be, everywhere I'm to go, all that I'm called to do.

You'll be the one who provides. You'll be the one who makes my descendants as the sand of the sea and the stars in the sky. You'll be the one who causes us to be a blessing to the nations. It will all come from you.

And then, in verse 14, he says, first of all, he says, Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-Jireh. As it is said to this day, in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen. I do believe that he had a vision of Calvary.

I believe with all my heart. He said, oh God, I see something way into the future. I see provision coming from God. I see provision on a mountain. I see this provision coming from the hand of God. I see this provision being a source of living water, giving life and strength and guidance and power and newness to everyone who will trust.

I see God doing something that only God can do. He saw it when He was willing to give up even that which is dear to His heart. What is dear to your heart this morning? What is it that maybe stands between you and God?

What is it, perhaps, that God is saying, would you just give this to me? Some secret ambition, some self image, some view of what you and I think success and happiness is. God says, no, take it to the mountain and sacrifice it and I'll open your eyes and you'll know me as Jehovah-Jireh.

You'll know me as the God who gives provision that you will need to go places where I am sending you. You don't even see it. You don't even know it, but I'm sending you there and I'm going to make the whole world a blessed place because of you.

Calling Sin by Its Biblical Name

Genesis chapter 26 verse 18 says,. And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham. And he called their names after the names by which his father had called them.

Hallelujah. Very important that we look in the word and we call things the way God has called them. We must call sin, sin folks. We must call adultery wrong. We must get rid of the fancy names like premarital relations.

Call it fornication as the Bible calls it. Call it what it is. If you're going to know the grace of God, you have to agree with God. You have to call things what God calls them. And he dug the wells and he called them the very same names that Abraham had given to these wells.

And in verses 19 and 21, the scripture tells us, Isaac's servants digged in the valley and found there a well of springing water. Oh, thanks be to God. Thanks be to God. May 12th, 1978. I found a well of springing water.

Two years later, I found myself under Niagara Falls with God coming into my life with an incredible touch from heaven because simply I wanted him. And I cried out to him and said, God, take my life and I will send me wherever you want and use me for whatever purpose is in your heart.

A well of springing water. Oh, folks, that's our inheritance in Christ. Didn't he say on the last day of the feast, if anyone believes in me, out of his inward parts shall flow a river of living water.

We're not to be a leaky faucet in the kingdom of God. We're to be a river of water. Everywhere we go, our words are to be in line with God's words. We're to know his mind. We're to know what he's thinking.

We know where he's going. We know how we fit into the plan of God. They digged and they found a well of springing water. And the day you came to Christ, that was your portion. Maybe you dug into scriptures for the first time.

Or maybe you came to church and you went to an altar. And for the first time ever, you dug into something deeper than yourself. And all of a sudden, you became aware of a spring of living water. You became aware that your thoughts were changing.

Your heart was changing. Your motives for doing things were changing. Because if you're in Christ, you become a new creation. And the herdsmen, verse 20 of Gerar, did strive with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, the water is ours.

And he called the name of it, the well Esek, because they strove with him. Now, Esek is contention. That's what it means in the Hebrew. They called this contention. And one of the very first things you'll have to deal with when you're looking for this true source of living water is contention.

It happens in the church, folks. My ministry. We were filled with the Holy Ghost first. See, these herdsmen of Gerar came and said, the water is ours. It's a well of springing water. Folks, literally, it's coming up from a supply that nobody had anything to do with.

Nobody put that water there, and nobody is causing it to bubble out of the ground, literally. Under pressure that's coming from under the ground, it's a spring of living water. And the audacity for anybody to say, no, the well is ours.

And that's what division does in the body of Jesus Christ. The well is ours. The ministry is mine. We were here first. We have a greater measure of truth. We know this. We know that. Even down to this is my seat in the sanctuary.

And the scripture says in verse 21, they digged another well. They went and they dug another one. And they strove for that one also. And they called the name of it Sitna, which in the Hebrew is hatred.

You see, if contention is not dealt with, it turns to hatred. We were going into Burundi in July to bring about reconciliation between three people groups, two of which for quite a considerable amount of time have been at war with one another.

It all began when one group of people perceived that the other had an unfair advantage. Contention came. And contention, when it's not dealt with, turns to hatred. And that's why John says, if any man hates his brother, he's a murderer.

And he does not have eternal life abiding in him. Folks, we've got to deal seriously with these things. I don't have the option to hate anybody. Because if I do, God declares me to be a murderer and tells me I do not have eternal life abiding in me.

And they contended for that. Folks, these are the only materials the Philistines need to stop the supply which God has given you in Christ. And that's what my whole message is about. That's all the devil needs to fill your well of springing water.

Is undealt with bitterness, undealt with contention, undealt with hatred, undealt with racism, undealt with preferential treatment of one group of people over another, especially in the body of Jesus Christ.

That's all the devil needs. And that's where Satan is going to set his fiercest guns against this church. Because there's over 100 nationalities attending here in equal representation, worshipping God together.

The enemy is going to come in and do everything in his power to divide along every possible fault line that he can find in the church. And the open door is contention, unresolved issues, spiritual pride that says, no, we were here first.

Many, many churches lose the glory of God because those who were there first says, no, we were here first. This is the way things have to be done. This is the way things are. And there begins to even be a division between those who have been there the longest and those who have been there the least amount of time.

But by God's grace, never in this house. By God's grace, we will move away from these wells. We will move away from strife. We will move away from contention. Or the Philistines will fill your well. Folks, as surely as I'm standing here, I warn you, the Philistines will fill your well.

Listen to what Paul says to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 3, verses 2 and 3. Just listen to it. He said, I fed you with milk and not with meat. For hitherto, or up to this point, you were not able to bear it, and neither yet are you able.

Paul says, I want to give you meat. You're hearing something that is deeper than just surface theologies. Thank God for all theology. But you're hearing something today. And Paul says, I couldn't feed you with this.

There's a reason you can't hear it. And then he goes on, he says, for you're yet carnal. For whereas there is among you envying and strife and division, are you not carnal? And are you not walking as men?

Or in other words, are you not walking just like the rest of the world walks? Paul says, I want to give you spiritual meat. I want to give you something that is going to bring you into this life and lineage of God that was promised through Abraham and is fulfilled in Christ.

But because of strife, because of envy, because of division, you can't hear me, Paul said. And so now, all you can hear is, you're relegated to the surface. God loves you, God will help you, God will keep you.

You can never go deeper than just the surface. You can never go down into that place where you've got to draw from Him. And consequently, your life and my life becomes a blessing to multitudes, because we're willing to do it God's way.

To forgive, you've got to go deeper than the natural man. Because folks, I don't have the power and neither do you. I've got to go deeper than something that is just in my natural ability. And of course, that ability is found in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Rehoboth: Making Room in the Body of Christ

And it says in the Scriptures, in verse 22, and He removed from there, hallelujah. James 3 .16 says, Where envying and strife is, there's confusion in every evil work. Folks, that's how many churches become a confusing place.

And you walk in and you say, God is not here. And in some cases, it is an evil work. It's simply because of envy and strife. It's people that have settled at these wells, they're not willing to call them what God calls them, and they're drinking from the water of strife.

And confusion and argument and obscuring the testimony of God. Their well becomes filled, because their minds are exactly the same as the people of this world, who do these things. They're exhibiting that they're not willing or wanting this deeper life of God in Christ.

And Genesis 26 .22 says, He removed from there, hallelujah. And He digged another well. And for that they strove not. And He called it Rehoboth. And the word means room. He called it room. There's room for you.

There's room for me. There's room for all of us in the body of Christ. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. You're not perfect. You're not perfect. I'm not perfect. Nobody's perfect. Only Christ is perfect.

There's room at the cross for all of us. Hallelujah. There's room. There's room in my heart to overlook transgression, because I've chosen to go down deeper. There's room in my heart not to take into account a defense suffered because I've chosen to go down deeper.

I've found room for you, and I'm not kicking you out of my heart, because you are part of the body of Jesus Christ. No matter what you do or what you say, I'm going to pray, God bless you, God bless your family, God bless your home, God bless your children, God forgive you as He's forgiven me, and give me the grace to forgive as I have been forgiven.