Saved by Grace - Class Notes

Read James 1:1-18

1.)    What should we do when we face trials?

2.)    When you pray for direction from God, what are your expectations?

3.)    How has God answered your prayers and requests for wisdom?

Read Genesis 26:1-5

4.)    Did God send Isaac to Gerar?  Should he have gone?

Class discussion on faith and fear.

5.)    Why did God tell Isaac not to go down to Egypt?

6.)    Did God give Isaac and new promises?

7.)    Where is a good source of answers for us when we need direction, with new promises or with ones we already have?

Read Genesis 26:6-11

8.)    What was the next test that Isaac faced?  Why did he lie about his wife?

9.)    Why does God protect Isaac in spite of his lack of faith?  Should we have the same expectations?

Read Genesis 26:12-22

10.)    How does Isaac handle the herdsmen filling up his wells?  Should he have kept moving or should he have stood up for his rights?

11.)    What lesson does this teach us about facing persecution?

Read Genesis 26:23-33

12.)    How did God encourage Isaac?

Read Genesis 26:34-35

13.)    Why do you think Esau’s wife made life so bitter for Isaac and Rebekah?  Why did they let Esau marry them in the first place?

14.)    How do you know when to compromise with your children and when to stand firm?  What happens if you compromise too easily or over the wrong issues?

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Read Genesis 25:22-28

1.) What two nations are referred to in verse 23?

Israel (Jacob) and Edom (Esau). Cross-reference 2 Samuel 8:13-14 and Obadiah.

2 Samuel 8:13-14 (ESV)
¹³ And David made a name for himself when he returned from striking down 18,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt.
¹⁴ Then he put garrisons in Edom; throughout all Edom he put garrisons, and all the Edomites became David's servants. And the Lord gave victory to David wherever he wet.

2.) Why did God choose to make the younger rule over the older?

The promise of God to Abraham was to make his descendents a great nation but it did not mean all of Abraham’s descendents were part of the promise. We’ve already seen how Ishmael and the sons from Keturah were not part of Abraham’s inheritance.

Read Romans 9:1-16

3.) It almost sounds as if God “predestined” Jacob for his part in redemption and “predestined” Esau to lose his birthright. Does this sound fair? Does God choose in advance whom He will use? Does He choose in advance whom will be saved?

This is not a question to get in a debate about pre-destination. However, it will be interesting to see where the class takes this question.

God knew that Esau would not rightly carry the cause and faith of his fathers. Even as the preferred son of his faithful father, Esau is sexually immoral and unholy. Whether God predestined Esau to reject his fathers faith or not, he certainly foreknew that he would.

Hebrews 12:16 (ESV)
¹⁶ that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.

We’ll discuss Esau in more depth in later studies and questions.

4.) Why did Isaac and Rebekah have favorites? Do parents do this today? Why? Does it cause problems in the family?

Class discussion.

Read Genesis 25:29-34

5.) What was the birthright that Jacob bargained for with Esau?

It was the custom that the oldest son receives twice the inheritance. In the case of Abraham’s family the birthright also continuing the covenant that God made with Abraham. It meant being a man of faith and looking towards the promise that God made to Abraham.

6.) Why was this birthright Esau’s if God had already said the older will server the younger?

It appears that Isaac was intent on Esau still receiving the birthright according to the customs rather than according to God’s direction. This is probably because Esau was Isaac’s favorite and the one he wanted to carry on the family covenant.

7.) What does it mean that Esau despised his birthright?

Esau did not have the respect for everything that the birthright included. He probably figured he would receive the full inheritance due him regardless of the deal he made with his brother and he probably had no interest in the covenant aspects of the birthright.

8.) What is our birthright as born-again believers? Do we take this birthright for granted? When we don’t take our spiritual birthright seriously, have you considered that is the same as despising it?

Class discussion.

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Genesis 25:1-21

Read Genesis 25:1-6

1.) Why was it important for Abraham to send the sons of Keturah away from Isaac?

It’s very similar to Ishmael being sent away. Isaac was the son of promise and it was important that there not be any competition or confusion over Abraham’s inheritance and Isaac’s destiny.

2.) Has God ever had to remove people from your life that could have interfered with the calling he has for your life?
a. Side question: What is your calling from God? Does anyone want to share?

Open discussion.

Read Genesis 25:7-11

3.) Ishmael was sent away from the family camp about 70 years prior to this. However, he returns to help bury his father. You don’t have any of the sons from Abraham’s new concubine mentioned here. Why do you think Ishmael came back to bury his father? What do you think it was like around the camp with Ishmael and Isaac together?

Open discussion.

4.) What experiences do you have with awkward family reunions? Why do we have these?

Open discussion.

Read Genesis 25:12-18

5.) What is significant about Ishmael having twelve sons?

This is the fulfilling of the promise from God that Ishmael would be the father of a nation with twelve princes (Genesis 17:20).

6.) What is significant about version 18?

Again this fulfills are promise that Ishmael will be wild and against everyone (Genesis 16:10-12). With Ishmael being the father of the Arab nations, how has that prophecy held up today?

Read Genesis 25:19-21

Isaac was the seed of promise to Abraham. He was to carry on the family lineage on the way to forming a great nation. Of course Isaac would need to have children to carry out God’s plan. However, verse 21 makes it sound like it was Isaac’s prayers that led to God granting his request so that Rebekah, who was barren like Sarah could bear children.

7.) Did it really take Isaac’s prayers to get God to open Rebekah’s womb? Why did Isaac even need to pray for this if he knew it was already promised from God?

Read and discuss Luke 11:5-13. How do these verses relate?

8.) God want us to pray and to keep praying. Why doesn’t he just answer them right away? Why did he make it difficult for Abraham and Isaac to bear children if through them he was going to build a nation?

Ephesians 6:18 (ESV)
18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,

Praying for needs helps keep us aware of need, which helps to keep us alert. Alert for what? It keeps us alert for God at work rather than taking God’s grace and goodness for granted – which we do here in America where our needs are not great.

Romans 5:3-5 (ESV)
3 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,
4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,
5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Perseverance and endurance produces character and character produces hope. How is hope different than wishful thinking?

Abraham and Isaac knew God would fulfill his promise. Their faith was their hope in God’s promise fulfilled. Their struggles in having to wait produced their character and hope.

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Genesis 24:10-12 (ESV)

10 Then the servant took ten of his master's camels and departed, taking all sorts of choice gifts from his master; and he arose and went to Mesopotamia to the city of Nahor.
11 And he made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at the time of evening, the time when women go out to draw water.
12 And he said, "O Lord, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham.

1.) What can we tell about Abraham’s servant in these verses?

He had faith in God and understood there was a difference between the God Abraham worshipped and the other gods worshipped in the land.

2.) What was the servant’s prayer? What can we learn from this prayer?

He prayed for success in his task and asked for this success to be based on God’s faithfulness. Our daily prayer should include asking for God’s faithfulness to be revealed to us each day.

Genesis 24:13-14 (ESV)
13 Behold, I am standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water.
14 Let the young woman to whom I shall say, 'Please let down your jar that I may drink,' and who shall say, 'Drink, and I will water your camels'—let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master."

3.) Why did the servant ask God to show him Isaac’s wife using this scenario?

It was common in this time to ask the gods for a yes-no answer using this “oracle” approach. The condition on the requests that the woman would also offer to water the camels added proof that God had delivered an answer if the condition was met.


4.) Is this prayer from the servant one we should model? Why or Why not?

This is probably not the ideal way to seek out God’s will. It borders on putting God to the test and we are not to do that. What if neither condition we lay down is God’s will? It can be walking by sight instead of walking by faith. Instead, we need to draw closer to God so we can hear and understand His Holy Spirit within us, whom the servant did not have.

Genesis 24:15-16 (ESV)
15 Before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, came out with her water jar on her shoulder.
16 The young woman was very attractive in appearance, a maiden whom no man had known. She went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up.

5.) How did God respond to the servant’s prayer?

God honored the servant’s prayer. In fact he answered it before the servant could even finish. The servant was searching to do God’s will. If we sincerely search for God’s will he will reveal it to us.

Genesis 24:17-21 (ESV)
17 Then the servant ran to meet her and said, "Please give me a little water to drink from your jar."
18 She said, "Drink, my lord." And she quickly let down her jar upon her hand and gave him a drink.
19 When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, "I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking."
20 So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran again to the well to draw water, and she drew for all his camels.
21 The man gazed at her in silence to learn whether the Lord had prospered his journey or not.

6.) What do we know about Rebekah from these verses?

She was beautiful. She was kind (allowing him to drink and offering to water the camels), she was a hard worker (fetching the water for the family) and most importantly she was God’s chosen bride for Isaac.

7.) What would have happened if Rebekah had not offered to water the camels? Are there any life application lessons here?

The servant would have missed that Rebekah was the chosen bride for Isaac. Even if later God revealed this to the servant, the servant’s prayer and testimony would have not been the same. The servant’s faith may have been damaged.

Offering to water the camels was above and beyond what would have been expected. Each camel could potentially drink 25 gallons of water while the jar used to carry the water would probably hold 3 gallons at the most.

We often server others by doing what is expected but not doing more that what is expected. What opportunities of faith building are we missing by not going above and beyond to serve others?

8.) How did the servant act while he waited to find out if Rebekah was the one?

He was silent and watched. How often do we try to influence events based on our prejudices rather than waiting on God to reveal His will?

Read Genesis 24:22-67

9.) What was Rebekah’s reaction when she heard the servant’s story? How do we react when we hear a story of how God has worked in someone’s life?

Rebekah ran to tell her family. Do we run to tell others about what God has done?


10.) Why did the servant insist on explaining his purpose before eating?

He had a mission and a calling which God had just confirmed as being a divine mission by answering his prayer so directly.

11.) How easily are we distracted for God’s work in our lives?

Class discussion.

12.) Why do you suppose Rebekah agreed to leave right away with a stranger to marry a man she never met?

Class discussion.

13.) What is telling about Isaac at the end of this chapter?

He had taken Abraham’s faith and was a man of prayer.

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