Genesis 28-29 - 2009 - Skip Heitzig

[Music] our Heavenly Father we come as a group of hungry people we find ourselves in constant need of realignment we need frequent doses of truth the kind of truth that is singularly found in the book that we're holding the Holy Scriptures the Word of God from cover to cover inspired by God and profitable for our correction for doctrine for reproof for our growth we pray Lord that you would satisfy according to the hunger that is present but you said blessed happy are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness being right with God right living they shall be filled so fill us Lord accordingly in Jesus name Amen the Gallup Organization tells us that America's favorite hymn is guess what Amazing Grace how sweet the sound we know the words most everyone knows the words Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me I once was lost but now AM found was blind but now I see there have been some people that stumble over the words wretch like me that saved a wretch like me who wrote that well I'll give you a brief thumbnail sketch who was written by a man named John Newton he was raised in a Christian home he had a Christian mother who taught him Scripture from an early age but she died and he was raised by other relatives because of the bitterness of the loss of his mother's death and being transposed into other families he grew quite bitter against God against Christianity and he would have been considered a profligate does totally destitute of any spiritual desire whatsoever even at a young age he had a desire to leave home and he eventually ran away from home and joined the British Navy he could out drink and out cuss most people and he was proud of it he also got involved in the slave trade the selling of human beings his conscience grew more and more seared until eventually he almost lost his life he became a slave himself he thought frequently on those long trips about his mother's words he came back to England safe when he should have died on a couple of occasions and he gave his life to Christ and then he influenced the Parliament of England as a chaplain it was that John Newton who knew what he was and knew what he was saved from that said he saved a wretch like me Jacob could have written that him as well he was a wretch by all standards and yet God has a plan for him we're gonna read his story tonight we have already started to read his story a snippet of it in chapter 25 and then on into chapter 27 but there's a there's a huge huge theme a line that runs through this chapter it's the theme of God's grace I've discovered something after a few years of being a Christian one of the hardest concepts that we have to deal with interestingly enough is God's grace receiving something freely just receiving it freely and then being motivated by that grace toward holy and godly living as Americans we are taught good values in the valley of hard work and earning a living and earning your keep and earning your way I don't know if any of you remember that old Smith Barney commercial some years back it's a financial management company where this older British bloke was in all of these commercials and he always had that tagline you may remember it they make money the old-fashioned way they earn it some of you are too young for that and that's why I get so many blank stares but others of you will remember that there's a lot that feel that way with God now we're going to earn it here's the problem you can't earn it because God is perfect and doesn't need anything so the whole concept of earning something before God is fallacious it makes no sense that's where grace comes in grace is God bestowing freely his favor toward the most undeserving people and among that crowd besides us would be Jacob these two chapters are a love story and I love love stories if they're the right kind I love this one especially it's a love story between a man and a woman Jacob and Rachel it's also a love story between a charm Jacob and his God and and Jacob is going to discover and he completely did not expect what he is about to discover the depth of God's care and God's provision and God's love for him now Jacob Isaiah as a human being was not particularly spiritual he did understand the value of the spiritual blessing in the home and that's why he connived and deceived in order to get it but he's not a particularly spiritual person he didn't go about getting it in any spirits away as we remember in fact there is no record whatsoever of Jacob praying up to this point now we have a record of Abraham praying we have a record of Isaac in prayer in the field as he waits for his wife we have no record of any kind of spiritual movement toward God until we get to this chapter and we see by God's grace this man start to change now if you'll remember Jacob was the homeboy and I don't mean in gang terms like he's my homeboy he was a boy of the home okay he liked home he liked the tent he liked cooking he liked Martha Stewart reruns he liked being inside the tent he was not an outdoorsman he stayed close to home now we see him on the run on a journey that takes him 500 miles from home and he goes to her ran which is the place of his ancestors and he's going to meet up with some of his relatives that's where he's going and on the way God has some lessons to show him that do you remember last time in fact it is in verse 44 where his mother says to him quick get out of here for a few days right for a few days beginning in chapter 28 as he leaves the door of the tent the few days become twenty years the few days those 20 years are days in which his mother Rebecca will die and he won't see her ever again and she won't see her son ever again but here's the good thing and this is why it applies to us this guy Jacob is a work in progress you've heard that saying this guy is a piece of work this guy is a piece of work a piece of God's work his word Manship a work in progress how many of you consider yourself a work in progress boy I sure AM in fact maybe he even had a a bumper sticker on his chariot be patient with me God isn't done with me yet at least it would have worked for him now in verse 1 of chapter 28 here's where he goes wife hunting in this chapter and Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and charged him and said to him you shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan arise go to paddan-aram that's a district of Mesopotamia basically he's going to Iraq to the house of Bethel well your mother's father and take yourself a wife from there of the daughters of Laban your mother's brother may God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you that you may be an assembly of peoples and give you the blessing of Abraham to you and your descendants with you that you may inherit the land in which you are a stranger which God gave to Abraham so Isaac sent Jacob away and he went to paddan-aram to Laban the son of Bethel the Syrian the brother of Rebekah the mother of Jacob and Esau esau saw that Jacob or that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to paddan-aram to take himself a wife from there and that he as he blessed him he gave him a charge saying you shall not take away from the daughters of Canaan and that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and had gone to paddan-aram so Esau saw that the daughters of Cana did not please his father Isaac so Esau went to Ishmael and took mahalo the daughter of Ishmael Abraham's son the sister of Nebojsa thorne abaya to be his wife in addition to the wives he had why is this put here simply to let us know that saw is still wanting that blessing and in order to perhaps regain the blessing from his father that he lost he goes now to marry somebody in his own family one of the daughters of Ishmael because he realizes that's what dad wanted now this is really a warped way of thinking that is I'm gonna do evil that good may come what is the evil I speak of multiplying wives into yourself he had already married some women who were Canaanites but he thought maybe I can just add to my collection of women and that will be enough to regain the blessing back it never will happen but it's part of the intrigue that forms the background of the story now Jacob verse 10 went out from bare Sheba and went toward Haran and so he came to a certain place he stayed there all night because the Sun had set and he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head that was his pillow a rock and he laid down in that place to sleep the place that he is at will discover as a place called Bethel a name that he himself calls it ancient laws at least that is what it was called during abraham's time that means he is about 12 miles north of jerusalem that means on the first day of travel he must have had an early start he went about 40 to 45 50 miles depending on which route he would take it's a long day's journey he is fleeing he's running away and i'm sure he is filled with all sorts of emotion and questions again he's always been around home now he's on his own and he's probably thinking thoughts like will I ever see my mom and dad again well my brother Esau chased me down and kill me out here in the wilderness out here in the desert and where's God in all this where is the Lord maybe he's thinking that thought maybe he has no thought at all of God but I bet you that night that first night away from home those 40 miles away from home all alone on his own he was a bit edgy I'm sure that the night just seemed extra dark to him every little sound startled him through the night as he's there alone and a rock for his pillow somebody put it this way a long journey and uneasy conscience and a hard pillow that's the stuff that dreams are made of and boy is he about to have a dream that turns out to be a revelation of God the place that he is at Bethel is a beautiful spot it's sort of in the heart of the Land of Israel it's in the mountain range the Jerusalem mountain range as I said about 12 miles north of Jerusalem it's beautiful but it's barren it's very rocky there I've been there before our tours don't go to Bethel because it is considered West Bank territory and the only reason I was allowed to really wasn't allowed to go there I told my tour guide one year I'll meet you in Jerusalem and I took an Israeli soldier with me who they always carry guns with him and I he needed a trip to Jerusalem so I thought great I've got cover let's go to some of these places that you can't go so this was one of them so anyway all of that to say a beautiful place but a very very barren place the the last place you would ever expect God to hang out a godforsaken place especially in that day and that age and he lays down he puts his head on that rock and he probably looks up at the sky and no lights back then no towns really to speak of back then that would give any light pollution so just black sky and brilli and stars the handiwork of God I'd love to go camping when you go camping you are looking up at wood all of our ancient friends the patriarchs the saints of old our Lord Himself the sky that they looked at and I often think when I go camping thoughts like this this is the sky that Jacob was checking out I wonder what thoughts went through his mind as he was looking up I didn't know about you but when I look up at the Milky Way galaxy a couple of thoughts come to my mind number one vastness it's so vast I'm told it's a hundred thousand light-years by ten thousand light-years I'm told there are 100 billion stars in that Milky Way galaxy I've never counted them I've just been told that I wouldn't know for sure but I believe the count I'm also told that there are 100 billion other galaxies besides them in my Bible tells me that God spans the universe or measures it with the span of his hand the span is from the thumb to the forefinger so God looks at that huge vastness and goes it's only that big so when I look up I think vastness I think power but I don't think of intimacy with God because it is so vast I think if God is doing that to the universe and I'm a speck in it it gives me a sense of distance I imagine myself what it would be like if I were strapped to a beam of light traveling at 186,000 miles per second it would take me a hundred thousand years to get from one end of the galaxy I'm looking at to the other end so it's vast and certainly made by a all-powerful God but I just think God's distant it's so remote it's hard for me to get my mind around being intimate and friendly with the God who does that to the universe measures it like that Jacob looks up and all these thoughts are pouring through his mind and then he dreamed and behold a ladder was set up on earth and it stopped reached to heaven and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it and behold the Lord stood above it and said I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the god of Isaac the land on which you lie I will give it to your descendants also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth you shall spread abroad to the west to the east to the north to the south and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed so there's Jacob looking up at the sky it's so big it's so vast and as David said when I consider the heavens the work of your fingers the Sun and the moon which you have ordained what is man that you're even mindful of him but what Jacob discovers when he falls asleep in this dream that God is very mindful of him now it's gonna shock him it's going to change him it's gonna change him he's gonna get more spiritual thank God from this episode dreams are typical we're told that people dream every night you may not remember them but you have dreams every night but some dreams are weird some dreams are unusual when my brother Rick was a boy he used to have all sorts of strange dreams where he would be caught sleepwalking they my dad would find him down the street because he got up out of bed walked out the front door and started walking down the street sometimes in the middle of the street dangerous chip lusco son Levi was with us once in Israel and he has had episodes of wild dreams and sleepwalking he got up out of bed in his hotel in Jerusalem went into the elevator went all the way down the elevator to the lobby walked out of the lobby and then he woke up and he was just in his underwear in the hotel lobby what a shock that would be to wake up where am i oh my goodness not all dreams are from the Lord but some can be from the Lord this one was I mean you can have a late-night pizza with onions and get dreams but this is a dream uniquely from the Lord and it's interesting he sees a ladder a Salaam in Hebrew literally a staircase or a stairway this was the original stairway to heaven right here and he sees angels and God's angels are both ascending going up in descending coming down first they're ascending it says that means they had been on the earth and then some are descending perhaps like they're taking shifts and one shift has finished its work and they're going up and the other shift is beginning its shift so it comes down and the whole point is that God is involved in human affairs God is involved in what's going on in the earth Jacob is thinking I'm in a godforsaken place I've run away from home I've stolen a blessing I've been a deceiver I'm running for my life surely God can't be here and then he gets this wild dream of the angels of God that are ascending and descending God is involved in human affairs and God gives him a promise and we read part of the promise now there's what I love when God begins to speak to him in the dream and it is the Lord God doesn't reprimand him now what if you were the Lord and you knew Jacob owed your first words be to him once in a dream he has your and by the way perhaps he got the dream because he wouldn't listen to God any other way so you don't think that people are necessarily more spiritual because they get dreams sometimes the most ungodly people in the Bible get a dream from the Lord God can't get through to them any other way in the conscious world so when they're knocked out and subconscious God can speak to them and and so if God can't speak to you in a still small voice he may need to amp it up and get your attention via a dream so it doesn't necessarily mean you're more spiritual it could mean you're less spiritual and more carnal there's an old Yiddish proverb that says if if a man calls you a donkey pay him no heed if two men call you a donkey pay them no heed if three men call you a donkey buy a saddle not listening to God at all up to this point now listening to God but the first words God speaks aren't words of reprimand I would reprimand him I'd say Jacob you deceitful idiot look what you've gotten yourself into now here's the road ahead of you and how hard it's going to be these are words of grace these are words of promise and God makes three promises the promise of provision first of all I'm gonna give you the land that you are that you now lie on now my mind immediately went to the fact that he did lie a lot he was a liar and God says the land that you lie on but that's stretching the point and then he lying down on it was the same promise that God made to Abraham and to Isaac he now makes to Jacob this land the land that we call this real today I've given it to Abraham Isaac and Jacob so from a biblical viewpoint not a military viewpoint not a recently historical viewpoint not a political viewpoint but from a biblical viewpoint it's really easy to say who the land belongs to over there well who owns the land who has the to that land Abraham Isaac the 12 tribes of Jacob the children of Israel God makes him a promise of provision then notice also God makes him a promise of his presence he says verse 15 behold I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and the third is the promise of protection and I will bring you back to this land for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it so now we are told what he thought when he came there God isn't in this place I'm in a god forsaken place I don't know where God is and he wakes up and goes wow God is in this place and I knew it not I mentioned that we have a hard time with grace some of us to be quite honest in reading this story though we love this about God we have a hard time that God is promising a blessing to somebody this disobedient this carnal this nascent in his own spiritual growth such outpouring of God's grace I brought with me something tonight that I wanted to share with you it came to my mind and I thought I got to pull it off the shelf it's a book really that changed my life it's simply a verse by verse commentary on the book of Romans I got it when I was like 19 years old I still have it and I read it but it's by William R Newell and right in the midst of him talking about a commentary on Romans chapter 6 right in the middle of the book he has this little section it's simply called a few words about grace and when I used to meditate on this it's so blew my mind as I said it changed my whole perspective I'm gonna give you just a snippet just a Sam first of all the nature of grace listen up grace is God acting freely according to his own nature as love with no promises no obligations to fulfill and acting of course righteously in view of the cross grace therefore is uncaused in the recipient its cause lies wholly in the giver that is God grace is always sovereign not having debts to pay or fulfilled conditions on man's part to wait for it can act toward whom and how it pleases it can and often does place the worst deservers in the highest of favors grace cannot act where there is ability grace does not help it is absolute it does all there being no cause in the creature why God should why grace should be shown the creature must be brought off from trying to give cause to God for His grace next little section and I skipped a lot is just the place of man under grace Newell writes this he has been accepted in Christ who is his standing he is not on probation as to his life past it does not exist before God he died at the cross and Christ is his life Grace once bestowed is not withdrawn now here's the proper attitude of the man under grace here it is to believe and to consent to be loved while unworthy is the great secret did you get that to consent to be loved by God while unworthy so few people get that here's another one to refuse to make resolutions and vows for that is to trust in the flesh and finally to expect to be blessed though realizing more and more lack of worth when does the last time you live that way I expect to be blessed that's just who God is here's a couple more things and I'll quit things which gracious Souls discover to hope to be better is to fail to see yourself in Christ only how many times have you said I'm gonna do better Oh Lord I'll do better it's to fail to see yourself in Christ only to be disappointed with yourself is to have believed in yourself so real devotion to God arises not from man's will to show it but from the discovery that blessing has been received from God while we were yet unworthy and undivided here's the final sentence and we'll close with this now close the night with us but close the book with us to preach devotion first and blessing second is to reverse God's order it's to preach law and not grace the law made blessing dependent on devotion grace confers undeserved unconditional blessing our devotion may follow but does not always do so in proper measure as I said when I read this and it goes so much in line with what we're reading about Jacob it was a life changer for me I remember that night I did went oh it was like a such a sigh where I could say Lord go for it you'll bless me not because Who I am but because of who you are so Jacob awoke from his sleep and he said surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it notice the wording not the Lord was in this place last night when I had this dream God was here the Lord is right now presently in this place and I did not know it I know it now I didn't know it then last night I came here thinking God isn't in this place I wake up this morning God is in this place I knew it not but I know it now and he was afraid and he said how awesome is this place this is none other than the house of God this is the gate of heaven jacob arose early in the morning and took the stone that he put on his head and set it up as a pillar and he poured oil on it on top of it this is a commemoration stone he's worshiping by commemorating something was very typical now do you remember that it was at this spot back in chapter 12 that Abraham built an altar to the Lord and then he went down to Egypt and when he came back after the period of disobedience he comes back to Bethel and he worships God again it's a stone of commemoration and he called the name of that place Bethel or the house of God but the name of that city had been loved previously then Jacob made a vow saying if God will be with me and keep me in this way that I am going and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on so that I come back to my father's house in peace then the Lord shall be my god now it sounds like he's bargaining with God doesn't it well you know if God does this for me then I'll do that for him it sounds like he's bargaining and to be quite frank it could be that he was bargaining after all that was his MO that's what he always did he bargained with his brother he deceived his father but often and modern translations will sometimes correct it very often the word if is translated since and that's how I prefer to see it and many modern translation will say since God is going to do this therefore I will do that so it was a response to God's favor not a condition God if you do this and I'll really get really religious I promise but it's since God has made these promises since God will do that therefore I will keep it and this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God's house and of all that you give me I will surely give a tenth to you so he worshiped by commemorating he worshiped by committing and now he's worshiping by contributing here's what's fascinating to me he's promising at I the tenth of his income I'd say it's fascinating because this is years before the law was ever developed the law of Moses which required the children of Israel to give a tenth there's no requirement here he freely voluntarily gave of his substance financially to the Lord as a way of thanking God I realized that God is the source from whom all blessings flow I give him this token because it was his anyway he gave it to me so I'll give it the tenth back to him all voluntary all before the law now before we jump into the next chapter we have to tie two things together because Jesus refers to this in John chapter 1 remember the instance when Nathanael is told about Jesus of Nazareth and Nathanael says can anything good come out of Nazareth and then Jesus shows up as he sees Nathanael he says oh look check it out here comes an Israelite in whom is no deceit whatsoever and Nathanael goes like like how do you know me and Jesus said you know before Philip called you when you were in that quiet spot under the fig tree where you thought nobody was seeing you I saw and heard everything that was going on and Nathanael said wow no that's not in my text but he was blown away said you are the Messiah you are the one we've been waiting for and jesus said just because I said I saw you under the fig tree you believed stick around you'll see greater things than this buddy you will see Jesus said the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man remember that what is he referring to the 20th chapter of Genesis Jacob in the dream sees a ladder here is heaven very involved in the affairs of earth the angels of God up and down in chefs and the Lord speaking from heaven now here's Jesus saying basically I am the ladder I am the link I am the mediator if you want to know God in any capacity at all you must come through me I'll take you to him now chapter 29 chapter 29 is where the con artist gets conned the deceiver gets deceived jacob though he was very crafty is about to meet the master schemer he had a PhD in deception and that's uncle Laban that's the brother of his mother and so if he thought he was clever he ain't seen nothing yet so Jacob went on his journey and came to the land of the people of the east and he looked and he saw a well in the field and behold there were three flocks of sheep lying by it for out of that well they watered the flocks a large stone was on the wells mouth let your mind go back a few chapters when Abraham wanted to get a wife for his son Isaac there are similarities but there are some pretty hefty differences when Abraham wanted to get a wife for his son he sent his eldest servant Eliezer remember Eliezer and he was going to find a wife for his son so Isaac didn't get to pick his wife didn't get to see his wife till after they were engaged now I know a lot of you are thinking dude never would I ever let that happen however Eliezer did it carefully and prayerfully Jacob goes out he's not praying at all in this and he will choose his own wife here's the question you might ask who was better off so you got to get to the end of the story because he chose the right gal but he gets well a double portion you might say it's not what he wanted it didn't turn out the way he expected it it says in verse three now all the flocks would be gathered there they would roll the stone from the wells mouth water the Sheep put the stone back in its place on the wells mouth and Jacob said to them my brethren where are you from and they said we are from Horan and he's going awesome bingo that's the place I'm going and so he said to them do you know Laban the son of Nahor and they said we know him and so he said to them is he well they said he is well and look his daughter Rachel is coming with the Sheep now the world would see this is just a coincidence we see this as Providence God arranged this thing very naturally but it was supernatural now now watch what Jacob says then he said look it is still high day it is not time for a cattle to be gathered together water the Sheep and go and feed them that they said we cannot until all the flocks be gathered together and they have rolled the stone from the wells mouth then we water the Sheep now why would he say this was he saying this because he was some conscientious person who felt really sorry for sheep and he wanted them to be fed because basically what he's saying is look water the Sheep and then let him go feed again and they're saying well we can't tell they all get gathered together so we can do the watering of all the flocks at once why is he bringing this up what he's saying is this I see Rachel is coming you guys water the Sheep and get out of here because he wants some alone time with a girl that he sees out of the corner of his eye now in full view coming toward him because she is as will be told very beautiful and he is hoping this is the one and it will turn out to be the one now while he was still speaking with them Rachel came with her father sheep for she was a shepherdess and it came to pass when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother's brother and the sheep of Laban his mother's brother that Jacob went near and rolled the stone from the wells mouth and watered the flock of Laban his mother's brother then Jacob kissed Rachel Wow just like that oh yeah but it gets better and lifted up his voice and wept what kind of a deal is this first of all it comes up and so so romantic here's the kiss and then he uh whoa she's thinking is it the garlic I ate for lunch I think he's overcome with emotion it's been a long journey he is more of the emotional sort he's not the outdoors guy he's the man of the tent he's the indoor type maybe a bit more emotional he see he's overcome with emotions been a long hard trip for the boy and then Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's relative and that he was Rebecca's son so she ran and told her father some commentators in dealing with his passage will say that this was love at first sight certainly she looked beautiful and when he saw her he went couldn't even whistle there but anyway you get the idea there you go scientists that study this have an interesting theory they call that love mapping that your brain is wired to lock on to certain characteristics of the opposite sex that when you see those certain characteristics and one will have a group of characteristic different from another that that attraction that bond that forms 'if infatuation that brings you in proximity upon which people develop relationships here's a little article I found about love maps from one of the so-called experts of it the issue of love at first sight brings up the speculation of biological origin that you're hardwired to see somebody and then gravitate toward that person but she Helen Fisher also adds quote in terms of human courtship and marriage several observations are important the infatuation phase that's where Jacob is at tends to wane after four years or less this may be in part to a reflection of the human brains inability to stay in a revved up mode over a long period of time the waning of infatuation seems to play a role in divorces occurring in the early years of marriage the longer that couples whether the years the longer they tend to stay married now I share that with you because Jacob is about to weather several years not just three or four but fourteen of those years and show that he is really interested and goes from infatuation to commitment in this relationship verse thirteen it came to pass when Laban heard the report about Jacob his sister son that he ran to meet him and embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house so he told Laban all these things and Laban said to him surely you are my bone in my flesh and he stayed with him for a month and Laban said to Jacob because you were my relative should you therefore serve me for nothing tell me what should be your wages now Jacob was waiting for this conversation like what can I do for you glad that you asked now Laban had two daughters the name of the elder was Leia the name of the younger was Rachel now watch this Leia's eyes were delicate NIV says weak but Rachel was beautiful of form and appearance perhaps the New Living Translation does a better job with it it says that Leia had pretty eyes but Rachael was beautiful in every way with a lovely face and a shapely figure so rather than weak eyes the term idea of delicate could be that she had beautiful eyes but though she had beautiful eyes her sister had beautiful everything and so there was the comparison now Jacob it says verse 18 loved Rachel it's been a month with her every chance he got and so he said I will serve you seven years for Rachel your younger daughter listen there's that girl she's so beautiful and he's just like knee-jerk reacting like I'm gonna sign my life away here now he didn't read the fine print he's dealing with a master deceiver because you'll notice that Laban never promises that at the end of the seven years he gets to have Rachel never once does he promise that though that's the implication that Jacob has in his mind I'll serve you seven years for Rachel your younger daughter and Laban said now watch what he says it is better that I give her to you then I should give her to another man stay with me nothing mentioned it's all in the fine print in his own mind so Jacob served seven years for Rachel now watch this and they seemed only a few days to him because of the love that he had for her that is one of the most beautiful passages in all of the Bible to me I've always loved this text here is a man who can make sakhaa Mittman of seven years for this chick that he says he loves after one month seven years he serves in first Corinthians 13 describing love says love is patient or love will wait this guy is waiting seven years did I mention seven years that is unheard of today love is patient love will wait gals just a little counsel from uncle skip if you're dating a young man or a man of any age who says Oh baby honey sweetie I love you so much I but but I want more from you I want to be more intimate with you and I can't wait I can't wait till like next year or tell the wedding I I can't wait because I love you so much after you slug him and you have my permission to do so realize what he's really saying he's saying I love you but what he really means is I love me and I want you for me because if you really loved you he would consider you not violate you not take something from you but consider that you are to be respected and loved is to be honored and loved will wait love his patient seven years so they they strike the deal here's the irony the guy who deceived his father Jacob is about to be deceived by his father-in-law very ironic Galatians 6 God is not mocked whatever a man shows that will he also reap he's about to reap a harvest then Jacob said to Laban this after the seven years are done he's worked now it's a long courtship give me my wife I'd say that after seven years for my days are fulfilled I want the Paycheck then I may go into her Laban gathered together all the men of the place and made a feast now it came to pass in the evening that he ass Laban took Leia his daughter and brought her to Jacob and he went into her and Laban gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leia as a maid so it came to pass in the morning that behold it was Leia and he said to Laban what is this you have done to me was it not for Rachel that I served you why then have you deceived me now I know I know some of you read this and you think what is this guy in just a dunce couldn't he tell the difference right well it was night they didn't have lights like this they had candle light the bridal suite was kept dark on purpose and a bridal veil that kept eyesight off of the ability to discern features she had a veil over and she went into the bridal suite and he woke up the next morning realized there was a switcheroo going on the older sis was put in his in her place look what Laban says he says it must not must not be done so in our country to give the younger before the firstborn that's true and he knew it all along that's the fine print fulfill her week that is her bridal week we will give you this one also that's what he calls Rachel this one also for the service of which you will serve me still another seven years hard core and Jacob did so and fulfilled her week so we gave him his daughter Rachel as wife also now I'm gonna guess that there was a rivalry between Leah and Rachel very similar to the rivalry between ISA and Jacob and that obviously Leia was complicit in this she went along with the scheme she had to it couldn't have worked without her consent and I'm sure she delighted in the fact you know I'm not as pretty as my sister but I'm gonna get this guy this strong handsome man first and I'm sure when it happened it's like the red light went on in his head it's like yeah I remember that I I did that myself with my own father and dressed up and lied to him and he found out later and laban it says verse 29 gave his mate Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as maid and Jacob also went to Rachel and he also loved Rachel more than Leah and he served with Laban another seven years if he would have approached this carefully and prayerfully as did Eliezer perhaps things would have turned out a little bit differently if he would have really talked to Laban and understood the custom and gone a little bit added a different way perhaps it would have been different not sure I do know this when you're entering into a marriage relationship understand what you're getting into you're gonna hear vows that will be set at the wedding till death do us part it's much easier to get into a relationship than it is to live through a relationship Mark Twain used to say keep your why eyes wide open before marriage and then half shut afterwards I think that's good counsel once you make the commitment then you just let a lot of stuff just go just let it water off the duck's back let it roll don't worry about don't get hung up on it but it first goes slow be careful well he loved Rachel more than Leia that Bose is a problem and he served with Laban another seven years when the Lord saw that leah was unloved he opened up her womb but Rachel was barren that's very interesting as if there's some sort of divine compensation that when when when you're lacking in something in your life that God can compensate by by giving you more in another area to make up for that I love that God saw that part of his grace was to enable one to conceive while the beautiful one was barren solea conceived and bore a son and she called his name Reuben Reuben for she said the Lord has surely looked on my affliction that is of being unloved by my husband therefore my husband will love me now reuben means see a son so the boy comes out and every Jewish father especially in the patriarchal period wanted a son to carry on the lineage of course that was important if the Messianic promises were to be fulfilled and so she thought I'm gonna I'm gonna earn my husband's love because I produced a son for him Rachel didn't I did she conceived again and bore a son and said because the Lord has heard that I am unloved so no doubt this is a matter of prayer before the Lord she talked to him about it he has therefore given me this son also and she called his name Simeon which means one who hears she can see begin and bore a son and said now this time my husband will become attached to me see every time she's trying to wit the children manipulate her husband's love I will become a he'll become attached to me because I have borne him three sons therefore his name was Levi which means attached so she bears Levi which is the priestly tribe she bears will see Judah which is the royal tribe from which Jesus Christ will come so she was compensated you might say by being the agent of the blessing of God to the world and she conceived again final verse verse 35 and bore a son and said now I will praise the Lord therefore she called his name praise which is what Judah means and then she stopped bearing so the first few children were all about Guinea gaining her father her husband's favor Judah is somehow reflected that her attitude has changed a little bit she's worshiping she's praising she's in better spirits and she says praise the Lord here's the question I want to leave with you tonight just as Jacob was at Bethel and it was a barren place a God forsaken place he thought the Lord isn't in this place here's my question what is your Bethel you have one you have some barren place somebody's gonna listen to this who gets it in a hospital bed that bed of pain is there Bethel it's barren it's God forsaken you're saying God isn't in this place for others it's a wheelchair for others it's a boring job for others it's a very difficult relationship and you're in that difficult dark place and you're saying God isn't in this God isn't here and what you have to realize is that any barren place you're at can become bevelled the house of God when God lets down the ladder there was no temple at Bethel there was no literal house but he calls it the house of God as if to say God's house is wherever God meets with me in my painful barren condition that's my Beth L will you allow the Lord to come to you on perhaps the very thing you hate the very thing you fear the most when did Jesus come walking on the water to his disciples on the Sea of Galilee was it when it was real nice and calm when it was just glassy wait just perfect glassy awesome evening and they're just sort of hanging out in the boat it was in a storm it was the wave they thought it was going to drown them the very thing they feared the most is the vehicle that the Lord came to them on perhaps the Lord will come to you in a dynamic dramatic way on what you fear the most and that place that barren place becomes the house of God and you'll say God us in this place and I knew it not but I know it now there was a preacher who preached on Jacob's Ladder one Sunday and his son was in the audience made an impact on him that night that Sunday night that pastor's kid went to sleep and had a dream got up the next day and say daddy I had an interesting dream last night after your sermon on Sunday well what was his son I dreamt that there was a ladder from earth to heaven Wow just sort of like the biblical story yeah but it was a little bit different dad there were people not angels people going up it and at the base of the ladder there was a bunch of chalk and the idea is that before you climb the ladder you take one of the pieces of chalk and you mark on each rung of the ladder for every sin you've committed in your life and people were going up it and it was my turn and I went up it and and I grabbed my chalk but as I was climbing up the ladder and marking the rungs with the chalk there was somebody coming down that's interesting son who was coming down you were dead in my dream I saw you coming down the ladder and so well that's interesting son why was I coming down the ladder what for and the boy said for more chalk an interesting dream perhaps a late-night burrito mixed with the biblical sermon I like Jacob's dream better than the boy's dream not more chalk but more grace more grace Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch a wretch undeserving wretch like me God's in the business of saving wretches undeserving lost people finding them bringing them home restoring them God is all about broken things have you ever met a person who doesn't like brand new cars but likes the old vintage like a 57 Chevy that's a classic nothing like a restored 57 Chevy in all of its glory something about it restored we admire that that's sort of what God is like instead of a new model instead of saying you know y'all you guys are losers I'm just gonna create a brand new perfect human race he goes no I'll take you in your sin and in your brokenness and through the blood of my son you're a fixer-upper I'll restore you something about a fixed up vintage person saved redeemed that is a billboard of my grace he's done that in many of our lives he wants to do it in all of our lives let's pray Heavenly Father we thank you for your grace it truly is amazing we once were lost but now we were found we're blind but now we see we see clearly we know completely that indeed we were wretches that needed a savior we were sinners in need of a savior and you graciously patiently through your son Christ reached down from heaven and got a hold of man so that Jesus as he said to Nathaniel is the ladder is the link is the mediator is the one whereby we meet with God Father I pray for any buddy who may have come tonight at the bequest of a friend they have come maybe because it has been very tough this week this month they're looking for answers they're looking for your love they're looking to make sense out of it lord I pray that as they make the admission of their need known to you that you would reach down from heaven get a hold of that life and save transform completely as we're about to close this service know that God knows your heart sees your life knows all things about you and is so ready to lavish his love and His grace that is his favour upon you even though you don't deserve it you don't deserve it but you have to receive it because it is a gift if you don't receive it you'll never get it the Bible says as many as received him to them he gave the power to become children of God to those who believe in his name if you're at a point in your life where either you've ran from God like Jacob did or you've never had a relationship personally with God as wonderful as you might be as a person if you're sick of that dead-end road and you want to know that if you were to die you'd be in heaven I'd like you to raise your hand as our heads are bowed our eyes are closed you raise your hand up just keep it up for just a moment and you're saying yes to him yes I want him to change my life god bless you ma'am toward the back anybody else raise it up so I can see it anybody at all has God been speaking to you it's God been dealing with your life way in the back I'll bless you anyone else right there yes sir father we thank you we know Lord that the work you have begun you will continue to perform it until the day of Christ when he comes for all of us right where you are sitting tonight those of you who raised your hands would you pray right now and ask the Lord into your life pray something like this just pray after me Lord I give you my life I know that I'm a sinner please forgive me I trust I believe in Jesus Christ I believe that he died on the cross that He shed his blood for my sin and that he rose again from the dead so I turn from my sin I turn from my past and I turn my life completely to you be my Savior be my Lord fill me with your Holy Spirit and give me the power to live a life for you in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Calvary Church with Skip Heitzig

Views: 11,986

Rating: 4.7664232 out of 5

Keywords: Calvary, Albuquerque, Skip, Heitzig, Jesus, Genesis, Sermon

Id: UcSQsheb-44

Length: 65min 2sec (3902 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 19 2018