Making Sense out of a Mess - Genesis 29:1-30 (10.2.19) - Dr. Jordan N. Rogers

[Music] God accomplishing more than Jacob could have ever hoped or dreamed God making descendants that number as the sands of the seashore and as the stars of the sky out of this mess God fulfilling the promises that he made to Abraham out of this mess this evening we are in Genesis chapter 29 verses 1 through 30 what we're going to talk about tonight I find this to be providentially providentially important what we're going to talk about tonight is making sense out of a mess making sense out of a mess anybody in there familiar with a mess you know sometimes it just it feels like you kind of walk from one mess to another and it can be difficult to to make heads or tails of what happened and you don't really understand what's going on you don't know why circumstances are the way that they are and you try to discern and you try to figure out in the end God knows and and we try to make sense of these messes in in these 30 verses I I'm just dividing them up into really just some big broad sections I think that's the way we ought to look at narrative texts this is a historical record it's a it's a picture it's scene by scene of Jacob coming to her on and coming to find a home coming to find work and coming to find a wife and I should correct myself wives not his intention but it was the outcome and you would think this man innocently enough just he's looking for a place to stay he's looking for a bride he's looking for a job you would think oh well easy enough and it is just complex as it gets we haven't even gotten to the good part in her scripture reading just yet it is as complex as it gets and we need to figure out how to make sense out of a mess so I'm just gonna make this blanket statement I believe that it's what you see here in the passage I believe this is the oh the overarching truth out of the passage it'll summarize the entirety of the message we'll read this together there off of the board write this down with me God accomplishes his gracious purposes even through sinful people praise God that that's true God accomplishes his gracious purposes even through sinful people one thing we can never wort and that is the will of God the gracious purposes of God that's what's tied up there in the word sovereign we celebrate here as a church family from the Word of God we celebrate the fact that God is sovereign I'm so glad that God is sovereign in his grace he's sovereign in all of his attributes and that God is still able to accomplish his gracious purposes even through sinful people because if God were not able then there would be no craziest purposes if God were dependent on righteous people his purposes would never be accomplished so God accomplishes his gracious purposes even through sinful people I want to read two passages of scripture here just on the outset just on the outset for us as a word of encouragement for us Ephesians chapter 1 verse 11 listen to these words here it says in him that is in Jesus we as sinful people have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will so the fact that we even receive the unmerited favor of God is resultant from his Sovereign Grace his purposes and we celebrate that fact because of if receiving the graces of God depended on something that we did would never get it if it depended on us getting smart we'd never arrive at that point listen to what it says in Romans chapter 8 verse 28 this passage is very familiar to you and I the Apostle Paul writes and we know that for those who love God all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose so for those who belong to God those whom God loves those whom God has set his affection upon we know that all things work together for good that word worked together for good seems like multiple words in the English and the Greek it's one word it's one word work together it's where we get our English word synergy that God uses all of the events of life the ones that we can't make heads or tails of the ones that we think that we understand that we really don't understand God takes all of those events and they are working in perfect concert to sing the song that God designed and the outcome is going to be exactly as God has planned that's what Romans 8:28 tells us God accomplishes his gracious purposes even through sinful people as I told you these 30 verses I'm just dividing up in the way that I see them here into three different scenes you may look at this and say that pretty much describes my day or that pretty much describes my week or my year or my life so in verses 1 through 12 what you see is a meeting as innocuous as that might sound you see a meeting verses 13 through 20 you see an arrangement is a deal that's made a meeting and arrangement and then in verses 21 through 30 you see a mess an arrangement a mess and go to sleep wake up repeat right a lot of times that can be how the day seems to happen but we can make sense out of the mess if we understand that God is sovereign and all his ways that he accomplishes his purposes according to grace even through sinful people we can make sense of a mess and that's what we need to do here with this passage I believe that's the intention of this passage this passage of Scripture was written to the first readers who would have been the Israelites coming out of Egypt the readers of this passage the original readers of this passage would have been the Israelites who came out of Egypt they were the ones who walked through the waters there that have been parted on both sides in the Red Sea these are the ones in the wilderness you remember that Moses is the one who penned the first five books of the Bible this book would have been given but have been read aloud to the peoples there in the wilderness of Sinai and what this passage does is it is it recites to the people of Israel canonized as the Word of God forever it recites to them their beginnings where they come from they they don't come from morally excellent beginnings God's people don't come from morally excellent beginnings the men who received the covenants the Covenant promises of God did not receive them because they were they were superb in their righteousness in fact what you see from these patriarchs is they're far from perfect they they walk from mess to mess and then there's a bright shining light at some point in their life where they believed God and by their belief it's accounted to them as righteousness and then as you see scripture unfold you see that God makes sense out of the mess that God was at work all along working all things together for the good of those who love him for those who are called according to his purpose you see that right here in these 30 verses in Genesis chapter 29 so make since out of a mess look at verses 1 through 12 let's look at that meeting I'm gonna give you 2 observations and that's it 2 observations that I want you to write down these are broad swathe general truths that I see in this passage so the first observation comes from the first section verses 1 through 12 this meeting it says then Jacob went on his journey where it was Jacob leaving he was leaving beth-el we say Bethel the proper way to say it would be Beth the house of God you remember what happened at Beth ly it had the name Bethel it's because there that night when Jacobs stopped there to rest because the Sun had gone down he had the dream he sees the ladder extending to the heavens and to the earth and he sees the angels of God marching up and down on the ladder and the Lord he sees God he sees Jesus pre-incarnate christ he sees him and the Lord speaks to him and he reaffirms the Abrahamic covenant promises to Jacob and so now Jacob leaves that place and where is he going he's going to find his wife that's why Jacob had set out on this journey so it says then Jacob verse 1 chapter 29 went on his journey and came to the land of the people of the east he's in the Far East as he looked he saw a well in the field and behold three flocks of sheep lying beside it for out of that well the flocks were watered the stone on the wells mouth was large and when all the flocks were gathered there the shipper the Shepherds farming would roll the stone from the mouth of the will and water the sheep and put the stone back in its place over the mouth of the well when Jacob comes up to this well as and behold they pay attention he sees something here that kind of is startling to him in the middle of the day when the Sun still right over the sky what does he see he sees all the Shepherd's there seemingly just resting on the job they're all just sitting around this well when you water the flocks in the evening and what these Shepherds are just sitting there in the middle of the day and Jacob stumbles up on this he says this is not how it's done where I come from you're gonna see in just a moment Jacobs arrogance this is not the way that it's done where I come from I'm not used to seeing the Shepards take off in the middle of the day and go sit down when they should be walking the Fox around in the pasture they need a water these flocks and they need to send them out but that's not the way that they do things around here Jacobs far from home look what it says in verse four Jacob said to them my brothers where do you come from you know they were probably asking him that question where do you come from we've been sitting here all day Jacob said to them my brothers where do you come from and they said we are from her on he said to them do you know Laban the son of Nahor they said we know him he said he said to them is it well with him and they said it is well and see Rachel his daughter is coming with the Sheep how fortuitous Jacob doesn't even know where he's at and he's walking in the field and he sees a well three flocks of sheep they're all the Shepherds around there's no road maps around here no signs and Jacob walks up and says where y'all from or from her on he might look and say that's exactly where I'm headed I'm glad to be here now do y'all happen to know Laban because you remember that Laban is his uncle Laban is his mother's brother from Levens household Jacob is authorized to find a wife Jacob is authorized to find a wife from the descendants of Shem and Shem household comes to find its place there in Iran and so Jacob has just stumbled across fortune lo and behold who starts walking up when he shows up Rachel the daughter of Laban you would say daughter cuz at this point you're not aware that he has multiple daughters but here's Jacob he just stumbles across this well he's in the exact right time or the exact right place at the right time and the exact right person is walking up Jacob has an orchestrated any of this in fact all of this is happening to him in a surprising way in his perception he doesn't know if this is Iran or not in his perception nobody should be gathered at the well right now but lucky him looking him he stumbles right upon where the Lord wants him to be I want you to write down this first observation that I see in this passage that I don't think that we can afford to miss or pass up observation number one God is sovereign over our steps God is sovereign over our steps things that we may find surprising things that we didn't necessarily plan maybe we feel like we're headed in the right direction but we don't know exactly where we're going and we seem to find the right way we seem to end up in the right place that's not because of our ingenuity or anything like that that is because God is sovereign over our steps I'm gonna read a passage a couple of passages from Proverbs that are very familiar to you I'm sure that affirm this proverbs chapter 16 verse 9 says this the heart of a man plans his way but the Lord establishes his steps verse 21 of that same chapter verse 21 of chapter 19 in Proverbs says many are the plans in the mind of a man but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand we have a lot of plans we think that we we think that we order our steps we think that we organize our days we put things in our calendars and things just don't take place the way that we thought but they always take place the way God intended they always do we may plan our ways but the Lord is the one who establishes he ordains our steps lo and behold Jacob traveling to a place he's never been and he stumbles right up to it and look at who is coming up there and says this in verse six it is well and see Rachel his daughter is coming with the Sheep he said verse seven behold it is still high day it is not time for the livestock to be gathered together water the Sheep and go pasture them but they said we cannot until all the flocks are gathered together and the stone is rolled from the mouth of the well then we water the sheep one of the first things that you see about Jacobs character in this passage is his arrogance here is Jacob halfway across the known world at that point in a new place with people that he doesn't even know where they're from and he's telling them how they ought to conduct their business why are you at the well at this time as though that's just a universally accepted and practiced custom Jacob says no you water the Sheep and you go Jacob has established himself in his own mind as Lord over these Shepherds Jacob doesn't own anything at this point Jacob is acting in quite a bit of arrogance right here as far as I see this now look at verse 9 verse 9 it says while he was still speaking with them Rachel came with her father's sheep for she was a shepherdess now as soon as Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother's brother and the sheep of Laban his mother's brother don't let that skip you over what did Jacob see he saw of a woman and he saw the flocks Jacob is conniving Jacob is a schemer Jacob doesn't just see the woman who fits the bill of who he's looking for for a wife he also sees that whoever she's been sent by has money whoever she's been sent by has flocks so he notices both and the sheep of Laban his mother's brother Jacob came near soon as he sees both of these things Jacob came near and rolled the stone from the wells mouth and watered the flock of Laban his mother's brother then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept aloud and Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's kinsman and that he was Rebecca's son and she ran and told her father not only as Jacob shown his arrogance in the way he treats the shepherds he's also shown a bit of kind impatience hasn't he I mean here can you imagine what's going on I there are three Shepherds already gathered at the well they have not moved the stone yet which tells you that that stones already said that it's a large stone it's got to be a community activity to remove this stone it's quite heavy and they can't move it by themselves and here's Jacob overcome with excitement overcome with eagerness and with a kind impatience and he has such an adrenaline jolt that he goes up to this well and he pushes the stone away on his own it's kind of impatient kind of impatient he said are you making too much out of that I don't see all that in the passage well you're gonna see his impatience in living color here in just a little while he's going to be so impatient to sleep with his wife that he ends up sleeping with a different woman Jacob is an impatient man he's an arrogant man and he makes no bones about it here he he just kisses her and Jacob kissed Rachel and wept the loud he he cries and he weeps he's travelled halfway across the world and lo and behold he stumbled across the woman of his dreams the woman that he is supposed to marry and he wants her now he kisses Rachel wept aloud and told Jacob and Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's kinsman and that he was Rebecca's son and she ran and told her father how how fortunate for Jacob you see it's not just fortunate for Jacob that's sovereign of God God ordained the steps of Jacob for him to end up where he when he was at the particular time of day when Rachel was going to be on her way to that well just so now there's the meeting look at verse 13 through 20 you're gonna see the arrangement verse 13 says as soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob his sister's son he ran to meet him and embraced him and kissed him that's not a that's not a sensual kiss that's a kiss of greeting and joy and kissed him and brought him to his house Jacob told Laban all these things and labelled Laban said to him surely you are my bone and my flesh and he stayed with him a month we've heard that kind of saying before haven't we you remember the joyful exclamation of Adam when the Lord made Eve from his rib when the Lord God in Genesis chapter 2 when he brought the woman to Adam you remember what Adam says he says this at last is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh she shall be called woman because she came from man and he's just exclaiming because there was not a helper in all the world fit for him all of the creatures the Lord God brought before Adam and no one is fit for Adam to marry and so the Lord creates someone especially for Adam says this bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh that he rejoices at this thought now when Laban hears that Jacob is his kinsman Laban understands this man is a fit match to marry one of his daughters he bone of my bone your flesh of my flesh this is a good meeting this is a good arrangement this is god's providence that you have been brought here it's a good match Laban sure is excited about this before he even knows his future son-in-law he seems to kiss him here verse 15 arrives with verse 14 it says and he stayed with him a month he stayed with him a month and then verse 15 says then Laban said to Jacob because you are my kinsman should you therefore serve me for nothing tell me what shall your wages be wouldn't you like for your boss to ask you that what do you want to be paid you just you name your price and we'll agree on that the Laban seems to be doing something very kind and gracious to his kinsmen here he says look we're family you've been living here a month you've been staying here for a time you've been working and it's not right that you just work here for nothing certainly there's something that you ought to be compensated with Laban seems to have a proper idea about this this concept of compensation it says you're my kinsman should you therefore serve me for nothing tell me what shall your wages be in the Jacob Laban narrative in the next two chapters this and the next two chapters you're gonna see that the wages of Jacob is something that is hotly contentious between these two men Laban says you tell me what you want to be paid and then Laban continually moves the goalposts on Jacob he continually changes his wages and in fact in chapter 31 they're gonna have a blow up this son-in-law father-in-law they are going to have a massive blow up and it's really not so much about the daughter daughters-in-law it's more about the money it's more about the wages listen to this this contentious interaction I'll read it for you Genesis chapter 31 verse 41 through 43 Jacob exclaims to his father-in-law these twenty years I have been in your house I have served you 14 years for your two daughters and six years for your flock and you have changed my wages ten times if the god of my father the God of Abraham and the fear of Isaac had not been on my side surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed God saw my affliction and the labor of my hands and rebuked you last night at this point it just seems like Levens just saying what would you like to be paid everything seems fine on the surface but this is going to be the point of contention later on this arrangement is going to turn into a mess very quickly he says in verse 16 Jacob does now Laban had two daughters the name of the older was Leah in the name of the younger was Rachel Leah's eyes were weak but Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance now when you see the characteristics of these two women these two daughters of Laban they seem to be very different now recall contextually what these women likely would have been wearing these women likely would have been wearing robes that would have gone from the neck down to their feet and they would have also been wearing scarves over their face a veil over their face and over their hair so what would have been visible to the to the everyday man outside the home the eyes the eyes would have been a main focal point and then for Jacob he's also looking at whatever this robe will reveal to him and he says Leah's eyes were weak now I don't think that's saying that she had bad vision Leah's eyes were weak the only thing that is visible about Leah is that she's kind of homely I think that's what that means she's got weak eye she doesn't have beautiful eyes the only thing we can see is not much to behold I think that's the point here she's the eldest daughter but Jacob doesn't find her attractive at all you say well that sure is carnal well that sure is Jacob Leah's eyes were weak but Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance no exegesis needed verse 18 says Jacob loved Rachel and he said I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel Laban said it is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to any other man stay with me so Jacob served seven years for Rachel and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her there there there seems to be very few passages on all of the Bible that rival a kind of loving description like that that these seven years of service seemed as but a few days because of the love that he had for Rachel he sees her in extreme beauty prizes her he prizes her so much that he just throws that I'll serve you for seven years before you give her to me as a wife and why is Jacob having to do this this is not only part of his wages this is also indicative of the fact that Jacob doesn't have any kind of money to give as a dowry if Jacob had money he would have given that to Laban or if Jacob had flocks he would have given that to Laban in exchange for Rachel but Jacob doesn't have anything so he's going to turn himself into an indentured servant let me tell you friends the borrower is slave to the lender the morrow whereas slave to the lender but it seemed as a few days because of the love that he had for her so there's the arrangement I'll serve you seven years and then you give me your younger daughter to marry doesn't seem like a poor arrangement to us I would think but it says in verse 21 on down this doesn't turn out the way Jacob expected look at verse 21 then Jacob said to Laban give me that's an imperative give me my wife that I may go into her from my time is completed there's no secret about what he's saying here give me this one I have worked my time it's time for us to be married and he wants to sleep with her give me this woman that I may go into her from my time is completed I've paid you in full we agreed on this a time back seven years ago we agreed on this verse twenty-two so Laban gathered all the people of the place and made a feast a Mista made a feast now that word feast is seeming seemingly a harmless as a translation into the English but elsewhere in the Old Testament when that word Mistah is used it's talking about a drinking party it's not talking just about you know a good old Baptist Fellowship where everybody brings their casseroles and we sit down to eat and we're all stuffed that's not what it's talking about it's talking about where they kill all the fat and calves and they have alcohol out Ville wahzoo this is a drinking feast that's what it is in Esther chapter not her chapter five rather this is this is how it's described that the king was feasting they were having a drinking party and the King says Esther you can have up to half my kingdom what would you want why does he say that he's drunk he says in the Book of Daniel that that the King would have these feasting parties he would have all of this drink but but Daniel wouldn't participate in that here it is Laban he's going to throw a good old-fashioned kegger as a party for this marriage so Laban gathered together all the people the place and made a feast a drinking party but in the evening he took his daughter Leah Leah as which daughter the weak-eyed she's the older daughter but he took Leah and brought her to Jacob and he went into her you said Jacob what's going through your head what else going through your mind here I would probably reply and say not much not much going through his mind because he just got finished with this Mysti he just got finished with this drinking party he he lets his guard down he never thought he needed his guard up in the first place he thought Laban had his best interests in mind he's been serving him for seven years here's Jacob holding up his end of the bargain Jacob has done everything that he is supposed to do but Laban pulls the rug out from under him at the last moment and Jacob is not wise enough to see it because he's drunk he does everything right until the night off one night one night maid Laban job easy he took his daughter Leah verse 23 and brought her to Jacob and he went into her verse 24 just parenthetically we'll see why here in just a little bit it says Laban gave his female servant Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her servant and in the morning verse 25 behold it was Leah and Jacob said to Laban what is this that you have done to me you've seen that phrase three times before in the book of Genesis you saw that whenever Abraham handed his wife over to Pharaoh and everybody in Pharaoh's house goes barren and God's gonna kill people and Pharaoh finds that out and he looks at Abraham Abram at that point he says what is this that you have done to me and you remember he escorts him under armed guard out of Egypt don't come back and you remember that just just a little bit after that Abram hands his wife over again not to Pharaoh but to Abimelech he hands his wife over to Abimelech king of the Philistines and then some years later some years later Isaac Isaac hands Rebecca over - who - Abimelech and both times Abimelech comes to them and says what is this that you have done to me remember God says to Abimelech you are a dead man because of the woman that's in your house she is another man's wife and Abimelech says what is this that you have done to me now it seems like the sins of the grandfather and the sins of the father are coming to bite the sins of the son and jacob says what is this that you have done to me you have sinned Grievous grievously against me he says he says did I not serve you serve with you for Rachel why then have you deceived me that same term is used of the serpent in Genesis 3 why have you deceived me you have acted as Satan towards me why have you done this Laban said in verse 26 maybe said it is not so done in our country to give the younger before the firstborn it's not our custom we don't we don't allow the younger to be married before the older well Jacobs already set aside the customs of the place as soon as Jacob showed up he said why are y'all watering the Sheep right now you have no business doing this Jacob doesn't care to know the people that he's coming to doesn't excuse the deception of Laban but maybe it would have increased the perception of Jacob but Jacob doesn't see this and Laban says well it's just not so done in our country Laban immediately tries to deflect the blame you're gonna see he's going to deflect the blame on the whole of the community here in just a moment says it's not so done in our country verse 26 to give the younger before the first born verse 27 complete the week of this one now that's not talking about seven years that's actually talking about the the marital week the mich two week see the feast that would take place was a seven-day feast it's a seven-day drinking party where they would celebrate the whole community would come out and celebrate this marriage he says okay well let's just have another party let's have seven more days of feasting you complete the week of feasting for Rachel and I'm just gonna give her to you as well he says complete the week of this one verse 27 and we will give you the other also in return for serving another seven years you notice that he doesn't say and I he says and we who is he talking about he is talking about the community it's not so done in our area this is not our culture you you serve another week another seven years and we'll give you the younger we will Laban saying it's not my fault our whole community decided to do this well let Laban is a snake one of the things that's ironic about this passage is this that Jacob has left the Near East for the Far East he's traveled halfway across the known world to meet a wife but what he's really met was his match when Jacob was back in his home he was deceiving his brother he was deceiving his father and here he goes he thinks he's running away from deception and he's running away from his problems and really he's going to go to a place where he's going to be out Jacob he's going to be out deceived and he and his father-in-law are going to go back and forth for 20 years I just find this to be an interesting note God is willing to teach us hard lessons I truly believe that that God is willing to teach us hard lessons when Jacob comes back from his time with Laban Jacob is going to learn his hardest lesson Jacob has wrestled with man for all of his life Jacob's also going to have to wrestle with God and he's going to walk away from that wrestling match with a wounded hip and Jacob is going to walk for the rest of his life

Channel: Dr. Jordan Neal Rogers

Views: 4,646

Rating: 4.7818184 out of 5

Keywords: preaching, teaching, preacher, teacher, Genesis, Genesis 29, Jacob, Rachel, Leah, Zilpah, Bilhah, Laban, marriage, marry, deceive, deceitful, trick, trickster, Old Testament, Messiah, Messianic, Christian, Christ, Jesus, Gospel, salvation, Lord, hope, help, understand, God, Father, Holy Spirit, expository, expository preaching, exposition, exposit, exegesis, exegetical, Hillcrest, Baptist, Church, Nederland, Texas, Dr. Rogers, Jordan, Neal, Rogers

Id: eE8FMEa254c

Length: 37min 32sec (2252 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 18 2019