Genesis chapter 28 And our text we found in verse let's
read Verse 10 down through verse 15 and Jacob went out from Beersheba
and went to Haran and he lighted upon a certain place and He tarried
there all night, because the sun was set, and he took the
stones of that place, and put them for his pillow, and lay
down on that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, a
ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven.
And behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above
it and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham, thy father, and the
God of Isaac, the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give
it and to thy seed. Thy seed shall be as the dust
of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, to
the east, and to the north, and to the south. And in thee and
in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And
behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither
thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land. I will
not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee
of. Now, the title of the message
is Christ, Our Ladder. Christ, Our Ladder. Now, in this
place we read of Jacob who was fleeing from Esau. You remember
he stole the birthright and his father passed and now then he
was leaving that place and heading to his uncle's house. And after he had been manifest
to be the chosen vessel and received the birthright, he flees in fear
to this place and he falls asleep here. And in this vision of God,
in his dream, he sees a ladder. A ladder that is set up upon
the earth that extends from the earth all the way to heaven. Now, what then is the significance
of this vision? He sees on this ladder angels
ascending and descending. He sees the Lord God at the top
of this ladder in heaven and God pronounces upon Him blessings
and promises. And you'll notice the thing that
connects Jacob to heaven, that connects these angels that are
ascending and descending, the thing that connects the promises
of God to man is this ladder. And what is the significance
of this ladder? What is it? I want you to see
that this ladder that is set up upon earth and reaches to
heaven, I want you to see this is the whole of the message,
is this, Jesus Christ is the ladder. The ladder is a picture
of Christ. It is intended to represent and
picture Jesus Christ. Now, one preacher said this a
long time ago. He said, Blessed is the man that
has the key to understanding the Holy Scripture. And that key, the key to understanding
the book of God is Jesus Christ. He is the key to understanding
this book. And if you neglect this key,
you will not understand the scriptures. You remember when our Lord Jesus
Christ died and rose again. His disciples were troubled about
the death of the Messiah. They didn't understand. And Christ
himself said this, ought not Christ to have suffered and entered
into his glory? And then beginning at Moses,
and that's where we're at, Moses wrote this. And beginning at
Moses and all of the prophets, he expounded unto them in all
the scriptures, what? Things concerning himself. Things concerning himself. And so, over in Luke chapter
24, he appears to them and he speaks to them, he says, while
I spake with you, while I was yet with you, that all things
must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and
the prophets and the Psalms concerning me. Then opened he their understanding
that they might understand the scriptures. You see the key here?
The key to understanding the scriptures is Christ. But yet
even knowing this, even if I tell you this and you say, okay, that
sounds good. I'll try to do that. You still
can't see him unless he opens your understanding. Opening your
understanding is not opening your academic mind to the scriptures,
but it is opening your heart to see them. It is opening your
eyes to see Christ on every page. And not only seeing Him, but
desiring to see Him on every page. He opened their understanding
that they might understand the scriptures and said unto them,
thus it is written, thus it behooved Christ to suffer and rise again
the third day. Why did it behoove Christ? It
was written. How much importance does Jesus
Christ place on these scriptures? It was written, therefore it
behooved Christ to suffer and rise again. It was written. That repentance and remission
of sin should be preached in His name among all nations beginning
at Jerusalem. And so then all Christ spoke,
all that Christ did, He did according to the Scriptures. Listen, the
Word of God, if God doesn't open your understanding this morning,
no matter how plain, I told you this at the beginning, I want
to be plain. I want to be clear. And yet, I can be as clear as
I possibly can, but without Him opening your understanding, you
will not understand this. You will not get it. This is
how ruined man is, that he cannot understand the scriptures except
God reveal it to him. How many know theology but don't
know God? How many know Calvinism but don't
know Christ? How many claim to believe on
Christ but have no understanding of his pardon or his work? Which
work was written by the prophets and the Psalms and accomplished
by him? But the one who is born again
of the Holy Spirit, we know he's the key. We know he's the key
to this text as well as every other picture in the Old Testament. He's the key. Why? Because God
who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in
our hearts and given us the knowledge of the glory of God where? In
the face of Jesus Christ. We are able to see Him in the
text, in the scriptures. And so throughout this text as
well as all the Old Testament, the theme is Christ. The theme is Christ. It's not
just about a history of the Hebrew race. It's not just a book of
interesting stories. Much more, it's not even a book
of how to make men moral. That's what most people view
the scriptures, especially the Old Testament. They think it's
a book about morality. It's not. It's about Christ. It's about Christ. You study
this book, but if you miss this key, In our text today, you will
not understand. Christ is the key. Remember he
told those Pharisees, he says, search the scriptures. Go ahead,
search the scriptures. In them you think you have eternal
life. Now they were sure, they thought
they had eternal life. They were, you told a Pharisee
he was going to hell, he said, what? No, you are. I'm not. He was sure he was going
to heaven. But Christ said no. Search the
scriptures. In them you think you have eternal
life, but you missed it. They are they that testify of
me. If you missed that, you've missed
salvation. You've missed all hope. Scriptures
testify of Christ. He is the key to our text. So
let's see this now. I want you to see first of all
that Christ is this. He is the one and only ladder
that is set up upon the earth. That's important. It is set up
upon the earth and reaches to heaven. There's an old rock song,
Stairway to Heaven. The key theme of it, and this
shows you how religion and even rock and roll music are all combined
together. They all think the same. She's
buying her stairway to heaven. That's exactly what religion
tells you, isn't it? Not any different theology than
false religion. Earning, meriting their way to
heaven, building their stairway to heaven by good works in religion. But behold, I want you to see
this, that the distance between God and man is too great. The
distance between God and man cannot be bridged by man. It cannot be bridged by his works. The great distance between God
and man is as far as heaven is from earth. If you got a concept of space,
you go outside of this world and you go into space. How far
can you go before you actually were to get to heaven? That's how far the distance is
between God and man. It's a great gulf and that what
he said to that rich man in hell, he said, behold, there is a great
gulf fixed. so that you cannot come here
and we cannot go there. It's a great gulf that can't
be bridged. It's a great separation. Earth
is a place of man. It's a place where there is a
curse. It is a place of sorrow, of trouble,
of grief and death. The earth is a place like this
because of sin. Sin. Because man by nature is
depraved and vile and corrupt and he is dead. Consider that. How then could a dead man build
anything to bridge this gap? He can't. Wherefore is by one
man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so that death
passed upon all men. For all have sinned. All have sinned. It's a great
gulf. Therefore man is separated from
God. because of sin. He is unable
and unwilling to come to God. Remember in Romans 3, it says
this, as it is written. You know why he said that? Because
when he says that, it means it's fixed. There's no way to change
this. You can try to imagine it a way
if you want to. Listen, it is written and God
wrote it. There is none righteous, no,
not one. And what does it take to bridge
the gap between man and God? I'll tell you what it takes.
Perfect righteousness. And yet, there is none righteous. No, not one. There's none that
understand. We don't understand what it would
take to bridge the gap between us and God. There's none that
understand it. There's none that even seek after
God. Seek after a God of their own
imagination. And they can bridge that gap. There's not much to
bridge a gap of a God of your own imagination. Matter of fact,
you're higher than the God you imagine. You created Him. If you created Him, then He surely
is lower than you. There's none righteous. There's
none able to bridge this gap. And in this scene before us,
Jacob, he's a picture too. He's a picture of the elect of
God. He's a picture of the elect of
God. Though He was chosen, now He was chosen. Paul reveals this
to us in Romans chapter 9, that before the children were born,
having done good or evil, that the purpose of God according
to election might stand. It was said to her, the elder
shall serve the younger as it is written. There it is again.
As it is written. Can't erase it. Jacob have I
loved, but Esau have I hated. Jacob was a chosen vessel of
God. Chosen before he was born. Loved
before he was born. And yet now, Jacob comes out,
and his name is supplanter, his name is trickster, that's his
name. And he comes out of the womb, and what's the first thing
he does with this information? He steals the birthright. He
tricks and connives to have the birthright. He doesn't really
understand what that birthright is. Yet he knows he's got to have
it. So he tricks everyone to get this birthright and he loses
everything doing it. You see him now in our text running
like a scared child from Esau. Feared and death of death. And so this man Jacob, we see
him here, and I want you to know at this point, Jacob's lost.
Jacob is not saved. Jacob is lost. Yeah, he has the
birthright in hand. Yeah, he received the blessing
from his father, but he still hasn't understood the meaning
of it. Remember, that's what he says in Deuteronomy 32.10.
He tells us how he found Jacob. He said, I found him in a waste,
howling wilderness. That's where I found him. What
a picture of the elect, because that's where he finds us. He
finds us in our lost condition like he found Jacob. Though we
were lost, though we were chosen and redeemed, yet we were born
dead, walking according to the lust of our flesh, in bondage
of sin, and all the elect must be found and exposed just like
he did Jacob. He must expose our sin. He must expose our need of this
ladder. Sinners, see what then separates
you so infinitely from your God as you're seeing. Many of us
have heard of Christ, we've heard of God's grace, we've heard of
His blood atonement, yet why will you still not come? Why will you still not come to
Christ alone? Why are you still walking after
your sin and lust of your flesh? You still will not surrender
to Christ and bow before Him. You will not forsake your religion. I'll tell you this, I wouldn't
forsake my Calvinism. When I was young, I knew Calvinism. You know what, that was my hope.
I had to abandon that. I needed Christ. And with Christ
as the key, then I understood how it was a true doctrine. Then
I understood what it meant. I trusted in myself. I trusted
in my knowledge. I must abandon my knowledge and
seek Christ. I must find Him. I must have
Him. We by nature desire to Christ
to be our equal. We desired to have a partnership,
didn't we? Well, Lord, you know, you build
this ladder so much and then I'll finish. I'll finish the
ladder. No. That's what we desire. We desire to share in God's glory.
But unless God strip us of all we have to offer, unless God
cast us out and set us alone like He did Jacob, He will never
save you. He must cast you aside. And let's
consider Jacob and his, he was utterly alone. Wasn't he? He
was utterly alone. He had to leave everything. And
that's what God is going to do. If he's going to save a sinner,
he separates him from everything he can depend on. You depend on your own strength?
God'll take that away. You depend on your mind and how
smart you are? God'll take that away. And leaves
you alone. Have you ever been alone? If
God's going to save you, He's going to put you alone. He's
going to put you in a wilderness alone by yourself. Like Jacob,
we'll be driven into the wilderness into a place where we are utterly
helpless to save ourselves. And it's here our sin and guilt
are exposed and God's holy nature is manifest. Remember when David
said this, I acknowledge my transgression and my sin is ever before me
against thee and thee only have I sinned. See, God, when he brings
a sinner to himself, that's exactly where he brings him and shows
him his sin and his sins against God. The man has ever been driven to see his lost estate. See that great gulf that is fixed
that no ladder of his works or religion can build. And that
man, unless God does that, that man will never be saved. He'll
try to keep building that and building that and building that.
He'll be like those fellas building that Tower of Babel. Those men, they sincerely thought
they could build a city to reach God. And that's what religion
tells you, that you can do it. Christ did the initial work,
but the rest you've got to fulfill. You've got to build the rest.
What happened to those people at the Tower of Babel? You know, the Lord confused their
language, didn't He? You know what religion is? Religion
is confusion. They thrive in confusion. They
thrive off opinions and not the truth, not according to the Word
of God. They thrive on their feelings,
on their emotions. I feel like this. I think this. That's religion and that's confusion. If you say one thing and I say
something totally opposite, can we both be right? In religion
you can. It's confusing. But Jesus Christ, my friend,
He is the ladder sent from God. The only mediator that has ever
bridged the gap between man and God is Christ. There is one mediator
between God and men. One. The man, Christ Jesus. The man, Christ Jesus. He is
the ladder. Now secondly, see this. that
this ladder, it's important to understand that this ladder was
set upon the earth. He dreamed and behold the ladder
set up on the earth. Behold the wisdom of God that
before sin, before Adam's sin, God purposed that Jesus Christ
should be the representative of Jacob. that he should be the representative
of all his people. Therefore, the scripture declares,
the seed of the woman, a man. In the beginning, he told us
it was going to be a man that was to crush the head of the
serpent. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and
thou shalt call his name, what? God with us on the earth. on the earth. This text, it speaks
of the humanity of the Son of God. That He who was one with
God from eternity should be made flesh. John says that in the
beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word
was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. And all things that were made were made by Him. And then in verse 14 of John
1 he says, and the word that was with God and was God was
made flesh and dwelt among us. God hears testifying of Christ
coming to the earth in order to do what? In order to build
this ladder. In order to bridge the gap, He
must set it, He must establish it on the earth. Why? Because
that's where sin came in. Sin came by a man. Sin came by
a representative man. Even so must righteousness come
by a representative man. Adam had access to God. He was
perfect. He was holy. And it was Adam
that destroyed that access. How then shall this access be
restored? It is by a representative man
set up right here on the earth. Christ came into the world as
a man. John bare record this. He said,
I saw the Spirit descending on him like a dove in a boat on
him. I knew him not. But he that sent me, baptized
with water, said unto me, Upon whom ye shall see the Spirit
descending and remaining on him, the same is he which baptized
with the Holy Ghost. I saw in bare record that this
is the Son of God. Son of God. You see, Jesus was
sent to establish righteousness and judgment in the earth. We went over this in Wednesday
services in Jeremiah 23. In his days, Judah shall be saved
and Israel shall dwell safely, and his name shall be called
the Lord our righteousness. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord. We say no more. The Lord liveth. I'm sorry, in
the previous verse of this, he says he he shall establish judgment
and justice in the earth. Establish justice and judgment.
That's what he was sent to do. And his name is the Lord our
righteousness. He was going to do this in righteousness. The
sin of God to accomplish what none of us could. To build a righteousness. To build a righteousness. In
Romans, that passage in Romans chapter three, It comes to mind
Romans 3 and I believe verse 22. If I can find it. Romans 3 and verse 22, even the
righteousness of God, which is by the faith, what? Of Christ. He came to establish the righteousness
of God by His own obedience. And that's what with this ladder
is. He is the ladder by which He bridges the gap and provides
righteousness. Do you need righteousness? To
be accepted with God, you need the righteousness of God. Therefore,
Christ came to establish that righteousness. And not only this,
He established justice and judgment. How did He do this? By dying
in the stead of His people. The scripture tells us He bore
our sins in His own body on the tree. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians
chapter 5 that God hath reconciled us. What does that mean? He bridged the gap. He reconciled
us to God by Jesus Christ. And he committed to us the word
of reconciliation. That's what I'm here to talk
to you about and preach to you about, is that the reconciliation has
been made. The ladder is built. The connection
between God and man is established. And Christ did this. Jesus did
this. All by Himself. It's not a partial
salvation. It is a full, complete, absolutely
perfect ladder. It reaches to heaven. It doesn't
come short. Every man's ladder comes short. Except His. He is the one set
up upon the earth that reaches heaven. He committed to us the word of
reconciliation, not imputing their trespasses to them. He
committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you,
in Christ's stead, be you reconciled. be reconciled. By what grounds, pastor, can
a sinner be reconciled? For God hath made him to be sin,
who knew no sin. That we, sinners, should be made
the righteousness of God in him. Thus, by his work, the ladder
of grace is firmly established and the work is accomplished.
It reaches all the way to God without our works and without
our obedience. He then is all our salvation,
all our righteousness, all our wisdom, all our sanctification,
all of our redemption. And secondly, I want you to see
this. Notice the angels ascending and descending upon this. Go
back to your text. He said this ladder was set upon
the earth, and the top of it reached heaven. And behold, the
angels of God ascending and descending. This shows us that there is only
one way for sinners to be saved. The only way to ascend or descend
from God is by Christ. The only way to get to God is
by Christ. There is only one way by which a man may have access
to God, and that is by Jesus Christ. Our Lord Himself said
this. Now look, this is either true
or Christ is a liar. There's no other way to put it.
He said, I am the way. How many ways are there to God? Religion tells you many ways
to God. Either they're lying or He is. I'm just going to put this, they're
lying. I am the way. I am the truth. Is there any other truth outside
of Him? No. I am the truth. I am the life. Is there any life outside of
Him? No, I'm it. Listen to these words. No man
cometh to the Father but by. You got that? I mean, do you realize that destroys
All false religion just destroys it, just totally evaporates it.
Easy text for you to understand. Anybody misunderstand that? Is
it possible for you to misunderstand that? No. You can hate it, you can reject
it, you can despise it, but that doesn't make it any less true. So any man tells you, you've
got to come to God by some priest, some preacher, some pope, they're
a liar. Christ is true. They're the liars. There's only one way to God.
There's only one ladder set up on this earth that reaches all
the way to heaven, and it's Christ. The only way to ascend to God
is through Christ. That's it. The only way you're going to
go to cry, God, is through Christ. No man comes to the Father but
by me. Christ is one ladder that was
set up on the earth, reaches heaven. Sinner, behold Christ
then by faith. Look, I beg you all this morning,
look to Christ. Abandon every hope you have and
believe Him. And you have access to God. You may rightly ascend into the
presence of the Father through His righteousness and blood.
The only way to God is by Christ. Paul says in Hebrews chapter
4, seeing them we have a great high priest. One who is offered
a sacrifice acceptable to God. He is passed into the heavens,
Jesus the Son of God. Let us hold fast our profession. I don't care what happens to
you in this world. Hold on. By faith, hold to Christ. Hold fast your profession. When
the world is set against you and all the feelings of your
mind and your thoughts are pulling you in the opposite direction,
hold fast your profession. Cling tightly to this ladder.
It is the only way to God. For we have not in high priesthood
not touched with the feelings of our infirmities. You got that?
He understands your plight. He was a man, wasn't he? Only
difference is he was without sin. He was without sin. Let us therefore
come boldly. Let us ascend then boldly by
Christ into the throne of grace to help in time of need. Believer,
you have need? Ascend. Instantly. You don't have to
leave a seat. a sin by faith before the throne
of God and make your request known that he will help you.
He will help you. I don't deserve help. No, you
don't. He does. I'm not pleading for justice.
I'm pleading for mercy. sinners seek mercy you need mercy
there he is come by him you have mercy come any other way you'll
be damned come any other way i don't care how much sincere
you think it is i don't care how sincere you are about it
any other ladder leads to hell this one and only this one leads
to glory Only Christ. And see this, the angels ascending
and descending, I want you to see this, that all of providence,
now you understand that angels ascend into heaven, receive their
orders from Christ and descend because they are ministering
spirits, sent to minister among the saints. Consider this then,
that all the providence that takes place in our life, is constantly
coming down to us from God through Christ. So everything that happens
to you is an act of love and mercy. You got that? How do you suppose
an angel would treat you, again, if you were outside of Christ?
But you that are in Christ, oh, you are precious. And they receive
their orders to take care of you. I don't understand this. I'm not going to sit here and
talk about angels, but I know that they are and they're used
of God and they're beings and God sends them and removes them. You know what? They ascend and
they descend. They come and they go. They help. Doesn't keep us from trouble,
does it? Does it keep us from calamities? No. He actually designs
those. You that are in Christ, for your
mercy. So then, let's consider this.
All blessings come upon us through Christ. You have a blessing? Does this word bless your heart?
Does Christ seeing Him as your only hope, does that not instill
love? Joy? That all my salvation is
built? That it requires nothing of me? Isn't that blessing that He sends
down into your soul and gives you these things? Alright, go
ahead and raise your hand if you think you merited any of
that. None of His people will. We know we did not merit those
blessings, but they always come anyway. They come anyway. And I want you to see this. Look
who stands at the top of this. He said, he sees the angels of
God ascending and descending. This is Him controlling all providence.
But I want you to see who's standing at the top of this ladder. And behold, stop and look at
this. Behold, the Lord stood above
it and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham, thy father, the God
of Isaac. I am the Lord God. That's the
one who stood above this. See, the one whose purpose decreed
and designed our salvation is God, and he stands above this
ladder for this purpose, to show us he's making sure it's done. My dad, when he was a I owned
a plumbing company, he used to have foreman's. You know what
they did? They went around and they didn't
have to pick up much, do much, but they stood around to make
sure the job was done right. Listen, God doesn't hire someone
else to stand over his work and make sure it's done right. He
himself is standing above it to make sure it's done. That's
salvation that Christ accomplished for his elect. If you mark it
down, God is making sure it's done. Go to Isaiah 46. Isaiah 46. Now this is the one who's standing
above this. This is the one who's making sure that this salvation
that Christ accomplished, He is making sure that it is applied
and the blessings are coming down. He is making sure of it. Look at this in verse 9. Remember the former things of
old, for I am God, and there is none else. I am God, and there
is none like me. Declaring the end. When did he
do that? When did he declare the end of
all things? From the beginning. from ancient times the things
that were not yet done saying my counsel shall stand and I
will do all my pleasure if men will just allow me to. Arrogance, false religion is
full of arrogance as though their will has anything to do with
it. No, God says I'll do all my pleasure. And notice this, he gives an
example, calling Cyrus, a ravenous bird from the east, to execute
my counsel from a far country. He said, I'm going to show you
how much in charge I really am. I'm going to take a man that
doesn't know me at all, and I'm going to make him do what I want
him to do. And he did. Called him by name, Cyrus, called
him by name. Said, that's the man I'm going
to use to deliver my people back to their house, back to their
homeland. And you know what happened? It was done. It was done. Yeah, I've spoken it, I will
bring it to pass. I have purposed it, I will also
do it. Whatsoever God decreed in eternity,
whatever He was pleased to do, whatsoever He has spoken, He
will do it. Okay, what has He spoken? What
is His purpose? What is He going to do? Look
at verse 13. Here's what He's going to do.
I bring near my righteousness. What is He going to bring? He's
going to bring salvation. This is my will. This is what I'm
going to do. I'm going to bring salvation.
I'm going to bring righteousness. Who is that? That's Christ. Again,
remember, we're using the key. We're using the key to Scripture.
Who is that? I'm going to bring my righteousness.
What does that mean? That means He's going to bring Christ, His righteousness. And it shall not be far off.
And my salvation shall not tarry. I will place salvation. Where? In Zion. What do you think he's doing
all this for Jacob for? What do you think he's doing
that? Why do you think he spared Jacob?
Why do you think he kept Jacob? Why do you think he? Because
that's the one by whom the seed should come. He didn't keep Jacob
because Jacob was good. He didn't keep Jacob around because
Jacob was useful. He said, that's the one by which
Christ is going to come. He said, I will place salvation
in Zion, listen, for Israel. My glory. The righteousness and
salvation is Jesus Christ, which message he purposed and declared
to the stout-hearted rebels, to sinners, to you who I'm preaching to now.
All of you like Jacob who are lost and without God, listen,
come now to Christ. Believe now on Him. You know what? That just doesn't
take anything from you. Faith is something God gives.
And when you believe, you won't have to worry about it. You will
believe. God desires you to believe, you're
going to believe. You're going to love it. Come to Christ. See this, not
all will believe it. Not all will come to Christ.
Not all will bow. Then is God's purpose foiled?
Is God's purpose disannulled? No! In Isaiah 14 he says, The
Lord of hosts hath purposed it, who shall disannul it? And his
hand is stretched out, who shall turn it back? I will place salvation
in Zion for Israel. And so then as we see at the
top of the ladder, who's actually doing it? It is the Lord God.
You that are in Christ, do you suppose that there's anything
that will separate you from Him? If the Lord God has put you in
Christ, given you faith in Christ, do you suppose that there's any
now to remove you from him?" No. He stood above it to make
sure it's done. And he said, all my counsel be
done. Everything I promised you I'll do. The Lord God whose will
cannot be broken, who rules all things after the counsel and
power of his own will, the Lord God, none other, the author and
finisher of our salvation? His power cannot be broken. Why
then would you as a sinner trust in anything else? Why would you trust in a man? I hope that none of you ever
trust in me. I'm a man. When you come here, I always
beg you to hear him. Don't listen to me, hear him. Why put your trust in a man?
Listen, why put your trust in yourself? As though you could build your
own ladder to glory. Man is weak and cannot bridge
the gap. We need a salvation that is decreed
by God alone. We need a salvation that God
himself is responsible to complete and the one that stands above
it to make sure it's done. And that salvation is in Jesus
Christ alone, set up upon the earth so that now sinners may
come to God. You know what the scripture says
in Hebrews chapter 9? It says, in no uncertain terms,
that Christ's work was successful. That Christ's work was successful.
It says, those high priests, they stand daily ministering,
the sacrifices that offer can never take away sin, but this
man, you listen to me, this latter, this man, Christ, after he had
offered one sacrifice for his sins, forever sat down at the
right hand of God. Why would he sit down at the
right hand of God? Because it's finished. There's
no more work to be done. Expecting till his enemies be
made his footstool. For by his one offering he hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified. And I know this,
I don't have time now, but man, the promises. He who stands above
this ladder gives us great and precious promises. Look at this,
what he declares here, and I'll go back to your text, and I'll
just have to close with this and maybe I'll pick up some other
time. Look at this, see, Go back to 13, He says, And behold,
the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham
thy father, the God of Isaac, the land wherein thou liest,
to thee will I give it and to thy seed. You know what He promises
every one of His elect? Heaven. Now talk about a physical land.
Jacob never even he wandered about in that land until he went
to Egypt. He didn't even see the conquest of that land. He believed it, but I'll tell
you this. This is a picture also of what God has sworn to give
his people heaven. Eternal life. You know, John,
when he saw in the vision, he said that that heaven was a place
where where there were no there was no sin. No one that maketh a lie. A place of perfect rest and joy
and peace, constant perpetual joy and love. That's what God
has promised to give us. I'll tell you this, the scripture
tells us that we should inherit this place through much tribulation. We're going to go through a lot
of trouble. But our hope, our confidence of the future is what?
Heaven. Eternal life. And see this, and thy seed shall
be as, he said, I will give it thee and to thy seed. And who
is that? Key. Here's a key. Christ. He gave it to Christ. To whom
does heaven belong? belongs to Christ. And because
of his love, he gives it to us. He said, It is your father's
good. Go look in the mirror and see
if you can see anything in you that would deserve to hear that. It's your father's good pleasure
to give you the kingdom because of me, because he gave it to
me and because he gives it to me, I give it to you. And notice
he promises the success of this seed. He said, Thy seed shall
be as the dust of the earth. Thou shalt spread abroad to the
west, to the east, to the north, and to the south. And in thee
and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. You see, he promises and elects
people that he's going to gather. I like this. He said, I was reading
this again this morning. That word spread abroad means
to bust out. It's like you're getting full
after supper and your pants want to bust out. What is it? Burst out! That's what's going
to happen to this seed. Why? Because Christ is going
to get his people. He's going to gather them to
himself and they're going to spread. They're going to spread. And notice this, behold I am
with thee. There's that promise descending
down the ladder, I will be with thee. No matter what happens,
I will be with thee. And will keep thee in all places
where thou goest. Believer, why are you still here? of all the troubles you faced,
all the hardships and trials and tears and pains. Why have you not left? I have sadly seen many go. I've
seen many claim to love him. And they seem much stronger than
me. Why am I still here? I am This is the promise of God, who
stands above, making sure it's done. I will keep thee wherever
you go, however you fail. No matter what you fear or doubt,
I'm with you and I'm keeping you. You tell them, I'll tell
you why. for His own glory. His own glory. And I will bring you
to this land. I will bring you to heaven. How
is it that we come to heaven? By Christ, our Father, set up
on the earth as a representative man, built up to glory, from
which all the blessings of God descend upon His people. by which all the promises of
God are yea and amen in Christ. He stands above it to make sure
it's done. Who then? Who? Who shall match omnipotence,
unfold the grasp of thy right hand and pluck the sinner? That's
who. No one. I'll keep you. I'll be with you. And I'll bring you to myself.
I pray God bless this to you. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer.