is gonna be where our text is,
but I wanna touch on some things before we get there. Oh, and you have brethren, specifically,
I'm told to tell you. For this congregation here, for
God's people in this county, Southern California, there are
groups of people, believers, that pray for us in West Virginia,
a couple different groups in Tennessee, in Kentucky, in New
Jersey, in Texas, in a lot of different places. Missouri, a
couple places in Missouri, they pray for us and they want you
to know that they pray for you. And they pray for God's work
to be established here and for Him to keep it. They do. I hope
that's a comfort to you. There are places all over and
they want you to know. They pray for you and want you
to know about it. Here in Genesis, we're looking
at Jacob. The title of this message is,
Go up to Bethel. Go up to Bethel. The life of Jacob does not look
like what the world would call a Christian's life. Worldly people
say that. His life ain't what the worldly
Christians would call a Christian life, is it? From that birth,
his twin brother come out first, he's holding on to his heel.
Grabbing Hulk, taking by force, supplanting. So tricked his brother
into starving to death. That's what I was just saying
about if your brother comes in and says, I'm dying. I gotta
eat. And you say, give me your car.
Give me this. What? No, you give him something
to eat. Lord said, you being evil, you
don't give your sons a scorpion when they ask you for a fish.
Jacob tricked his brother. He said, I'll give you this bowl
of beans. You can give me your birthright because I want something
from you. Deceived him, tricked him. He tricked his father, his
mother. Lord spoke to his mother and
she didn't forget it her whole life, did she? God speaks it
permanently. His mother helped him, he tricked
his father to receive that birthright, receive that blessing. And then
Isaac was tricked again by his wife and sent Jacob away. She
said, oh, Esau's gonna kill you. Well, I can fix this. Hey, honey,
tell him to go find him a wife. Hey, it's time, he's 70. Come
on now. Now just, you govern your house
and say, get out and go get married. It's time, plenty enough time
to save his life. But then God came to Jacob, didn't
he? He'd done a whole lot of things
in 70-some years, a whole lot of things, hadn't he? He hadn't
met God. He dressed like his brother.
He was a picture of us, wearing his brother's clothes, smelling
like his brother, bringing his brother's venison, not mentioning
the works that he did in the past to get the blessing of the
Father. He was a picture, didn't even
know what was going on. and then God came to him. Look here in
Genesis 28. Four things happened when God came to Jacob, and four
things happened to us, if, that's a big if, if God comes to us. What's the first thing? Genesis
28, verse 10, Christ is revealed. I wanna take the time to tell
you this too. The gospel's not presented. These words mean things. The gospel is not discussed.
The gospel doesn't have an open forum. The gospel isn't open
for questions, comments, or concerns. That's not preaching the gospel.
Let me say that again. That's not preaching the gospel.
Y'all hear me? That's talking about stuff that's
not preaching the gospel. The gospel is declared in power. If I ever speak with authority,
it's because I say, thus saith the Lord. Here's what God says. That's pretty, I hope God will
let me preach. Four things happen if God comes to a sinner. Pay
attention, verse 10. Jacob went out from Beersheba
and went down to Haran, and he lighted upon a certain place
and tarried there all night because the sun was set. And he took
up the stones of that place and put them for his pillows and
laid down in that place to sleep. He's nothing, he ain't even got
a pillow, he ain't got a coat to wad up, stick underneath his
head, he's using a rock. He's nothing, he don't know he's nothing.
But he is nothing. Verse 12. And he dreamed, and
behold, a ladder set upon earth. And the top of it reached to
heaven, and behold, the angels of God ascending and descending
on that ladder. Christ was revealed to him. We
looked at that a while back, didn't we? That's what God told Nathanael.
Get out of that tree, I gotta be with you. He said, because
I said to you, I saw you under a fig tree, you believe me? You
think that's something? Nathanael said, you gotta be
the son of God. You saw me underneath the tree. How'd you know my name? He said,
you think that's something? He said, verily, verily, two
verilies. Is that important? Should we pay attention, you
think? What does he say? I say unto you, hereafter you
shall see a heaven open, an angel of God ascending and descending
upon the Son of Man, capital S. You gonna see Christ exalted. You think what little bit you've
seen so far is something, Nathaniel, hold on to your britches. You're
gonna see, you got a whole lifetime of learning that Christ is exalted.
Now, whether you're Jacob, or you're Nathaniel, or whosoever
believes now, or whoever so shall believe. If God comes to you
to work in you, Christ will increase and you will decrease. You won't
get more uppity, you'll get more downity. Okay? I promise. If somebody just keeps getting,
that nose is so hot in there, they're going to drown if it
rains. God ain't humbled them yet. And we'll see more and more,
more and more. We're going to see that all spiritual
blessings come down from heaven through Christ. If we're to be
blessed, if grace has come to us with peace, if mercy, love,
if anything, it's going to come from the heavens through Christ
to us through his intervention and all prayers, all petitions,
all praise. If it goes to the throne, if,
if, if our worship is accepted of the father, It's through his
intercession. All of our benefits from his
intervention and all of our acceptance is by his intercession. Second
thing happens. One, Christ is exalted. Two,
a promise was given. A promise was given, not from
the center to God, but from God to the center. That's what happens
first. It's his words given. Verse 13, and behold, the Lord
stood above it and said, I'm the Lord God of Abraham, thy
father, and the God of Isaac. And the land whereon thou liest,
to thee I'll give it, to thee and all thy seed. And thy seed
shall be as the dust of the earth. And thou shalt spread abroad
to the west, to the east, to the north, to the south, and
in thee and in thy seed. Singular, right? Shall all the
families of the earth be blessed? And behold, I am with thee, and
I will keep thee in all places, whether thou goest, and will
bring thee again into this land. For I will not leave thee until
I have done that which I've spoken of thee." That man ain't going
to rest until the deal's done. Third, we see Christ exalted. We hear His promises. His promises,
His word. We see who Christ is, what He
will accomplish for His people. We see that that promise is through
the blood and the resurrection of Christ. And that new heart
will worship. And I don't mean act it and say
a bunch of flowery language and quote a bunch of scripture and
play church. It'll cry and rent its clothes and worship God.
It'll hit the dust. Humility, true humility, God-given
humility. That's the only kind of humility
there ever is. We'll come upon somebody and they'll worship.
We'll turn from our idols of old, whether they be drugs, loose
living, orthodox religion, or liberal religion. Whatever it
is, you won't progress to a better knowledge. You'll turn from that
and say, that's a waste. I was a liar. God's true. If
God saves you, if he comes to you. You'll turn from those things
and you'll worship the true and living God. Verse 16. And Jacob
awaked out of his sleep and he said, surely the Lord is in this
place. And I didn't know it. God's been
watching me this whole time. And I was just, I said prayers
and I wrote hymns and I've done this and that. And I didn't know
God. And not knowing him, I was at war with him. I hated God. And he revealed himself to me.
He made a promise to me. And boy, that's something. He
was afraid, verse 17. He said, how dreadful is this
place? This is none other but the house of God. It's the gate
of heaven. It's the door. Christ said, I'm
the door. Ain't it complicated, is it?
Jacob rose up early in the morning. That's good. It's good to get
up early. That happens a lot in the scriptures, don't it?
A lot in the scriptures. You children wake up early in
the morning. Good for you. Jacob rose up early and took
the stone that he had for his pillow, and he set it up for
a pillar. Where I'm from, we'd say he took
that pillar and made it a pillar. God can turn a pillar into a
pillar. What we call one thing changes drastically, don't it?
He made a pillar and poured oil upon the top of it, and he called
that name of that place Bethel. That's the house of God. That's
where God is. Fourthly, when we see Christ,
He that has eyes to see, let him see. When we hear his word, his promises,
if you have ears to hear, hear. If we are turned, repented at
pilgrimage from the mind of the flesh to the mind of Christ.
We're turned to Him, to bow to Him in adoration, not because
we grit our teeth and we have to. I guess He's God. I guess
we're going to have to bow now. I guess I'm going to have to
support that gospel. I guess I'm going to have to
pray. No, willingly. Hades is turning, because there's
a new heart. There's a new creation. We bow in adoration. Then, you
know what we do? We do anything we want. Whatever
you want until you die and then you get to go to heaven and kick
up gold dust. No! There's commitment. There's commitment. Verse 20.
Jacob vowed a vow, saying, if God will be with me and will
keep me in this way that I go and give me bread to eat and
raiment to put on, So that I come to my father's house in peace,
he has to do everything. Then shall the Lord be my God.
This has been so polluted by wicked men, but it's true. If the Lord gives a new heart,
that heart gives itself to the Lord. Go sell all for that pearl. You'll give yourself. Give your
heart to Jesus, everybody says. Turn yourself over to a lock,
stock, and barrel. Lock, stock, and barrel, that's the whole
weapon assembly. That's all of it. All of it. and perfect commitment. We dedicate
ourselves. That new man is dedicated. That
new man is faithful, and it's his. He did it. He did it. What
did Paul tell Timothy? I know whom I have believed,
and I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which I committed,
committed unto him against that day. What happened then? The Lord came to Jacob. The Lord revealed himself to
Jacob. God saved Jacob. And from here until chapter 31,
there's no mention of God out of Jacob's lips. Like 28 years
or something like that. How could he be a child of God?
Well, if he is, God's going to bring him back to him. He won't
leave him out in the wilderness, will he? He's going to be committed. He's
going to sell all. He's going to take up his cross. He's going
to follow, isn't he? It's going to happen. It's going
to happen. Jacob meets his old uncle Laban. He serves seven
years for Rachel, but he gets Leah. He serves seven more years
and he finally gets his bride, doesn't he? Ten different wages
took place. There was the ring strake, the
speckled, the spotted, and the brown, and apparently six other ones.
10, 10 wages took different. And finally,
it was uncomfortable enough that he saw it was times is going
to get worse. We're reading Genesis 31, verse
three, Genesis 31, three, the Lord said unto Jacob, this
is 31, three. And the Lord said unto Jacob,
return unto the land of our fathers and to that kindred. And I will
be with then. Jacob mentions the Lord for the
first time since he was at Bethel. God came to Jacob, God spoke
to Jacob, then God mentions, or then Jacob mentions the Lord.
Look at verse five. He said unto them, he's talking
to his wives, I see your father's countenance that it's not towards
me as before. Things are changing around here. I can, I can see
the tides coming in. He had a little bit of common
sense, didn't he? He's pushing a hundred. I think
he's learned one or two things. He could read a room. You know
what I mean? But the God of my father hath been with me. Things
have changed, but God's been with me. How do you know? God
said so, and he remembered. His pure mind was stored up.
That baby had took a nap for 30-some years, hadn't it? If
they're God's, he brings them back. He leaves the ninety and
nine, and he goes against the one, and he doesn't pat it on
its head and say, good luck out here, buddy, stay out in the
wilderness with you. He brings them back to the fold, doesn't
he? I hope I can't say that plain
enough. That's offensive to a lot of people. Well, you mean I can't
make it on my own. If you'd have went to Mont- I'm
not preaching to the world, I'm preaching to you people. God
sent me here to you. Man, if you'd have went to Montana and
you're God, he'd have brought you back. And boy, it hurt. You
know how I know? I went to Germany. So I got this
knee brace on today. Lord use that means, I don't
want to go back to the means. To do a whole lot of work to
bring me here today, didn't he? If we're his, he brings us back.
Jacob messages him, he said, God of my father hath been with
me. He tells his family, he says, it's time to go. God told us
to go. He ought to stuck his chest out
and walk through that city and say, I dare you to take something
of mine, Laban. I'll slap a taste out of your mouth. What'd he
do? The child of God that we're sons of. We're sons of Jacob
before he is. He snuck out at night because he's afraid. God
just told him, I'm with you. Go to your father's house. I'm
with you. Ain't that who God was? The almighty God. Let's
do it at 2 a.m. Let's go out to pack. Kids, we'll take a spot to pack.
Laban pursues him with a bunch of men, doesn't he? In perfection.
And the Lord wouldn't let Laban touch Jacob. And Jacob tried
to make peace with Laban. Jacob took it in his hand to
make a covenant with Laban. Laban finally left it alone.
I bet Jacob thought, ah boy, I did something good that day,
didn't he? As soon as that trial's over, Esau's coming. Esau's coming,
isn't he? And after a lot of kowtowing and unneeded groveling
and everything else and bowing, he convinces Esau to go on ahead.
Oh, now I can't, I just can't go with you, brother, because
these children are little and we just got a lot, but there's
some important things going on. These cows, all these cows are
going to die. So he convinces Esau to go ahead. He lies to
him again. And then he heads the other way to Salem, the city
of Shechem. He didn't go where God told him.
And there was the defiling of Dinah, his only daughter. She was defiled. And then Simeon
and Levi, they killed every man in that city and spoiled it.
And they took the women and they took the children and they took
all the goods and they took all the wealth. Look over in chapter
34, verse 30. Genesis 34, 30. And Jacob said
to Simeon and Levi, you have troubled me to make me to stink. You rotten boys, you make me
stink among the inhabitants of the land. What about God? What's God think? What are people
gonna think? Who cares? That's what Jacob
cared about, wasn't it? You made me stink among the people,
among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and
the Perizzites. And I being few in number, they
shall gather themselves together against me and slay me. I shall
be destroyed. I and my house, I'm gonna lose
everything. I'm gonna lose. What do you have
you didn't receive? I'm gonna lose everything. I'm
a goner. And they said, should he deal
with our sister as a harlot? You worried about your possessions.
Your daughter was just defiled. Now times are truly troubled,
isn't it? Is that pretty low? That's pretty low. Before Jacob
had some close calls, didn't he? Kept looking like close calls.
But the world would say he was blessed greatly. You know what,
carnal? man would think. You know what
sons of Adam would say? Well, he had a bunch of wives
and he had a bunch of children and he had lots of money and
he had a bunch of livestock and that brother was going to kill
him. Finally, he fell on his neck and kissed him. The family's
going good. Everything's great. He went up
to Shechem and the Lord said, you're going to dwell in tents.
Shechem said, we'll build booths. Technicality. Bow to God and
knock that jug off. The Lord touched him, didn't
he? Now his daughters defiled. and two of his sons have committed
mass murder. You seen the news like at all
this year? What about your children? What's
keeping your children from doing that? The grace of God, isn't
it? What's keeping my children from
doing that? The grace of God. What's keeping me from doing
that? The grace of God. Now, worldly wise, Jacob's got
a defiled daughter, his only daughter. and two of his sons
have committed mass murder, and the world knows about it. Times
are bad. Times are rough. Times are disturbing.
Times are hard to bear. What now? Have you ever had some
rough times? Some rocky seas? You ever had
tough times? What do you do in troubled times? What do we do
in times of trouble? What word does the Lord give
his people in times of true trouble? I mean, soul trouble. I've heard people before, so
I just can't, I've done that, I've done it. I'm too upset.
I'm just grief stricken. And I said, I can't go hear God. I can't go to his house and hear
the word preached. It ain't gonna set me even going.
I ain't gonna be able to hear nothing. It was the worst, worst
thing I ever thought, wasn't it? And what happened? I went
and God blessed me greatly. I've heard people advise others
to not come to hear the gospel preached. Is that according to
the Word of God? Let's see. Let's see what God
says. That's important, isn't it? Does it matter what you think,
and your opinion of things, or how we done it? This is how we
did it in the past. How you did it was wrong if it ain't according
to the Word of God. What's God say? I want to hire a feller to study
full-time and commit his whole life over to figuring out what
God says, and then you can just go ask him. Say, hey, what about
this? It's a novel idea, isn't it? What does the Lord say? Again, the Lord's faithful. Jacob
yelled at his sons. Is that what he did? Got Simeon
and Levi in there and chewed them out. He yelled at his sons
instead of crying to God. And now it seems the lowest a
person could ever get, the Lord speaks to Jacob. Genesis 35,
verse one. And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel
and dwell there. and make there an altar unto
God that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of
Esau thy brother. Remember last hour, one sentence.
You think there's some gospel in that? Or do we read it real
fast? If I'm gonna read something, read something short, okay? Don't
read 87 verses. You gonna sit down and study
something? Get your little Werther's Original and just wallow that
thing around and see how long it takes. It tastes good, give
it a while. One verse here, that's got a
lot in it. What instruction? Who's talking? We see a theme
develop? Who's speaking? Verse one says,
and God said unto Jacob. God said unto Jacob. This isn't
your shady uncle's advice, Jacob." Saint Laban. This ain't grandma's
wisdom. Oh, that blue-haired little saint.
No, no, no. God said to Jacob what he said. He gave him a four-part
commandment. Remember what happened whenever
he met him back in chapter 28? There was some things that happened,
wasn't there? What about here? God gave a four-part commandment
to him. First, arise. Arise. It would do us good. That's what
the scriptures say. Wake up and get up. It would
do us good to arise. Arise. What's another way the
scriptures say it? Quit you like men. You're down
in the dumps? Knock it off. Knock it off. Gird up your loins. Stop laying
around in a bunch of self-pity and a bunch of woe is me and
get up. You being nothing but sin, we've
established that 30 years ago, Jacob. We got it. You ain't nothing
but sin. You have no ability. Now get
up. Arise. Arise. Second, go up to Bethel. Because you ain't, you're below
Bethel. Go up to Bethel. Go up to Bethel. Go to the house of God. Go to
the house of God. Go where where he's worshiped. Go where Christ is preached.
Don't go to the bank. Don't go to the grocery store.
Don't go to the beach. Science has not proven that heartaches
are healed by the sea. Don't even go to church. Oh,
well, it's good to go to any church. No, it ain't. It's deadly. It ain't less accurate. It's
deadly. I gave it all I got. Don't even
go to church. You go to where God meets with
sinners. You go to where God meets with sinners, where his
gospel is preached, where Christ is exalted, where man's abased,
and all flesh is grass. Behold your God. Not where ideas are talked about
and discussed and presented and displayed. And, well, you can
take it or leave it. Hogwash, where it's declared.
You go, get up, go to God's house, go to Bethel, and what, third,
dwell there. Dwell there. Don't leave. I left. Jacob left. I knew God, and I thought, well,
I know better than he says. I can listen to tapes and, no,
you can't, you'll starve to death. I know, and it hurt, and I don't
wanna see other people hurt. And he brought me back. He says,
dwell there. It's been 30 years since the
Lord spoke to him. He's 100 years old now, Bob,
that ain't much compared to an eternal God, is it? He's a young
fella. He don't know much. It's been 30 years since God
spoke to him. You reckon the Lord's wise enough to prime his
pump? He tells him, dwell there. John said, they went out from
us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they
would no doubt continue with us. They might have left for
a season, but they didn't come back. They would have continued
with us, but they went out that it might be made manifest. They
wouldn't all of us. I know some people that were faithful almost
to the end. Does that count, Cass? No, God's
people are faithful to the end because he keeps them. He loves
them to the end. Did he love them almost to the
end? Now, it's hard to say, but I quit clinging to man and cling
to God's word. Paul didn't say agree with it.
Paul said do it. Claim to God's Word. He said dwell there. I've heard people who get so
upset when they hear this. Not forsaking the assembly of
ourselves together as the manner of some is. Don't forsake the
assembly of the saints. Oh man, the excuses start flying. They flew to the Lord. I got
cows I ain't never seen but I bought them. I got land I ain't never
seen. I got ocean property in Arizona that I paid for but I
gotta go look at it. Well, I'm married and you know, I'm a wife,
she's hard to take care of. We got potty trained kids and... That exhorting makes the Lord's
people happy. They quit bucking and they bow.
God said, don't forsake the assembly of the saints. But, but, but,
but, but, shut up. That's hard language, I mean
it, shut up. What's God's people say? David said this. I was glad
when they said unto me, let us go to the house of the Lord.
They quit making up excuses and quit having things that are more
important than worshiping God. And they go worship God because
he's worth it. He's a pearl and he's of a great price. They ain't
no other pearls. They let it alone. It's good
to go where God's gospel is preached. And then you get there and you
dwell there. That means inhabitate. Pick up residence. That's your
citizenship, right? And our conversation. People
say that conversation is citizenship. That's what that means. However,
that's also coming out of our mouths, isn't it? Do we say,
well, God's trying and God wouldn't do that. And I know better than
God. No, you don't. You're conversations of heavenly things, isn't it?
Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together
in unity. For we are united in the one
we're made one with. To dwell with Christ, isn't it?
Dwell there. Get up, go to God's house, stay there. Stay there. Fourthly, make an altar unto
God. Make an altar unto God. Does
that mean we gotta build something out of stones? Christ is our
altar. What do we say? Christ is the
same yesterday, today, and forever. What's the context of that? Don't
be carried away with divers and strange doctrines. Leave that
doctrine junk alone and worship Christ. Quit fighting it on the
internet, and quit fighting it in old books, and quit fighting
it by letters or whatever, smoke signals, and bow to Christ. Give
it up, for it's a good thing that the heart be established
with grace, not with meats and what's profited them, what's
been occupied therein, but we have an altar. Christ is the
same yesterday, today, and forever, and we have an altar, whereof
they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle. Those that's
doing something for God ain't got no right to come to Christ.
They gotta give up that junk. Come to Him. Christ is our altar.
He said, make an altar unto God. What are you going to give God?
Christ. I'll give Him what He gave me. You won't have nothing
else with it. If there's no Christ, wherever
somebody listens to this, a lot of people listen to this. I get
a bunch of emails and somebody's listening to this, or somebody
knows a family member, you heed me. or God didn't see me, close
your ears up, take a nap. I don't care. I do care. Listen, if you're at a place
and there's no Christ, if he's not paramount, if he doesn't
have preempts and all things, in truth, not as man says, as
God says, get away from there. You'd be better off going to
ACDC concert. Get away from there. What does
that mean? We attempt to worship. If our
attempts to worship does not concern the blood, Christ our
altar, it's not worshiping Christ and Him crucified. Get out of
there. Get out of there. If we gather into a place, and
my pastor said this a long time ago. It's amazing what's still
true from a long time ago. He said, if your church is nothing
but a social club for friends, for eating, for activities and
chit chat, coffee sipping. That's the Kevin Thacker ad on.
You need to get out of there because that's all it is. There's
got to be blood. There's got to be a sacrifice
that's accepted. A bloody accepted sacrifice.
There has to be a propitiation. What's that? No. Who? You build
an altar unto God. It's his altar, it's Christ's
isn't it? Here's, I put 4.5, the fourth and a half thing. We remember that first love,
don't we? Back when you were fleeing your brother, that's
what he says. Arise, get to the house of God. You stay there. You do nothing
but see Christ. And you remember that first love. Remember whenever you're going
back to Bethel, that's where the Lord saved you. And remember whenever
your brother was pursuing you, you deserve to die. Don't forget
that. Don't forget that. Remember that
first love. The Lord told us that in Revelation
2. He said, nevertheless, I've got something against you. Would
you perk up and listen to that? God says, I got something against
you. Whoa, what? That ought to be important, shouldn't
it? He said, because thou hast left thy first love. I'm clinging to other things.
Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen. the singular
sin. Remember what you are and repent
and do the first work. What was the first works? Well,
the Lord came to me and he showed me Christ and remember that?
I fell on my face, I worshipped him. I committed myself to him. Genesis 35 verse 2. Here's the
result of it. The Lord comes and speaks to
us. He tells us arise, you get up and you go. You go. Does that say go? That says go. What if a gospel ain't there?
Because it wouldn't. My dear brother, who ain't with
us no more, reserved greatly from saying this because he said
he'd be accountable. I ain't. If somebody lives for the gospel,
I ain't. Sell out and go. Well, it's expensive. Taylor,
Arkansas is cheap. Ain't nothing expensive in Sylacauga,
Alabama. You know what I'm saying? Kingsport,
Tennessee ain't that high in money either. Precious places,
the gospel's there. That's Bethel, that's the house
of God. Cheap, go there, I'll help you move. Get you a U-Haul
gift card, help you pack. If somebody's where the gospel
ain't, you get up and go to where the gospel is. It's life or death,
because he may just leave us to ourselves. I pray I'm his,
I pray he keeps me to the end, don't I? What's the result of
that? What's the result of the Lord
coming and saying arise and go to Bethel and you build an altar
there and you see Christ and you don't forget where you come
from and you don't forget that first work that I saved you.
You remember me, you remember who you are, you remember who
I am. What's the result of that? Verse two. Then Jacob said unto
his household. Is that part of his household?
Does it say he said to two thirds of his household? He said to
his household. Well, that could come at a great cost now. Who
cares? We got to Pearl. He said to his
household and to all that were with him, everybody, put away
the strange gods that are among you and be clean and change your
garments and let us arise and go up to Bethel and I will make
there an altar unto God who answered me in the day of my distress
and was with me in the way which I went. He commanded his house
according to the word of God. Only when the faith was given
to him to believe God's words. That's when he stopped serving
self and he started serving the Lord. He obeyed God's word and
he commanded his house. I could get put on a chopping
block fretting this day, couldn't I? Man's the head of the house. Command your house and all that's
with you. Well, they might leave. Yeah,
they may. You gonna offend them or offend God? Command your house.
The Lord spoke concerning Abraham back in Genesis 18. You remember
that? It's been a long time since we looked at it. He said, I know
him. God spoke of Abraham. He said, I know Abraham, and
he will command his children and his household, that's everything
that's on his land, after him. After him. And they shall keep
the way of the Lord. My children, especially the ones
that's getting of age about to graduate high school. This is
apparently foreign language to a lot of people. My house, my
rules. That's my house. You eat my food,
you stay underneath my roof, you're going to come worship
God. We're going to his house. That's going to happen. When we believe
God, that's what we do. Jacob believed God and he commanded
his house. You know what that Philippian jailer did? Remember
that big earthquake? It came, all the prison broke
down, and he was about to kill himself, because he's going to
be accountable. He said, well, if I just kill myself, this will
be a whole lot easier than what they're going to do to me. But Paul cried. Good news was yelled with a loud
voice. He said, do thyself no harm.
We're all here. And he called for a lot in spring
and came trembling. He fell down before Paul and
Silas and brought them out and said, sirs, what must I do to
be saved? He knew this from God. And they said, believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved in thy
house. And they spake unto him the word
of the Lord. They didn't tell him what they
thought. They didn't give him a plan of salvation. They told him about
the God of salvation and to all that were in his house. Now that
was the middle of the night, wasn't it? How did everybody
in his house get down that living room to hear Paul and Silas preach?
He went and woke them up to his house. Well, them teenagers
are awful grumpy. Well, they're going to get ungrumpy
and they're going to get downstairs. God's man's here to preach to
them. Get them downstairs. And then what happened? He brought
them to his house. He set meat before them and they
rejoiced in God and believed with all his house. Him and his
whole house was baptized. They obeyed God. They have given the
faith to obey God said be baptized and true. Now that you know Christ
and they did it, they did it. Jacob commanded his house. What
did Jacob tell his whole household? Verse two, Jacob said unto his
whole household and to all that were with him, anybody listen,
put away the strange gods that are among you. This whole time,
Rachel, how he loved her. She had them gods she stole from
labor, remember? She put them underneath that box. She sat
on it. She said, well, it's not the right time of month, daddy.
And he said, oh, I'll look everywhere else. We'll leave that box alone.
And she took them. It was idols. Jacob knew that. It was just
long suffering, wasn't it? And he said, put that junk away.
You cling into a 15, a baptism when he was 15 years old and
you took a pledge card, put it away. That's a false god. Because you saved underneath
the Orthodox Church and you came to know the doctrines of grace.
Put that junk away. That's a false God. And bow to
the God. Because he's gonna build an altar,
isn't he? And he tells them, he said, be clean. Because that's
unclean. Look into self, look into the
false God, look into everything in this world. It's unclean.
You be clean. Put that junk away. Look to the
Lord and change your garments. Why do they change garments? They had to. They were going
to the house of God. I know there's some cultural
things in this side of the country I got to get used to. And I pray
God give me the wisdom to discern between what needs corrected
and what needs just looked over. But would it distract you if
I stood up here in a tank top and flip-flops and preached to
you? I'm speaking to you individually. Do you understand what I'm saying?
Would that distract you? Now, let me ask you another question.
What would these children and what would the people in this
community think of me and my commitment to Almighty God and
how important this is if I dressed up in tank tops and flip-flops
and come here to preach the gospel to you? Would they think it's
serious? Even in this relaxed day, would
they think it's serious? Let me tell you something. If we dress better for a wedding
than we do a church service. What will our little ones and
what wire friends in this community think we honor more a wedding
or the worship of God? No, we may not have. I don't
have Armani suits. I'll put on the best thing I
got. And I'll get a job. I'll go deliver pizzas in San
Diego County so I can stay stocked up in ties. Because that's what's
appropriate in our culture in this day. Do you understand that?
Because there's commitment. There's not talking about it.
There's doing it. Change of clothes. You clean up. God saved a naked
man in the tombs, didn't he? If somebody's naked, I'll get
a coat, wear my jacket, cover them up. But preach to them.
They need the gospel. But then he was clothed in his
right mind, wasn't he? There's a fellow slip on that back bench,
remember a long time ago? Sleeping. I didn't say a word
about it. You know why? Because if I had to correct every
time somebody fell asleep during a preaching of the gospel, I'd
do a whole lot of correcting. I'd have been corrected a lot when
I was younger, too. So wouldn't I? What was David to do after he
found out his son was dead? He was dirty, he mourned, he
rose. What did God tell Jacob? Arise.
What did David do? He arose from the earth and he
washed and he anointed himself and changed his apparel. You
have my word. He didn't put on pajamas to go
worship God. I told you that when COVID started,
it was the thing. I said, when you get home, we have to watch
online. You go shave, you men shave, you women put your dresses
on, and you act like you're going to a wedding, because you might
just get married to your kinsman redeemer today. Maybe he'll save
somebody. And we're going to act like it,
and we're going to teach our children this, because they're going to do what we do.
Somebody's watching. It's so. Keep thy foot when thou
goest in the house of God, and be more ready to hear than to
give the sacrifice of the fools, for they consider not what they
do is evil. Does that mean sacrificing the
fools? Yeah, that's evil. Does that mean not keeping your foot
in the house of God? Yep, that too. That's God's house. In another 20 or 30 years, I'll
be bold and plain put as some of my brethren are in this day.
Though we have the liberty, Jacob's family had the liberty to wear
wherever they wanted to to God's house, didn't they? He told him,
change clothes. You go take a shower. You get
cleaned up. Well, that's going to take a
long time. Well, make it take a long time. Backwards plan. Build your
life around the worship of God. We have the liberty that we did
not have before, don't we? We also have the reverence to
a living God that we didn't have before. You understand that? We have the liberty. I can wear
flip flops and I can wear a tank top. That's legal. I'm not going
to, my sonship with the Lord is not going to be undone because
I don't wear a tie when I preach. You understand that? Though I
now have that liberty, I also now have the respect and reverence. We respect the Lord. We reverence
the Lord. And within our capacity, we do
the best we can. Paul said, all things are lawful
unto me. Everything's legal, but not all things expedient.
Just because you can't don't mean you ought to. Is that right?
Just because we do have that freedom, doesn't mean we ought
to take advantage of it. We ought to worship God. Jacob
commanded his house. He said, we're going to go worship
God. He said, you put away all that old junky religion. It's filthy rags. All that good
stuff you did before and you found the right place. Hush,
put it away. They're going to bury him underneath
the tree. So that way nobody else can get him. They burnt
that curious art. or 50,000 pieces of silver, so
nobody else could get them. If you had a big thing of poison,
would you say, I ain't drinking that. Here, let's just set it down
here in a kindergarten. No, dispose of it. Put it away. He said,
you put away all those gods, and you clean yourself up, and
you change your clothes, we're heading to Bethel. He told him
the same thing the Lord told him. Arise, arise and go. Verse four, what's the result
of that? And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods, which were
in their hand, they were clinging to it. What in a box no more?
Did you get that? It was in their hand. Well, I
didn't know it was in my hand. Oh, there it is. And their earrings,
which were in their ears. That's all the stuff that Simeon
and Levi got out of that town. They worshipped those earrings
because, boy, they was pretty. They was precious. They had to count Christ
precious. He had to be the pearl. And Jacob
hid them under an oak, which was by Shechem. And they journeyed,
and the terror of God was upon those cities. Remember what Jacob
just said, just four verses ago. He said, they're all gonna kill
me. I'm a dead man. What's the difference between
then and now? He believed God. God spoke to him. God commanded his
heart, gave him faith to believe, and he believed. And they journeyed,
and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about
them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob. They
looked out their windows and said, there they go. You going
after him? Nuh-uh. If the Lord saved us, we don't
believe and then we're saved. We're saved and he makes us believe.
We don't believe and then we're made sons. We're sons, that's
why we believe. If he's done these things, if he's given us
his Pearl Brick Cross, and we know it, we have eyes to see, we have
ears to hear, why don't we just do what he says? I've said that
before, and in a sense it's so. Like Brother Bill Clark said
in England and Africa, he said, they wonder, what's your rule
of life? He said, believe Christ and do what you want. Now, what
you want's gonna be what he says, isn't it? A better way to say
it is, believe Christ and do what he says. Do what he says. How in the world, mankind, and
me included, it's me. How can I do it? The opposite
of what God says, and then I'm bum-fuzzled when he don't bless
it. How did this go south? I'm a fool, ain't I? Oh, if I
could, I pray I could give all my strange gods that's in my
hand away and take all those things I think make me beautiful
and get rid of it. And they can be hidden underneath
some oak and nobody ever find them. What'd the Lord say? They're
gonna search. There's gonna be a searching
for Israel's sins, ain't there? And they won't be found. They
won't be found. Why? Because of that ladder.
Remember that? Remember that first thing we
started talking about? That first love? because of Christ, because
of his intercession, his intervention on us, isn't it? Let's pray together.