All right, brethren. If you will,
let's go back to Genesis. Genesis 30. The title of my message
is Speckled and Spotted Nothings. Speckled and Spotted Nothings. Here in Genesis 30, verse 25, It says, and it came to pass,
and it came to pass. Things do come to pass, don't
they? And it came to pass when Rachel had born Joseph, that
Jacob said unto Laban, send me away, that I may go unto mine
own place, unto my country. Give me my wives and my children,
for whom I have served thee, and let me go. For thou knowest
my service. which I have done thee." What
happened for this to come to pass? He says, and it came to
pass. Absolutely everything throughout time. That's what came to pass
and had to come to pass for this moment. The Lord will come to
his child in this day and something's going to come to pass for you,
good, bad, ugly, or sideways. It took absolutely everything. God controlled everything for
it to come to pass. Jacob left his father's land,
didn't he? Where he had the right to everything. He had the firstborn's
inheritance, didn't he? The full blessing of the firstborn.
And he was told by his father to come to a specific place,
to a specific family and look for his bride. That's what come
to pass. Did he find her? Did he marry
her and then he bought a house next door and he wouldn't go
see her? He didn't go back home, did he?
He came for a bride. He took no wage other than his
bride's. Seven years each. And no matter
how you see Lee and Rachel, we looked at that before. It's rightfully
so to say Lee is a Gentile and Rachel's a Jew. Rachel's a Jew
and Lee is a Gentile because it's more and more uglier and
however you want to cut it. Or that that's a false church,
like we looked at, and Rachel's the true church. However you
want to cut that, whether it's Jew or Gentile. Because Jew or
Gentile, either way, Christ is who purchased them in perfection.
He's the one who served, well, I'm circumcised. It don't matter. If you're gonna
be bought, you're gonna have to be bought by him in perfection.
His perfect service. There's neither Jew nor Greek,
no bond, no free, no male nor female, is there? It doesn't
matter. We're all one in Christ Jesus, our Lord. He laid down
his life once in perfection, complete service for his bride. That's what we're to see. Christ
fulfilled the law ever jot and tittle. And those wives are a
picture of Christ's bride, wasn't it? We looked at that. Laban,
he's a temporary, he's a temporary type of the law. He had a requirement
that had to be fulfilled. He had to be satisfied for Jacob
to get his bride, didn't he? He had to be fulfilled, and he
has been fulfilled at this point. That's what's come to pass. And
the last child's born, and it's time for the whole family to
go back to the promised land. You see anything, any themes
in here? Christ came for his bride, the law is completely
satisfied, and when that last child's born, we'll go home. Verse 27 says, and Laban said
unto him, I pray thee, if I have found favor in thine eyes, Terry,
if I have found favor, stay with me, because for I have learned
by experience, that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake. This is a picture, Laban's a
temporary picture here of an unregenerate person, isn't it?
Laban saw through experience that he was increased or blessed
because the Lord was with Jacob. You know what happened to Abimelech?
Remember when he was dealing with Abraham? And he said it
came to pass at that time, back in Genesis 21, that came to pass
too, didn't it? That Abimelech and Phicol, the chief captain
of the host, spake to Abraham saying, God is with thee in all
that thou doest. The unregenerate person can know
that. Demons know that there's one
God. The devil knows that. It ought to be obvious, shouldn't
it? There's some service members
on a particular Bradley fighting vehicle that was in rough parts
of Iraq years ago. And they'll tell you to this
day that things were different when I showed up. Things changed
when you got here. And they said, ain't you scared?
I said, why should I? I believe in God. If he controls
everything else, can't control these bullets? They said, you're
weird. I said, am I peculiar? And they said, you sure are.
They can tell you that. Things was different whenever
he was around. A blood-bought child of God doesn't walk through
this world like a child of their own. They're not chameleons that
blend in to everything. They stick out. Do we sin? Absolutely
we do. But we're peculiar. There's something
different, something just different about that. Verse 27 again, Laban
said unto him, I pray thee, if I found favor in thine eyes,
for I have learned by experience, that the Lord hath blessed me
for thy sake." For thy sake. Isn't that what a believer says? Have you experienced this? Is this just something written
down in a confession of faith? Well, Spurgeon said it, so it's
got to be true. Have you lived it? Are you a witness? What does
a witness do? You tell the truth, the whole
truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God, don't you? You
just say what you saw. Have you experienced this? Have
you been blessed because of Christ and Him alone, because of His
sake and only because of His sake? Has He proven His word
to you over and over and over again? I believe Him. I do. And it's just more. It keeps getting more magnificent. My sin grows and His glory grows
and that just happens. I've lived it. Have you? Or we just memorize more facts. We've experienced this, haven't
we? We learned to take here's what here's what sets you apart.
You'll be a weirdo in today's world. Take pleasure in your
infirmities. You got arthritis. I'll send
that to you. That lady woke up. She said she
sees five men every day, so she wakes up and Arthur Itis is there,
but her friend Ben Gay comes over, stays a while. Arthur likes
to move. He goes from joint to joint.
That's a good outlook. God's children are happy children.
A happy child's a well-loved child. I've told you that, haven't
I? You think his children are well-loved? They're happy. We
go through sorrows. There's infirmities. It's bad. But while we're in those infirmities,
we're happy. We praise Him like we looked
the first hour, don't we? He's seen it, isn't He? We learn to
take pleasure in our infirmities. The world says you're crazy.
We've learned to take pleasure in our reproaches and our necessities
and our persecutions and our distresses. Are you distressed?
Why are you? Hits for Christ's sake. Did you
know that? That's the difference. That makes us different. Because
for Christ's sake, these things have come. I'm blessed because
of him. That's a blessing to have a trial. God chastens his
own, doesn't he? That's what Paul said. For this thing I besought the
Lord thrice that it might depart from him. He had a thorn, not
a splinter. Thorn's different than splinter,
isn't it? He had a thorn in his flesh. And it hurt enough for
three times he stopped preaching and said, Lord, could you take
care of me? Whew, he quit praying for those people who was always
in his prayers. He stopped that and was self-serving
for a little bit and said, Lord, help me. And the Lord said, my
grace is sufficient for you. My strength's made perfect in
weakness. And then Paul responded. He said, most gladly, there's
happiness. Most gladly, therefore, will
I rather glory in my infirmities. Why? That the power of Christ
may rest upon me. People go yapping about the Holy
Spirit being in places. Do you want the power of Christ
to rest upon you? It's gonna come in infirmities.
Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities and reproaches and
necessities and persecutions and distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I
strong. I must decrease, he must increase. Now I tell you, that sounds good
when it's on a piece of paper on the wall. And when God shows
up and you experience it, that really hurts. And when you experience
it, he really is magnificent at that. That's so, and it's
gotta happen. I look on these children, I say,
they got trials, they have to go, I can tell them, I've experienced
it, I have the wisdom to know what's gonna happen in this world,
I can tell you what things to do, don't do, and all this stuff,
but you gotta go through it and learn it. You gotta do it yourself.
And I look at you all, my children. You know what John said, my little
children? You're all my little children. And I see what's coming. I know what trials you're gonna
have to face, I know what the Lord's gonna do, and I can tell
you all about it. but he's going to prove his word
to you. And I'm just going to be the
one who reads it out loud. I know that. I know that. He must increase. That's the
power of Christ being upon you. My life's absolutely miserable.
I mean bad. And you say, God did this to
me. I'm going to see Christ at this. I'm going to see him at
the end of this. I know it. It's happened before. I've experienced
it. It's going to happen again. Like I read before, you think
the way we talk, the way I talk, do you talk that way? Do you
think that God is nothing but good or is he nothing but evil?
Belly aching and moaning and I'm a murmuring people, Bob.
Murmur all the time, don't I? If any person is blessed with
eternal life, it is solely because for Christ's sake, because of
him, isn't it? And if he's blessed you, doesn't
that make you want to be a blessing to others? If you're happy, don't
you want to tell somebody else about being happy? If you're
a well-loved child, don't you want them other children to be
well-loved? Be kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one
another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Get over it. Move on. Let it
go, right? Why? The Lord moved on. There's
no condemnation on us, is there? But poor Laban here, he was self-serving.
He's a picture of this world in this passage. Look here at
verse 28 again. He said, appoint me thy wages
and I'll give it. You gonna stay here? I know I'm
getting, I'm coming out pretty good on this deal. Lord, I'm
secondary beneficiary of you. Lord's blessing you and I'm coming
out good. You tell me what your wages are and I'll give it to
you. Like a real good salesman, did he make an offer to Jacob
up front? He didn't, did he? He said, you
tell me what you need. You tell me how much it's going to take.
Laban did not want to give any more than he had to. He wasn't
abundantly generous. He wanted to meet the absolute
minimum to get Jacob to stick around. He wanted to buy a loan
so high, didn't he? What's that a picture of for
us? The world's not out for your benefit. They're going to lie,
cheat, and steal. And if they can use you for a
nickel, they will. Smiling the whole time. The world's contrary
to you. Why do we worry so much about
it? Why do we get in tizzies? Because the newsman says something,
because something's going on the other side of the world. Jacob replies to his wages. Look
here, verse 29. He said unto him, Thou knowest
how I've served thee. You look me dead in the eye.
You know how I served you? He does, don't he? He said, you
know how I've served you? How thy cattle was with me? All
your cattle. That was the most important thing
to Laban, wasn't it? Did Jacob show up and serve him
and he gave him a whole mess of cattle? No, he gave him the
bride he didn't serve for. He tricked him. He's blocking
two birds with one stone, man. All right, get rid of this one.
That's rude. That's wrong. It's wrong. You get it? It's wrong to Jacob.
It's wrong to his daughters, to Leah and Rachel, for him to
switch them around like that. That's just flat wrong. It's
wrong for the people that's underneath his control. Those in his own
house. He has not governed his house
well. That's a bad example. It's wrong. He said, I dealt
with your cattle. You liked them better than them
girls, didn't you? That's what she's looking out for. He says,
verse 34, it was little which thou hast before I came. And
now it's increased to a multitude. He hasn't said how much he wanted
it, has he? He's just reminding me, he says, I've kept that thing
that's most important to you, and you are busting its seams. Business
is booming because of me. And the Lord hath blessed thee
since my coming. And now, when shall I provide for my own house
also? I've done nothing but take care
of you for 14 years. And you've just been booming. And I ain't even looked after
my own house. Jacob served faithfully as unto the Lord, didn't he?
Because he knew God. That's what he did. He worked
hard. He served without any salary, except the exception of his wives.
For 14 years, he didn't receive a wage. And how did it go so
well? He just said, well, I guess the
Lord wants them to have sheep. I'll have some sheep. No, Abraham,
he was a great man, wasn't he? He was industrious, and he worked
hard because he knew God. And then he taught Isaac. What'd
Isaac do? He was industrious, and he worked hard, and he dug
a whole mess of wells. What'd Jacob do? He woke up early. Early to bed, early to rise makes
a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. That's a good saying. He got
up early. He went and worked as unto the Lord. And he's saying,
I've been looking after your cattle all these years, and you've
done nothing but profit. And the whole time I haven't
been able to provide for my own family. I haven't put anything
back for them. Who's that picture? That's the
Lord Jesus Christ. He made himself of no reputation. Jacob's a pretty big deal, isn't
he? He's Isaac's. Now he's got the firstborn blessing
of Isaac, and that's a whole lot of stuff. Our Lord made himself
of no reputation. He took on the form of a servant.
He had no place to lay his head. He didn't own any property. He
didn't own any cattle. He had nothing to call his own,
and at the same time, he owned everything. Jacob had all the riches that
belonged to Isaac back home, but where he was, he was a poor
servant serving only for the love of his bride. You get that? Christ the Son, the God-man,
he owns the cattle on the thousand hills, but he came solely for
his bride's sake. solely for his bride's sake.
That's what Philippians 2.5 talks about. Let this mind be in you,
which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God,
thought it not robbery to be equal with God, because he was.
but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of
a servant." What's Jacob been doing for 14 years? Serving. Serving. He was made to likeness
of men and being found in fashion as a man. He humbled himself
and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
I want to be obedient unto death. Do you? all the way till I leave
this earth, whatever it is. I don't, I'm not here. And the
Lord's people after his own heart aren't in it for fame and promotion
and reward. And while I thought this would
be a good starter church, and then I'm moving on up. No, they're
there to serve just as he was not for their own benefit. They
do it for the love of the redeemer as he loved us, right? We love
as he loved us. We serve. How's he served me? What has he done for us? Isn't
that reasonable? Isn't that reasonable service
for us to do what we can for our brethren and support the
gospel? Isn't that just reasonable? People say, well, y'all, an ever
excuse? That's reasonable if we know
what he's done for us. He's given us everything. We've
increased, haven't we? We were little. We were without
anything of our own. What do you own? Sin. What do
I have that's mine solely? Sin, that's it. That's rightfully
mine. And Christ came and our increase
has just been amazing. Our sight, our hearing, we're
getting healthy. That's what we're doing. I can
run the race now. I've experienced that. Have you?
There was a time, I guess this was just, this was a good lesson
in cattle raising, I guess. I don't know, what do people
see when they read this? I don't know, this is Christ and his bride. This
is. Laban was greatly blessed for
Jacob's sake, but now it's time for Jacob to provide for his
own family. Verse 31. And he said, what shall I give
thee? Get to it. I got it. I'm increased coaching
you. Tell me what I got to do. Jacob said, thou shalt not give
me anything. Natural man comes to this matter
of salvation. They said, what must I do to
be saved? What must I give to be saved?
What prayer must I say to be saved? What can I give God so
he'll be indebted to me? He owes me. That's what a natural
man says, isn't it? Nothing. Nothing. You can't give him anything.
I can give my heart to Jesus. No, you can't. He don't want
it. Not the one you got. Jeremiah
said, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately
wicked. Who can know it? You don't even
know where it is and you don't know what it is. How can you give it away?
Well, I can offer my righteousness, my clean living, my morality. Can you give that to God? But
we are all as an unclean thing. All of our righteousness are
as filthy rags. That wasn't a vulgar prophet. That was a prophet that was telling
me what God says. Everything good we think we've
done and our service to God and all of our writings and our sayings
and my bulletin, I hope I never say that again, ain't my bulletin,
that's his bulletin. Anything good I think I've ever
done, you know what it is? It's used feminine hygiene products. That ain't vulgar. Vulgar is
what man's pride is, thinking he's something. We can't give
him our righteousness, we can't give him our clean living, can
we? Can we offer our will, our doing? I'll be a good servant. No, he said, you will not come
to me that you have love. What's man's will? He won't come
to me. So then it's not of him that willeth, nor of him that
runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Natural man can't bring
anything. You can't do it. Believers won't
bring anything. I didn't have that wrote down.
That just popped in my head, Bob. A believer comes saying,
in my hand no price I bring, simply to thy cross I cling.
We have nothing to give, but one thing. One thing. And that one thing is being given
to us. It's the only one thing that God will accept, and that's
the blood of his son. I come in his blood and nothing
else. I ain't worth nothing. That's the only thing that's
worth anything, his blood. Verse 31, he said, what shall I give
thee? And Jacob said, thou shalt not give me anything. If thou
wilt do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep thy flock.
You're gonna do something for me. You'll keep prospering. Here's the proposal. This will
be a blessing to you. Verse 32. I will pass through all thy flock
today, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle,
and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and
speckled among the goats, and of such shall be my hire. That'd
be my hire. I'll take all the ones you don't
want. Verse 33, so shall my righteousness answer for me in the time to
come. You reckon that's talking about
Jacob? This ain't talking about cattle
farming, is it? This is the Lord speaking. There's a picture of
him. It's showing him. He says, so
shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come. He's
going to prove himself. You're going to see it. When
it shall come from my hire before thy face, that time of judgment,
everyone that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and
brown among the sheep that shall be counted, stolen with me. If there's one that slipped in
here that ain't ring straight, that means blotchy rings, ring
straight, speckled, spotted, or brown, it's stolen. You can count me a thief. All
those that are speckled and spotted and brown The goats, they're
set aside for his own. He said, I'm gonna take all those
ugly sheep that ain't white, and they're gonna be mine, that's
gonna be my hire. All the ones that are blemished, all the ones
that have spot, all that speckled with colors, all that have the
bands all around them, they're mine. All the undesirable breeding
stock. That's what I want. All the undesirable
ones that you can't sell. Nobody wants them. I want to
make good stock for them. All the ones you can't even sell
their wool. What goodness they produce. It's unprofitable. You get that? He said, that's
what I want. I'll take them. All the ugly
ones. What's prettier? One of them beautiful English
sheep. It's white with the black faces.
They're all white. Or one that's just haggard looking.
Give me the ugly ones. and all the ones that are white
on the outside. We'll get to that in a minute.
All the ones that are white on the outside, they look like purebreds.
Oh, they're so clean and pious and good. You can keep them. I'll gather them together. I'll
feed them. I'll take care of them. And think
of what Laban said. Man, last time you fed and took
care of my sheep, I mean, that was a great increase. You're
going to take all the bad ones. I get all the good ones. And
then you're not going to tend to those. You're going to tend to
mine. Yeah! The offspring of the white ones
that come out, if they're white, you keep them. And if they're
ring-streaked, speckled, spotted, or brown, I'm gonna take those,
I'm gonna move them over here with them others that are the
same, and those will be mine, too. And lay of a second, well,
you got two white sheep, what do you think's gonna come out
of them? What do you think's gonna come
out of them sheep? Yeah, right? If there's a white one in the
bunch, I'll be a thief. When it comes time to settle
up, and those that are mine, if there's one that's snow white,
it got there on its own, I'm a thief and a robber, because
it didn't come by me. It's thief and robber, and I am too. I'll
be counted with it. Ain't one gonna sneak its way in there,
and I ain't gonna miss one. Laban, you get all the solid
white ones, and when I leave, I'll take the undesirable ones.
Verse 34, and Laban said, behold, I would, it might be according
to thy word. We're gonna do it your way. Everybody listen, we're
doing it his way. This is great. As far as business
goes, this is a fabulous business offer, isn't it? It is. We concur
with that, don't we? That's a great deal. We figured
out, have we figured out yet who the banded, speckled, spotted
and brown sheep are? We figured that out. Why so many?
That's sinners. Okay, somebody missed that. That's
us, okay? We're the undesirable sheep in
this equation, in this story. Why not just say the ones that
ain't white? Why does it say ring-streaked,
those patchy rings, speckled, spotted, and brown? Why does
he have so many different words for that? Why does he have that?
Our Lord came to save sinners. All types. People get mad at
me over saying that, and they just have to get mad, because
that's good news to sinners. He came to save all types. What
kind of types? Well, ring, strake, speckled,
spotted, and brown. That's what it is in sheep. What
is it in people? Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate. That's massive in this generation,
isn't it? Effeminate, abusers, thieves,
covetous, drunkards, revilers, extortioners. Is that you? I'm leading up to something.
Is that in your DNA? Not on the outside. On the inside. You extort? Are you drunk on
the inside? On false religion? On Babylon's wine? Who cares
if you knock down a shot of Jack Daniels? Is this on the inside? Is that you? Is that your DNA?
Is that all you can do? Paul says, and such were some
of you. Wasn't it? But you are washed, you are sanctified,
you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and
by the spirit of our God. God calls it clean, don't you
dare call it unclean. There's some people that find
them fault with the Lord's preachers. Out of love, I caution them,
wherever they may be, if that's God's person, he said, touch
not my anointing, that's you too. If you profess to believe
Christ, God's washed away all your sin. He bore your sin and
shame on the cross. You better not call him unclean.
Better not. He said, you do it to one of
these little ones, you're doing it to me, isn't he? They're one with him. That's
what Paul was saying, though. It's our DNA. We read Romans
7. Boy, there's something in me
that everything it wants to do is wrong. It only does wrong. And there's a part of me that
wants to do good and it can't do good. And there's just a war
going on. That's on the inside. What if
he's sitting still and has hair combed? Yeah, that's happening.
That's happening, isn't it? Jeremiah said, can an Ethiopian
change its skin or the leopards, its spots? If we're a ring-streaked
speckled spotted or brown, we can't do nothing about it. We
may look around. You know, I was thinking a sheep
could look around and say, boy, I'm all white. Except for right there. Right between the eyes. What's
most obvious to everybody else at KC? Can an Ethiopian change its skin?
Can a leopard change its spots? I couldn't remember where that
was at. I wanted to plug it in there this morning. And so I Googled it.
I cheated. Can an Ethiopian change its skin? KJV, right? And Google
popped up, said, according to two sources, no. According to
one source. Isn't it? Mankind wants two or
three of everything, don't we? According to one source, he said
it at the end. We can't do it. He says, then
may ye also do good which are accustomed to do evil. We can't,
can we? Verse 35. That was the deal. Laban said,
you betcha. And he removed that day, verse 35, and he removed
that day the he goats that were ring straped and spotted and
all the she goats that were speckled and spotted and every one that
had some white in it and all the brown among the sheep and
gave them to the hands of his sons. That's Laban's sons. Didn't
he say that's what he's going to do? Well, this says he did
it. Is that important? God does what
he says he's going to do. And we ought to do the best we
can to do what we say we're going to do as his children, shouldn't
we? He does what he says he's going to do. Verse 36, and he
set three days journey betwixt himself and Jacob, and Jacob
fed the rest of Laban's flock. Jacob took off him spotted, ugly
sheep and gave them to Laban's boys to watch. And he went three
days away and he took care of all his white ones, didn't he?
The Lord takes care of those that are self-righteous. Rain
falls on them. Those that are just at war with
him and cursing his name. Broccoli grows the same for them
as it does for us, doesn't it? And as a picture, we're in this
world. We have this evil world that we had to work. We can't
eject ourselves from it. We can't hide in a cave somewhere
and just not, you gotta go out and make a living. You gotta
go grocery store. You gotta do these things. We gotta live in
this world. Lord's ruling and reigning over
it all, isn't he? He is. And he put three days journey.
What's the difference between them? This is beautiful. This
is short. What's the difference between all them ugly sheep and
them real pretty sheep? One, they're Jacob's, because
he put three days journey between them. Didn't our Lord do that?
Are we three days apart from our sin, because he laid three
days in a grave? Isn't it? This will prove, being three
days apart, this will prove Jacob is dealing justly, rightly. There'll
be three days of separation. Those herds can't mix, and he
can't be accused of doing anything that's not right, and they can't
produce life together. Do you get that? They can't intermix. To prove his holiness, to prove
himself a just God and a Savior, Christ was three days removed.
It was not as if he was not pretending he's not a thief. Jacob was over Laban's white
flock and Laban's boys tended to Jacob's undesirable flock. Blessed is the physical nation,
isn't it? We're in this world. Verse 37, Jacob took him rods
of green poplar. and of hazel and chestnut tree. And he peeled white streaks,
little strips in them, and made them, made the white appear,
which was in the rods. I'd like to spend three or four
months on that. Green poplar. They actually have white leaves,
white blooms. We have tulip poplars here. What
do they do? We know that, don't we, honey?
We had a 120-foot tulip poplar fall through our house. It was
four foot wide. They grow real fast. That's why contractors
use them around subdivisions. It's evidence of life real fast,
isn't it? Boy, they're alive. They grow
like crazy. What about them hazels? They produce fruit. You can't
eat a poplar tree, but you can eat hazelnuts. And what kind
of fruit's that? Sweet fruit. Sweet fruit, isn't it? Well,
what about a chestnut tree? Build old barns out of them.
They're strong. They endure. Long-lasting, isn't it? He takes
all three of those. Combines them. Binds them together. And he peeled white streaks in
them. White stripes. On Calvary's cross, on that wood.
that was life given to us because by his stripes, we are healed. That's a sweet smelling savor,
isn't it? Is that sweet to you, sweeter than honey? It's gonna
last forever. It's gonna last forever. He did
that and he made the white appear, which was in the rods. If we
don't see him, who he is, and what he accomplished, if that
don't break your heart, he got, the father struck him because
of me. We have to see that. That's why
it has to appear. His holiness. That's what that
thief said, isn't it? There ain't no guilt in him.
What's wrong with you? Verse 38, he set the rods which
he had pulled before the flocks in the gutters, in the water
troughs. when the flocks came to drink,
that they should conceive when they came to drink. He took that
wood, stripes in it, those rods, and he stuck it in the gutter
of the watering troughs. He saves to the gutter most,
doesn't he? Way down low, that's where we
are, with our heads bowed down in it. When they come to drink, they
conceived. If we consume that living water, who he is and what
he did. If he gives us a thirst for that,
there's going to be life. There's going to be conception,
and there's going to be offspring, because them people's going to
love each other, and they're going to work together to further the
gospel. It's going to happen. And the flocks conceived before
the rods, verse 39, and brought forth cattle. These are all the
white ones, right, on the outside. They brought forth cattle, ring-streaked,
speckled, and spotted. Every one of them kids, that's
what a kid is, is an offspring of a goat or a sheep, right?
All them little, all its kids, they're all ring-streaked, speckled,
and spotted. How could that happen? They didn't know anything about
recessive traits in DNA, did they? We think mankind discovers
something God did, and we think we're brilliant, don't we? That's
recessive DNA. What about light, speaking of
stars singing? Spectrum analysis. That's what we call it. Man thought
the Earth was flat for a couple thousand years. If they'd have
read Isaiah, they'd have known better. He sits on the circle
of the Earth, doesn't he? Lightning. Lightning comes up from the ground,
not down. That's the way the light bulb moves. He says, it
says, here I am. It calls to him. Oh, the offspring. What's that
mean? There's a DNA problem. It ain't what the outside looks
like. It's not the outside of a whited sepulcher. You're just
painting up dead men's bones. Oh, you are. It's what's in the
heart. That's all we can produce. That's all those things could
produce, isn't it? Verse 40, and Jacob did separate
the lambs and set the faces of the flock towards the ring strait
and all the brown in the flock of Laban. And he put his own
flocks by themselves and put them not unto Laban's cattle.
They can't go back. He separated them. They can't
go back. They can't go drink of them other
waters. Can you? You ever go to a funeral
or something and you got to get up and hear just nonsense and
everybody's getting preached into heaven and let's do a funeral
of a famous person that died. They drive a severe drug overdose,
riotous living, and curse God up to let them know they're in
a better place now. I can't drink that. I can't. It's up to you. I can't drink that. You gotta
make yourself holy. I can't drink that. I can't. Why? God separated us. So he
said, Jeremiah 23, he said, I didn't send these people, and they will
not profit my people. I'll keep them separated. They're
sanctified. Verse 41. And it came to pass
whence when so ever the strong cattle did conceive that Jacob
laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the gutters.
He just showed it to him. You getting stout and strong, you
can do it by yourself. Look here. I was getting a little too big
for my britches one day. My pastor reminded me of who Christ was
and what he did for me. It came to pass whenever the
stronger cattle did conceive that Jacob laid the rods before
the eyes of the cattle in the gutters. that they might conceive
among the rods. That's where your children's
gonna come from. But when the cattle were feeble, he put them
not in. So the feeblers were Laban's
and the strongers, Jacob's. How'd that flip-flop? I thought,
you know, just in practicality, Thomas, you had a dog. Them purebreds
ain't nothing but trouble. Ain't that right? They got hip
dysplasia and all kinds of things that's wrong with them are expensive.
They have nothing but illnesses. They're sick all the time. Ain't
they? What about them old mutts and
dogs? You don't have to ever take them
to a doctor. That cattle lived to 45 years old. The elder shall serve the younger.
because the Lord is the strength of his people. Those that look
so feeble look like mutts. He's their strength. Well, they
prove stronger in the end, don't they? Everything else is like
fig leaves, going wilt. You ever seen a leaf? You just
let it dry out and touch it, and it goes to just crumbs, don't
it? It goes right back into dirt. Verse 43, and the man increased
exceedingly and had butch cattle and maidservants and midservants
and camels and asses. Our Lord's increased greatly,
hasn't he? I don't give my thoughts much. I do some. I don't give
my thoughts much. But I'll bet you a paycheck.
It ain't much. Whenever Jacob's going to leave,
he's going to go back home. All those that are Ring straight,
speckled, spotted, and brown. They're going to go with him.
And they're going back to Canaan, the promised land. And I bet
you whenever he took them there, as soon as they crossed that
threshold in there, everyone was white as snow. You're going to be. If you're
white now, it ain't going to do you no good. They're going
to do you no good. He's going to make us. And who
can bring a clean thing out of an unclean thing? He can. And
it takes just the power to do so to make an unclean thing out
of a clean thing. When we think we're so white
and so glorious and so majestic and precious, and for God to
come and say, you know what? I'm a sinner. I'm speckled all
over. That's just my DNA. He has to
do that too. A sinner is a precious thing.
The Holy Spirit's made them so. Reveal that to us right now.
Amen. All right.