Good morning. If you will, let's
turn to our text, be Genesis 29. Be looking at this family of
Jacob's again. Let's tease them with Kimberly.
My morning routine's gone. I normally have notes and highlight
them and draw on them and write things in and I haven't I don't
last time I saw his notes I topped I was like Moses I was busy fetching
water this morning. Good day. Let everybody get settled. We'll
get to Genesis 29 be important. Tell them my message is a dysfunctional
family. You know any families that's
dysfunctional? You know it's just a hot mess?
Come on in. Genesis 29. Let's pray together. Father,
be with us. Lord, we've gathered in this
house to hear a word from you. Make that serious to us. Allow
us to see the value of our soul and the eternal nature of this. God, if you'll please make one
of your children believe today. Give us the faith, your gift
to believe Christ, Give us the faith whose object is Christ
and give us the faith and be merciful to us to obey Him. Lord,
if you be not with us, don't let us go. Have your Spirit with
us today, Lord. Be with us. Give us ears to hear
Christ. Teach us, Lord. Forgive us. for what we are. It's in Christ's
name that we ask it. Amen. All right, brethren, Genesis
29. We'll begin in verse 31. Genesis 29, 31. And when the
Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel
was barren. And Leah conceived and bare a
son, and she called his name Reuben. Four, she said, surely
the Lord hath looked upon my affliction. Now, therefore, my
husband will love me. And she conceived again and bare
a son and said, because the Lord hath heard that I was hated,
he therefore given me this son also. And she called his name
Simeon. And she conceived again and bare
a son and said, now this time will my husband be joined to
me. "'cause I have borne him three sons. "'Therefore was his
name called Levi.' "'And she conceived again and bare a son,
"'and she said, now will I praise the Lord. "'Therefore she called
his name Judah and left bearing.'" Chapter 30, verse one, "'And
when Rachel saw that she would bear Jacob no children, "'Rachel
envied her sister and said unto Jacob, "'Give me children or
else I die.' "'And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel. And
he said, am I in God's stead? Who hath withheld from thee the
fruit of thy womb? And she said, behold, my maid
Bilhah. Go in unto her, and she shall
bear upon my knees that I may also have children by her. And
she gave him Bilhah, her handmaid, to wife, and Jacob went in unto
her. And Bilhah conceived and bare Jacob a son. And Rachel
said, God hath judged me, and hath also heard my voice, and
hath given me a son. Therefore she called his name
Dan. And Bilhah, Rachel's maid, conceived
again, and bare Jacob a second son. And Rachel said, with great
wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister. I have prevailed. She called his name Naphtala.
Then when Leah saw that she had left bearing, she took Zilpha,
her maid, and gave her Jacob to wife. And Zilpha, Leah's maid,
bared Jacob a son. And Leah said, a troop cometh.
She called his name Gad. And Zilpha, Leah's maid, bared
Jacob a second son. And Leah said, happy am I, for
the daughters will call me blessed. And she called his name Asher.
And Reuben went in the days of the wheat harvest and found mandrakes
in the field, and brought them unto his mother. Then Rachel
said to Leah, give me, I pray thee, thy son's mandrakes. She
said unto her, is it a small matter that thou hast taken my
husband? And wouldst thou take away my
son's mandrakes also? And Rachel said, therefore, he
shall lie with thee tonight for thy son's mandrakes. Jacob came
out of the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him
and said, Thou must come in unto me. For surely I have hired thee
with my son's mandrakes, and he lay with her that night. And
God hearkened unto Leah in the midst of all this, this debauchery. God hearkened unto Leah. And
she conceived and bared Jacob the fifth son. And Leah said,
God hath given me my hire because I have given my maiden to my
husband. And she called his name Issachar.
And Leah conceived again and bared Jacob the sixth son. And
Leah said, God hath endued me with a good dowry. Now will my
husband dwell with me because I have borne him six sons. And
she called his name Zebulun. and afterwards she bear a daughter
called her name Dina and God remembered Rachel. God hearkened
to her and opened her womb and she conceived. and bear a son,
and said, God hath taken away my reproach. And she called his
name Joseph, and said, the Lord shall add to me another son. We'll stop there. He did. With
faith, Rachel said, God will give me another son. She had
Benjamin, didn't she? We read that last time. We know
in Romans 15, Paul told us, he said, whatsoever things are written
aforetime were written for our learning, we're gonna learn something
that we through patience, it's gonna take a while, you ain't
gonna learn it all today. It's gonna take a long time lifetime. Jacob's pushing 100 years old
now that through patience and comfort of the scriptures. That's a horrible story we just
read. I mean, it's just terrible. It's
horrible at every turn, isn't it? Ain't nothing good going
on. A weak man, wicked wives, disobedient children, orneriness,
just debauchery all around. It was bad. That we through patience
and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. This is a gospel
story, did you know that? This is good news. This is good
news. Something we we ought to be excited
about hearing. Like, man, did you hear that?
That's amazing. What's your next thought? What
times of all game? Come on. Did you go with Michelin's
whenever you bought tires last time? I don't we got to talk
about something I guess but I just this is a story of a sinful family,
and it tells us one more time that gospel story, the gospel
story. Paul said, moreover, the law
entered that the offense might abound. We have God's law. How many things can you list
that's wrong here? But where sin abounded, grace did much
more abound. Boy, did it. Boy, did it. These are all bad
things. We don't look over that. We don't
condone it. We don't encourage it. We don't encourage bad things,
do we? Well, not if we have any wisdom
whatsoever. David says, surely the wrath
of man shall praise thee, and the remainder of wrath shalt
thou restrain. What's that mean? Even mankind
being wrathful to other mankind is praising God. And if it ain't,
he won't let it happen. If it's more than he allowed,
it won't be allowed. A-double-L, I tell you all the
time, you know? A-double-L. All things. All things. Why I
don't like that? Too bad. It's going to glorify
God. Does that make you mad? I'll make you happy. I'll give
you comfort to the scriptures, shouldn't it? Reading Amos, the trump shall
be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid. This gospel's
going forward. Who's believed our report? This
gospel's going out. Ain't people fearing God? Shall
there be evil in a city and the Lord hath not done it? Surely
the Lord God will do nothing. But he revealed his secret unto
his servants, the prophets. You know these things. You know
these things. What happened? God did it. Anything. You get that? Anything. If it's good, bad, ugly, sideways,
all of this was come to pass as God purposed it before foundation.
Now wicked people did it. He didn't commit the sin, did
he? He didn't have sin and imputed
that into their account. No, they did that all by themselves.
That's what was there. But he ruled it, and he reigned
it, didn't he? We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who will be
called according to his purpose. It ain't gonna work out good
to those who aren't. I can't say that to them. But to the
people that believe God, they believe. Not they believe in
him, not they agree that those are facts, and I think that's
the right religion. And we got all of our ducks in a row. Those
that believe a person, because he saved them and put a new life
in them. All things work out for good, for his glory, for
our good, according to his purpose, purpose. The lot's cast in the
lap. We tumble and dice. I love that song. Tumble and
dice, ain't we? Just roll, it just seems so happenstance
to us. Things just, how they fall. Well,
that's just fate, man calls it, and everything else. Well, this
just come to pass, didn't it? That's just how it ended up happening.
But the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. There ain't a
molecule that's ever moved throughout time, ever. Not an electron has
come out of orbit that God didn't ordain and purpose for his glory. If he did, he's ruled and he
ain't God. Is that so? Our God is God, isn't He? Aren't
you thankful for that? Our time is in His hands. Old Brother Parks preached from
that the other day, and he said, you know, I would be comforted
if it said that all of the saints' times are in His hands. That's
true, and that would be a comfort. And what would David say? What
can I say? My times. What's going on in the world?
It don't matter. My time. What time are you in right now?
What are you going through? That time that you're going through,
whatever it is, is in his hands. He brought it past. Now, the
means might have been that he used was our wickedness and our
foolishness and our disobedience to his plain written word. But it's his times. We're in
his hands, isn't it? His hands. There was a $300 billion
act that was signed into law last year. Wasteful, wasn't it? Wasn't that wasteful? I'm glad
I don't have to see the sins of other people and the ignorance
of people that profess to be believers that they broadcast
to the world wide web. But I bet somebody had something
bad to say about it. Wasteful. Frivolous. That's not
being frugality, is it? $300 billion. You know what that
did? Brother D. Parks was awarded
100% to the VA. Some of you VA folks know what
that means. He's going through all this cancer.
It's completely covered. and there ain't no medical cap. You get that? It ain't gonna
hit a million dollars with cancer treatment. Well, we can't pay
it no more. Your insurance is capped out. God did that. A year ago, you think he didn't
know his son that he's gonna send cancer to is gonna get cancer?
How's he gonna provide for his family? How's he gonna get medical
attention? What's he gonna do? How's she
gonna, and children gonna be provided for? Lord's established
it and ordained it clean out a year and a half ago. What ought we criticize of what's
happening to us? I pray the Lord's in this. It
ain't me preaching to myself. What do I criticize? Oh, if I
had to write it down, I'd run out of paper. Ain't enough trees
to chop down, is there? What do we criticize? What should
we criticize? Absolutely nothing. Well, I ought
to walk through this world as somebody to thank you, Lord.
Thank you. Shouldn't I? It's his hand. It's
his times that our hands, his hands, our times are in. This
story of Jacob is a story of every son of Jacob. It's a sinner,
completely and totally sin, and his entire family too. That's
everybody. Everybody born of Adam, isn't
it? His family of Jacob's a mess, it's chaos. Why? All of them
are sinners, that's why. They're all sinners. They're
shaped in iniquity, they're born from a womb speaking lies, and
all these sons of Jacob's were just like their father, weren't
they? All 12 of them. All these sons of Jacob's are
just like our father. Two zebras have a baby. It's
a zebra. What happens when two sinners
have a baby? It's a sinner. We have a hereditary disease
from birth. There's a condition, there's
a disease. We all got it. Jacob's wives, his father-in-law,
his children, they're all just sin-filled heathens. But God. God loved Jacob. God came to
Jacob. God thundered in Jacob's heart
and he made a promise to Jacob. He said back in chapter 28, Behold,
I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou
goest, and I'll bring you again into this land, for I will not
leave thee until I've done that which I've spoken of. That man
ain't gonna rest until the matter's resolved. Where we read that
at? Psalms, Ruth, it goes several places, doesn't it? He ain't,
he's not slothful, he's not slack like men are. He said, I'm with
you, I'm with you. I'm gonna do this. It's gonna
take some time before we see what all these sons happens to
Jacob, isn't it? It's gonna be good as time goes
on. And I thought, you know, I thought
we started this in January last year. We've been in Genesis for
a whole year, haven't we? And I looked it up. We looked at
day one, day one in April of 2021. We're pushing two years,
60 some messages in Genesis. We got a lot to learn, don't
we? And this is just round one. We might go through Genesis two
or three more times as the decades go on. Joseph's going to be made
above the others, isn't he? There's going to be sweet forgiveness.
There's going to be mercy shown, humble spirits all around. Everybody's going to be humbled.
It'll be weeping and hugging necks and all kinds of things.
That's going to be great. It's going to be great. This
is a story and a family that God will chase them because of
their sins. He's going to chase them, not punish them, chasing
them. Why? Because of their sins, isn't
it? Read in Hebrews 12, for whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. And he scourgeth every son whom
he receiveth. If you endure chastening, God
deal with you as sons. Isn't that a privilege? Isn't
that an honor? If you're just getting whipped,
not punished, if the Lord's correcting you, chastening his child, he
loves you. You're his child. For what son
is he whose father chasteneth not? That's a rhetorical question.
What daddy don't whip his son? If you love him, Our Lord said
in Revelation 3, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous,
therefore, and repent. That's what he's going to teach
us. Look to him and turn from ourselves. Stop that. Stop it. We are told from the scriptures,
from the word of God. Now we'll excuse anything we
can and shove it underneath the rugs, because it affects us.
We don't want to do it. God tells us plainly with them
youngins, make them mind you the first time you tell them
something. Is that right? Is that what he says? Make them
mind. Make them mind the first time. Children, obey your parents.
That's the first commandment with promise. You have a long
life. Brush your teeth, make your bed, show up to work on
time. Be kind to people. You'll have a longer, better
life, won't you? It's so. God proves his word to us, don't
he? And he loves his children, and
he makes them, he rebukes them, and he chases them. Solomon told
us that he that spareth his rod, hateth his son, when I just love
him too much to whip him. No, you don't. You love yourself
too much. That's so. They're in the terrible
twos. No, they're not. No, they're
not. You don't make a mind. Lord says so, but he that loveth
him chases him betimes, that means early, nips it in the bud. Knock it off. Do you think our
faithful, heavenly, perfect father would make his children mine?
Oh man, our heavenly father is faithful. He's faithful and he
will not let his children get by and get over. We ain't gonna
pull the wool over his eyes. We're not gonna sneak one by
dad. What was this family like? Jacob was a deceiver, wasn't
he? And so he was allowed to be deceived to teach him something. He's the man. Look here in chapter
29, verse 25. Genesis 29, 25. And it came to
pass, and in the morning, behold, it was Leah. He woke up with
the ugly sister. And he said to Laban, What is
this that thou hast done to me? What have you done to me? Did
I not serve with thee for Rachel? Wherefore then hast thou beguiled
me? You've deceived me. You've tricked
me. You reckon Lord pierced his heart?
If he's a son, he will be taught. If he's a son, if he's a child
of God, God's going to chase him. He's going to rebuke him.
And it may not be out loud. Oh, why did I say that? I'm the deceiver. I'm the deceiver. Paul said that too in Romans
2. Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that
judgest. For wherein thou judgest another,
thou condemnest thyself. For thou that judgest doeth the
same things. Is he lying? Is he lying? Like Nathan told David, thou
art the man. Thou art the man. Saul was holding
the coats of those that stoned Stephen, didn't he? and as a
picture of Christ. That's what he said. Did Stephen
stand up and say, this man's pure evil? What he's doing is
evil. That's horrible. He said, he's
the devil. He's mean, he's bad, he's vicious. He's got marching
orders to come get the church and persecute us and put us in
prison. What he's doing is wrong. Did Stephen say those things?
When they stoned Stephen, He called upon God and said, Lord,
Jesus received my spirit and he kneeled down as they're just,
I mean, do you think a fist size rocks hit him upside the head?
Do you get that? This ain't just small English
Roman stuff we're reading in a story. This happened. He's
getting stoned to death. Rocks are flying. And he cried
with a loud voice and said, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. Forgive them, they don't know
what they're doing. And when he said this, he fell asleep.
Have we been learning on Wednesday nights what sleep means? He fell asleep. That scattered him. That scattered
him. God couldn't be in this. What
happened? Philip went down to Samaria and
preached. They believed and were baptized. I don't want to get
into the next step. Jacob had to have a moment of understanding.
He said, I'm getting what I deserve. This is me. It doesn't matter
what Laban did to me. It doesn't matter what he did.
I sinned against God. And if this chastening's what
I get, thank God for it. It ain't eternal punishment.
Thank you, Lord. I'll take that weapon. I don't know. I don't know how
this will affect some somebody might perk up start paying attention. I was 15 years old last time
my dad spanked me. And he took me in a room and we dropped my
pants and he took his belt off and it went. I mean, just barely
touched me. And I went, Oh, like a laugh,
you know. And I thought if I laugh, he'll
kill me. I was bigger than him, then it
didn't matter. He'd have killed me. And I went, whoa, and I mustered
up some tears real quick. Gotta get it. I'm thankful. During the time buddy, it wasn't
it wasn't no good. I'm thankful now. Oh, I'm thankful
now. I'm thankful. I was a man that
believed God and governed his house as God told him to do it.
you are benefiting from that, you know, you children, my children,
and these children here too, if they listen to me, benefiting
from it. God blessed it. Philip went down preached baptize
those people and The Lord blessed that too, didn't he? God does
not punish his children. He chastens them. We do not pay
for our sins, but we learn lessons from them. The Lord teaches us
lessons, and they're hard lessons. They're hard lessons to learn.
But we don't get it unless it's uncomfortable. Ain't that so?
Ain't that so? I've made a living before training
soldiers, and I do the same thing with my children. What's the
three ways the human body learns? Repetitious physical activity,
a significant emotional event, or the most effective and my
favorite, a combination of the two. We go through the same thing,
same thing, same thing, same thing, and it hits Horrible.
It's rough. It's real. There's a significant
emotional event, and it keeps happening over and over, and
finally, it starts soaking in. Maybe I ought not put my finger
in that light socket. Maybe I ought not disobey God's Word. Maybe
he knows what he's talking about. Jacob had four wives. That's
not according to the Word of God, is it? God said the two
shall become one, and Jacob paid for it. Much trouble. Much trouble. Is Jacob different? Who else
did this? Who else had had more than one
wife? Abraham? If you lay with somebody that
you married, God says so. There happens to be a ceremony
we'll look at next hour that publicly proclaims something
that's already took place. But if you lay with somebody
you married, Abraham, David, they've had a bunch of wives,
Jacob had a bunch of wives, Solomon had a bunch of wives, a lot of
trouble came to all of them. But he was up in the 70s and
so overcome with desire and himself, looking out to self-serve, and
he just took Leah anyway, and he didn't enter into marriage
with his eyes open. If we walk in the light we are given, with
our eyes open, we ain't gonna stumble. Brother Chapman brought
that out, isn't that plain? The Lord's gave us light. We
keep our eyes open, and we ain't gonna stub our toes. Now you
close, you're in darkness and shut your eyes, you're gonna
bust, you're gonna break a toe, ain't ya? We need to approach
marriage with open eyes, walking in the light of God's word with
seriousness and sobriety. And this family's full of trouble
because of their sins, and we can blame it all on Jacob. He's
supposed to be seeking the Lord. He's supposed to have, that's
his primary goal, is to put his family underneath the sound of
the gospel. But we don't read about that, do we? He's supposed
to be walking in the truth and leading his family, and what's
he doing? He's following. His wife telling
him what to do, and he's doing it. And you're going to do this,
and he did it. And then Rachel said, you're going to do that,
and he did it. He's taking all his commands from them. Trouble. Trouble. Leah said, lay with
my maids. He did it. What's wrong with him? He's a
sinner. He's depraved. He's got a flesh.
He's got a sin nature. That's what's wrong with him.
This is a lesson that the best human being that we could find
is altogether vanity. We're all altogether vanity.
We're corrupt, aren't we? The deceiver was deceived by
many. He was deceived, and he deceived himself, didn't he?
What'd John tell us? If we say we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves. And the truth's not in us. What
sin? All sin. All sin. We are capable of any
and all sin, and to think we wouldn't is to deceive ourselves.
And we're calling God a liar. I would never do that. You're
saying, God, you're a liar. That's what scripture says, isn't
it? I would never do that. You don't know you. If we say
we've not sinned, we make him a liar and his word's not in
us. It's Jacob's fault, it's his doing, yet the whole disposing,
that's what we started, wasn't it? The whole disposing of this
is of the Lord. That's good news. He's on his
throne, ruling and reigning all things, isn't he? This is the
gospel story. I made a mess of everything.
Everything I did was wrong. Everything I think was wrong,
but God. Let me tell you something. There ain't no good news if ain't
no bad news. If you've never had bad news, then all good news
is mediocre. Well, that's nice. Cross came
to World Safe Centers. Hmm, how about that? That's a
historical fact. People walking down the street
tell you that. You get the bad news, you're
the sinner. That's good news to find he comes to Safe Centers,
isn't it? That's a good news. Good news for sinners. It's hope
for the hopeless. You know what this gospel's made
for? Dysfunctional families. We gotta get all our ducks in
a row, then we can start going to church. Hogwash. Go hear Christ proclaim. That's
what needs to happen, isn't it? Jacob was a sinner. All four
of his wives were sinners, and all of his children were sinners,
isn't it? Look here at verse 31, Genesis 29 and 31. When Rachel saw that she bared
Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister. I'm sorry, verse
31 in Genesis 29, 31. And when the Lord saw that Leah
was hated, he said, well, I love her less. God said she's hated.
There was hatred in that family. Look, Genesis 30, verse 1. And
when Rachel saw that she bared Jacob no children, Rachel envied
her sister. What's going on in this family?
What's this? What's day to day life like? There's hatred. There's
envy. Look down at verse two. And Jacob's
anger was kindled against Rachel. Hatred. Envy. Anger. And verse eight, Rachel said,
With great wrestlings have I wrestled my sister. Wrestling, striving
between one another. Verse 15. And she said unto her,
Is this a small matter that thou hast taken my husband? And would
thou take also my son's mandrakes? Accusations. Accusations, jealousy,
wrath, division, backbiting. What's all that? Works of the
flesh. Works of the flesh. We gotta
be taught that. We think what we're doing is right and hits
flat wrong. God's right, we're wrong. We have to be taught that,
don't we? Turn over Galatians 5. Galatians
chapter 5. These are all the works of the
flesh, and we're full of them. We're full of them. That's what
we are. We are sin. Galatians 5, verse
16. This I say then, walk in the
spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the
lust for the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against
the flesh. There's a war going on, Paul
says, over Roman 7. And these are contrary, the one
to the other. So that you cannot do the things
that you would. Boy, I'd love to do everything
just according to God's word. His law is holy and perfect.
That's what I want to do. I can't do it. And everything
I don't want to do, that's exactly what I wake up doing. But if you be led of the spirit,
you're not under the law. Verse 19, now the works of the
flesh are manifest. What do they manifest in? This
flesh. It lusts us against the spirit, doesn't it? Which are
these. Here's the lust of the flesh. Adultery, that's what
was going on. Fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath,
strife, seditions, heresies, in-beings, murderers, drunkenness,
a big party before you went and delayed with Leah, wasn't it?
and such the like of the which I tell you before, as I've told
you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit
the kingdom of God." The Lord rebuked Peter, didn't he? Peter
rebuked the Lord. That's our natural state. You're
rebuking God. You ought to do it my way. Peter
rebuked the Lord. He said, I forbid, don't you do that. Don't you
talk about dying. And he said, get behind me, Satan. For thou
savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that
be of men. All that stuff Paul's mentioned, all that stuff, that's
what mankind, that's our nature that wants it, isn't it? What
are the things of God? What's our new creation? And
in spite of ourselves, God blesses us and puts it in us. What's
that new creation, Craig? Look at verse 22, Galatians 5.22.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love. joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against
such there's no law. There ain't no limit to that.
You want to do that? Do it all you want. Triple down. Knock yourself out. Good, right?
And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the
affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let
us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vainglory,
provoking one another, envying one another. Don't let us do
that. Keep us on these things. Lord, keep us. Keep us. Turn
over just a few pages of Ephesians 4. Ephesians 4, verse 17. This I say, therefore, and testify
in the Lord that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk,
in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened,
but being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance
that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who,
being past feeling, have given themselves over to lasciviousness,
to work all uncleanness with greediness. But ye have not so
learned Christ. If so be that ye have heard him,
and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, that
ye put off concerning the former conversation of the old man."
Put that stuff away. I didn't know it was wrong. Well,
you do now. If we know better, we ought to do better, right?
If we know better, we ought to do better. Put it off. "...that
ye put off concerning the former conversation of the old man,
which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust, and be renewed
in the spirit of your mind." Peter said, let me stir up your
pure minds. Let me remind you who Christ is and what he did
for us, who we are. All flesh is grass, behold your
God, right? And that you put on the new man.
Seek that. I do. Do you wake up in the morning
praying? Say, Lord, be with me today. Make me be a good example
to people in this world and my family and everybody else. And
one fellow prayed, he said, Lord, today I haven't cursed you too
much, and I haven't sinned too much, and I haven't disobeyed
too much, but here in a few minutes I'm gonna get out of bed. I'm
gonna get up. I haven't done too much, I've
only been awake 15 seconds. Be with me, huh? Verse 25, or verse
24, put on a new man. Seek that, which is after God
created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore putting
away lying, speaking every man truth with his neighbor. For
we're members one of another. Be ye angry and sin not. Let
not the sun go down on your wrath. You get mad, don't go to bed
on your anger. What do you do if you do that?
Neither give place to the devil. You're giving place to the devil,
by the way, ain't you? Let him that stole steal no more, but
rather let him labor. Working with his hands. Henry
told me, I said, I will preach one day. I was 16 years old.
I said, I think God's gonna make me a preacher. He said, well,
be like your daddy. Work with your hands, son. And so I did.
I went and hit it like I live. Hard and fast, buddy. Gave it
all I had. Lord made me a preacher anyway.
I pray he has. Verse 29, let no corrupt communication
proceed out of your mouth. That which is good, use to the
edifying, that you may minister grace into the hearers. Have
something good to say. Pass through them doors we read
about. Is it needed? Is it true? Is it kind? Is it
loving? And grieve not the Holy Spirit,
whereby you are sealed into that day of redemption. Let all bitterness
and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away
from you with all malice. Do it intentionally with vengeance. Right now. Do it right now. Do
you read God's Word? Let's do it right now. I don't
care about yesterday. Do it right now. I don't want
to do that. and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving
one another, even, how? How do we do such things? Even
as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. How could I forgive so much?
evil. How could I forgive so much trickery
done to me? I must see I'm the trickster.
And he sent his only begotten son to bear every sin that I've
ever committed and will commit. But I tell you what, that weighs
on me. I thought if Cameron had to get take a beating with a
cat and nine tails for every time I took a drink of water,
I don't want to drink no more water. You get that? That's every sin
I commit and the sin that I am, that's where it comes from. My
Lord had to bear the guilt of it and the shame of it. I don't
want to do that no more. I have no desire to do that.
Verse one of chapter five, be ye therefore followers of God
as dear children. Crying to Abba Father is what
we have to cry. And walk in love as Christ also hath loved us
and hath given himself for us as an offering and a sacrifice
to God for a sweet-smelling Savior. Jacob and his whole crew, they
were acting like people that follow God, wasn't they? But
God. But God. He blesses those that
he chose before time in spite of ourselves. In spite of ourselves. We bring all the trouble on ourselves
by thinking we know better than what God says. And he's going
to prove his word to us. He's going to prove to his children
he ain't lying. He is. He's going to prove it
to us. First thing people say about
my children, we ask them the other night. First thing people
say about you, how well behaved you are. What nice, respectful
children we have. They say, how'd you do that?
And we tell them how we did it. And then they absolutely refuse it,
and they won't listen to us. They don't take a word of advice
we have to say. Well, you just think you know everything. No,
I just did what God told me to do. That's it. What'd he say? He said, they're
going to refuse you? No, he said, they're refusing me. They're just going
to take it out on you. Isn't that it? How can any good come out of
all this deceiving? How can any good come out of
all this lust? How can any good come out of
all this envy and hatred and jealousy? How? God's in it. We see ourselves, we get miserable.
I know that. But we know what we are and we
know who's on the throne. Our God is God. He lives up to
his name. He rules and reigns all things,
doesn't he? Now does that make you want to
go back to envy and strife and jealousy and poke people's eyes
out? Or does that make you want to love, long-suffering, forgiving,
kind as Christ has done to us? In all this sin, we just see
the sovereign grace and mercy of our Lord and His purpose being
fulfilled through His people. Jacob and all these sinful women,
they bear a bunch of sinful children. Are you a sinful son of Jacob?
Are you one of those sorry sons of Jacob's? Is that you? For I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore, because he's God Almighty. He's the Lord of hosts. And he
doesn't change because of that. Therefore, ye sons of Jacob are
not consumed. Salvation's a lord. It ain't
a man. And a fool who doesn't know God
thinks he's gonna add to it. Well, we got a sanctifier. Hush,
you don't know what you are. You don't know what you are.
The only reason we're not consumed because of him. Every one of
these boys that was born to him, as we go through it, I look forward
to it. Every one of these boys, they
were born in sin. That's wrong, wasn't it? And every one of them was bought
by blood. That's what matters. That's what matters. All right,
let's pray again. Father, forgive us for what we are. Leave us
not to ourselves. Don't leave us to our own understanding
and what we think's right, Lord. Give us wisdom. Lord, at all costs, point us
to Christ. He's the one thing needful, not
comfort in this world, not our wants and what we think are needs
and desires. He's the one thing needful. Point
us to him as you promised you will. Keep us as you promised
you will. Lord, we believe, help our unbelief. Be with those that aren't with
us and our brethren that are suffering around this world.
Allow them to see your perfect will and sovereign hand in all
things. It's in Christ's name that we ask it. Amen.