You like that hymn? Pay attention
to the words you did. William Cooper wrote that. He's written several lovely hymns. Hymns, some of
our favorites. Psalm 146. Now turn back there. Psalm 146. One verse here will
be our text. But it's a good one. Psalm 146,
verse 5. Happy is he that hath the God
of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God. Happy is he that the God of Jacob. That's our text tonight. That's
our subject, God of Jacob. Go back now to Genesis 25. After we studied a little bit of Isaac blessing
Jacob and Esau, you remember, last week I couldn't get Jacob
off my mind. So, and this will be a blessing
I am confident. We need to look at Jacob before
we can understand Jacob's God. We need to realize what Jacob
was. We need to be a Jacob. We need
to understand that we are like Jacob before we can really understand
and appreciate Jacob's God. Before Psalm 146.5 means anything
to us. You have to be a Jacob to be happy that you have his
God. Who is Jacob? Genesis 25, you
remember this. Verses 27 and 28. These were
the sons of Isaac and Rebekah. The boys grew. Esau was a cunning
hunter, a man of the field. Jacob was a plain man, ordinary
man, dwelling in tents. Isaac loved Esau because he did
eat of his venison. But Rebecca loved Jacob. I still
can't help but laugh at that. Isaac loving him because he ate
his dear meat. Jacob, who is Jacob? Just a plain
ordinary fella. Nobody special. Nobody special. Totally unremarkable. Jacob. Nothing about him that would
appeal to you. As a matter of fact, you would
probably be more impressed with Esau. Look over at Malachi with me,
the book of Malachi. Yet, let me tell you what made
the difference between Jacob and Esau, or rather who. Jacob was loved by God. Jacob
was chosen by God. That's who Jacob was. There's
nothing special about Jacob. But Jacob was chosen by God,
loved by God. Malachi 3, you know these verses. Malachi 3, I'm sorry, chapter
1. Malachi 1, verse 1, the burden of the word
of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. I have loved you, saith the Lord. Now that's to Israel, that's
Israel. I have loved you, saith the Lord,
yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? And the Lord answers,
Was not Esau Jacob's brother, saith the Lord, yet I loved Jacob. And I hated Esau. I loved Jacob. And you know that was before
they were born. Romans 9 tells us that clearly, as well as the
story in Genesis. Go back there to Genesis. Before
Jacob was born, before he was a sinner, God Almighty set his
love and affection upon him and chose him and ordered all things
concerning him. And so it is with every single
son of Jacob. Every single son of Jacob. God
chose them before they were born. I love what Charles Spurgeon
said about that. You remember? Charles Spurgeon
said, I know the Lord chose me because I sure didn't choose
him. I would never have chosen him
had he not chosen me. And he said, I know he did it
before I was born because if he waited until afterward, he
never would have chosen me. And yes, happy is he that hath
the sovereign elect in God of Jacob. for his help and salvation. Let me read this to you. Isaiah,
oh my, this is wonderful. Isaiah, if you want to turn,
chapter 41, it says this, beginning with verse 8. Oh, we need to
preach on this. Isaiah 41, 8, But thou Israel
art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham,
my friend, thou whom I have taken, from the ends of the earth, and
called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee,
Thou art my servant, I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away. Fear thou not, for I am with
thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy
God. I will strengthen thee, yea,
I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand
of my righteousness." Behold, all they that were incensed against
thee shall be ashamed and confounded. They shall be as nothing. They
that strive with thee shall perish. Thou shalt seek them, and shalt
not find them, even them that contended with thee. They that
war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of naught.
For I, the Lord thy God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto
thee, Fear not." I will help thee. Fear not, thou worm, Jacob,
and you men of Israel. I will help thee, saith the Lord,
and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel." All right, let's
go home. Amen. Happy is he that hath the
God of Jacob for his help. All right, go back to Genesis.
Now, as I said, Jacob, there's nothing special about him, yet
God Almighty chose him, loved And that made him a son of God
and ordered everything concerning him. Now old Jacob's a sinner. I mean, he's a sinner. You remember
the story of him deceiving his brother. You remember that verse?
Look at verse, well, let's not, let's not read that again. Where
he deceived his brother for the birthright. Turn over to chapter
27. And this was where we looked. Chapter 27, remember Esau came
in to get the blessing which Jacob deceived his father about
and supplanted his brother again. You remember Jacob was a rotten
fellow, a sinner. And Esau came in to get the blessing.
You remember reading this verse 36? And he said, Is not he rightly
named Jacob? That means supplanter, for he
hath supplanted me these two times, took away my birthright,
behold now he hath taken away my blessing. Isn't he rightly
named? And if you claim your place with
Jacob's sons, you'll say the same, won't you? That's my name,
supplanter, deceitful. We by nature, the scripture says,
our hearts by nature, by nature, before God dealt with were deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked. Who could know them?
We didn't know them. But God, but God. That's the difference between
these two sons of Jacob and Esau. That's the difference. God's
elect loving, God's love and electing grace. God's sovereign,
electing and loving grace made them to differ. But let me tell
you what Jacob's sins did though. Somebody asked me after the last
time we, after that study, they said to me, I hope I'm a son
of Jacob. I hope I'm not an Esau. Well, that's good. You need to
be concerned about that. You sure do. You need to be like
all of the disciples when the Lord said, one of you shall betray
me. And every one of them began to say, Lord, is it I? You need to suspect yourself.
You need to always suspect yourself. That way, and here's the point
I'm trying to make. Here's the difference between
Jacob and Esau. Esau's sins made him bitter and angry. Didn't it? Made him mad at God,
made him mad at his brother, made him mad at everything. Made
him bitter and angry and want the exact vengeance. Jacob's
sins drove him to God. Didn't they? Can you say that,
son of Jacob? Your sins, which are ever before
you, drive you to God, not away from Him, but drive you to call
to Him for mercy. Jacob did. And God made that
difference. God's the one that made That
difference. Jacob was chosen to know and
believe and walk with God. Chapter 28. Chapter 28. Jacob was chosen to know and
believe and walk with God, just as we are. Over in Isaiah 43,
he said, You I have chosen. I want to get it right. He said,
You are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant, whom I
have chosen, that you may know and believe me, and understand
that I am he. That is said to all the sons
of Jacob. Jacob was loved, elected, called. For whom he did foreknow,
he did predestinate. Whom he did predestinate, he
called. Jacob was called by God's grace.
Jacob met the Lord. The Lord appeared to Jacob here
in this chapter. Revealed himself to Jacob. And
here it is. Jacob was on his way to look
for a wife. Right after that story of Isaac
blessing Jacob and Esau, you know, Esau said, I'm going to
kill my brother. And Rebecca said, run, run. And then Isaac told him, told
Jacob, go down to where my brother is and find a wife down there.
But get out of here. Your brother wants your head.
So he took off running. He left for fear. And he went
looking for a wife. Now, I don't believe Jacob knows
God at this point. He heard the blessing of God
the Father from his father. But I don't believe he knows
God at this point. He's going down this place to
get him a bride. That's his mission. He's looking
for a wife. Well, he's 40, isn't he? That's
how Esau was. He's around 40, and he's looking
for a wife. He's trying to make his way in
the world. He's just trying to get by. But God is going to appear
to him. God is going to give him life. Give him life. Chapter 28, verses
10 through 15. Let's read these. Jacob went
out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. And Jacob lighted upon
a certain place, a certain place. That's where God brought him.
And he tarried there all night, spent the night there. The sun
was set. He took the stones of that place and put them for his
pillows and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed. And behold, a ladder set up on
the earth. And the top of the ladder reached
to heaven. And behold, the angels of God
ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above
it, at the top of the ladder, and said, I am the Lord God of
Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac, the land whereon thou
liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed. And thy seed
shall be as the dust of the earth, And thou shalt spread abroad
to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the
south, and in thee, and in thy seed shall all the families of
the earth be blessed. And behold, I am with thee, and
I will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will
bring thee again into this land. For I will not leave thee until
I have done that which I have spoken." to be of. So God Almighty
appears to Jacob and reveals himself, I am the Lord God. I am the Lord God of Abraham,
thy father and the God of Isaac. I am your God. And isn't that
what every one of Jacob's sons hear eventually? I am that I
am. This is life eternal that they
might know thee, the only true God. Every son of Jacob eventually
God brings them to the place, a certain place where the gospel
is, where God is. And God Almighty reveals Himself
to them through the preaching of His Word. Reveals unto them
His person, His purpose. What's this ladder? What's that
all about? Do you know? Surely you do. The ladder, see it was on earth,
and it reached all the way to heaven. And there were angels
going up and down on this ladder. What is that? Well, Jacob saw
what every son of Jacob must see to be saved. This is life
eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and
Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. That ladder is the Lord
Jesus Christ, the God-man. That ladder on earth, reaching
from earth to heaven, that which spanned earth and heaven, that
which brought earth and heaven together. which God is at the
height of, at the top of that ladder. And it says the angels
were ascending and descending upon this ladder. That is, all
the blessings of God that come down to us are through Christ. Right? The blessings of God come
to us through the Lord Jesus Christ, that unspeakable gift
who came down. And all the blessings we, all
our petitions, all our requests, all of our prayers, everything
goes up from us to God through Christ our mediator. He's that
ladder. He's that way, that one way to
the Father, one way to God. That's through Christ the Lord.
So he's that ladder, Jacob's ladder. Very few people know
today what that is. You hear people talk about it,
don't you? They make name movies after that, but blessed are you. The Father revealed to you who
that ladder is. Well, Jacob, listen to this confession. I love this. Verse 16, and this
is where we sung that song we sung. Verse 16, Jacob awaked
out of his sleep. Here's a picture of salvation,
isn't it? This world is sleeping in the
sleep of death. God Almighty awakens His people. Waked out
of his sleep and he said, surely the Lord is in this place. And
I knew it not. I knew it not. And he was afraid. See, the fear of the Lord. It
struck fear in him as God does all his sons. Fear of the Lord,
that's the beginning of wisdom. Fear. Verses 18 and following,
look at Jacob's profession or confession. I say, Jacob rose
up early in the morning. Those who seek me early will
find me. He's a seeker now, seeking his God, and took the stone,
a worshipper now, and took the stone that he had put for his
pillows and set it up for a pillar and poured a little oil upon
the top of it. Now, everything in this story,
which we don't have time, is a picture of Christ. That stone
upon which he rested, well, Who else could that be? But Christ.
The stone which is the altar, the stone which was the pillar
upon which the oil is poured. Christ given the Spirit without
measure. He called the name of that place Bethel. Bethel. Bethel
means city of God. City of God. Jacob vowed a vow,
verse 20. Now this is not a vow of, he's
not driving a bargain with God here. Understand this. charlatans
out there, some false prophets who love to use this as bow,
bow and God will pay it back. Especially that fool from Texas.
Anyway, this is not driving a bargain with God. He's just stating the
fact. He's just stating the fact that if God will keep him, he'll
be his God. He's not saying if God will do
this for me, then I'll look at Jacob bowed about and said, if
God will be with me and keep me in this way that I go, give
me bread to eat, raiment to put on so that I come again to my
father's house in peace. In other words, I can't do it. I can't provide
for myself. I can't be kept. My brother's
after me. I need a bride. I don't know where to go. I don't
know where I'm going. of what's going to come of me,
I'm a helpless fellow, sinner. But if God will keep me, and
God will bring me back and do everything he said to me, put
raiment on me, give me bread to eat, and bring me again all
the way home in peace, that's my God. Happy is he that hath the God
of Jacob for his help. God said he'd do it, didn't he?
And he will. And so he said, so he put the
stone, the stone which I set for a pillar shall be God's house.
He said, I'll build God's house and I'll attend it. Every opportunity
I get, I'll be here. If God do all that for me, the
least I could do. And he's my God. That's my God,
Jacob said. You see that, Brother Henry,
he's not rocking a bargain with God. He's just stating a fact.
If He can do this for me and bring me back when the whole
world's against me, then He's God. That's God. My God. So it is with every son of Jacob.
And so from this day forward, Jacob's a seeker. Jacob's a worshiper. And the Lord continues to bless
Jacob and make Himself known to Jacob. Chapter 29. Go over
there. You're going to like this. Chapter
29, the Lord continues to make himself known to Jacob. Verse
1, Jacob went on his journey. He's on his journey. And he came
into the land of the people of the east. All right? He's looking
for a bride. Down in verse 11, to make a long
story short, he found her. Oh, he found her. And Jacob kissed
Rachel and lifted up his voice and wept at the goodness of God,
at the sovereign providence of God. Sovereign mercy of God in
giving him such a wonderful woman as this. A cheat, a supplanter,
a no good fellow like he was, undeserving of the least of God's
favor. Look here, look what he's given me. Look at this lovely
woman that he's given me. Look at this wonderful man he's
given me. Oh my, that's my God. How about you, daughter of Jacob? Son of Jacob. Can you say that?
Undeserving, yet look what he's done for me. Look who he's provided
for me. Look at it. And he went through
trial after trial. Chapter 30. He went through trial
after trial, as all of Jacob's sons do. God chastened him. Whom the Lord
loves, he chastens. But he went through trial after
trial and God blessed him both spiritually and materially. Verse
43 of chapter 30. It says, The man, that is the
man, Jacob, increased exceedingly and had much cattle and maidservants
and menservants and camels and asses. We need to take a little
journey every now and then, don't we, back and remember where we
came from, where the Lord found us. and think about where we
are now. Right, Brother Henry? A foxhole
in Korea to a padded pew with a loveliest woman on earth sitting
beside you. Forty-nine years. We were talking
about how gracious you are tonight in the study to be married to
Henry for forty-nine years. Lord sure did bless you, buddy.
You outmarried yourself. But that's what Roberta thinks
about him now. Increased exceedingly. Exceedingly. Now, we sons of Jacob may not
have as much as Esau's out there. We may not have as much as the
world has, yet God has certainly blessed us exceedingly. Has he
not? We have more than we could ask for. More than we need, don't
we? Don't have everything we want,
perhaps. That's because our wants are too many. But he has blessed
us with everything you need. He promised to do so. He sure
has, exceedingly. Jacob meets a host of God's people. Chapter 32. He meets a host of
God's people. Chapter 32, verses 1 and 2. Jacob
went on his way. He kept traveling. And the angels
of God met him. And when Jacob saw them, he said,
well, this is God's host. And he called the name of that
place Mayonim. Well, who's that talking about? What did you think when you first
came here? Huh? When you first met these people?
Hmm? When you first came into a true
church, didn't you think that? Oh, my, this is God's host. These are God's angels. This
is God's family. And he made me a part of this.
How blessed I am. My, my, this is heaven. This
is a foretaste of glory divine. Jacob has troubles, though, like
I said. After God revealed himself to Jacob, he was generally speaking
a God-fearing, God-seeking, God-loving, believing man, wasn't he? Yeah,
he was. That's the difference between
him and Esau. God made the difference. God gets the glory. But generally
speaking, generally speaking, he was a God-fearing, God-seeking,
God-worshipping, God-loving, believing man. But he was still
sneaky, wasn't he, Brother John? With his father-in-law and so
on and so forth. Those of you who know the story.
That's because he's still a sinner. Jacob's still a sinner. God didn't
remove all the sin from him. God just paid for it. God paid for it in crime. Jacob's still a sinner. And since
he's loved by God, he's going to be chasing for his sin. His
sin will chase him. As ever before, Jacob felt guilty. We looked down in Mississippi. We looked at the Passover together.
And those bitter herbs that The Lord told His people to eat the
lamb with bitter herbs. That was a revelation to us.
Those bitter herbs, that lamb is a sweet, savory, wonderful
thing. But bitter herbs, we would eat
it with bitter herbs. That is our sin. So we partake
of Christ and He's sweet. He's sweet to the taste. And
in salvation, the gospel is sweet to the taste. But our sin is
ever before, ever leaves a bitter taste in our mouth. And that's
by design. God designed it that way, purposed
it that way, that our sins will never be completely without sin.
That makes the gospel sweet to us. Right? We keep this bitter
taste in our mouth, and that's good. That keeps us coming to
Christ, doesn't it? Keeps us needing that sweet,
savory meat. You see what I mean? Old Jacob,
his sin chastened him, his family, his old family was after him.
And the world, trials, troubles, tribulations, that's what Jacob
had and so did Jacob's son. So do Jacob's sons. Persecuted. Persecuted. But look at this.
This is a story of stories in Jacob's life. Chapter 32. Chapter 32. A man wrestles with
Jacob. Jacob, at a time when he needed
God to bless him more than any other. His brother Esau is right
on his heels. Jacob thinks it's all over. It's
all over. He thinks, God, my sins have
finally caught up with me, my brother is going to kill me,
and I'm getting what I deserve, and God has forsaken me. It's a time when he, just when,
the song says, just when he needed him most. Again, Jacob lays down
chapter 32, verse 24, Jacob was left alone and there wrestled
a man with him until the breaking of the day. A man comes to him,
a man, and lays hold on him and begins to wrestle with him, a
wrestling match. A man wrestles with him. You
notice who came to who? This man came to Jacob and laid
hold on him to wrestle with him, wrestle with him. And when the
angel, it says, saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the
hollow of his thigh. The hollow of Jacob's thigh was
out of joint as he wrestled with him. And he said, the angel said,
let me go for the daybreaker. And Jacob said, I will not let
thee go except thou bless me. And the Lord, the angel of the
Lord said unto him, what is thy name? And he said, Jacob. The angel of the Lord said, Thy
name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel, Prince. For as a prince hast thou power
with God and with men, and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him,
Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it
that thou dost ask after my name? That is none of your business,
he said. And he blessed him there. Jacob called the name of the
place Peniel, where I have seen God face to face, and my life
is preserved." And as he passed over Peniel, the sun rose upon
him. The sun rose upon him. It was
a dark night, boy, but the sun hurt. Joy in the morning. Somebody
just wrestled with him. And he halted upon his thigh,
though. He wasn't the same after this. Therefore the children
of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank which is upon the
hollow of the thigh until this day. Because he touched the hollow
of Jacob's thigh and the sinew that shrank. Do you know what
this is talking about? Do you see who this is talking
about? That man that wrestled with Jacob was none other than
the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Who meets every son of Jacob
and wrestles with him. Lays hold upon them. Reveals
himself to them. He changes their name. First
he demands He said, I didn't come to call
the righteous, but sinners. What's your name? Sinner. He said, no more. Christ wrestled, lays hold of
all of his people, and blesses them, changes their name to Prince
of God, Son of God. But it says Jacob, though, laid
hold on him, didn't it? They both wrestled. There wouldn't
have been a wrestling match if the Lord hadn't come to Jacob.
The Lord laid hold on Jacob. Paul wrote this, didn't he, in
Philippians. He said, I apprehend, I seek
after, I want to apprehend that for which I am apprehended. Paul
wasn't seeking the Lord until the Lord saw him, until the Lord
laid hold on him. And then he laid hold on the
Lord, didn't he, by faith? And so it is with all the sons
of Jacob. Christ comes to them and lays hold on them. What's
your name? Jacob. That's what I am. No good. Not anymore. You're not. You're
mine. You're mine. I'm your Lord's.
You're your Lord's. And I'm yours. I'm yours. And it says he was
never the same. He limped from that day forward.
He was never the same. He was a changed man. There was
something that happened to him that would always make him remember.
The Lord touched him. He touched me. Sherry plays that
song all the time, her operatory. He touched me, and oh, the joy
that filled my soul. Something wonderful happened,
and now I know. He touched me and made me whole. I'm going to walk with a limp.
Explain that. So that's old Jacob. Walked with
a limp. As I said, you need to understand
Jacob, to understand Jacob's God. See, happy is he that hath
the God of Jacob for his help. Jacob, do you mind telling me
something good about Jacob after reading his life? Jacob's salvation was of who? Start to finish. Jacob's a poor,
miserable sinner. Let's look at Jacob's God quickly.
Back to chapter 28. Let's look a little more closely
at this, what God said to him. Chapter 28. Jacob's God. Like I said, to understand Jacob's
God, you have to understand Jacob. To really be thankful for Jacob's
God, you have to be a Jacob. He's the God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob. Chapter 29. God is, the God of
Jacob is the sovereign electing God. Now Jacob was just like
Esau, wasn't he? But God chose him. Happy is he that hath the God
of Jacob for his help. Sovereign electing, sovereign
loving God. Jacob have I loved. There in Malachi 1 where everybody
said, those that couldn't understand How do you love those? Why would
you love it? Did not hate you, so I love you.
That's how. While the world argues against
that, every son of Jacob marvels. Don't they? Every son of Jacob
marvels at God's love for the sons of Jacob, not God's hatred
of Esau. That's easy to say. It's easy
to see how God hates so many in this world, and they hate
God. They're not interested in God. They're not. They're really not.
Why are you? Huh? Jeremiah, he said, is it
nothing to you all that pass by? No, it's not. God's nothing to men. And he
wasn't anything to you. You were passing by. But he stopped
you, didn't he? And erected you in here. Or wherever
you heard the gospel. He's as happy as he'd have to
go, Jacob, for his help. It loves Him. Covenant-making,
covenant-keeping God. Chapter 28, verses 13 through
15. Look at this again if you didn't
pay close attention. He said this. He said, Behold,
I am the Lord, the Lord God of Abraham, thy father, and the
God of Isaac, the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give
it, that I see. He told us, He's made us a new
heaven and a new earth, didn't He? Me? Yes. Nancy, yes. There's a place for
you. A new earth, much better than he made for the first Adam.
Oh, really? Yes. For all the sons of Jacob. Adam deserved it. Adam was a
fine man. I don't, but he said he did. Oh, happy is he that
the God of Jacob, that he prepared, what a place he prepared for
the sons of Jacob. Read on. He said, Thy seed shall
be as the dust of the earth. Thou shalt spread abroad to the
west, the east, the north, the south, In other words, I've got
a whole bunch of Jacobs out there. A whole bunch of them as the
sand of the sea and the stars of the sky. Sons of Jacob, just
like you. They'll all be there. Save the
North, give up to the South, bring them. Verse 15, Behold,
I am with thee, and I will keep thee in all places
whither thou goest. One of the men asked me the other
day, Is it true that God's angels, that God has angels around all
His people? It sure is. If you believe God it is, think
about your life. We're immortal until God's finished
with us. He says, He shall give His angels
charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. That's what
it says. Until it's time. And then nobody
and nothing can stop it. No matter what, it's time. The
Lord. Your bounds are set. You cannot pass. God is the one
that set them. Until then, you're immortal. Yes, there's an angel watching
over you. They always behold the Father's face. Christ himself
said that. Every one of us. Look, look at the next thing.
He says, I'm with thee to keep thee in all places whither thou
goest, and will bring thee again into this land. You reckon I'll
make it, preacher? Is Jacob's God your God? Huh? Oh, happy is he that the God
of Jacob for his help, with all the sons of Jacob, make it. He
said, I'll bring you again to the land. I will not leave thee.
Oh, my. Jacob, sinner, deserved to
be left by God, but he wouldn't. We turn our backs on God quite
a bit, don't we? We forget him, days on end perhaps. He said, I'll never forsake thee. Oh, happy is he that the God
of Jacob forsake. Read on. He said, until I have
done. In other words, it's all going
to end, just like I said, everything working together according to
the purpose for good, according to the purpose of those that
love God. Until I've done that which I
have spoken of, everything I've said will come to pass. Happy is he that hath the God
of Jacob for his help. Merciful, gracious, I've got
to quit. I've got so much more to say, but I want to quit. Merciful,
the God of Jacob, gracious, compassionate, The Lord kept blessing Jacob.
Blessing Jacob appeared to him time and again. Read it for yourselves.
Chapter 35. Go over there and read it for
some time. He is as happy as he that the
God of Jacob. I want you to turn to one scripture
in closing. Malachi chapter 3. You know what
I want to read, John? Malachi chapter 3. This is our
closing verse. Time and again we feel so sinful. so unworthy, feel like God should
forsake us, and perhaps he might, we feel. But then he appears
in the gospel, blesses us. How happy is he to have the God
of Jacob. Jacob's God is a sovereign God,
electing God, loving God, saving God, revealing God, covenant-keeping
God, merciful God, gracious God, ever-present God. Providing God. Give me something. Give me an
adjective. Omnipotent, omnipresent, loving
God. Malachi 3, yes, happy as he,
hath the God of Jacob for his help. Malachi 3, verse 6, says, I am
the Lord, I change not. Doesn't change his mind, doesn't
change his purpose, doesn't change his Whatever he says shall be
done, and therefore, you sons of Jacob are not concerned. Happy is he that the God of Jacob
prayeth for his help. All right, stand with me. O God of Jacob, we call upon
you. God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
how we thank you that thou art so. And we feel ourselves to
be just like Jacob, even worse. And yet we, our hope is in the
Lord and the God of Jacob. All our hope, all our salvation
is in thee. In thy mercy, in thy grace, in
thy covenant which you've made with your Son concerning us.
It's all our hope that you've ordered all things concerning
us. This is all our salvation. We are, we rejoice, we're glad. that the God of Jacob is our
help. It's in Christ's name we pray and give thanks and amen
together. Amen. you