All right, let's take our Bibles
and turn back to Genesis 31. Genesis 31. I've entitled this
message tonight, Going Home. Going Home. You know, generally
speaking, there's something pleasantly soothing about the thought of
going home, home traditionally. carries with it the thoughts
of returning to contentment and joy and love, but for Jacob,
the things of pleasure about going home didn't seem to really
be there. He had fled his home 20 years
before. He worked seven years for Rachel,
He got Leah and he worked seven more years for Rachel, got Rachel. He stayed six more years, worked
for Laban to keep the cattle. That's when the Lord gave him
all the ring straked and spotted sheep, goats. He left home those
many years before because his brother wanted to kill him because
the Lord had given him the blessing. His mom told him, when you're
getting ready to leave, my son, obey my voice and arise. Flee thou to Laban, my brother,
to Haran, and tarry with him a few days until thy brother's
fury turn away, until thy brother's anger turn away from thee, and
he forget that which thou hast done to him. I read that and
I thought, that just wasn't gonna happen. Just stay a few days
and his fury turned away. Then she said, I will send and
fetch thee from hence. Then his dad sent him away with
these words. He said in Genesis 28, one and
two, thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. Arise,
go to Pandanarum, to the house of Bethuel, thy mother's father,
and take thee away from thence of the daughters of Laban, thy
mother's brother. So Jacob did that very thing. He left, and now 20 years later,
he's preparing to go home. But he's going home now with
the assurance of the Lord's blessing upon it, the Lord's will. In
Genesis 31, we looked at this last week, verse three, and the
Lord said unto Jacob, return unto the land of thy fathers,
and to thy kindred, and I will be with thee. He'd been kept,
powerfully kept by Almighty God. He labored under his father-in-law,
The Lord has given him 11 sons and one daughter up until this
point. And now the Lord has increased
him not only in his family, but also the last verse of chapter
30, the man increased exceedingly and had much cattle and maidservants
and menservants and camels and asses. So here we find Jacob. The Lord has blessed him, blessed
him. Now he wants to go home because
the Lord has told him that that's what he's to do. And he's ready.
And the scripture says in verse 17, 18, then Jacob rose up and
set his sons and his wives upon camels. And he carried away all
his cattle and all his goods, which he had gotten the cattle
of his getting, which he had gotten in Pandan Aram, for to
go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan. Now, I want us
to note this word, that first word, in verse 17. Then, then, then. When the Lord makes his will
known, Then, that's when God's people,
my sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me. Jacob had thought to leave six
years before. In chapter 30, in verse 25 and
26, just turn back there, he said to Laban, it came to pass
when Rachel had born Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, send
me away that I may go home unto mine own and to 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. He wanted
to go then, but it wasn't the Lord's will at that point for
him to go. But considering when he went,
is that not how the vessels of God's mercy come to Christ? I'm
not saying that there's a time that they wanted to come. No,
I'm just talking about when they come. You know, they don't come
until the Lord calls them. There's not a time when they
decide, you know, well, I'd like to, but I've heard that saying,
you know, people would hold on to the pew and their knuckles
and they just resisted the Lord and stuff. No. When the Lord
calls, they come. That's when they come. But this
is how they come. The chosen vessels of God's mercy
are willing in the day of God's power. Then, when they're powerfully
delivered by God's grace, they come. All that the Father giveth
me shall come. And they come when it pleases
God. Turn to Galatians 1. This is
when they come. There's no struggle, there's
no struggle on when they're gonna come. They're gonna come when
God calls them. Galatians 1, listen to these words. Galatians
1, 13 to 16. And the other Jews, I'm sorry,
Galatians 1, I'm in two. For you have heard of my conversation
in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted
the church of God. and wasted it, and profited in
the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation,
being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers. But when it pleased God, who
separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by His grace
to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the
heathen, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood. Wouldn't it please God? When
he called me by his grace, immediately, immediately. So the Lord has
told Jacob that he's to go back to the land of his father's,
he spoke to him, and Jacob then made preparation. He related,
we looked at that, he related to his wives what God had said.
He rose up, said his sons and his wives upon the camels carried
him away, that which the Lord had given him. Now, that's the
first thing we learn from this. That when God calls, God's people
move. They follow. When the Lord walked
past Matthew, as he said at the table of customs, what did the
Lord say to him? Follow me. What'd he do? He left
everything right there. He got up. There it is. I'm done. He followed after him. But there's something else that's
said in this passage of scripture. Jacob rose up, set his sons,
his wives upon the cattle, carried away all the cattle goods which
he had gotten, the cattle which he had gotten in Pandanarum,
for to go Isaac his father, and Laban went to shear his sheep.
And Rachel had stolen the images that were her father's. And Jacob
stole away unawares to Laban the Syrian, in that he told him
not that he fled. So he fled with all that he had,
and he rose up and passed over the river, and set his face toward
the Mount Gilead. In that passage of Scripture,
that latter passage that we just read, we need to remember something. Though we're powerfully brought
under the sound of the gospel, And the truth of gospel has been
powerfully applied to us in regenerating grace. And though we're graciously
taught of God and we grow in grace and in the knowledge of
our Lord and Savior, we are still found to be struggling with this
old man. There's an old man that's in
us and we carry grave closed until the day that we leave this
world. The scripture declares that God
had told Jacob, I want you to go back, go home. And he's preparing. He puts his wives on their camels
and he gets all their stuff. And while Laban had gone to shear
his sheep, Rachel, the scripture says, stole the images that were
her father's. Now, Jacob left when the Lord
told him. But in verse 31, and we won't
look at this tonight, right now, but in verse 31, he ends up telling
Laban that when he left, he was afraid of Laban. Look what he
said in verse 31. Laban's gonna ask him, Lord willing,
we'll look at this next time. Laban answered, and Jacob answered
and said to Laban, because I was afraid. Why'd you go? That's
what he asked him. Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you tell
me you were leaving? He said, I was afraid. I was
afraid. I was afraid peradventure thou
wouldest take by force thy daughters from me. He was fearful. He was afraid. But concerning
his wife, Rachel, While they're getting all the stuff together,
the scripture brings out that she stole the images that were
her father's. Jacob was a man blessed of God. Jacob was a man to whom the Lord
had revealed himself, and Jacob knew the Lord was with him. He
promised him that. In verse 3 of 31, the Lord said
unto Jacob, Return to the land of thy fathers and to thy kindred,
and I will be with thee. And he was afraid. How often
do we see in the scriptures where the Lord exhorts us, fear not. Why would he tell us that? Because
we're afraid. We're fearful, we're weak, we're
frail. He was afraid, carries with him
grave clothes, evidence of that old man that's there. And Rachel,
she stole these images. They were gods, they were idolatrous
images, shrines that were her father's. And I tried to find
out exactly what they were. Word calls them terrafum, but
they were idols. They were idols. And exactly
what these idols were, most commentators think them to be household gods
of some kind, something that would seem to satisfy a superstitious
purpose concerning worship. And Exodus holds your place right
here. Now what these were, they were idols, some kind of idols,
little small idols. But based on what I could find,
they were used to satisfy superstitious purposes of worship. Now I'm making that clear because
of what we're gonna look at. Turn over to Exodus 20. Now the
law would be given later by the Lord. We're gonna find out something
here. Exodus chapter 20, verse four
and five. Thou shalt not make unto thee
any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven
above or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water
under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself
to them, nor serve them. For I, the Lord thy God, am a
jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children,
unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me." These
were little images, and they were used concerning worship. They were used as little reminders
of worship. I remember as a young child attending
a certain denomination that had images inside the buildings of
people, supposedly, and my mother I remember this, I was little,
telling me, we don't really believe that we're worshiping those.
This is just reminders to help us to worship. Gerald Spurgeon made this comment
concerning these images. He said, the essence of idolatry
is this. to have some signs and wonders
by which we may see the Lord or think that we're being seen
in the Lord. Some outward symbol, Mr. Spurgeon said, are manifestation
that can be seen with the eye or heard with the ear rather
than rest in the invisible God and believe the fateful promise
of him who eye hath not seen nor ear heard. Don't make any graven image of
anything. Whenever we got our portable
baptistry, we were having it made right after I got here.
First question they asked me, do you wanna cross on it? I said
no. No. I don't wanna cross, I don't
want an angel, I don't want a fish, I want a box. with a baptistry
liner in it. That's what I want. We are not
to have any images, any images, that we think help us worship. The Lord forbid it. When the
children of Israel turned to 2 Kings 18, you know where I'm
going with this. 2 Kings 18, when the children
of Israel were being bitten by the fiery serpents, Now listen,
Moses was instructed of God. Moses was instructed of God to
make a brazen serpent, put it on a pole, and lift it up, and
whosoever looked upon that brazen serpent, that image of that brazen
serpent, the reason that it was a brazen serpent, I told you
before, these fiery serpents were biting the people. Those
fiery serpents were pictures. People were dying. Those fiery
serpents was a picture of sin, that which bites and kills. Wages of sin, death. That brazen
serpent was a picture of Christ being made sin, being made what
was biting the people. And Moses was instructed, lifted
up. The Lord even referred to that
instance. as Moses lifted the serpent in
the wilderness. Even so, must the Son of Man
be lifted up. They were told, God told Moses,
you lift this up and you hold this up and when the people look,
they'll live. Picture of looking to Christ
by faith. But after years went by, 2 Kings
chapter 18, Verses one to five, something
happened concerning that brazen serpent. It came to pass, 2 Kings
18, one, in the third year of Hosea, son of Elah, king of Israel,
that Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign.
20 and five years old was he when he began to reign. He reigned
20 and nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Abi,
the daughter of Zechariah. He did that which was right in
the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father
did. I told you before, I had looked
into that. I've read so many times. He did
that which was right. This one did that which was evil.
And the difference was one of them proclaimed the gospel. One of them set forth God Almighty
as God Almighty. And the other didn't. He did
that which was right in the sight of the Lord. Verse four, he removed
the high places. break the images, cut down the
groves, break in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made,
for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to
it, and he called it Nehushtan. He trusted in the Lord God of
Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings
of Judah, nor any that were before him. Now, I'm gonna just be honest
with you right now. I know what they were doing.
I just read it. They were burning incense to
it. Why? They felt that old man that feels
something that he can look at and see helps him to be more
closely connected, worship the Lord more intimately. Now just think with me. You that believe, you know this.
to worship, to look upon that, to lust after it with a desire
to think in your heart, I can be more close to that, this could
connect me more with the Lord. If we had the very brazen serpent
that Moses made, here, Moses made this. Moses! This nail,
this nail was one of the nails that was driven into the Lord.
Nails. This piece of wood, this is from,
it's authenticated. This is the part of the very
cross. See this crown of thorns? This
is the crown that was... Now don't tell me that any of
us would be exempt. There's something about us in
that old man that would say, Wow, you've got to be kidding
me. Hezekiah destroyed that brazen
serpent because the people burned incense to it. Back in Genesis 21, Sarah, I'm
sorry, Rachel, had stolen the images that were her father's. Jacob stole away, unawares, to
Laban the Syrian, that he told him not, that he fled. Why? Because
later we find out he was afraid. He fled with all that he had.
He rose up, passed over the river. I looked it up, see, it was a
river, Euphrates. He was going from Aaron, where
he was, back to Canaan. You gotta go over the river,
Euphrates. So he set his face toward Mount Gilead. Now, some
people think that Rachel took the images to deliver her father
from worshiping or consulting them. But let me say this, and
you've heard me say this before. We can't speak any farther than
that which the Spirit reveals. And the Spirit reveals that she
took them. She stole them. And we know this, that human
nature desires to worship under a form. That's human nature,
or an image. And it'll always produce a false
conception of God. The carnal man wants to walk
by sight and not by faith. This is what John, 1 John 5.21,
little children. Now who do you think he's talking
to? He's talking to believers, little children. Keep yourselves
from idols. And he said, amen, keep yourself
from idols. Anything that would occupy the
place in your heart. This, I got this from brother
Henry Mayden. Anything that would occupy the
place in your heart that is due God alone. Brother Henry said
traditions, superstitions, images, religious practices, and observations
introduced by those who call themselves Christians, things
which are not according to the scriptures. Don't do it. Don't do it. Jacob fled, setting
his face toward Gilead, going home, beholding the truth of
God's presence, direction, and he was afraid. Then the scripture
says in 22 to 24, we'll stop for this evening, and it was
told Laban on the third day that Jacob was fled, and he took his
brethren with him, and he pursued after him seven days' journey,
and they overtook him in the Mount Gilead. And God came to
Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said unto him, Take
heed, that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad. Now here, the Spirit of God gives
us a word of comfort. Comfort in the midst of our trials,
our troubles, our tribulation. Here it is. The Lord sees and
the Lord knows not only the actions of all who would plot to do us
harm, but he knows the thoughts. Remember when the Lord B. talked
to the Pharisees? And he said, why think ye evil in your heart?
He knew what they thought. Laban obviously had evil. He had revenge on his mind for
Jacob. But the very God of all grace
and mercy had told Jacob, again, we read it a moment ago, I will
be with thee. I will be with thee. As he is
with his people, all of his This is our comfort. Brethren, rest
assured, if we would follow after the Lord, if we would be led
of the Lord, we shall encounter opposition. But wait on Him. Wait on the Lord. He shall keep
us. He shall make His will known
unto us. And He will give us the assurance
of His presence. He said, I'm not going to leave
you. I'm not going to forsake you. He's on his way. And Lord willing, next time,
we're going to look when he comes, catches up with Jacob. And a
very strange thing that happens whenever he starts looking for
his idols. I invite you to read the next few verses and find
out what happened. Lord willing, we'll look that
passage