All right, let's take our Bibles
and turn back to Genesis chapter 30. The flock of Laban has been divided
between the multicolored sheep and goats and the single-colored
stock. Jacob shall tend Jacob's single-colored
flock. Laban's sons are going to tend
the multicolored. Jacob's wages is going to be
the multicolored stock which are born from the breeding of
the single-colored animals. Now, obviously, under the direction
of God's Spirit, does a very unusual thing. I'm gonna read
verses 37 to 43. That's our passage for the second
service. Then I'm gonna come back and
make a few comments on it. Genesis 30, verse 37. Jacob took him rods or sticks,
that's what it was, sticks, rods, of green poplar and of the hazel
and chestnut tree and he peeled, or peeled, he cut some stripes
in them, white streaks in them and made the white appear which
was in the rods. He peeled that bark back so you
could see the wood underneath. And he set the rods which he
had peeled before the flocks in the gutters, in the watering
troughs, when the flocks came to drink that they should conceive
when they came to drink. And the flocks conceived before
the rods and brought forth cattle, sheep and goats, ring-streaked,
speckled, and spotted. And Jacob did separate the lambs,
set the faces of the flocks toward the ring-streaked, and all the
brown in the flock of Laban put his own flocks by themselves,
and put them not into Laban's, or unto Laban's cattle. And it
came to pass, whensoever 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. But when the
cattle were feeble, he put them not in, didn't put the rods in,
didn't put sticks in. So the feebler were Laban's,
and the stronger, Jacob's. And the man increased exceedingly,
and had much cattle, and made servants, and men's servants,
and camels, and asses. Now that's an amazing passage
of Scripture. Remember when the apostles asked
the Lord, why do you speak in parables? Why do you speak in
these mysteries? He said, because it's given unto
you to know the mystery of the kingdom of God. but under them
it's not given. What happened was nothing short
of a miracle of God's grace. Whenever the Spirit of God is
pleased to take special interest in something, we best take special
note of what He's saying because He didn't put words in these
scriptures right here for no reason. The scripture says back
in verse 37, Jacob took him rods of green poplar and of the hazel
and chestnut tree and peeled white streaks in them and made
the white appear which was in the rods. What he did was this. He took these sticks and they
weren't dead sticks. It says green. They were green
poplar and it was green hazel and green chestnut. These were
all live sticks. Cut them off of a live tree. He cut these peelings. He took a blade of whatever he
took and he cut that bark off to make the white appear in the
wood. You could see the white in the
wood. And he put the rods that he had taken of those three different
kinds of wood and he put them in the watering troughs. He dropped
those sticks in the watering troughs during the time of rut
that when the flocks came to drink, they would conceive. Well, the scripture says, and
I'll come back. I'm just setting it so we all
understand what was going on. I'll come back and try to explain
this. Well, the flocks conceived, and they conceived, it says,
before the rocks. And they brought forth cattle.
They brought forth sheep and goats. And he's tending now white
sheep. White sheep. Male, female, white. That's what he's doing. That's
what Jacob's looking after, the white sheep of Laban. And that
which is born was ring-streaked, speckled, and spotted. And Jacob
separated the lambs. He separated them, those which
were multicolored, these that are born. He said, now this is
the type. When he separated them, remember that? He took up the
original ones out there and sent them over there with Laban's
sons. He said, now that's the type that I'm looking for, right
there. Well, here's the ones he's watching after, these white
ones, and that's how they're coming out. And he separated
these that was coming out. He separated the lambs which
were the ring-streaked and the spotted, speckled. And he separated
them from the white ones that had bred and put their faces
to each other so that they were caused to look at each other
and he put his own flocks, those that were his now, that were
born, and he put them by themselves and he didn't put them with Laban's.
Now he's separating his flock from Laban's flock. And then
when the stronger animals conceived, He laid rods before the eyes
of those in the watering trough, that they might conceive among
the rods also. And when the cattle were feeble,
came, he didn't put the rods in there. And they, those were
Laban's. Now, now, obviously, this is
more than just a notation of historical fact. These verses
again set forth the glorious gospel of God's grace. Now you know based on the Lord's
words to the two on the road to Emmaus. He talked to those
two men and they had told him about believing that the Messiah
had come, but they crucified him three days before. Now here's
the Lord risen, and he's talking to them, and he's telling them,
old fools, slow of heart, to believe all that was spoken by
the prophets. And beginning with Moses, Genesis,
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, beginning with Moses, he expounded
unto them in all the scriptures those things concerning himself.
Now you know this is about him, this is about him. You say, well,
I thought we were talking about sheep and sticks. No, we're talking
about him. We're talking about a person.
A person. So here's Jacob and he's got
these sheep and Jacob is a beautiful picture. Quite a few things I
can see in Jacob. I know Jacob's a picture of all
the objects of God's mercy. Laban is a picture of man by
nature, left himself. But these animals are the same
thing. They're pictures in types too. These ring-streaked, spotted,
and speckled. They're a picture of God's elect,
God's sheep, God's people, God's church. Those ring-streaked and
speckled. And the white ones, I'm going
to show you this. I'll show you the picture here.
These are the picture of those that are self-sufficient in themselves. So, see, no need of Christ. This
is a beautiful, this is a story that's been set forth that pictures
the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hosea 12.10 says, I have also
spoken by the prophets. I've multiplied visions and used
similitudes, that is, to be like or to resemble. Similitudes by
the ministry, by the hand of prophets. So let's seek the instruction
of the Lord, the Spirit of God, and may the Lord give us some
understanding. Now, here's Jacob. As I said, he appears to be,
at this point, a type of all the heirs of promise, vessels
of God's mercy who walk by faith. Laban, on the other hand, appears
to be a type of all men left to themselves, heirs only. to this world, they walk by sight
and not by faith. And these livestock, same thing. Speckled, picture of God selected.
White ones, men left to themselves. Now they've been divided. Jacob
is tending the flocks of Laban. And Laban really, I can see those
in Laban's group, the white ones, there's all men in the fall left
to themselves. Here's the thing, this is what
Laban had, that Jacob was attending. They were the white ones, they
were the white ones. But are they not found to be
those that appear, as the Lord said to the Pharisees? You're
like whited sepulchers, full of dead men's bones, unspotted
outwardly. But here's Jacob, and he's attending
those as a type He's an obedient servant of God. One that's in
this world, not of this world, who's following the Lord, trusting
God. That's what he's doing. He's
ministering where the Lord has put him. And now, the scripture
says in verse 37, Jacob took him, now let's get into a little
explanation of this. Jacob, verse 37, Jacob took him
rods of green poplar, hazel, chestnut. And he peeled it, peeled
it back, put some stripes in it, Now, it's here that I want
us to consider the significance of these rods because these animals
don't conceive until those rods are before their eyes. They don't
conceive. He put them before their eyes
so they can conceive and bring forth what was gonna benefit
Jacob. That first rod was said to be
green poplar. Now, I look these words up, I'm
not a, I'm just, you know, as I said, I don't speak Hebrew,
but I do have a concordance. I've got a good concordance.
I can look it up. Green, it describes, it means fresh, moist dew. These rods, as I said a moment
ago, were not dead. They were living. Cut them off
of a living tree. John 1, 4 declares him. The Lord
Jesus Christ, who is the word, the same that was in the beginning
with God, in him, the scripture says, was life. And life was
the light of man. But it says it was a green poplar. Why poplar? Well, again, I just have to look
the words up, find out what does it mean? This word poplar is
from a root word which means to be white, to show whiteness. And can we fail to behold if
this stick is going to represent the Lord Jesus Christ, he who
is pure, white, he who is God himself without sin, He who was
declared from heaven to be the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth, the one in whom the Father was well
pleased. So this first rod sets forth
the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the holiness and righteousness
of his people in him. And Jacob took another stick.
He took a rod of the hazel tree. Again, I'm just looking this
up. It means it was a tree that was an almond tree. It was almond. And the word hazel is from the
original word which was luz, L-U-Z. You remember what the
significance of luz was? Turn back to Genesis 28. This
is where God met with Jacob. Remember when he left his house
after he'd gotten the birthright? Esau gonna kill him. Mama said,
you need to go. You need to go to Laban's house.
You go to my brother's house. Laban is his uncle. But he stopped here in this place
right here. And this is where God gave him that dream, that
ladder. And he dreamed, he said, this
is the very house of God right here. This is called Bethel,
but it says, look at verse 28, chapter 28, verse 19. He called
the name of that place Bethel. What does that mean? House of
God. But the name of that city was
called Luz at the first. Hazel, right here. Luz, that's
what it means. What's the significance of it?
This sets forth the truth that God Almighty is pleased to make
himself known unto his people. This is where God met Jacob. He's been pleased, the Lord's
been pleased to come down from heaven to speak to his people. He speaks, they hear his voice,
they know him. He's promised he's never gonna
leave them, never gonna forsake them. Genesis 35 one, the Lord
spoke to Jacob and he said, you arise and go to Bethel and dwell
there and make there an altar unto God that appeared unto thee
when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother. So here
we got two sticks now. One of them sets forth the purity,
the holiness of the Lord himself. Second one sets forth the promise
of God. I'm not gonna leave you. I'm
not gonna forsake you. And then the third rod that he
had was said to be of the chestnut. And again, I had to just look
this up. This chestnut tree was said to
be the plain tree, not P-L-A-I-N, but P-L-A-N-E, plain tree. It means as stripped of bark. Again, we behold the sufferings
of our Lord. But Robert Hawker, old writer,
gave what I thought was a beautiful description of this tree. Most
of the commentators, when he was talking about the chestnut
tree, they just called it the plain tree. It was a type of
tree. It said the plain tree was actually
a chestnut tree, a tree that can be found to live hundreds
of years. Picturing, I could see the eternality
of Christ being pictured in that. And it grows with widespread
branches, it said, representing the shelter. that the Lord provides
for his people. Isaiah 25, 4, for thou has been
a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress,
a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat when the blast
of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall. So knowing
that all the scripture sets forth the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ,
Here's three sticks that Jacob has found, and obviously he's
been ordered by the Spirit of God because the Spirit of God
is the author. All scripture is given by the
Spirit of God. It's God-breathed, and it's going
to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. So we best be looking for Him. So here's the scripture set forth
in these three sticks. And they picture the characteristics,
the glory of the Lord, the holiness, the presence of and the protection
of his people. So he takes these three sticks
back in Genesis 30, 37. He took him rods of green poplar
and hazel and chestnut and peeled white streaks in them and made
the white appear as it was in the rods. Here we behold these
rods setting forth he who is the substitute of his people.
He who, as Dick read, wounded for our transgressions, he cut
that bark to expose the white, is what it says, to expose the
purity, the holiness, the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
he cut those sticks back, and he took those sticks, the scripture
says, in verse 38, and he set the rods which he had pilled
before the flocks in the gutters, in the watering troughs, when
the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they
came to drink. Now, here's again, you take these
animals, these white animals, what they are, they're pictures,
they're pictures of man by nature. The Lord told the Pharisees,
just white and sepulchers, This was Laban's desire. This is what
he wanted, right here. But Almighty God's going to have
to do a miracle. He's going to have to perform
a miracle. And so the scripture says that Jacob took those sticks
and he's looking for the fruit that's going to be produced by
God alone. And he took those sticks that
set forth the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, the preaching of
the gospel. What do we know about the Lord,
but what is proclaimed in the truth? So here he's looking for
the reward that's going to be given him by the Lord. Ring-streaked,
speckled, and spotted. Those that represent the elect
of God. Those that are made to know what
they are by nature. Sinners. speckled, stained with
the guilt of sin, unbelieved, made to know. They see no good
in themselves. How are they going to be found
though? How are they going to be found? Well, just like being
pictured in this story right here about Jacob's actions. These
rods that picture the proclamation of Christ. Here's what Jacob's
going to do. He's going to take these white
ones and when they come in the time of rut, he's going to take
them He's gonna set before them the glory of Christ. He's gonna
put before them he who is life himself, he who is God's holiness,
who is the holiness of God, because God, the protection of God's
people, the presence with God's people, and he sets them before
him. There, here, these rods picture the preaching of Christ
himself, drinking from the fountain of life himself, and an amazing
thing, happened when Jacob put those rods that pictured Christ
himself in front of those white sheep that pictures man by nature. What man thinks he is, pure,
white, holy, according to his own works, what he thinks it
is. An amazing thing happened. Verse 39, and the flocks conceived
before the rods and brought forth cattle, ring-streaked, speckled,
and spotted. You know what, humanly speaking,
that's impossible. That some sheep and some goats
that were white would have some sticks put in front of them and
they would conceive and bring forth ring-streaked and speckled
and spotted lambs and goats, those, those animals that picture
the sheep of God that truly have been washed white in the blood
of the lamb. Those that would come forth from
that which in itself thought itself to be something. But let
me ask you this, who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean
of this world? Not one, but bless God, the Lord
can. Only the Lord can bring forth
from the pit of despair and unbelief a creature of God's mercy, one
accepted into the beloved. God Almighty must do something
here that Jacob couldn't do for himself. Those sheep certainly
couldn't do it. It was going to take a miracle. Scripture says in verse 40, and
Jacob did separate the lambs, set the faces of the flocks toward
the ring straight and all the brown in the flock of Laban.
He put his own flocks by themselves and put them not into Laban's
cattle. Now, here's what happened. The
Lord had made a difference between the flock of Jacob and the flock
of Laban. And Jacob was careful to separate
the two. As we're admonished, wherefore, come out from among
them and be separate. saith the Lord, touch not the
unclean thing, and I will receive you. Light and darkness doesn't
have any communication, can't have any fellowship. And it came
to pass, verse 41, that whensoever 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. Now, We're gonna
have to keep all of this in context of the scripture. It said when
the stronger cattle, now immediately when I read that, you know what
I thought? I thought of bigger sheep, bigger
goats, stronger, mightier, but that's not what the word means. When it says the stronger cattle,
the sheep did conceive, Actually, when you look up that right there,
it means to bind fast, to bind fast when the stronger cattle
and setting forth this stay in the context. Those that represent
all according to the father's electing grace who have been
bound fast, sure. according to the electing grace
of Almighty God in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those
who are known, loved, chosen of God that are going to have
the gospel laid before them. God's going to get them under
the sound of the gospel. He's going to get them under the sound
of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're going to hear
it because the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Does someone have to hear the
gospel to be converted? Yes. Yes. Prove it to me. Okay. Turn over
to 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse
13, 14. We are bound to give thanks all the way to God for
you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has from the
beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you by our
gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. God Almighty has means. He's a God of means. And he has
chosen, according to Romans 1 16, that the gospel, and what is
the gospel? It's the declaration of the glory of God in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ that God has a people that He's going
to save. And Christ has borne their guilt
and put that guilt away. And the Spirit of God's gonna
call them. They're gonna call, all that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. The declaration of sovereign
saving grace apart from any work on man's part. What does man,
what can man do in order to procure salvation? Nothing! Nothing! God Almighty must save him and
then tell him about it. Give him faith to believe it.
Salvation's of the Lord. But how's he going to save him?
He's going to save him through the preaching of the gospel.
That's it. You mean there's no other way?
No, there's no other way. That's it. And whenever these
stronger sheep, cattle, came, Jacob laid the sticks before.
Laid the sticks before, verse 41, it came to pass whenever
the stronger cattle came to conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before
the eyes of the cattle in the gutters, and that they might
conceive among the rods. Look at this next verse. But
when the cattle were feeble, He put them not in. So the feebler were Laban's and
the stronger, Jacob's. Now, what did he just say right
there? Oh, you know what it said. I'm going to go ahead and tell
you what it said. Here, and I had to look up the
word feeble and feebler, here's what it means. To be feeble,
to show feebleness, strong's sets forth it means to shroud
or to clothe with the idea of darkness. When these came to drink, he,
that is Jacob, put them, that is the rods. He just said that
when the stronger came, he put the rods in. When the feebler
came, he didn't put the rods there. My brethren, Here we have only
the authority of the Word of God on which to stand. I want
us all right now, let's just ask the Lord to give us a clear
mind of understanding and let's hear what God has to say. Everybody
else, that's me and you and everybody in this world, hush, just hush. Let God be true. every man a
liar. As I've told you before, you
know when we all stand before God, you know what's going to
matter? What God says. I can sit there and try to do
like they did in Matthew chapter 7. Well Lord, I prophesy in your
name and I cast out devils in your name. I've done all these
mighty works. He says, I never knew you Marvin.
You know what that means? I'm in hell. That's what it means.
So I'm going to just tell you right now, let's just get all
preconceived ideas out of our mind. Does the scripture say
right here that the Spirit of God moved on Jacob to set forth
these rods that picture the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ? Did
it say that he put those in that water and throw? And those animals
conceived a picture of spiritual conception, a picture of regeneration,
a picture of those being conceived by God, God's Spirit, through
the beholding of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. God given
men, women, dead and trespassing sins, faith to be given them
life. But how did he do it? He did it under the sound of
the gospel. And when these feebler, those
shrouded in darkness, it says, when the cattle were feeble,
He put them not in. He didn't put sticks there. God Almighty is going to have
mercy and compassion on whomsoever He will. How do I know that? Because when
Moses asked him in Exodus 33, 19, when he said, show me your
glory, the Lord said, I'm going to have all, I'm going to cause
all my goodness to pass before you. The goodness of God is Christ.
And he said, I'm going to have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. And I'll have compassion on whom
I'll have compassion. The scripture says in Romans
seven, he's the Potter. Does the Potter have the right
over the same lump to make one vessel under honor and another
vessel under dishonor? Yes, he does. Okay, now you turn
with me as I wrap this up. Second Corinthians chapter 4.
Second Corinthians chapter 4. Second Corinthians chapter 4
verses 1 to 4 says this. Therefore, seeing we have this
ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not. But we renounce
the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness nor
handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth,
commending ourselves to every man's conscience in sight of
God. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost,
in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them
which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ,
who is the image of God, should shine unto them. After the Lord had been upbraiding
these cities and where many of his mighty works were done, turn
with me to Matthew 11. I want you to read this. But
the reason I want you to read this, number one, it's the word
of God, but number two, it's relevant. Jacob didn't put the
rods in front of some of those sheep. It wasn't that they were
any bigger or smaller. They were, you know, the words
just described their character. Some of them he put the rods
in front of them and they conceived. Some of them he didn't. And again, God does what he wants. Matthew
11. Verse 25, Matthew 11, 25. After the Lord had upbraided
a lot of the cities where many of his works were done, and they
believed not, here's what he said. At that time, Jesus answered
and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent. and has
revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight." Our God is a distinguishing God. We know that the judge of all
the earth is going to do right and that nobody has the right
to question him. I read this passage of scripture
And I thought, and I knew what he was saying. I knew what he
was saying. I knew that it was a picture
of how God calls out His sheep. How He brings a clean thing out
of an unclean. How He brings life out of darkness. Unbelief regenerates. I know
what he was saying. But when he said that Jacob didn't
put the rods in front of those feebler ones. I know what the flesh thinks. I know what it thinks. That's
not fair. That's not right. God doesn't have a right to do
that. Everybody needs a chance. Men are dead in trespasses and
sins. God Almighty does as He will
in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.
And no man can stay His hand. Nobody could question him. Job
said, Job 33, 13, why dost thou strive against him? For he giveth
no account of any of his matters. The Lord declared in Isaiah 40,
16, my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. Back up to 20. The Lord's in
his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence
before him. Scripture says back in Genesis
30, and I'm gonna quit. Scripture declares, next to last
verse, when the cattle were feeble, he put them not in, so the feebler
were labans. That was his desire. That's what
he wanted. That's what man by nature wants. And the stronger
Jacob's and the man increased exceedingly and had much cattle
and made servants and servants and camels and asses. Brethren, the Lord was pleased
to show mercy to Jacob. What was he? Well, his name means
he'll catch her. He was a trickster. He was a
deceiver, liar, supplanter. But God graciously blessed him
materially, spiritually, and he increased by the grace of
God. Oh, that God might have mercy
today on one like us right here. That's what we are. Somebody
said, said one time they asked Mr. Spurgeon. If I'm not one
of God's elect, Mrs. Spurgeon says, listen, you come
to Christ. He gives you a heart to come,
you'll come. If you can, you will. I'm telling you right now. Cast yourself upon the mercy
of God. We're dying creatures. We're gonna leave this world.
May God have mercy upon us for Christ's sake. Amen. Okay, Gary.