All right, let's take our Bibles
and turn back to Genesis 29. Jacob has been sent to Padan
Aram by his father, Isaac, after receiving the blessing. And Jacob,
as he was going, had a dream. And he dreamed that there was
a ladder that reached from the earth top of it went to heaven. After he was awakened, he thought
back on those things that had been promised him by the Lord. He knew that the Lord surely
was in that place. And after he awakened, he took
the pillow that he'd slept on and he raised it for a and he
anointed it as a memorial unto God meeting with him. He said,
this is the very gate of heaven right here. God had blessed him.
Now, the scripture we're gonna deal with tonight, chapter 29,
verses one through 14, starts off by saying, verse one, then
Jacob went on his journey and came into the land of the people
of the East. Now, Jacob has been assured by
the Lord. He said, I will be with you. I'm going to give you all the
land of promise. In your seed shall all the nations
of the earth be blessed. Christ would come in natural
lineage through Jacob, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. And the scripture
says he went on his journey. Now in the margin, it says he
lift up his feet. He went with new hope. He'd been told by his mother
to leave, your brother Esau wants to kill you. Daddy reassured
the blessing to him, told him, he said, you need to go, Now
he's leaving conscious of the precious promises of God. Those precious promises that
we have. You think of the promises, too
many to name, just the Lord, I'll never leave, never leave
you, never forsake you. And the scripture says in that
first verse, then Jacob went on his journey and came into
the land of the people of the East. Now, statistically speaking,
this was a long journey. He's traveling. And they say
it was probably somewhere around 450 miles from where he left
in Beersheba that he was going to Haran, to a city. And from that last verse right
there, verse 22 in the 28th chapter, That first one right there covers
that first night after he left home, that first night was what
we dealt with last night. He slept, he had a dream, all
of that was God dealt with and spoke to him. And the next verse
right there deals with the rest of the journey. According to
the spirit of God, there was nothing that the spirit of God
saw fit to reveal to us. given him traveling mercy and
he's walked the rest of the journey, the rest of that 450 miles in
the knowledge of the Lord's presence, the Lord's blessing. Then it
says in verse two and three, and he looked, and behold a well
in the field. And lo, there were three flocks
of sheep lying by it, for out of that well they watered the
flocks. And a great stone was upon the
whale's mouth. And thither were all the flocks
gathered, and they rolled the stone from the whale's mouth
and watered the sheep, and put the stone again upon the whale's
mouth in its place. Now, here we find Jacob, though
at this point right here, there's no indication that he knows exactly
where he is. He's come upon a whale, and there's
three flocks of sheep, around that well and they're just, they're
lying around. And this is where all the sheep
are watered, water out of this particular well. And these sheep
have been waiting there just because there's a stone, a great
stone upon the well's mouth. And the scripture says in verse
four, and Jacob said unto them, The shepherds that was obviously
there, my brethren, whence be ye? Where are you from? And they said, of Herod are we. Now, here's an amazing thing. Here's Jacob and with these three
flocks of sheep and these shepherds, And he asked these shepherds,
where are you from? Where are you guys from? And
they said, we're from Heron. Now, he realizes immediately
that he has been powerfully and providentially brought to come
to the very place that his parents told him to go to. Turn over,
hold your place, turn back to Genesis 27, 43. Verse 43. Rebekah's mother told him after
he received the blessing and Isaac, I mean Esau was going
to kill him. She said in 27 verse 43, she
said, now therefore my son obey my voice arise, flee thou to
Laban my brother to Haran. I want you to go. to my brother's
house, he lives in a town, and it's called Heron. And now we
realize something. We know this, there are no accidents
with God. They're seeing, we're beholding
that the providential guidance of Almighty God, steps of a good
man, ordered by the Lord, every step that we take has been ordered. God's people's steps are ordered. Now, if I could just remember
that, how many times have I said to myself, you know, oh, I wish
I had so-and-so and so-and-so. Providentially, the Lord orders
where his people are. He rules. in heaven and earth. And here's Jacob, and he's come
to the very place that his mother told him to go. I want you to
go to Laban, my brother's house. He lives in Haran. And then the
scripture says in 5 and 6, and he said unto them, they told
him, we're from Haran. And he said unto them, know ye
Laban, the son of Nahar? And they said, we know him. And
he said to them, is he well? And they said, he's well. And
behold, Rachel, his daughter, cometh with the sheep. Yeah,
we know him. Yeah, is he doing okay? Yeah,
yeah, he's doing okay. And he said, in fact, here comes
his daughter, right here. Now here's Jacob, by divine appointment,
the Spirit of God has moved Jacob to this very place to behold
the mercy, grace of Almighty God. He sees a place where the
sheep of Laban's house, this is where Laban, this is the sheep
that belonged to the family of Abraham and Isaac and his family,
And here they are, and here's this whale, and it says that,
verse two, he looked and behold a whale, and lo, there were three
flocks of sheep lying by it for out of, and that word that just
gripped me. They drank out of that, that
whale, that whale. Oh, do we not begin to see the
beauty of the picture and type the shadow of the Lord Jesus
Christ, he who is the blessed well from which the spiritual
sheep, the sheep of God, drink. And Jacob is inquiring, where
are you from? We're from Haran. Haran? Haran? You know Laban? Yeah,
we know him. Yeah, we know him. Now here's
Jacob inquiring about Laban, his mother's brother, and as
he's inquiring, here comes Rachel. And these guys tell her, is he
well? Verse six, he's well, and behold,
Rachel, now listen to this, his daughter cometh with the sheep. Now let me show you some of the
significance of that. Turn back to chapter 28 in verse
two. Okay, his mama told him, I want you to go to Laban, my
brother's house, he's in Haran. Now when, excuse me, when Isaac
is getting ready to send him on, he says in Genesis chapter
28, and Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and charged him and
said, thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. Arise,
go to Padan Aram, to the house of Bethuel, thy mother's father,
and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban, thy
mother's brother. Told him, he said, now, mama
told him, he said, now you go to Heron. Go to my brother's,
my brother's town, where he is. And his daddy tells him, he said,
I don't want you to take a wife of the Canaanites, of the daughters
of Canaan, don't do that. I want you to take a daughter
from Laban, from Laban, family. And you know Laban? Yeah, we know him. Here comes
his daughter. Here's one of his daughters right
here. And now while she's coming, the
Spirit of God moved Jacob to ask the men a question about
these sheep that are laying around. And in that question, we behold
the glorious display of God's mercy to our eyes concerning
our salvation. Our drinking of the well. And
as we're doing this, I have to say this, I say it from my own
instruction too, but for all of us, remember, remember the
words of our Lord to the two on the road to Emmaus. And beginning with Moses, in all the scriptures, he expounded
unto these two men those things concerning himself. If this is
nothing more than a history lesson, we have nothing for us tonight.
This just happened hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years
ago. But if this is relevant tonight, may the Lord open our
eyes to see it. He says in verse seven, he sees,
here comes Rachel, Laban's daughter. One of such that his daddy told
him, he said, you marry one of Laban's daughters. He discovered these men are from
Haran, so he knows he's in the right spot. And these sheep are
all laying around and here's a well. But there's a great stone
on top of the well. Something is restricting them
being able to drink. It says in verse seven and eight,
and he said, lo, It is yet high day. Neither is it time that
the cattle, those sheep that he was talking about that were
there, should be gathered together. Water ye the sheep and go and
feed them. Let them drink. It's high time. There's a lot of daylight left.
Give these sheep something to drink. And then let them go back
out there and feed in the pasture. Don't let them just lay there.
And they said in verse eight, we cannot. Till all the flocks
be gathered together, till they roll the stone from the whale's
mouth, then we water the sheep. Now, Jacob asked him a question. This is an amazing thing. Here's
some sheep. There's some sheep laying there
and they need to be watered. Give them something to drink.
He said, there's a lot of daylight left. Why are these sheep not
being taken care of? Oh, we can't do it. No, we can't
do it. There's, you know, we're not
able to do that because it's, we can't do it till all the flocks
be gathered together and then we roll the stone away and then
we water the sheep. Whether it was a custom, all
the commentaries, all agreed. It was either it was a custom
or It was some kind of agreement or some kind of a law that they
had among themselves. They couldn't give water to any
until all the sheep were gathered together, until they take the
stone away, until all is gone. It's going to have to be kind
of a group effort here to get that stone off there. There's
no freedom to let the flocks drink the water. And while, verse
9 and 10, and while he yet spake with him, Rachel came with her
father's sheep, for she kept them. And it came to pass when
Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother,
and the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother, that Jacob went near
and rolled the stone from the whale's mouth and watered the
flock of Laban, his mother's brother. Now, what a lovingly,
Beautiful picture is this account of Jacob seeing Rachel. The name Rachel means U-E-W-E,
female sheep. And here she's brought the sheep
of her father to the well to drink. And there's a great stone
there. Won't you remove the stone and
let them drink? No, we can't. No, we can't. We got all, we got these rules
and regulations and that we got to all be together and we got
to have to do that. And she, she couldn't do it herself.
She couldn't remove the stone that the sheep might drink. And so here it is. We have the
glorious picture of, of God's grace and mercy to his people. The well is a picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And that great stone is that
which sets forth, that which restricted us from being able
to drink. Now here's the hindrance that
had to be overcome before the sheep could drink. What had to
be done? The stone had to be rolled away. Rebecca couldn't do it. herself. She had no strength
to accomplish that feat, just as we, the people of God, have
no power within ourselves to remove the restriction that keeps
us from drinking from the well of life. So the only hope that
Rebecca had for the sheep to be able to drink was that another
removed the stone that restricted the sheep being refreshed and
drank likewise before any of God's elect could drink freely
of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the well of life himself. There was a great stone that
had to be rolled away that we might possess, have the freedom
to drink Christ. And what was the great stone?
What was the great stone? that kept us from freely having
him? Well, first of all, there was
a great stone of the sin and guilt that barred us from freely
drinking. Whenever Adam transgressed in
the garden, sin entered the world and death by sin. And that one transgression, by
one transgression, many were made sinners. And now all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. What is it that
restricts a man from being able to drink? He's dead. He's dead. There's the well. Exercise your
free will and drink. I can't. Why? Men are dead in
trespasses and sins. Because of Adam's disobedience,
God was offended. And now here's the state of every
man and woman born in Adam. From the sole of the foot even
to the head, there's no soundness in him. Nothing, nothing wholesome,
but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores, just raw flesh, not treated,
not closed, not pressed together, either bound up, wrapped, or
mollified, that is softened with medication. Oh, what a stone. It keeps us from drinking freely. We're dead. Now that's a great
stone. A man born spiritually dead. And here's another part of this
great stone. The soul that sinneth. I'm dead
in trespasses and sins. And the soul that sinneth is
going to die. Our iniquities. Here's all part
of this great stone. Our iniquities have separated. Us from God and our sins have
hid his face from us. And listen, here's another great
stone. He will not hear. Brethren, we're helpless. Helpless in ourselves and helpless
to change it. But that's not all. Not only
are we born spiritually dead in trespasses and sins, We possess
no acceptable righteousness before God. The scripture declares,
Isaiah 64, 6, but we are all as an unclean thing. And all
our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. And we do all fade as a
leaf and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away. What's hindering us? from being
able to drink from the well. We're dead in trespasses and
sins. We have no righteousness separated
from God. Let him drink. Can't. There's
a great stone on top of the well. What a mess. What a mess. Job 15, verse 14, 16 says this. What is man? That he should be
clean. And he which is born of a woman
that he should be righteous. Behold, he putteth no trust in
his saints. Oh, what a great stone. We're
not trustworthy. We're dead, separated. Yea, the
heavens are not clean in his sight. How much more abominable
and filthy is man which drinketh iniquity like water. If the Lord
charges even his angels with folly, How then can a man be just with
God? How can that great stone be removed? There's a great stone
that covers the well of life because of man's sin, because
of man's unrighteousness, because of man's separation, filthy.
Oh, but take heart. The whole accomplishment of the
removal of that great stone was found in the person who is pictured
by Jacob, the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. How was that great
stone removed? Remove the stone, can't do it.
Can't do it. Can't do it. How was it removed? Galatians 3.13. Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is
everyone that hangeth on the tree. How was that stone removed
on behalf of the sheep? Psalm 69, 9. For the zeal of thine house hath
eaten me up, and the reproaches of them that reproach thee are
fallen upon me. How is that great stone going
to be removed? Isaiah 53, 5. But he was wounded
for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. And with his strikes, we are
healed. How is that great stone removed? How can man be just? with God. Second Corinthians
521, he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Jacob has a beautiful
type of picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Scripture says, here's
what happened. It came to pass when Jacob saw
Rachel the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother. I don't
know what Jacob knew. I don't know what he knew. But
I know this, this is one, this one of the sort, let me say it
like that, that his daddy said, you take this one for a wife.
You take of the daughters of Laban. When Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter
of Laban, his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother's
brother, that Jacob went near and rolled the stone from the
well's mouth and watered the flock of Laban, his mother's
brother. Oh, the wonder of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Pictured here is our Jacob that
rolled the stone away. What a, what a marvelous victory. Just makes me want to just clap
and say, Lord, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for that,
what you've done. Thank you for removing that separation,
that which hindered, that which stopped the well. I couldn't,
I had no right to the well. I can't approach God. Now, we
have boldness to enter into the very presence by the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, but before I close tonight,
I want to just read verses 11 to 14. I want us to behold a
beautiful picture of how God's mercy is toward those that he's
everlasting in love, how the Lord reveals himself. Now here
you look at Jacob as a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ removing
the stone. And here's Rachel, the one he
looked upon. And when he saw her, he removed
that stone. And look what it says, and Jacob
kissed Rachel. Lifted up his voice and wept.
Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's brother, a terminology,
he was his nephew, her daddy's nephew, but brother, and that
he was Rebecca's son. And she ran and told her father,
it came to pass when Laban heard the tidings of Jacob, his sister's
son, that he ran to meet him. and he embraced him and kissed
him and brought him to his house, told Laban all these things,
told him everything happened. God sent me and I had this dream
and I saw this ladder, the Lord promised me, I'm gonna be with
you, I'm gonna guide you, direct you, I'm not gonna leave you,
wherever you go. My daddy told me to go and find
a daughter of Laban, one of your daughters, My mama told me to
come to Haran, that's where you live, and God has led me to this
place. And he told Laban all these things,
and Laban said to him, surely thou art my bone and my flesh,
and he abode with him the space of a month. Jacob, he kissed
her, kissed Rachel, lifted up his voice, weeping, surely because
of his grateful acknowledgement of God's mercy and kindness in
leading him to this place. Only God could have gotten me
to this place. And that beautiful picture of
removing that stone, only the Lord Jesus Christ could remove
that stone and let the sheep, a picture of God's people, let
them drink, it reminded me in closing of John 7, 33. That last
day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried saying,
if any man thirst, I ain't waiting on nobody to come and remove
any stones that have been removed. If any man thirst, let him come
unto me and drink. Oh, I pray God bless this to
our heart. May we just get a glimpse of the glory of God's mercy and
compassion to his people for the sake of his precious son
and for the good of his people.