All right, Genesis chapter 28.
You know, truly blessed is that man, that woman that has been
given from heaven the key, the understanding that unlocks the
treasure, that's found in the holy scriptures, that being the
Lord Jesus himself. All the scriptures speak of him. He told the Pharisees, you search
the scriptures and in them you think you have life because they
know the scriptures, they quote the scriptures, They were good
at knowing, but he said, they are they that testify of me. These words, they set forth the
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, in the passage that we've
been dealing with, Jacob has received the blessing of his
father, Isaac. But now he must leave Beersheba
because his brother Esau, who never wanted the birthright,
therefore the blessing, because Jacob has received it. Consider
this last time. Esau now purposes to slay his
brother Jacob at the opportune time, which according to Esau
is going to be after the mourning of his dad. I told you his dad
lived for about 40 more years. But even as we behold the situation
of this blessing, as we see it unfold, and we hear the threat
of Esau that is truly the second cause. of Jacob leaving. The first cause of Jacob leaving
is not Esau's threat. The first cause is the will of
God. The first cause is according
to him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own
will. So here we behold that Jacob
is going to be leaving Beersheba. and he's going to go to Haran. He's going to go to the brother
of Rebekah, his mother, and he's going there to find a wife. He's not to marry a wife from
the daughters of the Canaanites. So knowing that that's what has
happened, now we want to look at two verses, 10 to 11, and
it says in verse 10, and Jacob went out from Beersheba, and
went toward Haran. Now, this child of promise, this
young man that has been made willy to bow to the leadership
and direction of the Lord of glory, Jacob, in obedience to
the leadership of God's Spirit, the steps of a good man, are
ordered by the Lord This is the one who is being directed by
the great shepherd of the sheep. The Lord has a sheep. And so
here, Jacob's steps are being directed. He's told by his mother,
yes. His daddy has blessed him and
told him, you go, now you go and you don't take a wife. But
the thing is, Jacob is walking in the light that he's been given. And though no mention is made,
I'm not trying to add anything to the scriptures, but knowing
that he's left, he just left, and I can only imagine that he's
reflecting. He's having to leave home. He's
reflecting upon the events that had recently come to pass, and
he's thinking back on coming before his dad robed in the garment
of Esau and having his neck covered, his hands covered with the skins
of the kids of the goats and remembering his daddy asking
him, he said, are you truly Esau? He said, yes he was. Now he's
leaving because he's heard the threat of his brother, but again
he's walking in the light that's been given him from the Lord.
He's hated of his brother, But this is a prior revelation of
what our Lord promised in John 16, 33. This has been true from
the beginning. The Lord said this when he was
here on this earth. He said, these things have I
spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. In the world
you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome
the world. And then the Lord said, in Matthew
10, verse 21 and 22. He said, brother shall deliver
up brother to death and the father, the child and children shall
rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death.
And you should be hated of all men. And here's what it is, all
of that, brother against brother, child against parent, parent
against child. And he said, all of this, is
because it's for my sake. For God's people, for their love
for the Lord, for the God that we serve, sovereign God, but
he that endureth to the end shall be saved. Well, having surely
mulled these things over and over and over, it says in verse
11, and he lighted upon a certain place and tarried there all night. And look, why? Because the sun
was set. And he took of the stones of
that place and put them for his pillows and lay down in that
place to sleep. Now, Jacob, he's come to a place
place. He's arrived in a place. And the scripture says, when
he arrived in that certain place, he lighted upon a certain place
and tarried. He stayed right there all night
because the sun went down. Now, providentially, what has happened is the uncreated
light. himself, the uncreated light,
has so directed that the created light, the sun itself, that Jacob
was going to be in this certain place at this certain time, and
it was going to start getting dark. That's what's happening.
The Lord would not allow Jacob to go any farther than he did. He came to a certain place, a
certain ordained, directed place. Christ is the light of his people. By him we behold who God is and
who they are. The Lord Jesus Christ, now I
want to make, I want to, Stop here and just look at the significance. If we just read that 11th verse,
he lighted upon a certain place. There's something about this
place. God's gonna speak to him. Lord willing, we'll look at it
next time we look at this. This is where he's gonna go to
sleep. He's gonna dream. He's gonna see this ladder. It
reaches to heaven all the way to the earth and it sees the
angels up and down. But God has stopped him at this
certain place. And the sun, has gone down, but
the significance of him having to stop, physically, the significance
of that, physically speaking, it's getting dark. He's out there
in the, if you've ever been out somewhere where you, in the night,
and you're not, there's no street lights, and it's dark. There's
no stars out, and the moon's not out, it's just dark, and
he's at a place where he's gonna have to stop. And having to stop
has great significance. He's going to have to tarry there.
To walk without the light is dangerous, just humanly speaking. But to walk without the light
of the Lord's glorious direction, according to the scriptures,
hearing of the gospel being preached, is spiritually dangerous. To walk in darkness is to walk
in presumption. He lighted on a certain place
and tarried there. He stopped there. He's gonna
rest there. Why? Because the sun's going
down. It's going to get dark. I want you to just hold your
place there concerning the Lord, the light himself. Turn with
me to John 8.12. I want to look at a few scriptures here concerning
the significance. John 8.12. Then spake Jesus again unto them,
saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness. He
that followeth me as the savior of sinners, the light of the
world, the king, the prophet, the priest, God's savior, God's
lamb, he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, in spiritual
darkness, but shall have the light of life. Look at John 11.10. John 11.10. But if a man walk in the night,
he stumbleth, because there's no light in him. Jacob was gonna
have to stop. He said, yeah, it got dark. But
there's a spiritual significance here. When we don't have the
light of God's direction, we stop. Look at Isaiah 2.5. Look at the instruction of the
Spirit of God. Isaiah 2.5. We read in the scriptures all
the time, wait on the Lord. Wait on the Lord. Wait on the
Lord. Isaiah 2.5. O house of Jacob, Come ye and
let us walk in the light of the Lord. You know what we're doing
here tonight? We're walking in the light that
we have. We're assembling ourselves together
and we're hearing the scriptures proclaimed. What the Lord has
ordained. He said, I'll send you pastors.
They'll give you understanding. The responsibility of a pastor,
get into this book. Find out what God has to say
and comfort the people of God. Comfort you, comfort you, my
people, saith the Lord. Set forth the Lord Jesus Christ. This is him. So back in Genesis
chapter 28, here's what Jacob is doing. And this is what we
do spiritually, where we have no light on something. Well,
what do you think we ought to do? If we don't know, if we can't
find it in scriptures, what do we do? We wait, we pray, we ask
the Lord providentially. I told you what I used to tell
my kids. My kid would be growing up. I said, until you know the
right thing to do, don't do anything. Because I can guarantee you,
if you don't know what to do, you'll probably do the wrong
thing. So just wait. Just wait and see. So here he,
who is the light, he stopped Jacob. And what happened when
Jacob stopped? He tarried there all night because
the sun was set. And he took of the stones of
that place and put them for his pillows and lay down in that
place to sleep. He took of the stones, he took,
and actually the word right there where he took of the stones,
there's a word in there and it means to build. He took of the
stones that he built, took of the stones of that place, and
put them for a pillow to lay down on. And you know, what a
wealth of divine revelation is given right here if the Spirit
of God would give us some light to show us something right here.
The natural mind would naturally consider, I just got to thinking
about this. You know, you're gonna lay down, you're gonna
be on the ground, And so you got a hard ground to lay on. And for a pillow, he's gonna
take some stones. And that's what he's gonna lay
down. And it's dark. It's dark, ground's hard, he's
got pillows to lay on. Now you know, humanly speaking,
that's probably the most dangerous and uncomfortable situation that
you could possibly be in, but, but the sun has set. The Lord has stopped him. Jacob
has no liberty to go. He has no guidance to go. So
he's going to, he's going to stop and God's going to allow
him to consider who brought him there. How did he get here? Providence. God's providence,
His steps have been ordered to this place. And He's heard, and
He's remembered, and I'm sure He can rehearse the blessing
of His Father, what God promised Him. The Lord promised Him, I'm
going to give you this land. You're going to have the blessing
of Abraham. God's love and affection is upon
you. The Lord who everlastingly loved
you and chose you in Christ. The Lord who graciously entered
into eternal covenant with Himself, Father and Son and Spirit, to
save this supplanter, this huckster. Now, He's led him to this place. A place, again, that's probably
not very becoming to look at. whatever you could see. And here's
Jacob taking the stones of that place, and he put them, he set
them, he set them in a place for his pillows. Now, let me
tell you where my mind went. As soon as I heard him, that
he took those pillows and he set them, and one of the words
in that, he put them there, set them there, it means to build,
he built. He took some stones and he built
him, I don't know how big the stones were. I don't know. I
don't know. But he took some stones and he
built them. I want you to hold your place right here and turn
to Exodus 20. Exodus chapter 20. Exodus 20, verse 24, 26. Exodus 20, 24.
An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me. and shall sacrifice thereon thy
burnt offerings, thy peace offerings, thy sheep, thy noxin, in all
places where I record my name, I will come unto thee, and I
will bless thee. And if thou make me an altar
of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone, for if thou
lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. So what has
happened here, here is Jacob and he's in a He's in a dark
place, he's in a certain place, a place of God's choosing, and
he's taken some stones and he's built them. That's the word.
He built a place. And what the significance is,
what I saw in that is that here is Jacob in the dark, a place
where God put him, and he's going to rest upon the altar. He's going to rest upon the worship
of God. That's where he's going to find
his rest, upon the altar of sacrifice of God's Lamb. Now, let me ask
you this. Is that not spiritually where
we find our rest? He's on what the world would
consider something hard, what the flesh would consider hard
and uncomfortable. Is that not the attitude of Christ,
our altar? When he laid down his life, he
laid down for the sheep. Does the world not consider that
to be uncomfortable? Did they not resist that? Would
they not say, I'd not choose that. I wouldn't choose that
stone. That's the rest of God's people. These stones were of,
and here again, back in Genesis, just looking at the words. He
took of the stones of that place, of that place. Well, you think,
well, yeah, okay. Where else would they be? But
look at the significance of it. Jacob didn't bring them. Jacob
didn't provide them. Jacob was there, the recipient
of God's provision. Jacob did not do anything. The stones were there, they were
of that place. But these stones were a picture
and type of him who is the rock. The rock, the stone that was
disallowed, rejected of men, but the same that's made the
head of the corner. I want you to hold your place
there and turn with me to Deuteronomy 31. Deuteronomy 31. We've just crossed the Red Sea. It's
going to be a song. Well, let me say this. It's going
to be a song. It may have been recorded here.
My apologies. But I want you to just look.
Here's Moses' song. It says in Deuteronomy 31.30,
And Moses spake in the ears of all the congregation of Israel
the words of this song until they were ended. Now this in
chapter 32, this is the song. I wanna just look at a few verses
in that song. 32 verse four, he is the rock. His work is perfect. In all his
ways are judgment. A God of truth and without iniquity,
just and right is he. Look at verse 15. But Jeshurun
waxed fat and kicked. Thou art wax and fat. Thou art
grown thick. Thou art covered with fatness.
Then he forsook God, which made him and lightly esteemed the
rock of his salvation. Look at verse 18. Of the rock
that begat thee, thou art unmindful and has forgotten God that formed
thee. Look at verse 30 and 31. How should one chase a thousand
and put ten thousand to flight, except their rock had sold them
and the Lord had shut them up? For their rock is not as our
rock, even our enemies themselves being judgment. So consider the
glory of him who is the rock. And in type, in picture, look
at Exodus 17. concerning this right, this is
where Jacob found his rest. What was he gonna rest on? He
gonna rest on the stones that were built up. It's the stones
that pictured his Lord and his master. Exodus 17, verses one
through six. All the congregation of the children
of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of sin after their
journeys according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in Rephidim. And there was no water for the
people to drink. Wherefore, the people did chide with Moses and
said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said to them,
Why chide ye with me? Wherefore, do you tempt the Lord?
and the people thirsted there for water. And the people murmured
against Moses and said, wherefore is this that thou has brought
us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our cattle
with thirst? And Moses cried unto the Lord saying, what shall
I do unto this people? They be almost ready to stone
me. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people and take
with thee of the elders of Israel and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest
the river. Take in thine hand and go. Behold,
I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb, and thou
shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it that
the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight
of the elders of Israel. That rock that was smitten, the
act of God's mercy, was so glorious that the Holy Spirit turned to
1 Corinthians 10. It was so glorious that the Holy
Spirit moved the Apostle Paul to write concerning that event,
right there, what actually happened, 1 Corinthians 10, verses one
to four. Moreover, brethren, I would not
that you should be ignorant. how that all our fathers were
under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were all
baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and did all eat
the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual
drink. They drank of that spiritual
rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. So whenever that rock was smitten,
you'd say that's a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus Christ
being smitten. The Spirit of God said that that's
what it was. So here's Jacob. And like I said,
I realized that the carnal heart would find no comfort, no ability
to rest on such a pillow. I mean, I'll be honest with you,
if I can't get my pillow right, I'll gripe, I'll gripe, I'll
gripe. You know, I just couldn't get it. I just couldn't get it
right. He's sleeping on a pillar. He's placed there by the grace
of God, and God has caused him to want to just lay down. That's
what back in Genesis, back to verse 11. He took the stones
of that place, put them for his pillar, and lay down in that
place to sleep. He just, he didn't toss and turn
all night, wait, he slept. Oh, to the vessels of God's mercy,
there is no pillow of rest, no joy found anywhere else than
in the comfort, the comfort, and the safety, the peace, which
is found in him who is the precious stone. Turn with me to Isaiah
28, Isaiah 28. Isaiah 28, verse 14, 16. Isaiah 28, verse 14. Wherefore, hear the word of the
Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem,
because ye have said, we've made a covenant with death. and with
hell are we at agreement. When the overflowing scourge
shall pass through, it shall not come unto us, for we've made
lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves. Therefore,
thus saith the Lord God, behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation,
a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone. A sure foundation,
he that believeth shall not make haste. Again, the Spirit of God
was pleased to tell us exactly what that word haste means. Turn to 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2
and verse 6. 1 Peter 2, 6. First Peter 2.6, wherefore also
it is contained in the scripture, behold, I lay in Sion a chief
cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him
shall not be confounded. He shall not be dishonored. He shall not be made ashamed. He shall not be disgraced. he
shall be saved from his sin. The Lord set forth. He said,
I'm laying in Zion. He said, a tried stone, one tested
and approved, tested before God and approved from heaven. This
is my beloved son, whom I'm well pleased. You hear him. A precious cornerstone, that
is a rare, splendid, weighty, prized, costly, highly valued,
a sure foundation established, appointed, ordained. Oh, almighty
God, thank you for giving us of the stone himself, wherein
we can rest. I'm gonna wrap this up. I want
you to turn with me to Matthew 11, Matthew 11. And I want you to just hold your
place right there. And while you're holding your
place, I want to read you talking about the rest that God's people
have. I woke up this morning thinking
on this message, and this is the passage that kept coming
to my mind, Psalm 23. I was thinking of preaching this
and Psalm 23 kept coming to my mind, so I'm gonna read it. The
Lord. Here's Jacob now. He's out there,
directed, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. I'm not gonna
want for anything. I'm not gonna like anything.
What do you got out there? I got the stone. I got these
stones to lay down on. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures, I thought you was out there on the dirt. Green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
waters, he restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of
righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death. Here again, I got to reading
that this morning. I thought about Jacob out there. He's out
there in the dark. I don't know what's out there.
He didn't know what was out there either, I'm sure. Yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear
no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.
Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup running over. Surely goodness
and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will
dwell in the house of the Lord forever. The Lord. in Matthew 11, 28, last verse
for the night. Believer, you that are like Jacob,
just going through a trial, you're going through a trial, or you're
getting ready to go through a trial, hear the word, the tried and
precious and sure foundation of our hope. Matthew 11 verse
28, come unto me. Don't come to the church. Don't
come to the front. Don't come to the elders. Don't
come to the doctrine of grace. Don't come to your confession
of faith. Don't come to baptism. Don't come to the Lord's supper.
Don't come to the law. Don't come to the supposed time
or date that you believed. Come unto me. How? How? The only way that anyone
has ever been received. Come as a helpless sinner who
sees nothing in himself but sin. Come in your heart. casting yourself
upon him afresh. The scripture says, him that
cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Come to him who is
the willing and able savior of sinners and venture your soul
upon him and trust him only for your righteousness and life and
salvation. And who is to come? All ye that
labor and are heavy laden, you that are laboring and heavy laden
with the burden of the body of death that you see within yourselves,
you that groan to be free from the very presence of sin, but
how to perform that which you would do, get rid of it, you
find naught. You would want to be free from
that which you hate within yourselves, and you're weighted down with
those that would try to put you under the obedience of the law
for righteousness, and you're loaded down with the traditions
of men in order to find peace and conscience for your soul.
Come unto me, all ye that labor, and heavy laden, and here's Jacob,
he just laid down. and I will give you rest. I'll give you rest. Rest, spiritual
rest, is the need of every weary sinner. When I think, and how
often I think of my waywardness, my lack of commitment, what I
see in me, How I need peace in my conscience. Things that I
have failed to do. To remember Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness. That burden though that I have
and you that know him that you have. You want some peace, you
want some comfort, you want to be able to lay down. And rest,
thank you. Thank you, Lord, that you saved
my soul. Thank you for making me whole.
Thank you for giving me thy great salvation so rich and free. I
pray God bless this to our hearts. Amen.