Rachel envied her sister and
said unto Jacob, Give me children or I die. Jacob's anger was kindled
against Rachel and he said, Am I in God's stead? Who hath withheld
from thee the fruit of the womb? And that's my title this morning,
Am I in God's stead? And no doubt what Rachel, what
Jacob said here to Rachel, every creature that you and I come
to depend upon will soon say to us, am I in God's stead? And Jacob's simple meaning here
is no creature can take God's place. Rachel had been unable
to conceive children, and she blames Jacob. And Jacob, in effect,
says, my wife, I love you. I worked seven years to secure
you as my wife, but there's one thing I cannot be to you. I cannot
be to you in God's stead. It's God who hath withholden
children from you, not me. One creature may take the place
of another creature, but no creature can take the place of God. A church may lose its pastor
and mourn the loss, but the church may get a better pastor. When
Elijah died, I'm sure Israel mourned his passing. But Israel
got Elijah, and they rejoiced in heart again. A child may lose
a father, and that father be replaced with a stepfather, and
be a better father still. How many children have lost their
mothers, but like Naomi, they found a child that they loved
in Ruth. How many people have lost a spouse?
How many husbands have lost a wife? And how many wives have lost
a husband? And they think my heart will
never love again, only to have their affections open to someone
else. One creature can be in another
creature's stead, but no creature can be in God's stead. A creature
may be an instrument in God's hands, but it cannot be God's
substitute. You and I have instruments that
we use. We have means that we lean upon. We have a job because money is
necessary to live. We have vehicles to get us from
point A to point B. We have medications as means
to help us when we're sick. We use these means, we use these
instruments out of necessity. But God doesn't use instruments
out of necessity. He uses instruments out of choice. God uses the sun to lighten the
earth. He uses rain to soften the earth
and germinate seed. But these are means that he uses,
not out of necessity, but out of choice. He can lighten the
universe with himself. He doesn't have to depend upon
water to soften the ground. He can bring water out of a Flintstone. He can cause the desert to bloom
like a rose without any moisture. God is not dependent upon means. Means are dependent upon God. We use means out of necessity,
and we use means out of weakness. God uses means out of wisdom. We depend upon our instruments.
Our instruments depend upon God. Our instruments are no more than
God makes them to us, and we use them, but they can never
be substituted in God's stead. See what I'm saying? That's what
Jacob is meaning here. When you and I come to the place
that we lean so heavily upon our instruments, and we become
so dependent upon the means, and we say to them, give me,
give me, or I die, our instruments may say to us what Jacob said
to Rachel. Am I in God's stead? Instruments can never be to us
in God's stead. The Apostle Paul said this. Who
is Paul? Who is Apollos? Just ministers
by whom you believed, even as the Lord gave to every man. I
have planted, and Apollos watered. We're instruments. But God gave
the increase. Instruments cannot give the increase. They cannot be to us in God's
stead. No creature can be to us in God's
stead, but listen, God can be to us in the creature's stead. The creature cannot be a substitute
in God's place, but God can be a substitute in the creature's
place. If you and I have lost someone
dear to us, We've lost something dear to us. We have lost all
means of comfort. We have lost all means of temporal
support. Could our Lord fill that loss
with himself? If we're empty, can he, if he's
pleased, fill up our emptiness with himself? Can He take the
creature's place and be more to us, infinitely more to us
than all creatures combined? He can. He can. No creature can be a substitute
in God's stead, but God can be a substitute in the creature's
stead. You and I need a flashlight in
darkness. But we don't need a flashlight
when the sun rises in its brightness, do we? It's useless. And so it
is with our mighty Lord when he arises to be our all and all,
he can dispense of all creatures and fill their place with himself. Listen to this very familiar
scripture. Although the fig tree shall not
blossom, No hope of having any figs, no blossoms on the tree. Neither shall the fruit be in
the vine. The labor of the olive shall
fail and the field shall yield no food. The flock shall be cut
off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stall. That was desperation. That was
serious. That was gloom and doom and despair. Nothing to eat and no hope of
anything in the future. Is there any support to be found
in times like this? Is there anyone that can take
the place of such a dreadful loss? Yes, there is. If God is
pleased to fill up that loss with himself. So here's what
the prophet continued, and he said, Yet I will rejoice in the
Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. He can take the
creature's place. David found in God such a sure
refuge from his enemies, such a strength in the time of his
utter weakness, such a present help in the day of his trouble,
He found such friendship in his loneliness. He made this statement. He said, I will not fear though
the earth be removed, though the mountains be carried into
the midst of the sea, and though the waters roar and be troubled,
and the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. The earth
is gone. The mountains are gone. Where
does that leave me? with God alone. And that was
enough, David said. That's enough. In Psalm 73, a
man by the name of Asaph had come into poverty. He had been
plagued with such unfavorable circumstances. He had been chastened
every morning. He lost everything. He looked
at the lifestyle of the rich and famous and began to envy
them and wanted to be like them. And he said, I was ready to fall. My feet had almost slipped until
God took him into the sanctuary and he taught him something.
That all the advantages of this world are just temporary. All
the aid and help of the creatures is only for a moment. They cannot
save us. They cannot satisfy us. And then
Asap makes this statement. Lord, who have I in heaven but
thee? And there is none upon earth
that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart fails me,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. He's all and He's all. He can
take all creatures' place and give us in their stead abundance,
fullness, if He gives us Himself. Is there not coming a day Is
there not coming an hour and a moment when you and I must
experience the reality of the laws of everything? We brought nothing into this
world. We didn't bring any material thing into this world. We'll
not take any material thing out with us. We came in naked and
we'll leave naked. We came into this world without
even a relationship with anyone. And when we leave, we will leave
that way. But if God is our portion, then
we possess all and have no need of anything. When we come down to die, we
dare not look to the creature and say, help me, comfort me,
save me. They will answer us just as Jacob
answered Rachel. Am I in God's stead? God have
mercy upon the man that comes down to leave this world and
he doesn't have the Lord Jesus Christ as his portion because
he's lost everything, even himself. So we can live without the creatures.
Someday we will live without the creature. But we cannot live
without God. And if He's your portion this
morning, that portion will only be realized someday in its fullest,
fullest extent. In heaven, He will be all. There'll
be no creatures there. There'll be no causes or second
causes or means there. There'll be no sun there. He'll
be all, and He'll be our all and all there. Jacob's meaning
in our text is very obvious, isn't it? He was speaking of
God as the creator. Am I in God's stead who has withholding
a child from your womb? Can anyone create but God? That's what he was saying. God
is the sole author of our existence. He farmed our bodies in our mother's
womb. He is infinitely different from
all His creatures. They are made. Everything is
made. Your bulletin says this morning,
He created everything, seen and unseen, in heaven and in earth. Everything is made. There is
one maker. And that is the Lord Jesus Christ. And there's a distinction in
creatures. There's a distinction in angels.
We have the holy angels and we have the fallen angels. There's
a distinction in the sun and there's a distinction in the
moon and the stars. We make a distinction in those
heavenly bodies. There's a distinction in man.
Some are brilliant. Some of us are almost idiots.
There's a difference in us. But all creatures have this in
common. And you know what it is? We all
have one creator. And no creature can bridge that
gap from being a creature to the creator. It's impossible. There's one creator. And even
mighty Jacob, the great prophet, cannot bridge that gap. Let's carry this distinction
further. Who is the only preserver of all things that he creates?
Who is it that upholds all things that he made? The Lord Jesus
Christ. He not only made all things,
but by him all things are held up. They're held together and
they consist. Let the Lord Jesus Christ remove
his hand from the sun and what will happen? He'll grow cold
and he'll grow dark. Let him leave it to the planets
to chart their own course and there'll be collision and chaos. And let the Lord remove his hand
from us and what happens? We fall. We go feeble and frail
and we die. Only in him do we live and move
and have our being. And that's only said of him and
no one else. And just as he's the creator
of all that we see and don't see in this natural realm, only
he is the creator in the spiritual realm. We cannot create ourselves
anew. We cannot make ourselves a new
heart and a new spirit. And he that creates us anew must
uphold that creation that he makes. We cannot create ourselves
anew and neither can we uphold the new creature that he makes. We come to the place and he gives
us faith. But if he left it to us to maintain
that faith, it would utterly fail. He that gives faith must
maintain the faith, and if it's ever increased, we must say to
him, Lord, increase our faith, because nobody else can. He that
upholds the universe must uphold this new creation inside of us. And nobody can take his place
in that. I remember the story in Pilgrim's
Progress. when Christian went into the
house of the interpreter, and he showed him this fireplace.
Maybe you remember this. And there was a man, and he was
a wretched-looking fellow, and he was taking buckets of water,
and he was throwing it on the fireplace. And yet the fire didn't
go out. And he was amazed, why don't
the fire go out? And he took him around behind
the fireplace and there was a man in white pouring oil into the
fire. And he said, there's your faith.
All the testing, all the temptations of Satan, all the trials of this
world cannot put faith out because he that gave faith upholds the
faith. And nobody can take his place,
can they? Can anybody be in God's stead
as the Redeemer? Nobody. Can any man say, as only
God can, deliver him from going down to the pit? I found a ransom. Only God, who required a sacrifice,
can provide himself as that sacrifice. There is one name under heaven
given among men, and only one by which you and I must be saved,
and that's Jesus Christ the Lord. And no other name can be substituted
for him. Look unto me, and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else. None else. Is there another fountain
open for sin and uncleanness? Only one, and that's Immanuel's
side. You can't say to water baptism,
purge me from my sin, cleanse me from all my iniquity. I'm
surprised sometimes that the water don't answer some of these
camelots. Am I in God's stead? You've come
to the wrong fountain. I cannot take Christ's place. Is there anyone that can sew
a garment that will so cover the shame of our nakedness that
we can stand before the courts of heaven and be justified from
everything? No, nobody else can take God's
place. Can any teach us like God? Can
any take his place? Can anybody else make us wise
into salvation? All thy children shall be taught
of the Lord, and nobody else can teach our hearts and our
spirits. Can any of us say to a mere human
teacher, shine into my heart and give me the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ?
Nobody else can do that. Can anybody else teach us of
our awful need? Can anybody else reveal Christ
to us? Nobody can take God's place,
can they? That's what we're saying this
morning. No creature can be to us in the triune God's stead. There's things that He must do
that nobody else can do. When I first started pastoring,
Brother Henry Mahan came to preach for us and he sat me down and
gave me some of the best advice in the world. He said, Bruce,
you'll have visitors to come in here. And don't you bother them. You
preach the gospel. If they're sitting on the gospel,
leave them alone. Don't try to corner them up and
cram some truth down their throat. Only God can teach a man. And one man cannot teach another
man. Not really, can he? It's written in the prophets,
they shall all be taught of God. Only He can make us wise into
salvation. You may win a man to your persuasion,
but you can't teach him. Somebody else will come along
and win him to their persuasion. God must teach us, and nobody
else can be a substitute for Him. This people have I farmed for
myself, and they shall show forth my praise. Who can teach us? Who can heal us? Who can bound
up our wounds? Who can revive our troubled spirits?
Who can fill the doubtful mind with assurance? Who can accomplish
the afflicted soul? Who can prepare a table in the
presence of our enemies? Who can give joy unspeakable
and full of glory? Who can cheer the heart like
Jesus? Who can say to a departed spirit, come up here, nobody,
nobody but our Lord and nobody can take His place. You and I appreciate all the
instruments that God has given us. We appreciate all the means. Look what means he's blessed
us here with this morning. We got to hear a good singing.
We got to hear our brother read the scripture. We got to hear
the brother pray. We got all these vehicles. We
got showers. We got soap. We can clean our
body. All the means. All the support. But they cannot take the place
of our God. None of them can. Isaac Watts made this statement
about it. To thee we owe our health and
friends, our wealth and safe abode. Thanks to thy name for
meaner things, but they are not our God. They're not. Aren't we such idolaters? We
are such idolaters. All of us will have to admit
this. We beat one little owl down only
to have another one popped up. God comes along and he sweeps
some rubble out of our life and it's almost like he's ended our
life. We change political parties and you think God has stepped
down off of his throne. Aren't we idolaters? A little
girl came into the room and her mother had lost some temporal
comfort and she was weeping and welling and almost despairing.
And the little girl said, Oh, did God die? Did God die? Don't we act that way sometimes?
Because God is simply taking something from us. Did God die? William Jay made this statement.
He said, how strange would some of our feelings appear if they
were expressed in words. The meaning of many murmurs and
complaining and groaning is just this, we are left with nothing
but God Himself. We're going to be left with nothing
but God Himself. Oh, wouldn't it be a wonderful
thing then? If God stripped us, if nothing else in our minds,
in our thoughts, in our hearts, of everything else, and we could
say with ASAP, He is my portion. He's my everything. God bring
us to that place. I thank Him for instruments.
I thank Him for means. But they are not our God. Only
He is. God bless you.