Brethren, let's open to Genesis
35. Genesis chapter 35. I'm not including this in our series. I'm not sure this is a popular
story or not. Genesis 35 verse 1, God said
unto Jacob, Arise, go up 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." Now we've seen how that Jacob was fleeing from Esau and
God stopped him at Bethel, revealed Christ the God-man mediator to
him, made promises to him, brought him to believe on Christ. Then
Jacob went out. Little by little, he got down
there to Laban and started serving for Rachel and just went a little
further and a little further away from God, got wrapped up
in his career and all that. And then we found Christ again,
brought him down. Christ brought him to Peniel,
took all his strength away from him, put his thigh out of joint. He brought Christ to I brought
Jacob to see Christ and lay hold of Christ as his only strength.
And that's how he had power with God and prevailed. Now, you think
that's going to be the only time Jacob's going to need to be chastened
and turned again to Christ? He's a believer. Is that the
only time that he's going to need to be chastened of God and
turned back to Christ? No, Christ is going to have to
do it over and over again. Long as we're in these bodies
of death, Christ is going to have to chasten us and turn us
over and over again. Bring us back to the feet of
Christ over and over again. And that's what we see here in
our text. God is saying to Jacob, rise,
go up to Bethel and dwell there. He's telling him to leave some
place and go to Bethel and dwell at Bethel. Go to the house of
God and dwell there. Well, what had happened? What
had happened? This has been 15 years now. Fifteen years now. Look at Genesis
31, 13. It's been fifteen years since
God told Jacob this. 31, 13. I'm the God of Bethel. You see
that? I'm the God of Bethel. Where's
thou anointest the pillar? He wanted to make sure Jacob
knew which Bethel he's talking about. I'm the God of Bethel. Where you anointed the pillar,
where you vowed a vow unto me. And Jacob vowed a vow, saying,
this is the house of God. I'll pay the tenth of everything
God gives to me to God. I'll serve God in the house of
God. That's what he vowed to God right there that day. And
God said, now go there and dwell there. He said, arise, get thee
out from this land. He was with Laban in Mesopotamia,
paid an heir to him. He said, leave this land, return
unto the land of thy kindred. And he means Bethel. That's what
he's talking about. Go to Bethel. All Jacob heard was, Go to the
land of thy kindred. You know, it amazes me. I'm learning
this so little by little how you have to repeat and repeat
and repeat because we just do not get what is said. We miss it. God was telling him,
Go to Bethel. Jacob heard him say, Just go
back to Canaan. God said clearly, I'm the God
of Bethel. Where you anointed that pillar,
where you vowed that vow, go to Bethel. Go to Bethel. Fifteen
years have passed. Jacob still has not gone to Bethel.
Still has not gone to Bethel. In fact, it's been thirty years
since he was at Bethel. Thirty years. Jacob's an old
man. Thirty years. Why didn't God
just let him go? He let Esau go. Why didn't He
just let him go when he went out seeking the world? Christ
paid all our debt, and therefore now from His throne in glory,
just like He did then for Jacob, Christ will turn His child, turn
His redeemed, and bring us to the house of God and make us
dwell there at the feet of Christ. He will not let His people go. He will not let us be overcome
by this world. It cost Him too much to redeem
us. Now let's see it. First of all,
we see our problem. Here's our problem. After Christ
gave Jacob that peaceful meeting with Esau, Christ was his power
and prevailed with Esau so that Esau came and it was peaceful. So Jacob left with Esau. And
this is where we read. Genesis 33.16 says, Esau returned
that day on his way unto Seir. And Jacob journeyed to Sukkoth.
Now you notice here, God didn't do... We don't hear nothing else
about Esau. God just let him go. But we're going to see something
here about Jacob, because Jacob is a chosen elect child of God.
He acted like Esau, just like him. We do too. But God's not
going to let him go. He let Esau go, but He's not
going to let Jacob go. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. This is God's choice according
to election. No unrighteousness with God.
He can do with His own what He will. He has mercy on whom He
will. Now look here, Jacob journeyed to Sukkoth, and he built him
a house. and made him booths for his cattle,
and therefore the name of that place is called Succo. He started
to settle down there in Succo. And he built him a house. I think
he built him a booth. And I'm not sure on this, but
I don't want to be too hard on Jacob, but Jacob was supposed
to be dwelling in tents, in tabernacles, being a sojourner. But he didn't
build him a house. He built him a booth. Sort of
a compromise in the middle. And that's the point. He compromised. He compromised. But he stayed
there about a year and he decided, well, this is not right. I shouldn't
be here. I'm not even in the land of Canaan. My father told
me to go to the land of Canaan. He got a little fit of conviction. So look what he did. Jacob came
to Shalem to peace. Same word as Salem. To peace.
It's a different Salem. But he came to Shalem, a city
of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan. when he came from
Paternarum. Now that's important. We're going
to see later. He came from Paternarum. It doesn't say he came out. It
says he came from Paternarum. Now he's not physically in Paternarum
anymore. He came from there, and look,
and he pitched his tent before the city. Pitched his tent before
the city. Who else do we know pitched their
tent toward a city? Lot did. Lot pitched his tent
toward Sodom. And he bought a parcel of a field.
Uh-oh. Abraham and Isaac never bought
a piece of ground except to be buried there. That whole land
is theirs. Canaan's theirs. It's the land
of promise. This whole land is ours. But God said, don't you
take up dwelling there. Don't you make it your home.
Don't you think that that's the end all be all of you. I'm going
to give it all to you in the end. And so you just go through
this world as a sojourner. Now watch this. And he bought
a field there where he had spread his tent. And look who he bought
it from. At the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for
a hundred pieces of money. He had told God, I'm going to
take everything you've given me, Lord. I'm giving you the
first fruits of it. Here he is giving a hundred lambs
to an idolatrous, heathen king for a piece of earth. But now watch what he did. Verse
20, And he erected there Not at Bethel, there. He erected
an altar and he called it El Elohi Israel. Jacob built a separate
place to worship, separate from those idols. A lot of idols in
that land, they were worshiping idols. He built him a separate
house to worship God. Put him up a separate altar,
made sure everybody knew. He named it, this is God, the
God of Israel. God had just changed his name
to Israel. He said, this is the house of God, the God of Israel.
You see a mistake in all this. Jacob's to be a stranger in this
land. He's to be looking for a city whose builder and maker
is God. He's supposed to be sojourning through this land. And so are
we who believe. But he saw this fertile valley
of Shechem. Fertile valley there. And he's
in Canaan. He's in the land of his kindred. And so he invested. in a business. He invested in a piece of ground.
He didn't buy a large estate. He bought a little parcel of
ground. And Abraham As I said, nor Isaac. They have never owned
ground. Maybe that's why he just bought a little parcel of ground.
I don't know. But he bought a parcel of ground to live on. And also,
when he did this, remember, he built him an altar there, but
remember, God had told him, go up to Bethel. Don't go to Shechem. He didn't say, go to Shechem.
He said, go to Bethel. This was the first city Jacob
came to when he came from Padanerim into Canaan. The first city.
he came to. And it was so fertile, it was
peace. He came to peace there. And he
said, I'm going to just stop right here, buy me some ground,
spread out my tent, and I'll just build an altar here and
worship God right here. You know what he's doing? He
didn't go to the house of God. He built him an altar right there.
This is a believer. who drifted away from Christ.
This is not what Jacob was saying whenever Christ had put his thigh
out of joint and he was begging Christ to preserve my life and
Christ made him see he was all his power. This wasn't what he
was saying then. He was blessing God then. But
now he's drifted away from Christ. Drifted away from Christ. And
he's growing nearer and nearer to the world. Nearer and nearer
to the world. I really believe we do this more
than we're near Christ. He was attempting to worship
God and serve the world. That's what he was doing. Will
that work out? It won't work, will it? Alright,
trouble and sorrow came to Jacob. Genesis 34, verse 1. Dinah, the
daughter of Leah. Jacob had two wives, Rachel and
Leah. And Dinah was his only daughter. Only daughter. She's the daughter
of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob. She went out, now look
what she went out for, to see the daughters of the land. Probably,
the daughters of the land were probably having some kind of
banquet, or some kind of ball, or maybe they were having a bridal
shower, or maybe they ate something. These are Hivites. These are
Gentile idolatrous people. And there they're having something.
And she goes out to see them. Maybe she just went out to see
what's fashionable. I don't know. She went out to
see them, though. And look what happened. I'm sure Rachel, Jacob,
maybe he said, No, I don't think that's a good idea. Rachel, the
woman he loved so much, Leah, his wife, they batted their eyes
at him and said, It won't hurt. Let her go this time. So he did. He let her go. Verse 2, And when
Shechem the son of Hamor, the Hivite, prince of the country...
Hamor was a king. Shechem was the prince. And this
young prince saw her, and he took her, and he lay with her,
and he defiled her. And his soul clave unto Dinah,
the daughter of Jacob. And he loved the damsel, and
he spake kindly unto the damsel, He took her to his house, took
her to his palace, and kept her there. She didn't go back home.
He kept her there. And Shechem spake unto his father
Hamor, saying, Get me this damsel to wife. This young prince was
spoiled rotten. He said, I want this woman right
here. Get her for me. Get her for me. Verse 5, And
Jacob heard that he defiled Dinah his daughter. He heard through
the grapevine that his daughter had been defiled by this young
prince. Don't you know that broke his heart? His only daughter
goes off, this heathen prince, his only daughter. Now his sons
were with his cattle in the field and Jacob held his peace until
they were come. So you see now we got shame,
troubles come to his house. Now temptation is going to come
to Jacob. This is all things that's going
to come to us when we attempt to live to this world and partially
serve God. You can't do it. You cannot do
it. This is what's going to come to trouble. Now comes temptation. You try to start serving the
world, you better be sure temptation is coming. Temptation is around
the men. Now look at this temptation. Verse 8, Genesis 34, verse 8. This prince, this king came telling
Jacob that his son wanted to marry his daughter. Now watch
this, verse 8, And Hamor communed with him, saying, The soul of
my son Shechem longeth for your daughter. I pray you, give her
him to wife, and make ye marriages with us, and give your daughters
unto us, and take our daughters unto you. And you shall dwell
with us, and the land shall be before you. Dwell, and trade
ye therein, and get you possessions therein. And Shechem, the prince,
now he speaks. And he said unto Jacob her father,
and unto her brethren, Let me find grace in your eyes. And
what you shall say unto me, I will give. This is the king and the
prince. Can you imagine the king and
prince of England coming to you and saying, Art, my son wants
to marry your daughter. I'm going to give you anything
you want. Just give her to wife to my daughter. That would be
flattering, wouldn't it? The king, the prince, that would
be very flattering. Very flattering. Look here, in
Shechem says, verse 22, Ask me never so much dowry and gift,
and I'll give according as you shall say unto me. Just give
me that damsel to wife. I'll give you whatever you ask.
Whatever you ask. Now here's what they were doing.
They were offering Jacob the world. Offering him the world. All he had to do was give up
his daughter to this prince of this world. To the prince of
this world. That's what Christ faced when
He was tempted by Satan in the garden, I mean, in the wilderness. Satan came and said He showed
Him all the kingdoms of the world at once. And He said, I'll give
you all these kingdoms if you just bow down and worship Me.
What was He saying? If you just give Me your elect
children, give Me your daughter, give Me your bride, I'll give
you all this. I'll give you all this. That's
temptation now. That's what you're going to face
in the world. That's what you're going to face. You're going to
have to make some hard choices. Alright? Then robbery came. Then
murder came. And robbery and shame came to
Jacob's house. This is all things that's going
to come now. Jacob's sons were angry about this. Now look at
verse 13. And the sons of Jacob answered
Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully. They were laying
a trap here. But Jacob don't know that. Jacob
don't know that. Jacob just hears them. And this
is revealing about Jacob and Jacob's spiritual state at this
point. Jacob's going to just let this happen. He don't speak
up. It's his place to speak. It's not his son's place to be
talking about whether he's going to give his daughter or not.
And he don't say nothing. His daughters are doing this.
He's going to say a word. And look what they say they'll
do. Look, they said unto them, we cannot do this thing to give
our sister to one that is uncircumcised. for that were a reproach unto
us, but in this will we consent unto you. If you will be as we
be, that every male of you be circumcised, then we will give
our daughters unto you, and we will take your daughters to us,
and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people." That means they'd be all together
lost if that happens. Jacob, they don't say a word.
Jacob's silent this whole time. Now these boys are pulling a
trick. They're being deceitful. They're laying a trap. But Jacob
don't know that. Jacob's just being silent. Now watch this. He says, verse 17, But if you
will not hearken unto us to be circumcised, then we will take
our daughter and we'll be gone. Verse 25, And it came to pass
on the third day when they were sore. These men went through
with this. Dinah must have been something else. All these men
of that city were circumcised for this woman. So that that
prince could have this... That prince probably threatened
them. But they all did it anyway. Well, the third day they were
very sore. And it said, the two sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi,
Dinah's brethren, took each man his sword and came upon the city
boldly and murdered all the males. Slew them all. And they slew
Hamar and Shechem, his son with the edge of the sword. And took
Dinah out of Shechem's house. That's where he had taken Dinah.
They took her out of the house and they went out. And the sons
of Jacob came upon the slain and spoiled the city because
they had defiled their sister. And they took their sheep, and
their oxen, and their asses, that which was in the city, and
that which was in the field, and all their wealth, and all
their little ones, their wives, took they captive and spoiled
even all that was in the house. They not only murdered, they
robbed them. Verse 30, "...And Jacob said to Simon and Levi,
You have troubled me to make me stink among the inhabitants
of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites, and I be
a few in number. They shall gather themselves
together against me and slay me, and I shall be destroyed,
I and my house. And they said, Should he deal
with our sister as with a harlot?" Honestly, I first thought they
justified what they did. But you know, All Jacob was worried
about was how he was going to look to the people of that land. They were bold and stood up for
God and said, we're taking our sister from Him and we're not
standing for this, we're taking her out. That's the boldness
God told Jacob to have for Him. Stand with Him at the house of
God. Don't look to anybody in this world. Stand with Him. Slay
them by siding with God. Spoil their goods by siding with
God. Steal away the bride from them
by siding with God and preaching His gospel. That's how God's
going to bring His bride out of captivity. See, they did something
more honorable than Jacob did. So that's where Jacob's at. Now
watch this. All this began by Jacob trying
to live in this fertile valley. Oh, he built the altar. You see,
certain days of the week, he went and worshipped God, and
he did it in truth. He did it separate from those
idols. We'll do that. We'll think, well, that's good.
I'm in the church of God. I'm doing alright. But he wasn't
in the house of God. He wasn't really in the house
of God. What he was doing was, he was doing that to soothe his
conscience while he lived in the world and served the world,
and served his business and all that stuff. That's what he was
really doing. Now, God has sanctified His people. We're supposed to
be separate from this world. We're supposed to be brought
out. We're supposed to be trusting Christ alone. We can't look to
God to be our salvation in spiritual things, but look to our own hand
and this world to be our salvation in everyday things. You can't
do that. That's serving God and mammon,
and that's impossible. You'll have to serve one or the
other, and as we see here, you'll serve mammon. Serve mammon. So
the end is going to be trouble and sorrow and sin and shame.
The remedy is the mercy and grace of God. Now, if you had a child
that did all this, all this rebellion, nothing Jacob did was right.
Everything was rebellion. He just went further away from
God. God would turn him, bring him to Christ, he'd go right
back to the world. Turn him, he'd go right back
to the world. That's exactly what we do. It's exactly what
we do. I guarantee you, you won't be
out of this building 15 minutes today after hearing this message
and you won't remember a thing I preached. I guarantee you. If you ask to outline, you say,
I have no idea what it was. Isn't that sad? Isn't that sad? Christ has to take us and He
has to turn us. Look here, and it's mercy. Verse
1 says, Genesis 35, verse 1, God said unto Jacob, after all
this, God had mercy on him. Came and spoke to Jacob. Why? Why did He do that? How could
He do that to this man Jacob? All we see is sin in this man.
What did we see this morning? Christ was Jacob's surety. That's
how it is. And God did this for Christ's
sake. You see, in Christ, Jacob was perfectly righteous. In Christ,
Jacob was perfectly holy. He was obedient inside and out
in Christ, his surety. And so for Christ, his surety,
his advocate, the Lord came here and showed him mercy. Don't you
thank God for mercy and grace? Remember what Jeremiah said?
Listen to this. In Jeremiah 3, 20-21, This I
recall to my mind, and therefore I have hope. It's of the Lord's
mercies that we're not consumed, because His compassions fail
not. Because Christ doesn't fail. That's fine. Alright, now look.
And then God commanded him to repent. He commanded him to repent,
not just in heart, but to repent and leave this place. Get out
of this place and go to the house of God. Look at verse 1. He said,
God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there.
Dwell there. Arise. Don't stay here. Don't stay in this place. Don't
keep looking to your business to save you. Don't keep looking
to your works to save you. Don't keep looking to your friends
in this place to save you. Don't keep looking to anything
that you've put roots in and tied yourself down to in this
world. He said, leave it all. from you
your best and your worst. Repent from you and repent from
this world and repent from your sin and all your works and everything
you are doing to save. Repent from you, he said. Arise
from this. You see, when you turn from God,
you always go down. He said, now you stand up out
of this and you do something. He says this, go up to Bethel
and dwell there. Go up to Bethel and dwell there."
Go to the house of God. That's what Bethel means. The
house where God's chosen to put His name. You see, before Jacob
had the attitude of, it doesn't matter really which place I go
to, it's alright to worship God anywhere. We see right here,
no it's not. God puts His name someplace.
And God sets up His preacher someplace. And God says, you
go there, to that house. That's where you're going to
hear My name exalted. That's where you're going to hear My
works. That's where you're going to hear My Son, Christ the Mediator, who's
been set up between heaven and earth. That's where you're going
to hear My Son exalted and His works exalted. Go to the house
of God. Go to the house of God. And there's only one way you
can go. He's telling him to go to God. He's telling him to go
up to God. And there's only one way you
can go to God. Did you know that? Only one way.
Through Christ the Mediator. That's the only way. Look here
now. He says, "...and make there an altar unto God." Christ is
our altar, and Christ is the Lamb on the altar. That's the
only way you can come to God, is on Christ our altar, Christ
the Lamb of God. We have an altar. Scripture says,
which they have no right to eat who are still serving their flesh
in earthly commandments and earthly tabernacles. Our house is a spiritual
house. Our house is God and His people.
Our house is spiritual. Christ is the tabernacle of God. He's pitched this house. He's
made this house. He said, you destroy this body
and in three days this temple and in three days I'm going to
raise it up again. And He raised it up again. He's the head of
the house. And He is the house, and His
children are the house, spiritual stones that He builds up. He
says, now you go to My house, My house. And you go there through
Christ the Lord. And then He says this to them,
and you remember your first love and your first works. Look here,
Genesis 35, verse 1, God that appeared unto thee were now fled
as from the face of Esau thy brother. He's recalling to his
mind something that happened thirty years ago. Jacob got dull
and he forgot about this. You know how we do? He got dull
and he forgot about this. And the Lord is telling him,
Jacob, you remember that when you left there, when you left
your father's house 30 years ago, you were candy coating,
you were begging so much, you said you were going out to find
a bride. God said, that's not what you was doing. You was fleeing
from Esau. Because you supplanted him. Because
you was a sinner. That's why. That's why. That's
why you lived. I found you nothing but a sinner. That's what I found. Remember
that, Jacob? That's what he said. Do we remember
that? Remember how God found you? Just
a sinner. Just a sinner. Remember when
you first found out you were a sinner? Thought there was no
hope for you. Now, you can hear sin sometimes
and the old fact just rolls off of you. God says, remember what
it was like to be a sinner. And then look at this. He says,
but I appeared unto you there when you did that. He said, you
remember how I had mercy on you. You remember who it was that
appeared to you. It was the God-man. Remember the latter? It was the
God-man that appeared to him. He saw the God-man. He saw the
light of the Son of God and the Son of Man. And all God's covenant
promises was made to him. And he rejoiced. Remember how
he set up that pillar and he said, this is going to be the
house of God right here. Whatever God gives me, I'm going
to bring it to Him and give Him the firstfruits. Thirty years
went by. They ain't seen Jacob in the
house of God. They ain't seen him. He's telling Jacob to remember
from whence thou art fallen, remember thy first love. Remember what Christ told the
Ephesians? I have somewhat against thee,
because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from
whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works. Remember
from whence you're fallen, from Christ your first love, Remember
that first love. Remember those first works. And
repent from where you are and do those first works now. That's
what he's telling him. You remember when you first believed
Christ. You remember when Christ made you a little child. You
didn't know anything, but you knew Christ is all. And you could
crawl up in the lap of God your Father. And you could sit there
and listen to His Gospel and rejoice in His Gospel and write
down things in His Gospel. Oh boy, you were so thrilled.
And then we became theologians. God impressed us now. Tell us
something we don't know. I've heard that scripture. I
don't need to turn to it. Become theologians. Now we've become businessmen.
We've got careers now. We've got careers now. There's
something else important now. God said, I'm going to have you
and all of you are nothing. He said, repent from this and
go to Christ. Go to Christ. Alright, thirdly,
what happens when God makes this word affectionately and we go
to Christ? God honors those who honor His Son. God honors those
who honor His Son by believing Him, by resting on Him, by dwelling
at His feet. Look here. God made this word
effectual in Jacob. Now look at what happened in
verse 2. Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that
were with him, Jacob's got some bold in his family. Jacob's been
turning a blind eye to everything that's going on in his house
because He didn't want to shake the apple cart. He was making
plenty of money where it was, and everything was going good
where it was, and at least they had a temple. They were worshipping
God. They were going and putting on a show. He didn't want to
mess it up, so he's turning a blind eye to everything. Now he stood
up. Now he stood up. God made it
disaffectual in his heart, and he stood up, just like I'm standing
here today. You know what happens before
a preacher when you preach? If you preach it, you either have
experienced it before you preach it, or as soon as you preach
it, you'd be ready to experience it, because you're going to experience
it. God's going to bring you to repentance, and have you declare
it to His people. And that's what happened here.
Jacob's brought to repentance, and Jacob's now declaring it
in the house. His house. Now look what happened. Jacob
said, verse 2, put away the strange gods that are among you. You
mean they had strange gods in Jacob's house? and be clean,
and change your garments. And let us arise and go up to
Bethel, and I'll make there an altar unto God, who answered
me in the day of my distress, and was with me all this way
which I went." He's the one that's been saving us this whole way,
he said. You see, his dear wife Rachel, the one he loved so much,
when she left Laban's house, her father's house, she brought
a little idol out with her. We skipped over that part, but
she brought a little idol out with her. It was found out that
she had it, but she brought a little idol. It was what she'd learned
from her father. Idol worship. She brought that idol with her. And now, here's Jacob living
amongst all these idolaters, and his family has picked up
idolatry. Right here, living amongst these
idolaters. Oh, they still go into their separate place of
worship. But they got all these strange gods in their heart,
Amongst them. What are these strange gods?
They dressed like the people of that land. Their garments
were their gods. They talked superstitiously like
them. Creation was their god. They
worshipped man, the earth, and the animals just like everybody
there did. Desired the same pleasures of the world just like everybody
there desired. They desired sports. They desired
movies. They desired money. All that
was their strange god. They even possessed these little
idol trinkets of some sort. Maybe they had crosses in their
ears, I don't know. Doubtful, but you know what I'm
saying, like people have today. Don't think anything of any of
these things, because we go to the house of God. We separate
ourselves from those idolaters and we go to the house of God.
Oh, we look just like them, but we go to the house of God. Jacob
turned a blind eye to it all, but now he said, we're approaching
God who's holy and reverent God. We're approaching God. He's holy.
He's reverent. God said, and He's told me to
tell you, put away these strange gods. Wash you and change your
garments. We're going to God's house. You
see, we need to be granted repentance in our hearts from these idols.
From all these idols. We've got to be granted repentance
in our hearts. We need inward washing. We need inward repentance
granted to us. We need a new heart given us.
Over and over again, when we're brought to... Well, we've got
a new nature. It gives us that new birth, but
we've got to be brought to have this heart washed over and over
again. You see, but whenever the insides cleanse, you know
what's going to happen? The outside of the cup is going
to be clean too. It's going to follow. Oh, it's
going to have spots on it. But you're going to try to clean
that outside too, because the inside is clean now. And you
want the outside clean. And that's what Jacob said here.
The sinful thoughts and the sinful deeds. The ill tempers and the
sins. that you've been doing. And he said, the divisions of
your heart and the riches of this world, these got to all
be buried. They all got to be buried. They
all got to be put away from the heart and from the hand. They
got to be put away. Why? God's holy. God's holy. But Jacob couldn't affect that
in their hearts. What's he doing telling this
house that? He can't make that happen. Why am I preaching this
to you then? I can't make it happen in your
heart. I can't make it happen. Why am I preaching this to you
then? Why was Jacob preaching that in his house? Why is a faithful
father to declare the Gospel in his own house? Why? Because
God's going to make it effectual through His Word. That's why.
And when you honor His Son, you honor God and you honor His Son,
God will honor those that honor Him. Look what happened. Verse
4, They gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their
hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears. And
Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem. You see,
what I'm saying is you take sides with God against yourself and
against your own family, your own kindred. All that you hold
dear, and you might just be surprised that God will bless it. You might
just be surprised God will bless it. I don't know if they all
were saved. I doubt it. They probably all,
some of them just did it because the other ones were doing it.
But God saved some of them. I bet He saved some of them. He honored Jacob. He honored
him. Another way God honors His people is by protecting us from
our enemies as we go to worship God. Look here in verse 5. And
they journeyed, and the terror of God was upon the cities that
were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons
of Jacob. I hear so many excuses. I hear so many excuses. I'm not
talking about necessarily here. I'm talking about excuses I hear
when I travel and things. Why people can't leave the world
and follow after God. Why folks can't move to another
city where they can worship God and meet with His people under
the sound of the gospel? Why they can't give up this or
that or whatever it is that they're holding on to, to fully commit
to Christ? You see Jacob's problem? He went
halfway, but he didn't go all the way to the house of God because
of that fertile valley, because of his earthy riches. And men
will commit as far as separating from their idols and going to
an altar where God's worshipped in truth, but not fully commit
if it means I've got to give up something. If it's going to
cost me something, I can't do that. What has your gospel cost
you? If it hasn't cost you anything,
it's not worth a plug nickel. David said, I won't offer to
God that which costs me nothing. But here's the point I'm trying
to make to you. Whenever God works His work in the heart,
and He's got to do it to make you go. Every time God's done
this in my heart, it was no sweat moving. It was no problem going. I went with a full confidence,
God's going to bless it. Because I've got the Word of
God in my heart. And that's what I'm saying. When you do that,
and God's moved you, and you move forward as God's commanded,
God will see to it that all your enemies are held in check so
they cannot come upon you. I'm telling you He will. I'm
telling you He will do that. He will do that. That's what
He did here. It's too hard for you, but it's
not too hard for God. He says, "...touch not mine anointing,
do not my prophets no harm." He controls the heart of a man,
the hearts of His people, and the hearts of His enemies. That's
what's happening right here. And you believe on Christ, and
you follow Christ, and you want to serve Christ, and spread His
gospel, and do what honors Him, and the Scripture says, "...what
a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to
be at peace with him." Alright, here's another way God honors
his child. He gives him blessings of his
brethren. Blessings of his brethren. Look
at verse 6. Jacob came to Luz, which is in
the land of Canaan, that is Bethel. He came to the house of God,
but he didn't come alone this time. Look. He and all the people
that were with him. He and all the people that were
with him. And he built there an altar. It came in the name
of Christ through faith. And he called the place El Bethel,
the house of God. The house of God. Because there
God appeared unto him when he fled from the face of his brother.
He returned to Christ his first love and he did the first works.
Do you see that? He did the first works. Before
he talked about doing it. Now he did it. Now he did it.
But this time he had a large family with him. He had brethren
with him. These brethren Here represent
all Jacob's spiritual seed. They represent the true elect
of God, those chosen by God the Father, redeemed by the Son,
regenerated by the Holy Spirit. That's who they represent. And
I'll tell you what you'll find. The house of God is the pillar
and ground of the truth. The house of God is built up,
perfectly fitly framed together, fitly on purpose, just what the
house needs, fitly framed together, And we're dwelling in God, a
holy temple in the Lord, and we're a habitation of God. United
in one. And what you'll find is, when
you're united with the house of God is, you've got many more
brethren. Many more true friends than you
thought you had in Shechem. You know, I can't leave the world
because of what my friends are going to say. Who cares what
your stupid friends say? Come to Christ and you'll find
out you've got better friends than money can buy. Here's another
way God honors His child. Verse 8, But Deborah, Rebekah's
nurse, died. And she was buried beneath Bethel,
buried beneath Bethel, under an oak. And the name of it was
called Alanbaccheth, the Oak of Weeping. This was Jacob's
mother's nurse. This was Rebecca's nurse. This
woman had been the nurse of Jacob since the day this boy was born.
She'd been walking with this boy since the day he was born. You know what she was as a nurse?
She was loved of Jacob. Jacob loved her. She took care
of Jacob. Jacob loved her. He gave her
an honorable burial and everybody in the camp weeped for her. Now
here's the lesson to get from this. Troubles that come on you
at Shechem can come on you at Bethel. They sure can. Troubles that come on you at
Shechem can come on you at Bethel. Just because you're walking in
the way God said to walk and pleasing God, that doesn't mean
you're going to be free from troubles. Troubles can come on
to you even when you're obeying God. What's the difference then? Why then would I want to obey
God? When you're at Shechem, you've got to face them all by
yourself. But when you're in the house
of God, Christ is with you. And He makes the burden light.
And He makes it bearable. He makes it bearable. That's
the difference. That's the difference. You see,
the Lord might heat the fire, even when He sees the refining
process going on. They're coming there, they're
being refined, they're doing everything God told them, and
now he needed to fire up hotter. Why? It's what they needed. It's
what they needed. Took somebody away they loved.
But it was not for anger or anything like that. When you see bad things
happen to people, don't say, well, they did something wrong,
God's angry with them. Don't say that. Sometimes that's
the case when they're in Shechem. But they might be in Bethel doing
what God commanded, like they were here. Don't ever say that.
You don't know what God's doing. Wait on God to see what He's
doing. But the greatest blessing in this picture is this. Deborah,
as a nurse, from the day he was born all the way up to right
here where he meets Christ. Nurse. This nurse was a schoolmaster. She was a schoolmaster. She did
everything, guided Jacob, provided for Jacob, taught Jacob, right
up to this point. But now he's met Christ and he
don't need her anymore. You know what that pictures?
Listen to what Paul said. The law was our schoolmaster. We were under the law from the
day we were born. But it was our schoolmaster,
it was our nurse to bring us unto Christ. that we might be
justified by faith, by Christ the faithful one. But after that
faith is come and we're brought to the feet of Christ, just like
Jacob was here, we're no longer under a schoolmaster. Deborah
can die now. Where was she buried? Beneath
Bethel, beneath the house of God, beneath the oak of weeping. The law was put down and buried,
fulfilled, accomplished, on that cross, on that oak, on that cross
at Calvary for God's people. That cross of weeping. Alright,
notice this, and I'm done. I've got two little things to
show you. Not only does He do this, God
makes us know we're forgiven of all our sins. Forgiven of
all our sins. Now watch this. Verse 9, God
appeared unto Jacob again. When did He do this? when he
came out of Padanerim and God blessed him. You've got to pick
up every word in the Scripture. It says something there. Now,
I thought Jacob came out of Padanerim when he came into the land of
Canaan back there and he camped out at Shechem. No. You remember
what the Scripture said back there? Look back there at Galatians
33.18. Jacob came to Shalem, a city
of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan. Now watch, when he
came from Padanerim. Not out of Padanerim, from Padanerim. Genesis 33, verse 18. Have I
got the right verse? Yeah, he came to Shalem. But
look now, it says he came from Padanerim. Not out of it, from
it. And he pitched his tent before
the city. You see, he came out physically, but when he pitched
his tent before Shechem, he made it evident that he hadn't come
out spiritually. He just came out from it. He
was still in. that foreign land. He was still
in that strange land. But now, by God's grace, God
brought him out of Padanerim. And that's when God made him
know, you're forgiven, you're blessed, when God had brought
him out of the world. And you know what it says here?
God don't even mention... You know how long he was in Shechem?
Over ten years. It's not even mentioned here.
He appears to him, and He blesses him. You know what that tells
me? All the sins of Jacob in Shechem, God don't even remember
them. He don't even bring them up.
He's totally forgiven. Totally forgiven. That's what
we have in Christ, brethren. Total forgiveness in Christ the
Lord. And here's the last thing. How
does God bless us? Not only does He show us we're
forgiven, He renews that covenant in our hearts. Renews that covenant
in our hearts. Look here. Look here, lastly,
verse 10, God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob. Thy name shall
not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name.
And he called his name Israel. Remember how did that happen
before? Christ was his power, and Christ
was how he prevailed with God. That's the same thing here. He
reminds him again who he is. You're Christ now. You have power
with Christ your strength. And God said unto him, I am God
Almighty, Almighty, be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a
company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out
of thy loins. And the land which I gave Abraham Isaac, to thee
will I give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.
And God went up from him in the place, I love this, where he
talked with him. where he talked with him. Scripture
says he talked with Abraham because Abraham was his friend. Jacob
was too, in Christ. Here he was talking with Jacob.
And he talks with his people through this Gospel now. He talks
to us, revealing more to us than he revealed to Jacob. You ever
feel like, boy, if he'd have talked to me, if I could really
hear him talk like Jacob did, he's telling you more now than
he told Jacob. You've got way more revelation
than Jacob had. And so Jacob then set up a pillar
in a place where he talked with him, a pillar of stone. He poured
a drink offering on it. Now he offered him the firstfruits.
Honored him. Poured oil on it. Jacob called
the name of that place where God spoke with him, the house
of God. You see what God said, come to
the house of God. Come to the house of God. Don't.
Got to be brought out. But God will have mercy. God
will bring us out and God will make us stand for His truth with
Him. And God will honor it. And God
will honor us by not letting our enemies pursue us. And He'll
honor it by bringing us to many brethren among His house. He'll
honor it by renewing the blessings to us and forgiving us of our
sins and showing us Christ and showing us that covenant promise.
And He'll keep us there. He's got to keep doing this for
us over and over. Amen. Alright. Brother Eric.