Genesis chapter 32. Why was Jacob loved of God? Well, we know that it wasn't
anything that he had done, for the scripture is very clear.
when it says, for the children, speaking of he and Esau, his
twin brother, being not yet born, neither having done any good
or evil, that the purpose of God, that's where salvation comes
from, from the purpose of God, that the purpose of God, according
to election, God's choosing, might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth. And the sinner's salvation had
nothing to do with the sinner's work, the sinner's worth or the
sinner's merit. The sinner's salvation is determined
by the will and the purpose and the choice of God. The fallen
creature's redemption is by the work, the work and the merit
of the Lord Jesus Christ. God Almighty said, Jacob have
I loved and Esau have I hated, but God's love for Jacob was
only because he had, before time ever was, gave him to Christ. And Christ, in the fullness of
time, would come and die for him. And that's the only hope
that any sinner has of being saved. We are always shut up
to the fact that salvation is of the Lord. It's who said, I
will have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. And it's who said
that I'll have compassion on whom I'll have compassion that
makes salvation effectual. And it's his sovereign right
as God to have mercy on whom he wills. Now that's gonna have
to be one of the first things that a man or a woman learns
if they're ever gonna receive anything from this book. And
that is God is in control of everything, even the salvation
of sinners. So Paul concludes concerning
God loving Jacob, that it's not of him that willeth, nor of him
that runneth, but of God that shall with mercy. And for our
learning, God shows us a wonderful thing in the lives of Old Testament
saints. He shows us that his mercy is
unearned, that it's undeserved, and it's unmerited, and it's
given only as a gift in, by, and through the Lord Jesus Christ,
the righteous one. May God enable us to truly lean
on Christ and him alone for salvation. That which God ordained and promised
Jacob, he would certainly receive. Why? Because that which the Lord
of hosts has sworn, thought, and purpose shall come to pass
and forever stand. Isaiah 14, 24. So tonight we
pick up the story of Jacob's life here in the 32nd chapter
of Genesis. And as we've already mentioned
in past lessons, 21 years have passed and Jacob's returning
home now to his father and to the family of God. And though
he had left home alone, probably with not much more than the clothes
on his back, now he's returning with two wives, two concubines,
11 sons, because Benjamin hadn't been born yet. He's got a daughter
and a bunch of stuff, a bunch of stuff. For two decades, Jacob
had reaped what he'd sown, deceptive in his dealings with his brother
Esau, also with his father Isaac. For the next 20 years, Jacob
would be deceived in the same way he deceived. And there's
a real lesson. We've seen it so many times in
our studies that there are consequences for our sin. Haven't we seen
that so often? The scripture's very clear. Be
not deceived. God is not mocked. Whatsoever
man soweth, he shall also reap. And regardless of all these things,
though, all these inadequacies in Jacob, and in spite of all
the inadequacies in you and I, God blessed him greatly. And God blessed him in spite
of him. Aren't you glad that God blesses
us in spite of us? Boy, I sure am. I sure am. Now, if God would show any sinner
mercy, it'll have to be only because he was pleased to do
so. Isn't the scripture so clear about that? Even so, Father,
it seemed good in your sight. That's why God saved sinners.
It pleased Him to do so. It pleased the Lord to make you
His people. Whatsoever God's hand and God's
counsel determined before to be done, that's what comes to
pass. And we can find so much comfort
in that. And finally here, God, in chapter
31, as we saw last time, tells Jacob to leave Badan-ur-Am and
return home. And I thought about this a lot
over the last couple weeks. I can't find anywhere in that
passage of scripture where God ever told Jacob to leave without
telling Laban. God told him to leave, and he
said, I'll be with you. Don't worry about anything. But
it seems as though that was Jacob's decision. And I thought about
that, and it was out of fear. Out of fear. It seems to me that
most of Jacob's life was lived in fear. That was the reason
that he left his home in fear of Esau. 20 years that he lived
in Padanaram, feared to stand up for himself against his uncle.
And then again, here, motivated by fear, Jacob tries to sneak
off without Laban's knowledge. And it seems that his fear only
brought him more trouble. That's what it does. It always
does. Laban pursues him with great
anger. And again, God intervenes. How
many times we see God intervening in the lives of his people throughout
our Old Testament studies here. New Testament too. God intervenes
and he stops Laban's wicked heart from bringing Jacob any harm.
And truly, God's mercy endures forever unto his elect. All that are in Christ are forever
blessed. And they're never forsaken. So
we read in verse 1 of Genesis chapter 32, just the first five
words for now. went on his way. Now, those seem
like just normal, ordinary words, but, oh, I tell you, upon closer
thought, you'll see what a blessing those words are. Jacob is on
his way home. For 20 years, been no mention
of God. For 20 years, no altars built
to sacrifice unto the Lord. No sacrifices made unto the Lord.
For 20 years, no prayers made unto the Creator. No communion
or fellowship with God the Savior. Not until God initiated it. Not
until God said, return unto the land of your fathers and to thy
kindred and I'll be with thee. That's what we call divine intervention. And I'm telling you, without
it, friends, there would be no salvation for any. That's how
God saves sinners. He butts in. He butts in our
lives. Oh, God sure didn't deliver Jacob
from his trouble because he'd been so faithful. And religion
teaches men and women that God helps those who help themselves.
But the Bible teaches men and women that God helps those who
cannot help themselves. He's got to convince you that
you can't help yourself. And isn't it amazing that God
enabled Jacob to go his way. Jacob was so wrapped up in his
own life, his own little world of family and career, that he
had all but forgotten God. And I'm telling you, it's easy
to do. It's easy, easy to do. Yet impossible if you belong
to God. God's not going to let His people
go. He's going to keep them to the end. And it's so easy to
read over great lessons in the Scripture. And here's one of
those places. And Jacob went on his way. And
what makes that such a remarkable statement is the fact that God
could have left Jacob right where he was. Could have left him right
there in this idolatrous country of Padanaram. But the Scriptures
say, but Jacob, but Jacob went on his way. God could have left
Jacob under the rule of his wicked uncle Laban for another 20 years,
maybe for the rest of his life. But we read, but Jacob went on
his way. God could have left Jacob to
himself. Men and women's lives quickly pass and God never shows
them their need of spiritual life. You and I both know people
who are skipping along on their way to hell right now with no
thought of God, no thought of eternity, no thought of their
sin, and standing before God in it. And I'm telling you, we're
right back to what I said a moment ago, unless God butts in, unless
He divinely intervenes in a sinner's life, No hope for him. Oh, I pray that God would divinely
intervene in the lives of those that I love who are yet without
Christ. What great mercy we see in those
five words, and Jacob went on his way. And God still gives
the same mercy to his people today. Like the prodigal, God
allows His elect to come home even though they've wasted their
lives in righteous living. That's what we did. That's what
we were doing before God butted in. And by nature, I'm telling
you, it's very easy for us to get used to the pig food of this
world if God doesn't cause us to come to ourselves like He
did that prodigal and return home to our Father. And I'd have
you notice that Jacob returns home now only because God had
commanded him to do so. He would have kept right on in
the life that he had niched out for himself if God hadn't butted
in. If God had not enabled him to
be obedient, he wouldn't be on the road back home. If God had
not revealed again to Jacob what he had soon forgotten, he wouldn't
be on his way home. God assured Jacob that He would
be with him, and God enabled Jacob to believe Him. Truly,
faith is God-given, isn't it? We can't even believe God unless
He grants us faith. Jacob was now on the path to
obedience only because God had put him on the path to obedience.
No other reason. And if you're heading home tonight
on the right path, and I trust that many of you are, it's only
because God has put you on that road. And only because God has
shown you that He, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the way and the truth
and the life. No man cometh to the Father,
he said, but by me. So where's Jacob heading? He's
heading home. Home to his father. Home to the
altar of God. Home to the worship of God. Home to where the people of God
dwell. And Jacob went on his way. What a blessing. What comfort
we find in those five words. God's way was now Jacob's way. Are you heading home? Are you
heading home? Are you heading home God's way?
Is God's way your way? If you are, it's only because
God willed, purposed, and made it so. He works all things, what? After the counsel of His own
will. Luke chapter 8 tells us about a crazy man, possessed,
who lived among the tombs. And he caused himself great harm. No man could tame him. No man
could bind him. But the God-man did. And boy,
I tell you, I see myself in that demoniac, living among the tombs
of the world, doing myself great harm. No man could bind me, could
tame me, but Christ did. He's the only one who can bind
and tame a sinner. And he who ran naked among the
tombs now sits clothed next to the Lord Jesus Christ. You see,
he who was possessed with a legion of devils is now sitting next
to Christ in his right mind. How can this be? How can it be? He who cried that Jesus should
depart from him, what have we have to do with thee? Now begs
Christ to let him go with him. Who made the difference? You remember what our Lord told
him? He said, go home. Go home. Go home to thy friends
and tell them how great things the Lord had done for thee. You
know, that's what preaching the gospel is. It's going home and
telling everyone the compassion that Christ has bestowed upon
you. The great things that Christ
has done for you. We tell others the great things
that the Lord's done for us and all the while we're heading home.
On our way home. This is a sojourning. This is
a pilgrimage. All our way home we tell all
who will listen about the compassion that Christ shows to sinners. We tell sinners that He'll have
mercy if you desire mercy. And He'll have compassion if
you want compassion. He never turned anyone down.
None. I think about old Onesimus. You
remember Onesimus. He was a slave. He was a servant
to a man named Fleeman. And he'd been unprofitable to
his master. Boy, I know something about that.
He had stolen from him. He had fled as a deserter with
no regard at all for his master. He was unprofitable to anyone
and everyone, yet God in divine providence brought him to the
very prison that Paul was held, and the Lord saved him, and he
became a profitable servant to Paul. And I can just picture
this in my mind. I can just see him walking through
the streets of Colossae. He's heading home. He's heading
back home. But he's got something in his
hand. What's he holding with a death grip? It's a piece of
parchment. It's a letter from Paul to Philemon,
his master. Oh, I'm telling you, that letter
meant everything to him. Everything to him. It was a letter
from the heart of Paul, and Paul pleads for Onesimus to Philemon. He appeals to Philemon for mercy
on the account of his friend. Oh, isn't that what Christ does
for us? Paul pleads for him as he would
a child. He said, I appeal to you to show
kindness unto my son, Onesimus. You see, Paul had become his
father in the faith. And Paul acknowledges that Onesimus
had stole from him. He acknowledges that Onesimus
had deserted Philemon. He acknowledges that he had acted
shamefully toward him. But he claims that he was sending
him back home a different man. Who made the difference? Same one made the difference
in your life and in mine. Paul said don't receive him as
a slave, receive him as a brother. Paul said forgive him for Christ's
sake. He's having a hard time forgiving
himself. Paul says if he's wronged you
in any way or if he owes you anything, he said you charge
it to me. And I'll sign here with my own
hand. I will repay it." And the contents
of that letter were found the only means in which Onesimus
could return home. And I'm telling you, friends,
in this book that you hold in your hands tonight, it's the
only way you and I can return home. Now, do you suppose that
that letter that Paul wrote to Philemon meant anything to Onesimus? It meant everything to him. Within
that letter contained his only hope of being received back home.
And in this book contains the only hope that you and I have
of returning home to our father. What should God's word mean to
you and I? Where else would we go? All that we have is a gift of
grace given unto us by God. That's it. We have no other grounds
to stand upon. None. None but love. Sovereign love. Sovereign mercy. Sovereign grace. That divine
gift that God gave us in Christ. We receive it in and by and through
the just person and the righteous work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ paid all that we owe.
And he wrote a letter in blood and said, I will repay it. And he did. He paid it all. Oh, when that prodigal came to
himself, he said, how many hard servants in my father's house
have bread enough to spare? And I perished with hunger. He
said, I'm going to rise and I'm going to go to my father. Oh,
I'm going home. I'm going home. Child of God,
has the Lord enabled you to set your course for home? Nothing to fear. You know why?
Because, well, Peter tells us, for Christ also hath once suffered
for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. If we make it home, it's only
because Christ brings us home. He said, I'll be with you. I'm
the Lord, I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. Oh, we're so much like Jacob
that God's word calls us his sons. We change constantly, but
God never changes. He said, I'm the Lord, I change
not. He's not a man that he should lie. He's not the son of man
that he should repent. He's God Almighty. And what he
says, he means. God's sheep are prone to wonder.
The fact that God changes not is the only reason that we're
not consumed. We change like the weather. We're
prone to wonder. Yet, if one of God's sheep be
lost, the shepherd, the good shepherd, goes after that one
which is lost until he finds it. He didn't come back and say,
well, I tried, but I couldn't find them. No. What does he do? He finds it. He lays it on his
shoulder, and he brings it home. The scripture says he lays it
on his shoulder to rejoice him. And when he comes home, what
does he do? He calls together his friends and his neighbors
In our text, I believe that's these angels. And he says, and
to them rejoice with me for I have found my sheep which was lost. Verse one again, and Jacob went
on his way and the angels of God met him. Wow, isn't that
an amazing statement? The word met here, oh, it suggests
such a beautiful thought. The angels didn't simply appear
to Jacob. There's lots of times that we're
told in the scriptures where angels appeared unto men and
women, but here it says, and the angels of God met him. Well,
that's a big, that's a whole different thing. They came to
meet him, that suggests a greeting, that suggests communication,
that suggests a welcoming by them. God sent his angels to
welcome Jacob from his long exile. And God sends his angels to Jacob
as an expression of goodwill and love and mercy to him. And I'm telling you, God does
the same for his people today. By His grace, we not only come
home, but while we're on our way, He assures us that there
shall no evil befall us, neither shall any plague come nigh our
dwelling, for He shall give His angels charge over us to keep
us in all our ways. We have angels just like Jacob
did. We just can't see them. And I'm
convinced that if we could see, or if we saw the angels that
God has around about us, that we, messed up creatures we are,
would wind up worshiping them instead of the one who sent them.
But I'm telling you, friends, concerning angels, they're real. They're real. God's word says,
are they not all ministering spirits sent forth by God to
minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? Now, are
you an heir of salvation? If you are, God has sent forth
ministering spirits, ministering angels, angels sent to minister
to God's people. And the angels of God met Jacob
as he enters into Canaan, the land of promise, and they, They
come to meet Him, to comfort Him, and to help Him, and to
protect Him, and defend Him, to keep Him in all His ways.
You know, when Jacob first left home, if you remember on his
journey out of Canaan, the Lord showed him in a vision and in
a dream, the angels ascending and descending from a ladder
that reached from earth to heaven. And we know that that ladder
was Christ. He's the means by which these
ministering spirits ascend and descend to minister to God's
people. But this time, there's no vision
or dream. This is real. The angels of God
come to meet him and God opens his eyes that he might see. And I was thinking, how timely
are God's interventions? God's always perfectly on time. Look at verse two. And when Jacob
saw them, that is the angels, he said, this is God's host.
And he called the name of that place Mahanium. Now allow me
just to point out a couple quick things here that I think would
be of great encouragement to you. First, Jacob refers to these
angels as God's host. Many places in the scripture,
the word host refers to a multitude, refers to a great army, refers
to many. And here we have a multitude,
a great army of angels. And notice that these are God's
host. Therefore, they're a powerful
host that cannot be defeated. They're God's host. God gets
all the glory and the praise for the protection that these
angels provide. And we would never know that
they were there if God didn't give us spiritual eyes of faith
to see them. Just like that king of Syria
who surrounded the prophet Elijah. You remember that story in 2
Kings 6. Elijah's servant went out on
the front porch and he looked out and he saw all this army
of Syria. Oh my, he was scared to death.
And he ran in and he told Elijah, he said, Elijah, we're in trouble.
We're in trouble. Elijah said, what's wrong? And
he said, we're surrounded. The whole army of Syria is here
surrounding you and me. Elijah prayed, and he said, Lord,
I pray thee, open his eyes and let him see. And the Lord opened
the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain
was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elijah. Oh,
if we could only see, if we could only see. David said, the chariots
of God are 20,000, even thousands of angels. The Lord is among
them. You see, not only did these angels
come, this host, God's host of angels come to meet Jacob, but
the Lord was in the midst of them. Countless are the invisible
warriors of God. Don't ever think that angels
aren't real. Notice that Jacob named this place Mahanium, which
if you have a center reference, I do, it says two hosts, two
camps. Why would he name the place Two
Hosts, Two Camps? I think I know why he did. I
think I know why he did. When the angels of God came to
meet Jacob, I think that they not only came to him from the
front, But I think he looked around and he saw they came to
him from the back, too. It would be futile for Laban
to have had a change of heart and tried to attack Jacob from
the rear. Why? Because God got his angels
camped round about. The angel of God came to him
from Canaan to assure Jacob that there was nothing waiting ahead
of him that could cause him harm or fear. Esau and his 400 men
that we'll see in our next lesson be no match for this host of
God. Jacob is compassed about with
God's favor, and I'm telling you, child of God, so are you. You have nothing to fear on your
way home. God's got his angels compassed. around about you. And I'm telling
you, it's real. The angel of the Lord encampeth
round about them that fear him, and he delivereth them. Psalm
34 7. I know in the day that we live,
men and women are infatuated with angels when they really
have no or little understanding at best of them. And worshiping
angels seems far out of the question when we see that there are but
ministering spirits to the elect of God. Unto which of the angels
said God, at any time thou art my son, this day have I begotten
thee? Not to any of them. And the blessing
of salvation and going home is becoming a son of God, a daughter
of God. Thou art mine. is what our Lord
says. How wonderful to hear those words
from the mouth and the heart of God. Thou art mine. But thus saith the Lord that
created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear
not. For I have redeemed thee. I have
called thee by thy name. Thou art mine. When thou passest Would thou
pass it through the waters? Because you're mine. When you
pass through the waters, I'll be with you. When you go through
the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. Why? Because you're mine,
and I'm with you. And when thou walkest through
the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the
Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I gave Egypt for thy ransom,
Ethiopia and Seba for these, since thou was precious in my
sight. Thou has been honorable to me,
only in Christ, honorable. And I've loved thee, therefore
I'll give men for thee and people for thy life. Fear not. Why shouldn't we fear? Because
God says, I'm with you. You're mine. Oh, may I remember
that in my time of trouble. Oh, listen to me, child of God,
as you sojourn home. Know most assuredly that everything's
going to be all right. All right with you and all right
with God. How do I know? For Christ is
all our righteousness. Right? All of it. When God looks
at me, the sinner that I am, you know what He sees? He sees
Christ. He sees perfection. He sees total
righteousness. Complete obedience. That's the
only reason that everything's going to be alright between us
and God. Because of who Christ is and
what He's done for us. I believe that's the gospel,
don't you? May God make it effectual to our heart.