The Lord has enabled me to sing
that song somewhat from my heart. The older I get, the longer I endeavor to walk with the Lord.
I see more clearly every day my need of Him. Desperate need. Still in desperate need. I need
Him every hour. Genesis chapter 30 and then we'll
Lord willing, get into a little bit of chapter 31. But in Genesis
chapter 30, we saw last time that Jacob took some fresh branches
from poplar, almond, and chestnut trees, and he peeled off strips
of bark from those limbs or small trees, making white streaks on
them. And then he placed those peeled
branches in the watering troughs. where the flocks came to drink,
and that's where they mated. And when they mated in front
of the white streaked branches, they gave birth to young that
were streaked, speckled, and spotted, and Jacob separated
those lambs from Laban's flock unto himself. Sounds like the
gospel to me. The Lord Jesus Christ, God in
the flesh. That's what He was. He was God
in the flesh. We miss that. We've really missed
it all because it took God in the flesh to redeem us from our
sin, pay our sin debt. The Lord Jesus Christ, God in
the flesh, voluntarily laid down His life. The old man took it
from Him. He said, I laid it down. Voluntarily. And he allowed himself to be
crucified on the cruel tree. And it was there that God was
stripped naked of all dignity. God was. Men talk about how much
they love God. You want to see what men by nature
do to God? Just look at the cross of Calvary.
They stripped him naked of all dignity. They put him to an open
shame publicly. Mocked, ridiculed, beat him.
And it was there on the cross that God bled, suffered, and
died. All the true sheep of God looked
by faith upon the Son of God as He hangs there on Mount Calvary. And by God's grace, they see
that He was there being made sin for them. It's something
that God has to reveal to us by faith. It's there they see the God-man.
The Lord of glory, all God and all man, satisfying his own justice. You see, only God could do for
us what God requires. The Lord Jesus satisfied his
own justice in the room instead of chosen men and women. God
alone could not die. in order to pay sin's wages,
because God cannot die, and man alone could not satisfy the holy
justice of God, so only God, who is both God and man, could
do so. That's why he became a man. It
took the God-man He took the God-man, both God and man, to
redeem the elect of God. And that's what we see in these
trees of Jacob. Like Jacob's trees, the bark,
the covering of flesh which he became. In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and
the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. It's the only way you
and I could be saved, that God become flesh. And His deity to the human eye
was clothed and covered with flesh. So as a man, Christ paid
the full debt of His people's sin while also providing for
them a holy and a perfect righteousness. And it's called substitution.
And it has been and it will always be the gospel. Christ doing for
me what I cannot do for myself. Truly, Jesus Christ is the one
and the only mediator between God and man. He's the God-man. The mediator between God and
man. And these rods, trees of green
poplar, hazel, and chestnut, peeled to show the white streaks,
and they picture how God became a man to redeem His people from
their sin. Only God could do that. Only
God could do for chosen sinners what must be done for them. And
the sinner's redemption could only be accomplished by the Son
of God and the Son of Man, both unique only to Christ. Men and women are born of God
when they see that Jesus Christ, who is God, offered one sacrifice
for sins forever. Just one. You see, when the blood
of God is shed, that's all that's needed. And that's what men and
women yet to see. They think they have to somehow
add their will, their decision to their salvation. And that's
just basically saying that the blood of God couldn't accomplish
it by itself. Men and women are born of God
when they see that Jesus Christ has put away sin forever by the
sacrifice of Himself. And when looking to those peeled
rods, Jacob's sheep were born ring-streaked, spotted, speckled,
and brown. And when looking to Christ, their
substitute for sin, God's sheep are born ring-streaked, speckled,
spotted, and brown. Only God can conform chosen sinners
to the image of His Son. And they are forever made then
as white as snow. You see, we've got to see that
we're spotted and speckled with sin before we can ever be made
pure and white in God's eyes. And all who are chosen, called,
and justified in Christ will one day be glorified. That's
what Romans 8 verse 29 and 30 tells us. We'll be completely
washed, made spotless, made unblameable, unreprovable in God's sight. Men and women today may think
that they're white and pure in their own sight or in other men's
sight, but not in God's. You're not. Only in Christ can
you be that. And we see also that our Lord,
like Jacob in verse 40 of chapter 30, separates His own sheep and
He puts His own flock by themselves. Now let me say up front that
I don't know all the spiritual applications, nor do I understand
all the things that Jacob did with the mating of this livestock
in verses 40 through the end of the chapter. I know they must
represent something, but I don't know what. But I'll tell you
what I do know. I know that God caused Jacob
to prosper. It was by the hand of God. He's
the first cause of all things. And he not only had more in his
flock than Laban, but he also had stronger flocks than Laban,
and it was all God's doing. I can tell you that much for
certain. Jacob had more and stronger because God made it so. And from all the research that
I was able to do, everything I could get my hands on to read,
the shepherds of Canaan. And remember, Jacob was an experienced
shepherd in Canaan before he ever came to Laban. But they
had a custom, or maybe it was a superstition, I don't know,
it was one or the other, that they could do this process that
Jacob did, this work of their own, that would somehow determine
the color and the pattern of the livestock's offspring. And
I see such a vivid picture here of self-righteous, freewill works
religion. Religious folks are always endeavoring,
always endeavoring to do something themselves that will change their
own color and spots. The question, the real question
is this. Can the Ethiopian change the
color of his skin? What's the answer to that? No.
Can the leper? Leopard change or remove his
spots? Absolutely not. Then may ye do
good. It's just as impossible for you
to do good that are accustomed to do evil as it is for an Ethiopian
to change the color of his skin and a leopard change his spots. So the answer is no. None can
change their color. None can remove their spots.
None can do good that are accustomed to doing evil. And I'm telling
you again, The only reason that Jacob's sheep were born ring-streaked,
spotted, speckled, and brown, and stronger than Laban's was
because God made it so. Only reason. God's the first cause of all
things. We say that many times without really stopping and thinking
about what it means. You'll never understand the Bible
till you understand that. God's the first cause of everything,
all things. All things are predestinated,
predetermined according to the purpose of Him who worketh all
things. And in the scripture, just clear,
I mean it tells us over and over again, not just some things,
not most things, but all things, everything, all things. He works
after the counsel of His own will, Ephesians 1.11. The first
words recorded in this Holy Bible prove God being the first cause
of all things to be so. In the beginning, God created. There was nothing before God.
Everything came after Him. And even an old, slow Kentucky
boy like me can figure out then that God's the first cause of
all things. Because he was before all things,
and all things came after him. It's not hard, is it? Men just
refuse to believe it. Do we really realize, I wonder,
I'm serious, we're family here tonight. I ask you sincerely,
do we really realize what a revelation and a blessing from God it is
to know that God is in control of all things? Then you add on top of that,
that He's causing all things to work together for our good. Wouldn't you hate to think that
everything in this life, including Your eternal destiny was determined
by fate, luck, or happenstance. I could never have any peace
or comfort if that was so. I'm telling you, I couldn't. Could you? No way. God chooses
people on purpose. God calls his people on purpose. God saves his people on purpose. God will, in the end, on purpose,
give his people glorified, sinless bodies. You can write it down.
That's the promise of God. Why? Because we know that all
things work together. For good to them that love the
Lord, to them who are thee called according to His what? Purpose. If you've been chosen, called,
and justified, know for certain that it wasn't by accident. You
weren't just lucky. It wasn't fate working for you
or misfortune working against you. It wasn't a work of your
own that brought it about. It wasn't a cooperative effort
between you and God. I can tell you that much. Your
salvation was according to His purpose. That's what God says. If you have an issue with it,
take it up with Him. Will we ever learn? If we could
ever fully understand that we're redeemed according to God's purpose,
only in, by, and through the Lord Jesus Christ, His work,
and His righteousness as our immutable Savior, we wouldn't
act as faithless as we do. We wouldn't. But sadly in this body of flesh,
this body of death as Paul called it, we are too busy trying to
believe Too busy to just simply rest. Rest in the sovereign ability
of God to save and keep us. I love the words that you're
saved by grace through faith, but I'll tell you words that
I love just as much more, is just as much, and that's the
word that says kept by the power of God. Oh my, do men and women really
think that God tries to do something that he can't do? Well, that
just sounds, Somebody that don't know anything about God or the
Scripture knows better than that. Do men really think that God
can fail? Why, an infidel knows better
than that. What kind of God can fail? Do
men and women really think that God wants to do something, but
needs someone's permission or help to do it? Don't sound like much of a God
to me. To some of you, God has revealed
who He is, and not only what He's done for you, but how He's
done it for you. That's important, isn't it? It
was all according to His purpose. Let me make it simple. If you're
saved, it's because God saved you. That's pretty simple, isn't
it? If you're forgiven, it's because
God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. Anything you don't understand
about that? If you're one of God's sheep,
it's because He made you to be one and He brought you into His
fold. If you're blessed of God, it's
because He decided and He determined to bless you apart from anything
in you or done by you. Look at verse 42. And the man increased exceedingly,
and had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels,
and asses, and Jacob had a bunch of ring-streaked, spotted, and
speckled sheep. And every single one of them
went back home with him to Cain. And it was God that gave all
of them to him, every one. And everybody lived happily ever
after, right? Nope. No. Look at chapter 31, verse 1. And he, being Jacob, heard the
words of Laban's sons, saying, Jacob hath taken away all that
was our father's, and of that which was our father's hath he
gotten all the glory. And as I began to read chapter
31, I again thought to myself that God always seems to send
trouble to teach and accomplish His sovereign will and purpose
in the life of His people. Men and women of the world always
ask stupid things like, why does bad things happen to good people?
Well, first of all, there's none that doeth good. So that solves
a big problem right there. And secondly, God's people say,
it's good for me that I've been afflicted. Why is it good for
you, David, that you've been afflicted? That I might learn
thy statutes. That I might learn more about
you and more about me. God sends trouble. His people
are going to learn some things. You tell me it ain't so, you
know it by experience. We don't learn quickly. But we learned. Trouble causes the true child
of God to trust in Christ. Like the psalmist, the people
of God say, have mercy on me, oh Lord, for I'm in trouble. The scriptures say in the day
of their trouble, they sought the Lord. And that's one thing
that the child of God, the true child of God, will do when trouble
comes. They're going to seek the Lord
for help. When trouble comes, God's people will seek Him. To whom else would they go? Only Christ has the words to
eternal life. True believers have by experience
found that when God blesses you, trouble soon follows in one form
or another. Has that not been your experience?
Well, what was Jacob's new trouble? Verse one, and Jacob heard the
words of Laban's sons. We're so affected by what we
hear, aren't we? Even though all the things that
came out of the sons of Laban's mouth were nothing but lies, Jacob was still affected by what
they said. The first thing they said is they said Jacob had taken
away. In other words, Jacob has stolen. Jacob has schemed with deception. You know, we heard about what
he did to his brother Esau back in Canaan, so his reputation
goes before him. But that's not at all correct,
what they said. You see, Laban and Jacob had
entered into a business arrangement, and Laban had agreed to it, had
he not? God blessed Jacob according to
that agreement that Laban made, so nothing was done unjustly
to Laban. Yet Laban's son said that Jacob
took away all that was our father's. Well, I know that's not so. Jacob
hadn't taken all that was Laban's, he still had plenty. Not all the offspring were ring-streaked,
spotted, and speckled. And if you look here in verse
19 of chapter 31, we're told that Laban was shearing his sheep.
They weren't artificial sheep, were they? He wasn't practicing
on a little dummy sheep. He was sharing the sheep he had. So Jacob hadn't taken all. Laban hadn't lost everything.
You know, I was thinking about these boys. It was out of the
abundance of their hearts their mouth spoke. What came out of
their mouths was what was in their hearts. They said Jacob has gotten all
the glory. God had prospered the work of
Jacob. How well Laban pictures the works
religion of men, Jacob here again pictures Christ. Laban pictures
the works of religion and Jacob, the Lord Jesus Christ. Because
God, Christ gets all the glory in the birth of the ring strait
spotted speckled and brown sheep and man gets none. Modern-day
Laban religion. We'll call it that tonight. It
teaches selfishness and self-righteousness, causing men and women to desire
all the glory in the matter of salvation. Oh, I believe God's
sovereign. I believe God has mercy on whom
He'll have mercy, but I still have to accept Him. Well, that's
ridiculous. It has nothing to do with your
acceptance of Him and everything to do with His acceptance of
you. Accepted where? In the Beloved. That's the only
place you and I, the sinners that we are, are accepted. In
the Lord Jesus Christ. Laban show ill will to Jacob,
and religion shows ill will to our Lord Jesus Christ. You tell
men and women that God in Christ has mercy on whom He'll have
mercy, and compassion on whom He'll have compassion, and they'll
get mad, and they'll accuse you of trying to take away man's
participation of exercising his will and making decisions of
his own. Oh my. You will not come that
you might have eternal life. And you cannot come that you
will. So there's nothing for us to brag about. How greatly Laban and his son's
religion, as they picture, magnifies earthly, physical prosperity. Have you ever noticed that about
religion? He's taken away all the riches that was once our
fathers, they said. Earthly riches are glorious things
to the eyes of carnal men and women. They claim that Jacob
had received all the glory, all the credit, all the honor that
was their father's. And those who mine earthly things
find no glory in heavenly things, and those who mine heavenly things
have no true interest in worldly things. Have we figured that out yet?
No man, no woman, nobody can serve two masters. That's what
the Lord Jesus was talking about there. He said, they'll hate
the one and love the other, or they'll hold and cling to one
and despise the other. None can serve God and man. You
can't love two people the most. And it's worldly wealth that
leads to covetousness and envy and all evil. It's the love of
money that's the root of all evil. Religion, just as Laban's sons,
is ignorant. Now listen to the divine intervention
and sovereign providence of God. They blame others for what is
the sovereign will and purpose of God. Men by nature certainly
feel entitled when they have nothing as though they somehow
deserve it. And they feel slighted if what
they have is taken from them. What great vanity is man's by
nature? Truly nothing belongs to us,
does it? It's all on loan to us from God. Everything we have just on loan
to us, an outward prosperity, makes a man to be envied by his
neighbors, even when they are those of his own family and household. And this envy wasn't just found
among Laban's sons, truly like father, like son. Look at verse
two. And Jacob beheld the countenance
of Laban. And behold, it was not toward
him as before. Something changed here. God blessed
Jacob and made him a prosperous man. And Laban wasn't happy for
him. He hated him because of it. Now Laban didn't say much, but
his countenance, his facial expression, his attitude towards Jacob spoke
multitudes. And there's an old saying that
goes, if a picture paints a thousand words, well, so can an expression. And you know that so, my, just
the way a facial expression can say multitudes without somebody
saying a word. And isn't it amazing how such
a small thing, like Laban's angry countenance, in the end lost
him the greatest blessing that his family ever had. We need
to be mindful of small things, both good and bad. Often it's
the little things that rob us of great blessings. The believer's comfort. That's
what I want to talk to you about just for a few minutes longer.
The believer's comfort is found in knowing that our eternal destiny is in the hand of our Lord. Our spiritual and eternal well-being
is certain because it comes by the divine direction and divine
promises that God makes to his people. And he's not a man that
he should lie, and he's not a son of man that he should repent,
change his mind, change his way. And therefore you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. Verse three, and the Lord said
unto Jacob, and child of God, you can substitute
your name there. And the Lord said unto Jacob,
return unto the land of thy fathers and to thy kindred, and I will
be with thee. Now, I want you to see how that
command of return, that command of God to Jacob is much, much
more than just a command of God that Jacob return home. Okay, it's time to go home. I'm
telling you to go home. It's much, much more than that.
The command of return here could have just as rightly been translated
as repent. Matter of fact, the original
Hebrew word for return here also means to repent. to recover,
to retrieve, to restore. God commands Jacob to return. And what a showing of God's wondrous
grace to Jacob. How so, you might ask. Well,
I'm going to tell you. During the 20 years that Jacob
spent in the family of Laban, there's not a single word mentioned
or recorded in the scriptures of Jacob having any dealings
with God. You know, a lot of times the
Scriptures tell us a lot by what they don't say. Huh? During 20 years, there's no mention
of an altar that Jacob built. There's no mention of a prayer
that Jacob made. Jacob was so busy, now listen,
Jacob was so busy making a life for himself with brides and babies
that he fell out of communion with God. And I'm telling you,
it's easy, easy, easy to do. Easy. We can get so wrapped up in making
a life here where we're at that we forget about the internal
life that we have in Christ. We need to constantly return.
Return, return, repent, return. Again, the message of the gospel
is this, if I belong to God in Christ, He'll never let me have
my own way. Twenty years, Jacob seems to
be out of communion with God, but what a comfort To know that
by being one of God's sheep, Christ the Good Shepherd is never
going to leave our side. He's going to always be close
at hand to do you good. He's not going to let you be
lost. God will see to it that none
will harm His people. And let me tell you something
else, they won't even be able to harm themselves. And that's
a true blessing to know that because, my, we often seem to
be a great danger to ourselves, don't we? We're our own worst
enemies, what we are. And I want you to see also here
where Jacob was to return. God says, return into the land
of thy fathers. For 20 years, Jacob had lived
among heathen idol worshipers. That's what Laban is. He's an
idol worshiper. We'll see in our next study that
Rachel actually stole the idols, the gods, of Laban's. And it
was one of the main reasons why Laban pursued Jacob upon finding
out later that they'd left. He found his idols were gone.
Where are my idols? God says, return in the land
of thy fathers. Return to the God of Abraham
and Isaac, the land of promise that I've given you. Boy, get
back. Get back. Return. Repent. Go
home. That's what the prodigal son
heard, wasn't it? that he came to his senses. He
came to his senses because God caused him to come to his senses. Return into the land of thy fathers
and into thy kindred. And one thing that I've learned
is that God's people want to be with God's people. They do. I not only enjoy being with God's
people, but I see that it's a must to have fellowship with God.
John said, we know that we've passed from death to life by
our love for the brethren, and he that loveth not his brother
abideth in death. There's something wrong when
we don't want to be around the people of God. That's just so. God's sheep want to be with other
sheep. How can members of the same body
not be in unison together to function properly? They can't. God's sheep want to be with other
sheep, and they want to be with their shepherd. But you know
what the most amazing thing is? Is that their shepherd would
want to be with them. So why would Jacob's return home
be successful? For one reason, one reason only.
Right there in the same verse. I will be with thee. And you know, we read that phrase
in Scripture so often, I will be with thee, I will be with
thee, that sometimes I think it just rolls off our back like
water off a duck's. God will be with thee. There's only one cause for any
successes in our life. His name is Immanuel, which is
being interpreted, God with us. All my assurance is in knowing
that God is with me. All our rest is found in knowing
that God is with us. All our hope, comfort, Peace
is found in Emmanuel, the Lord Jesus Christ, who hath Himself
broken down the middle wall of partition between us and our
holy God. And through every trial, temptation,
sorrow, or suffering, God will be with us. That's what God says. We don't lie. Thus saith the Lord that created
thee, O Jacob, and he that hath formed thee. O Israel, fear not,
for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name. Thou art mine." You want some
assurance? There it is. Who created you? God did. Who
formed you? God did. Who redeemed you? God did. Who called you? Your
name God did. When thou passest through the
waters, I will be with thee. And through the rivers, they
shall not overflow thee. 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, your Savior." That's where our assurance is. It's not in me straightening
up and flying right. When I stand before God in that
great day of judgment, I won't stand alone. Why? Because God will be with me.
I have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, who
shall stand and plead my innocence for me. I'm going to tell you something.
If you ever go into a court of law, don't go without an advocate. Don't try to represent yourself.
Don't do it. It's not until you see who it
is that saves you and who it is that keeps you that you'll
have some sense of just how great your salvation really is and
how great your sin really is. So great is our sin that it took
the great God of heaven and earth to put it away by the sacrifice
of Himself. Do you want to hear anything
other than that? I had a religious man tell me one time, I told
him what was the hope of my salvation. He said, well, you need to go
into the deeper things of God. What could be deeper than God? Becoming a man, putting away
my sin and giving me His perfect righteousness. Is there anything
deeper than that? It's unfathomable. The ways of God are past finding
out. And I tell you friends, I love
to hear how the just died for the unjust, don't you? The just died for the unjust that
He might bring us to God. How does He bring us to God?
Because He's with us. I love to declare, as Paul said
at this time, His righteousness, that He might be just and the
Justifier. Oh, He's the Just and the Justifier
of them which believeth in Jesus Christ. Romans 3.26. And I tell
you, I love to think about Christ and Him crucified. That's the
message that God is pleased to reveal His Son by and through
the foolishness of what God calls preaching. So, child of God, take this home
with you. Take this home with you. On your
way home tonight, think about God being with you. Would you do that? God's with
me. Everywhere I go. That's good news, isn't it? Yes
to me, yes to sinners. Alrighty, I appreciate your attention.