Turn with me again tonight to
Genesis chapter 30. I suppose one of the most difficult
things in preaching is trying to convey to you what I've seen
in my study. Sometimes I sit there and the
Lord shows me some things and I just get excited, but a lot
of it's lost in translation and truly I understand that A preacher
is one who plants and waters, and it's God that has to give
the increase. I've become more increasingly
aware of that. If God doesn't bless the message
that I've prepared, then it won't be blessed. Looking back on your
life 20 years ago, did you ever think that things would be as
they are now? God's divine providence most
always brings a different result than what we might have imagined. For example, if you'd have told
me when I moved here at the end of 1989 that I would one day
be pastoring this church, I would have thought you were crazy.
But here we are on Wednesday night, June the 7th, 2017, and
some 27, years later, and as your pastor,
I'm endeavoring to preach to you the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. An old acquaintance of mine used
to say it like this. He used to say, who would have
thunk it? When Jacob left his father and mother in fear of
his life running from Esau, he was told by his parents to travel
to Haran unto Laban, Rebekah's brother, his mother's brother. to seek a wife, and I can assure
you that Jacob did not think that he would still be there
some 20 years later. And in our text tonight, Jacob
is finishing up that second set of seven years of service to
Laban for Rachel, and having already served seven years for
Leah by the deception of Laban, he'll continue on another six
years before he heads back home. And in verse 25 of Genesis chapter
30, we read, and it came to pass. And every time I read that phrase,
I cannot help but to think that all, as all things in God's providence
comes to pass. Every time we see that phrase
in scripture, we ought to be reminded that it's God who brings
all things to pass. And it came to pass when Rachel
had born Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, send me away, that
I may go into mine own place, into my country, and give me
my wives and my children, for whom I have served thee, and
let me go. For thou knowest my service,
which I have done thee." Now Jacob certainly had a right to
this liberty. His service was now up. He chose
to leave and to part Laban in a friendly matter. Notice carefully
Jacob's words in verse 26. He said, I have served thee,
and let me go, for thou knowest my service which I have done.
And I can't help but to see a picture here of our Lord Jesus Christ
and His fulfillment to the law of God. Christ had served the
law and kept it perfectly. Jacob served seven years for
Leah, and then seven years for Rachel, and then, as I said a
moment ago, served another six years after. And as you know,
the number seven is the number of spiritual perfection. It's
no accident that it was seven years. Scripture there is teaching
us something of Christ's perfect service to the law of God. And seven also stands for completeness,
and it means that something's finished. The law of God could
require nothing more from our Lord. He fulfilled the law. That's why he cried, it's finished,
up on the cross, before he gave up his spirit. He had fulfilled,
he had completed the law of God. Christ fulfilled the law by being
made a curse. Matthew 5, 17, our Lord said,
think not that I'm come to destroy the law or the prophets. I'm
not come to destroy, but to fulfill. And we're told by the Apostle
Paul in Galatians chapter three, verse 13, that Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us. And
I pray that we never take that for granted, never. come short
of seeing that he was made a curse for us. For it's written, Cursed
is everyone that hangeth on a tree. Now Laban knew that Jacob had
faithfully served him, and Laban had no further claim upon Jacob. Let me show you something again
that you more than likely already know, but that's okay, because
faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Hold your
place, put your marker here, and turn with me to Romans chapter
7. Romans chapter 7, look at verse
12 with me. Paul writes here, wherefore the
law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. Did you
know that the name Laban, I'll just throw this in, that the
name Laban means white and shining? Certainly Laban was far from
being white and shining, but here, I believe he pictures the
law of God, as I said a moment ago, which is holy, just, and
good. Now look what Paul says in verse
13, he says, was then that which is good, speaking of the law,
made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it
might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good. The law of God is holy, it's
good, it's just and right. He said, that it working death
in me by that which is good, that sin by the commandment might
become exceeding sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual. There's nothing wrong with the
law of God. But I'm carnal, sold under sin. The law is holy and
good, but I'm not, is what Paul's saying. The law is spiritual,
but I'm carnal, fleshly, sold under sin. That's our problem. The law couldn't save us because
it was weak through the flesh, he said in another chapter here. In other words, our flesh was
weak and would not enable us to keep the law. Nothing wrong
with the law, the problem is with us. And therefore the result,
verse 15, for that which I do I allow not. And for what I would,
that do I not. But what I hate, that do I. Now
I tell you, that describes me to a T. If then I do that which
I would not, I consent unto the law that it's good. Now then
is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Now
what does that mean? Well, Paul's saying I'm a new
creature. I've been born again. That new man within me doesn't
sin. It's that old man, that old nature
within. And that's what he's saying,
verse 18. For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth
no good thing. For to will is present with me,
but how to perform that which is good I find not. And for the
good that I would, I do not, but the evil which I would not,
that I do. Now if I do that, I would not,
it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. And
I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with
me. For I delight in the law of God
after the inward man, but I see another law on my members, warring
against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to
the law of sin, which is in my members. Oh, wretched man that
I am. who shall deliver me from the
body of this death. I thank God through Jesus Christ,
our Lord. So then with the mind, I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. Now,
the problem, as I said, is not with the law. The problem is
with you and me. You and I cannot keep the law. The law was given to show us
our sin and our inability as fallen sinners. Look up at verse
seven. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay,
I had not known sin, but by the law. That's why God gave us the
law. I had not known sin, but by the
law, for I had not known lust, except the law had said, thou
shalt not covet. So what did the law reveal to
Paul? This is very important. What
does the law reveal to us? What was Paul's revelation concerning
the law? He said, oh, wretched man that
I am. The law shuts us up to the mercy
and grace of God. We see that we can do nothing
in order to cause God in the least to be mindful of us. Oh,
wretched man that I am. The law revealed to Paul his
wretchedness. And that's what the law does
to us. What was the question that the revelation of the law
caused him to ask? He said, who shall deliver me
from this body of death? And the answer, I thank God through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Now, Jacob's fulfillment of his
commitment to Laban, I think beautifully pictures Christ's
fulfillment to the law of God. And back in Genesis, verse 27, and Laban said unto him, I pray
thee, if I have found favor in thine eyes, Terry, for I have
learned by experience that the Lord hath blessed me for thy
sake. Now, have you learned that by
experience? I thought about that today. This is something that
God teaches all His people. We have learned some things by
experience, haven't we? Those of you that have walked
a while with the Lord, those of you that have experienced
His mercy and grace, learned some things by experience. The
Lord's proved Himself to us time and time again. We've learned
that the Lord blesses us for one reason and one reason alone.
He blesses us for Christ's sake. That's what Laban here is acknowledging.
He said, I know that the Lord's blessed me because of you. And the child of God has learned
that God has blessed them because of Christ. He blesses us for
Christ's sake. We learn to take pleasure in
infirmities. And the world says, are you crazy?
We've learned to take pleasure in reproaches and in necessities
and in persecutions and in distresses. Why? For Christ's sake. For when
we are weak, then we're strong. And I'm sure thankful for that
because I am pretty weak, pretty pathetic. God's blessed us for
the glory and honor and sake of His Son, no other reason.
The only reason that God loves you, sinner, is because you're
in His beloved Son, Christ, whom He loves and is well-pleased
with. God has forgiven us for the sake
of Christ. And be ye kind one to another,
Paul said, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for
Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Ephesians 4.32. And in verse
38, Laban said, appoint me thy wages and I will give it. Now,
notice that Laban here doesn't propose anything to Jacob. He
didn't want to give more than he had to. This world and those
of it are not out to do you any favors. The world and the men
and women of it are self-serving at best. And in verse 29, and
he said unto him, Thus Jacob said unto Laban, thou knowest
how I have served thee and how thy cattle was with me. For it
was little which thou hadst before I came, and it's now increased
unto a multitude. And the Lord hath blessed thee
since my coming, and now when shall I provide for mine own
house also? Now Jacob had not only served
Laban diligently and faithfully, But he had served him without
any salary, with the exception of his wives. He had received
no wages for his service all this time, for 14 years. And
Jacob reminds Laban of how fervently he had served him. He said, thy
cattle was with me. They were always under his care.
Therefore, Jacob had no opportunity of putting anything away for
himself and his family. And how this pictures our Lord,
I'm telling you, how it pictures our Lord who made himself of
no reputation and took on the form of a servant. He had no
place to lay his head. Nothing to call his own, though
he owned everything. Back at his father's house, Jacob
is the heir of all the riches that belonged to Isaac. As he
serves for his bride, he has nothing. Boy, isn't that a picture
of our Lord. He's God the Son. He owns the cattle on a thousand
hills. He made everything and everything
belongs to him. Yet, for the sake of his bride,
he made himself of no reputation and took on the form of a servant.
Christ's servants aren't seeking notoriety. They're not seeking
fame or popularity. No. And any preacher that is
seeking that is not a servant of God. I'm telling you that's
so. The servant of God's existence like their master's is one of
a servant. Laban had nothing before Jacob
began to tend his sheep for he said with his own lips, for it
was little which thou hast before I came. Now listen to me. You and I have little we can
call our own but sin. Matter of fact, we have nothing
that we can call our own but sin before Christ came and gave
us his perfect righteousness. We had nothing within and nothing
without. We had nothing to buy with. I'm
so glad the scriptures say without money and without price. I don't
have anything to buy with, no ability to earn his favor, no
merit to deserve his love, no willingness to submit to his
lordship. And the Holy Spirit tells us
that the Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you
because you were more in number than any other people, for you
were the fewest of people. Yet in Christ, the elect of God
have increased into a multitude. And the Lord has blessed us greatly
in his coming to us. Now naturally speaking, Laban
had been greatly blessed for Jacob's sake. We see that here. But now Jacob must provide for
his own family. So in verse 31, and he being
Laban said, what shall I give thee? And Jacob said, thou shalt
not give me anything. How Laban here reminds us of
man by nature. You see, the first thing that
a man wants to do in this matter of salvation, the first thing
a man wants to know is what he can and must do to inherit eternal
life. And the believer says, Lord,
what shall I give Thee when I have nothing to give? Do you and I
have anything to give God that He would accept? Nothing. Nothing to give. What are we
going to offer God? Are you going to offer Him your
heart? People say that all the time. We'll offer Him your heart.
Heart is deceitful above all things. Desperately wicked. Desperately
wicked. Jeremiah 17, verse 9. Man looks
on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks upon the heart.
He won't accept that wicked thing within us. Well, are you going
to offer God a work of righteousness that you do? Well, the Scripture
says there's none righteous, no, not one. That includes all
of us, doesn't it? All our righteousnesses are as
what? Filthy rags. Are we going to
offer God a filthy rag work of righteousness? He said they fade
as a leaf. In the fall, you know how leaves,
they fall to the ground and within a short period of time they just
crumble and disintegrate. That's what our righteousnesses
are. Well, are you going to offer God your free will? In other
words, are you going to let God have His way and His will in
your life? How can you when you have no
will and no way in the matter of salvation? We can't offer
Him our free will. It's non-existent. You will not
come to Christ that you might have life. Well, that just nips
that in the bud. It's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Verse
31, and he said, what shall I give thee? And Jacob said, thou shalt
not give me anything. Oh, how Jacob here pictures our
Lord. Thou shalt not give me anything. If thou will do this
thing for me, I will again feed and keep thy flock. Now here's
his proposal. Pay close attention to this.
I believe this will be a blessing to you. He said, I'll pass through
all thy flock today, removing from thence all the speckled
and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep,
and the spotted and speckled among the goats, and of such
shall be my hire. So shall my righteousness answer
for me in time to come. when it shall come from I higher
before thy face. Everyone that is not speckled
and spotted among the goats and brown among the sheep, that shall
be counted stolen with me." Now, as I said, here's Jacob's proposal
to Laban, and here we have a beautiful picture of the gospel of Christ
saving his sheep. Jacob promises to remove all
the ring-striped, that means spotted, spotted, speckled, and
brown among the cattle, goats, and sheep, and set them aside."
Jacob's going to take all the cattle, goats, and sheep that
are blemished, and he's going to separate them from the white
ones, the purebreds, so that the spotted and speckled ones
cannot mate with the white ones, the purebred. And every offspring
of the flock that is ring-streaked, spotted and speckled that comes
forth from the pure white ones will be Jacob's. And all the
white purebred shall be Laban's." And I'm telling you, Laban right
now, he's thinking this is a pretty good arrangement. Common sense
tells him that the pure white male and the pure white female
are going to produce pure white offspring. And Jacob even tells
Laban here that if he later finds any goats without speckles, spots,
and brown among those that they've separated unto Jacob, that he
would know that Jacob had stolen them. But notice Jacob's promise
in verse 33. He said, So shall my righteousness
answer for me in time. In other words, you can trust
me to do what's right. And I'm telling you, child of
God, we can trust Christ to do what's right concerning us, his
people. That's what the gospel is. The
gospel is declaring the righteousness of Christ. Not ours, we don't
have any. We have no righteousness. We're
ring-straight, spotted, speckled, and brown. That's what we are.
And Laban says, that sounds alright to me. Verse 34, And Laban said,
Behold, I would it might be according to thy word. And he removed that
day the he goats that were ring-streaked and spotted, and all the she
goats that were speckled and spotted, and every one that had
some white in it, and all the brown among the sheep, and gave
them into the hands of his sons. That's Laban. And he set three
days journey betwixt himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the
rest of Laban's flocks. Now Jacob removes the spotted
and the speckled, as he had said, and he placed them in the care
of Laban's sons. This isn't talking about Jacob's
son. Jacob's oldest son at this time, Reuben, is only seven years
old. So this is Laban's sons. And being three days journey,
there's no way that the spotted and the speckled can find their
way back to breed with the pure. Now have you figured out yet
who these ring-streaked, spotted, speckled, and brown sheep picture? Well they represent the elect
of God, chosen, given to Christ, called and separated unto Him
for salvation and the forgiveness of sin. Not the white ones, the
spotted and the speckled ones. You see, those that are well,
those who are white, those who are righteous in their own eyes
have no need of a physician, but the sick and the spotted
do. Christ didn't come to call the righteous. Christ came to
call the ring-straight, spotted, speckled, and brown to repentance. And all these ring-streaked,
spotted, speckled, and brown sheep are given to Jacob. And Jacob, as the shepherd, the
good shepherd, pictures the Lord Jesus Christ, our good shepherd.
Now, I'd have you to consider that these cattle, goats, and
sheep all this time belonged to Laban. Jacob's gonna take
some of them from Laban to be his own. Which ones? All those that are ring-streaked,
spotted, speckled, and brown. I've read this so much the last
two weeks that I woke up this morning, 2 o'clock, and just
over in my mind, I was just ring-streaked, spotted, speckled, and brown.
Oh, I hope I can get it from here to here. Laban didn't want any spotted
or speckled sheep. He wanted the purebreds, the
white. Laban's flock is all white. Jacob
said, those aren't mine. Those aren't mine. All Jacob's
are ring-streaked, spotted, speckled, and brown, not white. Jacob said,
that's not who I came for, not the white ones. Christ came into
the world to save sinners, ring straight, spotted, speckled,
and brown. He didn't come to call purebreds
the righteous, but spotted and speckled sinners to repentance.
Now there's no mistaking which ones belong to Jacob. No mistaking
which ones belong to Christ. You want to tell me who they
are? They're the ring straight, spotted, and speckled in brown. Nothing pure in the ones for
whom Christ came. And you know, it's not as people
think. It's not as religion claims it to be. God doesn't round up
the white ones, the pure ones, the good ones. No, sir. It's
just the opposite. God's ways are not our ways,
are they? All are sinners, but all don't
know it, and all don't believe it. God's gonna have to convince
you of what you are. Has God shown you that you're
ring-streaked, spotted, speckled, and brown? Can you think of any
reason that this story was written in the word of God? It was written
in the law of Moses, the book of Genesis Christ said concerning
me. That's why this was recorded. I'm just convinced of it. This
is a picture of Christ and His sheep. That's what this story
is about. All the striped, spotted, and
speckled sheep were kept by Laban's sons, while Jacob fed and kept
the white sheep, which belonged to Laban. And here we see the
blessed truth that in one sense of the Word, Jesus Christ is
the Savior of all men, and that he feeds and takes care of all
men and women. The rain and the sun fall on
both the just and the unjust. His tender mercies are over all
his works, Psalm 145, 9. All men and women are in his
hands. But the white ones, the self-righteous, don't belong
to him. It's the spotted ones that do.
And I'm telling you what, he's going to take them home with
him to Canaan, the land of promise. We're going to see that that's
exactly what he does. They're going to go home. He's
going to take them home with him in the end. Having loved
his own which were in the world, he loved them until the end.
Don't you find comfort in that? And out of these white ones,
God's going to produce some speckled ones. Oh, my. That's exactly what happened. Who can bring a clean thing out
of an unclean? God. He's the only one that can. He's the only one that can. And
God does. And then on the other hand, who
can bring an unclean thing out of a clean? In other words, who
can take one who thinks that they're clean and make them believe
and to know that they're unclean? Isn't that what God did to you?
Child of God? Absolutely, that's what He did.
And out of the white ones are going to come some brown ones.
And out of these pure ones are going to come some impure ones.
Isn't that what He did to you? He brought you low to lift you
up. His ways are not our ways. He killed you so that He could
make you alive. He got you lost before He could
save you. And those who were once white in their own eyes
are made ring straight, spotted, speckled, and brown. How? It's called a new birth. It's
called a new creation. And this is Jacob's work, or
should I say God's work through Jacob. Now look at verse 37. And Jacob took him rods of green
poplar, and of the hazel and chestnut tree, and he peeled
white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in
the rods." In other words, he peeled the bark off these trees,
where you could see the actual wood itself and not the bark.
He peeled the white strakes in them and made the white appear
which was in the rods. And he set the rods which he
had peeled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering-trops
when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when
they came to drink. And the flocks conceived before
the rods and brought forth ring-strake, speckled, and spotted." And that's who Jacob separated.
From the white, male and female, came these ring-streaked, speckled,
and spotted. Look at verse 40. And Jacob did
separate the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the
ring-streaked, and all the brown in the flock of Laban. And he
put his own flocks by themselves, and put them not into Laban's
cattle. Isn't that what Christ does?
You better believe it is. Over here are Laban's and over
here are Jacob's. These I'm going to leave, Jacob
said. These I'm going to take home
with me. Jacob's going to take his sheep back to Canaan with
him. You can count on it. You can count on it. How did
these speckled ones come out of the white ones? The power
of God. It seems to have something to
do with these three trees. It had something to do with the
water that they drank. The first tree was a poplar tree.
A fairly common tree in our area is the tulip poplar. There's
a big bloom that comes on these trees. Very few other trees have
such a bloom. And as you know, to bloom means
newness of life. And then there's the hazelnut
tree and the hazelnut tree brought forth the fruit of hazelnuts. And then the chestnut tree, I
read that they were used to build old barns and old farmhouses
because it just lasts and lasts. I mean, it's just enduring wood. These trees, three trees, represent
Christ, budding and blooming in the newness of life. Fruit-producing
tree. Endurance and longevity. These
three trees represent Christ. And notice what Jacob did to
these trees. He stripped and he removed the
bark and he exposed the bare wood of the tree. And I'm telling
you, friends, on Calvary's tree, by Christ's stripes, we were
healed. The only way we're made His sheep
is by seeing Christ and Him crucified. Isn't that right? When Jacob
put these three rods, trees, together, all these cattle came
and they looked upon them. They were just drawn to them.
Oh, you see the picture there? And when they did, they conceived
and brought forth ring-streaked, spotted, speckled, and brown
sheep. As you look upon Christ, on Calvary's
mountain. And you see who He is. He's Jesus
Christ. He's God in the flesh. And there
He's being crucified for His people. I'm telling you, it'll
make you ring straight, spotted, speckled, and brown. The only
way we can be born into the Kingdom of God is by seeing Christ high
and lifted up. Christ and Him crucified. And
the only way we'll ever see just how sinful we are, how spotted
and speckled we are, is to see Christ being made sin for us. Our Lord said in the Gospel of
Matthew, when the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and
all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne
of his glory. And before him shall be gathered
all nations, and he shall separate them one from another as a shepherd
divided his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on
his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the king
say unto them on his right, come, ye blessed of my father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. And it's then that the ring straight,
spotted, speckled, and brown will be made whiter than snow. Now that's the gospel, isn't
it? The gospel in the book of Genesis, if I ever saw it. Oh my. Thank you Lord for your
word.