Many times over the years and
even recently, I've heard the comment made, so-and-so has such
a dysfunctional family. Not only have I heard it, I've
said it a time or two. Dysfunctional means to be impaired
in function. It's the condition of having
poor and unhealthy behavior. When one declares a family to
be dysfunctional, what they mean is compared to their own family,
Or another normal family, someone is judged to be dysfunctional. And it seems that our judgment
of others is often based on how we see ourselves. If I say someone's
smart, I mean compared to me, they're smart. And if someone's
foolish, they're so compared to me. So when we say someone's
dysfunctional, what we mean is they seem to be more impaired
and more incapable than we are. And there are many who claim
that their own families are dysfunctional. But God's people have been made
to know that families are dysfunctional because men and women in the
family are dysfunctional. Every man and woman born is impaired
and ruined by sin. For Jerusalem is ruined and Judah
is fallen because their tongue and their doings are against
the Lord to provoke the eyes of his glory. Isaiah 3a. Now
what made Adam's sin so atrocious and wicked was who it was against. Matter of fact, that's what makes
all sin horribly repulsive to God, because all sin is against
Him and Him only. That's what David said. David
said, against thee and thee only have I sinned. And what? Done
this evil. in thy sight." God considers
our sin against Him to be evil, and it most certainly is, because
it's against Him first and foremost. All sin is evil in God's sight.
Why? Because all sin is against God.
And therefore David finishes that statement in Psalm 51 by
saying that thou, the holy God, might be justified when you speak. When God speaks against me, He's
justified in doing so because all my sins against Him, the
Holy One. God's clear when He judges us
because we're certainly guilty. God speaks and declares us guilty. And God is clear of any wrongdoing
when He condemns us in our sin. So let's don't be too quick. to judge others when we see them
in their dysfunctional ways. Every time we judge others, we
prove ourselves to be guilty of the same things. All of us,
all of us, are dysfunctional when compared to a thrice holy
God. All of us are impaired by the
sin that so easily besets us. And I'm telling you that's why
God gave His holy law. To show His people how holy He
is. To show us how holy, how perfect,
how righteous and just we must be in order to be reconciled
to Him. God didn't give His people the
law for them to keep. God gave His elect the law to
show them their inability of keeping it. God gave us the law
to show us that we couldn't keep it. And by the law we see our
inability to do anything that would commend us to God. And
that takes a revelation of God. Those people are continuing on,
day in and day out, trying to do some work of righteousness
that God would accept. And it's futile. Futile. God gave us His holy law for
one reason, and that was to drive us to Christ. For mercy, for
grace, and forgiveness in Him. Before we turn to Genesis tonight,
turn with me to Galatians chapter 3. Let me show you that. Galatians
chapter 3, verse 24. Galatians 3 verse 24. Wherefore, Paul says, the law
was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ. That we might
be justified by faith. But after that faith has come,
we're no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of
God. How? By trying to keep the law? No.
by faith in Christ Jesus. Now trust me when I tell you
that you don't want any part of the holy law of God. Not as
a means or a way to be saved. You don't want any part of God's
holy justice. That's why we pray for mercy
and grace. We don't want what we deserve. Do you? I don't want what I deserve. You don't want to have any dealings
with the holy wrath, judgment, and justice of God's holy law. Why? Because it requires what
you can't provide. It requires perfection. And there's
no bartering with God when it comes to sin. You see, with God it must be
perfect to be accepted There shall be no blemish therein.
We're pretty blemished. Pretty blemished. Dysfunctional. You're here in Galatians 3, turn
over a page, or you may not have to, but look at Galatians chapter
4, verse 21. Paul says, Tell me, ye that desire
to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? Do you not hear
what the law is saying? The law is saying, can you provide
the perfection that God requires? For it is written, verse 22,
that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, Hagar, and
the other by a free woman, being Sarah. But he who was of the
bondwoman, that being Ishmael, was born after the flesh. He
was born when Sarah and Abraham decided they were going to help
God out. But of the free woman, Isaac
was by promise. Which these things are an allegory,
for these are the two covenants, the one from the Mount Sinai,
which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. And this Agar is Mount
Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem, which now is in
bondage with her children. But Jerusalem, which is above,
is free, which is the mother of us all. Now look at verse
28. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. The only way any man or woman,
any sinner, is going to be saved is that if God set His affection
on them before time ever was. Chose them in Christ. Gave them
to Christ. Children of promise. Verse 29, but as then He that
was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit,
even so it is now. And I'm telling you, it's so
even now. This religious world is going to mock you, going to
poke fun at you, going to ridicule you for believing in the sovereign
grace of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 30, Nevertheless, what
saith the Scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her
son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son
of the free woman. And didn't we see that so plainly
Our study of Genesis in that chapter. Verse 31, So then, brethren,
we're not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. You're not going
to be saved by endeavoring to keep the law. Even though the
law of God is holy and the law of God is good, it cannot be
kept. For whosoever shall keep the
whole law and yet offend in one point is guilty of all. James 2.10. And when Paul said
that the law is spiritual, what he means is that we must have
a spiritual understanding of the law. And that's what the
book of Genesis is teaching us. It's the book of beginnings.
And we see from the beginning a man's fall into sin that God
shuts his people, his elect, up to the mercy and the grace
of God found in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Abraham believed God, and it
was counted unto him for righteousness. Abraham believed God, and it
was imputed unto him for righteousness, and he's called the friend of
God. What did Abraham do to merit God's love, mercy, and affection? Nothing. What did Abraham believe? He believed that a seed from
God was coming. He believed that a seed would
come who would crush the head of sin. He believed that through
him and his seed, Isaac, that this seed that was coming would
redeem his people from their sin and the curse of the law.
And that's what we read here in Galatians 4, verses 4. When
the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made
of a woman, made under the law. Why? To redeem them that were
under the law. that we might receive the adoption
of sons. And how many times have we, in
our studies of Genesis, seen time and time again, it seems,
that we've seen the true depravity and wicked nature of men and
women, even among those whom God claimed to be His own. When
we were studying the chapters concerning Lot, You read the
things of Lot, and then you go over into the New Testament,
and you think, my, if there was ever a man that didn't know and
trust God, it was Lot. And then you get over into the
New Testament, and Lot is called just and righteous. The just
man, righteous. Sure wasn't by what Lot did,
was it? No, sir. And God called Abraham out of
idolatry, and that is when his journey of faith began. He obeyed
God and he left the land of his father, but he had many things
to learn, didn't he? God revealed himself to Abraham
little by little over time. That's the way God deals with
his people. Abraham's faith was going to
be tested. The trying of our faith does what? It works patience. It teaches us that God is in
control and that only He can deliver us from these trials
and temptations in life. Abraham had his patience tried. And God was going to bring him
to the end of himself. And that's what God's going to
do to all His people. He's going to bring them to the
end of themselves where they can see that they can do absolutely
nothing to merit their salvation. After Abraham had tried to do
everything that he could to himself have a son, Abraham would be
made to know that his body was now dead. And brothers and sisters,
you're going to have to be made to know the same thing. You're
dead in your trespasses and sin. To do anything that would produce
the promise of God. Abraham had learned some things
and so do we. And I believe by the grace of
God I'm learning some things. I haven't arrived, I haven't
attained, but by His grace I'm learning some things. I'm learning
that it's good for me that I've been afflicted that I might learn
His statutes. God sends affliction and trouble
to show us who's on the throne. And that He's the only one that
can do anything and everything to deliver us from our predicaments. God shows us just how dysfunctional
we are. Even saved sinners. And I'm glad
that he does, because in that I find great hope. Abraham was
chosen and called of God, yet he lied about Sarah the Pharaoh,
got himself in a bunch of trouble. Abraham was the friend of God,
but he slept with Sarah's handmaid, and he's going to try to help
God out. Abraham was the father of the
faith, yet he lied about Sarah to Abimelech and said the same
thing. She's my sister. And just as he did to Pharaoh,
he didn't trust God to keep him safe. And he's the friend of
God. Dysfunctional. Isaac was no different,
because the best of men are but men at best. Isaac also told the Philistine
king by the same name that Rebecca was his sister. Sin certainly
makes sons like their fathers. And when it comes to the depravity
of man, that's a subject that most of those in religion don't
much want to talk about. But I'm telling you, in the depravity
of man and concerning the depravity of man, the apple never falls
far from the tree. For even among the called out
people of God there's great dysfunction." Dysfunctional, what does that
mean? It means to be impaired. That's what we all are by nature. We're impaired. There's none
righteous, no not one. Romans 3.10, we've all sinned
and come short of the glory of God. Dysfunctional, impaired,
affected by sin. drastically affected by it. Concerning Isaac's twin sons,
God said, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Now I
have to ask you, was there anything commendable in Jacob that would
cause God to love him? No. Why, he was a supplant or
a deceiver. He cheated his brother out of
his birthright and he lied to his father in the process of
receiving the blessing. And so it is with all the elect. It's God who makes the difference,
isn't it? If anything, Jacob was probably
worse than Esau. What great proof this gives that
salvation will not nor cannot be earned, merited, or deserved
by something that a sinner does. For the children being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand not of works. Did you hear that? Not of works,
but of him that calleth. It was said unto her, the elder
shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid, for he saith to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I'll have mercy, and I'll have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So what's the conclusion of the
matter, Larry? So it's not of him that willeth,
not of him that runneth, but of God. that show with mercy. From Abraham down to Isaac, and
from Isaac now down to his two sons, Esau and Jacob, sin has
impaired and made men and women dysfunctional. And what we find in this chapter
before us sounds like an episode of Jerry Springer or Mari Povich. I don't know if you've read through
it. Hollywood couldn't make up a more pathetic story than we
find in Genesis chapter 30. First look again with me to Galatians
29 verse 31. And when the Lord saw that Leah
was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. And Leah
conceived, and bare a son, and she called his name Reuben. For
she said, Surely the Lord hath looked upon my affliction, now
therefore my husband will love me. And she conceived again,
and bare a son, and said, Because the Lord hath heard that I was
hated, he hath therefore given me this son also, and she called
his name Simeon. And verse 34, and she conceived
again and bear a son and said, now this time will my husband
be joined unto me because I have borne him three sons. Therefore
was his name called Levi. And she conceived again and bear
a son. And she said, now will I praise
the Lord. Therefore she called his name
Judah and left Beirut. So we see that the Lord's blessed
Leah with four sons, but Rachel has none. And in Genesis 30,
chapter 30, verse one, we read, and when Rachel saw that she
bared Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister and said unto
Jacob, give me children or else I die. As we know from our past
study, Rachel had the looks. She was a beautiful, beautiful
young lady. Rachel had the love of Jacob.
My, he fell in love with her at first sight. But Rachel had
no children. And she envied her sister because
she did. Men and women seem to always
be most envious over what they don't have. Wrath is cruel and anger is outrageous,
but who's able to stand before envy? Jealousy, Proverbs 27,
4. Verse 2, and Jacob's anger was
kindled against Rachel. And he said, am I in God's stead?
Who withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? Truly it's God who's
the first cause of all things. We know that. This angered Jacob
greatly. Jacob asked, am I God? Can I
withhold from you the fruit of the womb? The giving of children
is the Lord's duty. And I've often heard it said,
and now I know from experience that our children are just on
loan to us. They belong to God who does with
them as He so pleases. And only He can provide. Only
God can provide physical life. And only He can provide spiritual
life. Will we ever learn to trust in God, or are we going to continue
to insist on doing things our way? Look at what Rachel does,
verse 3. And she said, behold, my maid
Bilhah, go in unto her, and she shall bear upon my knees, that
I may also have children by her. And she gave him, being Jacob,
Bilhah, her maid, to wife, and Jacob went into her. So we see
here in verse 5 that Bill Hall conceived and bared Jacob a son.
And Rachel said in verse 6, God hath judged me and hath also
heard my voice and hath given me a son. Therefore called she
his name Dan. And Bill Hall, Rachel's maid,
conceived again and bared Jacob a son, a second son. And Rachel
said, with great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister. And I've prevailed. And she called
his name Naphtali." Now, do you see what's going on here? This
is a full-fledged competition. This is a baby boom in one family. This is a birthing war. Rachel
is so jealous and envious of Leah that she has her husband
lay with her handmaid in order to have a child. Does that sound
familiar? Well, yeah, that's exactly what
Sarah did. Then notice what happens next.
Leah becomes jealous and envious. Verse nine, when Leah saw that
she had left bearing, or was no longer becoming pregnant,
she took Zilpah, her maid, and gave her Jacob to wife. And Zilpah, Leah's maid, bared
Jacob a son. And Leah said, a truth cometh.
Well, that's the truth. And she called his name Gad. And Zilpah, Leah's maid, bared
Jacob a second son. And Leah said, happy am I, for
the daughters will call me blessed. And she called his name Asher.
And the children just keep on coming. Now, originally Jacob
wanted one wife. He saw Rachel and he fell in
love with her. And then by the deception of
Laban, he winds up with Leah first and then Rachel. It cost
him 14 years of labor. And because of the envy and the
jealousy and the strife in this dysfunctional family, that's
what it is, he winds up with four wives. Even the people of God are dysfunctional
apart from the love, mercy, and grace of God in Christ. But it
doesn't stop there. Look at verse 14. And Reuben
went in the days of wheat harvest and found mandrakes in the field
and brought them into his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah,
give me, I pray thee, of thy son's mandrakes. Now, do you
know what mandrakes are? It's an aphrodisiac. It was a
love potion. It was a fertility drug. Some sort of food or drink or
plant, I don't know, maybe a combination of all those things. And Leah
said unto Rachel, look at this. We'll read right over this if
we're not careful. And Leah said unto Rachel, is
it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband? And wouldst
thou take away my son's mandrakes also? And Rachel said, therefore,
he shall lie with thee tonight for thy son's mandrakes. Now,
look what's going on here. Rachel is selling Leah a night
with Jacob. And Leah is paying Rachel so
she can sleep with Jacob. Sounds a lot like prostitution.
We have a lot of spiritual prostitution going on in religion today. Did
you know that? I know you know it. Men and women
compromising and paying a great price by forfeiting Christ for
man-made religious love potions. That's pretty much what it is.
Men and women alike say things like, oh, praise the Lord and
thank you, Jesus. And they have no understanding
at all of who the Lord Jesus is. Their religious love potions
have caused them to fall in love with another Lord, and that's
with a little l and another Jesus. Just love potions, religious
love potions. Verse 16, and Jacob came out
of the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him,
and she said, thou must come in unto me, for surely I have
hard thee with my son's mandrakes, and he lay with her that night.
And God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived and bared Jacob
the fifth son. And Leah said, God hath given
me my hire, because I have given my maiden to my husband, and
she called his name Issachar. And Leah conceived again and
bared Jacob, the sixth son. And Leah said, God hath endued
me with a good dowry. Now will my husband dwell with
me, because I have borne him six sons, and she called his
name Zebulun. And afterwards, she bared a daughter
and called her name Dinah. And God remembered Rachel. And God hearkened to her and
opened his womb. And she conceived and bared a
son and said, God has taken away my reproach. And she called his
name Joseph and said, the Lord shall add to me another son. Now, in spite of all this dysfunctionality
that's going on in this family, God continues to bless. From
what I can tell from scripture, this jealousy, this envy and
this strife went on until Rachel finally lost her life in the
birth of Benjamin, found in Genesis chapter 35. And anyone who reads
this 30th chapter of Genesis is going to say, what a mess. I wouldn't embarrass her, but
Lou Anne, a few weeks ago, she said, I read on into Genesis
30, and that was her exact words, what a mess. And it's a mess,
isn't it? What a mess. Anyone who looks
within themselves and is honest is also going to say, what a
mess. Have you looked inside and seen
the mess? Boy, what a mess sin has made us. Now what does God
do with us and all our dysfunctionality? Well, let me quickly tell you.
You know, He causes all things, all things to work together for
the good of His people and for the glory of His own great name,
Romans 8, 28. You see, from the twelve sons
of Jacob came the twelve tribes of Israel. Lord willing, next
study we'll look at these 12 sons closer and you'll be amazed
and you'll find it profound what their names mean and represent.
However, tonight I just want you to notice this. Leah, remember
Leah? We referred to her a couple weeks
ago as the ugly sister. She was despised, she was unattractive,
she was an undesirable bride. And she saw well pictures of
God's people before Christ cleansed us and made us without spot or
blemish. Isn't that a beautiful picture
of us? We, like Leah, were unattractive. There was nothing about us that
would commend us to God. We were undesirable. We were
naked. We were bare. We were polluted
in our own blood, dead in sin. Until He said, live, live. I say unto thee, live. And it
was Leah who, in the end, received the greater honor, as we'll see
in future studies. But here's the point. It wasn't
because of anything that Leah did. She was neck deep in all
this dysfunction. She was just as guilty as Rachel. And I tell you, friends, by the
electing, predestinating mercy and grace of God, Leah gave birth
to Levi, whose tribe later became the priest of God. Levi means
joined, and how beautiful his tribe pictures our union with
Christ, our great high priest, who stands as the one mediator
between God and man, and he offered his own blood for the payment
of sin. And the next son that was born
to Leah was Judah, and Judah means the praise of the Lord. Jesus Christ is the praise of
the Lord. From what tribe did our Lord descend? Well, He's
the Lion of the tribe of Judah. And He's the only one who can
open the book and loose the seven seals in the book of Revelation. In the middle of all this dysfunction
found in Genesis 30, there's nobody more responsible than
Jacob himself. As head of the household, he
didn't have to go along with any of this. He could have put
a stop to it at any time. But he didn't. I'm convinced
that he liked it. Oh, the pleasure of sin for a
season. He couldn't blame any of this
on his wives. Why, he was the head of the house. Men, those of you, those of us,
who are married, we need to be careful what we blame on our
wives. We're responsible for our own actions before God. And
that attitude of Adam's, which was, the woman thou gavest me,
she did give me to eat, I'm telling you, it didn't relieve him of
his responsibility before God, did it? No. And it won't relieve
us of ours. God was behind all these things,
but Jacob was responsible for his own actions before God. Friends,
God is sovereign, but man is responsible. You and I are going
to stand before the holy justice of God one day very soon. It's
coming quickly. And we're going to give an account
of the things that we've done in these bodies of ours. Is there
any hope of redemption for Jacob? Why, he's acting like a dysfunctional,
wretched sinner. He's a supplanter. He's a deceiver
who cannot look upon the holiness of God and live. Is there any
hope for him? Yes, there is. Is there any hope
for me? Yes, there is. God had said,
Jacob have I loved. And he who cannot change still
loved Jacob as much as he did when he chose him and gave him
to Christ before the foundation of the world. And what glorious,
glorious news that is. I'm the Lord, I change not. Therefore
ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. In all my dysfunction, and all
my impairment. If God ever loved me, He loves
me still. I can't do anything to merit
His love, mercy, and grace in Christ, but never can I do anything
that would cause me to lose His mercy and grace toward me. Why? Because these things are
mine in Christ. All these things were accomplished
by His faithfulness to God, not mine. If I can do something to merit
my salvation, then I can certainly do something that would lose
it. God's people are once saved and
always saved because Christ, who is God, cannot fail. And
He voluntarily laid down His life for them. And if they don't endure until
the end, then Christ never did love them. For having loved His
own which were in the world, He loved them until the end. Jacob's salvation, my salvation,
and your salvation are not dependent on anything that we do. They're
dependent only on what Christ has done for His people. And
once again, we're shut up to the mercy and grace of God in
Christ. Our salvation is dependent on the fact that the purpose
of God according to election is going to stand. And it is.
God cannot fail. The purpose of God according
to election will always stand. It's not of works, but of Him
who calleth. Salvation is of the Lord. That's
what Paul is saying there in Romans. God has mercy on whom
He wills. And those whom He calls, He justifies. And those whom He justifies,
He glorifies. That's a glorious place to be,
isn't it? Shut up in the arms of Christ. No man can pluck me from His
hand. Why? Because He's God. That's my only hope. That's it.
I have no other hope other than that. Well, I hope that that's
been an encouragement to you. It sure was to me.