Let's be turning to Genesis chapter
31. I want to come back to this chapter because
it's full of the redemption blessings of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. And I want us to see further
what our Lord has done for us. It's an encouragement to us as
we go through this wilderness to know and to see how our Savior
is providing for us and how he's leading us as our good shepherd. And he's our spiritual Jacob. And he's made full provision
for us. in providing everything that
we need, fulfilling every jot and every tittle of the law,
and he's redeemed us, meaning he's purchased us justly, so
that the law has nothing to say to us, and none of our enemies
can say anything against us or against what Christ has done
for us. So this is a great encouragement
to see our Lord. Paul said it this way when writing
to the Corinthians, he said, we have received not the spirit
of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might
know the things that are freely given to us in Christ, freely
given to us. And so when our Lord went to
the cross for his people, He secured all blessings for us. He made full provision for us. All spiritual blessings are given
to us of our God in heavenly places in Christ. So the last
time that we were here, a couple of weeks ago, we were noticing,
taking note of the camels. that Jacob had purchased, those
camels that he secured there for his people. And he set his
sons and he set his wives upon these camels. And we were reminded
how these camels were a picture of the redemption blessings which
our Lord has obtained for us to carry us through this wilderness,
to bring us to our promised inheritance in Him. And then we saw another
picture when Laban caught up to Jacob. He was looking for
sin. He was looking for some infraction. either with Jacob or with the
family of Jacob, so that he could take back that which he felt
was taken from him. And he was looking for his images,
his teraphim, the things that he would, his false gods that
he would inquire of. And Rachel was the one who had
taken them. And a curse was pronounced, saying,
Jacob said, with whomsoever. You find your things. Let them die right here in front
of us all. But were those images found?
No. They were hidden in the camel's
furniture, that picture of the redemption of Christ. They were
hidden in the camel's furniture. And Rachel was sitting on top
of them saying, I cannot rise before you. I cannot get up.
because it's the time of the month for women. It was an issue
of blood, and that sin was hid under the blood. so that the
sin of Rachel could not be found. And it's a picture of what Christ
has done for us. All our sin is hid under the
blood. He's made full provision for
us and our sin cannot be uncovered, cannot be found. The curse is
put away and we're going on to the promised land. So, praise
the Lord. And so let's see some more of
these blessings here and what our Lord has done for us. So picking up in verse 18 now,
31, 18, I want to read this. I skipped over this last time.
The focus here is on the cattle. It's on the cattle. And Jacob
carried away all his cattle and all his goods, which he had gotten,
the cattle of his getting, which he had gotten in Paddan Aram
for to go to Isaac, his father, in the land of Canaan. And so
here's a picture of what Christ has done for us. We are the cattle
of the Lord. We're his cattle. We are the
Lord's sheep. We read in Psalm 100, verse 3,
know ye that the Lord, he is God. It is He that hath made
us and not we ourselves. We didn't make ourselves the
people of God. Our God has made us His people. We are His people
and the sheep of His pasture. So we're the cattle of Christ's
getting. He's gotten us in this land,
this Padan Aram, is where Christ secured his people. He served,
as Jacob served for his bride, so Christ served for his people. And here we're called his cattle. And so there's a picture here
in this of our Lord's triumphant salvation of his people, wherein
he delivered us from all our enemies. He delivered us from
all our trouble. He delivered us from the strong
man that was too mighty for us. He navigated the law that Laban
laid out and kept changing things and doing things, making it impossible.
Jacob navigated that perfectly. perfectly, and it's a picture
of Christ coming and fulfilling the law, which was impossible
for us to do. But he navigated it perfectly,
fulfilling everything. He didn't avoid anything. He
fulfilled every jot and every tittle of the law. And so we're the sheep that were
born and raised in this land of Paddan Aram. And we were under
the rules of Laban. And everything that he said and
changed on Jacob, Jacob navigated it perfectly. and secured all
his cattle in the process perfectly. And so he served under Laban's
rules and obtained an inheritance. God gave him an inheritance for
his service. And so like Jacob, our Lord redeemed
us from the bondage that we were under. He redeemed us. He purchased us from that bondage
and we are free in Him. We go out with Him. We don't
remain in this bondage. We don't remain in darkness.
We don't remain in death. This isn't our inheritance. Adam's
inheritance is not our inheritance. That inheritance is in the flesh.
We have a spiritual inheritance in Christ. And so our Lord is
our Good Shepherd. And he's leading us through the
wilderness and bringing us to that heavenly Canaan which he
has prepared for us in himself. Luke 11 speaks of this saying
in verse 21 and 22, when a strong man, armed, keepeth his palace,
his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than he shall
come upon him and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armor
wherein he trusted and divided his spoils. And that's a picture,
again, of Jacob overcoming Laban. Laban was a mighty foe, very
tricky, and thought he was going to get one over on Jacob, and
he didn't. God blessed Jacob. God blessed
him. John 10 verse 3, To him, to our
great shepherd, the porter, the Holy Spirit, openeth, and the
sheep hear his voice. And he calleth his own sheep
by name, and leadeth them out. We're being led out by Christ. We're led out of darkness, led
out of death, let out of bondage by Christ. And so he's delivered
us and freed us because we cannot free ourselves. Everything we
need is provided for us in Christ. And he's redeemed us and sends
forth his gospel word right now to you. His word goes out. This is, it's good news. The
works are finished. from before the foundation of
the world, they're finished in Christ. As soon as our God gave
us into the hand of Christ the Son, it was finished. It was finished. And he just
came and worked it out perfectly to secure us once and for all
in himself. Now, the way that our Lord delivered
his people out of bondage was how? through blood redemption,
through his blood redemption on the cross when he was sacrificed. He sacrificed himself, actually,
unto the Father to atone for our sins, to deliver us, to satisfy
holy justice so that nothing could remain upon us to keep
us here, to keep us in death. He went to the cross and there
he paid the debt we owe. We rack up a debt here. In our
conception, we're sinners. In our birth, we're sinners.
We come forth speaking lies. We come forth sinners. We show
it and prove it every day we're alive here that we are sinners
born dead in trespasses and sins and have no righteousness to
boast in, have nothing to boast in of ourselves. But Christ came
and settled our debts with his own blood, having first fulfilled
the law perfectly. having fulfilled all righteousness
for us. And then he willingly laid down
his life for the life of his sheep. And so we now have remission
of sins. The law is now satisfied and
has nothing to say against us. We're dead to the law, dead to
the law. And so, Because Christ did this,
our God raised Him from the dead, and we're told that He raised
Him on the third day. Now this is important to our
text, but let me read a few scriptures. First from Luke 18, verse 33. We're told that before our Lord's
death, our Savior said to His disciples, they shall scourge
the Son of Man and put Him to death, and the third day, He
shall rise again. Here's another one in Luke 24,
verse 46. This is after our Lord rose from
the dead. He said, thus it is written,
and thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead
the third day. And then we're given pictures
of that third day in Scripture. There's things, this is typified
in the Gospels. We're told that the third day
there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee. That's John 2, verse
1. On the third day, there's pictures of this third day. And
then, This resurrection was understood by the disciples, and they declared
this when they preached the gospel to sinners. They declared what
Christ had done, saying, We are witnesses of all things which
he did, whom they slew and hanged on a tree. Him God raised up
the third day and showed him openly. Acts 10 39 and 40. And
then the apostles recorded this in their epistles. When Paul
was writing to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 15, verse 3 and
4, he said, I delivered unto you, first of all, that which
I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to
the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again
the third day according to the scriptures. And so we're reminded
constantly how Christ rose from the dead on the third day. Now,
this is our rejoicing. Whatever needed to be done, Christ
did it, fulfilling all righteousness perfectly. And this third day
is spoken of in our text in Genesis 31, verse 22 and 23. And it was
told Laban on the third day that Jacob was
fled. And that word can also mean passed
through. Jacob was gone. He left. The work was done. Everything
that needed to be done, Jacob had did it, and he was leaving
now. He's going out from Paddan Aram,
and he's taking his sons and his wives with him on those camels.
He's leading his cattle out, the cattle of his getting, he's
taking them out of that land. And Laban was told on the third
day, he's gone. We can't find him. On the third
day, Christ our Savior rose from the dead. You can look in the
tomb and it's empty. It's empty because he's finished
the work and he's gone to be with the Father, leading his
people out right now out of Paddan Aram, out of our bondage. So
verse 23 says Laban took his brethren with him and pursued
after him seven days journey a perfect amount he went after
him pursuing looking for Jacob and they overtook him in the
Mount Gilead and so We see Christ in this now Christ. He didn't
flee He triumphed gloriously over death. He triumphed gloriously
over the grave. He triumphed gloriously in answering
everything that was laid against us. Christ answered it all gloriously. And he rose victoriously, triumphing
over all his enemies and all our enemies, brethren. And so
Laban caught up to Jacob, looking for any fault that he could find,
any fault. He inspected very closely. Anything
that he could find so that he could start taking back his daughters
and taking back his grandsons and taking back his sheep. He
wanted to take from Jacob. In the same way that our enemies
want to steal and take back what Christ has rightfully, justly,
perfectly obtained for us. So that no enemy can lay hold
upon us. But Laban tried. He tried. He
was looking for wrongdoing. And it pictures what Christ did
for His church. perfectly satisfying all righteousness,
justly serving his father for his sheep. He did everything
perfectly. Romans 6, 6 and 7 says, knowing
this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin
might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin, for
he that is dead is freed from sin. There's not going to be
found. You that believe Christ, there's
no sin to find. Our Lord said of the devil, he
said, he hath nothing in me. The devil has nothing in Christ
to destroy him. And you in Christ, he has nothing
on you because you're in Christ. And so he can search and accuse
and shout and huff and puff and get angry, but He cannot touch
you. He cannot do anything to you
except what God the Father allows Him to do, and that for your
good. for your understanding, for your
keeping, for your growth, for your edification, for your settling
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 7, 6, but now we are delivered
from the law, that being dead wherein we were held, that we
should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the
letter. In other words, the law is satisfied.
It's been fulfilled. And we're dead to that law. And
that law cannot, it may try to follow you, but it's got nothing
to say to you. It can't touch you. It can't
take from you. It can't rob from you anything. It finds no fault in you. You
fulfilled it perfectly in Christ. And so no enemy can say anything
or charge us with any fault because of what Christ has done for us.
Peter says it this way in 1 Peter 5, 9, speaking of the devil,
he said, resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same
afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in
the world. That's all he can do. He can
just chase after you and accuse you and threaten you, but he
can't touch you. Not a single child, not a single
sheep left Jacob. and went back with Laban. Nothing
was taken by him. Even Pharaoh, the enemy of Israel,
when he pursued Israel, he thought he was going to destroy them.
He said, I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide
the spoil. My lust shall be satisfied upon
them. I will draw my sword. My hand
shall destroy them. Did he destroy Israel? No. God destroyed him and all his
army. He destroyed him. Now in this
case, God had warned Laban not to harm Jacob in any way. Genesis
31, 24. And God came to Laban the Syrian
in a dream by night and said unto him, take heed that thou
speak not to Jacob either good or bad. And I believe the margin
says from good to bad. In other words, you be careful
when you speak to him. And don't let your temper flare
up, and don't you threaten him, and don't you do any harm to
him, because I'll require that at your hand. I'll deal with
you, Laban, if you touch him. And so the Lord is assuring us
that the enemy cannot touch you. You are safe in Christ. Believe
Him. Trust Him. Rest in Him. He is
all your salvation. 1 Peter 5.10 But the God of all
grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus,
after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish,
strengthen, settle you. And so Laban had a strict boundary
put upon him that he had to adhere to when he caught up to Jacob.
And we see he had nothing on him, nothing at all. Christ made
full provision for him. And that brings us to something
we saw last week, but I'm not going to drill into it as much,
is that Jacob was pitched, his tent was pitched upon the mount. It never says upon Mount Gilead
because Jacob wasn't pitched upon earthly physical things. He was pitched upon the mount
of Christ's righteousness. He rested in the redemption work
of Christ. What he saw just as we've been
seeing and we'll get there eventually when he's talking to Joseph later
on in life and he said the angel of the Lord that redeemed me. He speaks of what Christ had
done for him. He looked for that. He trusted.
The same redemption we trust, he trusted. And he saw and God
witnessed to him over and over again how he made full provision
for Jacob. And whenever Jacob was scared
or fearful or worried, God kept coming and making full provision.
and showing him, I'm your reward, I'm your salvation. And that's
what your God is doing for you in Christ. He is your reward. He is your inheritance. He is
your salvation. He's done everything and provided
everything for you, brethren. And so Abraham called that Mount
Jehovah Jireh, saying, in the Mount of the Lord it shall be
seen. And it means that your God sees.
what is needful, and he provides it all. He's made full provision
in Christ. Our God has found a ransom to
deliver us from the desire of our enemies, to save us from
our enemies. And just as God provided a ram
and delivered Isaac from being sacrificed, so our God has found
himself, provided himself a lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ, that we
may go free. Now this brings us to see that
Christ is our surety. He's everything for us. He came
and accomplished all that we needed. Jacob explains to Laban
how he served him in perfect righteousness, in perfect faithfulness. Everything that Laban required
Jacob navigated the whole thing justly, so that everything he
had was his, rightfully his, and Laban could say nothing against
it. Verse 38, look at Genesis 31, 38. This 20 years have I
been with thee. Thy ewes and thy she-goats have
not cast their young, and the rams of thy flock have I not
eaten. That which was torn of beasts
I brought not unto thee, I bear the loss of it. Of my hand didst
thou require it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. Thus I was in the day the drought
consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sheep departed
and my sleep departed from mine eyes. Thus have I been twenty
years in thy house. I serve thee fourteen years for
thy two daughters." What a picture of Christ serving for both Jew
and Gentile perfectly. and six years for thy cattle.
He was made like unto us the number of man and the weakness
of man to redeem his sheep, to save his people. And thou has
changed my wages 10 times. And so we see that this law for
us is a gauntlet that we would never make it through. We cannot
survive the law. We cannot fulfill the law. We
cannot save ourselves and do that which is just and right
before God. But our spiritual Jacob, the Lord Jesus Christ,
he did it. He did it perfectly. And he provided
everything. And it's a picture of short he
shipped. What he described there, he's
saying, I restored everything that needed to be restored. I
didn't take anything from you unjustly. I provided everything
at my own expense. And that's what Christ did. He
came and exposed himself to all the rigors and all the sin and
all the abuses of this life and did that for his people so that
he suffered drought, he suffered hunger, he suffered thirst, he
suffered pain and suffering and despising and rejection for his
people. He bore our sins, he bore our
sicknesses and our diseases and he provides for you. He gives
you healing. What keeps you and sustains you
that have diseases and sicknesses? Christ. Christ. So that even
in the midst of our sorrows and sufferings and difficulties,
we have Christ. And He's made Him to satisfy
us and to be at peace with our troubles and difficulties in
Christ. To trust Him. And He bears long
with us and He bears long with our cries, but He provides everything
we need and we keep seeing His provision for us. And it's a
testimony of His grace and of His power to keep us. ever looking to him, to the praise
and glory of his name. So he suffered these afflictions
and exposed himself to all our sorrows to make full satisfaction,
to make a full purchase for everything demanded and required of us that
he might have us and deliver us from death and give us life
and peace and joy and salvation in him. in him. So when Laban saw that Jacob
was justified in everything he did, verse 36, there Jacob was
angry and chode with Laban. And Jacob answered and said to
Laban, what is my trespass? What is my sin that thou hast
so hotly pursued after me? Whereas thou hast searched all
my stuff, what hast thou found of all thy household stuff? Set
it here before my brethren and thy brethren, that they may judge
between us both. Nothing, nothing remains. He
did it perfectly. And so he was justified, and
therefore a covenant was made. In verse 44 and 45, this is Laban,
says, Now therefore come thou, let us make a covenant, I and
thou, and let it be for a witness between me and thee. And Jacob
to the stone and set it up for a pillar. And so the point I
want to make here in closing is that the covenant of grace
is established for us by the Lord Jesus Christ. And all our
enemies are on that other side. And they cannot cross over to
do us any harm. They cannot take from Christ.
They cannot touch Christ's things. And you're his possession. You
are his cattle. And so there they are. There's
a covenant established. And you will never be taken and
brought back over to that in Christ. They cannot have you.
Though they try, though they threaten, though they huff and
puff and complain and charge you with sin, they got nothing
on you because you're in Christ, resting in Him, trusting Him,
believing Him. All those accusations fall on
deaf ears with God, because there's no sin. It's all hidden under
the blood. Wherefore, my brethren, Paul
said, ye also are become dead to the law. by the body of Christ,
that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised
from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. And
so all that was in Laban's possession, taken right out and justly given
to, secured by Jacob. Jacob, just as Christ justly
secured us to the praise, honor, and glory of his name. I pray the Lord bless that to
your hearts, brother.