Genesis chapter 31. Genesis chapter 31. Before we get into this, let's
ask the Lord to bless. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed
be Thy name. Father, we pray for Thy blessing
this morning upon us. We pray that you'd give us a
hearing ear and receptive hearts this morning. That we would give
our attention to your word, to your instructions. Teach us out
of this chapter, Father. Thank you for your many mercies,
Father. What we have, our Heavenly Father has given to us. And we
thank you for all that we have. But we especially thank you for
the Lord Jesus Christ and all that we have in Him. Thank you. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. I titled this lesson, Jacob Heads
Home. Jacob Heads Home. I'm just gonna
read a few verses. Now I'm gonna touch on about
all this chapter. And when you go home, today, sit down and
read this chapter after us going through this. Now in verse 1
it says, and he, that is 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 this glory. Boy, can you hear the envy and
jealousy dripping off of that? And Jacob beheld the countenance
of Laban. You see, his sons had gotten
to him and they had talked to him, talked to their dad about
what was going on and how Jacob had gotten all this glory and it affected that family. And
the Lord said unto Jacob, return unto the land of thy fathers
and to thy kindred and I will be with thee. Jacob, if you'll remember in
the last chapter, he wanted to leave about six years before
this. He wanted to leave and go home.
But it was not God's will for him to do so at that time, but
now it is. Now it's time. God's timing is
impeccable. It is absolutely impeccable. It's time now for Jacob to go
home. Jacob has increased. God has
increased him. God has blessed him. But I have
no doubt that Jacob had started to settle in and things are probably
starting to get a little bit comfortable for him. But that's
not home. That's not home. And so God uses... Now listen, God is a God of means. And it will do us good to learn
something here this morning out of this chapter. God uses the
envy and the jealousy of the sons of Jacob and changing the
heart of Laban's attitude toward Jacob in order to move Jacob
to go home. Jacob, he overheard the sons
talking, Laban's countenance had changed toward Jacob, and
Jacob is like, it's time to leave. God used that. God used that. If you'll remember back earlier,
Laban said that he had learned by experience that God had blessed
him because of Jacob. But now greed sets in. And here's
what's happening. God is now letting Laban be Laban. Laban was just an idolatrous
man. He was not a godly man. He was
an idolatrous man. We'll see this here in just a
little bit. But God let Laban be Laban. And this is human nature.
Here's human nature. Never enough Never happy for
others' prosperity. That's human nature. When he
saw and the sons of Jacob saw the prosperity of Jacob, they
became envious and jealous. But God used that. He used that
as a means to move Jacob to want to go back home. And his wives,
they were ready to go. God knows how to move us. He
knows, I tell you what, he knows how to wean us from this world. He knows how to wean us from
this world. Laban was held in check all this
time by God Almighty. And now he's letting Laban be
Laban. And he's gonna use, he's gonna use that to move Jacob
to go home. He uses this to unsettle Jacob. And then here in verse 3, the
Lord tells Jacob to return home to the promised land, and he
promises to be with Jacob. I'll be with you. Here's Jacob, now he's got all
this, he came by himself. He made this journey of, I think
it was over 400 miles on foot. He came by himself. He's leaving
now with a multitude. He's leaving with cattle and
goats, and then his wives and the children. This is a long
journey to take a family. It's one thing to go somewhere
by yourself, but it's another thing to pack your bags and move
your whole family. That's another journey. That's
a difficult journey. And God's promise never fails. God has promised to be with us
wherever we are. Wherever He leads us, wherever
He takes us, we have this promise, I will never leave you, I will
never forsake you. That is a promise. God keeps
His promises. He never breaks a promise. And
remember this also, Esau wants to kill Him. God tells him to
go back home. Now you know he still remembers
the situation between him and Esau. But now Esau is under the
power of God, as well as Laban and as well as every human being
on this earth. He's under the power of God.
You don't have to fear Esau, Jacob. Our Lord says, don't fear
what man can do unto you. The Scripture says, the fear
of man bringeth a snare. It will keep you from doing what
you know you ought to do as a believer. If God lets the fear of man take
over. He said, the fear of man brings
a snare. But the fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom. Jacob hadn't forgotten Esau.
But I tell you this, if God be for us, who can be against us,
really? It would not matter. Well, first
of all, all of the fallen angels and the demons and Satan, all
of them are against me, but what's that? Who are they? If God be
for me, who are they? If God be for me, the whole world
could be against me. And what does it matter? What
does it matter? God will just use them. The scripture
says, the wrath of man shall praise him, and the rest he will
restrain. God exercises continually his
sovereign constraint over the human race. And when it's beneficial,
when it's beneficial for him to allow the wrath of somebody
to bring trouble, he'll do it, but he controls it. He controls
it. Now, in verses 4 through 12,
Jacob, he calls a family meeting. After God tells him to go back,
he calls his wife out into the field. It says there in verse
4, And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leod to the field
unto his flock. And he said to them, I see your
father's countenance that is not toward me as before, but
the God of my fathers has been with me. And he goes on here
to recount all that Laban has done to him. He said, Your father
has changed my wages ten times. He's changed my wages. Have anybody
ever had a bad employer? Any of you ever had a bad employer?
Jacob had a real bad one. His father-in-law, his father-in-law,
and he changed his wages 10 times. Every time, listen, Laban would
say to Jacob, Jacob, the spotted brown ones, you can have those,
and the rest are mine. And guess what? God made all
of them start bearing spotted brown ones. And then Laban would
see that and he'd say, all right, let's change the game plan here.
He'd say, now all the speckled is yours and this is mine. Then all of them would bear speckled.
God makes all things work together for our good. So every time Laban
changed his wages, God would overrule it. He would overrule
it every time. And that's why he's saying to
his two wives here, he says, your father, every time here,
he said, every time he'd make a deal with me, when God blessed,
he changed the deal. That's how wicked his father-in-law
was. And anyway, when he tells them,
He says, your father's attitude has changed toward me, changed
my wages 10 times. God's blessed me. And every time
he does, God changes the wages. But listen here, listen here,
verse 12. And he said, lift up now, this
is the angel speaking. Go to verse 11. And the angel
of God spake unto me in a dream, saying, Jacob, And I said, here
am I. He said, lift up now thine eyes
and see all the rams which leap upon the cattle are ring-streaked,
speckled, and grizzled. For I have seen all that Laban
doth unto thee. God sees what's happening to
us at all times. At all times. There's never anything that happens
to us that our God does not see and does not control. Now, he
says here in verse 13, the Lord speaking, he said, I am the God
of Bethel. Jacob knew the God of Bethel. He identifies himself as the
God of Bethel because that's where he revealed himself to
Jacob. That's where Jacob came to know
the Lord, Bethel. And it reminds Jacob of the vow
that he kept or that he made. But here he says here, I'm the
God of Bethel. Who is the God of Bethel? Well,
the God of Bethel, first of all, Jacob knew him as the God of
Abraham and the God of Isaac, his father. He knew him as the
God of Abraham and Isaac, and now Jacob, and now Jacob. The God of Bethel is a God of
election. Jacob knew that God had chosen
him. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. The God of Bethel is the God
of salvation. He's the God of all grace and
the God of all comfort. The God of Bethel is Jesus Christ. That's who's speaking here, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now Rachel and Leah in verses
14 and 16, they recognized the evil of their father that he never intended. He never
intended to give them any of the inheritance anyway. They
realize now that our father is evil. Our father's wicked. And they show their love to their
husband by telling, saying to him, do what you need to do. Do what you need to do. They
didn't fight him over it. They said in verse 16, for all the
riches which God has taken from our father, is ours, is not, listen, is not all things
yours in Christ. Is not all things yours. That's
what they're saying. They're saying, Jacob, all that
you have, all that God has blessed you with is ours also. It's ours
also. And our children's now then whatsoever
God has said to thee, do, do. You know what's interesting when, you know, you'd ask me to come
down here about being a pastor. I had more people ask me, more
of the pastors asked me, what's Vicki think about it? They kept
saying, what's she think about it? You know, Henry said one
time in the preacher school, he said, if God calls you the
pastor, he'll call your wife too. She'll be ready to go too. And that's what's going on here.
They said, Jacob, whatever the Lord said, do it. We're with
you. We are with you. We are with you. So they do that. But God uses Jacob, or Laban's
greed here once again. and he makes Rachel and Leah
to see it. They understand now the greed
of their father. They see their father now for who he is, a greedy
old man. He is a greedy old man. I think
before this, Jacob might have had some trouble leaving. They
may have said, let's not go right now. But God's timing, as I said,
is impeccable. And during this whole period,
when Jacob wanted to leave, and now God had moved Laban and his
sons, he let them be themselves. And they moved against Jacob,
and Jacob saw it, and his wife saw it, and they said, let's
get out of this place. Let's get out of this place. Let's
leave our... father's house and go to the
promised land. Let's leave the family and go
to the promised land. So Jacob leaves, verses 17 through
21, Jacob leaves, but there's something revealing here in these
verses about Jacob's wives, especially Rachel. You know what, here's
what's revealing. She's just as rotten as Jacob.
He said, boy, he has some good wives that are just ready to
go with him and they're just gonna follow him. Look here,
look in verse 19. And Laban went to shear his sheep
and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father's. Over
in verse 30, they're called gods, stolen his gods. Have you, since the Lord has
saved you, have you dropped off all those
old ways? Have all the old language, all the old thought, all the
old talk, is it gone? No. You know, I tell you what,
when God lays this body in the grave, all that junk will be
gone. But she stole her father's gods. It may be. Well, some of the
writers I was reading said that she was trying to just take them
from her father to wean him away from him. I don't think so. I
don't think so. They were just trying to make
her look good. But she just like her husband, Jacob, a sinner
saved by grace. That's all we are, sinners saved
by grace. That's what we are. Who maketh
thee to differ? What do you have that you didn't
receive? What we have, we have by grace. She steals his images. She probably thinks, I might
need these along the way. See, she brought up like this.
She was brought up under this kind of superstition. Anybody
superstitious here? I had an aunt, and she's passed
away now, but she'd see a black cat go across the road, she'd
throw salt on her. I mean, it'd be so stupid. So stupid. To have any kind of
superstition is spiritual ignorance. Try to find a word that's not
so mean. Wear the same socks. You know,
some guys who play sports, baseball, they'll wear the same socks.
If they win, they wear the same socks all the time. Like the
socks had something to do with it. Well, that's just crazy. It's
crazy. But that's in us. That is in
us. It's in us. And it takes a lifetime
of laying these things down. Let's not shoot somebody and
consign them to hell because they just don't do things the
way I do. Now, if we don't believe the
gospel, you're in trouble. But we all have those things
that just are grave clothes. I call them grave clothes that
just hang on and hang on. And it takes a lifetime taking
them off. It takes a while to lay aside
these old ways sometimes. No, it takes a lifetime. This
is why there's, I thought this scripture this morning, why the
Lord said, come ye out from among them, saith the Lord, and I'll
receive you. There is a constant, lifelong
coming out. It's lifelong. There's a lifetime
of just coming out of this world, coming away from it, departing
from it. It takes a lifetime to do it.
A lifetime. Then in verses 22 through 24, Laban finds out, he finds out
that Jacob has fled. It says there in verse 21, so
he fled. Well, verse 20, and Jacob stole
away unawares to Laban the Syrian. You know why? You know why he
did that? Why he fled? It says he fled.
Over in verse 31, Jacob, and Jacob answered and said to Laban,
because I was afraid. Jacob, that's your weakness. What do we have to be afraid
of? We have nothing to be afraid of. I know we are. I know we
are. But Jacob says, I took up because
I was afraid. Did not God promise Jacob, I'll
be with you? Did not God say, go to the land
of your fathers? Did He not say that? Well, if
He said, do it, that means this. You're going to do it. You're
going to make it. And we have nothing to be afraid
of along the way, nothing, nothing. So here Laban pursues Jacob with
an evil purpose, but God warns him. In verse 24, and God came to
Laban the Syrian in a dream by night. Now Laban didn't know
God, but God sure made it evident to him. And he said to him, and
this is, you and I can take great comfort in this. Take heed that
thou speak not to Jacob, either good or bad. God knows the intents and thoughts
of every heart. God knows the evil purpose of
someone that may be against me. He knows that. And Laban was
fully set. I mean, he was fully set to do
real harm to Jacob. I have no doubt he was gonna
capture all that he had and take it back home. His sons were probably
goading him and saying, dad, you can't be serious. You let
him take all that stuff? Now what's people gonna say?
And he just gets up his army and goes for seven days. Seven
days it takes him and he pursues Jacob and it overtakes him. And
God stops him. God stops him. God has power
over every heart. The heart of the king is in the
hand of the Lord. Like rivers of waters, he turns
it whithersoever he will. And God says, don't you say,
listen. He says, don't you say good or bad. Don't you say good
or bad. We need to realize the control
that God exercises over the hearts of all men. It would give us
real comfort if we would really learn this. Then in verse 25-28,
Laban, he spins a big lie. He spins a big lie. He says he overtook Jacob and
Jacob pitched his tent in the mountain and Laban with his brethren
pitched in the Mount of Gilead and he comes to Jacob and he
says, why did you flee? Why did you not give me a chance?
Now listen, why did you not give me a chance to kiss my daughters
goodbye, kiss my grandchildren goodbye and we would have had
a party and we would have sent you off, you liar. That's not
what you would have done. That is not what you would have
done, Laban. He's lying. He's lying. Matthew Henry said
this, men may be deceived, but not God. God knew the evil intent
of his heart and God stopped him. He said, don't you say a
word. Don't you say one bad word to Jacob. And Laban here, this show you
how ignorant he was. He says in verse 29, it is in
the power of my hand to do you hurt. Boy, he's just popping
them suspenders going, Jacob, he's gotta try to get in one
blow. It's like, Jacob, it's in my power to do you hurt, but
I'm not going to because Because he said, but the God of your
fathers, but God of your father. You know, it's interesting. This
is interesting language. He didn't say, but my God. He didn't claim God to be his
God at all. He said, the God of your father,
Isaac, spake to me yesterday night saying, take heed that
you speak not good or bad. Do you remember anybody else
said that? It's in my power. Pilate, when he was speaking
to the Lord, he said, don't you know it's in my power to release
you or to crucify you? And the Lord, I don't know how,
it keeps him rolling her eyes just like, you gotta be kidding.
Are you all that stupid? That's what I'd like to say to
Laban. Are you that stupid? It's in your power, really. The Lord said, Pilate said, it's
in my power to release you or to crucify you. He said, you
don't have any power at all, except it be given to you from
above. You have no power whatsoever. It is no one's power to do you
hurt. unless God gives them the power,
the right to go ahead. And he controls every degree
of it. Every degree of it. You know,
when I chased my boys as they had grown up, I had no control
of the outcome. I had no control of the discipline
I gave them. I had no control over it. God
has absolute control over the discipline and the outcome of
the discipline. Job said, he knoweth the way
that I take when he has tried me or disciplined me. He knows
the outcome, because he's going to control it to the very degree. He's going to control it. And then Laban accuses, here
in verse 30, 35, Laban accuses Jacob of stealing his gods. You know, this is interesting.
This shows you how dumb, not gonna say Laban was, but all
men are, all men and women are, who are lost. Now listen, see if you get this.
You have stolen my gods. Did he not see me come in the
house? Is he blind? Could he not prevent
it? Come on, Laban. If he's a god,
why was I able to steal him? If he's God, and he says gods,
Why couldn't they all get together and stop the break-in and the
thief? Why couldn't they? Your God's
nothing, Laban. He couldn't even keep from being
stolen. You see how dumb we are by nature? Can't even see it. Well, you stole my God. Well,
you might wanna get another one. Might wanna get a watchdog to
watch your God. You stole my God and here Rachel,
not only did she steal the God too, she lied about it. Now Jacob didn't know it. Now
later on, we'll see in the next few chapters, Jacob makes them
get rid of all of it. He makes them get rid of all
those gods and things that they took. They got to get rid of. But Rachel lies about this and
she goes and sits on top of them And while Laban is searching
the tent, here's something interesting also. Laban comes and he's upset
about his gods being stolen. He never made inquiry among the
cattle. The goats, the sheep, all that
Jacob had, he didn't go through there and say, let me see if
you have some of my cattle. Let me see if you have some of
my sheep among your sheep. He didn't care about that. All
he cared about was his false gods. That's all he cared about. So he goes searching the tents,
and we see in verse 36 through 42, Jacob is angry, and Jacob's
a mild man. Jacob is a mild-mannered man,
but this made him mad. This accusation of him stealing
gods from Laban made him mad. And I thought of this scripture,
be ye angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down on your
wrath, There is a justifiable anger, but the scripture teaches
us to keep it in check. You know, there's a point where
you can let it go too far, and then it really causes a lot of
trouble. But there is a justifiable anger,
and the scripture just says, be angry, but sin not. Don't let the sun go down on
your rack. Get over it. Get over it. It's what he said. And then there in verse 43 through
55, they make a covenant with each other and they depart from
each other and they promise not to do each other any hurt. And
the scripture that came to my mind as I was reading that, was
as much as is possible to live peacefully with all men, even
your enemies. Even your enemies. All right.