Genesis chapter 30. Let me read and start reading
in verse 25. And it came to pass, when Rachel
had borne Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, Send me away,
that I may go into mine own place, into my country. 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. And Laban said
unto him, I pray thee, if I have found favor in thine eyes, tarry. For I have learned by experience
that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake. The title of the
lesson this morning is for Christ's sake. For Christ's sake. Now Jacob was ready to go home. He was ready to go home, he was
ready to pack his bags, take his family and go back. Go back
to Bethel, go back to the promised land. He was ready to leave,
but God had not told him to go back yet. God hadn't told him
this yet. You know, waiting upon the Lord
is not easy. The Scripture says, wait on the
Lord. Henry wrote me a letter one time
years ago, and one of the very things he said in it was, wait
on the Lord and He shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on
the Lord. And Jacob was ready to go back,
but it was not the Lord's will at that time for him to go back.
The Scripture says that our Lord, our God, works all things after
the counsel of His own will. And we know that it's also according
to His own time. There's a time and place for
everything. Now in chapter 31, verse 3, the Lord, He tells Jacob
to go back home, to go back. But that was six years later.
Jacob stayed another six years between this time. But the verse
I want us to look at is verse 27. And Laban said unto him,
I pray thee, if I have found favor in thine eyes, Terry, stay,
stay a while. For I have learned, I have learned
by experience that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake. Thy
sake. Now Laban was Jacob's uncle.
He really had nothing before Jacob came to him? Because Jacob
said that. Jacob said in verse 30 of that
chapter, he said, for it was little which thou hast before
I came. And it is now increased into a multitude. He said, before
I came, you didn't hardly have anything. And since I've been
here, your increase has become a multitude. Before Jacob had come there,
he had very little. He had very little. But Jacob,
listen, Jacob was one of God's elect. He was one of God's elect. And when he came there, God blessed
Laban. And what he had became much.
Now Laban himself was a dishonest man. He was a dishonest man. He changed Jacob's wages ten
times. Laban did not deserve the blessings
that came his way. He didn't deserve him. He was
blessed for Jacob's sake. Now, now to really get the hold
of this message, you gotta turn to Ephesians chapter 4. Turn to Ephesians chapter 4 and
we'll finish out this lesson. In Ephesians chapter 4, In verse 32, And be ye kind one to another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's
sake, hath forgiven you. even as God, for Christ's sake,
hath forgiven you." These are probably the three most important
words in all the Word of God. For Christ's sake. For Christ's
sake. This is the foundation for forgiveness. For Christ's sake. Even as God
has forgiven you, for Christ's sake. Not for my sake. God did
not forgive me for my sake. God has forgiven me for Christ's
sake. If God has forgiven me, if He's
forgiven you, it's for Christ's sake. It's not for my sake. It's for His Son's sake. It's
not because I'm sorry. You know, repentance is of God
and we are sorrowful. We do mourn over our sins. But
that's not why God forgives. God forgives for Christ's sake.
For Christ's sake. I want you to get this. I want
you to get this. When I ask for forgiveness of
sins, Lord, forgive me my sins. I know this, and this is where
my assurance comes from. This is where my confidence comes
from when I ask for forgiveness. I had this written in a bulletin
a week or two ago. The blood of Jesus Christ answers
for the sins that I'm asking forgiveness for. He cannot just
forgive me. God cannot just forgive me because
I ask Him to. He forgives me because there's
the blood that answers for the sin that I'm asking forgiveness
for. The justice of God is satisfied because it is already extracted
from the veins of the Lord Jesus Christ. Justice. It drew His blood out, which
should have been mine. Should have been mine. And then
it's the foundation for all spiritual healing. For Christ's sake. For Christ's sake. This is the
one name that gives us access to the throne of grace. There's
one name. There's one name given under
heaven whereby we must be saved. Only one. God doesn't save me
for my namesake. He saves me for Christ's namesake.
His Son. Our Lord said, Whatsoever you
ask in My name, that will I do. Understanding that what we ask
in His name is according to the will of God. We know that. We
understand that. But we ask in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ. When God defied the purpose to
create the world, When He created the angels, when He created man,
it was all created for Christ's sake. Look over in Colossians
chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1, listen. Let me start reading in verse
13 in Colossians 1. Who hath delivered us from the
power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear
Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn
of every creature. For by him, by Jesus Christ,
were all things created that are in heaven, that are in earth,
visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers. All things were created by Jesus
Christ and for Jesus Christ. All things were created by Him
and for Him. And He is before all things and by Him all things
consist. All things are maintained and held together. God the Father has created all
of this. He's done all of this for Christ's
sake. I know that men have done many things for the sake of others.
Some have followed their leaders into death. Some have taken their
families to other countries for the sake of their families. And
everything our Lord has done for His elect, He's done for
Christ's sake. That's it. Well, we need to learn. We've got to learn that. I know
we know it. I know we know it. But, boy,
to learn it by experience. Now, since God does everything
for Christ's sake, what does that say about Jesus Christ?
What does that say about Him? That tells me He must be the
most excellent person of all. Listen to these scriptures in
John 3.35. The Father loveth the Son. He loveth the Son. You reckon
we ought to love the one whom God loves? He loveth the Son,
and hath given all things into His Hand, everything, everything
that exists, every person, every angel, whether good or bad, everything
has been put into the hands of Jesus Christ because the Father
loves Him. The Father loveth the Son. Look
over in John chapter five. In John chapter five. John chapter five, verse 20. Here's another verse. For the
father loveth the son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth,
and he will show him greater works than these that you may
marvel. But the father, he has withheld, listen, he has withheld
nothing from his son. So what does that say? If there's
anything I want to know of God, of salvation, go to Christ, the
one whom the Father loves. Go to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now what makes Him so excellent? Well, first of all, it's this.
He is the Son of God. He is equal with the Father.
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He's not just a mere man. He's
not just a good man. He's the Son of God. He's the
second person of the Trinity. That's who He is. He's a perfect
man. No other man has ever walked
this earth in perfection like Jesus Christ. He is perfect in
every way. He loved God with all his heart
and soul and body, and his neighbor is himself. He's a perfect man. He loved God and He loved His
neighbor. The man, Jesus Christ, is the chiefest. Now listen,
the manhood, the human nature of Jesus Christ is the chiefest
of God's creation. As the Son, He's eternal. As
the man, He was created. He's the God-man. He's the God-man. He said, a body hast thou prepared
me. God made him a body that he may
come into this world, work out a righteousness for a multitude
of sinners that the Father chosen gave to him. And in that body,
he also went to the cross and became a sacrifice for them.
He sacrificed himself for them. And by doing so, he put away
their sins and satisfied the holy law of God. I know this
human race doesn't think much of God's law, but he does. God
does. He hasn't thrown it in the trash. He fulfilled it. God Himself
came into this world and became a man that He might justify us
through His blood and righteousness. God did that. He's the perfect
man. He's also the priest over God's
house. I tell you what, there's two
things you better have if you're gonna come before God. That's
a high priest and a sacrifice. And we have both of them in Jesus
Christ. Both of them. He's that prophet
Moses said would come. He's the Lord of heaven and earth.
He's wonderful, counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace. This is who Jesus Christ is. Now, for Christ's sake, it is
the one great motive for mercy from the Father. It's the one
great motive. When our Father looks upon His
beloved Son, He sees His blood, He sees His sacrifice, He hears
His intercession, and He forgives for Christ's sake. I can't stress this enough this
morning. Laban said, Jacob, I've learned
one thing by experience. I like the way he said that.
Have you learned this by experience? Have you learned by experience
that everything you have has been given to you for Christ's
sake? Not because you're not good people,
but for Christ's sake. If he left us alone, we'd all
be devils. We would. He forgives for Christ's sake.
For Christ's sake, the Father shows mercy to sinners and can
show mercy to sinners and still be God. Still be a just God. A just God and a Savior. That's
who He is. He's a just God. He saves in
a just way. Everything God does, He does
in a just way. His mercy, His forgiveness, His
salvation is in a just way. It's through Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. And this is the motive for our
obedience. What is the motive for your obedience
and mine? For Christ's sake. For Christ's sake. Paul said
this. He said, the love of Christ constrains
me. That's what constrains me. It's
not, and I've said this so many times, it's not Ten Commandments. It's not a whole list of rules
and regulations. It's the love of Christ shed
abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit. That is what constrains
me. That's what constrains me. We walk in godliness for Christ's
sake. We do what we do for Christ's
sake. For Christ's sake. We suffer
what we suffer for Christ's sake. You know, the disciples counted
it a joy when they were beaten for Christ's sake. They were
beaten over the gospel they preached, and when they left, they rejoiced
that they were counted worthy. Worthy of what? Suffering for
Christ's sake. Worthy of that. We give up what
we must give up for Christ's sake. You know, Paul said, I've
suffered the loss of all things for Christ. I've suffered the loss of all
things. But actually we suffer no real loss in this life, do
we? So what Paul said, he said, I count all those things as loss,
as dung, as dung. And he counts it that way for
Christ's sake. We serve one another for Christ's sake. The one great
motive for service is for Christ's sake. Do whatever you do. The scripture teaches us what?
As unto the Lord. As unto the Lord. We do what
we do as unto the Lord. It's one thing to punch a clock,
put in a day's work for a day's wages, but that is not how we
serve the Lord Jesus Christ. We're not hirelings. We are not
hirelings. It is, as Paul said, it is a
labor of love. It's a pleasure to serve our
Lord. He said, take my yoke upon you
and learn of me for I'm meek and lowly of heart. And my yoke
is easy. My yoke is easy, my burden is
light. You know what makes it easy? L-O-V-E. Love makes service easy. What makes a mother sit up all
night with her sick child without complaining and just throwing
a fit? Love. Love. Love for that child. The thing that took our Lord
to the cross was not that he felt like he had to do something.
The thing that took him to the cross was love. Love. He loved a group of people
that were nothing but a bunch of wretches. Paul said, old wretched
man that I am. You know in his mind he was thinking
about that road to Damascus where he was going to persecute the
church. And the Lord stopped him. He
stopped him and made himself known to him. Paul lived with
the reality that God could have justly sent him to hell. Because
he has many. He has many already. And yet
he showed mercy. He showed mercy. It's a labor of love. Glad to
serve the Lord Jesus Christ. Glad to do it. When we consider what he went
through to save us poor sinners, he rejected, My God, my God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? I'm looking at why God the
Father forsook his Son. God loved a multitude of sinners
that no man could number and gave them to His Son. And His
Son redeemed them. And now He sends the gospel out.
We'll see this at the next service of the Gospel Net. He sends the
gospel out and He calls. He calls sinners. He calls sinners
to Christ. And then at the end of the service,
a lot of people get up, or they get up and go home, but then
somebody has an interest. Somebody has a real interest
in the Lord saving them. They have what the old writers
called a saving interest in Jesus Christ. You really have an interest
in Him. You have an interest in forgiveness.
You have an interest in knowing God. Where'd that come from? That came from a work of grace
in you. That came from a work of grace. Oh, glad to serve the Lord Jesus
Christ because He went through rejection by God, by man, despised
and rejected of men, it says, alone. Alone. No one's ever been as
alone as the Lord Jesus Christ. No one. No one has ever been
as poor as Him. He had no place to lay His head. The One who
created all things had no place to lay His head. And last of all, this is the
key to prayer. This is the key to true praying. If we can pray for forgiveness,
for spiritual healing, if we can pray for our families, and
we can truly say at the end of praying, for Christ's sake, for Christ's sake, I assure you
God the Father will answer that prayer. He'll answer it according
to His will, but He'll answer. Because I tell you what, whatever
He does, He does for Christ's sake. And if you and I get on
the same page, if He puts us on the same page where we want
everything done for Christ's sake, the one who died for us,
redeemed us, loved us, regenerated us, and in a little while, He's
going to take us home. And heaven is going to be filled
with a multitude of people, the scripture says, that can't be
numbered. That cannot be numbered. And
you know that every last one of them there is there for Christ's
sake. For Christ's sake. All right.