Genesis chapter 30. I just want
to go through. these uh... chapters here and
i don't know if we're gonna make it very far uh... on this goal
but uh... i as i was preparing for joseph
i started back where joseph received his name and so that's where
i want to start with you and just go through these uh... places
and point out these things that god has shown us about him first
thing you'll see here in genesis chapter thirty is uh... where Rachel named her son, in
verse 22 it says, God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to
her and opened her womb. And she conceived and bare a
son, and she said this, God hath taken away my reproach. And she called his name Joseph,
and said the Lord shall add to me another son. When Rachel had
her son Joseph, she named him by that name in order to indicate
that her reproach was taken away. She had been barren. She was
speaking of her reproach, of her inability to have a son. And it grieved her greatly. But
here, the name Joseph also looks forward to what Joseph would
do in his own life. Joseph is the one who God used
to save the whole nation of Israel from dying from the famine. And
so, here what we see, too, is that the Lord Jesus is the one
who took away our reproach. It says in Romans chapter 15,
the reproaches of them that reproached thee fell upon me. That was the
words of our Lord Jesus Christ. He spoke those words because
our sins were a reproach to God. They fell upon Him. They came
upon Him. And all of the anger and hatred of men came upon the
Lord Jesus Christ. Because we deserved that. We
deserved what came upon Him, but He bore it in our place.
And so He took away our reproach. And then also, His name means
add. Because Rachel saw in this that
God promised to her that she would have yet another son. It
is because of the Lord Jesus Christ that God adds many sons. Remember in Hebrews chapter 2
it says it pleased God that he should be made like to his brethren
in order to bring many sons to glory. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the one in whom God predestined his people to be adopted by the
Lord Jesus. By his redeeming blood they were
set free from their sin and from the curse of God and from Satan
and from this world in order that they might be set free as
the sons of God, given the Spirit of God, to know their sonship.
And so here, in the name of Joseph, we see two things. First, in
prophecy, in history, God looked forward in the life of Joseph
to his own son. And secondly, we see in Christ
the fulfillment of his name, that Christ took away our reproach. I mean, Joseph was such a great
character in scripture that we're going to spend some time looking
at him beginning next week. But then, the next thing we see
here is that, in verse 25, it says, And when it came to pass,
when Rachel had born, or had bared Joseph, that Jacob said
to Laban, send me away that I may go unto my own place and to my
country." So after Rachel had Joseph, her son, Jacob told Laban,
I want to go away to my own country. You see, Jacob's place was not
with Laban. Jacob's place was where God had
promised him to give him land, to give him a place. And so Jacob's
place really was God's promises in Christ. He lived looking to
Christ, and he lived looking for Christ. In 1 Thessalonians
chapter 5, it says that believers do the same thing. I'm sorry,
1 Thessalonians chapter 1. Let me read that to you. In 1
Thessalonians chapter 1, the apostle Paul, speaking to the
Thessalonians, said, They themselves show of us what manner of entering
in we had to you. Those who heard of your faith
show how when we preached the gospel to you it had an effect.
That's what he means there. And how you turned to God from
idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His
Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which
delivered us from the wrath to come. So the Lord Jesus delivered
us from the wrath to come, and we looked to Him. We look to
Him in trust. We look to Him as our only hope
before God, our only Savior. We look to Him to come again.
We look to Him because God has promised in Him our inheritance. Jacob lived for the promise of
God. That was his place. Our inheritance
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is our place. And we just
read in Colossians chapter 3, If you then be risen with Christ,
then seek those things which are above, where Christ is, at
the right hand of God. Set your affections on things
above, not on things on the earth. For you are dead, and your life
is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall we appear also with him in glory." So,
these are the things that God is teaching us through Jacob.
He didn't want to be with Laban anymore. He wanted to go to the
place God promised him. In the remainder of the chapter,
in verse 27, Laban says this, I pray thee, if I have found
favor in thine eyes, Laban speaking to Jacob, Terry, for I have learned
by experience that the Lord has blessed me for thy sake. Jacob,
I mean, sorry, Laban wanted Jacob to stay. And he saw that God
blessed him because of Jacob. Now, Laban didn't know the Lord. He was an idolater. And everything
that he did, you remember, he lived for himself. He tried to
trick Jacob. In fact, he did. He did trick
Jacob. He made him work for his wife. He made him work for his
other wife and he treated his daughters as something to be
sold to a man for his labor. Laban was a sneaky, conniving
man. He really typifies the world
and us in our natural state. And so Laban realized that God
blessed him for Jacob's sake. Because of Jacob. And this is
the case in the world today. The world is upheld and continues
today because of the believers. Because God has a people in this
world. He preserves this world. The
gospel of the blood of Christ and peace made by his blood is
preached in the world today because of the believer. That's the only
true blessing that's in the world. And all the other blessings that
are, you know, the rain that falls, the food we eat, the life
we have, the breath that we breathe, all those things are maintained
and upheld because God has a people. He's going to save them. And
so, remember too that the Lord Jesus said when He was in the
world, He says, I am the light of the world. And He said to
His people, you are the light of the world. So believers are
light in this world. We are the light of how God saves
sinners. By His Son, and not by anything
in us. And that's what the believer
is. He's the blessing, the reason for all blessings in this world.
And Laban realized that, and so he asked Jacob to stay. Now,
the next thing we see in verse 28, in Genesis 30, 28, it says
Laban asked Jacob, he said, appoint me thy wages and I will give
it. So Laban was willing to pay Jacob
whatever he asked because he saw God was with him because
of Jacob. God blessed him because of Jacob.
And so he said, name your price, whatever it will take to stay.
And Jacob didn't want anything except the sheep that God would
give to him out of Laban's flock. He said, I don't want anything
from you. This is what I want you to do.
All the spotted, speckled, ring-streaked, and brown among the sheep, those
will be mine. And so, the Lord Jesus is seen
in this too, isn't He? Because the Lord Jesus came into
the world and He didn't want anything except what He had everything. He didn't want anything except
for His people. It says He came to save that which was lost. He came to sinners. He came to save sinners, to heal
the sick, the sin sick. And so he was pleased to have
only what God would give him out of this world as his sheep.
And those who are, as we are, horribly sinful, and helpless
in our sin, and unable to do one thing to bring glory to God
in ourselves, and helpless to do anything of any profit to
God, and yet the Lord Jesus set his love upon us from everlasting,
and he gave himself for us to have us as his own. And we see
that in Jacob. wanting only the sheep that God
would give him out of Laban's flock. And then in Genesis 30
verse 43 it says this, And the man increased exceedingly, and
had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels,
and asses. So Jacob increased because God blessed him. And
so we see here also that when the Lord Jesus came into this
world and was born into this world and fulfilled the will
of God, did all that God gave him to do, because he did the
will of God, God blessed him and gave him everything. He gave
Him everything for two reasons. One, because He is the Son of
God and it's all His. All things were made by Him and
for Him, it says in Colossians 1.16. And He gave Him everything
because He humbled Himself, made Himself of no reputation, and
gave Himself in order to save His people by the will of God,
to have them as His own, to bring them to God. And such a work
of the Lord Jesus Christ earned him the right to have all things. But his treasure, the one thing
he wanted, were the people. And that's represented by all
these animals, these men servants and maid servants. And so it
says in Revelation chapter 7, listen to this. It says, "...after
this I beheld a great multitude, which no man could number, of
all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before
the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and
palms in their hands. And they cried with a loud voice,
saying, Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne,
and unto the Lamb." This is the result of Christ coming into
this world. This is what God did because
He came. He rewarded Him with the people.
He purchased them, He earned these blessings from God as the
Son of Man, and He received from God honor and glory and blessing
in all things. And then in Genesis 31, it says
in the first verse that Jacob heard how Laban and his sons
no longer wanted him, or no longer appreciated him. They envied
him and resented him. And their favor towards him was
gone. And so, in this we see several
things. What we see here is that the
Lord Jesus Christ, who came into this world and only did good
to men's souls, like Jacob. He only did good to Laban's flock. He didn't take anything of Laban's.
He preserved what was Laban's at the cost of his own life.
and his own lack of comfort and sleep at night and throughout
the day and whatever it was. He only did good, and yet Laban
treated him like a slave still and didn't want him to go. And
so we see here that God blessed the Lord Jesus Christ when He
did only good to men's souls. He healed the sick. He raised
the dead, He cast out devils, and then He suffered in obedience
to the will of God. And in that suffering, He fulfilled
everlasting righteousness and removed before God the offense
our sins created in Him. And made remission of our sins
so that God remembers them no more. Christ did only good to
men's souls, and He only told men the truth. He told them that
they were sinners. He told them that their best
works were filthy rags in God's sight. And because of these things,
men hated Him. Light that came into the world,
men rejected it. Look at John chapter 3. Hold
your place in Genesis and look at John chapter 3. How this is
fulfilled in our Lord Jesus. All of the scripture is written,
if you know, about him. He says in John chapter 3 and
verse 19, And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world,
and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds
were evil. Laban and his sons hated Jacob.
Jacob hadn't done anything wrong to him. And yet Laban and his
sons hated him because their deeds were evil, just like the
Lord Jesus Christ was hated by men because their deeds were
evil. Verse 20, For everyone that doeth evil hates the light,
neither comes to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
This is why men hate Christ. Why do men hate the Lord Jesus?
In John 7-7 it says Jesus was talking to his brethren after
the flesh, and he said, The world cannot hate you, but me it hates
because I testify of it that their works are evil. And here,
that's what he says in John 3-20, Everyone that does evil hates
the light. We hate the light, don't we?
until the Lord softens our hearts and turns us from our blindness
and our hardness towards Him. In the next verse he says, the
same light does something else by the grace of God. Verse 21,
But he that doeth truth comes to the light, that his deeds
may be made manifest, that they are wrought or worked out in
God. So the ones who do truth are
the ones who believe the truth about what The truth of what
God has said about His Son. That's doing the truth. You've
obeyed the truth, 1 Peter 1.21, in believing the gospel, and
that by the Spirit of God. Here, the one who does truth
comes to the light. We come to the light, don't we?
We're happy to come to the light of God's Word and find by God's
Word that we're only sinners. because that teaches us that
Christ came to save us. He didn't come to justify the
godly, but the ungodly. He didn't come to save the righteous,
but sinners. He did not come for those who
are already well, but for those who are sick. And so, when we
come to the light, we say, yes, the light discovers us, but it
also discovers our Savior to us. He's the light of the world,
and He came into this world to save us from our sins, and that's
a glorious light. So back in Genesis, Chapter 31, Jacob responds to the way that
he was treated by Laban. In verse 5, it says, And Jacob
said to them, to his wives and children, he says, I see your
father's countenance, that it is not toward me as before. But
the God of my father hath been with me." Now here you see Jacob
is recognizing God's grace to him, even though he himself was
a sinner. He says, the God of your father
has been with me. I didn't deserve it. I wasn't
looking for him. He appeared to me. He promised
to me. He said he would never leave
me, and he has fulfilled that promise. Because when your father,
Laban, had thought to take from me The Lord protected me and
He gave me all of His sheep. And so, this reminds us of how
the Lord said He would be with His people. In Matthew 28, He
says to His disciples, Lo, I am with you always, even to the
end of the world. Christ will not leave His people.
He will not leave them. He said in Hebrews chapter 13,
verse 5, I will never leave thee. nor forsake thee." Never. It's
the word, the negative in that verse is multiplied three times.
I will never, never, never leave thee nor forsake thee. That's
what the Lord has said. Therefore we can say, the Lord
is my helper and I will not fear what man shall do to me. That
was Jacob's case. He was tricked by Laban and yet
God was with him and never left him. Because God doesn't leave
his people for Christ's sake. In Numbers chapter 23 it says
that God is not a man that he should lie, neither the son of
man that he should repent. lie. Men change what they said. Men take back their gifts, but
not God. Men promise, and then they break
their promises. Or they say that they're going
to give something, and then they renege on their promise. But
not God. He says in Numbers chapter 23
again, Hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken,
and shall he not make it good? And Balaam goes on and says,
I have received commandment to bless, and he hath blessed. And
I cannot reverse it. God will not reverse His blessing.
He will not reverse His Word. He has given commandment to save,
and He will save His people. That's our only, the only reason
that we're saved is because God determined to save. God commanded
to save. He gave His Son to save, and
He accomplished what He promised, and now He tells us what He did
in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the Gospel. So the kingdoms
of this world and the kingdom of Satan, like Laban, oppose
God's people. They determine to hinder and
to hurt and take from them God's blessings, but they cannot do
it. Because God is determined to
do it and He will do it. No one can stop God from doing
His will for His people. He will have His way in everything. Every attempt by the world and
hell to curse God's people only works out for their blessing. It always does. And so Laban's
attempts to foil Jacob always turned out to his blessing. And
so then, in Genesis 31, continuing on in verse 24 and following
through the end of the chapter, it says that God warned Laban
in a dream, because he determined to chase after Jacob, not to
hurt Jacob, not to speak against Jacob. And so when he arrives,
Jacob scolded Laban. And when Laban accused Jacob
of stealing his idols, Jacob rehearsed all the evil that Laban
had done to him. How he had swindled him, and
how he had chased after him in this hot pursuit with anger,
intending to do him harm. And do his own daughters and
grandchildren harm. Because he hated Jacob. Because
God had blessed Jacob for Christ's sake. And this shows us the true
condition of our heart. Though men naturally have children
and daughters and grandchildren like this man had, yet they think
only of themselves. And yet, here's the blessing
of God. Notice in Proverbs chapter, actually
that's not the one I wanted to turn to. In Matthew chapter 10
verse 36, Jesus said, "...a man's foes shall be they of his own
household." And that was what it was with Laban. He was the foe of Jacob because
Christ had blessed him. And so Jesus said in John 15,
if they've hated me, they'll hate you too. Because you're
my people, my disciples. And so then Jacob gives Laban
an account, a full account of all of his mistreatments and
deceptions. He tells him how he had changed
his wages. Ten times and he then chased
after him and so in the day of judgment the Lord Jesus Christ
is going to give a full account to this world of their treatment
of his people. And that's what it says in Matthew
25. He's going to separate the sheep from the goats. And he's
going to say to those goats on his left hand, he says, when
I was hungry, you didn't feed me. When I was naked, you didn't
clothe me. When I was in prison, you didn't visit me. And they
said, well, when did we ever see you naked or hungry or in
prison? He says, when you have not done it to the least of these
my brethren, you have not done it to me. How we treat Christ's
people is how we treat the Lord Jesus. Laban hated Jacob because
he hated Christ. And so that will all be brought
to account like Jacob did here to Laban. He brought to account
all that he did to him. How can we think of doing anything
to the Lord's people, the ones the Lord has loved from eternity,
the ones for whom He laid down His life and purchased with His
own blood? The way we treat them is the
way we treat Him. Look at a few verses in the New
Testament. Look at 1 John chapter 3. This conflict between Laban's
household and Jacob's household showed the distinction that God
made between these two families. And though Laban thought to do
harm to Jacob, and to take advantage of him, and to make a profit
off of him, God didn't let it happen. Just like He doesn't
let it happen today. 1 John chapter 3 verse 16 says
this. This is how we are to treat Christ's
people. And this is why. Hereby perceive we the love of
God. How do we know God's love? Because He laid down His life
for us. And what should we do because
of this? How should we think about love? How should we think about God?
How should we think about Christ's own? We ought to lay down our
lives for the brethren. If the Lord has loved us, what
does it demand from us but love to Him? And how do we do that?
In love to His people. Look at a couple of other verses.
Look at Romans chapter 15. I mentioned some of these in our
Bible study on Thursday night, so some of you will be getting
a double dose of this. Romans chapter 15, verse 1. We then, that are strong, ought
to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves."
We please ourselves when we find fault with others and find it
pleasing to point out that fault and make them look lower than
ourselves in the eyes of others. That's pleasing ourselves. It's
doing what we do just for ourselves. Verse 2. Let every one of us
please his neighbor for his good to edification. We should always
be looking how we can encourage one another in the gospel. What
has God given you? Give that to your brother. Did
He give you two mites? Is all you have what God has
told you in the scriptures about what Christ has done? Then He's
given you all things. He's given you that, that, that's
all your life. Give that. Give it to your brothers and
sisters. Speak of the goodness. Let the redeemed of the Lord
say so. And when you do, you will receive
the blessing, and so will they. Verse 3, For even Christ pleased
not himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of them that reproached
thee fell on me. And then in verse 7, Wherefore,
receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory
of God." That's the way we're supposed to treat one another.
Laban missed it. He treated Jacob like junk. And
so Jacob rehearsed it. In the testimony of Scripture,
it stands as a testimony against Laban. And it will stand as a
testimony against all of how they treated the Lord's people
on the last day. We're not saved because of what
we do, but because we are saved, it reflects in what we do. In
Genesis 31, continuing on there in verse 42, he says, Jacob said
this in summary in verse 41, Thus have I been twenty years
in thy house, I have served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters,
six years for thy cattle, and thou hast changed my wages ten
times. And in verse 42, notice this, except the God of my father,
the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac had been with me. Surely
thou had sent me away now empty. God hath seen mine affliction,
and the labor of my hand, and rebuked thee yester night." You
see this? It is for the Lord Jesus' sake
that we have any blessing. It's because of Him only. If
God hadn't blessed us for Christ's sake, we would be left desolate,
cast out, separated forever from God in all of His grace, in all
of His comfort, in all of His mercy. But because God did this
for us in Christ, our highest privilege now is to serve one
another in love. That's an obligation that we
have because of what God has done for us in Christ. We're
to live our lives. in faith and out of love for
Christ, and to do so with a desire to be like Him. And this is what
we see Him doing in all of His life. He laid down His life for
His friends, for His brethren, for His church, for His people,
for His bride. for his sheep. He gave himself.
He gave himself for me. The Son of God gave himself for
me. And I live by Him now. He lives
in me and I live by faith in Him. And that faith works by
love. That's what God says in His Word
in Galatians 5, verse 6. And so, in verse 43 of Genesis
31, we see here that Laban did not trust Jacob. He didn't trust Jacob. He didn't
trust him with his daughters. He didn't trust him with his
grandchildren. So what he did is he required Jacob to make
an oath. To make a covenant and swear
by an oath to him. And by doing so, Laban was content
that he could have Jacob's word that he wouldn't do harm to his
daughters, to his grandchildren, and so on. And he was going to
let him go. Because God told Laban, don't
speak against him. Don't do anything against Jacob.
Because God had blessed him. And yet here we see in this oath
that Laban required, and Jacob made the oath, that men are content
with the oath of a sinful man. Laban was content when Jacob
swore by an oath to him that he would keep his word, and Jacob
was just a sinner. How much more ought we to be
content with the oath of him whose counsel is immutable and
who cannot lie when he swore by himself and on his own character
and nature and person that he would fulfill his promises in
Christ to his people. And that's what it says in Hebrews
chapter 6. He says, let's turn to that in Hebrews chapter 6.
and see how the Lord has been so gracious to condescend to
speak to us in a way like we expect liars to speak to us,
to swear to us. Like Laban, he thought Jacob
was a liar and wouldn't keep his word, and so he made him
swear. Here God stoops to the place where men expect unreliable
men and men who speak falsehoods to lay Put an oath on it and
swear by something greater than yourself. And so it says in Hebrews
6 verse 13, When God made promise to Abraham, because he could
swear by no greater, he swore by himself, saying, Surely blessing
I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so
after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise, For
men verily swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation
is to them an end of all strife, just like between Laban and Jacob.
The strife was over after the oath had been made. Wherein God,
willing more abundantly to show to the heirs of promise, those
are his elect. the immutability of his counsel,
he confirmed it by an oath, not for his sake, but for our sake,
that's the condescending grace of God, that by two immutable
things, first, in which it was impossible for God to lie, and
second, in his immutable counsel, we might have a strong consolation
who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before
us, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure
and steadfast, and which entereth into the veil that within the
veil, whether the forerunner is for us entered even Jesus,
made a high priest after the order of Melchizedek." So God
swore by an oath. He swore on his own person. If
God staked himself to it, we can be assured God cannot fail.
And so we see that in the oath between Jacob and Laban. God
is referring to how men are satisfied with an oath, and how much more
ought we to be satisfied with the promises of God who cannot
lie. And then, in verse 53 of Genesis,
chapter 31, it says, after they made this oath and stacked up
some stones as a pillar, it says in verse 53, "...the God of Abraham
and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judged betwixt
us, and Jacob sware by the fear of his father Isaac." You see
what he did here? Jacob left the problem of Laban
to the judgment of God. He just left the whole thing
in God's hands. The God of Abraham, the God of
Nahor, the God of their father, Judge betwixt us. I'm going to
rest my case on what God thinks in this matter. I'm going to
leave the judgment up to Him. How often do you find in Scripture
the Lord's people trusting in God's judgments? Remember what
Jesus said in John chapter 5? The Father has committed all
judgment unto the Son. Why? So that all men would honor
the Son, even as they honor the Father. All judgment is put into
Christ's hands. And do we trust His judgment?
Can we trust the judgments of God? The psalmist says in Psalm
119, he says, I've hoped in your judgments. We hope in God's judgments,
don't we? We hope, it's our expectation
that God will do right. And that he will do right for
his people. But we're sinners and so we fear
God's judgment naturally. We're afraid of God's judgments
in ourselves. But we trust God's judgments
because he's judged us in Christ. That's why he says in Romans
8, Who can lay anything to the charge of God's elect? What's
God's judgment in the matter? Are there any sins that can be
laid to our charge? Any accusations? Any condemnation? No! Why? Because it's God who
justifies. God's judgment of His people
is that in Christ they're righteous. And He justifies them for Christ's
sake. That's God's judgment. And the next verse in Romans
8, He says, Who is He that condemneth? Who then can condemn us? It's
Christ that died. God's judgment and Christ's judgment
is that He would lay down His life for His people and ransom
them from the condemnation of their sins, from the power of
the grave, from death and hell and from Satan and all the things
that are against us because of our sins. He actually saw our
sins as our enemies and purchased us out of the debt we owed. We
trust His judgments, don't we? Jacob left it all in God's hands.
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? We wait
in expectation for the salvation God has worked out in Christ
as in order to subdue all of our enemies under His feet. Satan
and our sin and everything. So we see this in Jacob here. I'm looking on now to the next
chapter. I'm going to go over to chapter 33 now,
because we covered chapter 32 in a sermon recently about how
Jacob trembled because of Esau, his brother, coming to him. But
notice in In Genesis 33, how Jacob, when he had gone through
the ordeal where Christ wrestled with him, and he was made lame
in his leg, God touched the hollow of his thigh, and he was made
weak in himself, and he saw that his only strength was in Christ,
and so he pleaded with him not to leave him until he blessed
him, reflecting how God weakens us what we are in ourselves and
shows us that our only blessings are in Christ. Causes us to cling
to Him with a persuasion of heart. A purpose of heart that lays
hold on Him with the grace, the strength that comes by His grace
to hold to Him. That's what chapter 32 is teaching
us about Jacob. Though he was a sinner, though
he was strong in his own confidence, Christ humbled him. And after
that, in chapter 33, he comes to Esau, it says in verse 1,
And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold, Esau
came, and with him four hundred men. And so Jacob divided the
children into Leah and Rachel, the two handmaids, and he put
the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children
after, and Rachel and Joseph behind the whole pack. And then
Jacob passed over before them. He walked from Rachel through
Joseph, to Leah's children, past Leah, past the handmaids and
their children, and he meets Esau. He passes by all the children
in order to get to Esau, his brother. And this is what we
see our Lord Jesus doing. He sets his sheep. out to pasture,
but he leads them. He goes before them. The Lord
is my shepherd, I shall not want. He leadeth me. He doesn't send
us out. He goes before us. In John chapter
10 he says, I call my sheep and they follow me. They come after
me. Because Christ went before. He's
the forerunner. He took on our sin before God
and made full answer for it, and laid his life down in satisfaction,
and propitiated God, made satisfaction to God's justice, so that God
forgives us all our sin. He took away the wrath of God.
And so here we see Jacob going forward before his children.
And it says here, notice how God took the enemies of Jacob,
Laban and Esau, who thought to do him harm. Esau wanted to kill
him. And Jacob pleaded in chapter
32 verse 11, he said, And so he's afraid of Esau. And what
does God do? Look at how, verse 4, after Jacob
comes, and Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on
his neck, and kissed him, and they wept. This is amazing. Esau,
he's got 400 men, he's this man, a man's man. He's able to do what he wants
with Jacob. Jacob's got a bunch of kids now, and his wives, and
Jacob's hobbling on his leg. He can't hardly walk. Esau has
the advantage on him, and Esau falls on his neck and kisses
him. They're at peace. Reconciliation has been made.
God made peace between Jacob and his enemies. He made his
enemies to be at peace with him. And now look at Proverbs chapter
16. This is that verse I was going to turn you to earlier.
Proverbs chapter 16. Look at this. God has done this
for us, hasn't he? And the Lord Jesus says in verse
7, When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies
to be at peace with him. That's amazing. When a man's
ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace
with him. Our enemies have to stand down. They have to put their hand upon
their mouth because God has answered for us in Christ. He's our complete
answer. And so God has, after humbling
Jacob, After showing Jacob and himself he was weak, and after
showing him that Christ's strength was made perfect in his weakness,
Jacob comes and now God has made his enemies to be at peace with
him. God has reconciled him so that they're not attacking him. What can anyone do to the Lord's
people? Death is ours. Was death our
enemy? Yes, it was, but now it's not. And why? Because Christ overcame
death. And now death is the deliverance
of our body. When we die, Paul says, he says,
for me to live is Christ, but to die is gain. He says life
is yours, death is yours, the world is yours, everything is
yours. Because it was given to us on the basis of what Christ
did for us. And so because the Lord Jesus
did this for us, established our everlasting righteousness,
God looks upon Him and sees us in Him and receives from Him
as from us. All that He did was put to our
account. And in Him, our ways please the Lord. We come to God
by Him. Faith pleases God because faith
honors Christ and honors God's justice and righteousness in
Christ and says, all my hope is in Him. All my honor and boast
is in Christ. And so faith pleases God and
God looks to Christ for His people's sake and He sets His enemies,
our enemies, at peace with us. Even our sin, God has used our
sin to bring us to Christ. The law that was our enemy was
our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. Everything is used
by God for our good. This is what happened here. Esau was made at peace with Jacob,
the one he feared. But he had to experience this
fear in his heart in order to see that in himself he had no
power against his enemy. He was entirely dependent upon
the power of Christ against his enemy. And so he called to him,
Lord, bless me. I won't let you go unless you
bless me. And he did. He blessed him in such a way
that he put even his enemies at peace with him. And he used
his enemies to further his purpose of blessing Jacob. And this is
an amazing thing. Jacob felt the pain and the cry
and the fear, and he cried to the Lord in his trouble. And
God delivered him out of all of his distresses. Oh, that men
would praise the Lord for his goodness, for his marvelous works
to the children of men. Psalm 107. And so Esau, his heart is softened
towards Jacob. Israel was His name. He had power
with God and men. He was humbled now. His hope
was in Christ now. All that He had was in Christ
now, and seeing that, Jacob was humbled before Esau. And what
could humble Esau more than the humility of Jacob before him? Jacob sent this present to appease
Esau. And Jacob humbled himself before
Esau. Now we might find fault with
that. But it says in the Psalms, I mean the Proverbs, a soft answer
turns away wrath, doesn't it? Have you ever found that the
most disarming thing to anger and strife is humility? And have
you ever found that the most aggravating thing, the thing
that most causes strife to occur, is pride? And so Jacob humbles
himself. A soft answer turns wrath away. And so he gave a soft answer
because he saw God had answered his justice in Christ. And so
his answer was soft, because he knew that he himself was nothing,
and his trust was in the Lord God himself. And so there was
a reconciliation before them, between them. God had made peace
with him. between these two, and we find
our peace, that God has made peace between us and our enemies,
we will be delivered from them, by grace we triumph. But notice,
he goes on here in chapter 33, and so all these people behind
Jacob, Esau asks, who are these? In verse 5, he lifted up his
eyes and saw the women and the children, and Esau asked Jacob,
who are these with thee? Now, I think he knew this, but
he's acknowledging all these so that he can hear it from Jacob's
own mouth and then he can show his token of reconciliation here. So he says, who are these with
thee? And he said, listen to the way Jacob answers now. The
children which God hath graciously given thy servant. He didn't
just say, oh these are my kids. Yeah, I was down there for a
few years and got a bunch of kids, a couple wives. That's
not the way he spoke at all. This man was humbled. He had
one eye and there was one object in his eye. It was Christ. And
he said, these are the children which God hath graciously given
thy servant. He humbles himself, thy servant. God graciously, he's been gracious
to me. Look what he's done. Everything
I have is a gift of his grace. And I am your servant. I'm nothing. I'm the least of all the apostles,
Paul says. I'm the least of the saints.
I'm not worthy to be called an apostle. I'm not worthy to be
named among the saints. I'm the chief of sinners. That's
a humbled man. A man who's seen Christ is a
humbled man. God has given me. I live by his
grace. And so he goes on. He says, the
handmaidens came near. And they and their children,
they bowed themselves. Leah also with their children
came near and bowed themselves. And then after that, Joseph and
Rachel, and they bowed themselves. And he said in verse 8, What
meanest thou by all this drove, which I met? All these animals. And he said, They are to find
grace in the sight of my Lord. And Esau said, I have enough,
my brother. Keep that thou hast unto thyself. And the words really mean, I
have much. Esau did. I got 400 men following me. All these dukes that we're going
to read in the next couple chapters. He had a mountain. This guy had
all this stuff in this world. In the measure of earth, he had
a lot. I have much, Esau told him. I
don't need it. Keep it. And Jacob said, Nay,
I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive
my present at my hand. In other words, receive this
present as a token of the reconciliation between us now. For therefore
have I seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and
thou wast pleased with me. You see, when Jacob gave this
gift to appease Esau, when Esau received it, it was a token not
only of Esau's acceptance. But of his acceptance of Jacob,
because Jacob understood that when God receives our gift, He
receives us. God won't receive a gift from
anyone if He doesn't receive the person. No, keep your gift
to yourself. God wouldn't receive it. But
because God receives our gift, He receives us. Remember Abel? He offered unto God a more excellent
sacrifice. And what was that sacrifice?
A lamb from his flock. It pointed to Christ. God looked
upon Christ, represented by His sacrifice, and God received Christ. Therefore, He received Abel,
who offered the sacrifice. And in receiving His sacrifice,
it was evidence that He had received Abel. And so it is with all of
God's people. We come to God in our heart by
God's grace to us, giving us faith, persuading us that all
of our hope is in the Lord Jesus. We come to Him by Him, and God
receives us for Christ's sake alone. And that token of His
acceptance is in this faith that He gives us, and the thankfulness
of our heart. And in the desire of our life
to do all that we do for His glory. And God receives all that
we do as a token of His acceptance of us in Christ. So that when
we give out of our everyday life, in whatever way we're enabled
to give to God's people, because that's our goal in life, is to
lay our lives down for the brethren. as Christ did for us, as Christ
received us to the glory of God. We are, like Paul says, I'm a
debtor to all men, to the Greeks, to the barbarians, to the wise,
to the unwise. As much as in me is, I'm ready
to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. And so, when
God receives that service from our hand, not that we are doing
anything to better God or improve God or bless God by it, but God
receives it from our hand as a token of our acceptance in
Christ. All that we do. It's a joy, isn't
it? This debt of love to God's grace
and love that we have in our heart is not a debt that we don't
want to have. It's a debt that we love to have. That we want to live for His
glory. We want to do what we do for the honor of His name. It's a privilege, isn't it? Everything
that we, praying for one another, doing something for someone else
with a joyful heart. Because Christ has done this,
this is a joy. Even though it costs us much
labor, sometimes sorrow, sometimes loss, sometimes disappointment. Yet it's still a service. When
a mother raises her children, teaching them and bringing them
up in the fear of the Lord, and a father lays down his life going
to work and coming home and teaching his children, God has given me
these children graciously. Look at them. Look at my wife.
All these things God has given me. I didn't deserve one thing. Not the least of His mercies.
All the truth He's shown this servant of His. And when God receives our prayers
for Christ's sake, we see this token of his acceptance of us.
And so Jacob answers him, no, please receive it. Because it's
as if I've seen the face of God and he was pleased with me. Verse
11, Jacob goes on, he says, Take, I pray thee, my blessing that
is brought to thee, because God hath dealt graciously with me. And because I have enough, but
the words really should be, I have all things. And Jacob urged him,
and Esau took it. You see here, we have all things. Jacob realized, I have all things.
All things, you take it. I know you have much, but take
this. God has given me all things.
What did he have? What was all things that Jacob
had? He had all things in Christ.
Look at this one verse with me in 2 Peter. And we'll close with
this. 2 Peter chapter 1. Notice what
God says about His people. 2 Peter chapter 1, Simon Peter,
a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ to them that have obtained
like precious faith with us. Light obtained it by lot, as
an inheritance, by God's eternal purpose. He's given this gift
of faith to us. We have obtained this like precious
faith, and those that obtained it with us, he's writing to them.
He says, we've obtained this through the righteousness of
God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Or, I should say, of our God
and Savior, Jesus Christ. We've obtained this gift of faith
because of the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ in his sufferings
and in his death. That's our righteousness. Verse
2. This is what he's going to say
from God's throne to God's people. Grace and peace be multiplied
unto you. Grace and peace? Through the
knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. according as His divine
power has given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness
through the knowledge of Him that has called us to glory and
virtue." And we could just go on. All things are ours in Christ. And God has given them to us
through the knowledge of Him because in the preaching of the
gospel we learn and are given faith to believe what is true
in heaven, and we rely on it, and we look to Christ as our
all, and we look to Him to come again and give us what God has
promised and what He's earned for us. Let's pray. Dear Lord, we pray that we would
be enabled to live our lives as we see Jacob did, trusting
in You, walking in faith, even though his faith was weak, even
though he faltered and made many mistakes, even though he himself
and himself was a sinner, a great sinner, and yet we see the abounding
grace of God, the exceeding grace of God towards Him, because of
Your purpose, because of Your goodness, because of Your eternal
purpose in the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior and our Lord. And
we come to You by Him and help us, Lord, to live our lives as
those thankful because of this grace you've given us all things
in Christ, even the bread we eat, the breath we breathe, the
water we drink, the life we live, but especially the life in our
souls by which we see Christ and Him crucified and boast only
in Him. Help us to live for His glory.
Help us to love one another. Help us to do all that we do
to the glory of our Savior and to do it gladly with a thankful
heart as joyful givers. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.