Christ's love for his own. Christ's
love for his own. Genesis chapter 29. Let's read
the first 20 verses. Then Jacob went on his journey
and came to the land of the people of the east. And he looked, and
behold, a well in the field. And, lo, there were three flocks
of sheep lying by it, for out of that well they watered the
flocks. And a great stone was upon the well's mouth. And thither
were all the flocks gathered, and they rolled the stone from
the well's mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone
again upon the well's mouth in his place. And Jacob said unto
them, My brethren, whence be ye? And they said, Of Haran are
we. And he said to them, Know ye
Laban the son of Nahor? And they said, We know him. And
he said to them, is he well? And they said, he is well. And
behold, Rachel, his daughter, cometh with the sheep. And he
said, lo, this is Jacob talking to them. He said, lo, it is yet
high day. Neither is it time that the cattle
should be gathered together. Water ye the sheep and go and
feed them. And they said, we cannot until all the the stone from the well's mouth,
then we water the sheep. And while he yet spake with them,
Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she kept them. And
it came to pass when Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban,
his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother's
brother, that Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the
well's mouth, and watered the flock of Laban, his mother's
brother. And Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and
wept. And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's brother,
and that he was Rebekah's son. And she ran and told her father.
Remember, Rebekah was Laban's sister. His mother was Laban's
sister. And it came to pass, when Laban
heard the tidings of Jacob his sister's son, that he ran to
meet him, and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought him to
his house. And he told Laban all these things.
And Laban said to him, Surely thou art my bone. and my flesh,
and he abode with them the space of a month. And Laban said to
Jacob, Because thou art my brother, shouldst thou therefore serve
me for nothing or for naught, tell me, what shall thy wages
be? And Laban had two daughters.
The name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was
Rachel. Leah was tender-eyed, but Rachel
was beautiful and well-favored. And Jacob loved Rachel, and said,
I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter.
And Laban said, it is better that I give her to thee than
I should give her to another man. Abide with me. And Jacob
served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a
few days for the love he had to her. It's a beautiful story. It's got a lot of emotion in
it. When you see that, there's really
four lessons here we're going to look at today. And as we go
through this, I want you to see them. But before we do, I want
you to go back to chapter 28. I want to point out a couple
of verses there to see what's happened here. In verse 1 of
chapter 28, it says, "...Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him,
and charged him, and said to him, Thou shalt not take a wife
of the daughters of Canaan." So Jacob is on an errand to find
a wife from the land of Syria. He was sent there by his father. His father called Jacob to him
after he blessed him, remember? And he didn't know it was Jacob.
And he went out of the tent. Esau came back in and the whole
drama around that. But then, later, Isaac understood
that was God's purpose. So he called Jacob back to himself. And he charged him, I mean he
blessed him, and then he charged him not to take a wife from the
land of Canaan. And then, if you look down in
verse 5, it says, and Isaac sent away Jacob. So he called him,
blessed him, charged him, and sent him away. And then look
at verse 7. And Jacob obeyed his father and his mother and
was gone to Padan Aram. Now, Jacob was at this time somewhere
in his 70s. He was not a young man, as we
would think of it, but he lived to be about, I don't know, 140
something. I can't remember, maybe 147.
So he lived a long life, but at this time he's still being
very, attentive to his father's and his mother's instruction
to him. He is called by his father, blessed by his father, charged
by his father, sent away by his father, and he obeys his father.
So the first lesson is this. From Jacob we learn what our
Lord Jesus Christ did. He was called by His Father.
He was given a commandment by His Father. He was sent by His
Father and blessed on that mission by His Father to go from heaven
into this world and to go on a mission to find a wife for
Himself. And so we see here the Son of
God came from heaven into this world by the will of His Father
to purchase a people for Himself by His own blood. And Jacob,
by his father's instruction, went to Syria to find a wife
in the same way that the Lord Jesus Christ did. It's important
that we see these things in scripture so that we understand the gospel.
Remember, Throughout the New Testament it says that God, the
scriptures, or God preached the gospel to his people. The gospel
is about the Lord Jesus Christ. About the Son of God who came
from heaven as the Son of Man and as Son of Man humbled himself
and made himself of no reputation and gave himself to save a people
to have to himself. So that's the first thing we
see here. And then you can see also here
that Isaac blessed Jacob. He blessed him. And God then
also blessed him in chapter 28, verses 13 through 15. We saw
that last week. In verse 3 and 4, Isaac called
on God in prayer to bless his son, Jacob. And so, here again, we see another
important gospel lesson. That God the Father has given
to His Son everything. There's nothing that He hasn't
given His Son. He's the heir of all things. Hebrews 1, chapter
1, verse 2. It says in John 3, 35, The Father
loveth the Son, and hath put all things into His hand. And
Jesus rose from supper when He washed His disciples' feet in
John 13, 3. And it says, Jesus knowing that the Father had put
all things into His hand, that He was now come from God and
was going to God, then He laid aside His garments and washed
His disciples' feet. That's our Savior, given all
things by His Father, blessed by His Father. It says in 2 Corinthians
1, verse 20, all the promises of God in Him are yea and amen. God has given everything to the
Lord Jesus Christ. There are no blessings from God
outside of Christ. Nothing else is given in spiritual
and eternal blessings to any but those that are in Christ
the Lord. So that's very important. Jesus
said this in Matthew chapter 11, if you want to turn there.
Matthew chapter 11. Notice how this is reiterated,
the same thing that I just said, that Christ is given everything.
Matthew chapter 11 and verse 27, he said, All things are delivered
unto me of my Father, and no man knoweth the Son, but the
Father, neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and
he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Not only is everything
given to Christ, but what's given to him has to do, it pertains
to salvation, and Christ saves those according to his will the
Father has given to him. Now that's a very important truth
throughout scripture. God has given everything to the
Lord Jesus Christ. And what is that treasure? Above
all things that God has given to His Son that Christ the Lord
treasures most. Well, we can know it by what's
written on his heart. We can know it by what he paid
for. What did he give the most, the highest cost for? It was
his people. His people. They are the treasure
of his heart. The love of his heart. And he
gave his blood to buy them. And so we see this throughout
scripture. All things in time are ordained by God the Father
to exalt His Son and to give Him a people and bring them to
Him and so show His glory in His Son for saving them from
their sins. And this is the second lesson.
God the Father has given His Son as Christ the Son of Man
and Son of God, all things, all promises, all blessings, for
Himself as Son of Man and for His people with Him." It's very
important we understand that. Everything God gave to Christ
as Son of Man, He also gave to His people with Him. Not separate.
He's the head, they're the body. All things are Christ's. we can
only find blessing in God if we find it in Christ. So we are
commanded to go to Him, to call on Him, to come and to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if we look at this in chapter
29, We go through this, just the verses that we see here.
We'll notice some other things that are very important. First
of all, it says in verse 1, Now, Jacob was on his way to this
land of Syria. It's surprising that he actually
found them. If you look on a map, I'm not
sure what the boundaries were at this time, but the land of
Canaan, which later became the nation of Israel, that was a
large area. And if you look adjacent to that,
going towards the east, you see the country of Syria. Again,
I don't know the boundaries in those days. We're talking about
lots of miles here. But he traveled and he found
these people that were his grandfather Abraham's family. from whence
he came. Where Isaac, his dad, directed
him to go. And he came there after receiving
his father's instruction to go and find a wife from these people. It's surprising that God led
him. It's not surprising that God could do this, but it's surprising
if you think about it. I'm going to go and find, let's
say you're going to go, you've never been there before. Jacob
had never been there before. I'm going to go over to somewhere,
let's say Nevada, and we're going to find something over there.
There's a large amount of territory to cover. How am I going to find
a handful of people over there? Let's say there's a city of 100,000
even. It's going to be hard to find
them in that much space. But God directed Jacob to that land. And so, God the Father directed
His Son to His people. It says that Jesus came into
the world to seek and to save that which was lost. And that's
an amazing thing, that the Lord Himself directed His Son to His
people. He found them, He knew them,
and He called them, and they came to Him. So while traveling
on his way there, remember Jacob saw this ladder that extended
from earth to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending
and descending on this ladder, and at the top of the ladder,
the very top reached to heaven, and there the Lord stood above
the ladder. The angels of God ascending and
descending. We saw that last week. It's amazing to think about
the angels of God, isn't it? Angels are a mysterious Creature. And they are a creature. They're
not eternal like God the Son. They're a creature. And the Lord
Jesus Christ actually created them. It says He made all things
for Himself. He's created all things in heaven
and earth by His word. And so He created the angels.
And the angels in scripture are not only called the angels of
God, but they're called the angels of the Son of Man. The Lord Jesus
Christ. They're His angels. And He directs
them for His people. They're more mighty than we are.
Much more mighty than we are. Much wiser than we are. Scripture
talks about them in several ways that show that they're strong
and powerful. They encamp. the saints in order to protect
them. Remember Elisha and his servant Gehazi? The angels are
spiritual beings. They don't have a body. Although
sometimes in scripture they appear as though they have a body. But
the angels are given a charge and they love to fulfill that
charge because it's a service to their master, Christ. their
master to the Son of God, but their master also to Him as the
Son of Man." And this is an amazing thing. Because, you see, man
was made to have dominion in the beginning over all things.
And God spoke in Genesis in prophecy that the Lord Jesus, as the Son
of Man, would be the man given dominion over all things. Even
the angels are subject to Him. But not until he was made lower
than the angels for a short time, Hebrews 2.9, and then as made
lower than the angels, he came in order to die, to taste death
for every son, every one God chose. But the angels are then
given to him, to direct by him, to serve his people. They serve
Christ by serving his people, just as we serve Christ by serving
his people. And they're happy to do that.
The angels that fell were not happy to do that. They wanted
the honor due to Christ for themselves to have that place in God's kingdom. But they usurped that
authority and they were cast out. with the devil and his angels. But these angels that are preserved
by God were preserved because God chose them and set them apart
and made them his servants forever. And they're holy. God's angels
are holy. Think about that. The angels
of God are in the presence of God. To be in the presence of
God is not something you can do unless you're holy. And so
the angels are holy. And they have power over the
power of men. They have power to affect us,
to control things. And they're much wiser. And sometimes
they make known to us, to the saints, in the Old Testament
at least, and the early part of the New, the will of God.
They were much wiser in that way. But the angels are like
us, as the saints also, in this way. that together with the church
they worship the Lord Jesus Christ. It says in Hebrews 1.6, let all
the angels of God worship Him. worship the Lord Jesus with all
his people. In Revelation 5, around the throne
of the Lamb and God is all the host of heaven gathered, the
angels, an innumerable company of angels. That's what we're
come to. We're come to Mount Zion and to an innumerable company
of angels. God's angels are mighty, they're
wise, they're holy, and they serve Him gladly and worship
Him. And because there are so many
of these noble beings It exalts God's honor and glory and praise
that he has so many powerful and mighty servants as these. So willing and happy to serve
him. And so we see this. But there's something else about
angels I find very endearing. Do you know that when Lazarus
died, remember in Luke 16, that the angels carried him into the
bosom of Abraham, Jesus said? It describes the fact that the
angels are with the saints in their death. And they bring them
to God. That's an amazing thing. I can't
see a spirit, can you? I can't see angels, I can't see
your spirit. But when you die, your spirit
leaves your body, and the angels carry you to be with the Lord
in heaven. That's an amazing thing. And
at the end of time, the Lord Jesus, when He comes with His
mighty angels, His holy angels, He will send them and direct
them to gather the tares, He said, and bind them for judgment
and then he will gather his saints and bring them to himself. That's
an amazing thing. The angels are with the saints
of God throughout their lives. They preserve them and keep them
and guide them and they protect them according to the will of
our Lord Jesus Christ. The angels of God ascending and
descending on the Son of Man, Christ and Him crucified for
the service of His people. They are the servants of God,
of Christ, to the heirs of salvation. And so, Jacob here was guided
According to this will of God by His servants, these angels,
and God Himself blessed him and gave him that blessing. It's
an amazing thing. There's many things we could
find about angels, but the point is the angels worship Christ
with His people. They desire to look into the
things that we see in the Gospel. It's quite amazing. Can you imagine
the angels, when they announced Christ's birth, announcing the
glory of the Son of God coming in humiliation as a baby in the
manger? That's an amazing thing. The
angels were astounded at the humility of the Son of God to
take our nature. Why? To have a wife. to have
her for himself. Not just her as a corporate group
of people, but each individual believer loved, specially loved
by the Lord Jesus so much that He announces His coming into
the world and everything through these angels He sent them for
that. And even the ministers of God are called His servants
or His angels in Revelation. It's an amazing thing. So Jacob
traveled far to find a wife, and he fled from his brother
who hated him, Esau, and wanted to kill him. But he was helped
by God in the way that he should go. And he found his mother's
brother's house, Laban, his uncle actually. He found his flocks,
the flocks of his mother's brother, Laban. And so he came to this
well, and there was a stone in the well's mouth. I don't know
how big the stone was, but evidently it was there to protect the water.
Maybe from men who would come and try to pollute it or steal
the water. They used it to water the sheep.
It was a precious commodity in those arid, hot, desert regions. A well of water for the sheep.
But the stone there was on the well's mouth and there were sheep,
three groups of sheep, flocks of sheep gathered around the
well when Jacob saw them. And he began to converse with
them and he asked them, what are the sheep doing here at noontime? High noon. The sheep should be
in the pasture. You need to water the sheep and
take them back out and feed them. He was concerned about the sheep
because he was a good shepherd. Jacob had a rich father. Isaac
was rich. Abraham was rich before him.
He had all these flocks and herds and animals. His trade was about
keeping sheep. Jacob was a keeper of sheep.
And he came to the well that was water for the sheep and there
was a stone on it. And the stone was too heavy,
evidently, to be moved by just one man. And so the men said,
well we can't water the sheep, yet we have to wait until the
other flocks are gathered, then we'll move the stone. Because
it must take more than one man to do it. And so Jacob is expressing
his concern for the sheep. and he is brought to the impediment
to water them with this large stone. It doesn't say that it
was too big for one man to move, but it seems that was probably
the case why they didn't. So he asks them, who are you? Where are you from? Do you know
Laban?" And they said they did. And he said, is Laban well? In
verses 4 and 6. And then the men mention the
fact that, oh, not only is he well, but his daughter Rachel
is coming just now with his sheep. Because Rachel was like a shepherd,
only she was a girl. Evidently Laban didn't have any
He must have had sons, because later on he did. I don't know
why, but Rachel was a keeper of the sheep. It turns out that
Rachel's name actually means a ewe. A female sheep, or a sheep
more generally. Her name meant sheep. So Laban looked upon his daughter
as one of his own dear sheep. But there is a much more significant
message here. Because Jacob loved Rachel, the
sheep. The one that God sent him to
come to and have as his own. And so we see here that as Isaac
sent Jacob to take a wife, God the Father sent his son, the
Lord Jesus, to have a wife. And the wife he would take he
also called his sheep. Because He held them like a lamb
dearly to His bosom, and cared for them, and nourished them,
and watered them, and led them out, and led them back in, and
folded them, and protected them, and laid His life down for them.
This is what the Lord Jesus Christ did for His people. And so we
see here the love, the double love of the Good Shepherd, Jacob
as this man who understood how to care for sheep, and our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Great Shepherd of the sheep. He cares for you. We should take this to ourselves
personally. The Lord Jesus Christ, each one
of his believers, every believer who calls on his name is a sheep
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He careth for you. 1 Peter 5,
7. And so he tells us, don't be
anxious. Don't be anxious for anything, for nothing. But in
everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests
be made known to God, and the peace of God, which passes all
understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ
Jesus, our Great Shepherd. He's going to keep His sheep.
Everything in our lives is meant to teach us that that lesson
that Christ cares for leads His sheep. He will never leave His
sheep. He leads them and He will never leave them, because He
cares for them. It says in Ezekiel 34 verse 31,
You, my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men, and I am your
God, saith the Lord. That's Ezekiel 34 verse 31. You, my flock, the flock of my
pasture, are men. And I am your God, saith the
Lord. That's our Savior. He's our God.
He's the door to the sheepfold. We enter in by Him and we're
led out to pasture by Him. He's the door. And He's the one
who laid His life down according to the commandment of His Father.
The Lord is my shepherd, the Lord Jesus, I shall not want. If the Lord Jesus is my shepherd,
I will not want. There's nothing I need. Why? Because I have everything
in Him. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.
He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Though I
walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil. Thou art with me. Thy rod and
thy staff, they comfort me. These are the words of our Savior
to his people. We should take these words to our personal It
should be a constant meditation of our heart that the words of
our Lord Jesus Christ to his people, as intimate words, as
individual words to us, to us individually, I'm with you, I
will never leave you, nor forsake you. Not only is He with us,
but He is in us by His Spirit. These are very intimate things,
the Lord Jesus. And He's laying this out for
us in Scripture by the Spirit of God to teach us His love for
His own. So when Jacob learned that Rachel
was coming with her father's sheep, he offered the advice,
as a skillful shepherd, what they should do. It's late. It's
not evening time. You need to get the sheep back
to pasture. You need to water the sheep. He wasn't correcting
them. He was just instructing them, as a shepherd would do,
in caring for the sheep. But the stone was on the well's
mouth, and they couldn't remove it. And so, when Jacob, it says
here, In verse 9, it says, And while he yet spake with them,
Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she kept them. And
it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban,
his mother's brother, because they had now told him that this
was Laban's daughter. And remember what Isaac told
his son? Go to by Rebekah's brother and take a wife from one of his
daughters. It was very specific what Isaac
told his son Jacob. And so now Jacob is obeying his
father and he's going to his kinsmen and he's taking a wife
from his own people. This is the gospel. The Lord
Jesus Christ goes to his people, those that were given to him
of his father, and he takes a wife of them. They are his wife. And
so he sees this woman. Rachel sees her right away. I
mean, all this time he hadn't married, all this time, whatever
age he was, whether it was 75 or 70, I don't know exactly what
it was, but he wasn't young in our measure. And so, it says
he saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother,
and the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother, that Jacob went near.
And look what he did in verse 10. He rolled the stone from
the well's mouth and he watered the flock of Laban. his mother's
brother. Jacob goes near to the well,
he removed the stone, he rolled it away, and then he watered
the flock. This is an amazing thing. Here's
the third lesson. The Lord Jesus Christ opened
the well of living water by suffering death and overcoming death in
his own death. He is himself the resurrection
and the life. When He had by Himself purged
our sins and He went into the grave and sat and laid His body
there in the grave. I have power to lay my life down.
I have power to take it up again. He says in John 10 verse 18. 17 and 18. And here He is rolling
the stone away from the well's mouth because He Himself is the
fountain of living water. Jeremiah 2.13. He Himself is
that fountain. He told the woman at the well,
if you knew Who asks you and the gift of God you would have
asked him and he would have given you living water He is himself
the living water. He gives it out of himself He
had to he had to offer himself and give himself in order to
give us living water He is Himself that well. He Himself dug so
He could give it to us. In His own death and in His resurrection
He rolled the stone away. You remember the stone over the
grave where He lay? It says the angel came and removed
the stone, but it was at His command, His will. He who rose
from the dead and He came out. And so here we see Jacob rolling
away the stone that he might feed, or water, the flock, the
sheep. And this is what he did. Christ
is much greater than Jacob. His sheep are men, not animals. And the well is the well of salvation.
Remember what it says in Isaiah 12. He says, let's look at this
in Isaiah chapter 12. This is a beautiful scripture. You can take much comfort in
this. This is the words of our Savior spoken to us by His own
Spirit in Isaiah chapter 12 verse 1. And in that day, this is what
you're going to say. Oh Lord, I will praise Thee,
though Thou wast angry with me. Thine anger is turned away, and
Thou comfortest me. God did this of his own doing. We didn't attract his attention
to us. We were the objects, by nature,
we were the objects of his wrath. But here we see. In that day,
this is what you're going to say, I will praise you, though
thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou
comfortest me. Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and
not be afraid, for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song. He
has become my salvation. That's our Savior. The Lord,
our righteousness. The Lord, our shepherd. The Lord
that healeth thee. The Lord that sees and provides.
This is the Lord Jehovah, Jesus Christ, who became our salvation.
Therefore with joy shall you draw water out of the wells of
salvation. He opened the well. And what's
the water? Salvation. The wells of salvation. It springs up and bubbles up
to us because He laid His life down and made that well. He opened
that well in His own self. There will be a fountain open
in that day, it says in Zechariah, for sin and for uncleanness. And that fountain is our Lord
Jesus Christ, the fountain of living water. Christ Himself
opened the well. It's His blood. The water flowed
from His side when they pierced His side. And He is the life. He is Himself the life. And we
drink from His salvation as a springing well of water. If we know Christ,
If we know Him, if we know Him as the Son of God, as Christ,
as our Mediator, our High Priest, our King, all that He is to us,
our surety, the covenant of God that God has given to us, we
see that everything is in Him, like we saw in the beginning.
Everything has been given to the Son, and out of the Son,
comes His living water. Upon the Son come all the service
of God to His people. This is the purpose. This is
the revelation of Scripture. This is the Gospel. Everything
is in Christ. And you are complete in Him.
Go to Him. Ask Him. If you knew who asked
you, you would have asked Him. And He would have given you living
water. This is an amazing thing. The gift of God that came from
heaven is the Son of God. He's the all-comprehensive gift
of God. It's out of Christ that everything,
even later in John 7 when Jesus said He spoke of the Spirit that
would be given, the Spirit of God was given by our Savior,
wasn't He? He is Himself, the Spirit of
Christ. It's all coming from Christ and from Him crucified. He's all-encompassing. He's the
physician, the great physician of our souls, the wisdom of God,
the Word of God, the righteousness of God. In Him is life. He's
the way to the Father, the truth of God, and we're to worship
Him. He's everything to us. He's an unspeakable gift, an
unspeakable gift. All the promises of God to His
people are in Him. And we live by Him, and we believe
Him. He's our hope, and our life, and our righteousness, and our
wisdom, and our holiness, and our redemption. That's the words
of Scripture. He's everything to us. And He
cannot fail. He rolled the stone away, and
He watered the sheep. He's everything. He's a friend
that loveth at all times, a friend that sticks closer than a brother. His love for his people is a
love that excels every other love. We could just go on and
on. We would have to expound all
of scripture to see it all. And so we can't take time to
do that. But notice here. There's something mysterious
about the way that Jacob rolled away this stone. He rolled away
this stone. What moved him to do that? What
moved Jacob to have the drive to go forward, first of
all to leave his father and to obey his father and to go to
this land to find a wife? What drove him was it was the
will of his father, but he knew also it was the will of God guiding
him because of the dream he had. But he was moved to roll away
the stone because of his love for Rachel. His future wife,
his wife. When he saw her, that's when
he did it. He rolled away the stone. He brought out of himself
for the sheep because of his love for his wife. That's what
Jacob did. And so we see our Savior in that.
He gave Himself to give us this water of life. And He also gives
us His Spirit out of that same treasure of Christ and Him crucified. Then look in verse 11. And Jacob
kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept. Every time
I read that... It surprises me. He wasn't reluctant
to show his affections, was he? Either his kissing her or weeping. I mean, if you were Rachel, you'd
kind of wonder, where's this guy coming from? He comes here,
he moves the stone, he waters all the sheep, and then he comes
over and kisses me and he's weeping. What kind of a man is this? He's a strong man, isn't he?
Who could move the stone away? A strong man. A man who was driven
by love. This is the love of the Lord
Jesus Christ for his people. He has a desire for her. And when I say her, I mean all
of his people and each of them individually. You who believe
on the Lord Jesus, he has a desire for you. To have you for himself. To have and to hold from this
day forward and forevermore. This is the love of our Savior.
He kissed Rachel and lifted up His voice and wept. It says in
Hebrews 12, 2, "...looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured
the cross, despising the shame, and is set down on the right
hand of God." That love for his wife, for his people, drove him
to lay his life down for her. Enduring the contradiction of
sinners against himself. And with joy, the joy that was
set before him of having his people. He loved the church and
gave himself for it. Beloved of the Lord, God has
chosen you to salvation from the beginning. And therefore
He called you by His grace to the acknowledging of the truth
that is in Christ. And when we hear these words
that prick our hearts and draw us out in faith towards Christ,
it's the drawing of His love. When all of the afflictions of
our life cause us to flee to Him, even the doubts, And the
internal struggles that we have all the time, whether it be conflict
in families, or loss of health, or finances, or whatever it might
be. All of these things are His loving
kindness, through His Word, drawing us to the Lord Jesus Christ.
So that by faith we see Him as our Heavenly Husband and Redeemer. Who has all things in Himself
and provides all for us out of His love. It says this in Jeremiah
31. I've loved you with an everlasting
love, therefore have I drawn thee. This is the way he does
for his people. There's so much we could point
out here, but he kissed Rachel. He loved her and he didn't mind
showing it. The Lord Jesus Christ staked
himself on that cross. and stretched out his arms, and
he cried to his father, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? It was a declaration of his love for his people, so all the
world could hear." He's not going to make it a secret. He says
in Revelation, I will bring those who are of the synagogue of Satan
to know that I have loved you. And in John 17 he says, Father
I will that those that you've given me be with me where I am.
And he also says that the world may know that they are loved. Look at this in John 17. I'm
not getting it just right. The high priestly prayer of Christ
for his people. In John 17 he says this in verse
22. Verse 21. Verse 20, "...neither pray I
for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me
through their word." He's praying for his people before they're
born. Those ordained to eternal life and therefore they believe
on him. that they all may be one as thou, Father, art in me,
and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world
may believe that thou hast sent me, and the glory which thou
gavest me I have given them, that they may be one, even as
we are one, I in them, thou in me, that they may be made perfect
in one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me,
and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that
they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that
they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou
lovest me before the foundation of the world. His glory. His glory is great in His salvation,
isn't it? Psalm 21 verse 5, His glory. We're going to behold His glory
because He suffered more than any man in order to have a treasure
immeasurably costly and immeasurably dear to Him. Remember the Hebrew
servant? He came to his master without
a wife. He served his master, but he
served his master in order to fulfill his debt to his master. While he was with his master,
his master gave him a wife and they had children. He and his
wife had children together, and then it was a time for him to
go out, and his master told him, You're free to go. You're free
to go. But since I gave you the wife, and you had children by
her, the wife and the children are still mine. But you're free
to go. In Exodus 21, verses 2-6. And the servant would come to
his master and said, I love my master. And I love my wife. and I love my children and I
will not go out free." And so his master would take him to
the doorpost and hold his ear up to the doorpost and take an
awl and bore his ear through And in Psalm 40 he says, And
our Lord Jesus Christ is that servant who loved his master,
loved his wife, loved his children, would not go out free, but would
serve him forever. That's love. The Lord Jesus Christ
came, made himself a servant, laid aside his reputation as
son of God, took our nature, and in that nature obeyed his
father even unto death, rose from the dead in triumph and
glory. And yet, even in glory, he now advocates for us. He now orders all of of the world
and everything as the supreme ruler of all things for his people. Because I've loved you, I've
drawn you to myself in loving kindness." And he doesn't do
it in a way where there's thunder and lightnings and the earth
opening up. He speaks through his word, through
the soft, tender wooing of his word. Wooing us by the love of
his own heart. God's love. God's love is in
Christ. Ephesians 1.4, He's chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be
holy and without blame before Him in love. All of God's love
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And His love is everlasting.
His love is everlasting. Jeremiah 31.3, you know the words.
I've loved you with an everlasting love, and that's what He drew
us. His love is sovereign and free. Remember, He says, I didn't
set my love upon you or choose you because you were more in
number than any people. You were the fewest of people,
but because the Lord loved you. Deuteronomy 7, verse 7 and 8. And in Hosea 14.4, He says, I
will love them freely. That's sovereign love. His love
is saving, remember? In Zephaniah he says, "...that
the Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty, He will save. He will rejoice over thee with
joy. He will rest in His love." All those the Lord loves, He
saves. What kind of love would it be
to leave a sinner? A poor, helpless, ruined sinner,
lost, subject to the wrath of God. What kind of love would
that be? But God, by His love, He rests in His love. He will
save us from our sins. That's what love does. Love covers
a multitude of sins. That's what Christ did. 2 Thessalonians
2, he says, we're bound to give thanks to God for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation. Christ's love is unquenchable.
Unquenchable, undeserved, and unearnable. It says in Song of
Solomon, look at this with me, Song of Solomon. It's after Proverbs. Song of Solomon. In fact, I guess
it's after Ecclesiastes too. Chapter 8 and verse 6. Listen
to these words. This is a prayer of the bride
to the husband, to the bridegroom. She's praying by the inspiration
of the Spirit of God, what's already on his heart. And she
asks him this. This is like Rachel asking this
of Jacob. Or the woman at the well asking
Jesus. Or you, a sinner, asking the Lord Jesus to do this for
you. Set me as a seal upon thine heart. A seal is that thing that
you put on something to identify it as yours. The king would put
his seal on something. Lord, set me as a seal upon your
heart. And as a seal upon thine arm,
make it public upon the strength of your arm by your saving grace.
What is this power of God? It's Christ and Him crucified,
declared to us in the Gospel. For love is strong as death. It's stronger than death. Jealousy
is cruel as the grave. The coals thereof are coals of
fire, which hath the most vehement flame. Many waters, the waters
of God's wrath, the waters, whatever it takes, the floods, whatever
it takes, many waters cannot quench love. Neither can the
floods drown it. If a man would give all the substance
of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned. It would
be considered worse. It would be an insult to love. Love cannot be bought. Love cannot
be repaid. Love cannot be earned. Christ's
love for his people is both unquenchable and unearnable. It covers all
sins. It saves. And His love never
changes. His love never changes for His
own. It's as hot at this time in history
as it was at the cross. It is as fervent now as it was
in eternity when He first pledged Himself by His word to lay His
life down for His people. And it will be just as warm when
He receives us into glory as it is now, because He's guiding
every circumstance, He's patient, working everything for our good.
This is the love of the Lord Jesus Christ that caused Him
to lay His life down for us. God gave His Son, He gave His
life, He gave Himself, and the Spirit of God raised us while
we were yet sinners. This is the love of the Lord
Jesus for His own people. It's a love of promise, a strong
love, a love that cannot fail. He will have the objects of his
love. He will be a successful Savior. Back to Genesis chapter 29. Let's
close this down. It says, And Laban said to Jacob,
Because thou art my brother, shouldst thou therefore serve
me for nothing? Laban. Are you kidding? You're going to make Jacob your
servant for your daughter's hand in marriage? But notice. So Laban asked Jacob in verse
15, tell me what shall their wages be? Laban had two daughters. The name of the elder was Leah.
The name of the younger was Rachel. And Leah was tender-eyed, but
Rachel was beautiful and well-favored. And Jacob loved Rachel and said,
I will serve thee for seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter.
Jacob's the one that proposed the amount. I'm going to serve
you for seven years for Rachel your younger daughter. He probably
thought, that's more than enough. He'll be well satisfied for seven
years service. But Laban had another plan in
view. But notice it says, in verse
19, Laban said, "...is better that I should give her to thee,
than that I should give her to another man..." You're my own
brother, actually his nephew. "...abide with me. And Jacob
served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a
few days for the love he had to her." Look at Hosea chapter
12. In Hosea chapter 12, it says this, about the same incident,
Hosea 12.12, And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel
served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep. The Lord Jesus Christ came from
heaven, and he was hounded and persecuted and envied and hated
and murdered by men. But he came to remove the wrath
that was against us justly from God by his own death, and for
a wife he kept sheep." for a wife. He'll always keep us. He will
never leave us nor forsake us. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. Oh, that God would burn the words
of the Lord Jesus and his love for his people into our hearts
and make them a constant meditation so that we might love him and
worship him." Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we thank you for
your love for us, your people. We find our hearts so tentative
even to claim the love, but Your Word says it, and so we boldly
come. If we were to be reluctant to
come by Your blood, asking You for Your grace, believing the
love that You have for Your people, as You've told us to do, then
it would be our fault. We would be operating out of
a heart of unbelief because we would expect to find something
in us, or we would be timid because of our own propensity to think
that we're unable to fulfill the conditions. But Lord, help
us to see that all of our salvation and all of the love that's required
to save us from all of our sin is found not in us, but in you.
And we would never have loved you or known you had you not
first loved us and given yourself for us and made yourself known
to us in the gospel of your grace and sent your spirit to do just
that. Lord, we pray, do so now. Let
us know your presence in our life and hear your word and walk
day by day with the constant meditation and delight in our
souls that you have loved us. And let this enrapture our hearts
and endear us to you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.