There's no question about the
fact that Jacob was a very sinful man. We all know that because
everybody's sinful. Scripture says that, for all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Jacob was a
deceiver. He was a man of guile. He was selfish. He was jealous. He was a man who, a good bit
of his life, he lived his life in fear. And yet, he was also
a man of faith. Isn't it amazing that both fear
and faith can dwell in the same person? We believe God, but we
must acknowledge the fact that we seek to believe Him more,
and there are many times when we wonder if we have any faith
at all. Like our Lord's disciples on
the Sea of Galilee, when they said, Master, we perish. They're
in the midst of a storm, and here He is asleep in the back
of the boat, They awaken Him. And of course,
there's the Lord of glory. He's in that ship of grace. And
if you're in the ship of grace by God's mercy, you can't perish
because the Lord is with you. But the disciples like us, we
tend to forget that. They were worried and fearful.
And He rebuked the waves and the winds, and everything calmed
right down. Then He said to them, O ye of
little faith. And one reference says, how is
it that you don't have any faith? We ask God to give us more faith,
right? We all do. But isn't it good
to know that our salvation, our everlasting safety, is not dependent
upon our faithfulness, but His faithfulness. There's where our
assurance is. And we say, Lord, I believe,
help Thou mine unbelief. But though we believe not, 2
Timothy 2 says that, Paul says this, though we believe not,
We? You mean you too, Paul? Don't
you love the fact that the writers of Scripture, they identify themselves
as being sinful men just like we are? And he says, though we believe
not, we, all of us, though we believe not, though we go through
those spells of unbelief, yet, yet, God is always faithful. That's a cheerful, cheerful thought. The Lord is always faithful. The Lord has revealed Himself
to Jacob. He revealed Himself to him at
Bethel. And he saw in a dream, he saw
this ladder that reached all the way to heaven. And he looked
up and he saw the Lord up in heaven standing at the ladder. And we rejoice to know there
is a ladder to glory. There is one who spans the distance. There's a great gulf fixed between
us and God. Who can span the distance? Oh,
bless His name, there's a ladder. There's access to God. But it's
our Lord Jesus and His sacrifice upon the cross of Calvary. The
Lord had it after He revealed Himself to Jacob. And we would
call what happened to Jacob at Bethel, that's His conversion. That's His conversion. And the
Lord made several wonderful promises to Jacob. He said, In thy seed shall all the nations
of the earth." In thy seed. And that's singular, just like
He said to Jacob's grandfather Abraham. And that seed is our
Lord Jesus. God doesn't bless anybody except
in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. In thy seed, all kinds of people
are going to be blessed. Are you blessed tonight? Are
you blessed with faith? Are you blessed with confidence?
Are you blessed with a good hope through grace? You're blessed
through this seed. You're blessed through Christ
Jesus. The Lord said to him, I'm with you. I'll keep you. He said, I'll bring you again
to this land. I will not leave you until I
have done what I promised to do for you. And I tell you, all
the children of God here tonight, those who are watching, the Lord
will never leave you. He will never leave you till
He's finished that work that He began in you. Philippians
chapter 1 says that. Well, when will that be? Well,
that's when we'll get to glory. And of course, we'll be with
Him then. We'll be with Him. So Laban, Laban has, he's gotten
mad at Jacob now. And Jacob wasn't, he wasn't always
what he ought to have been. There's no question about that.
You know, when you try to sum up the life of Jacob, if you summed up, if you try
to sum up the life of Abraham, you might say he's a man of faith. If you endeavor to sum up with
one word, say, the life of Joseph, maybe the word purity might come
to mind. But there is no one word to kind
of sum up the life of Jacob. Because he's all over the place. As are we. See? As are we. And I would say of Jacob, he's
a many-sided man. But he belonged to God. God chose
him. The Lord told him, I chose you.
I've redeemed you. You're mine. He belonged to the
Lord. And though Laban didn't treat
Jacob fairly, he knew Laban knew the only reason he had been blessed
was for Jacob's sake. Now let me show you that. Go
back to chapter 30 and look at verse 27. And this will be a blessing to
you if you can see this. Chapter 30, verse 27. And Laban said unto Jacob, I
pray thee, if I have found favor in thine eyes, Terry, for I have
learned by experience that the Lord hath blessed me for your
sake." The Lord has blessed me for your
sake. And then look down a little bit
further in verse 30. He says, "...for it was little
which thou hadst before I came." Jacob talking. And it's now increased
unto a multitude. And Jacob says, "...the Lord
hath blessed thee since my coming." Both of them are in agreement.
The only reason God blessed Laban was because of Jacob. Now you
hear me well. The only reason God blesses us
is for Christ's sake. In fact, we were blessed in Christ
with all spiritual blessings before the world began. Now what
it says, that's what it says in Ephesians chapter 1, God has
blessed us in His Son. In His Son. Look at chapter 31 and verse
6. Look at chapter 31 and verse
6. Here's another statement we can
get a blessing out of, I believe. And ye know that Jacob's talking
to his wives. And ye know that with all my
power I have served your father. And I'll tell you what, we're
blessed in Christ Jesus who, with all of His power, He served
God. He served God. I know Jacob,
there's no question about the fact he's a sinful man, and in
many ways, he's not a picture of our Lord at all. But there
are heartsome ways in which he is a picture of our Lord. He
labored for his bride. Laban said, serve me seven years,
I'll give you Rachel. Of course, Jacob was deceived
and he married Leah. And Jacob, he called him on that.
And he said, you didn't do me right. And then Laban said, well,
I've got to go by the law. The law of our land says the
firstborn has got to marry first. And in all things spiritual,
God's holy law has got to be honored and upheld. So he married
Rachel then, served seven more years. And then he served six
years for all of his cattle. Twenty years he faithfully served
Laban. And he said, I did it with all
my heart. And I tell you, there is only
one who perfectly served the Father in order to have the bride
of His choosing. And that's our Lord Jesus Christ.
Behold His life of obedience, a life of perfection, a life
of living in full accord with the law of God. His obedience
in His life, that's my obedience. That's your obedience. We've
obeyed the law in Christ Jesus, haven't we? Well, sure we have.
And then the penalty of God's law, because there's a penalty
for all of our sins and our lawlessness. Well, he served God there too,
because he died for our sins according to the scriptures.
He labored. He labored. And his own words
are these, you know that with all my power, as best I could,
I served your father. And I'll tell you what, our Lord
Jesus, His service was a perfect service. Now He served the Father
for the Bride. For the Bride. The Lord Jesus. Well, the Lord now commands him,
leave labor. This is time for a separation.
Go back home. Go back to your Father. Go back
to the land of Canaan. And so he's getting ready to
go. But Jacob knew this. Look at verse 7. Still talking
to Rachel and Leah. Your father has deceived me. He's changed my way just ten
times. But God wouldn't let him hurt
me. God wouldn't let him lay a hand
on me. The Lord protects His sheep.
He keeps His sheep safe. He always does and He always
will. The Lord watched over, He cared
for this man Jacob. and though he was a scoundrel,
there's no question about that. If we are a bit perplexed by
the blessings of God in the midst of this very sinful environment,
the sins of this man, remember this, if we're perplexed, how
could God bless such a man? Remember this, divine blessings
are not conditioned upon the merits of the sinner, but of
the mercy of God in Christ Jesus. That's right. I know that's right. Say, I don't deserve any of the
blessings of God. Well, I'm not gonna argue with
you. I agree with you. I don't deserve any of his blessings
either. but He blesses me with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. And you know what? That just
brings out thanksgiving. That causes us to want to magnify
and glorify the name of our God. Look at chapter 31. Let me read
a couple of verses more. Verse 17 and 18. Okay. Both the wives say, let's go,
we're with you. We're with you. That's what they
said in verse 16 essentially. Whatever God has said to you,
do. Let's go. Verse 17, and so Jacob
rose up. He set his sons and his wives
upon camels. He carried away all the cattle
and all the goods which he had gotten, the cattle of his getting,
which he had gotten in Padan Aram for to go to Isaac, his
father in the land of Canaan. Here we go. Meanwhile, meanwhile,
back on the farm of Laban, Verse 19, Laban, he goes to shear the
sheep. And Rachel, she had stolen the
images, the little gods that were her father's. And Jacob,
he went away unawares to Laban the Syrian in that he told him
not that he had fled. She didn't believe in these idols.
She wanted the silver and the gold. She and Leah had already
said, did our Father give us anything? Well, no. She said, well, I'll get something
from Him. Rachel said, so I'll get the
little gods of silver and gold. Some say that those gods were
shaped like angels. But they were just very, very
small so you could put them up on a mantle. What in the world is a man doing
with gods of silver and gold when the heavens declare the
glory of the true God? But they like little gods. Little
gods. So, she's up on the camel and
had like saddlebags and she hid these little idols. these figurines
or whatever you want to call them of gold and silver. She
hid them. And now they're going on their
journey and Laban, he's out shearing the sheep. And he goes in, maybe
he goes in to worship his little gods and says, somebody stole
my gods. Somebody took my gods. And he
found out Jacob and the wives had a three-day head start on
him. So he gets some men together,
and after seven days, they catch up with him. They're sitting
out on this journey himself, and he goes and he overtakes
Jacob. Look down at verse 29. He finds
Jacob, catches up with Jacob and Leah and Rachel and the two... concubines and the rest of them. He says to Jacob, it is in the
power of my hand to hurt you, but the God of your father spake
to me yesterday night saying, take heed that thou speak not
to Jacob either good or bad. Leave him alone. And now, watch this, though thou
wouldest needs be gone, because thou wast sore longest after
thy father's house, yet wherefore hast thou stolen my gods? Why
did you steal my gods? And Jacob answered and said unto
Laban, because I was afraid, the reason he left without announcing
his leaving, he was afraid, he was fearful of him. He said,
For I said, Peradventure thou wouldst take by force thy daughters
from me. With whomsoever thou findest
thy gods, let him not live. He didn't know Rachel had taken
them. Before our brethren discern thou
what is thine with me, and take it unto thee. For Jacob knew
not that Rachel had stolen. Now watch this. So Laban, he
goes into Jacob's tent. He searches. He's seeking his
gods. Is this a sincere search? It sure is. Is he serious about
it? He's dead serious about it. He
searches Jacob's tent. He comes out, he goes into Leah's
tent. And he searches. He can't find
him. Then he goes into the two maidservant's
tents, but he found them not. And then he went out of Leah's
tent and entered into Rachel's tent. Now Rachel had taken the
images and put them in the camel's furniture and sat upon them. And Laban searched all the tent,
but he didn't find them. And she said to her father, let
it not displease my father that I cannot rise up before thee,
for the custom of the women is upon me. It's my time of the
month. And he searched but found not the images." Now here's the
point I want to make. This is an all out search. Here's a man who is convinced
these gods of his bring him some kind of good fortune and protect
him in some way. And he doesn't leave one stone
unturned in this serious search for his gods. But even if he had found them,
they couldn't help him. My friends, my brothers and sisters,
those of you out in the Internet land, God helped us to search for the
Lord with all of our hearts. He said, you'll find Me. You'll
find Me. Laban, you cannot doubt his sincerity
in this. But he's just wrong. These gods
can't help him. God said He can move around?
God said Rachel can hide in her saddlebags? What kind of God
is that? That's what they said to David
in Psalm 115. David, we've got our gods, we
see them, we got them up on the mantelpiece and we put a bowl
of rice in front of them or a banana or something like that and we'll
change it out tomorrow. We see our gods, where's your
god? Where is your God? And I'm going
to preach from this Sunday night, Psalm 115. David said, our God's
in the heavens. He's done whatsoever He's pleased.
That's our God. These gods couldn't do anything.
Couldn't do anything good, couldn't do anything bad. They're helpless. They'd be carried around. Our God rules over all. So much for the gods. He couldn't
find them. These feeble, useless gods. I
like what David said in Psalm 146 verse 5. Happy is he that
hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord
his God. Jacob's hope, Jacob's confidence,
Jacob's assurance was based upon the one true and living God who
had revealed Himself to Jacob through that angel of the covenant,
the Lord Jesus Christ. But Laban's hope and his confidence
and his assurance were based upon the gods that had been stolen
and hidden in the saddlebags of Rachel. And though he was serious, it was to no avail. You know,
folks, there are people all around us that are very sincere and
serious about their religion, aren't they? We know that. But they don't know God, because
you don't know God unless you hear the gospel of His grace. Let's you hear who God is in
His sovereignty, in His greatness, in His holiness. Let's you hear
what kind of shape we're in, how bad off we are, and let's
you hear who Christ Jesus is, who the only Savior is, and that
He came down here on a mission of mercy which He accomplished. He saved His people from their
sins. Oh God, help anybody here or
out there who's leaning on a false god. I hope and pray that the Lord
will kill that false god in your mind and in your heart. Because
he's nothing. He's nothing. Well, let me give you this. No,
quit. Jacob, he listened to what Laban
had to say, and finally he has enough. And so he says in verse
36, he's listening to Laban go on and on, and Jacob was wroth. And he chode with Laban. And
Jacob answered and said unto Laban, What is my trespass? What
is my sin that thou hast so hotly pursued after me? Whereas thou
hast searched all my stuff, what hast thou found of all thy household
stuff? Set it here before my brethren
and thy brethren, that they may judge between us both. If ye
found your gods, pull them out. And he says, these 20 years have
I been with you, and thy ewes and thy she-goats have not cast
their young, and the rams of thy flock have I not eaten. Look at verse 39. That which was torn of beasts
I brought not unto thee. I bear the loss of it. of my hand didst thou require
it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. Thus I was in
the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night my
sleep departed from mine eyes." And I think about our Lord Jesus
again. How He was attacked. He was so
mocked. ready to stone Him, ready to
kill Him. Jacob said, I bear the loss of
it myself to save your sheep. And I tell
you what, our Lord Jesus, He bore the loss to save the Father's
sheep. During the day, the drought,
as it were, would consume Him. And the frost by night Verse
40 says, My sleep departed from mine eyes. I think about our
Lord Jesus up on the mountain, praying all night. Praying all
night. Serving the Father. He even told
the Pharisees in John 8, I always do those things that please my
Father. Jacob says, we're going to have
to go our separate ways. And he says, let's enter into
a covenant on this. And he did. Let me just read
verse 43. Chapter 31, verse 43. And Laban
answered and said unto Jacob, These daughters are my daughters,
these children are my children, these cattle are my cattle, and
all that thou seest is mine. And what can I do this day unto
these my daughters, or unto their children whom they have born?
Now therefore, come thou, let's make this covenant, I and thou,
and let it be for witness between me. between me and thee." Jacob
took a stone. He set it up for a pillar. Jacob
said unto his brethren, gather stones. They took stones and
made a heap. And they did eat there upon the
heap. And then Laban, he piled some
stones together. And what they did, they entered
into a covenant. that Jacob was saying, I won't
pass over your way, I'll leave you alone, and you won't pass
over my way, you'll leave me alone. Going to enter into a
covenant. Look down at verse 52. this heap of stones be witness,
and this pillar be witness, Laban says, that I will not pass over
this heap to thee, and that thou shalt not pass over this heap
and this pillar unto me for harm. The God of Abraham, and the God
of Nahor, the God of their father, Judge Betwixtus, and Jacob, he
sware by the fear of his father Isaac. But Jacob did something
else. in this covenant. He offered
a sacrifice on the mount. You see, in the Word of God,
these covenants, these covenants that God makes with us that involve
blessings like the covenant He made with Abraham, the covenant
He made with Isaac and Jacob, and go all the way back to the
everlasting covenant of grace. You know how those covenants
were sealed? With a sacrifice. Blood. Blood. So Jacob offered
sacrifice upon the mount, and then he and his brethren feasted
together. And I want to give you one reference
if you would go to the New Testament with me. Hebrews chapter 13.
Look at Hebrews chapter 13. Look at verse 20. Hebrews 13 verse 20. Now I direct your attention to
another covenant, the covenant of grace, the everlasting covenant
of grace. Now the God of peace, the writer
of Hebrews says, the God of peace that brought again from the dead
our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, all through the
blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good
work to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing
in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and
ever. Amen. I'll tell you, the Lord
has sealed His covenant with the bloody death of His Son. And nobody's ever going to break
that covenant. And in that covenant of grace,
the names of God's elect are recorded. It's in a book called
the Lamb's Book of Life. And nobody can nullify that covenant
because that covenant has been sealed with the blood of our
Savior, the great shepherd of the sheep, the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank God for such a Savior.
Well, let's close it.