New Year. Turn with me to Genesis 28. I
was sitting there thinking, we moved into this building, had
our first service on January the 6th, 1991. As the Indians say, that's many
moons ago. That's how fast I can remember
it just as well as yesterday. And here we are, the first Sunday
now of 2016. A lot goes on. I was trying to figure it out,
but my brain won't kick in gear enough to do that. That's all
I can do is think about preaching trying to less do math. But look
over here with me first of all in Genesis 27. Let me start reading
at verse 41. Genesis 27, 41. And Esau hated Jacob, because
of the blessing wherewith his brother blessed him. And Esau
said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at
hand. Then, will I slay my brother
Jacob? And these words of Esau, her
elder son, were told to Rebekah, and she sent and called Jacob
her younger son, and said unto him, Behold, thy brother Esau,
as touching thee, doeth comfort himself, purposing to kill thee. Now therefore, my son, obey my
voice, and arise, flee thou to Laban, my brother, to Haran.
And tarry there with him a few days until thy brother's fury
turn away, until thy brother's anger turn away from thee, and
he forget which thou hast done to him. Then I will send and
face thee from thence. Why should I be deprived also
of both of you in one day? Now, in verse 10 of chapter 28. And Jacob went out from Beersheba,
and went toward Haran. And he lighted upon a certain
place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set.
And he took of the stones of that place, and put them for
his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed,
and behold, a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it
reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God
ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above
it and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham, thy father, and the
God of Isaac, the land whereon thou lies, to thee will I give
it and to thy seed. And thy seed shall be as the
dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, to
the east, to the north, and to the south. And in thee and in
thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And
behold, I am with thee. and will keep thee in all places
whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land,
for I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have
spoken to thee of.' And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and
he said, Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said,
How dreadful is this place! This is none other but the house
of God, and this is the gate of heaven. And Jacob rose up
early in the morning and took the stone that he had put for
his pillars, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon
the top of it. And he called the name of that
place Bethel, that is, the house of God. But the name of that
city was called Luz at the first. And Jacob vowed a vow saying
if God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go
and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on so that
I come again to my father's house in peace then shall the Lord
be my God and this stone which I have set for a pillar shall
be shall be God's house and of all that thou shalt give me I
will surely give the 10th unto thee. Our Father, in the blessed name
of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, the one we sang about,
the very lover of our soul, that covers our defenseless head,
that's blood put away all our sin, you're the very life, fountain
of life, and we bless you that our life is from you, and that
you, in your sovereign mercy, saw fit to bring us to yourself,
to reveal yourself to us and make us your willing, willing,
willing, willing people. People that willingly bow, willingly
call, willingly embrace, willingly believe. Because, oh Lord, what
you did for us, we bless you for it. And I thank you, Lord,
that you've brought us hither to another year, another day,
another time to worship you. To trust you, you kept us believing
last year. And we trust that you'll keep
us believing and cleaving this year. And whatever you send our
way, whatever you've purposed for us from day to day, Lord,
help us always to bless you and to praise you and thank you,
whatever it may be. The Lord, you're too wise to
do wrong, too good to be unkind. And Lord, we bow and submit our
lives and hearts and homes and family into your blessed hand
to do with it as it seemeth good in your sight. And Lord, we'll do as Job will
bow down and worship you and say the Lord gave and the Lord
taketh away whatever it may be. And I ask Lord Jesus that you
would bless these dear families, these homes, These mothers, these
fathers, these grandmas, grandpas. God bless them. Lord, meet their
needs. Strengthen them, encourage them.
Direct their steps and direct all of our steps. And may we
always say every day, the Lord is God and beside Him there is
none other. May we say every day, the Lord
Jesus Christ is my Savior, my Redeemer. my strength, my stay,
my help and my hope, my righteousness in this world. May we say it
every day. And our Father, we ask that the
gospel run well here today. And that you'd bring glory to
yourself in this service. For Christ's sake we pray. Amen. Amen. Now back here in Genesis 28 with
me. James gave me a couple of things
off of some churches. One of them says, be a fountain,
not a drain. And this week's sermon, fixer-upper. Fixer-upper. I often say, hell ain't half
full. Well, let's go back here in Genesis
28. And I want to deal with these
verses 10 through 22. And Jacob went out from Beersheba
and went toward Aran. And he lied upon a certain place
and tarried there all night because the sun was set. And he took
of the stones of that place and put them for his pillars and
lay down at that place to sleep. And he dreamed a dream and a
ladder set up on the earth and the top of it reached to heaven.
Behold the angels of God ascending and descending upon it. And behold, the Lord stood above
and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham, thy father, and the
God of Isaac, the land whereon thou liest. To thee will I give
it, and to thy seed. Now Jacob is in trouble. His
brother had said, I'm going to kill him. Just as quick as my
daddy dies, I'm going to kill that boy. I'm going to kill my
brother. I'm going to slay him. He had hate in his heart. He
had murder in his heart. He had jealousy in his heart
for his own brother. And he says, because of the way
he did, I'm going to kill him when I get the opportunity. I'm going to kill him. And so
Jacob was in trouble. And his mother said, listen,
you've got to get out of here. You've got to get away from here.
And I want you to go back to my father's house. I want you
to go back to my father's house, back over to Laban's house. And it's when we're in trouble,
when it appears that all is against us, God intervenes. God intervenes. And he gave Jacob
a vision here and God intervened in this man's life. That ladder
came down from heaven and he said, I am the Lord thy God.
I am the Lord thy God. And he brings all, he brings
us to these places when we're in trouble, when it appears like
all is against us, he intervenes and he does it to bring glory
to himself. He puts us in these situations. He put Jacob in this situation.
It was God who put Jacob in this condition. It was God who made
him lie down that night and put his Pillars as stones for pillars
and God has to put us in certain places And he always has to do
it. He has to intervene in our life
if he doesn't intervene in our lives We'll do just like Jacob
will go on deceiving supplanting Manipulating worrying and fretting
and trying to get ahead in this life. I But God has always put
his people that he intends to bless and intends to do something
for in some awful situations to save them. He puts them in
some awful situations to save them. It's like the three Hebrew
children in the fire. He put that in that fire that
put all those Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in a fire just so
that he could bring glory to himself. He let those men suffer
in the sense that they were going to be put in that fire. And the
Lord Jesus Christ went in there with them. And what he puts us
in these situations to bring glory to himself. Daniel was
put in the lion's den. Why? So God could bring glory
to himself in saving him from the lions. God brought glory
to himself in saving him from the fire. When Stephen preached
his message and Acts chapter 7. And they stoned him, pick
up stones and stoned him to death. And as he was dying, God opened
the heavens so he could see the Lord Jesus Christ himself standing
to receive him into glory. And John was an old, old man. And they exiled him to the Isle
of Patmos after they had done tried to kill him and God wouldn't
let them. And he was an old, old man, but he was exiled to
the Isle of Patmos. And when he's on the Isle of
Patmos, that's when the revelation comes. When everybody says, you
got to get out of here, we don't want you around. And God put
him on the Isle of Patmos, that's when the revelation comes. It's
when God puts us alone and puts us in a terrible situation to
bring glory to himself. He always intervenes. And here
it is, it's darkest of night. And as he's laying there, leaving
because of his hatred of his brother, because he was afraid
of being killed by his brother and his mother thought, I'll
lose Jacob and then I'll lose my own son for the murder that
he committed and he'll have to die for the murder that he committed.
So it was in the darkness of night, stones, he's got laying
down there and stones are his pillar. And as he's laying there,
a ladder comes down from heaven. And as he's laying there in this
awful, awful condition, the ladder came down. And you know what
God did? God made himself known to Jacob. And it's only in these times
that God makes himself known to us. He's got to go to Petaram. He's fleeing for his life. He
is fleeing because of his sin, because of his deceiving, and
because of his supplanting, he had to leave. Now, I want you
to look at Jacob's condition. First of all, it says in verse
10, He went out from Beersheba and went toward Aram. And look
what it says, He lighted upon a certain place and tarried there
all night, because the sun was set and he took the stones of
that place and put him for his pillows and lay down in that
place to sleep. Now Jacob's condition, he was
a wanderer, he was miserable, He was a fugitive. And that's
the condition we are as men that are lost without any help, without
any hope. And his condition, it was dark.
It was night. There was no comfort for him
in the place that he lay down, no comfort for the pillars. He
tarried there all night because the sun was set. He was a fugitive. He was running for his life.
And beloved, I tell you what, men without God, without Christ,
They are in the darkest night. I mean, the dark, you don't realize
how dark the night is. You don't realize how dark the
place where you're at is like. And here He was, the sun was
set. And I tell you what, you don't
want the sun to set on you unless God causes it to set on you.
But if He causes it to set on you, He's gonna come to you in
that night, in that darkness where the sun sets, and everything's
miserable, and you feel miserable, and you're running from something,
you're running from your sin, you're running as a fugitive,
you're running from your deception, you're running from your sin,
and if God brings you to a certain place, And it's dark. And look what it says. Night
caught him in a certain place. You know God has a certain place
prepared for every one of his people. He met us in a certain
place. Every single one of us was met.
And he prepared that certain place for us. And you go through
the scriptures. You go through your own life.
I can remember vividly when God began to start teaching me the
gospel. He had me at certain places to hear certain messages,
to be confronted with certain truths that I had never been
confronted with before. He made me get in contact and
be at places. I was in a fundamentalist camp
meeting down in Resaca, Georgia. And while I was down there, there
were some tapes laying there of a fellow named Rolf Barnard.
And I picked them up. And I heard things from that
man that I didn't even know was in the Bible. And it turned me
every way but loose. And then from that, as I started
listening to it, I started reading good books, and then the next
thing I heard Henry Mahan's name mentioned, and I thought he was
dead because Barnard was already gone. And come to find out, I
was up in Portsmouth, Ohio, and a fellow said, looky here, Henry
Mahan ain't dead, he's got a church up in Ashland, Kentucky on 13th
Street. I called him on the phone, and away I went. Certain places. How did I find, why was I, I
was at a fundamentalist camp meeting. Works, works, works,
works, works. And got a hold of a tape by a
fella named Rolf Martin. And my whole life changed after
that, a certain place. There's a certain place where
you hear things, a certain place where the truth comes, a certain
place, and I tell you what, and it don't get comfortable when
these things happen. It wasn't comfortable for me
to hear those things. It wasn't comfortable for me
to have to deny, start denying all of my righteousness and all
of my works and all of my deeds and all the things that I've
done. It wasn't comfortable. But God has these places prepared
for. Zacchaeus, why in the world is
he doing up a tree? God put him up a tree. Why was
that woman doing at the well at high noon? Because Christ
put her at that well. That's where he's going to meet
those two people. And I tell you like that thief
on the cross. Our Lord Jesus Christ put a man
on a cross beside him so he could make himself known to him. Now
that fellow, you know he was suffering. That was an awful
place to be. He's dying, and he's going to
die. He's going out into eternity.
But Christ put him on a cross for one reason, and we sung it,
Lord, if thou remember me. Huh? And he put Paul the apostle
on a certain place at a certain time on a Damascus road with
hatred in his heart, with enmity in his heart, and then all of
a sudden Christ came to him. Where at? When that certain place.
Huh? And oh, may God put you in that
certain place. You may be in that certain place
right now. I know that if you're hearing
the gospel it's where God put you for that particular time
to hear the gospel. God don't put you under the sound
of the gospel just so you can say I go to church and just say
I go here preaching just because I like that place and I like
that preacher and I like the people. God don't put you under
the sound of the gospel just so you can hear a sermon every
week. And, oh, listen, and old Jacob,
he's like every other self-righteous sinner seeking to have a successful
life, a wonderful life. And he was living in his, and
he had no reality about him. He deceived, and him and his
mother deceived and supplanted. And here he was, and then all
of a sudden he's good, and the sun set on him. God caused the sun to set on
you, huh? And it went down, and he had
no comfort. It says he used stones for his
pillar. My goodness. Stones for a pillar. That's a
tough place to lay down, ain't it? That's a tough way to live. And then look what happened now.
And then in verse 12, look what happened. And he dreamed a dream. And behold, a ladder set upon
the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold,
the angels of God ascending and descending on it. Told you God
put him in a certain place. What is he going to do to him
then? Oh, listen, he saw this ladder. It started way down here,
but it didn't stop until it went out of sight. And then he looked
up and there was angels coming down and going up. Angels coming
down and going up. And the first thing this ladder
represented to Jacob was this. The awful, awful distance between
where he was and where that ladder reached. The awful, awful distance
between him and God. Here are the ladders on the earth,
touching the earth. That's where he's at. But it
reached all the way into heaven itself. And all he could see
was, I can't get up there. I can't get up there. It was
an awful distance between him and God. And I tell you, up to
this point in his life, he had never had any dealings with God,
and God had no dealings with him. That never happened yet. And I test what God does. He
shows us the awful, awful distance between us and Him. I tell you
there's a distance between us and God even as believers. The
distance between us and God is incomparable. I mean there's
no way in the world we can figure. God is pure Holy Spirit. He dwells in a life that no man
can approach. And all the distance, but for
a lost man and God, the distance is so great. He's spirit, we're
flesh. He's living, we're dying. He's
holy, immaculately holy, infinitely holy, eternally holy, immutably
holy. Righteousness is His very nature. He lives in the beauties of holiness. He inhabits eternity. And here
we are, creatures of time and space. We occupy the space we're
in. And God, the space, the heavens
of heavens can't contain Him. And we can only occupy. I'm right
here, and I can't get away from here unless I move. But God don't
have to move. Eternity can't contain Him. Oh, the awful distance between
people and God, even us as believers. But bless God, we, one of these
days, because we do know Him, we can go to Him, we can call
on Him, we can look to Him, and one of these days, we'll go where
He's at. And oh, listen, but this ladder
also, not only that, but it tells us How this revelation tells us
how the distance is bridged, how it's spanned, how you can
get from here to there. It tells us how this is spanned
when he gives us this revelation. How the distance is bridged and
how it stands. Now you keep Genesis 28 and look
over here in John Chapter 1. John's Gospel Chapter 1. This not only just shows the
distance but shows how this distance is bridged, how this distance
is spanned. Oh listen, listen to what it
says here. And he said in verse 51, John's
Gospel chapter 1 verse 51. Look what it says now. And he saith unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, hereafter, you shall see heaven open, and
the angels of God ascending and descending. Upon who? The Son
of Man. He's not only showing the distance,
but he also shows him how this distance is spanned. Oh, listen,
before he tried to get the blessings of God by deceit, now now a new
way is revealed unto him there's a way there's a distance between
us and god but there's a way and our lord jesus christ said
you know the way to get there i'm the way to get there He says,
you want to know the truth? I'm the truth. You want life? You're going to have to get it
from me. And no man, no man, no man goes under the Father,
comes under the Father, but by me. If you're going to go up
to God, you're going to come through me. If you're going to
speak to God, you're going to speak through me. And if God's
going to speak to you, he's going to come through me and speak
to you. He's that one that that great, you know, Job said it
this way. However, he was going down to
a pit. He says, Oh, Lord, he was in a pit and he's going down
to a pit. And the Lord said, deliver him from going down to
the pit. I found a ransom. And that's
what happened here. Oh, listen, set on the earth
and reached all the heaven. And the ladder came to where
Jacob was. And listen to it, the ladder
came to where Jacob was and it reached back to heaven where
God was. And our Lord Jesus Christ, and bless His name, He reaches,
because He became a man, He can reach us as men. And because
He's God, He can reach God. And He brings the two together
and reconciles them through the blood of His blessed cross. Makes
us to be one through His blessed death. through His sacrifice. And oh, if you never ever, if
I never, if I get to continue to get to preach, if I continue
to get to preach, I'm going to make, I'm going to keep hammering
on this one nail. I'm going to keep plucking on
this one string. I'm going to be Johnny One Note.
There's one way to God. One way to salvation. One way of access. One righteousness. One life. One truth. And I tell you what, one, one,
one, one. And that's Jesus Christ the Lord
of Glory. I'm going to pluck that string
and pluck that string and pluck that string. He's the only one
that can put away your sin. He's the only one make you acceptable
to God. He's the only one that gives
you access to God. He's the only one who shed his
blood. He's the only one who did an
absolute perfect work. He's the only one who satisfied
God. He's the only one who did anything
that God would say, I'm well pleased with him. He ain't never
been pleased with anybody else on this earth. And I'm going
to pluck that string until somebody says, well, I see it now. They can talk about Muslims,
they can talk about Buddhists, they can talk about Catholics,
they can talk about Baptists, they can talk about everything
they want to talk about. But I'm telling you, God says,
this is my beloved son, and there's only one person I want you to
hear, and that's Him. There's only one way in the world
you can come to the Father, and that's by me. And I'm going to keep plucking
that string. I'm going to just keep plucking
it. I tell you what, that's my refuge. That's my refuge. That's
my hiding place. Oh, listen, I don't want God
mad at me. So who's my defense? The Lord
Jesus Christ. Oh, my. And now look back over
here in verse chapter 28. Look at this with me. Look what he said, here's God's
sovereign grace, sovereign mercy. And behold, the Lord stood above
on this ladder now. Listen, he's at the top of this
ladder. He's talking from heaven. And he said, I am the Lord God
of Abraham thy father and the God of Isaac. Huh? Oh my. and thy seed shall be as the
dust of the earth, and shall spread abroad to the west, to
the east, to the north, to the south, and in thy seed shall
all the families of the earth be blessed. And behold, I am
with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest,
and will bring thee again into this land, for I will not leave
thee until I have done that which I have spoken." Now here is God's
wondrous sovereign grace. Jacob is a fugitive. He's fleeing
for his life. What has he done to deserve God
speaking to him? God revealing himself to him.
God coming to him. God, did he have any merit? What
caused God to do this for him? I'll tell you, this is God's
way. He chooses the foolish. He said, O thou worm, Jacob.
He chooses the foolish. He chooses the vile. He chooses
the one that's the deceiver. He chooses those who have nothing
to give and have nothing at all and gives them everything and
gives them everything. Now, look what God says to him
here in verse 15. God reveals himself and his will
to Jacob. And the first thing he says,
Behold, I am with thee. I am the Lord. In verse 13, excuse
me. And behold, the Lord God stood
above it. God standing up, standing above,
and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham and Isaac. He said, I'm
a covenant God. I'm a faithful God. When I make
a promise to a man, I'll keep my promise. He entered into a
covenant with Abraham. And I'll tell you what, he was
Abraham's righteousness, and he said, I am the Lord God of
thy father. I'm the God of covenant. I'm the God that I enter into
covenant with you. I'm the God who makes promises.
I'm the God who keeps. I'm the God that's standing above
you. I'm way up here in heaven and
you're way down there. I'm a faithful God. I'm a covenant
God. I am the Lord God. Look what
else he says about it. Fourfold provision for Jacob.
And this is the same thing with us. And look what he says to
him down in verse 15. He promises his presence and
he says, behold, I am with thee. I'm going to stay with you. I'm
with you. Esau wasn't with him. Esau wasn't
for him. His mother and daddy were scared
for him. But God said, I am with thee. Oh, my. Did God say that to you? I'm
with you. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, I'll
never leave you and I'll never forsake you. Having loved his
own, he loved them unto the end of the world. You go through
this blessed book and how many times did you say, mine, my people,
my elect, my precious, my jewels, I'm with you. Look over here
in Exodus. Keep that and look in Exodus
33. Look in Exodus 33, I am with thee. And this is the promise
of God's elect, I am with you. If God can be for us, if God
is for us, who can be against us? Who shall lay anything to
the charge of God's elect? If God be for you, who in the
world can be against you? And look what he said here in
Exodus 33, in verse 14. And he said, My presence shall
go with thee, and I will give thee rest. And this is what Moses
said to the Lord. He said unto him, If thy presence
go not with me, carry us not up hence. I don't want to go
if you don't go with me. I don't want to go anywhere.
I don't want to make a move unless you go with me. I don't want
to go anywhere. I don't want to face anything. I don't want to deal with anybody
unless you go with me. For when shall it be known that here that I and thy people
have found grace in thy sight? How is everybody going to know
that we have found grace in your sight? Is it not that thou goest
with us? That is how we are going to know
that we are God's people and that we have found grace in God's
sight. It is that He goes with us. So
shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people
that are upon the face of the earth." And ain't that what he
does? He sets us apart, said, I'll go with you. And everybody,
you're going to know that my grace is with you. Why? Because
I'm going to go with you. I'm going to go with you. And
that's how we know we're God's elect. I'm going to go with you.
And then back over here in Genesis 28, let me show you that. Again
in verse 15. Not only going to give him his
presence, I am with thee, but he promised to protect him. And
he said, I'm going to keep you in all places. You're going to be in some awful
places, Jacob. You're going to go through some
awful things. And you got a whole life to live. And he says, you
know what I'm going to do with you? I'm going to keep you. Oh,
but you don't know what I'm going to do. Oh, yes, he does. I'm
going to keep you in all places, wherever you go, in any place
you're at, any situation you're at, I'm going to keep you. Ain't
that what our Lord says? All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me and him that cometh to me. There's nothing
in this world that will ever happen to make me cast him out.
And I bless him for that. If there was a reason for God
to cast somebody out, He'd have cast me out years and years and
years ago. He'd have cast me out for my
thoughts. He'd have cast me out for my
words. He'd have cast me out for my feelings. He'd have cast
me out for my unbelief. He'd have cast me out. But He
says, I'm gonna protect you. I'm gonna keep you. I'm going
to keep you. And in fact our Lord says no
man will able to pluck you out of my head or out of my father's
head. I'm going to keep you. And he that dwelleth under the
shadow of the Almighty dwelleth in safety is what it says. Dwells
in safety. And then look what he says again.
He said he's not only going to do that but he's going to preserve
him. I'm going to protect him. I'm going to preserve him. Again
in verse 15. I'll keep thee in all places
where you go, and I'll bring thee again into this land." You
know what he said? Here he is, I'm going to bring
you home. I'm going to bring you home. I'm going to bring
you home. You may be a stranger now, you
may be a fugitive, and you're going to have to, but I'm going
to be with you, I'm going to protect you, I'm going to preserve
you. And then here he is, and I'm going to turn around, and
I'm going to bring you all the way home. Now, when he talks
here about going back to his land, but I tell you what, we're
going to go to the promise. Do you reckon God will keep his
promise? Do you reckon he'll take us and bring us home? And
that's what he's telling Jacob, I'm going to bring you home.
And then look what he says there, look at the promise he made.
The last part of the verse. And I will not leave thee until
I've done that which I've spoken to thee of. I'll never leave
you. I'll never leave you until I
finish doing everything I promised to do for you. That's what he's
saying here. I'll not leave you until I've
kept every promise, until I've done everything I said I'd do
for you. And you know why he says that? It's because God will
never ever keep from not keeping his promises. And I'll tell you
what else. And you know when all the promises
will leave off? Whenever we go into glory. We
won't need promises anymore. Because we'll have the fulfillment
of all of them. Ain't that right? Until we enter glory. God's promises
are sure. Until we enter glory. And then
we won't need them anymore. Until He's done everything He's
promised us. And when we enter into glory. The promise is fulfilled
right then and there. Everything is fulfilled. We won't
need them anymore. We'll have Him Himself. Ah, now
look what it says. Look how many beholds are in
this. Verse 13. Behold the Lord. Then behold
the ladder. And behold the angels. Behold the Lord. Behold I am
with thee. That's what he said. Now let
me show you Jacob's response. Look at Jacob's response in verse
16. Look what Jacob did. And Jacob awaked out of his sleep,
and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew
it not. And he was afraid and said, How
dreadful is this place! There is none other but the house
of God, and this is the gate of heaven. And oh my, that's
what happens to felons when God makes Himself known to them,
when God reveals Himself to them. and gives him all these blessed
truths and these promises. He said, surely, surely the Lord
is in this place. And I didn't know it. We didn't
know where God was. We didn't know how God was until
he brought himself and made himself known. And you know what he said?
Instead of jumping up and clapping his hands, he said, hallelujah,
I found the Lord. You know what he said? How dreadful
is this place. Huh? God's here. God is here. This is the place where God's
at. Huh? Holy and reverend is His name. Oh my, our Lord is in this place
and I knew it not. That's what Isaiah said, when
I saw the Lord high and lifted up. You know what the first thing
he said? Woe is me. Woe is me. You keep this and
look in Revelations chapter 1. This idea, you know, that folks
have an easier, you know, that's why a lot of
people, because of our way we worship and the quietness and
the reverence and the listening to the scriptures and listening
to the message, some people can't stand that. They want noise. They want something lively. They
want something, some kind of response. But, oh, listen. God's in this place, wherever
God's at, you sit still and you listen to what he's got to say.
And look what he said here now in Revelations 1.12. Look what happens now. And I turned to see the voices
spake with me and being turned I saw seven golden candlesticks.
And in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto the
son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, gird about
the paps with a golden girdle, gird about all around his, and
his head and his hairs were white like wool, and white as snow,
and his eyes were as a flame of fire, and his feet like undefined
brass, and as if they burned in a furnace, and his voice as
the sound of many waters. Oh, we hear them creeks run,
and them rivers run, and all that, them big falls going. He
said, that's the way God's voice is. Like water running over Niagara
Falls. And he had in his right hand
seven stars. And out of his mouth went a sharp
two-edged sword, and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his
strength. You can't look that dead into
the sun. And then look what happens. And when I saw him, when I saw
him, I fell at his feet as dead. That's a first response a feller
has when he actually sees God. How in the world can God have
anything to do with me? You fall down, you're prostrate,
Daniel says, my comeliness turned into corruption. And this is
a place where God's at and God makes himself known to you. You
don't jump up and start, hallelujah, oh, I'm saved, I'm saved, I'm
saved. The first thing that happens to you is you say, oh, God, could
you possibly have anything to do with me? Huh? And then look what happens. And
he laid his right hand up on me and said unto me, fear not.
And that's what he'll tell you. I'm for you. I'm for you. Oh,
the Lord's in this place. And I tell you, God was in Christ. And he was on that cross. And
he was suffering on that cross. And I knew it not. And what an
awakening when we saw our Lord Jesus Christ bearing our own
sin. And he says this is a dreadful place. Dreadful because I'll
tell you what, it's the place where the awful, awful question
of sin had been settled. there at that cross when our
Lord Jesus Christ bore it in his own body on the tree. This
is a dreadful place because this is where the wrath of God fell
on the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a dreadful place because
here's where God shows how sin must be dealt with. He didn't
even spare his own son but delivered him up for us all. And Jacob
said back over in our text and he says in verse 17, he was afraid
and said, how dreadful is this place? This is none other but
the house of God. This is where God is. God's house. And where's God's house? Where's
God dwell at? He dwells in Christ. He dwells
as a refuge. There's a hiding place. And this
is word of Luz, and he said, and he rose up early in the morning,
took the stone that he put for his pillows, and poured oil upon
the top of it, and he called the name of that place Bethel,
the house of God. But the name of that city was
called Luz at the first. You know what Luz means? It means
separation. He went from being separated
to God's house. To being where the house of God
was. And then look what else he said. This is the gate of
heaven. Ain't that what he said down
in verse 17? This is the house of God and this is the gate of
heaven. The very gate of heaven. The
only way into access into the presence of God. Let me show
you, let me show you this in Psalm 24. We need to look at
this and I'll be done just in a, as quick as I can. Look at Psalm 24. This is what
I'm talking about. This is what Jacob was going
through. This is the gate of heaven. This is the only way
of access into God's presence. We have access by one way, by
the Lord Jesus Christ into the presence of God. Look what he
says, the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. And
they that dwell therein, everybody in it, the whole world and everybody
in it. For he hath founded upon the seas and established upon
the floods. Now listen to this. Who shall
ascend into the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in his, in God's
holy place? He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart. Anybody here got those? In themselves,
in them flesh. Who hath not lifted up his soul
unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. Oh, this is a dreadful place
if you ain't got somebody to wash your hands and cleanse your
heart, if you ain't got somebody to stand there for you. And the
person who has this, he shall receive the blessing from the
Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. He's going
to get the blessing of God and the God of his. This is the generation
of him that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Now listen
to this. You want to find out who it is
that went there? Lift up your heads over your
gates and be lift up you everlasting doors. He said this is the gate
of heaven. Lift up your heads over your gates and be lift up
you everlasting doors and the King of Glory is going to come
into this holy hill. The King of Glory is going to
ascend into the hill. The King of Glory is going to
go to that holy place. He's got the pure heart and the
clean hands. He's never lifted up his soul to vanity or sworn
deceitfully. Well, who is this King of Glory?
The Lord, strong and mighty. The Lord, mighty in battle. Lift
up your heads over your gates. Even lift them up, everlasting
doors. And the King of Glory. Who is this King of Glory? The
Lord of hosts. He went there. And now we can
go because He did. All right, let me give you this
and I'll be through. Back over in Genesis 28. Look
at Jacob's vow. He called that place Bethel,
the city of God, the house of God. Now Jacob vowed a vow in
verse 20. And Jacob vowed a vow saying,
this is the first vow that's ever mentioned in the scriptures.
And this is why you don't make any vows to God. Most people
make vows, if you make a vow, you better keep it. And Jacob
vowed a vow saying, now listen to this. If God will be with
me and keep me in this way that I go and give me bread to eat
and raiment to put on, what'd God just tell him? What'd God
just tell him? Ain't this the natural man? Ain't
this the man? I mean, even after he's converted,
he's still, being a baby in Christ, he wants to figure out some way.
Now listen to what he said. If God will do this for me, so
that I come again to my Father's house in peace, then God's going
to be, the Lord's going to be my God. If he does what I want
him to do. And listen to this. And this
stone which I've set for a pillar shall be God's house, and of
all that he shall give me, I'll surely give the tenth of it.
Ain't this the way life is? Ain't this characteristic of
Jacob but also typical of us? God gave Jacob grace and revealed
himself to Jacob, made promises to Jacob. And then he turned around and
started trying to bargain. If the Lord, if you do this for
me, then I'll do that. If you do this, then I'll do
that. If you do this, then I'll tell you what, I'll say you're
my Lord. And I'll tell you what, that's just us when we were first
converted. He was filled with fear instead
of peace. Instead of thanking God for his
blessed grace, he tells the Lord what he'll do If God will do
what for him? He bargained with the Lord instead
of praising and blessing God. Huh? You surely wouldn't do that
now, would you? Huh? Do you ever say, if any of y'all,
maybe some of you still do it, I hope you don't, but do you
ever say, Lord, If you do this and prove to me
that you're for me and if you prove to me that you're the one
speaking to me and you're revealing yourself to me, you know, you
do this and then I'll know that it's you. God didn't do what Jacob said.
He did what he said he'd do. Jacob was trying to be just what
he was. And God said, that ain't going
to work. That ain't going to work. It
ain't going to work. I am the Lord thy God. I'm going to keep you. I'm going
to go with you. I'm going to bring you back to
your own house. And I'm going to keep every promise
I made to you until I'm done. What are we going to give? What
are we going to give? Our Father, in the blessed, blessed,
blessed name of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, thank you for allowing us
to preach the Gospel again. Oh Lord, what a blessing to preach
the Gospel. What a blessing to know the Gospel.
What a blessing to believe the gospel. What a blessing to trust
Christ. What a blessing to know Christ.
What a blessing to rest in Christ. What a blessing the peace of
Christ is in our hearts. What a blessing all your promises
are to us that you've given us. And not one of them will fail.
Not one. None has failed yet. And Lord,
we believe that none of them will ever fail. And you've promised,
Lord, that you'd take us and bring us home again. And, Lord,
this hall, this world is not our home, so we look forward
to the day that that promise is fulfilled and we'll be with
you where you are and forever be with you. Lord, cause this
gospel to be affectionate, be powerful, be fruitful in hearts
and minds. Lord, I don't I can't but you
can and you do and I trust that you will in Christ's name. Amen.