Genesis 28, we are going to look this morning at the story of Jacob's ladder. I would think that many people have heard that term. Is that is that a commonly known term? But we're going to look this morning at the story of what it is and what it means. Now, even though last week we looked at a spiritual picture of the cross in Jacob and Esau. Even though that's how we looked at that story last week.

Both of those men were sinners against God. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Physically speaking, Jacob stole the birthright from Esau. He deceived. He was a trickster. He lied. And Esau could not have cared less about that birthright until he realized that he'd lost everything because of it.

He could not have no regard for it at all. None whatsoever. And that's exactly what's going to happen to this world the moment this world goes to stand before God without Christ. This world has no regard for Christ whatsoever. Doesn't care at all. And the moment this world goes to stand before God realizing they've lost it all, they have nothing, it's going to be a very, very dreadful moment. Physically speaking, Esau ended up being furious with Jacob over this. Jacob had to run for his life.

Isaac, their father, told Jacob to leave Canaan and go back to Abraham's land to find a wife. That's where Rebekah, Isaac's wife, was from. That's where Abraham was from. Sarah was from. And if you look at verse 1, Genesis 28 verse 1, it says, Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and charged him and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan, arise, go to Padanaram, to the house of Bethuel, thy mother's father, and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban, thy mother's brother.

And God Almighty bless thee and make thee fruitful and multiply thee that thou mayest be a multitude of people. And give thee the blessing of Abraham to thee and to thy seed with thee. that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham. And Isaac sent away Jacob, and he went to Padanaram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob and Esau's mother.

Now look at verse 10. 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 up 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 liest, 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, and to the east, and 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.

The Lord spoke to Jacob. This is what I pray God will do for all of us today. I would very strongly encourage you to ask the Lord to speak to you. I really would. I pray that God will deal directly with each one of us by speaking to us. We know that the Lord spoke to Abraham many times. In Genesis 26, verses two to five, the Lord spoke to Isaac. And now right here, the Lord has spoken to Jacob. If the Lord is pleased to deal with a person, if the Lord is pleased to save a person, and here's what I'd like to recommend all of us do.

Right now, become lost. Consider yourself lost. Everybody considers themselves saved. Saved people consider themselves saved. Lost people consider themselves saved. Everybody thinks they're saved. Let's all become lost. Hey, I'm lost. You're lost. What we need is we need God to deal with us. We need for God to speak to us. We need for God to save us. If the Lord is going to deal with a person, if the Lord is going to save a person, the Lord is going to speak directly to that person.

This is so. Someone asked the question one time, will he speak out loud? Is it an audible voice? And another man very wisely answered, No, it's much louder than that. He does not speak to the ear. It's much louder than that. He speaks to the heart. He speaks to the heart. I'm telling you he does. He speaks to the heart. How does he speak to the heart? Through his word. His word will speak to the heart of his own and he will speak to each one of his own.

Salvation is not in a family tree. Jacob is not going to be saved just because Abraham was saved and Isaac was saved. That doesn't mean Jacob. If anybody in here has a parent in here, Don't assume you're saved just because you believe your parent is saved. Let's all get lost. I really would like to get everybody lost today. I hope everybody walks out of this place lost in the flesh with only one hope before God. Salvation is not in the family tree.

If God is gonna save Jacob, he's gonna have to deal directly with Jacob. And he dealt with Jacob in the same way that he deals with all of his people. Same way. He revealed some things. And what the Lord revealed to Jacob right here is the gospel. He revealed the gospel. Jacob had the gospel revealed to him. And this is where the gospel begins every time. This is where it begins every time. Look at verse 13.

And behold, the Lord stood above this ladder. The Lord stood above it and said, I am. That's how God reveals himself. That's how he revealed himself to Moses in that burning bush. He said, I am. That's how he revealed himself to all of Israel. Moses said, who should I say sent me? The Lord said, you tell them I am sent you. I am. When salvation comes to a person, when redemption is made known to a person, that's the first thing that the person is made to realize.

He is. He is not just he exists. He is. He is before that moment comes. And it's a moment, and I can't tell you when that moment was for me. It was somewhere over the span of 20 years. But for 20 years, it's been a moment. Maybe closer to 30. Maybe 40. It's been a moment. I'm still in it. From the moment it starts, it doesn't stop. I don't need to look backwards to see this moment.

But before the moment comes, men and women are so lost and they're so blind in false religion. Religion, anytime I say religion, I mean false religion. Religion is only used one time in the Bible in a good way. True religion is to visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction. And that's speaking of Christ and Him crucified. Christ is the only one who produced true religion. He's the one who visited the fatherless and the widows, the destitute. Every other time, religion is called the Jews' religion.

It's bad. Religion is not good. I don't mean to produce shocking statements. I really don't. But I think I'll just go ahead and call it like it is. Religion is not a good thing. We don't need to be in religion. We need to be in Jesus Christ. Religion is man's opinion on things. Religion is what man thinks the word is saying, not what God is actually saying. And I just want to warn people because we're going to meet God. We're going to meet God. We're about to meet God. You think, well, I still got 40, 50 years ahead of me. We're about to meet God.

Men and women are so, and so was I. I'm included. I'm not saying they and not us. All of us were so lost and so blind in whatever false religion we had made up in our own minds. Men and women, as we're born into this world, we just go around ignorantly trying to be good little boys and girls, doing what we can for Jesus, thinking that the whole goal of life is to work our way to heaven. That's what people do. People think they need to be good men and good women, and they need to do what they can for Jesus, and this is what people think. There's none that doeth good, no not one.

Try, I would prefer you did. All of the sudden, If God is pleased to deal with someone, they'll go through life in this way, and then all of a sudden, the awakening stops them in their foolish, self-righteous, religious tracks, and they hear, I am. Before that, in religion, men and women are saying, I am. I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. I'm working on a building for my Lord. I am, I am, I am. That's religion, religion, religion. I am. Why don't you see what I am? And then all of a sudden, I am comes.

That's what Saul of Tarsus heard. And I'm telling you, that's what I heard. And if he's revealed himself to you, that's what you heard. When? I'm hearing it right now. I'm hearing it right now. I am. You are not. I am. Verse 13, and behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord God. I am God.

Men and women by nature have no idea what the name God even means. People don't know what the name God even means. They don't have any, any correct understanding of God. I am the Lord God, he said. You know what the word Lord means? Just get a Bible dictionary.

Sovereign. Almighty, all controlling, doing what I want with who I want, God. Asking no one for anything. He said, if I were hungry, I wouldn't tell you. Why? Because I'm God. The sovereign God. When the Lord says that to a person, when the Lord says that to a person, What is the Lord actually saying? What is He revealing to the heart in that moment? Here it is.

He's saying, I don't need you. I don't need you. Men stand in pulpits, preaching to people. People sit in pews, hearing men lie to them. God needs you. He needs you. He needs your hands. He needs your feet. He needs your money. God needs your money. God needs your decision. God needs your permission. He needs you. He's got a wonderful plan for you as long as you'll help him pull it off. What he's saying to men and women is, I don't need you. I do not need you. I do not accept you in your flesh.

When God speaks, this is what he says. You are a sinner before me. Has God ever spoken to me? All right, let's get lost for a minute. Let's everybody just get lost for a minute. Ask yourself, has God ever spoken to me? Well, let's ask this. Am I an absolutely ruined, miserably wretched sinner before him with no hope in my flesh? If I say no, I don't think God has spoken to me. Because when God speaks, the first thing that happens in John 14, where I didn't read in the Bible study, it said when the spirit comes, the first thing he will convince of is sin. When God speaks to a person, all of a sudden, an awareness of sin comes.

Lord, we preached in your name. Lord, we cast out devils in your name. Lord, we did all these wonderful works in your name. Sin. The first thing God says when he speaks is, I am God, and you're Jacob. You're a sinner against God, and thank God he doesn't leave it right there. That's the truth. But with the truth comes the gospel, the good news. There is only one hope for you, and it's not your works before me. There is only one hope for sinners with God. And the Lord revealed it to Jacob right here. Look at verse 10. 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 up the stones of that place and put them for his pillows and laid 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. Let me just go ahead and tell us that ladder is Christ. That ladder is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Hold your place right here and turn over to John chapter one. John chapter 1 verse, well let me just tell you that this is speaking of the Lord revealed himself to a man named Philip and Philip went and told Nathanael, we found the Lord, and Nathanael's coming up, and the Lord said, this is a man without guile, and he said, how do you know me?

And he said, before Philip came to you, I saw you sitting under the fig tree. And he was thinking, how could you have known that? Verse 49, Nathanael answered and said unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel. Verse 50, Jesus answered and said unto him, because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? You believe just because I said that?

Thou shalt see greater things than these. Verse 51, and he saith unto him, verily, verily, I say unto you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man." This latter is the Son of Man. This latter is Christ. He said, you're going to see the same thing Jacob saw. It's the same thing that all of God's people see, the way. The way, the one and only way, the only mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. Men and women naturally think they need to be their own mediator with God, their own go-between.

They believe they're the ones who need to make things right with God. That's not a possibility for sinful man. Because all man does is sin against God. When the revelation of the truth of the gospel of Christ comes, men and women realize they see themselves for what they are. They see God for who he is. And they realize sinful flesh cannot find acceptance with God.

Our only hope is in God's mercifully and graciously provided way. The God-Man. The Son of Man. God manifest in the flesh. God come down. The one who touched sinful earth for God. and touched sinless, holy heaven for man, the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Salvation is not in us. Salvation is not in our doing. Salvation is in Christ and His doing alone. That's it. He alone is the way. Look at John 3, verse 13. John 3, verse 13 says, And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the son of man, which is in heaven. He's the only one. He's the only one that touches both in his nature, in his character and who he is.

Go back to Genesis 28 with me. Verse 10 says, 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 up the stones of that place and put them for his pillows. And I just want to interject this. I have something to say about that later, but I can't help this.

I've always read that and thought, why would you pick a rock for a pillow? That ought to tell you a little something about what's coming later. You have any idea what we rest on? What our rest is? Verse, that rock is Christ. Just in case I die between now and the end of the message, that rock is Jesus Christ. He's our rest. All right, verse 12.

He dreamed and behold, a ladder was 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 liest, 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 and to the east and to the north and to the south. And in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

That rock is Christ. The ladder is Christ. The Lord above it is Christ. The seed is Christ. Galatians 3 tells us. It's all Christ. And in Christ, he said, Jacob, I'm going to give you an inheritance and I'm going to bless you. This is the gospel. This is what all of God's people hear when the gospel is made known to them. Listen to it right here. This is the gospel.

God Almighty says, I will give you freely, graciously, by my free grace. This is not something you will earn. This is not something that you will have to do your part in. This is something that I have purposed to do of my own decision and will. You are just going to be the recipient of it.

That's the message of the gospel. That's the message of grace. People talk about grace. What is grace? That's it. God will do it all and you will freely, undeservingly be the recipient of it all. That's grace. That's the message of the cross. That's what happened on the cross. God did it all. And you just undeservedly was the recipient of it all. Now listen to this, verse 15.

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. That right there is the gospel. He said, Jacob, This is what I have to notify you of. I am, I will, I will, I will, I have, and I have. That's the gospel. Who God is and what he has done for sinners. Now what role did Jacob play in that? He didn't have a role in that.

God Almighty said, I am with thee. I will keep thee. I will bring thee. I will not leave thee. I have said it. I have done it. That's what God says to every one of his people when he deals with them and reveals the gospel of his salvation to them. This is what he says. I chose you. I redeemed you. I called you. I will preserve you. I am your God. You are mine. That's the message of the cross. That's the message of blood. The blood bought finished work of God's salvation, not man's salvation, God's salvation.

That's the declaration that God reveals. That is the sovereign announcement that God speaks directly to his people. Now watch verse 16. And Jacob awaked. With that word of life and truth, that sinner was awakened. That's what happens to every single one of God's people. with that sovereign word from God of who He is and what He has done in His will and His purpose, what He did on the cross of Calvary in order to redeem His people from their sin. They're awakened out of their false religion, their man-centered sleep of death. Verse 16, and Jacob awaked out of his sleep and he said, surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not. Immediately God's people start to realize there is a truth here that I didn't know.

It humbles people. Everybody always wants to be so prideful and tell everybody else what all they know. You have nothing on me. You just listen for a while and let me talk. The gospel humbles people. Job said, I think it's time I put my hand over my mouth.

Boy, there's some things I didn't know. I did not know this. This is called repentance. This is what repentance is. It's a changed mind. It's a new mind realizing God's truth and man's error. Verse 17 says, and he was afraid. When God speaks, it strikes fear. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. I'll tell you the problem in false religion. This is how you know God is not speaking in false religion. The problem and the telltale sign that God is not speaking in false religion is there is no fear of God before their eyes.

There's no fear of God, no fear of his holiness, no fear of his justice. They have brought him down so low in their eyes, they've actually brought him down lower than the level of man. They've brought him down lower than the level of man. Man has the final say, not God. And therefore, there's no reverence for him. There's no worship of him.

But there is among God's people. There is among God's people. Verse 17, 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. Jacob is not talking about that spot of land, he's talking about the revelation of that truth. This right here is it. This is the way.

Verse 18, And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar. His rest, His pillow became His hope. His pillar, His rest became His banner. His rest became His salvation. And again, what is His rest? Christ. That's every child of God's rest. Christ is our rest. Christ is our salvation. Christ is our banner. Christ is our hope.

Verse 18, Jacob rose up early in the morning and took the stone that he put for his pillows and set it up for a pillar and poured oil upon the top of it. Oil in the scripture represents the anointing of God's Holy Spirit. Jacob said, let the anointing be on him, the anointed one, Christ. Verse 19, and he called the name of that place Bethel, the house of God.

Wherever Christ is, you know, our Lord said where two or three are gathered in my name, I'm in the midst of it. Wherever Christ is, Wherever Christ is declared and the truth of his gospel is made known, that's the house of God. That's the house of God, wherever he is gathered with his people, that's the house of God. It may not even be in a house. But that's the house of God.

Verse 19, he called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of that city was called Luz at first. That just means the almond tree. I don't I don't have any other definition for that. Verse 20, 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 God's house. And of all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give the 10th unto thee. Jacob is not saying, if God will do his part, I will do mine. He's not saying that. He is not saying, if God will prove himself to me, I will accept him. Not saying that.

What he's saying is, if God will do this work of salvation for me, start to finish, I will worship him. I will worship him. I will worship the Lord my God. I'll worship Him and Him alone. I will thank Him. I will praise Him and thank Him for everything He has done. And that's all we can do, isn't it? That's all we can do. God provided Christ our way of deliverance. And we give Him thanks and honor and praise and glory for everything He has done. That's all we can do. Thank God for Christ our ladder. Amen.