Back to Exodus 35. Title of the message, A Sermon for
the Troubled and Tried. This is what we have here in
this chapter. Jacob, a man sorely tried. You know,
we have many examples in the scriptures of God's servants
being put through very difficult situations. And we have examples
of their failings, of their sins. The Word of God teaches us by
these things. Scripture says these things are
written for our learning. They're written for our learning.
This whole book's written for our learning. It is written that
we might know Christ, and it's written for our learning. The
Holy Spirit does not hide the sins and the failings of God's
people. Most of the time when you read
a biography, the person writing the biography usually is pointing
out all the great things. They'll throw in a chunk here
and there of something, of a downfall or a failing. But when the Holy
Spirit writes the lives of these men, He does not leave out their
failings and their sins. He doesn't leave it out at all.
And it's not that we might use them as an excuse. We'll see
David did that. But that we might learn and know
and find comfort in this, that God saves sinners and He uses
them. And they are sinners throughout
their whole journey. Throughout our whole journey,
we never rise above being a sinner saved by grace and a sinner in
need of grace. We never get above that. Now,
Jacob was a man whom God loved. Now had you lived at that time,
you wouldn't have believed it. You would have thought Esau was.
Esau was the man who had the fatness of the earth and the
dew of heaven. Jacob had a lot of trouble. He had nothing but
trouble. But God said, God said in Romans
9, it's written in Romans 9, Jacob have I loved. It's written
over here in the Scriptures, Genesis. Jacob have I loved.
I have set my love upon Jacob. Jacob is mine. Like I said, you wouldn't believe
it if you lived at that time and watched his life and watched
the life of Esau. You would think Esau was. When
you get time at home, read Psalm 107. Read Psalm 107. Whoso is wise and observes these
things will understand the loving kindness of the Lord." And you
look at all the trouble that's in Psalm 107. Jacob was a man who met God.
Chapter 28, God revealed Himself to Jacob when he was out there
by himself, all alone. And you notice Isaac said to
Jacob, go to Laban's house and get a wife. But when God reports
the story, He said, when you were fleeing from your brother
Esau, He doesn't say when you were going to get away. No, He
says, Jacob, when you were on the run, fleeing from your brother
Esau. And that always brought to Jacob's
mind what he did to his brother Esau. Now he got the birthright. And then he was a man who was
blessed of God, and God gave him the promises. The promises
He gave to Abraham, to Isaac. He gave to Jacob. Jacob was a
blessed man. Blessed of God. And Jacob was
an enigma. You could not figure this man
out. You look at his life story, it's
just puzzling. Really, it's puzzling. Thirty
years he's been out out away from Bethel after God revealed
Himself to him. And he's out there for 30 years.
Out there with Laban and out there running around for Mesau
and going to Shechem. And we'll see this here in a
minute. What a puzzling man. But he was God's man. He was
God's man. Let's kind of go back and look
at the life of Jacob so we can tie it in with this. Remember
Jacob, God said this to his mother, the elder shall serve the younger. But they didn't wait on God to
make that to happen. And God allowed them to devise
and trick and do what they did to get the birthright. And he
took advantage of his brother Esau. Think about this. If I came to you, you're my brother,
sister. I came to you and I was hungry. I was very hungry. And I asked
you for a bowl of soup. Would you ask me for all I own? Would you give me your house? You see how bad that was? Give
me the keys to your car and I'll give you a drink of water. That's
what happened. That's how he took advantage
of his brother. And then he deceived his father. And then he had to
leave home and flee from Esau because Esau wanted to kill him.
And then while he was on the run, God met him. God revealed
Himself to him. He sees a ladder and God gives
him promises that He's going to keep him and bless him and
bring him back. The blessings of Abraham fall
upon him. And Jacob vows that if God will keep him and bless
him and give him something to eat and clothes to wear, he said,
I'll come back here and I'll worship you. We're going to see
here as we go along, he gets sidetracked and he becomes a
citizen of Shechem. He stopped short of going all
the way back to Bethel where God told him to go. In that first
verse, God said to him, Jacob, arise, go to Bethel. And so, let me pick this back
up. After he receives this revelation
from God, he travels on to Laban's house, and there he's deceived. He ends up marrying Leah, and
he works another seven years. He ends up working 14 years,
and he gets two wives out of the deal. Is what happens. And
his wages are changed 10 times. His uncle is, you know, it runs
in the family, I guess. Deceit, deceitfulness. His uncle
changes his wages 10 times. So he slips out at night under
the cover of darkness. Because he's afraid that labor
is not going to let him go and he's going to stop him, so he
slips out at night. And then he leaves there. Laban
catches up with him. You remember this. They kind
of have a few words and they make a covenant. Then they depart.
Then turns right around and here comes Esau. Now he's faced with
Esau. Because the last thing Esau said,
the next time I see you after our father died, I'm going to
kill you. And then after that, he meets this man. He wrestles
all night. And the angel, this man, touches
him, knocks his hip out of joint. He limps across the stream or
the brook there of Jabbok, gets back up with his family. Of course,
he meets Esau. Then he departs from him and he settles in Shechem. And in Shechem, he builds, it
says, booths. He was not to build anything.
He was to be like his father Abraham and Isaac. He was to
dwell in a tent. When he did this, he became a
citizen of Shechem and he built booths. He didn't build a house.
He kind of made a compromise here. It's what he's doing. He's making a compromise. He
builds some booths here for his animals and for them to dwell
in. He makes a compromise and he
comes up short of going back to Bethel. as God said to him. And while there, his daughter
Dinah is defiled by the prince Shechem. And after that, the sons of Jacob,
back in chapter 34, chapter 34 is a real mess. So after that
happens, they scheme The sons of Jacob get together and they
make this scheme and plan that if all those men will be circumcised,
then they will marry their daughters and their daughters can marry,
you know, back and forth. And so they make this scheme.
And after they are circumcised and it says after they are sore,
they went in and they slew all the men. They killed them all. And then they took all their
stuff, took their sheep and all the stuff out of their house.
They just raided it. and took it. And then Jacob says, why did you do this? He said, you have made me to
stink in the inhabitants of this land. Look over in chapter 24,
verse 30. And Jacob said to Simeon and
Levi. Levi, that's the priesthood that
came out of Levi. They are the two that went up
and killed all these men. You have troubled me to make
me distinct among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites
and the Perizzites, and I being few in number, they shall gather
themselves together against me and slay me, and I shall be destroyed,
I my house." And they said, they weren't sorry for it. They said,
well, should he deal with our sister as with a harlot? Jacob
said, you have just destroyed our family. What a mess. Thirty years, this
is really thirty years of a mess. Thirty years of a mess. Thirty
years have gone by and nothing has come of this man's life but
a mess. That's all. But this is God's
man. Jacob have I loved. Jacob have I loved. This is the
prince. This is the one that says, your
name shall not be Jacob anymore, it shall be Israel, for as a
prince hast thou power with God. And here he is, trembling, because
the Shechemites, he says, they're going to come and they're going
to destroy my family. Now had he went on to Bethel,
as God said, as God commanded him, He told him to do. A lot
of this would have never happened. Would never happen. But now in
this chapter 35, now something does happen. God
speaks. God, He says, Almighty God, there
in verse 11. God Almighty, God All-Sufficient
speaks to Jacob. You know, enough's enough. Jacob's
in a mess. He has nowhere to turn, no way
out. All hope is gone. And God said, now God speaks.
God speaks now. God Almighty. And you'll notice
when He speaks to Jacob, He does not mention his sins. He doesn't
mention his failings. He does not mention his disobedience.
Here's what He does. He directs him where to go. He says, Jacob, arise, go up
to Bethel. Go up to Bethel. There's a move
to be made here. Leave this place and you go to
Bethel. You've got to leave this place
of sin You've got to separate yourself from the ungodly and
you go back to Bethel. Go back to Bethel. Boy, there,
you know, Jacob no doubt has sweet memories of Bethel. That's
where he, that's where God revealed himself to him. At Bethel. That's where God gave him the
promises at Bethel. Rise and go back to Bethel. Separate
yourself from this ungodly These ungodly people here. And you
go back to Bethel. We cannot rub shoulders with
the world and some mischief not come of it sooner or later. Can't
do it. Jacob tried it. Jacob tried to
stay in Shechem. Tried to become a citizen. Lot
did that, didn't he? Lot went down to Sodom. He sat
in the gates. He became a citizen there. He
became a political figure there. And the Scripture says he vexed
his righteous soul day after day. And the angel came down
and said, Lot, get out of here. We're going to destroy this place.
Arise, go up to Bethel. Go to Bethel. And listen to what
he says. Go there and dwell there. You see, there's a move to be
made, and I want you to go to Bethel,
and I want you to stay there, Jacob. Don't visit. This is not a visit. This is
a place I want you to go and stay. I want you to dwell there. Bethel, as I said, is the house
of God. This place was identified with God. That's what makes it
so special. There was no house there. Jacob did not build a
house. You go back to chapter 28, there's a stone there, and
he anointed it just like he did here in this chapter. Back at
Bethel. But it is a place that is identified
with God. It is a place that is identified
with the promises that God gave to Jacob. It's identified with
worship. There is where Jacob worshiped
God for the first time. And it's a place of pleasant
memories. Remember the Lord told that one
church, return to your first love. You left your first love.
Return back there. I remember, and I know many of
you can too, you remember when you very first heard the Gospel?
Remember when you first heard it? You were up on the edge of
your seat. I can remember this. Remember
when you used to take notes? It was so powerful. So powerful. So fresh. God's grace, I mean it, was sweet. Sweet as honey. His mercy of
Christ, and then thirty years goes by. Because that's how long
ago it's been since I first heard the gospel, about thirty-something,
about thirty, thirty-one years ago. Thirty years ago. But boy, a lot happens in there,
doesn't it? A lot happens in there. There
are a lot of things that come along that take our attention.
A lot of things come along that breaks our hearts. A lot of things
come along. But he says to Jacob, Jacob, go back to Bethel. Go
back to where I first revealed myself to you. You go back to
that place of worship. Go back to that place. Here's
what he's saying. And this is what he's saying to us. Go back
to the cross. Go back to the blood. Go back
to this place. Go back there. Jacob, you can't
survive in Shechem. God's not in Shechem. God's in
Bethel. He's in Bethel. Jacob must go
to Bethel. And what's he to do there? He's
to dwell there and then he's to make an altar there. An altar
there unto God. What is so important about the
altar? You can be sure of this. When he went back to Bethel and
he made an altar there, a lamb was slain. Blood was shed. That's what that altar is for.
It's for the slaying of the lamb. It's for the shedding of the
blood. Jacob offered a lamb and blood was shed, sins forgiven,
and true worship is performed back at Bethel. Back there at
that altar. And our altar is Christ. Christ. Repentance, restoration will
not put away all the failings, all the sins, all the shortcomings
of Jacob. But the blood on the altar will
put them all away. We confess our sins. It says
over in 1 John, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. His blood. His blood cleanses
us from all unrighteousness. Blood. Blood is back there. Blood is on that altar. The blood
of atonement. Oh, Jacob. You've had 30 years
of a mess. You go back to Bethel. You go
back there. It's the blood that justifies
and cleanses us from all sins. Where are our troubles really
taken care of? At the cross. Where are our sins
put away? At the cross. The blood. Not a piece of wood, but I'm
talking about the cross of Christ. His suffering, His blood. I asked Mike if we had this song.
He said it's in the Red Book. Burdens are lifted at Calvary. That's where they're lifted. You know, really, truly, repentance
does not lift my burden. It's when I see the blood. There's
my forgiveness. There is how God can commune
with me. Is that that altar? And Christ
is our altar. Christ is our altar. That stone,
you notice it wasn't a piece of wood, but at that time it
was a stone. And Jacob made it an altar. He called it an altar.
And that stone represents Christ, the cornerstone. Jacob's whole problem was not
with the man at Shechem. How do you pronounce that? It really wasn't with Laban.
It really wasn't with Esau. You know, Jacob's whole problem
was with God. I have learned this. My problems,
my real problems, when I have real problems, it rises between
me and the Lord. I've either got an interest in
something else or done something else. And He has to bring me
back. He has to bring me back. David said in Psalm 119, before
I was afflicted, I went astray. So Jacob's whole problem was
with God. See, listen, listen. Back in chapter 28, Jacob vowed
that if God would keep him, if God would feed him, and if God
would bring him back to that place, that God would be his
God and he would worship him. He made that vow. Be careful
when you make a vow. He made that vow. But he stopped
in Shechem and Jacob was going to stay there. He built booths
and he stayed there long enough to build a house. And I want you to notice how
bad Jacob's family became because of his family. Because of it. Look at this. Then Jacob said
unto his household, in verse 2, And to all that were with
him, Put away the strange gods. Jacob! Jacob, you have allowed strange
gods? You have allowed idols into your
house? Do you remember Rachel stole
the tariff? And you know what? I know Jacob,
sooner or later, found that out. He let her keep it. He loved Rachel. He loved Rachel. And he just was not going to
upset Rachel. You see, she grew up with that. And no doubt, he
let her keep that. And he said, you put away the
strange gods. Jacob, you have allowed this?
This is one of his failings as the head of that house, yes.
And he said, you put them away? Put away the strange gods that
are among you and be clean. And change your garments. This
is symbolic of a new life, of a new nature. There's going to
be a radical change in this family. That's what he's saying. There's
going to be a radical change. And you know what? He said, let
us rise and go to Bethel. Let's go worship God. Joshua said that, as for me and
my house, we're going to worship God. And I'll make there an altar
unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was
with me in the way which I went." And they did it. They gave unto
Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and their
earrings, all this stuff that they had taken from Shechem when
they went in and destroyed that place. See, they took it and
put it in their house. They took their idols and put
it in their house. And God said, You put Jacob in a clean house. Go back to Bethel, but it's a
clean house. You've got to clean house first.
And they did it. And they journeyed in the terror,
and now listen. See, Jacob said, you have made me, Simeon, Levi,
you have made me to stink in this land. Between the Hivites
and the Perezites. He said, they're going to come
now and destroy me. Now look what God does in verse
5. And they journeyed, and the terror
of God was upon the cities, that were round about them, and they
did not pursue after the sons of Jacob. God demonstrated His
sovereign power over the hearts of men. They could have just
annihilated Jacob and his little family. Could have done that.
But it said the terror of Jacob came upon them. They became scared
to death of Jacob and his family. And they didn't touch him. They
didn't pursue after him. You see, Jacob, now listen, The
Scripture says, when a man's ways please the Lord, he makes
even his enemies to be at peace with him. Jacob is now going
to Bethel. The house has been cleansed of
all the idols and all that stuff they had in there. And the Lord
is pleased. And He's made the terror of Jacob
to fall over this whole place. But trials are not over, are
they? Trials are not over. He goes
there and he builds an altar and God appears to him. All seems
well. Finally, things are going okay. Then Deborah dies. Deborah was Rebecca's nurse and
she was actually with Rachel's nurse. You see,
this was Jacob's nurse when he was growing up. Somewhere along
the line, she was sent to take care of Jacob. That was Mommy's
boy now. So she sent her nurse to take
care of him when he was living over there with Laban. And I
have no doubt that Jacob confided in this old woman. I guarantee
you, Many times Jacob probably sat down and talked to Deborah,
the old nurse, been around for a long time. And she died. And that was a heartbreak to
him. She died. Then after that, in verse 18,
his wife dies. His wife died. Rachel dies. And that was heartbreaking to
him. That was his love. That was the love of his life
on this earth, Rachel. That's the one he worked 14 years
for to get. Someone said the trials at Bethel
were much easier to handle than the trials out there in Shechem,
out there away from Bethel. But now listen to this, and I'll
close. No man can approach the throne and have close communion
with God without the dross being burned off through trials. Can't
do it. The more pure the gold, the hotter
the fire. And I was thinking about this
yesterday and the day before yesterday, and I believe this
is so. The closer the communion with
God the greater the trial will be. It will. I believe it will. If God's going
to draw nigh to you, the greater will you feel the
heat of His presence through trials. You'll do. He said to Moses, put off your
shoes, when he stood before that burning bus. He said, put off
your shoes. You're standing on holy ground. The closer he draws to us, the
closer he draws to us, I believe the hotter the trial will be. And then notice this. Go back
to verse 9. Here's the result of this. And God appeared unto
Jacob when he went back to Bethel. Back to the place of worship.
Back to the blood. Back to the altar. Back to where
God revealed Himself. And when He went back there,
He got a fresh revelation of God. He says here, God Almighty. God All-Sufficient. He revealed
Himself here as God All-Sufficient. Jacob, I'm able to take care of you. I'm able to
supply all your needs. And now our Lord said, My grace
is sufficient. God all-sufficient. All-sufficient. And then He was given stronger
assurance. God said to him, I am God Almighty. Be fruitful. Multiply. A nation and a company of nations
shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins. Oh, this one man, Jacob, who
was a mess for thirty years, God said, Kings are going to
come out of you. And the land which I gave Abraham
and Isaac to thee I'll give it, and to thy seed after thee will
I give the land." And this is more powerful than
we'll realize. And God went up from him in the
place where he talked with him. Talked with God. Well, what would you give for
that? What would you get for that? All right, Mike.