Turn back to Genesis chapter
30. I had worked on a message yesterday and today on faith
and conduct. But around noon today, I felt
like I just hadn't got a hold of it. I felt like I just had
not got the spirit of it. Like Frank said, you can get
an outline together. You can give an outline, but
the message and the spirit in which to deliver that message.
You know, you have to. That's important. That's just
so important. So I put it aside. And I scratched this one out
and hopefully the Lord will bless it. Grace greater than our Now,
we are familiar with the story and the character of Jacob. We have looked at that for the
last couple, three weeks. He was truly a deceiver by nature,
wasn't he? If you look at the life of Jacob,
Up till now, what we have looked at, there is absolutely nothing
about Jacob that would commend him to God. Nothing about Jacob
that would cause God to say, Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. I don't see, before God saves
this man, I don't see any difference between Jacob and Esau. Have
you? Jacob's a deceiver. And Esau,
well, he was just a natural man. Sold his birthright. Didn't care
anything for it. And at the time Jacob took the
birthright from Esau, I don't know that he had the proper care
for it either. I think he did care for what came with it. There's
a whole lot that came with that birthright. But until he met
God, I know he didn't have the right attitude about it. I know
he didn't. Jacob. Tileworm Jacob. We've all been deceivers at one
time or another. No man or no woman has been perfectly
honest throughout their lives, have they? We know that. If you
said yes, you just tried to deceive me or deceive one another if
you claimed you were honest all your lives. The Scripture says,
let God be true in every man a liar. And I wrote out here
beside of that, even me. Even me. And every believer sees
themselves in Jacob. It's like Psalm 51. If God has granted you true repentance,
you can read Psalm 51 and totally identify with David. You feel a kindred spirit to
David when you read Psalm 51 if you have experienced true
repentance. You know where he's at. You know
it. Now, back in chapter 29, Jacob
got a taste of his own medicine. As the old adage goes, what goes
around comes around. He deceived and now he got deceived. He was deceived by his father-in-law.
Jacob worked for seven years for Rachel. Remember, he saw
Rachel. Fell in love with her. And it says in verse 20, And
Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed unto
him but a few days for the love he had to her. It just seemed
like a few days. He worked so hard for her. But he got Leah. He got Leah is what happened.
What a shock. What a shock. when he woke up
in verse 25. And it came to pass, and in the
morning, behold, it was Leah. He thought it was Rachel. He thought he had Rachel, but
he had Leah. And he said to Laban, What is
this thou hast done to me? Well, the same thing you did
to your father, Jacob. Did not I serve thee for Rachel?
Wherefore then hast thou beguiled me? And I wrote down here, and
I didn't write it down just to be funny. I didn't write it down
to be funny at all. But the moral of the lesson is
turn the light on. We cannot be deceived in the
light. We cannot be deceived in the
light. We cannot be deceived if we walk in the light as He
is in the light. All deceptions happen in darkness. Just like when he deceived his
father, that was darkness. His father couldn't see. Remember? He couldn't see. His eyes were
dim. He couldn't see who was standing
in front of him. He said, it's the voice of Jacob.
Sounds like the voice of Jacob, but he felt him. He said, but
it's Esau. Oh, it's Esau. All deception
happens in darkness. Turn over to John chapter 11. John chapter 11, in verse 10. Let's see if I wrote that down right. But if a man walk in the night,
he stumbles, because there is no light in him. There's no light
in him. And if he walks in the day, Scripture
says, he stumbles not, because he has light. He has the light
of the sun. But Jacob went in, and just as
he deceived his father, and I think I can say in darkness,
that was a dark thing he did, he got deceived in darkness.
He ended up with Leah. Now, Leah was, it says, tender-eyed. She was weak-eyed. She was not
an attractive lady. She was not attractive. But Rachel,
it says, was beautiful. And this shows Jacob fleshly
sided again. Here's his fleshly side again.
Rachel's beauty got him. That's what he went after. He
saw her beauty and he was smitten with it. And so he goes after
Rachel, but he ended up with Leah. And this thing gets to
be a mess. This thing turns out Hollywood
could not have done a better job with this. I could have titled
this Days of Our Lives, and it would have fit. I mean, these
two sisters go at each other. These two sisters hate each other. They really get at each other's
throat. They start throwing their handmaids at Jacob. I mean, this is awful. What's going on here in chapter
30 is just awful. Let's look at this messed up
household. It's just a messed up household.
But it's God's household. Jacob have I loved. It's God's
household. Just like if you'd walked into
a Corinthian church, you wouldn't have believed it was a church.
Not at all. Now, the Lord saw that in verse
31 of chapter 29, the Lord saw that Leah was hated. That's awful, isn't it? It wasn't
her fault. It wasn't her fault. But she was hated. She was not
loved by Jacob. Jacob loved Rachel. So when the
Lord saw that Leah was hated, He had mercy on her. You know
what mercy is for? Mercy is for the miserable. Grace
is for the guilty. Mercy is for the miserable. And
the Lord saw that. And he opened her womb. No life
comes into this world without Him. Well, we didn't plan that
one. But the Lord did. The Lord did. He opened her womb and she had
six of the patriarchs. Now, listen here. She was hated. Jacob didn't love her. She knew
it. But she was in this marriage. And I mean they were committed,
back then they were committed to it. They didn't just take
off and leave. And out of Leah, I don't know
if you noticed this, but one of her sons was Judah, of which
tribe the Lord sprang. A lion of the tribe of Judah.
Also out of Leah was born Levi. the priesthood out of Leah. This
came out of that one that was hated. I thought that was just
so... It impressed me how the Lord
had mercy on her. And out of this woman, He brings
Judah, of which the Lord is praying, and Levites, the priesthood. Merciful! Merciful to her. Oh, if she had lived to see this!
My, what the Lord has done. Well, Rachel, here in verse 30,
let me get over here in verse 30. Rachel, when she saw that
she bared Jacob no children, she envied her sister. Well,
that's going to cause a lot of trouble when you start envying
your brothers and your sisters. If God blesses one of you, how
awful it would be if the rest of us envied you. We ought to
give thanks. Give thanks. But she envied her
sister and said to Jacob, give me children or else I die. Jacob,
it's your fault. It's your problem. Give me some
children here. And Jacob got angry. And his
wrath was kindled, or anger kindled against Rachel and said, am I
God? Am I the creator of life? I cannot give life? God's the
only one who can give life? Am I God? Rachel, she gets mad because
she realizes she cannot bear any children. So her scheming
goes on. Since she cannot give children,
she gives Jacob, her handmaid, Bilhah. And we have more children. And
then Leah saw that she couldn't have children. Now, see, she
quit bearing. She'd get left off bearing, as
it says there at the end of that chapter. She left off bearing.
So she gave Jacob, her handmaid, Zilpha. And they had more children. Jacob could have stopped this,
couldn't he? Now, Jacob could have said, stop
it, you women. He could have pulled them into
the house and said, enough's enough. But Jacob, being a man at best,
he took the handmaids and went in to them and their more children. Well, the story goes on. These
two sisters are battering with each other, giving her handmaids
to Jacob. And Reuben, the firstborn, finds
a mandrake there in verses 14 through 15. He finds mandrakes
in the field. Well, mandrake is a fertility
drug. Aphrodisiac. That's what it is. I didn't know
what that was, but that's what it is. It's a fertility drug.
And so Rachel finds out that he has this. And so she, she trades Jacob. See what a mess. She trades Jacob,
I couldn't make this up. She said, Rachel, find that.
And she trades Jacob in for a night for some drugs. Just aphrodisiac. That's what she does. And so
what Leah does in verse 16, she goes to Jacob and she says, you've
got to come in to me tonight. I've hired you. She just prostituted
him. It's what's happened. She goes,
I've hired you for the night, so you belong to me tonight.
You come to me. And they have more children.
And then in verse 22, God remembers Rachel. And she conceives. She probably thought it was the
drug she was taking. I mean, I wouldn't doubt it in
this mess. In this mess, it's evident nobody's thinking right. Now, does this look like a godly
home? Does this look like a servant
of God? Does this look like a child of God? It's evident, and here's
the whole thing I wanted to come to, it's evident that Jacob's
salvation from beginning to end was all of grace, just like ours. We are naturally a mess. A mess. It's evident that Jacob's salvation,
as our salvation is, is all of grace. Jacob has done nothing
to this point, has he? He's done nothing. Not at all. Grace put him in the number of
the Savior's family. Just as grace has put us, who
believe God, It has put us in that number
of the Savior's family. Salvation is all of grace. Noah
found grace. He found grace in the eyes of
the Lord. Noah, by nature, was the same
as his neighbors. But Noah found grace. And then
God did a work of grace in Noah. Our election. is all of grace. God didn't choose me because
I was better than somebody else. Look over in Romans chapter 11. Romans chapter 11. In Romans chapter 11, Verse 5, Even so, then, at this
present time also, there is a remnant according to the election of
grace. God's choice of everyone whom
He saves is absolutely of pure grace, unmerited favor, unmerited
favor. There was nothing in Jacob, nothing
in me, that would cause God to choose me. Our justification
is all of grace. Look over in Titus, Titus chapter
3. Titus chapter 3. In verse 7, that being justified by His grace,
we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. We were chosen by grace. We were
justified by God's grace, cleared of all charges. We weren't guilty. Guilt is anyone
who perishes. But through our substitute, we've
been cleared of all charges, justified freely by His grace,
and made righteous by His grace. Go over to 2 Corinthians chapter
5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, this very
familiar verse, verse 21. For he hath made him to be sin
for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. And that is all of grace. That is all of grace. And He
called us. He called us by His grace. You know, the call goes out when
the gospel is preached. The call goes out throughout
the congregation or if you're on the radio or TV, it goes throughout
the land. It goes out. But there is an effectual call
that goes out that arrests the heart of God's people. And they
are drawn to Him. They are wooed by His Spirit
to Him. They are called to Him by His
grace. Let's just go over there and
read it. Galatians 1.15. But when it pleased God, who
separated me from my mother's womb, He had His hand in that. As I said, no birth is accidental. God gives life. We don't give
life. He gives life. He separated me
from my mother's womb and called me by His grace. And called,
that word me is supplied, and called by His grace. Called by the unmerited favor
of God. Called to Jesus Christ. Called
from death to life. Called from darkness to light.
Called by the grace of God, not left alone, but called. And I read to you Ephesians chapter
2 verse 8, For by grace are ye saved. And by grace are you being saved. And by grace you shall be saved.
By grace. Paul said in Romans 11, 6. And
if by grace, then it's no more works. Otherwise, grace is no
more grace. If it's by grace, there is not
one ounce, one speck of work or works in it. Not on our part. Not on our part. We are saved
by grace. We are kept by the grace of God
through faith in Christ. And grace shall bring us home. Yeah, go over there and read
that again. Read that chapter again, that one messed up household. But you know what? You go back
over, I think it's in chapter 35, and you know what God does?
He says, Jacob, go back to Bethel. Grace brought him back to the
house of God. Grace brought him home. God gave this promise to Jacob,
and He gave it to him by grace. He said, I'll be with you, and
I'm going to bring you back. And He brings him back. I think
it's chapter 35. Let me look at that. Yes, chapter 35. And God said
unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there, and make there
an altar unto God that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest
from the face of Esau thy brother. And I want you to notice something
here. Let me read on. Then Jacob said
unto his household, and to all that were with him. Now listen,
put away the strange gods. They had strange gods among them.
Jacob, why did you allow that? Don't you know better? Put away
the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change
your garments, and let us arise, and go up to Bethel. 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 gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their
hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears. And
Jacob did hide them under the oak which was by Shechem." Oh, it's by grace, isn't it? All by grace. Jacob allowed this
thing to get into a mess. To get into a mess. But it never
changed. It never changed this. Jacob
have I loved. God's love to Jacob, God's grace
to Jacob never diminished one iota. Never. And let us never be guilty, ever
be guilty, of trying to mix any of our works with God's grace. Never. You say, that won't happen. Well, it happened to the Galatians.
And it can happen so subtly, it'd shock you how subtly it
can happen. Now let's turn over to 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2 and I'll close. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Let
me see here. Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself
and God, even our Father, which hath loved us and hath given
us an everlasting consolation and a good hope through grace. And I pray this for us. Comfort your hearts. Whatever's
troubling you, whatever you're going through, comfort your hearts. Establish you in every good word
and work. Grace that is greater than our
sin. Jacob have I loved. And he never quit loving him. Okay, Mike.