Then Jacob went on his journey and
came into the land of the people of the east. It's been a long
time since we left this, dear man. But the verse here says, And
something had happened, and of course it refers us back. And
you remember, Jacob had deceived his dad, lied to his dad, took
his brother's birthright. There had been this terrible
division in the family. told Isaac that he had to be
sent away to her brother's house, 400 or so miles away. And he leaves home. He comes here and he sees this
vision as he sleeps. And he awakes and he realizes
what happens. And then we come here to this
text. Then Jacob went on his journey into the land of the
people of the east. Brother Larry gave me a book
a year or so ago. It's a little book that has the,
I think you call it a Hebrew inner linear, is that what you
call it? Is that close enough? But it
has the literal rendering if you go to the book You go into
the Old Testament, you have to read it backwards. But I read
where one of the commentators gave the literal meaning of this,
so I thought, well, I'll check him out. So I went and looked
in the little Hebrew, and this literally says, Then Jacob lifted
up his feet. Then Jacob lifted up his feet. And that's the title of our lesson
this evening. Then Jacob lifted up his feet. And different things are implied
here by that statement. First of all, it's implied that
Jacob's feet was heavy and that they were dragging. Then he lifted
up his feet. Before, his feet must have been
heavy and dragging. And this word also indicates
that something happened to cause Jacob to lift up his feet. Then he lifted up his feet. And then one commentator says
this, that this word lifted up his feet implies a certain cheerfulness. He skipped. He walked lightly. He lifted up his feet. And it's
said here that when he lifted up his feet, then he went on
his journey to the land of the people of the East, denoting
a certain amount of cheerfulness in which he went. Nothing was
said after he lifted up his feet that he had any trouble. Up until
this time, his feet were heavy, he was dragging. But after that
something happened, he lifted up his feet, and without anything
else to say about it, He went into the land of the people of
the east. This reminds me of that incident
that took place when the disciples were out on the Sea of Galilee,
and they were rowing. The Lord told them to go across
the sea to the other side, but they couldn't get across. They
got out right in the mist, and for hours they were toiling and
rowing, and they couldn't get to the other side. And the Lord
Jesus come walking on the water. And at first they were afraid,
but he said, it's me, it's I, be not afraid. And they received
him into the ship and immediately, without any further to do, without
any more labor, without any more rowing, it seems like, they were
there at the shore. This seems to be the case here
with Jacob. His feet were heavy. They were
dragging. Something happened and lifted
him up. And he had no trouble. Then going
on to the land of the people of the east. Now I want to look
at this verse, mainly just this verse, because it's very appealing
to me as I begin to think about certain aspects of it. And the
first one is this. I think you and I can relate
to this. And I think this is why we lack this so well. When
we think about these things, because I don't know of a single
child of God, but on occasions their feet are heavy and their
feet are dragging. Do you ever get that way? Well,
you're so heavy that you can't seemingly go on your journey
towards the celestial city. And isn't it good to know that
other people have been there too? I guess it's the old adage,
misery loves company. But that's so. When Christian
was going through the valley of the shadow of death, one of
the things that comforted him was he thought he heard voices
of other people. He couldn't see them, but just
hearing their voices. He said, I knew others was there
too. And that comforts us when we
know that. All the Lord's children Even
as they walk in the light as He is in the light, yet they
have times when their feet are heavy. David spoke of being full
of heaviness. He spoke of his soul being melted
with heaviness, and said, Strengthen me, Lord, according to Thy Word. Peter talked about heaviness,
didn't he? If it's need be, you're in heaviness through manifold
temptation. And you know it's said of our
blessed Lord, That when he was in his journey, that he grew
weary and sat on Jacob's well to rest himself? He even found
his own feet to be heavy. He was tempted in all points,
yet without sin. But isn't it good to know, brothers
and sisters, that sometimes when you're so heavy, you're so tired,
and you've labored, and you feel like you can't go on, that you're
not there by yourself. The Lord's people. Jacob was
there. Then Jacob lifted up his feet. And secondly, as I meditated
and thought upon this verse, there was something else here
that was very appealing to me. Not only was Jacob's feet heavy
and were dragging, but our God knows how to cheer us. He knows
how to cause us to lift up our feet. And He often does that. Some of the commentators calculate
that Jacob had traveled somewhere between 45 and 50 miles this
first day. That's a long way to walk in.
All he had was his staff. He wasn't a hunter like Esau
was. Jacob was a homebody. Remember
how he'd hang around the house with his mommy? Esau would go
out hunting. He was tough. by his thigh muscles. He was a rugged man. Jacob was
a tender man. And he had gone 45 or 50 miles
over this rugged terrain. No money. No friend by his side. Maybe thought Esau was after
him. No doubt he was war to a frazzle. And chapter 28 tells us that
he laid down and put these stones there for his pillow. mentally
and physically worn out. And yet, this vision appeared
to him here in the night. We are told in chapter 28 there
beginning in verse 14. He saw this ladder. It was led
down and reached the earth and the top of it was into heaven
itself. And there stood the Lord looking
down from the top of that ladder. And he revealed himself to Jacob.
He said, Jacob, I am the Lord your God. And look here what
he says to him in verse 14. Your 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 shall
thy seed, and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth
be blessed. He preached the gospel to him,
didn't he? That's the gospel. In Christ shall all your families
be blessed. And look what a promise he gave.
And behold, I am with thee, I will keep thee in all places where
you go, and will bring you again to this land, for I will not
leave you until I have done that which I have spoken unto you
of." Then, then, Jacob lifted up his feet. Can you imagine
that? I tell you, God often works this
way with His people. Sometimes He requires of them
to continue even though their feet are heavy. He requires,
Bunyan says, for them to use up all their old store of grace. But He knows when they've used
it up. Sometimes we haven't used it
up, and we have to drag on. But He knows when we've used
it up, and when we've used it up. He knows how to revive the
spirit, and to revive the hearts of the contract ones. He tries
His people, doesn't He? He chastens His people. He teaches
His people. But He knows His people. He knows
His people. And He knows when they can't
go on. when their feet are so heavy that it's dragging. And
that's the time when He not only revives them, but He knows how
to revive them. He knows what they need. He said
in Isaiah 66, to this man will I look, even to him that is poor. He's weak. He's heavy. Lord,
why are you going to look to that man? Because he's of a contrite
spirit. He has a broken heart. He's weak. He needs me. God made the spirit. He knows its limitations. And
that He knows it can grow weary and heavy and fail and fall. Therefore, He upholds it. He
strengthens it. You know why He does that? Nobody
else can. And He knows it. He made the
spirit. He made the soul of the man.
And only God can uphold it. I dwell in the high and lofty
place, He says, but I don't dwell there alone. I dwell there with
Him that's of a contract and broken spirit. Why do you dwell
there with Him? To revive the spirit. To revive
the spirit. Nobody else can do that but God
Himself. And he knows how to do it. And
in his own time, he does it. And no saint ever got so low
and lonely that God knows how to revive his spirit and send
him on his way, lifting up his feet. Isn't that a wonderful
thought? And thirdly, as I considered
this verse and meditated upon it, I thought of this. When God
causes a man to lift up his feet, I tell you, that man will come
willing to expose himself to all kinds of hazards, to go places,
to do things that he'd have never dreamed that he would have done
when God causes him to lift up his feet. A couple of Sundays
ago when I was down at my sister-in-law's funeral, we went there on a Sunday
afternoon and we spent most of the evening there. And I've never
seen my brother cry. First time in my life that I
remember my brother crying, my oldest brother. And he was just
overwhelmed that he'd lost his wife. And everybody was crying
and weeping. And I was the preacher, you know.
You being the preacher, you've got to be there for everybody
else. And we was there that evening, and I went back over to my nephew's
house, and I thought to myself, I can't do this. This is killing
me. But you know something? I did
do it. I did do it. And I did it with a measure of
joy, though it was mixed with sadness, because God touched
my heart. He touched my heart. And when
the Lord revives your heart and your spirit, I mean, He'll make
you give yourself to do things and try things that you had never
tried to do before. But that's me, you see. But it
ain't just me. This ain't just about me. It's
that way in all the lives of all God's children. It's that
way in your life, isn't it? You know, sometimes it's challenging
to be a Christian. It's challenging to pray. It's
challenging to read your Bibles. It's challenging to witness.
You know, you fight against principalities and powers. Can you imagine you,
as weak as you are, taking on the God of this world and the
rulers of the darkness of this world? And yet you have the courage
to do it, don't you? You know who gives you the courage?
You know why you're willing? The Lord has called you to lift
up your feet. And you'll face whatever comes
to you. You'll face life and living And you'll face death
and you'll lift up your feet. And you'll not only face it,
you'll do it with a measure of joy. Here was this man, bless his
heart, the Scripture says, then he lifted up his feet and he
went on to the land of the east. He had about 400 or 350 more
miles to go on his journey. going into a land that he had
never been into before. He was sort of a mommy's boy.
He was sort of a tender-footed fellow. And here he was. All he had to his name was a
staff in his hand. He didn't have a bag of money.
He didn't have a friend by his side. He had nothing to eat as
far as we know. And yet he faced his journey.
And can you almost get a view of him traveling that rough terrain? And he almost had a bounce in
his step. Going there to the land of the
east. And he had this echo, this sweet
echo in his heart. And this is what he kept hearing.
I am with thee. I will keep thee in all places,
wheresoever you go. I'll bring you again to this
land. I will not leave you until I have done that which I have
spoken to thee of. That will make you lift up your
feet. And you do it with a measure of cheerfulness. You see, brothers
and sisters, we not only face the Christian life, we not only
walk this walk, but we do it with a measure of joy and satisfaction
and contentment about it all. And why do we do that? We have
these promises. Standing on the promises of Christ
my King, through eternal ages let His praises ring. The promises. When the howling storms of doubt
and fear assail, by the living Word of God, I shall prevail."
Are we certain of that? We're so certain of it, we can
lift up our feet, can't we? With a measure of joy, standing
on the promises of God. And that's the way we face life.
And that's the way we'll face death. That's the way we'll go
across the River of Jordan, lifting up our feet. Remember the same
promise that Jacob had. I will never leave thee. I will
never forsake thee. Don't that just encourage you
to death? While you go on your journey toward this celestial
city, stand in on the promises of God. What a wonderful thought. Two more things in closing I
want you to see, just quickly. It is not so much about Jacob.
But it's about those that Jacob left behind, his mom and his
dad. I wonder how they were feeling.
You know, we're concentrating now on Jacob. You forget about
Isaac and Rebekah. They fade in the background.
The story from now on is about Jacob. But what about Rebekah,
the mother? And what about Isaac, their dad?
Here they'd sent their son out. How was it with him? They didn't
know. Did he make it to the land? Did
some beast eat him? You say, well, they had the promises
of God that he was the chosen seed. Well, having the promise
and being able to rest on them are two different things, isn't
it? And when he left, I imagine Dad and Mom began to stay awake
and water their pillow with their tears. But you know an amazing
thing that happened. was blessed of his dad before
he left. And his dad said something to
him like this in verse 3, God Almighty bless thee, make you
fruitful, multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of
people, and give thee the blessings of Abraham, and to thy seed with
thee, that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger,
which God gave unto Abraham. That's the way he sent him off,
with this blessing. But you know a strange thing
happened when Jacob was laying here all by himself, worn out
with his heavy feet. The Lord come to him and said
almost the same thing. He almost just reiterated what
his dad had already said to him. You read it down there in verses
13 and verse 14. He said almost the same thing.
And you know what that tells me. You and I can take a measure
of comfort that when we send our children away from home,
when they finally left, our sons and our daughters, and we don't
know how it is with them, we don't know where they are, this
should encourage us, when we do have them home, pray with
them, pray for them, read to them, teach them, and then when
they do leave, And we don't know how it is with them or where
they are. Maybe, just maybe, our faithful Lord will go to
them and remind them of what they've been taught. Of the words
and the promises that's been told to them. I don't know how
many times that you read it in history and you hear young men
and young women witness to it now. That when they got away
from home, they fell into sin. But they begin to remember. something
Dad had said, or some prayer that their mother prayed, and
the Lord takes that to their heart and wins them. All of my
children are gone, and I assure you, I know, that it's not with
them like I wish it was. But I'm waiting and I'm hoping
that some of the things they've been taught, Some Scripture that
I've had them to memorize. Some of the prayers they've heard
us pray in our family worships. That God will be pleased to bring
it back to them. Jacob didn't know, or Isaac didn't
know, and Rebecca didn't know. But God knows. God knows. Isn't it a wonderful thought
to leave your children with Him? And there's something else here
too. This would be a great comfort for a parent. Just to know that
God knows where the child is and the condition that they're
in. And He's able to visit them. It doesn't matter where they
are. Here was a man, poor Jacob, he was all alone. All alone. Can you imagine how lonely he
was? He loved his mother. He stayed in this land that he
was going to for 20 years. And every day and every night,
his heart ached to be back home. He loathed to leave them. He
was so lonely and sad. And Jacob was heartbroken. Rebecca
was heartbroken. But God knows where our children
are. And nobody was around him. He
was there by himself in the loneliness of this night. But God knew right
where he was. Now, ain't that comforting? Where
is my children? I don't know. What kind of trouble
are they in? I don't know. What's their condition? I'm afraid it ain't too good.
And sometimes I'm fearful it may get worse. But you know something? Wherever they are, God knows. And He's able to visit them right
where they are. What a wonderful thought. What
a wonderful thought. Brother Glenn is going to come
and sing to us 472. Do you have your songbook? Can you play that one? Heavenly
Sunlight. A good old song.