I've entitled this message, Jacob's
Response to the Gospel. Now, I don't know how the gospel
can be set forth more clearly than it is in verse 12 of Genesis
chapter 28, 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 the Lord referred
to this in John chapter one, turn over there. We know that
this ladder represents Christ. John chapter one. These are the
words of the Lord. And he said in verse 50. Jesus answered
and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the
fig tree, believest thou? Thou shalt see greater things
than these. 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. Every blessing God has. descends through Christ. Anything you have comes through
Christ. You know what that means? You
don't get it because you earned it. You don't get it because
you asked for it. You don't get it because you deserved it. You
get it through Christ. justification, sanctification,
glorification, redemption, faith, repentance. The reason you have
these things is it came to you through Christ. He is the mediator
and the faith you have, it's accepted through Christ. There's
no merit in your faith. The repentance you have, It's
accepted through Christ. It comes back to God. It is sent
to God through Christ. Now that is the revelation of
the gospel. Christ is the letter, set up
by God upon earth, reaching all the way to heaven. And every
blessing God has descends to you through Christ. And every
desire, every prayer, every act of faith, every feeling of love,
thought of love to him, it comes up through Christ and it's accepted
by God. Now that's just the gospel. And some people have thought
that perhaps this was the first time Jacob believed the gospel. It may be, I'm not sure, but
let's look at his response to this gospel message. Verse 16,
and Jacob awaked out of sleep. Awake thou that sleepest, rise
from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. Now there's
a lot of significance to that. He, you read that this morning
out of Ephesians chapter five. Awake thou that sleepest. All of a sudden he was awake
and he perceived things and understood things that he did not understand
before. When God speaks to you, you're
awakened, you're raised from the dead to a new awareness that
was not there before. And you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins. To as many as received Him, to
them gave He the power to become the sons of God, even to them
which believe on His name, which were born, not of blood, not
of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of God. Now this awakening represents
spiritual awakening. It represents regeneration. Wake up. rise from the dead."
And look at the first thing he said when he was woke up. And Jacob waked out of his sleep
and he said, surely the Lord is in this place and
I knew it not. The first words from his mouth,
surely. Now, I thought of that scripture
in the New Testament in 1 Thessalonians 1, verses 4 and 5, where Paul
said, knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God. Now, here's
how I know. Our gospel came not into you
in word only, but also in the power and in the Holy Ghost,
and in much assurance. Now, when he's talking about
this much assurance, that's not talking about assurance of personal
salvation. Somebody says, I have full assurance
that I'm saved. As soon as I make a statement
like that, I start wondering. You look to Christ, you have
assurance. You start trying to figure out whether or not you
have assurance, you'll lose it. But what he's talking about is assurance
of the gospel. This is the truth that I just
heard. This is the gospel of God. I'm fully assured of that. Now you can have full assurance
that you're saved and not me. A lot of people do. I don't know
how many times I've had people say, I know I'm saved. Don't
try to tell me anything else. Well, I'm not. I'm not, but how
many people have died with full assurance and woke up in hell?
That scares me to death. I don't want that to happen to
me. He said, surely he knew this for sure. It's the truth of God. Surely the Lord is in this place
and I knew it not. The revelation of the Lord omnipresent. Surely the Lord is in this place
and I knew it not now when God reveals himself You know who
he is He understood he's the Lord Omnipresent
And if you know the Lord, you know, he's everywhere He's not
confined and bound by space or time You know the Lord he's Omniscient
he's all-knowing he's omnipotent. He's all-powerful Jacob said
surely the Lord was in this place and I knew it not Now whenever
God reveals himself to you or me One of the first things we
find out is what we did not know The Lord was in this place And
I knew it not. When you come to know, you come
to know that you did not know. If I never see I did not know,
I still do not know. The Lord was in this place and
I knew it not. Verse 17, and he was afraid. When God reveals himself to you,
you're afraid. It's called the fear of God. That's the beginning of wisdom. Not the fear of mistrust. Everybody's got that. Not the
fear of something bad happening to me. God getting me and punishing
me. I'm not talking about that. That's
the fear of mistrust. That's the fear of unbelief.
But I'm talking about that fear and reverence and awe of God. I was afraid. He was afraid,
verse 17, and he said, how dreadful is this place. This is none other
but the house of God. This is the gate of heaven. Now, when you have this fear
and you have this reverence, and let me remind you what the
fear of God is. This is so important, this is so simple. You have the
fear of God when you're afraid to look anywhere but Christ.
That's the fear of God. You're afraid to look to yourself,
you're afraid to look to your experience, you're afraid to
look to anything, you're afraid to look to your knowledge, you're
afraid to look anywhere but Christ. That only is the fear of God. And he expressed this fear. He said, surely this is a dreadful
place, a place to be feared. How dreadful is this place? This
is none other but the house of God. This is the gate of heaven. This is the house of God, this
ladder. Drew, you just read Emmanuel,
God with us. That's the house of God. God
was manifest in the flesh. God tabernacled with us is what
the word means in the flesh. He is the house of God. He's the place God dwells. In Him, Colossians 2.9, in Him
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. This is the
house of God. This is the very gate to heaven.
He saw that Christ was the only way to God. Now, when God reveals
himself to you like he did to Jacob, Jacob's awakened. He He
sees what he didn't know. He sees this is the house of
God. This is the very gate of heaven.
This is the only way to the Father. This is my only way to the Father. Now, I know this. When the gospel's
revealed to you, you know the only way you'll be brought to
the Father is through the gospel. Christ said, I am the way, the
truth, the life. No man comes to the Father, but
by me. He sees this way as the only
gate into heaven. This is the narrow way. This
is the way into God's presence. He was afraid. He said, how dreadful
is this place? There's none other but the house
of God. This is the gate of heaven. And Jacob rose up early in the
morning, verse 18, and took the stone that he'd put for his pillows
and set it up for a pillar and poured oil upon the top of it.
And he called the name of that place Bethel, house of God. Now here's what takes place when
there is true worship. And there's true worship going
on here in these symbols that we see. He took that stone that
he was sleeping on and set it up as a pillar and he poured
oil on it. And he said, this is the house
of God. Now, did he believe that that
rock was literally the house of God? Of course not. Now the
Lord said in Isaiah 66 verse 1, heaven's my throne, earth
is my footstool, where is the house you'll build me? He can't
even be contained in the universe and to think of him being contained
in a certain building or house Christ is the house of God. The church is the house of God,
it's called that. But he takes this stone, sets
it up as a pillar, and he pours oil on it. What happened when someone was
anointed by the Spirit of God? They poured oil upon them. If a priest was anointed by God,
oil was poured on him. Remember the oil that flowed
down Aaron's beard? When David was anointed king,
what's the first thing they did? They poured oil upon him and
anointed him with oil. When a prophet was anointed,
Elijah, Elisha, what did they do? They poured oil upon him
signifying the anointing of God the Holy Spirit. Now I need to
understand this about worship. If I'm gonna worship God, I must have God the Holy Spirit
to worship. I can't worship on my own. It's
beyond me. It's above me. It's something
I cannot do. The flesh cannot worship God. Now listen to this scripture. Philippians chapter three, verse
three. We are the circumcision. We are the true Jews which worship
God in the Spirit. Now, when he says we worship
God in the Spirit, he doesn't simply mean we're not attempting
to worship without all the trappings of religion. You know, where
you've got an organ playing softly in the background to set the
mood and you have the amazing architecture to make you feel
the, I don't know what presence it is, but people think it's
the presence of God. And you have all the different trappings
of religion that just the choir singing and the preacher putting
pressure on the people to come down to the front and all the
different psychological manipulation. He's not saying simply, we don't
use any of that and we're just real simple and plain in our
worship, although I hope we are. I hope we are. I hope we're very
simple and very plain. None of the trappings of religion. False religion, human religion.
But what he's saying is, is we cannot worship unless God the
Holy Spirit gives us a nature to worship him. There is no worship
without God the Holy Spirit. In other words, there's no worship
without being born again. born from above. We are the circumcision
which worship God in the spirit. The Lord said regarding his father,
God is spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit
and in truth. Those two always go together. God, the Holy Spirit, and the
truth of the gospel. There is no true worship of God
without God, the Holy Spirit, and the truth of the gospel. So when he anointed that rock
with oil, that represents the Holy Spirit. That's worship. We are the circumcision, which
worship God and the Spirit. Somebody says, well, what's that
look like? What does it mean to worship God in the Spirit? I can tell you exactly what it
looks like. You rejoice in Christ Jesus. You glory only in Christ
Jesus. That's what he said next. That
word rejoice isn't talking about the being happy, although we
are happy rejoicing in Christ Jesus, but it's the same word
Paul spoke of when he said, God forbid that I should glory save
in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. If somebody worships
God in the spirit, here's what that looks like. You look to
Christ alone as everything in your salvation. Anything other
than that is not worship. You know what He said after that?
We are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit, rejoice
in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. You know how much confidence
I have in my flesh? None. You know how much confidence
I have in your flesh? None. You see, if you worship
God in the spirit and if you rejoice in Christ Jesus, you
have no confidence in the flesh. All you have confidence in is
Christ himself. Now, what does Jacob do? Jacob rose up early in the morning
and took the stone that he'd put for his pillows and set it
up for a pillar and poured oil upon the top of it. And he called
the name of that place Bethel. Now he goes back to Bethel over
and over again. If you read the history of Jacob,
he goes back to Bethel whenever he's in trouble, he goes back
to Bethel. Um, but Bethel and my marginal reading says, uh,
the house of God. I want you to turn with me to
first Timothy chapter three, verse 15. This is so important.
Now this is Jacob worshiping. Is this building the house of
God? No, it's a building. Are the people meeting here?
The house of God? Yes, they are. This is the house
of God. First Timothy chapter three,
verse 15. But if I tarry long, that thou
mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house
of God, which is the church of the living God. The pillar and
the ground of the truth. Now the church is the house of
God. God's in this house. Wherever there's two or three
gathered together in His name, He's there. Now this is so important. When Christ is your life, the
house of God is your life. The church is your life. When Christ is your life, You
see, the church is the house of God. That's where He dwells. It's not something we just try
to find time in our busy lives to make time for. No, if that's
my attitude about church, it's wrong. The church is the house
of the living God, the pillar and the ground of the truth.
Now, you know why, you know, how many times have I bet I've been asked at least
a thousand times, where'd you go to seminary? Where'd you go
to seminary? You know what I like to reply?
I didn't. I didn't. You see, I really don't believe
that anything but the church is where God gives the pillar
and ground of the truth. It's not parachurch organizations,
it's not schools, it's not seminaries. Are you trashing seminaries?
Yeah, I reckon I am. And I don't feel bad about it
because it's the church is the pillar and ground of the truth,
the church of the living God. That's where The truth is upheld,
both the pillar and the ground has something to do with the
truth being upheld. The church is the pillar and ground of the
truth. The house of the living God. And isn't it amazing the way
Paul calls the house of God, which is the church, the pillar
and ground of the truth. That's the house of God. And that's why I'm saying, if
Christ is my life, the church is my life. Now I'm not just
talking about attending church. I want to be there every time
I can get in the door. There's no doubt about that.
But that's not the book. The church is my life because
Christ is my life. It's not a sideline. It's not
something I try to find time for. In fact, I'm busy. If I
can fit it into my busy schedule, it's my life. Now, does that
mean we can be too busy? Well, I guess it does. But the
point is you can't separate Christ and his people. Inasmuch as you
did it to the least of these, my brethren, you've done it to
me. And inasmuch as you did it not
to the least of these, my brethren, you did it not to me. Now, he
calls this place Bethel, the house of God. But the name of the city was
called Luz at the first. He changed the name of the city.
And then Jacob vowed a vow. Now, the Lord did say, swear
not at all, didn't he? He did. And anytime I say, I
promise I'm gonna do this, I've vowed down to God before. Lord,
if you just forgive me of this and deliver me from this, I promise
I'll never, or I'll do this and that. Don't do that. Don't do
that. Let your yay be yay and your
nay be nay. Anything else comes of evil,
the Lord says. In our attempts to vow a vow,
but here Jacob vowed a vow. And me and you can vow this vow.
We can vow this vow. What is his vow? 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. Now, understand this very clearly. Jacob is not saying, if you do
this, then I'll do that. He's saying, if you do this,
I will do that. I will, God says, you shall. And we say, I will. This is not
Jacob making a bargain with God. If you do this for me, if you
do that for me, if you do that for me, well, then you'll be
my God. I'll make you my God. And not
only that, I'll give you 10% of all I got." That's not what
he's saying at all. He says, if you do this for me,
I will. I will. Now let's look at it
real carefully. So Jacob vowed a vow saying, if God will be
with me. Isn't that salvation? If God
will be with me. If God's for me, who can be against
me? If Christ is in me, he's sure
enough with me, isn't he? Christ's in you, the hope of
glory. If God loves me, if Christ died for me, if God's done something
for me, if God be with me, and will keep me in this way that
I go, if he keeps me. if he causes me to persevere
in this way. Now, the only way I will persevere
in this way is if he keeps me and causes me to. I have no question
about that. If I could fall away, I would
fall away. You can just write that down,
that's for sure. Same is true of you. If you could fall away,
you can be sure you will fall away. But if God keeps me in
this way, this way of Christ, I am the way. the way of righteousness,
the way of peace, the way of salvation, the more excellent
way, the way of God, the way of the Lord. If he keeps me in
the way, see, every believer are people of the way, the way
to God, the way of Christ. I've got to be kept in this way.
Oh Lord, keep me. order my steps in your word.
Let no iniquity have dominion over me. Keep me in the way."
The narrow way, the way that's so narrow that if you have anything
else, you can't walk on it. Christ, the way. Keep me in the
way. This way that I go. And he will
give me bread to eat and raiment to put on. Now, is he speaking
literally of food and clothing? Well, I wouldn't say he's not
in the sense that we look to the Lord to provide for us, don't
we? You know, isn't it a comfort to know that whatever you need
materially, he's going to give you what you need? And if you
lose everything, it's okay, because He's still gonna take care of
you. I mean, if the economy tanks completely, and we lose everything,
and somebody could think, well, it's sure going that way, and
it does sure seem to be that way, the way things are going
now. Well, if it tanks completely, Lord's gonna take care of me.
I'm gonna have what I need. Yes, that's a promise. But He's
talking about more than that. As long as I have Christ as my
necessary food and His righteousness as my raiment, as my covering. The Lord said, except you eat
the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no
life in you. Now, all I want to eat, I want
to say this reverently, May God give me grace to say this reverently,
but all I want to feed on is the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't
want anything else. That's the only food I want. I don't want to hear anything
else preached. I don't want to receive anything else. I want the Lord
Jesus Christ. I need Him to sustain me. He must be that manna that comes
down from heaven for me. I love that. That manna, you
had to have the manna for today, didn't you? If you tried it,
you couldn't live off yesterday's manna. What would it do? It'd
breathe worms and stink. I need to look to Christ right
now the way I first looked. I can't look back to my former
experience. I can't look back to my former
whatever is in the past. All that'll do is breathe worms
and stink. I need to look Christ right now
as my man, as the water from the rock, as my food and my drink.
Not only that, I have to have his righteousness as my raiment,
as my only covering. That fine linen, clean and white
that Revelation 19.8 speaks of, which is the righteousness of
the saints. That's not talking about the
righteous deeds of the saints. I've heard people say that's
the righteous deeds of the saints. Do you have any deeds that you've
done that you would consider fine linen, clean and white?
I don't think so. The righteousness of the saints
is the righteousness of Jesus Christ as my merit, as my acceptance
before God. Now, if you keep me in the way,
if you feed me, and if you clothe me, So that, verse 21, I come again
to my Father's house in peace. If I come again to my Father's
house in peace, and I'm brought into heaven in peace, And the
only peace I know of is the peace of Jesus Christ being my righteousness
before God, and that everything that God requires of me, he looks
to his Son for. That's the only thing that gives
me peace. If you tell me there's something I need to do, my peace
leaves. I'm scared to death. I'm afraid
I'm going to come up short. But if you tell me that I'm holy
and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight, that I stand before
God without guilt, without sin, my sin's been put away, it's
gone, I stand before God having never sinned, clothed in the
righteousness of Christ. That's the gospel. If I'm brought into your house
in peace, then You'll be my God. Now that doesn't mean I'm gonna
make you my God. It means you are my God. If you've
done all these things for me, if you keep me in the way, if
you bring me into my Father's house of peace, if you feed me,
if you give me rainment, if you do this for me, you know what
that means? You're my God. I'll be to them a God. He's my God. I'm not just talking about God
by creation. I'm not talking about God as
him having the right to be my God, which he does. I'm talking
about this. I am my beloved's and he is mine. He'll be my God. That's because he is God to me.
I shall be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. Then shall the Lord be my God."
If God does this, He's my God. And this stone, which I have
set for a pillar, shall be God's house. Anointed by oil, by the Spirit
of God. And of all that thou shalt give
me, I will surely give the 10th unto thee. Now, I said this last
week. He loves me. I love him. He does everything for my salvation.
I'm completely dependent upon him to do everything for me in
my salvation. You know what I wanna do? I wanna
give. I'm gonna give. Now I said last
week I do not believe for a second that the New Testament teaches
a 10% tithe. That's law. Somebody says, well,
why did Jacob give 10%? Why did Abraham give 10%? Well,
it never says they were commanded to. I guess that's what he wanted
to give. There's no law about it at this time. That's what
he wanted to give. And in the New Testament, the
instructions we're given with regard to giving is, give as
a man purposes in his heart, so let him give. Not grudgingly
or necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver. Where it's
your privilege, it's your, what a blessing. What a blessing. As a man purposes in his heart,
so let him give. Now, 10%, if you want to give
10%, give 10%. If you give as God has prospered
you, you can give more than 10%. I want to give more than the
law requires. I surely do. The point is, give. If you can only give 1%, give
1%. Somebody says, I don't have anything
to give. I don't believe that. Everybody can give something.
You can give a dollar. That widow that gave two mites gave more
than everybody else. Now, what can two mites do around
here? What can two cents do for the
budget here? Nothing. But if given with the right motive,
it's more than anybody else gives. That's what God looks upon. He
looks upon the heart. He looks upon the motive. And
Jacob, all of a sudden, this is important to him. Now, if
we go on reading the history of Jacob, which we will in the
weeks to come, He still practiced deceit and covetousness and all
kind of other things, which he shouldn't have done, but let
me remind you, me and you do too. We're all sons of Jacob, if we're
believers. God is called the God of Jacob.
Jacob was a sinner, he was a weak man, but he was a sinner saved
by grace. And when someone has the gospel revealed to them,
They want to give. That is important to them, and
it was to Jacob at this time. This stone which I've set for
a pillar shall be God's house, and of all that thou shalt give
me, I will surely give the tenth unto thee. We love him. because he first loved us. Let's pray. Lord, we ask of you what Jacob
asked of you, that you would keep us in the
way and don't let us leave the way. And that you would feed
us and that you would clothe us. Feed us with our son, clothe
us in his righteousness. Lord, you doing that for us,
you're our God and we're your people. Bless this message for
Christ's sake. In His name we pray.