When the Lord said to Nathanael
hereafter, you shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending
and descending upon the Son of Man, I have no doubt that he's
referring to the dream of Jacob. And he dreamed, this is Genesis
28, 12, 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. So we know right off the bat
that that ladder is the Lord Jesus Christ. I've entitled this message, The
Ladder You Don't Climb. The Ladder You Don't Climb. When I was in grade school, we
sang a lot of different songs. Among them were, We Are Climbing
Jacob's Ladder. Maybe some of you all sung that
in school. Here's the words, we are climbing
Jacob's ladder. We are climbing Jacob's ladder.
We are climbing Jacob's ladder, soldiers of the cross. Every rung goes higher and higher. Every rung goes higher and higher.
Every rung goes higher and higher, soldiers of the cross. Keep on climbing, we will make
it. Keep on climbing, we will make it. Keep on climbing, we
will make it, soldiers of the cross. Now there's a reason I
strongly believe in separation of church and state. I don't want people teaching
my children the gospel because they don't know it. And this
song that we actually sang in state-sponsored public schools
was completely contrary to what Jacob's ladder means in the first
place. It had this as steps you take
to reach heaven. Steps, rungs you climb, you keep
getting closer. And that has less than nothing
and is actually contrary to Jacob's ladder. The ladder you do not
climb. And Genesis chapter 28 verse
10. And Jacob went out from Beersheba
and went toward Haran. Now Jacob had both the birthright
and the blessing, but I'm sure he didn't feel like that at this
time. His mother has said, Leave, your brother's gonna kill you.
You need to leave and you wait until you hear from me. And that
wait will be over 20 years before he returns. But he's leaving
his homeland for the first time, fearing for his life. And as
he was leaving his homeland, I'm sure he had some awareness
of his own deceitfulness. Look what he did to his brother.
He swindled him of the blessing, and he knew it. When he did what
his mother told him to do, he knew it was wrong. He said, I
may be found to be a deceiver to my father, and I'll bring
a curse on myself rather than a blessing. And here he leaves
home, and if someone would have said, Jacob, you're a hypocrite,
he would have thought much more than you realize. Jacob, you're
a deceiver. you haven't told the half." That
is how Jacob felt. And he's on his journey to Haran,
verse 11. And he lighted upon a certain
place and tarried there all night because the sun was set. And he took of the stones of
that place and put them for his pillows and lay down in that
place to sleep. Stones for pillows. That's pretty
much representative of how he felt at this time. When's the
last time you tried to use a stone for a pillow? Very uncomfortable,
very alone. He didn't have anything at this
time. I don't understand how he went
away with nothing when his parents were so rich, but he did. on
his way fleeing his brother's wrath with stones for a pillow,
very uncomfortable. Perhaps he even looked up at
the sky and thought, I'm at a great distance from the God of my fathers,
and I don't know how to get there. And there he lays with no comfort. Stones for pillows, it's night,
It's night physically, and it's night spiritually for this man. He was in darkness, and there
he lays on these stones. Verse 12, and he dreamed a dream,
and he dreamed. Now, this was before the written
word, and God communicated to him in this way. He communicated
his word through dreams. We have his word now. We do not
need dreams. I've had dreams that I should
do something. I never do it. Even if I dream,
I don't trust my dreams. We have the word of God, that's
all we need. We don't need to trust anything
else. But he didn't have that at this time. And he dreamed
a dream and God communicated to him through this dream. And
we're given such a beautiful type of the gospel in this dream,
in Christ being a ladder. And I love the simplicity of
that, a ladder. A ladder brings me to a place that
I couldn't reach without it. Very simple. No way I can get
there without a ladder. And it was set up on the earth.
Who set it up? God did. He brought it down from
heaven and he set it up on the earth and it reached all the
way to heaven. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. Now this ladder was on earth
and it reached all the way to heaven. Now any man-made ladder
is not gonna get to heaven. You see, any man-made ladder
will always have something you need to do and that ladder will
always come up short. If there's anything you need
to do before you can be in heaven, God can't bless you unless you
fill in the blank. That's a ladder that will never
reach heaven. It won't do you any good at all. You know, I thought of the message
of universal redemption. Jesus Christ paid for everybody's
sins. He died for everybody. But it's
up to you to accept him. And if you don't accept him,
his death will do you no good. That's a ladder that doesn't
get you to heaven. It doesn't get you there. It's like a bridge
that goes halfway across the river. It doesn't get you there.
Anything that makes salvation in some way dependent upon something
you need to do, some work you need to perform in order to be
in heaven, it won't get you there. It's too short. Now, The fact that this ladder
touched both heaven and earth speaks of Christ, our mediator. He touches me on earth and he
touches God in heaven and he brings us together. There's one
God. and one mediator between God
and men, the man, Christ, Jesus. And when we talk about Christ
being a mediator, this is not like a human mediator seeking
to get people to negotiate, make concessions
to come up with a mutual agreement. God doesn't negotiate with sinners.
Never has, never will. This is not a mediation to try
to Negotiate and we can get together. Turn with me for a moment to
Hebrews chapter eight. This is a, they're all critically
important, but this is a critically important passage of scripture
here in Hebrews chapter eight. Verse six, but now hath he, the
Lord Jesus, obtained a more excellent ministry. This is more excellent than the
Levitical priesthood. This is more excellent than the
law. He hath obtained a more excellent
ministry by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant. Grace is better than works. The
covenant of grace is infinitely better than the covenant of works. He's the mediator of a better
covenant. which was established upon better
promises. Now, the first covenant, God
says, I'll do this if you do that. The covenant of grace, God says,
I'll do this if Christ did that, and he did. That's my hope, not
something I do, but what he did. That's a lot better promise,
isn't it? If God said, I'll save you, if you take the first step,
won't do you any good. If God says, I'll save you because
Christ died for you and brought you into my presence, that's
a better promise. For verse seven, if the first
covenant had been faultless, let's talk about the law. Somebody
says, are you saying the law is faulty? No, God says it. And
here's how it's faulty. It doesn't save. I love God's
law. I would never speak disrespectfully
of God's law. I love the 10 commandments. I
love everything God says, but it won't save. It's faulty in that sense. For if the first covenant had
been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the
second, for finding fault with them. He said, behold, the days
come, saith the Lord, when I'll make a new covenant with the
house of Israel and with the house of Judah. This is the covenant
of which Christ is the mediator, that he brings us into contact
with God through his person. And this is not according to
the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when
I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt.
because they continued not in my covenant. And I regarded them
not. Now, if God takes you by the
hand, you know how much good that's gonna do you? Not a bit
of good, because your heart still is bad. He can get your hand
and drag you around anywhere he wants, but the heart's not
changed. I need a new heart. I need a heart that He gives. I need that new heart that David
spoke of when he said, create in me a clean heart. Oh God, create that in me. I
can't, you know, one of the, religion always says, ask Jesus
in your heart. Where in the world's that in
the Bible? It's not ask Jesus in your heart. Why would He wanna
go there? You ask Him for a new heart.
That's what I need. A new heart, the gift of His
grace, creating me a clean heart of God. It won't do me any good
for God to just take me by the hand. I have to be given a new
heart. This, verse 10, this is the covenant
that I make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord. I will put my laws into their mind and write them
in their hearts. Now, that's not talking about
the Ten Commandments. As a matter of fact, Romans 2.16
says that that's already written on everybody's heart when you're
born into this world. Everybody in this room, when
you were a little boy or a little girl, you knew it was wrong to
lie. The law was written in your heart. You knew it was wrong
to steal. You knew it was wrong to murder
and to kill because God's law is written in your heart. That's
why, you know, when I hear people say we need to be taught how
to live, you already know how to live. Do you know what's wrong
if you don't pay your bills? Sure you know that's wrong. It's
dishonest, it's immoral. You know that, and you don't
have to have somebody say, you need to pay your bills. Well, that kind
of stuff comes natural. You know it's wrong to lie. You
know sexual sin is wrong. You know covetousness and greed
is wrong. So he's not talking about writing
the moral law in everybody's hearts, because according to
Romans 2.16, it's already there. He's talking about the law of
the new nature. A new heart, a new spirit. The law of faith. It's a new
creation in Christ. I'll put my laws in their, I'll
put my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts. And
here's what I'll do next. I'll be to them a God. And they
shall be to me a people. Now this is the way God's promise
works. I will, you shall. I will, you shall. Every time. I will, you shall. Well, I like
that, don't you? I want to be, you know, I've
heard people said to me, you make people robots. Well, I don't,
but I tell you what, I'm not sure that's a bad thing. Or you,
would you like to be a robot in the sense of being programmed
to do his will, just doing his will? I'll put my law, I'll be
to them a God. I'll be their God. If God be
for you, who can be against you? They'll be to me a people. And they shall not, verse 11,
they shall not teach every man his neighbor and every man his
brother, saying, know the Lord, for all shall know me from the
least to the greatest. You know, this is what all of
God's people have in common. They know the Lord. They know
his character. And they know when he's not being
preached. That's not the Lord I know. They know because they
know the Lord. Every one of God's people, they
all have this in common. They know the Lord. All shall
know me from the least to the greatest for I will be merciful
to their unrighteousness. Now that word merciful is propitious. I will be a sin removing sacrifice
to their righteousness, for their unrighteousness. Now this is
what I need. I need God to do something about
my sin. I can't do anything about it.
That's not an excuse. That's not surrendering into,
I need God to do something about my sin. I need him to be propitious
with regard to my sin, to remove it by the sacrifice of Christ
so I don't bear it anymore. That's what I need. And that's
what every one of God's people need. And then he says next,
I will be merciful or propitious to their unrighteousness and
their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. Now, there's only one person
who can do that. And the reason he doesn't remember
many more is because through the propitiatory sacrifice of
Christ, there's nothing there to remember. That's the only,
God's got a lot better memory than me and you do. When he says there are sins and
iniquities I remember no more, that's because there's nothing
there to remember now. Christ is the mediator of this
better covenant. I will and you shall. This ladder is let down from
heaven on earth And it brings us to heaven. Just as the Lord
said, Jacob saw these angels ascending and descending upon
the ladder. This lets us know that every
blessing God has for me comes through the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's why I have it. No other reason. It comes to
me through Christ. I don't care what blessing. I
don't care if it's justification, adoption, redemption, calling,
election, all the glorious blessings of salvation. They come to me
through Christ. They descend down through him. And I'm giving them because of
him. And now here's a New Testament
verse that emphasizes that. Be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving
one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven
you. Not because you were sorry, not
because you asked for forgiveness. You ought to be sorry. You ought
to ask for forgiveness, but that's not why God forgives. He does
it through the ladder, through the mediator, for Christ's sake. Every blessing God has, and every
believer has every blessing God has in Christ, and they all descend
down that ladder. And that prayer, that pathetic
prayer that I offer up comes through the ladder, all the way
into heaven. and is accepted by God. That
weak, pathetic faith that I have. comes through that ladder, the
Lord Jesus Christ, and is accepted by God. Every blessing God has
descends down the ladder, Christ, to me. Every even desire I have
for him is acceptable to God, well-pleasing to God, because
it's presented through the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn with me to
Romans 10 for a moment. ascending and descending in Romans
chapter 10. Verse four, for Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Now
that's a ladder that reaches all the way to heaven, isn't
it? That's Christ the ladder. He's the end. He's the goal. He's the completion. He's the
purpose of the law. Christ, righteousness. The end
of the law for righteousness to everyone believing. Now, that's
a ladder that reaches down to me on the earth and brings me
all the way up into heaven. We never read of Jacob climbing
this ladder or going up one rung at a time, getting higher. No,
that's foolishness is all that is. Christ is the ladder. If you're on the first rung,
you're already in heaven. You're there seated in the Ephesians
2, 6, as He's made us sit together with Him in the heavenlies in
Christ Jesus, already there. Is Christ already there? As He
is, so are we in this world. Christ brings me into heaven.
Now, there's the end of the law for righteousness. Now, verse
5, here's a ladder that doesn't reach. For Moses describeth the
righteousness which is of the law, that the man which doeth
those things shall live by them. Hey, if you can keep the law
perfectly, you'll be in heaven. What percentage of a chance is
that gonna happen? It can't happen. It will not
happen. Verse six, but the righteousness
which is of faith, this is the latter that brings us into heaven.
The righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise,
Say not in your heart, who shall ascend into heaven? What can
I do that will ascend into heaven that will cause God to bless
me? Don't say that. Don't say that. You think it
all the time. What can I do? What can I do?
There isn't a day that goes by where somehow in the flesh I
think, what can I do to get God to respond to me? Don't say that. Don't even think it. Verse seven,
or who shall descend into the deep? That is to bring up Christ
again from the dead. Don't say, what can I do to make
his death work for me? What can I do to do anything
to get him to come? Forget, do it. It's done. That is the only ladder that'll
bring me into heaven. It's done. What sayeth it? The word is nigh
thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the word of
faith, which we preach, that if thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God
hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Now, the latter is Christ himself.
The angels of God represent every aspect of salvation coming to
us through the latter. Every prayer, every desire we
have comes to God through the ladder. And you can think of
it, you think of the most stupid, falling asleep while you're doing
it, poor effort at prayer you've ever prayed, even seeing all
kinds of bad motives in it and thinking, how in the world could
that be heard? How could that get to heaven?
Jesus Christ. He's the mediator. He touches
God, he touches men. Now turn back to Genesis 28. Verse 12, and he dreamed and
behold the ladder set up on the earth. Why don't you think for
the Lord already told us He's that ladder and somebody doesn't
have to be thinking, well, I wonder if that really is what that means.
Well, the Lord tells us that's what it is. You're gonna see
the angels of God descending and descending on me. I mean,
this is not somebody stretching for something. This is Christ
the ladder. And behold, verse 13, the Lord
stood above it and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham, thy
father, the God of Isaac, The land whereon thou liest, to thee
will I give it, and to thy seed. And that's what he heard from
the top of the ladder, who God is, I am. He heard of the covenant God, the God of Abraham and Isaac. your grandfather and your father,
the covenant God, and I will give. The land whereon thou liest,
to thee will I give it, and to thy seed, the gift of his grace,
through the latter. Verse 14, and thy seed shall
be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad
to the west and to the east. Now remember, he didn't have
any kids. And here God is telling them of this vast multitude. And it represents all of God's
people, the seed of Abraham, the elect, they all come through
him. 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."
Now, Paul tells us that that's the gospel in Galatians 3, 8.
In thee, in your seed. And that's talking about the
coming seed, the Lord Jesus Christ. All nations shall be blessed.
Not they will be blessed if they shall be blessed. That's the
gospel. God's blessing for Christ's sake
in Christ. And behold, verse 15, I am with
thee. What else can anybody want? What
else could you want? The Lord's my helper. I will
not fear what man shall do unto me. I am with thee. Though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil, for thou art with
me. The Lord's with me. He's with
me right now. And you know, most of the time
I'm not even aware of it. turn on the TV when I get home,
watch something silly, and the Lord's still with me. He's with
me. When I get up in the morning
and read the paper, and I'm not even thinking about it, I'm reading
the paper, He's with me. When I'm giving grace to rest in Him, trust Him, behold
His beauty, behold, He's with me. But the point is, He's always,
there's never a time when He's not with His people. I love the
way the High priest had the names of the children of Israel engraved
on his breast, on his shoulder of peace, always with him. I will keep thee in all places
with our ghost. Now, if a believer could fall
away, they would fall away. If I could fall away, I would
fall away. There's no question about that.
But because I can't, I won't. And the reason I can't is because
He keeps me. He said, I am with thee and will keep thee in all
places whither thou goest and will bring thee again into this
land. For I'll not leave thee until I've done that which I
have spoken to thee of. Covenant blessings. I love what David said in 2 Samuel
23 five. Although my house be not so with
God, yet hath he made with me an everlasting covenant ordered
in all things and sure. And that's what's being spoken
of here. And this is all my salvation. Is that all your salvation? And
you can answer that with a yes or no. is what David called all
my salvation. Although my house be not so with
God yet, he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things and sure. And this is all my salvation.
And this is all my desire. I don't want anything else. Verse 16, Jacob awaked out of his sleep
and said, surely the Lord's in this place and I knew it not.
A lot of people say this is when he was converted or brought to
a knowledge of God. I don't know, it may be. Jacob awaked out of his sleep
and said, surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not.
He was afraid. One thing I know, if I know God,
I'm gonna have the fear of God. What was his response? He was
afraid. He said, how dreadful is this
place? He was afraid. Now, what is the fear of God?
The fear of God is being afraid to look anywhere but Christ.
You find no comfort. You find no assurance. You find
no confidence in anything but the person of Christ. And you
have such a high Exalted view of God that you're scared to
death to look anywhere but Christ and your desires Oh that I might
be found in him not having my own righteousness, which is of
the law I don't want to have anything to do with that but
that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which
is of God by faith He was afraid and he said how dreadful is this
place? This is none other but the house of God This is the
gate of heaven And 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, house of God. But the name of that city was
called Luz at first, that place where he was at. Now, everybody
I read said in verses 20 through 22, Jacob is going back to character. He's trying to strike a deal
with God. Let's read these verses together. And Jacob, after this
dream, after the Lord made himself known to him, 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've set
for a pillar shall be God's house. And of all that thou should give
me, I will surely give the 10th unto thee. Now, like I said,
everybody I read with that exception said Jacob is living up to his
character at this time. He's always trying to drive a
bargain. Now, God, if you do this, if
you save me, if you keep me, if you preserve me, if you give
me everything I need, I'll give you a 10th back. Is that what is being taught
here? If you do all this for me, You'll
be my God and I'll give you 10% of my income. It's all his anyway. It's all his. Now, what he is
saying is if the Lord does this for me, he will be my God. He's done something for me. He
will be my God. Somebody says, where does this
10th come in? Well, what did, Abraham give Melchizedek before
the giving of the law? A tenth. Jacob before the giving of the
law promises? A tenth. Does the New Testament
teach tithing, giving 10%? Let me answer that question real
simply, no. No. Let me say it again, no. What does the New Testament teach?
Well, give as God has prospered you. Let every man according
to as he purposes in his heart, so let him give. If I give as
God prospered him, I might give a whole lot more than a tenth.
I may be in a position where I would be unable to give a tenth.
You give as God has prospered you. But here is the point of
this. When God reveals himself to you,
you want to be rich toward him. You want to be generous toward
him. To put a amount is never right. Is there anything in the Bible,
in the New Testament, about giving 10%? No, there's not. As a man
purposes in his heart, so let him give. Let him give as God
has prospered you. That's the rule of giving. But
here's the point. If I love Christ, I wanna give. It's a love issue. If you love
somebody, you wanna give to that person. This is a love issue. And this is a faith issue. Well,
I'm praying I'll need that money for something else. You trust
the Lord for something else. It's a love issue, and it's a
faith issue. And Jacob says, when God shows
him this ladder, he never climbed a rung, did he? It was a ladder
that brought him directly into God's presence. It came down
to him where he was, in that field, sleeping on rocks, and
brought him directly into God's presence, the work of Christ. And God makes all these promises,
these covenant promises, I'll be with you, I'll keep you, I'll
preserve you, I'll bring you back here in peace, the peace
of justification, the peace of Christ being all in salvation,
I'll bring you back here in peace. Well, old Jacob says, well, if
the Lord does anything, he's my God. He's done something for
me. He's done a mighty work of grace
in my heart, and I want to be generous toward him. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for Christ,
our ladder, How he brings us into your very
presence and causes our prayers to be accepted by you through
our latter. How we thank you that every blessing
of salvation is given us in and through thy son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. How we thank you for the revelation
of your gospel. Lord, once again we pray for
your blessing on the Vacation Bible School. We pray that you
would make yourself known to these young people for Christ's
sake. In his name we pray. Amen.