Now we read in our text that
David wanted to build a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. I've entitled this message, The
God of Jacob. This seems to be a favorite with
David. If you read the Psalms 13 times
in the book of Psalms, he refers to the God of Jacob. When David is giving his last
words in 2 Samuel 23 1, now these be the last words of David. David,
the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high,
the anointed of the God of Jacob. He called himself the anointed
of the God of Jacob. Now I think it's interesting
that Jacob's name is mentioned twice more than Abraham's name.
in the scriptures that gives you some idea of the significance
of this man, Jacob. Would you turn with me to Genesis
25 for a moment? This is about the birth of Jacob,
verse 19. And these are the generations
of Isaac, Abraham's son, Abraham begat Isaac. And Isaac was 40
years old when he took Rebekah the wife, the daughter of Bethuel,
the Syrian, of Paddan Aram, the sister to Laban, the Syrian.
And Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife because she was
barren, and the Lord was entreated of him. And Rebekah, his wife,
conceived, and the children struggled together within her. She didn't
know she had twins. And she said, if it be so, why
am I thus? And she went to inquire of the
Lord. And the Lord said unto her, two nations are in thy womb,
and two manner of people should be separated from thy bowels.
And the one people should be stronger than the other people,
and the elder shall serve the younger. And when her days to
be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her
womb. And the first came out red all over, hairy like a hairy
garment, and they called his name Esau. And after that came
his brother out and took his hold on Esau's heel. Can you
imagine him coming out of the womb and he's holding onto the
heel of his brother? And his name was called Jacob
and his Isaac was three score years old when she bared them.
The boys grew and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field. And Jacob was a plain man dwelling
in tents. Now here we have the birth of
these Two boys, Jacob and Esau, Jacob. Now, he was a plain man. That word can mean perfect and
upright. It can mean that, but it also
means, and here's what it means here, ordinary. Esau, he was
a man's man. He was a cunning hunter, a man
of the field. Jacob was a mama's boy. He stayed
inside. He was a plain man. As a matter
of fact, if you look at the history of this man, he didn't have much
of a character. His name means supplanter, deceiver. And that's exactly what he was.
He was a deceiver. You read in Genesis chapter 25,
go on reading. He waited until his brother had
this weak moment and he used that weak moment in order to
get the birthright out of him. He said, I'll give you this soup.
He saw he was hungry to get his birthright. You read in Genesis
chapter 27 how he swindled his brother again. He got the blessing
by masquerading himself before his blind father as Esau. Are
you Esau? Yes, I am. And you know the way
he deceived. to get what he wanted. You read about when he was under
Laban and trying to get Rachel to be his wife. He ripped Laban
off in every way that's possible, deceiving him in order to get
cattle from him. And he was a bad person. You wouldn't have liked him.
He was deceptive. He was manipulative. He would
do whatever it takes to get his way. Y'all know anybody like
that? Sure you do. Sure you do. But here, here we
have Jacob. And what is the one fact about Jacob that stands
out? God loved him. That's it. Turn to the last book in the
Old Testament. Malachi, right before Matthew. Verse one, the burden of the
word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi, I have loved you, saith
the Lord. Yet you say, wherein hast thou
loved us? was not Esau Jacob's brother, saith the Lord, yet
I loved Jacob and I hated Esau. And laid his mountains and his
heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness, whereas Edom,
the Descendants of Esau saith, we're impoverished, but we will
return and build the desolate places. Thus saith the Lord of
hosts, they shall build, but I will throw it down. They shall
call them the border of wickedness and the people against whom the
Lord hath indignation forever. And this is also quoted in Romans
nine, would you turn there? Romans nine, verse 11. For the children, talking about
Jacob and Esau, being not yet born, neither having done any
good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to election
might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said
unto her, the elder shall serve the younger, as it's written,
Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated. That's God speaking. Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated. Now, to say God, and this is
what most preaching says, to say God loves all men is a denial of this verse of
scripture, isn't it? It's just a denial of that. To
say God loves all men the same is not in the scripture. It's
a lie. Call it what it is, it's a lie.
And it makes the love of God meaningless. If he can love you
and you can wind up in hell, what good is his love? It doesn't
do anything at all under those circumstances. It makes the love
of God meaningless. Now what's Jacob's claim to fame? You certainly can't say his character,
but he is somebody God said I love. Boy, I want to be one of those
people, don't you? I want to be somebody that God loves. Don't give me that foolishness
of, well, how can he not love everybody? I can see. I don't have any trouble with
that at all. I'm amazed at his love for Jacob. Now, the love of God is foundational
to salvation. Jeremiah 31.3, God says, behold,
I have loved you. That's individuals. Behold, I have loved you with
an everlasting love, a love that had no beginning before time
began. Behold. Now, you think if you're
a believer, he says this of you. Behold, I've loved you. I think of that crowd on Judgment
Day that he's going to say, depart from me. Ye that work iniquity,
I never knew you. Now he knew exactly who they
were. That's not saying I never heard of you. What it means is
I never loved you. I never knew you to be one of
mine. You were not one of the objects
of my affection. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity, I never knew you. Whom he did Not what he did,
whom he did for no. Now that does not talk about
a knowledge of events that were going to take place. For whom
he did for no. Adam knew his wife. This speaks
of an intimate relationship. Joseph knew not Mary. The word
means love, love. whom he did for love, then he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son. Now, God's people are throughout
the scripture called Jacob, the God of Jacob. This is how God
is pleased to identify himself. What a blessed name, the God
of Jacob. Listen to these scriptures. And
so all Israel shall be saved as it's written, there shall
come out of Zion the deliverer and he shall turn away ungodliness
from Jacob. From Jacob. For this is my covenant
with them when I shall take away their sin. Psalm 47, four, he
shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob,
whom he loved. Deuteronomy 32, nine, Jacob. is the lot of his inheritance. God says, Jacob is my inheritance. They're mine. Every believer
is said to be a son of Jacob. Remember when God said in Malachi
chapter three, verse six, I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore
ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. God is immutable. He's incapable
of change. The sons of Jacob have been eternally
the objects of his love, and always will be, because he changes
not. Now I've got, I was gonna say five or six things
to say, and Rich has corrected me about that before. Why do
you say five, you know if it's five or six. You and I really
don't. Actually, I can't remember what,
I can't, I'm not looking at my, I've got five or six things to
say, Rich, sorry. about what the significance of this is being
son of Jacob and the God of Jacob. Now here's my first point. Turn
to Psalm 24. Verse six, This is the generation of them
that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Now, my marginal reading says,
O God of Jacob. Well, the word God is not in
the original Hebrew. Here, God calls himself Jacob. Now, what's that all about? The
God of Jacob is the God of eternal union. Now, let me show you how
that is what's taught in the context of this passage of scripture.
Look in verse three. Who shall ascend into the hill
of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath
clean hands and a pure heart. who hath not lifted up his soul
unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully, he shall receive the blessing
from the Lord and the righteousness from the God of his salvation. Now, who is going to be in heaven?
The man that has clean hands, he'd never sinned, a pure heart,
has never lifted up his soul to vanity. He's never sworn deceitfully. That's the only kind of person
that's gonna be in heaven. How do you fit in there? The only
way me and you can fit in there is if we are united to Christ
so that when Christ has clean hands, I do too. When Christ
has this pure heart, I do too. Christ never lifted up his soul
to vanity. He never swore deceitfully. And the only people in heaven
are going to be people who are described just like that. And
the only way me and you could be described like that is if
we're eternally united to the Lord Jesus Christ. And this union
is so real. This is a description of me.
This is a description of every believer. Clean hands, a pure
heart, has never lifted up his soul to vanity, never sworn deceitfully. This is a description of every
believer as they are united to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this
is something I don't understand. I just believe. That's what the
Bible teaches. In Christ. United to Him. Eternally united to Him. I've always been in Him before
the foundation of the world. I was in him. He knew me. I was united to him. And this
union is so close that he calls himself, not only do we take
his name, he takes our name. He's called Jacob. Jacob. He takes my name. That's how close this union is. Now, listen to this scripture
in John chapter 17, verse 23. Thou has loved them as thou has
loved me. That's Christ speaking. He's
talking about his people and that great high priestly prayer
for his people. He says, thou has loved them. Now, how does
the father love the son? I wish I could talk about it
the way it ought to be talked about, but I can't. Oh, he delights
in him. He's altogether lovely. He's beautiful. He's perfect. He's holy. Oh, the father just
beholds the son and beams in approval. Oh, how he loves the
son. It ain't no unconditional love.
I mean, he's altogether lovely. The father can't help but love
the son. As thou has loved, thou has loved
them as thou has loved me. That's the God of Jacob. The God of Jacob, is the God
of election. We just read in Romans 9, verse
11, for the children, talking about Jacob and Esau, being not
yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand. Not of works, but
of him that calleth. Now, election teaches that God
chose every son of Jacob before the foundation of the world to
be saved. I love that scripture in Ephesians
1.4, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him. That God chose who would be saved. Now, There are two issues involved
in election. I want you to listen real carefully.
The first issue with regard to divine election, God choosing
who would be saved before time began. He passed by others and
chose the sons of Jacob, those vitally united to his son. Here's
the first issue. God really is God. He's not God
in word only, he's God indeed. He has absolute control of everything. God really is God. The God of election is the living
and true God who is sovereign. A God who does not elect is a
man-made God, an idol, the figment of man's depraved imagination,
a non-existent entity. There's only one God, the God
of election, the God of Jacob. Now, the second issue of election,
first issue is that God really is God. You know, I don't, I
can say with such confidence, everybody in this room knows
what I'm saying. So you might not like it, but you know it.
So if God is God, he's the God of election. That's who he is.
And the second issue is that of grace. Election is called in Romans
11 and five, the election of grace. If you don't believe and love
election, you do not believe and love the God of election.
And you don't really believe in salvation by grace. It is
impossible to believe that salvation is by grace and not believe election. Not of works. Not of works. The God of Jacob is the God of
election and you can't preach the character of God or the gospel
and leave out election. God of Jacob, the God of eternal
union, the God of election. Look in Isaiah 48 with me for
just a moment. The God of Jacob. Verse 20. Go ye forth of Babylon, flee
from the Chaldeans with a voice of singing, declare ye, tell
this, utter it even to the end of the earth, say ye, the Lord
hath redeemed his servant, Jacob. The God of Jacob is the God who
redeems. The Lord hath redeemed his servant,
Jacob. When the Lord Jesus Christ said,
it is finished. Every son of Jacob was redeemed. Now, what does that mean? An actual atonement was made.
Their sins were paid for, taken away, made not to be, such as
the infinite greatness of the one who died for them, that they
now stand before God without sin. Without guilt. Numbers 23, 21 says, he hath
not beheld iniquity. in Jacob. Now, child of God,
when he beholds you and looks into your heart, oh, I know there's
all kinds of monsters you see there, no doubt about it. But when he looks in your heart
and he sees not as man sees, he beholds no iniquity. How can that be? because of the
redemption, the actual sin atoning death of Christ, where he made
my sin not to be, so that I stand, every son of Jacob stands before
God without sin. I hope the Lord gives us the grace
just to rest in his redeeming blood, that it actually makes
me to be without guilt, without sin, before God. The God of Jacob is a God who
gives a new history. Now, you can't change history,
can you? You look back at your past, there's
things you wish didn't take place, there's things you wish you could
change, but you can't. You cannot change history. History is facts. You cannot
change history. But here's something God does.
He gives a new history. How's that? Well, you remember
when God was meeting with Jacob and wrestling with him in Genesis
32? Now, before I talk about that,
When Jacob is giving his history to Pharaoh, Pharaoh says, how
old are you? Tell me about yourself. You know
what he said? He said, few and evil have been
the days of my pilgrimage. That's all he could say about
himself. Few and evil. That was his own assessment of
his history. I've not attained to the state
of my father's. I wasn't like Isaac. I wasn't
like Abraham. The only one thing I can say
about my history, few and evil have been the days of my pilgrimage. Now in Genesis 32, we're going
to end up this message here, but just let me tell you what
happened. The Lord meets Jacob and he begins
to wrestle with him. The Lord initiated this and he
had his wise and holy purposes in it and they were wrestling
and Jacob wouldn't let go. And the Lord said, what's your
name? He knew what his name was, Jacob.
Deceiver, supplanter, heel catcher, manipulator. He was a bad person. What about when When his brother
said, well, turn with me to Genesis 27. This is after Jacob had swindled Esau. Verse 33, And Isaac trembled
very exceedingly, and said, Who? Where is he that hath taken venison,
and brought it to me? And I have eaten all before thou
camest, and have blessed him. Yea, and he shall be blessed.
And when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with
a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said unto his father,
Bless me, even me also, O my father. And he said, thy brother
came with subtlety and has taken away thy blessing. And he said,
is not he rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these
two times. He took away my birthright. Behold,
now he's taken away my blessing. He's named right. He's a rip
off. He's he's a deceitful man. He's
deceived me. And now the angel is. The Lord
Jesus Christ is wrestling with Jacob. He says, what's your name,
Jacob? You know what, he knew what his
name was. He's making him confess to what he is. What's your name,
Jacob? Deceiver, heel, supplanter. And then Christ said to him,
you're not Jacob anymore. You've got a new history. You're
Israel. As a prince, thou has power with
God. and prevailed. And that's true
of every son of Jacob. He is a prince with God. He's
been given a new history. He has power with God. Now, the
only thing that has power with God is holiness. Isn't that right? The only thing that has power
with God is holiness. Israel is a prince, holy unto
God. His sins have been put away.
He's got a new history and it's all good. Now, I think it's interesting
when you read, particularly in the book of Isaiah, in the same
verse, God will call Jacob and Israel the same person. And you
find that is true in your own experience. You're still a Jacob.
You still got the old man, but you've got the new man, Israel,
that is a prince with God and has power with God and prevails. Colossians 1.22 says, every believer
is holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in his sight. That's your history. Isn't that glorious? That's your
history. That's the history of every son
of Jacob. Holy, unblameable, and unreprovable
in the very sight of God. Oh, how we love the God of Jacob. Now, the God of Jacob, is the
God who appears to every son of Jacob. Every single one of
them. I love the story in Genesis 28
where Jacob has fled for his life because Esau was going to
kill him. And his mom and dad also wanted him to go down there
and look for a wife. And he lays down on the ground, lays his
head on a stone for a pillow. And The Lord appeared to him. You remember the ladder that
came down from heaven? That's the Lord Jesus Christ. The only way we get to heaven
is through him. But the Lord appeared to him and he spake
to him, in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
Same thing he said to Abraham because of the seed that's going
to come through him. And Paul called that in Galatians 3, the
gospel. Wherever there's a son of Jacob, they're gonna have
God revealing the gospel to them. And the gospel is found in the
seed that all the families of the earth shall be blessed, salvation
for Christ's sake. He's the God who appears. Turn with me to Isaiah 45. Actually, Rich, I had seven points
to this. This is the six, Isaiah 45. The God of Jacob is the God who
controls providence for Jacob. Now what is providence? Providence is everything that
happens in time without exception. Everything. Look here in Isaiah
45, thus saith the Lord to his anointed to Cyrus. Now this was
written 200 years before Cyrus was born. You will remember that
Cyrus is the one who had the children of Israel held captive
in Babylon to go back to rebuild the wall and the city of Jerusalem. But this is God speaking 200
years before it even took place. Thus saith the Lord to his anointed,
to Cyrus, whose right hand I beholden, to subdue nations before him.
He's going to become the most powerful man in the world. I
will loose the loins of kings to open for him the two leave
gates, and the gates shall not be shut. I'll go before thee. and make the crooked places straight.
And I'll break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut and sunder
the bars of iron. And I'll give thee the treasures
of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest
know that I the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God
of Israel, for Jacob my servant's sake. And Israel might elect,
I've called thee by thy name, I've surnamed thee, though thou
has not known me. I am the Lord and there's none
else. There's no God beside me. I go
to thee though thou has not known me. That they may know from the
rising of the sun and from the west that there's none beside
me. I am the Lord, there's none else. I form the light and create
darkness. I make peace, I create evil,
I the Lord do all these things. And remember why does it? Verse
four, for Jacob my servant's sake. You know that scripture
in Romans 8 28 really is true. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose. God says, I do everything. I quoted this scripture recently
and they said, are you trying to make God the author of evil?
I said, why are you saying something like that? God's God. He's God. He controls everything. Are you
making God the author of evil? You know, I'm not worried about
that. I'm not worried about that. God's God. Whatever he does is
right. Whatever he does is holy. Whatever he does is just true
because of who he is. And if the only reason there
is evil is because God said, I make peace and I create evil.
And God is in control. He really is God. And he controls
everything in providence. And here's the thing about the
Lord that's so glorious. He brings good out of evil. He's the only
one who can do that, but he does. You remember when Joseph said
to his brethren, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for
good, to bring much people alive. He controls everything for every
one of his sons. Sons of Jacob, everything is
working together, no matter how painful it might appear. Everything
is working together for your good. and his eternal glory. Now, I want to finish by turning
to Genesis chapter 32. This is my favorite story regarding
Jacob. Verse 24, And Jacob was left alone. Now, if you read what had been
going on here, he's trying to cover his bases again. He's going
back to where his brother was. He was scared to death his brother
might kill him. So he splits up his family. I'll have a half
coming this time and a half coming that time. And if he kills half
of them, half of them will escape. I mean, he's covered. Instead
of asking the Lord, he's scheming. He's plotting. He's manipulating.
He's a deceitful man. Everything he does is deceitful.
But now he's left alone. That's a good place to be. and
there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. Now, this is the Lord Jesus Christ,
and he's the one who initiated this. Verse 25, and when he saw that
he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his
thigh And the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he
wrestled with him. I can't imagine how painful that
must have been. And all he had to do was touch
him for that to take place. This is the Lord Jesus Christ.
And he, the Lord Jesus Christ said, let me go for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee
go except thou bless me. Now here is what every son of
Jacob has in common. I have to have the Lord's blessing.
I have. I have to. I can't be left to
myself. I have to have the Lord's blessing. And I'm not going to let him
go. He can kick me. I'm not going
to let him go except he bless me. Now that is Jacob's desire,
I've got to have his blessing. I don't deserve it, I realize
that. I'm nothing more than a Jacob, but I have to have, I can't be
left to myself. I have to have him do something
for me. I have to have him reach out the hand of his omnipotent
grace and do something for me. I won't let you go except you
bless me. Verse 27. And he said unto him,
the Lord Jesus said unto Jacob, what's thy name? And he said,
Jacob. And you can be sure that he knew
exactly what he meant, what that name meant when he said that.
Jacob, deceiver, supplanter. And he said, thy name should
be called no more Jacob, but Israel. For as a prince hast
thou power with God and with men and hast prevailed. Jacob asked him and said, tell
me, I pray thee thy name. And he said, wherefore is it
that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of
the place Peniel, for I have seen God face to face, and my
life was preserved. And as he passed over Peniel,
the sun rose on him, and he halted upon his thigh. Let me tell you
something about every son of Jacob. You might not see it,
but every one of them are painfully aware of it. They walk with a
limp. Every one of them. They walk with a limp. That's the sons of Jacob, but
God identifies himself. This is God's name that he gives
himself the mighty God of Jacob. The Lord of David said in Psalm
46, seven, the Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob
is our refuge. Now, one other scripture I want
you to ponder. In Isaiah chapter 41 verse 14, God says, fear not
thou worm Jacob. I can remember some years ago,
there was a lady that was visiting the church and we were singing,
Alas, and did my savior bleed and did my sovereign die? Would
he devote that sacred head for such a worm as I? And she said
out loud, I'm no worm. Well, in some levels I can understand
that, in some level. I'm a human being, I'm not a
worm, but I know exactly what Isaac Watts meant when he said,
would he devote that sacred head for such a worm as I? Well, in Isaiah 41 verse 14,
God says, fear not thou worm, Jacob, I will help thee. Scott Richardson made this statement. You're not allowed to take a
promise to yourself unless you fit the character of the one
the promise was made to. Fear not, thou worm Jacob. I will help thee. And that's God's promise of salvation
to every son of Jacob. I don't know of anybody in the
Bible that I identify more with than Jacob. Thank God he's the
God of Jacob. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you that you're
the God of Jacob. Lord. Wrestle with us. Cause us to
confess who we are. And then let us hear. That through
Christ. We're Israel. A prince with God
bless this message for Christ's sake. In his name we pray, amen.