Tonight, I want us to look at
the title of the message, which is Childish Fear and Childlike
Faith. Childish Fear, Childlike Faith. The question I have to start
with is what drives us to Christ? What drives us to Christ? Does
religion drive men to Christ? No. Religion is full of pride. Religion is full of self. Religion
is full of arrogance. It doesn't drive men to Christ.
What about the feeling that we're good enough for God? Does that
drive us to Christ? No. No, if a man feels good enough
for God, he doesn't need a substitute, does he? What about what we hear
in preaching today where men say that God wants to have a
personal relationship with you? He wants to have a personal relationship
with you. That doesn't drive us to Christ,
does it? Hearing that God wants to save you, Jesus wants to save
you, that doesn't drive us to Christ, does it? Repentance drives
us to Christ. When the Lord gives repentance,
he gives godly fear with that repentance. Fear of the wrath
of God, fear of being left to ourself, fear of the unknown. Not realizing whenever we are
without repentance and the faith of Christ that We're not really
contemplating death. We're not contemplating eternity.
And yet when the Lord reveals repentance, we are contemplating
death at that point. Lord, don't leave me to myself.
Fear is what drives us to Christ. Fear of being lost, fear of not
having a savior, fear of not having a substitute before God.
And that's because of the repentance that he gives his people. We're afraid of being left to
ourself. We're afraid of our sin causing our damnation. And
rightly so, if we are left to ourselves, that's what we're
afraid of. And that's what drives us to Christ. Once sin is revealed,
we're afraid of the wrath of God. And yet the glorious news
of the gospel is he gives his faith at the same time. His faith
goes straight to Christ, doesn't it? His faith looks right to
Christ. Our eyes are taken off of ourselves. Our eyes are directed
right at him. Now in this life, we have fear
of circumstances, don't we? And that drives us to Christ
also, doesn't it? Peter didn't have any need to cry out, Lord,
save me, till he began to sink. The storm, he saw the storm and
began to sink. That's why he cried out. So our
circumstances drive us to, and they're all by great designs
of grace. We know that to be true. We know that to be true. When we see that we deserve wrath,
then it's not our circumstances we're afraid of anymore, is it?
It's our sin. It's our sin problem. And this
is what makes the gospel such a good thing. Fear is a good
thing. Did you know that? Being afraid,
it'll keep you alive. You ever heard of the fight or
flight scenario we go through whenever we're in danger? We
have a natural fear response, but no fear according to the
flesh can bring about repentance. No fear according to the flesh
can bring about salvation. But when the Lord gives his godly
fear, he also gives his faith. which allows us to fear him and
worship him in spirit and in truth. Now, spiritually dead
men and women, they have no fear. They may have some idea of who
God is and fear that individual, but it's a fabricated God. God
has to reveal himself. You remember when the Lord revealed
himself to you for the first time? We shuddered, didn't we? It was frightening, wasn't it?
Frightening to see ourself as being the sinner. And all the
glorious assurance we had whenever he did reveal his gospel, though
he didn't just reveal wrath, he revealed mercy. As we heard
last on Sunday. Only the elect of God have the
reverential fear. They have the repentance and
the faith to worship God. Now in our text we find Jacob
is afraid, and why he is afraid is this reason. You know the
story, the account given of Jacob and Esau, how that Esau came
to Jacob despising the birthright. He was hunting. He said he was
famished. He was weary. And he came to
Jacob and said, give me of your porridge lest I die. Give me
your bowl of soup because I'm going to die. I'm starving to
death. And Jacob said, give me your birthright. I'll sell it
to you. And what was Esau's response to that? Did he say, no, you
can't have the birthright. It's everything to me. The promise
of a savior is everything to me. No, he said, well, I'm going
to die anyways. It's not going to do me any good.
It's not going to do me any good. And he sold it to Jacob, didn't
he? Now we know that Jacob later on tricks Isaac, his father,
into receiving the birthright. And what a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ going in We see Jacob is wearing the wool covering
and we see him as having the odor that his brother had. But what did Isaac say? He says, you feel like Esau and
you smell like Esau, but your voice sounds like Jacob. What
a picture of substitution that is having the covering of our
substitute. And the Lord offered himself up as a sweet smelling
savor unto his father for his people. And now we smell just
like him. That's the picture there, isn't it? And because
of what Christ has done, we received the inheritance. We received
the birthright. And Jacob did. He received the
birthright. Well, when Esau heard about it, he wanted to kill him.
He wanted to kill Jacob. And so Jacob fled and went down
to Laban, which was Rebecca, his mother's brother. It was
his uncle. And his mother said, get you
a wife from them. And so that's where Rebecca was to begin with. Whenever Abraham sought her out
for Isaac, you remember he sent the servant. But here we are
back to that with Jacob now working for Laban. He worked for a month
and he said, well, what's the wage that I'm going to pay you
for working for And he said, I'll work for you seven years
for Rachel's hand. And Laban says, okay. And they
agreed to that. They entered into a covenant and the wedding
night happened. And the next morning, whenever
they woke up, it wasn't Rachel laying there, but it was Leah,
wasn't it? And he said, you've tricked me.
Well, the trickster had gotten tricked, didn't he? And we see
that it was all by great designs of grace and mercy. I'm sure
Jacob didn't see it that way. He was furious. But what did
he do? He worked another seven years
for Laban, didn't he? And then he got Rachel's hand.
He ended up working another six years after that to get cattle,
to get flocks and to get herds. Now, what's taken place 20 years
of his life has been devoted to 14 to Rachel and now he's
working six more to get everything he needs to sustain. So he has
11 sons now and two wives and many servants, many man servants,
many maid servants, many flocks and herds. We've heard about
that in the past and now he's departed. Now he's departed Laban
and he's got to go back to the land of his father. He's got
to go back to face Esau. 20 years has went by and now
it's time to go home. Now it's time to return back
home. Now, as he goes back to his father's land, we know that
Isaac was on his deathbed and had passed since then when he
gave the birthright to Jacob. So Esau's the man. He's the one
that kind of inherited everything. So Jacob had much fear in his
heart of going and seeing Esau. He had no hope of their relationship
being restored. What evidence did he have that
Esau still didn't want to kill him? He had no evidence of that, did
he? So he sends messengers. He sends messengers to Esau. Now, that's where we're at, Genesis
chapter 32 and verse six. And the messengers returned to
Jacob saying, we came to thy brother Esau and also he cometh
to meet thee and 400 men with him. Then Jacob was greatly afraid
and distressed. And he divided the people that
was with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the camels,
into two bands, and said, If Esau come to the one company
and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape. Why was Jacob afraid? He was
afraid of losing everything that he had worked for. He was afraid
of having to start all over again. But what was really his fear?
He was afraid of death, wasn't he? He was afraid Esau was going
to kill him. He was afraid of Esau having
revenge in his heart towards Jacob. Now I want to remind us
that Esau represents the old man. And Jacob represents the
new man. Remember when Rebecca was in
with child had the two in her womb, she said, if it be so,
why am I thus? And she was told because there's
two nations inside of you. And he told her right then the
elder shall serve the younger. Well, that's the new and the
old man. Our old man that we're born with serves the new man,
doesn't he? And so we see the picture here very clearly. Now
we know Our old man does truly rob us of our joy often, doesn't
he? Think about that. Our new man never robs us of
our joy. Our new man always looks to Christ.
Our old man tries to rob us of our joy. David said that he lost
it. He said, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. So
our joy is lost. And it's all because of the old
man, but the old man can not do anything, anything to rob
us of what has been given by Christ's hand. Our old man can't
do that. Now that's what Jacob was afraid
Esau was gonna do, is take what he had. And that's what our old
man would desire to do. Our old man can't do anything,
anything toward the finished work of Christ. Nothing we do
has anything to do with our salvation. He saved us and eternity passed
and he calls us in time. It's already finished. It's already
settled in heaven. That's the good news of the gospel.
And he keeps us by his power so that nothing, and I wrote
down here to say nothing three times to make sure we understood
what I mean by nothing. Absolutely nothing. If there's
one thing in our mind, perish the thought. Nothing, nothing
we do or anyone else can do can add to or take away the finished
work of Christ that he wrought for his people. His salvation
for his elect. Luke 12, 32, the Lord says, fear
not, little flock. I love the pet name he gives
to his people there, little flock. You think of a ewe lamb that
David was ready to fight for, ready to revenge the ewe lamb,
the little lamb. That's what we are in his eyes.
Precious in his sight is what he tells us. Precious, little
flock. Fear not, little flock, for it
is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. See,
the Lord reveals that it's all by grace. It's not what we have
done, not what we do or what we're going to do that keeps
us. It's not what we've done, what we're doing or what we're
going to do that saved us nor called us. He did it all. He
did it all. Jacob was saved by grace. He
was called by grace alone and he was kept by the sovereign
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Now let's continue to
read in verse nine. Jacob said, O God of my father
Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which saith unto
me, return into thy country and to thy kindred and I will deal
well with thee. Now understand the purpose for
Israel's return here, the purpose for Jacob's return was because
God said so. God told him to return. I mean,
if he hadn't, there's, we can imagine he probably would have
had no interest in going back. He was safe where he was. He
could have made his abode there once he left Laban, but he had
to return. Verse 10 says, I am not worthy
of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth, which thou
has showed unto thy servant. For with my staff, I passed over
this Jordan and now I am become two bands. Deliver me, I pray
thee, from the hand of my brother, for the hand of Esau, for I fear
him, lest he will come and smite me and the mother with the children.
And thou saidest, I will surely do thee good and make thee seed
as the sands of the sea, which cannot be numbered for the multitude. He's afraid. He's afraid that
Esau is going to smite him and his wives and his children. and
take away everything that he has, and he asks the Lord to
have mercy on him, but he does say, I'm not worthy of the least
of the mercies. We are given repentance, brethren.
Fear grips our heart. Fear grips our heart. We are
shown that there is a God that is seated on the throne, and
he is sovereign in all things, and we can't do anything to please
him. We can't do anything to stay his hand or say, what doest
thou? He's God. When we have that knowledge,
when he changes our mind, By his grace, that's called repentance. And when we have that, we're
afraid. Jacob was afraid for his life. He was afraid for his
life. And what do we cry out? Lord,
deliver me from the hand of my brother. That old man. Deliver
me from the hand of my brother because he desires to kill me.
He desires to look at you in unbelief. This flesh still hates
God right this moment. Our flesh hates everything about
God. That's our brother. We're carrying around a dead
corpse. That's what we're doing. And it's going to go back to
the dust from whence it came. But while it's alive, it desires
to kill us. It does. Verse 10 is the confession
of every believer. I am not worthy of the least
of all the mercies and of all the truth that the Lord's given
unto him. Is that your confession? Are you worthy of any mercy?
that the Lord has given you? Are you worthy of any truth that
the Lord's revealed? No, we're not, are we? Not even
one mercy that he's shown unto us. Otherwise, it wouldn't be
mercy, would it? By definition, it's what we do
not deserve, getting what we do not deserve. He says, Lord,
I'm not worthy of this, but you're my only hope in this salvation
against my brother. He has come to kill me. And by
all accounts, it looked like he was bringing a small army
with him, 400 men. He was scared to death that he was going to
die. Lord, I'm not worthy of the mercies. I'm afraid of this.
This is my fear. I'm going to die. Lest you do
something. Lest you do something. See, understand
Jacob's being driven to Christ because of his circumstance.
And you and I are driven to Christ because of our circumstances
in life. And we are driven to Christ when we're given repentance
and we're given faith to look to him when we see our sin. We're
given repentance and we're driven straight to Christ. That's what
his repentance and faith does. We are made to confess he is
our only hope. I love that everything in the
scripture has a physical aspect and it has a spiritual aspect.
And as we read from the Lord, he said, the prophets wanted
to look into this. They couldn't see it the way that you see it.
It's revealed into you. You have the full volume. We
get to look back over this account and say, that's why that happened. That's why that happened, so
that we can see the Lord bringing Jacob through this trial and
have hope that the Lord will keep his people, even though
Jacob didn't deserve it. He wasn't worthy of the mercy.
He wasn't worthy of the truth. The Lord did the keeping. Lord,
that's my hope. Lord, keep me. Don't leave me
to myself. My brother desires to kill me. This old flesh don't want to
believe you. It can't believe you. Lord, cause
me to see Christ. Give me repentance and faith. So Jacob sends gifts unto Esau. Jacob says, take these gifts
and send them to my brother. He's going to come to me. I want
him to know I'm coming in peace. And he sends gifts. I will appease
him is literally what he says. I will appease him with the present
that goeth before me in pure adventure. He will accept me.
Maybe, maybe by this gift, he'll accept me. His word was accept
me. Now, some men approach God this
way, don't they? They believe that if they do something or
offer sacrifice unto Him, He will accept them. And that's
not true. We know that's not true. We know that's not true. Men say, do and live. And that's
not true. Nothing we produce pleases the
Lord. No sacrifice, no gifts, nothing that we do. But everything,
everything Christ did was accepted by His Father. Everything. Turn
with me. Let's read verse 24. Verse 24. And Jacob was left alone and
there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.
And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the
hollow of his thigh and hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint
and he wrestled with him. And he said, let me go for the
day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee
go except thou bless me. And he said unto him, what is
thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, thy name be called
no more Jacob, but Israel. For as a prince hast thou power
with God and with men, and hast prevailed. And 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 is preserved. Jacob was left alone. He had
sent his family ahead of him, he had sent his flocks and his
herds ahead of him, and he was alone. Now this has a twofold
meaning, as I mentioned before, a physical and a spiritual. It
has a double spiritual meaning, truly, but Jacob was left alone. I would remind us that our Lord
Jesus Christ was left alone on the cross of Calvary. No one
could come to his aid. He had at his disposal, 12 legions
of angels, 12 legions of angels. And from my understanding, that's
9,000 men in a garrison, 12 legions, 12 times nine. All he had to
do was speak the word and you know, they were at the ready.
At his command, they would have been right there, but no, no,
he was left alone in the darkness, bearing the sin of his people,
doing business with God, doing business with God. He was all
alone. He cries out, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? We know why he was forsaken.
He was forsaken because he was bearing our sin, but he was also
forsaken so that his word, his promise to us could be true. I will never leave you and I
will never forsake you. That's the picture here. Christ
was left alone and we see the travail of his soul. It's not,
it's, he didn't wrestle with God. That's foolish. No, he laid
down his life freely. He laid down his life freely
as a lamb done before his shearers. He went out and opened not his
mouth. He laid down his life freely for his people, bearing
their sin unto the father. With the eyes of faith, looking
to his father in all things, he prevailed, didn't he? He prevailed
over death, hell, and the grave. And that's what the man just
said to Jacob. Because he prevailed, the Lord
blessed him. Christ Jesus prevailed on the
cross of Calvary. And because he prevailed, we
have no need to fear anymore. No need to fear. Matthew 18,
verse 11 says, For the Son of Man is come to save that which
is lost. Even so, It is not the will of
your father, which is in heaven, that one of these little ones
should perish. It is not the will of the father
that one of these little ones should perish. This is his little
flock I'm talking about. This is his children I'm speaking
of. And if his will is that they
will not perish, they will not perish. He's God. Christ only
came to save his lost. sheep. He only came to save the
lost sheep of the house of Israel. Christ Jesus came to save sinners
and he accomplished that. He prevailed on the cross of
Calvary. I love that he came to save desperate. I wrote down
desperate dead dogs. That's three D's. Desperate dead
dogs. That's what we are, isn't it? That's who he came to save.
Now, the second picture in this passage is that Jacob was made
to be all alone. He was in desperation. Desperation. He knew who he was wrestling
with. He knew what he was wrestling for, and he was made desperate
to do so. See, only God's dead dogs are
desperate. They're the only ones that are
made to be desperate, because that's what we see ourself as.
The Lord takes the mirror of his gospel and reveals unto us
by his repentance that we are wretched, we are vile, we have
no hope. Lord, you're going to have to save me. That's what
he does by his gospel. And only when we are made desperate
will we have a need of Christ to fill it. Only when we made
to have a need will we need Christ. Only when we're made to fear,
we run to Him. As I pondered upon fear, I realized
that men, we don't make ourselves fearful, do we? I mean, we Some
people may go watch a scary movie or go to a haunted house, but
even then you're not making yourself afraid. Your fear is a response
mechanism. It's a response mechanism. Only
God can make a dead dog sinner afraid because he makes them
alive first. Men and women that don't know
the truth of the gospel that have not been called can't be spiritually
afraid or stand in awe of him because they're dead. He makes
us alive, gives us the fear of him, and gives us Christ at the
same time. who takes away our fear. Isn't
that glorious? He takes it away at the same
moment. Unless God gives repentance and
fear, he will not give faith and rest. God must give us godly
fear and make us desperate lest we die. Now for the remainder
of our time, I want to look at the simplicity of this passage.
This is a very, this was good news to me when I heard it. And
I pray the Lord will cause you to I pray you'll let me say it
the way I learned it from him and you'll see his heart as he
revealed it to me. That's my heart's desire right now. Jacob wrestled with Christ. There's
none other. He wrestled with a man. And if
it would have been the father, the father would have killed
him because of his sin. He had to be Christ. Jacob wrestled
with Christ. We have this affirmation. because
in the next verse it confirms that he says, I've seen God face
to face, therefore the Lord's preserved me. I've saw God's
Christ, therefore I know I will be preserved. He's given me the
faith to look upon him. I find it interesting that Jacob
asked the question, what is your name? And the Lord says, The
Lord says, the Lord doesn't answer him, does he? He doesn't give
him his name. Who are you to ask me of my name? That's one
way to look at it. But another one is, you know exactly what
my name is. I've already revealed myself
to you. You know who I am. I'm the I am. He already knew
that. He already knew that information.
The Lord had already revealed himself to him previously. He'd saw the
Lord before. So he knew who he was and the
Lord didn't answer him for that reason. The Lord says, you know
who I am. Now this word wrestle. And this is where I hope we can
enter into this. This word wrestle is not what
men say wrestle means. It's not. Men say we'll pray
harder. Wrestle with God a little more
and he will reward you what you're wanting. Pray harder, be more
fervent, wrestle with God and he will bless you. That's what
men say. This is not what this word wrestle means. Jacob was
clinging to the Lord Jesus Christ with every fiber of his being. as a child clings to their parent
in fear. That's what he's talking about
here. That's the wrestling that was going on. He says, I have
to have you. You're going to have to bless me or my brother
is going to kill me. He was in desperation, needing
the Lord to give him help. He was like a little child, like
a little child clinging unto the Lord. No, I can't let you
go. If I let you go, I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I can't
let you go. That's what wrestling means.
That's what it is to wrestle with the Lord, cling to him,
cleave to him with everything that he's given us to do it with
all the faith that he's giving us, looking to him in full assurance
that he will do that, which is good. Example that came to my
mind is I have three daughters and each one of my daughters
has had nightmares over the years, or they've been awoke abruptly
by thunderstorms out of fear. And where do they run to? Where
do they run to? They run to daddy. They run to
the side of my bed and they say, daddy, I'm afraid. And what do
I say to them? Go back to bed, you'll be fine.
No, no, I see the fear in their eyes. I see the hurt that they're
feeling. I see the pain that they're enduring. And I say,
come here. And I take them into my arms and I hold on to them.
And what do they do? They fall right back to sleep.
They know daddy's gonna take care of it. Daddy's gonna take
care of it. When a child has bad dreams, Is there truly anything to fear? When you have a bad dream, is
it real? It might feel real for the moment, but is it real? Not
real, is it? There's nothing really to be
afraid of. I've woke up many times in a
panic. I know what it feels like. It felt real. I was scared, in
danger, I thought. In so much, my body thought I
was in danger. My heart was racing. And yet
it's not real when I open my eyes and I'm able to come back
to reality. Well, that's what daddy's able to do with his children,
is hang on to them and let them know it's all right. Everything's
going to be all right. If there was no thunderstorm
and there was no bad dream, there would have been no need for their
father, would it? They would have had no need for
me. They would have slept just safe and sound in their bed. They'd
have been just fine. The Lord sends thunderstorms
in our life, doesn't he? He sends thunderstorms our way
and he causes us to flee to him in desperation. Jacob was desperate.
Jacob had to have him and he cleaved unto him like a little
child cleaving unto their father. The storm doesn't stop. just
because we cleave and cry out, but we know who's purposed the
storm and we rest in his sovereign power, knowing that he could
stop the storm at any time. I couldn't stop the thunderstorm
for my daughter. I didn't have the power to do that. And yet
she rested in me knowing that I would protect her. How much
more should we rest in the Lord Jesus Christ and his finished
work unto his father? How much more should we rest
in our father who hath all power, all power to stop the storm and
more so put away our sin by his own blood. What rest there is
in that for the child of God? What hope we have in what the
Lord has accomplished, cleave unto Him, wrestle with Him, latch
hold, lay hold of eternal life is what the scripture tells us. Christ said, I have all powers
been given to me of my father. And because of the childlike
faith, now I'm not degrading the faith of Christ, that's where
it comes from, but it is childlike. A man told me recently, he said,
what you're saying is blind faith. You're just following God blindly,
then trusting him for everything. I said, yes, exactly. What is your faith? And he said,
well, the Lord, and I'm not even going to tell you what all he
said, it doesn't matter. But it was, that's all we did. It's childlike faith.
She trusted me that my promise was going to be true, that everything
would be okay. And what else happens in life
with our children? We, being evil, know how to give
good gifts unto our children. How much more shall our Heavenly
Father give unto us the Holy Spirit that asked Him? This childlike
faith makes us cry out, if I could just but touch the hem of His
garment, I know that I'll be made whole. If I could just touch
His garment. A man came to Jesus and said,
I have a child that is sick, nearing to death. I need you
to speak the word. You don't even have to come into
the house. You have all power. Just speak the word and it'll
happen. That's what the childlike faith
cries out. Childlike faith makes us agree
with the Lord when he says you're nothing but a dead dog center.
We say truth Lord, but the dogs desire the crumb that falls from
the master's table. I have a new dog at my house. And I've latched onto that thing,
grown attached to it, and it follows me everywhere. And every
time I'm eating, it doesn't jump up on me, but it'll sit there
and its eyeballs will be locked right on my food. Every time
I'm taking a bite, it's watching my mouth. Dog's like, can I please
have a crumb? Can I please have a crumb? Is
that not what we do coming here? Lord, can I just have another
crumb from your table? Can I just have another, a little
morsel? Lord, it's life sustaining. I've
got to have it. Wrestle with him. That's what
Jacob was doing. I got to have Christ. I've got to have Christ. I'm going to die if I can't have
him. Dogs are content there. Dogs are content eating a crumbs
from the master's table. They can't eat at the table of
self-righteousness anymore. They can't eat at the banquet
of wickedness any longer. They had got to have the crumbs
from their master. And those crumbs are a representation
of whatever he lets fall to them. And they're in complete trust
to the master. That's what his sheep do. His
dogs. All that the children need to
hear of the Lord is the promise of their heavenly father. It's
going to be all right. It's going to be all right. If
we hear that, is there not rest in that for the child of God?
Is there not? That's where we rest, isn't it? When the Lord
speaks, we rest in his word. We long to hear this from our
heavenly father. Be not afraid. It is I. Be not afraid. I am the storm. I am the first cause of all things.
I'm the author and finisher of the faith of Christ given to
you by him. I'm the author of it. Our children can rest in us.
We can't even stop the storm, yet he can. How much should we
rest in his power and his victory over death fell in the grave
and his victory in his His precious salvation, the promise of God. So what is our bad dream that
we have? What is our bad dream that we have truly? Is it not
not being found in Him? That's the bad dream, isn't it?
That's the fear of the believer is I'm not going to be found
in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a nightmare, isn't it?
The nightmare of all nightmares that brings the most terror unto
our soul. This is why Jacob's wrestling.
And he says to him, I will not let you go until you bless me. I don't care what it costs. I've
got to have the blessing. He's saying, save me, Lord, by
your strong hand, by your grace, by your mercy, make me to know
that I know that it is finished for my soul, that my sin has
been put away. I've got an elder brother that
wants to kill me. I've got to have a substitute before the
Father. I've got to have Christ. Give me the faith, your faith,
that conquers this fear of being lost lest I die. The only lost
people need to be found, don't they? Only lost sheep need to
be found, and the Lord finds them. Turn with me to Romans
chapter 8. Romans chapter 8, verse 15. All false religion preaching,
all it can bring is bondage and fear mongering. The Lord tells
us in Romans 8 verse 15, For ye have not received the spirit
of bondage again to fear, but you have received the spirit
of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The spirit itself beareth
witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And
if children and heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.
If so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified
together. For I reckon that the suffering
of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory which shall be revealed in us." See, the Lord's not given
us the spirit of bondage. He's not given us the spirit
of fear that causes bondage, but he's given us the spirit
of adoption whereby we cry, Abba Father. He's not given us the
spirit of fear where we say, I wonder if I'm good enough. No, he's revealed we're not good
enough, but Christ is. That's what he's revealed. What
sweet communion that he gives to his elect children, the sweet
embrace that the gospel gives to his people by his spirit every
time that it goes forth. He says, fear not Jacob. I've
redeemed you. I bought you by my own blood. I own you as mine. You are mine. You've been adopted into my family.
You are now a son of God and a joiner with Jesus Christ all
by his work. May we never think, may we never
think we grow past being a child. Never. No, I want to be his child. I want to be his child. Now,
did you know that's insulting to our flesh to be called a child?
I remember one time working with a 17 year old boy. That's what
he was, 17 year old boy. And I understand perspective
is all of it and different people's ages, we see them differently,
but I said, you have a childish mentality about the work we're
doing. And he said, don't call me a boy. He put his finger in
my face. He didn't want to be called a child, but to the child
of God, to know that I'm his child, truth Lord, truth Lord,
God will gladly be your babe. I don't need any recognition
of, of my strength whatsoever. I'm on incomplete dependency
of you. You're going to have to feed
me. You're going to have to swaddle me. You're going to have to baby
me, Lord, because I'm going to drift away from you all the time. You're
going to have to keep me by your power. You're going to have to
show me that I am your child. The idea of not liking being
called a child is the same pride that's in religion. Men speak
of growing in faith. What they mean by that is they're
developing more and more towards sanctification, I suppose, or
that they're becoming stronger in their faith, looking to the
Lord more. But everything about that is contrary to what the
Lord said. Take that and turn it and flip it upside on its
head. Growing means you're going down, not up. The less we see
of ourself and the more we see of Him is growth. its growth
in Christ. And even saying we're an infant
is too much of a compliment, isn't it? No, we're a worm. We're
a maggot. Lord, but can I be yours? That's
the hope, isn't it? Lord, you came to save sinners
and you revealed that I'm a sinner. Lord, have mercy upon me, the
sinner. Have mercy. I can't let go of you till you
bless me. We must come to him as little children. Turn with
me to Matthew 18. We must come as little children. Matthew 18 and verse 15. I'm sorry, Matthew 18 verse one.
At the same time, came the disciples unto Jesus saying, who is the
greatest in the kingdom of heaven? They're wanting to know about
growth, aren't they? Wanting to know who's going to
be the greatest. And Jesus called him a little child unto him and
set him in the midst of them and said, verily I say unto you,
except you be converted, and become as little children, ye
shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore
shall humble himself as this child, as this little child,
the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. We never grow
past being a little child, do we? He says you're converted,
and unless you come as a little child, those are the ones he
accepts. We never grow past being his little child. We never grow
past Being babes, it's a picture of us always being desperate
for our father, always being powerless and having a need that
only he can fulfill. Clinging unto him always with
childlike faith, looking to him, his provision, what he's provided,
not what we provided. What does my children provide
for themselves as babies? What did your children provide
for themselves as babies? Nothing. They were just a burden,
wasn't they? Just a burden. And he took that
burden, that sin that we are unto himself and put it away
by his own blood and has given us everything that we need by
his grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. No, strength is not increasing
our faith and growing upward. Strength is looking to Christ
alone. Because in our weakness, his
strength is made perfect. That's what Paul said. My grace
is sufficient for you, Paul. In your weakness, my strength
is made perfect. The less you see of yourself,
that's when you're going to look to the Lord. That's the only
time we look to the Lord, when we're made needy. That's when
we completely rest in his promise. Faith knows that it is finished. It conquers all of our fear,
doesn't it? When we hear it is finished and it resonates down
deep in our soul, there's rest in that. There is no other rest
outside of that. It is finished. Paul said, in me, that is to
say in my flesh, there is no good thing. And he besought the
Lord and said, Lord, remove the thorn in my flesh. There's no
good thing in it. And the Lord said, my grace is
sufficient for you. For my strength is made perfect in your weakness.
Well, that doesn't make a lot of sense to the flesh that if
we're weaker, then we're stronger. That doesn't make any sense,
but it's what are we looking to? What are we looking to? Are we looking
to this? Because this isn't strength. No, he has all power, both in
heaven and in earth. He has all strength looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of faith. That's where we must
look to find strength. Jacob counted the cost. He did
not care what the consequence was. He had to have the blessing. It did not matter what was going
to take place. He would not let the Lord go. And he limped the
rest of his life because of it. Boy, we limp through life, don't
we? Isn't that true? We limp from Sunday to Wednesday.
We do, don't we? As soon as 12 o'clock comes and
we go out into the world again, we start limping. Then we come
in seven o'clock on Wednesday night and we're getting to feed
again a little bit. And as soon as we leave eight o'clock, nine
o'clock, we'll gather in the kitchen sometimes till nine o'clock
talking because we're not ready to go back out and limp in the
world. We want to see more of him. Isn't that true? We just
limp through life. That's what Jacob did. He walked
different than everybody else his entire life because God blessed
him, because God preserved him, because God kept him. And that's
what the Lord's doing for his people. and I've got to have
your blessing. What is that blessing that he
was after? Is it not Christ and his glorious salvation for his
elect sinners? That is the blessing. Somebody
said, pray more and God will bless you. Lord, give me Christ
lest I die. I don't need physical blessings.
Lord, don't give me too much or I'll look away from you. Don't
give me so literal, I'll steal. Give me Christ. That's my need.
That's your need, isn't it? That's our need. Lord, I got
to have him. I've got to have Christ. His salvation, His adoption.
Ephesians 1 and 5 tells us, having predestinated us unto the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good
pleasure of His will. So what did His predestination
by His will accomplish? In closing, I want to show you
Genesis 33. What did this blessing of salvation
accomplish? What did the Lord predestinating
a people according to his will accomplish? We can find the answer
in Genesis 33. Look in verse eight. Now Jacob has met Esau
at this point, and Esau is asking Jacob a question. Verse eight,
Esau said, what meanest thou by all this drove which I met?
And Jacob said, these are to find grace in the sight of my
Lord. And Esau said, I have enough,
my brother, keep that thou hast unto thyself. And Jacob said,
nay, I pray, I pray thee, if that now I have found grace in
thy sight, then receive my present at my hand. For therefore I have
seen the face, I have seen thy face as though I had seen the
face of God and thou was pleased with me. Take, I pray thee, my
blessing that is brought to thee because God hath dealt graciously
with me and because I have enough. And he urged him and he took
it. We see two words here. are two
phrases, enough. I have enough. Esau said, no,
I don't want your gift. I have enough. And Jacob said,
take it because I have enough, but it's two totally different
words. The first enough means I have plenty. Esau says, I don't
need what you have. I have plenty. Jacob says, you
don't understand. Enough means everything coming
from Jacob. He said, Esau, I have everything. I have everything in Christ.
He said, take this from my hand because I've been given everything
in the promise of the blessing of the Lord. What he's done for
his people is given us everything. Oh, he's given us plenty, but
he's given us everything in the Lord Jesus Christ. What a glorious
thought. We come running to our father,
our heavenly father. And we tell the Lord that we're
having a bad dream, or we're scared of the storm of this life.
We're afraid of what's going on around us. We're afraid of
our sin. We're afraid of the unbelief that we have. And we
flee into Him, our Heavenly Father, and we see that our sin is what's
separating us from Him. And does He not scoop us up by
His grace and reminds us that the storm cannot touch you? The
storm cannot touch you. I am the storm. I control the
storm. I've purposed the storm. It cannot touch you. It's all just a bad dream. It's
not real. Storm can't touch you. Your sin
has been put away. It's all just a bad dream. You
can't be separated from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus.
That's all just a bad dream. Why? He put away the sin. He
says, what sin? I don't remember any sin. I don't
see any sin. I put it away. That's what it
means to have all. I have everything, Jacob said
to Esau. I've been given everything. I've been given forgiveness of
sin and eternal life. So when we're afraid, remember, it's
just a bad dream. It's not real. If you're in Christ
Jesus, if we are in Christ Jesus, we're going through the motions
of this life. It's just a bad dream. We're going to awake,
the scripture says, in his likeness. We're going to see that we've
always been there, being held, being upheld by his power, his
omnipotent hand. And nothing can pluck us from
his hand. And he's in his father's hand.
Nothing can pluck them from my father's hand. I and my father
are one. No, Christ endured the storm
for his people in their stead, and the wrath of God was poured
out upon the cross of Calvary. Here's what we hear from him.
I have redeemed you, fear not. I have called you by my name.
He says, what sin? It's finished. It's finished. There is now, therefore, no condemnation. There is no sin that remaineth
to the child of God. It's just a bad dream. If we
could just see reality for a moment, this isn't reality, you know
that, right? Reality is how God sees it. We've been glorified
in his sight. I don't understand it, but I
believe it. We're seated at the right hand of the father right
now. He's making intercession for us. We are seated in Christ
right now. This is just a bad dream we're
going through. He's given us everything in Christ. No wonder
John said, behold, what manner of love the father hath bestowed
upon us that we should be called the sons of God. Brethren now,
Right now, are we the sons of God and it does not yet appear
what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we
shall be like him, but we shall see him as he is. We shall be
made like him and we'll wake up in him and his likeness. And we realize we've always been
there. This was just all a bad dream. All a bad dream. I love the thought of running
to our heavenly father with, with our fear of our sin. with our fear of the storm of
life, the circumstance that we're facing, Him just scooping us
up. He's saying, it's all right.
It's all finished already. I've already accomplished salvation.
Nothing can pluck you from my hand. It's all right. I've got
you. I love that.