Before I read the text, I want
to read a scripture from the writings of Paul. He said, Our Lord ascended up
into heaven, and he gave some apostles and some prophets and
some evangelists, that's missionaries, some pastors and teachers. for
the perfecting of the saints, for the maturing of the saints,
for the work of the ministry, for the edifying or instructing
of the body of Christ, till we all, all of his elect, all of
his sheep, come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge
of the Son of God unto a mature man under the measure of the
stature of the fullness of Jesus Christ, that we be henceforth
no more children, speaks of immaturity, tossed to and fro, carried about
with every wind of doctrine, by the slight of men, cunning
craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. I can say at John the Baptist
of old, I'm not, when I stand here, a private person. I'm a
voice, a voice crying in the wilderness a message, a message
God has for us in this hour, in this day. So encouraging when
someone comes up to you, like a man did just a few minutes
ago, and says to you, after you preach the message that God has
laid on your heart, the message you've prepared and studied and
presented, as I did this morning, and says to you, I've been here
so many years, and I saw this morning in your message something
very special that God is doing and God is saying to me. It just
came together in the message this morning. I have a better
understanding of the salvation of God, of the glory of God,
of the exaltation of Christ, and of my part in it. Now, there's
nothing that thrills me more. The voice has done what it was
sent to do. It's accomplished the purpose that God sent it
to accomplish. There's no glory of credit to
the man. There's no following of the man. There's a following
of the man Christ Jesus. There's an understanding of what
he's saying. I have a message tonight. I don't know why I'm
preaching this message. I really don't know. Somebody
said, how do you get messages? I wish I knew. I wish I could
tell you. But I believe God gave me this message. I really don't
know why I'm preaching it, because I was impressed, as I read in
the book of Genesis, with the beauty of this story, the grace
and mercy revealed. It was a blessing to me. And
God impressed my heart to speak on this subject tonight. Here's
the subject, what to do when things go wrong. What to do when
things go wrong. Now there may be someone here
tonight, I do not know. This is not prepared for any
special person. But there may be someone here
tonight, unknown to me, who has a special need for this message
at this time. It may be that it's a word for
the future. I do know that in 35 years of preaching, many times
things have gone wrong for me and for many people under my
ministry. I've had severe trials, personal
trials, you have too. Some of God's people have overcome,
and I've seen some who have been overcome. Now this message tonight
I think will help us overcome, because it tells us what to do
when things go wrong. If you'll turn to Genesis 35.
Genesis 35. The thing I'm trying to impress
upon you is this. Don't. Barnard said, My voice
is the only voice you hear. Nothing of any eternal value
is going to be accomplished. God didn't send you here to hear
a man or hear from a man. He sent you here to hear his
voice speak through his words. If all we've done is come to
hear a man, we've wasted our time because he doesn't have
anything to say. But God has something to say.
And how is God going to deliver his message to you and to me
except through the voice of a man? That's what he says over there
that I read a moment ago in Ephesians. He gave some apostles and some
prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers for the
maturity. to deliver his message. Now, here is his message, I believe,
for tonight, Genesis 35. God said unto Jacob, God said
to Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there, and make there
an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee, when thou fleddest
from the face of Esau thy brother. Now, this is 30 years after that
scripture I read a moment ago. I read you from Genesis 28 about
Jacob's experience, his dream, the revelation of God to him.
This is 30 years later. And God is saying to this man,
Jacob, go back to Bethel. Go back to Bethel. Now, blessed
is the man, I want to say this before I get into the heart of
the message, blessed is the man, this man, you men and women out
there, who read the Scriptures, and find the message that God
has given. This is God speaking. This is
the Lord God speaking. And apply it to our own experiences. I can take this experience of
Jacob and apply it to my own. For example, let me show you
this. You don't need to bother to turn. I can turn more rapidly
and read it to you. In Romans 15.4, it says this. Whatsoever things were written
before were written for our learning. These things that are written
back here were written for our learning, that we might profit. And then over here in 1 Corinthians
10, it says this, it says, Now all these things happen to them,
that is to Israel, Jacob, Abraham, David, all. These things happen
to them for examples, and they're written for our admonition. You
see what he's saying? They're written for you. There's
something here. This is not just for Jacob. This is for Henry,
for Cecil, for Bob, for Ed, Joyce, for Paul. This is written for
our admonition, for our learning, for our profit. And if we can't
look at it and get the message and put it right now, right now
into practice. Now, Jacob's a man difficult
to understand. Don't try to understand Jacob.
Don't try to understand anybody. He put no confidence in the flesh.
Don't try to understand anybody. He's a man difficult to understand,
but I say this about Jacob. He most definitely is God's man. Let that be established first
of all. How do I know that? I'll let you go with me to this
scripture, Romans 9. He's God's man. I know that beyond
a shadow of a doubt. I know Jacob is God's man. Strange
fellow, but he's God's man. means supplanter. When he was
born, he was a twin, Esau and Jacob. He came out second, hanging
on to his brother's heel, and they named him the supplanter,
which takes that, actually the meaning is this, to take the
place of by force or plotting. That's what his name, that's
the name his mama gave him. Like Caleb, they call this man
Caleb, his name means fateful dog. You know, usually we choose
a name for our children which Daniel, you know, beloved of
the Lord, I believe that's, and David, beloved of the Lord, and
that other name, Benjamin, son of my love, but here, Cheet,
Jacob, supplanter, plotter, planter, He lied to his father. He lied
to his father. Plotted with his mother. And
I know God announced to his mother, the elder shall serve the younger.
I know that. That didn't lessen his responsibility for lying.
I know it was God's purpose and plan to put Jacob where he was,
but that didn't lessen his responsibility for conniving and plotting and
planning this overthrow of his brother to steal the birthright.
Didn't justify it at all. He took his brother's birthright
by conniving, deviously planning with his mother about the thing. Then he had to flee from his
country, flee from his people. But the hand of God's on this
man. In Romans chapter, look at Romans 9 verse 10. Rebekah
was his mother, says, not only this, but when Rebekah also had
conceived by one, even our father Isaac, the children being not
yet born, neither having done any good or evil, purpose of
God according to election, God's election, might stand, not of
works, not of religious works or any other kind of work, moral
works, but of him that calleth. It was said to her, the elder
shall serve the younger as it is written, Jacob I love, Esau
I hate. That's God speaking. Actually,
in the eyes of me, and God looks not on the outward countenance,
God looks on the heart. In the eyes of men, Esau was
the most admirable of the two men. He was an outdoorsman, he
was a hunter, he was a this, that, and the other, he was a
hard worker. Jacob was a mama's boy. And in the eyes of men,
I imagine Esau was to be admired more than, but God set his affection
on Jacob for reasons known only to the Heavenly Father. Turn,
if you will, to 1 Corinthians 1. I can't explain who God loves. I can't explain why God chooses
whom he chooses. I just know that he said, I'll
have mercy on whom I will. Here are two sons born, Esau,
firstborn, Jacob, secondborn. God said, I love Jacob. I hate
Esau. Before they was ever born, before they had any record, God
said, Jacob, have a look. I set my affection on Jacob.
You see, there's a way in the scripture, he taketh away the
first and establishes the second. You have in that the first creation,
going to be destroyed, there'll be a new heaven and a new earth.
You have the first covenant, the covenant of works, it'll
be destroyed, there'll be a new covenant of grace. You have the
first man, Adam, taken away, the second man from heaven, Christ.
You have the first paradise, taken away, heaven, new paradise. You have the first tabernacle,
taken away, Christ, the second tabernacle. You have the first
Levitical law, the types and ceremonies fulfilled by Christ.
You go right on through the scripture with this, and I'll tell you
this, God will not use human resources. God will not be glorified
in human talent and resources and efforts. He's going to put
it down. He's going to destroy it. He's
going to use that which is of himself. It's just so. It's like
old Brother Mews said one time, God uses no man's natural talent.
He gives him the gift of his grace. I hear in 1 Corinthians
1, it says you see, verse 26, you see your calling, brethren.
It's just like Jacob's. Not many wise men after the flesh. You know, Queen Victoria said,
I thank God for an eon. Somebody said, well, your majesty,
why do you thank God for an eon? She says, it doesn't say not
any wise men, not any noble, it says not many. She said, that's
me, I'm noble. She was the queen of England.
But not many wise men, not many mighty, not many noble are called.
But God had chosen the foolish things of the world to confound
the wise, and God had chosen the weak things. Jacob was weak.
He was a weak man. To confound the things that are
mighty and the base things, Jacob was despised. You'll see in just
a few moments, everybody despised him. After a while, his father,
his brother, his townspeople, his father-in-law, his own sons. Those things are the things which
are despised at God's chosen things, which are not to bring
to naught the things that are. Why? No flesh should glow in
God's presence. God will whittle us down one
way or the other. He must for his glory. It's like
I told you one time, turn to Matthew 1. I told you this, there
may be someone who knew here tonight and didn't hear this
message, but I told you once when the genealogy of our Lord
is traced in the book of Matthew, and I know this is offensive,
but nevertheless it's Scripture. When the genealogy of our Lord
is traced in the book of Matthew 1, there are only There are only three women who
are named in this genealogy. Rebecca is not named, Rachel
is not named, Sarah is not named. None of these so-called noble
women are named. But verse 3, he names Tamar,
who played the harlot. You know that story, gave birth
to twins. In verse 5, he names Rahab. There are four women named Rahab
who She was the woman of Jericho that lived on the roof there.
He names Ruth, who was a Moabitess, heathen girl, heathen from Moabitess. She wasn't an Israelite. And
Bathsheba, verse 6, the mother of Solomon, the one
who gave birth to Solomon. So Jacob, though a strange man,
though difficult to understand, And though in so many ways weak,
despised, base, and so forth, yet he was an object of God's
love. Jacob definitely met God. Jacob met God. I read it to you
a moment ago in chapter 28. Jacob met God. Jacob and God
met at this place called Bethel. Jacob knew he had met God. Turn
over here to chapter 28 again. He didn't have any doubt about
this. He met God. He didn't just have some kind
of vision or dream, Jacob met God, he knew he met God. He said
in verse 16 of Genesis 28, I paused there and read it twice because
it impressed me so, Jacob awaked out of his sleep and said, surely
the Lord's in this place, the Lord God's in this place. And
he was afraid, he said, how dreadful is this place, this is none other
than the house of God, God's in this place. Jacob met God,
Jacob knew he met God, and Jacob called that place Bethel, the
house of God. He knew he met God. He was not
deceived. And Jacob made some commitments
to God. Let's look back over here at Genesis 28 a minute.
He made some definite commitments to God. He knew that he had.
In verse 20 of Jacob 28, whatever happened in his life, he met
God, he knew he met God, he made some commitments to God, and
God made some promises to him. God said, Jacob, I'll be with
you. I like that verse 15. I'll be with you. I'll be with
you. And then Jacob said in verse
20, if God be with me and keep me wherever I go, give me food
to eat and clothes to wear, He'll be my God. He'll be my God. All right. Now, but things had
gone wrong. I don't know whether from that
point. I won't say they went wrong from that point because
Jacob had the continuous journey. He was fleeing from his brother
Esau from the mess he left back there at home. And he was fleeing
to another country. And over there, you know what
took place. He worked seven years. Was it seven years? To marry
Rachel, the younger of two daughters of Laban. And Laban tricked him. Somebody said he got what he
gave Esau. Well, that may be right, but
Laban tricked him. and gave him the older daughter.
Jacob said, why did you do that? I worked seven years for Rachel,
and I'm in love with Rachel, and here I marry Leah. That's
not right to do that. His daddy-in-law said, well,
it's not right for the younger sister to marry before the older
sister. So you've got it. Now work seven more years and
you can have Rachel. Well, he worked seven more years. And
God blessed him. God prospered him. I don't remember
the full story, but I do know that his father-in-law said,
now certain cows are born if they have ring-tailed, was that
it, or stripes, and that's yours. Well, every one of them born
from then on was that way. God blessed him. And his father-in-law
changed it and said, well, if they're born this way, they're
yours. All of them after that were born that way. Jacob got wealthy.
God blessed him. God blessed him greatly. But
then he was going back home, and he left under a cloud. He
left his father-in-law's house, and his father-in-law turned
against him. He changed his wages ten times, and he fled. And Rachel,
his wife, stole some of her daddy's gods, you know. It was a heathen
country. Stole some of her daddy's gods,
and you know how that took. He met Esau, and Spurgeon said
he went wrong there because he bowed to Esau. He had the birthright. He was the priest of the tribe,
but here he is bowing to Esau. Shouldn't have done that. And
all of his children were bowing to their Uncle Esau. Every one
of them were bowing, just bowing down. And Jacob went down there
in Shechem, the land of Shechem. He and his two wives, and his
eleven sons, and his daughter Dinah, and somebody said that
was a mistake. He just made a mistake everywhere
he went. He went down in Shechem, a land of idolatry and a land
of wickedness, and he became a citizen of that country. He
joined himself. And God told him he wasn't to
dwell in houses, so he didn't build a house. God told him to
dwell in tents. He built some boots, some temporary
houses. He just, you know, compromised
a little bit. And he built some boots, and
he moved in to those. He had planned to stay. And his
daughter Dinah was out one day, and this young prince of Shechem
saw her and fell in love with her and assaulted her. She came
home and told her brothers. Well, Jacob now is in a strange
country among strange people, idolatrous, heathen, pagans,
and his daughter has been assaulted by these young men, this young
man of the town. So the brothers went down and
got all the young men together, and the father of the daughter,
and said, We've got a plaintiff, Jacob's eleven sons. We've got a plaintiff. He said,
if all the men of the village, it was a village is what it was,
all the men of the village will be circumcised and become Jews,
become like us, then we'll let you marry Dana, and we'll marry
your sisters and daughters and so forth. Well, all the men were
circumcised, and on the third day, when they were all laid
up in trouble and all, These boys, these 11 sons of Jacob,
came down to the village and killed every one of them, murdered
them, and took their wives and their children and all their
gold and silver, just ravished the village. And they came back
and told their daddy down here in Genesis 34. You see that previous
chapter, verse 30, and Jacob said, Levi is the priestly tribe. Verse
30 of Genesis 24, you've troubled me, you've made me to stink among
the inhabitants of this land, among the Canaanites and the
Perizzites, and I'm just a few in number, we've just got a small
tribe, and they shall gather themselves together against me
and kill me, I'm going to be destroyed, I and my house." They
didn't apologize, they didn't feel they'd done any wrong. They
said, well, they shouldn't have dealt with our sister as a hire.
They justified what they'd done. Well, everything had gone wrong.
You see, that's what I say, what to do when things go wrong. Everything. This man is a man of God. This
man is a child of God. This man has God's hand upon
him. This is a man to whom God had appeared. who met God, who
knew God, who walked with God, who was favored of God. What
did you call him in the reading tonight? A prince. That's what
God named Israel, a prince. Well, the prince is in trouble.
The prince has a division with his brother, the prince has a
rift with his father-in-law, the prince is dwelling in a heathen
country. His sons had brought shame and
reproach upon the whole household. He feared for his life. Everything
was wrong. He was distressed beyond expression. He was fearful and afraid. We
have times like this. We have those times when things
go wrong. Fellowships are broken. Attitudes
become bad. Joy is gone. lose our jobs, our
friends, all this. So you have these kinds of sickness,
pressure, difficulty, depression. Things just seem to go from bad
to worse, bad to worse. Just keep getting worse. And
we're about ready to despair even of the grace of God. We
live in depression and despair. Well, the Armenians pipe something
that says you're not saved. You need to go rededicate. You
need to go get saved. You need this, that, and the
other. Well, let's see what God says to this man. Jacob knows
God. He knows God. There's no doubt
about that. He's met God. Well, verse 1 of
chapter 35, And God said to Jacob, down here in the pit, down here
in the valley of despair, down here when everything's gone wrong,
he says, Jacob, arise. There's something to be done.
The first word to him is arise and go. There's a move to be
made on Jacob's part. God said, Jacob, arise, get up,
go. Don't stay where you are. Don't
stay where you are. Don't sit there and pout. Don't
sit there and feel sorry for yourself. Don't continue to stew
in your problems and discuss your problems. Stand up. That's
what it says to him. Arise. God's mercy and God's
grace is so good. Turn to 1 John with me. 1 John
chapter 1. Here's the first thing. Here's
the first thing. You know, our God is gracious
and merciful. He upbraideth not. God doesn't
hold grudges. God's long-suffering and patient
to his children. If you, being evil, know how
to give good things to your children, how much more shall a father
give good things to them that ask him? Though God chasten and
God rebuke, God does not carry grudges. God doesn't pout. God
forgives. You here tonight who are loving
fathers and loving husbands and loving wives and mothers, there's
nothing more miserable than to carry a grudge, you see. There's nothing more miserable
than to be on the ounce. You want things smoothed over,
you want things straightened out. Well, that is the spirit
of our God. He says here in 1 John 1, verse
9, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive
our sins right now, right now. Cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Look at verse 1 of chapter 2. My little children, these things
are right unto you that you sin not. God takes no pleasure in
our rebellion and sin and failures. And if any man sin, we have an
advocate, we have a mediator, we have a high place, we have
an atonement with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous. That's
what he says to Jacob. Don't sit there. Stand there. Leave this place. Leave this
place of despair. Leave this place of worldliness.
Leave this place. Get up. All right, what's the
next command? And go. Arise and go where? To Bethel. What is Bethel? Well, you look it up. It's the
house of God. Well, but God doesn't dwell in
houses. I know that. I know that just as well as you
do. Where is the house that will contain God? The heaven of heavens
can't contain God. The earth is His footstool. But
this place Jacob called the house of God was identified with God. It was identified with the time
he met God. It was identified with God. It
was a place of identification with God and His things and His
promises. Arise, Jacob. You're in a foreign
land. You're among a heathen people.
Your association is bad. You can't survive down here.
Jacob can't survive in Shechem. Lot couldn't survive in Sodom.
Israel couldn't survive in Egypt. And you, my friend, when things
go wrong, you cannot survive in the Valley of Despair. You
got to get out. You cannot survive among heathen. You cannot survive among pagans. You cannot survive among Armenians.
I've known people to get angry with the preacher, angry with
the church, and go off to an Armenian church. They can't survive.
There's no way. You cannot sing the songs of
Zion in a foreign land. Can't be done. Got to go back
to Bethel, back to the house of God. You'll find it difficult
to survive away from those things which identified with God. Worse
will get worse. Bad will get worse. You can't
stay where you are. That's what Jacob, after all
these years, God came to Jacob in all of his difficulty, in
all of his troubles, in all of his despair, in all of his misunderstandings,
in all of these same problems. Jacob arrives, get up, and go
to Bethel, the house of God. All right, watch this. make an
altar. Now brethren, you can be sure
there was a lamb on that altar. Confession doesn't bring me back
to God, Christ does. Repentance doesn't bring me back
to God, Christ does. I don't care how long I mourn
over my sins, it's the blood that cleanses my sins, it's not
the mourning. Well, I must make restitution.
No, Christ made restitution. There was an oath. That's what
he says. He says, Jacob, arise, get out of that place of despair
and pouting and pride and arrogance and all these things and go back
to the house of God. Go back to that place of joy.
Go back to that place where I met you, where you met me, where
I promised you I'd be with you, where you vowed a vow that I'd
be your God. Go back there and bring a sacrifice, bring a blood
sacrifice. Because it's the blood that make
atonement for the soul. It's the blood of Christ that
cleanses us from all sin. It's the blood of Christ that
gives us an entrance into the communion and fellowship of God.
It's the blood of Christ. There was an altar back to the
Lord's table. I had an experience a few days
ago. I intend to say something to
this young lady about this. I feel like as God's preacher,
I ought to say something about it. I went somewhere. We were having a service. We
were going to observe the Lord's table. There was a young lady
there whom I've known for many years. I believe she's a child
of God. She gives evidence of being a
child of God. She sang a special number. She went on and sat down. The preacher preached. They spread
the Lord's table. She got up and left. I asked
the pastor about it. I said, I noticed so-and-so didn't
come to the Lord's table with. He said, she never does. I said,
why? He said, she's not a member of
this church and she's got some convictions about closed communion
and she can't come to the Lord's table with us. I said, that's
wrong. If she can sing for me and worship
with me, she can eat the table with me. Now you better be careful. Let me tell you something. Let
the pot sherds of this earth strive with the pot sherds of
this earth. But brother, let me tell you something. When the bread and the wine is
put on this table, and God is in this place, and you're here,
and you're his child, you better not walk away from that table.
You better not. You can have all the convictions
you want. We're not playing games with this table. It's not a fellowship
table or a church table, it's the Lord's table. And I say she's
on dangerous ground. You can't turn your back and
walk away from that which is symbolic of Christ Jesus if you
know Christ. That's what God said. Jacob,
you get back to the table. You get back to the altar. You
get back to the sacrifice. You get back to the blood. That's
where it all is. It's at the cross. Get back to
the cross. Now, you can sit around and study your theology and study
the books and study the poems and all this and talk to people,
but the only place you're going to get out of trouble is get
back to the blood. Because that's where troubles are solved. That's
where sins are forgiven. That's where sins are pardoned.
That's where iniquity is put away at the cross. And that's
the only thing that unites us. If we've got a church based on
denominational principles, we'd better quit. If we've got a church
based on theology, we'd better resign. If we've got a church
based on foreign food and fellowship, we'd better get out. That which
unites us together is the blood of Christ and nothing else. And nothing else. Now that's
serious. We're not playing games with this. He said, you get back
to Bethel, and the first thing you do when you get there is
don't go through a lot of rigmarole about a shit in the left and
all that. Just get to the blood. Just get to the lamb. Just get
to the cross. That's all. There's no restitutions
to be made. There's no straightening out
to be done. There's no apologies to be made. There's a lamb to
be slain. See what I'm saying? Is that
clear? There's a lamb to be slain. And then fourthly, he says something
else. Get up, go to Bethel, and stay
there, and make you an altar unto God. Unto God. You haven't, it's your problems
not with me, it's with God. The God that appeared to you
when you fled from the face of Esau, here's what the Lord's
saying, there's some old memories to be revived. what peaceful hours I once enjoyed,
how sweet their memory still, but they've left an aching void
that this world can never fill." Have you ever noticed when old
friends get together, they may be having some problems at that
time, but you know what can solve the problem is for them to sit
down and start talking about old times, what fun they used
to have, how close they used to be. what joy, and forlorn,
the present's forgotten because they've relived those old memories.
See what I'm saying? When families get around the
table, our children come home, we get all the gang around the
table, and our children start talking about things that happened
when they were young. And everybody gets to laughing
and having a good time, and all the problems are forgotten. You
know that? We do that a lot. All the cares and the problems,
the world seems so far away. when we start talking about these
old memories. And that's what God is saying here to Jacob.
Where you lost your joy, that's where you'll find it. That's
where you'll find it. Where you picked up that burden
is where you lay it down. That's exactly right. Exactly
right. You'll do well to recall the
good times and quit dwelling on the bad times. You'll do well
to rehearse and refresh your memory. of the pleasant days
of grace and the manifold revelations of mercy and get off dwelling
on those things that trouble and distress. Get back to Bethel,
he said, and stay there and make an altar to God, the God that
appeared to you. Jacob, we're not strangers. You're
acting like a stranger, Jacob. We're not strangers. You recall
the old days. You recall the old vows. You
made that commitment, and I made one to you. All right, let's
see what happened, the doing of it. Then Jacob, verse 2, didn't
tarry. There was no tarrying. A man
who's wise moves when God speaks. There's no tarrying. Jacob said,
verse 2, to his household and to all that were with him, put
away your strange gods. And there are among you, be clean,
change your garments, let us alive, let us go to Bethel. Jacob
spoke for his household. We're going back to the house
of God. We're going back. Joshua and every favored man
of God always spoke for his household. You ever notice that? All the
way through, they always spoke. He just, when God spoke to him,
he went to the family and said, let's go. Let's go. Boy, them
days are gone, aren't they? Let's go. Immediately he went
back to Bethel. Let's go Going back to where
I met the Lord verse 7 and he built an altar And he called
it El Bethel the God of Bethel and God appeared to him when
he Because that's where God appeared to him. He built an altar altar
to worship God. No delay. No tarrying Here I
am Lord Yeah, here's old Jacob come home in that great that
blessed And let me tell you something, but now, let me tell you something
here. The trials were not over. I'm not saying here to you tonight,
I wouldn't dare say to you, you go through troubles and trials
and sorrows and heartaches and difficulties and get into despair,
and I say, get back to Bethel. Get back to the sweetness of
mercy, the sweetness of grace, the sweetness of God's presence.
Get back to the house of God. Back there where you met the
Lord. And it'll all be over. Oh, I beg your pardon. You'll
weep no more. No, that's not so. You won't
have any more satin. No, that's not so. Because right
there, listen to verse 8, Deborah, Rebecca's nurse, died, and they
buried her beneath Bethel. One of the first things that
happened when Jacob got back to Bethel was this trusted old
servant Actually, she was his mother's nurse, wasn't she? She
was his mother's servant, and then Rachel's servant, right?
Rebecca's nurse. Been with the family years and
years and years. And she died. But Poitras went
back to Bethel, like you said, and look what happened. Look
what happened. Well, that ain't all that happened.
Down here in verse 16, they journeyed from Bethel. Right after they
got to Bethel and left there, they got but a little ways to
Ephraim. You see it there, verse 16? Rachel
was with child. She travailed. She had hard labor. It came to pass when she was
in hard labor, the midwife said unto her, Fear not, thou shalt
have this son also. It came to pass as her soul was
in departing, she died. She called his name Bittlenei.
But his father called him Benjamin, the son of my right hand. And
Rachel died. I sold Jacob. Huh? See what I'm saying? But these troubles are different.
He's in fellowship with God now. And when you're in fellowship
with God, you can take trouble. He's back in the fellowship.
He's back in communion. He's back at Bethel. And we're
not free from... Our Lord said in this world you'll
have tribulation. I'm not standing here like these
liars on television that call themselves preachers and say,
you're tired and God will bless your business, and you give your
heart to Jesus and you'll have no more problems, and you do
this, that, and you'll never get sick anymore, and you won't
die, and all... That's a bunch of tommy rot. I'm just saying
this. They that worship God worship Him in spirit, maybe in poverty. But there's no joy like the joy
of poverty with Christ. I'd rather be in poverty and
have the joy and communion and fellowship of Christ than to
have everything this world offers and be out of communion with
the Lord. Huh? Why sure? Why sure? Well, he came back to Bethel,
and he built an altar, and he worshiped God. But his trials
weren't over. The old nurse died, and then
his wife, Rachel, died. That was his favorite. That was
his favorite. That's the one when he started
out, he wanted Rachel. And that's the mother of Joseph
and Benjamin. She's my special. And God took
her away. But the king of providence is
the king still. He's the king still. And the
judge of the earth will do right. Somebody said this about that
experience of Jacob. When he came back to Bethel and
back in fellowship, and his heart must have been singing with joy
because God gave him a convoy right out of that sheikah, that
land. brought him to Bethel and here his wife was having a child
and you just know his spirit, she died. But you know somebody
said this about that, the Lord may heat the fire even more when
the goal appears to be almost refined. That pretty good? It's not mine,
I think it's real good. Listen to it again. The Lord
may heat the fire even more when the gold appears to be almost
refined, almost ready for the king's crown, almost ready for
the vessel to be put out there to show off the riches of his
grace. When it's almost refined, he turns the furnace up a little
But he'll refine it. All right, let's see, I'll quit,
and we'll show you the results of this thing going back to Bethel.
Verse 9, let's go back a little bit. And God appeared to Jacob
again. New and fresh revelations. And
I'll tell you this, when we've been through a trial, some may
not know what I mean here, but the presence of God is sweeter
than it ever was. I believe when Jacob came back
to Bethel, there were sweeter revelations than the first time.
He knew more of himself, he knew more of his need, he knew more
of God's grace. He appreciated it a lot more.
And then new and stronger assurance is given. God said to him again,
your name is Jacob, your name shall not be called anymore Jacob,
no more cheat, supplanter, but Israel, a prince, a prince. New and stronger assurance. And
then he gives him the promise of future glory. God said, I'm
God Almighty, be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company
of nations shall come of thee, and kings shall come out of your
loins. But that's not all. Verse 13, And God went up from
him in the place where he talked with him. He talked and walked
with God. Old Jacob, here was just a little
while before that. He was down there in Shechem
wondering how soon he's going to die. But he did what God told
him. He went back to Bethel. And I'm
not preaching place and time and experience, I'm just saying
this. I'm saying that our joy and pleasure and delight is not
found in ourselves, it's found in our Lord. It's found in the
grace and the mercy of our Lord, and it's found in His cleansing,
atoning, purifying, redeeming blood. And I'm convinced of two
things. I'm convinced that two things
are uppermost throughout this Bible in the experience of those
favored of God as recipients of His mercy. They will persevere. They may have their down sittings
and their uprisings, they may have their failures and their
successes, they may have their staggerings and falls, they may
have all these things, but they will persevere. They'll get back
to Bethel. And I'll tell you this, they'll
persevere in a broken spirit and a loving heart for Christ. They'll not quit. It's not in
them to quit. They can't quit. To whom shall
we go? That's the words of us. So the sooner that we get back
to where we were, that's the key. Like I said, I don't know
why God gave me this message. I don't know, maybe for someone
right here, someone needs it personally right now, maybe tomorrow,
next week, next year, maybe we're out there in the future. But
you'll go back to Genesis 35, verse 1, and recall this message. Jacob, arise, and go back to
Bethel, and make an altar there, and revive some fond memories,
because all this is nothing. It all passes away. There's nothing
here. There's nothing substantial. There's nothing certain. There's
nothing that's going to last except my relationship with him,
and that's through Christ. Our Father, we thank you for
your promise. Thank you for your mercy. Thank
you for your grace. Thank you for the love which
we have in Jesus Christ our Lord. Thankful for your command. Go
back to Bethel. Arise out of this state of despair,
despondency, where fellowships are broken and joy is gone, attitude
is poor. Get back to the house of God.
That's where we want to dwell. No reason for us to leave. We're
never put out. We're never sent away. We're
never disowned. We leave on our own. We go out
because we will. Let us remain there as obedient
children, as loving children. too often wayward children, but
thankful children. Keep us at the foot of the cross.
Keep us in love with Christ. Manifest your grace and your
mercy through him who loved us and gave himself for us, to whom
be glory and praise, both now and forevermore. Anoint the message
and use it for whatever purpose it pleases thee. I ask it for
Christ's sake. Amen.