How are y 'all doing today? I'm doing fantastic.
Thank you so much. If it is your first time visiting
us here at Hosanna, we want to say welcome to
all of you. We're so glad you're here to worship
with us. And I did not forget those of you online
either. We're just so blessed to have all of
you with us today to worship the Lord, to get
into the Word of God. And today, I am Pastor
Nathan, by the way, and today we're going to
be talking about the hope of sanctification.
How many of you guys remember a children's game
called Chutes and Ladders? Right? Yeah, it's
still around apparently, but I remember it from
when I was a kid. It's a children's board game
that was designed to teach moral lessons. In
this game, you would spin a spinner and move
your piece around the board, going up ladders
or down chutes on your way to the final square,
which is where you would win the game. Now, in
this game, the ladders represented good deeds
and good moral choices. And so if you got to
a ladder, you got to skip ahead on the board
and get closer to the winning spot. But if you
landed on a spot with a chute or a slide, that
represented bad. and would cause players to slide
backwards, losing progress. And so, of course,
the goal of this game was to reach the last final
square first, and the whole thing was built to
emphasize this idea for kids that good choices
lead to progress, while bad choices lead to setbacks.
And that's a great idea, except for the fact
that in real life, when it comes to holiness
and godliness, We have to understand as believers
that it's not so much about the choices we make
per se, but that sanctification, the work of
God in our lives in making us more holy is his
job. It's his work. It's what he does in and
through us and empowers us, enables us to make
the choices to obey and be obedient to him. But
that's what this idea of sanctification is. This
work of God does within us to make us holy. holy.
The Greek word for sanctification is hasgeismos,
and you don't need to remember that at all. All
you need to remember is that what sanctification
means is holiness or a separation, where God
separates us from the world around us. Now, sanctification
operates in three phases in the life of a believer.
The first phase we usually call justification.
This is the moment when we put our faith in Jesus
Christ and we are saved. God grants grants us
what we call positional holiness. That now standing
before God, because we have been made righteous
by faith, that we are positionally holy before
the Lord. And this is the work of God separating
us from the penalty of sin. The second phase
of sanctification is what we commonly refer to
as sanctification. This is the ongoing process
of growth and maturity in the life of a believer
that is God's work in us meant to produce a growing
holiness in our lives between the time we are
saved to the time that we go home to be with
him. And this is the work of God separating us
from the power of sin. And then the third phase
of sanctification is what we might call glorification.
This is in the future where we're all gonna receive
a permanent, ultimate holiness, and this is where
God separates us fully from the presence of sin
forever. And so many of you have probably heard
it said, I've said it before, that when it comes
to the life of a believer, we have been sanctified,
we are being sanctified, and we will be sanctified
in the future. The reason I bring all that up
is we start our study of the life of Jacob this
morning, and his life is a vivid example of the
ongoing process of sanctification in the life
of someone of faith. Jacob, as we've seen already
and are going to see progressively through the
next few chapters of Genesis, is a deeply flawed,
selfish sinner who believed in God's word and
God's promises. He believed in God's word and
promises so much that he took it upon himself
to scheme and to lie and to deceive to obtain
the blessing that God had for the family of Isaac
and his sons down through his line. Yet despite
all the sin in his life, despite his problems,
despite his weaknesses, God worked in his life
because of his faith. And that's an important
lesson we've been learning all the way through
Genesis. That as Abraham was made righteous by
faith, we've learned very much that it's not
about our works. It's not about what we do. It's
not about anything other than our faith in God
that brings us to that place of justification.
The question always comes up when we say, but
what about after? Have you ever met a Christian
who's a sinner? Are you a Christian who's a sinner?
Yeah, right? We're saved. Why do we keep struggling
with stuff and falling into sin? That is what
we call the process of sanctification where God
is redeeming and reconciling and reshaping us
into the holiness that only he can bring. And
so really the big truth about Jacob's story is
Jacob is us. Jacob is you. Jacob is me. And if
that bothers you, then I don't think you're being
real honest with who you are because we all wrestle
with sinful desires. We all wrestle against our
flesh. And then in those times, where we lose
the battle and give in, we can often find ourselves
thinking that God has left us or that we are
alone or that God is mad at us and therefore
his presence has departed, but the truth is,
and the truth we're gonna learn today is that
there is a staircase, a ladder, a path of accessibility
between heaven and earth, one through which the
Lord works on our behalf at all times, never
ending. You know, astonishingly, God ministers
to believers, not just through their failures,
but in spite of their failures. He keeps working
because he is doing a work in the life of a believer
that is called sanctification. It's a work he
does. It's a work he continually does to bring
us into more and more holiness until that day
that we are glorified and stand before him. So
today we're going to begin Jacob's sanctification
story, a story that gives hope to all who are
in Jesus Christ, that in our fallen nature, in
our sinful struggles, in our helpless state,
We can all still cry out just as Paul the Apostle
did, what a wretched man that I am. Who will
rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be
to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let's pray.
Father, we're so grateful to you. Lord, we are
nothing without you. Lord, we're not good in
our fallen nature. We're definitely not holy.
Yet, Lord, you looked upon us, your creation,
created in your image, and saw the hopelessness
of our sinful state. And you came, Lord, to die
the death that we deserve to die, the penalty
of sin. And, Lord, it's through the blood that
was shed on the cross we are able to cry out
to you in faith, trusting in you. And, God, your
word says that when we do that, we have salvation.
And then, God, you begin this process, this often
painful process of sanctification, Lord, as we
grow and mature in our walk with you, Lord. As
we grow to be separated from the power of sin,
learning, God, that we don't need to do the wrong
things and slide down those slides and move backwards
in our progress, but instead, Lord, we could
climb the ladder, the ladder that you provide.
to depend on you, our Holy Spirit, to empower
us to live lives that you want us to live, God.
And we're so thankful that it's a work you do
because we are faithless, but you are faithful.
So God, today as we begin the story of this man,
Jacob, just speak to our hearts, Lord, encourage
us, especially those here today, Lord, that might
be in the midst of consequences of their own
decisions. God, as they may feel isolated, alone,
and are wondering, Lord, if you're still with
them, I pray, God, you would bring them great
encouragement this morning. Not that you condone
or are okay with any sin, Lord, but God, even
when we mess up so bad, you're right there with
us, still conducting business between heaven
and earth on our behalf. We love you for that.
Thank you so much, God. We want to praise you
now and worship you now, Lord. We lift up this
time to you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
We are in Genesis chapter 27. We're going to
be covering verse 41 all the way through verse
22 in chapter 28 this morning. And, you know,
as we've entered into the story of Jacob's life,
Jacob is a man who stands out in Scripture as
one of the most morally questionable figures
in the entire Bible. I mean, you got to start
with his name literally means supplanter. right?
He's named after lying and scheming and deceiving,
and yet he is a man that had faith in God's Word.
Now, at this point in his life, he maybe didn't
have so much interest in a relationship with
God. His interest was more in what God could
give him, but he believed in it. He believed
that God's promises were true, so much so that
he stole the birthright from his brother Esau
and then connived with his mother to steal the
blessing from his father Isaac. And so he's a
man of faith. The Bible's going to tell us, even
though at this point in his life the expression
of that faith is a bit twisted and corrupted.
But his story is not a story about personal worthiness.
Jacob's story, like other men of God in the Bible,
his story is not about, look how good you have
to be to be able to be in God's house. Look how
good you have to be to have God love you. It's
a story about God who makes promises and keeps
those promises despite the issues in this man's
life. You see, God will always keep his promises,
even in the life of someone whose behavior in
the moment clearly doesn't deserve it because
God is always faithful to his own word. His word
will always come to pass. And so as God's children
through faith, as those of us that have put our
faith in Jesus Christ and trusted in him for
salvation, it's no different for us today. I
mean, think about it. How many of us, maybe this
week, Maybe this morning you've already done
things that would try the patience of any parent.
Said things, thought things, behaved in certain
ways. And yet, as sinners who are saved by faith,
we are ongoing recipients of God's infinite patience,
of God's infinite love, his grace, his mercy.
And Jacob's life really is a story of how far
God will go to sanctify those who are his. How
far God will go to make us holy as he is holy.
And so as we come to verse 41 in Genesis 27,
Esau has realized now that Jacob has not only
stolen his birthright, his younger brother, but
now he's stolen his blessing from his father.
We just looked at that earlier in Genesis 27.
And so as we open the story here, we find Esau
now who is overcome with a deep just murderous
hatred for his brother, such that made their
mother very concerned for Jacob's life. And so
read with me in Genesis 27, starting in verse
41. It says, Esau held a grudge against Jacob
because of the blessing his father had given
him. And Esau determined in his heart, the days
of mourning for my father are approaching. Then
I will kill my brother Jacob. When the words
of her older son Esau were reported to Rebekah,
she summoned her younger son Jacob and said to
him, listen, Your brother Esau is consoling himself
by planning to kill you. So now, my son, listen
to me. Flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran.
Stay with him for a few days until your brother's
anger subsides, until your brother's rage turns
away from you and he forgets what you have done
to him. Then I will send for you and bring you
back from there. Why should I lose both of you
in one day? So, Rebecca, mom now is in a conundrum.
She schemed with her son Jacob to steal the blessing
from Isaac just earlier in this chapter. And
now there's a chance she might not only lose
Jacob, but lose Esau as well, lose both of her
children in one fit of murderous vengeance. And
so we've seen how Jacob attempted to sidestep
God's will, God's prophetic word that Jacob would
be the one who inherited the blessing. He tried
to sidestep that by secretly passing the blessing
to Esau. Now, if you remember, his excuse for
that was, I'm old, and I don't know when I'm
going to die. So I've got to do this before my
time runs out. And so here we see Esau, after
the fact of Jacob stealing the blessing, holding
this grudge against him, this murderous hate
for his brother. And it says, though, the days
of mourning for my father are fast approaching.
Esau is under the impression, even though we
know that Isaac's going to live another 43 years,
Esau is under the impression that dad's going
to die soon, and so I'm going to honor my father,
and we're going to have the time of mourning,
but as soon as he's gone, I'm going to go and
kill Jacob. Now, Rebecca had heard about this
somehow. She had got word that this was taking
place. Possibly she had like a little network
of informants within the family and servants
there. And I say that because you remember the
last chapter, she was possibly eavesdropping
over Isaac, having a private conversation with
Esau. That's how she found out about Isaac's
plan. And there's just a lot of mistrust in this
family. There's a lot of just conniving and secrets
and stuff. And so I don't think it was hard to
imagine that she had... servants in the household
who were instructed, hey, if you hear anything
from dad or Esau, let me know. So she finds out
and she immediately acts to protect her son Jacob
because Jacob was her favorite. She was the one
that she wanted to be lifted up in the family
even though he was the second born. But again,
just as a mom and a good mom, she didn't want
to lose either one of them in the process. So
she comes up with this plan. Hey, you need to
flee. To my family back in Haran. If you remember
the map of Israel, you know, you had Israel here,
and then you had Ur over here where Abraham originally
started, and he went up to Haran and then down
into the promised land. And so at this point
in time, they're living in the southern section
of what is Israel, and she's telling them, I
want you to flee all the way back north to where
her family was. First time. somebody was sent
back there was Abraham when he sent his servant
there to find a wife for Isaac. And so she comes
up with this plan to go back home and stay there.
And you'll notice she tells him to stay there
for a few days, right? She expected that this
murderous hate to sweep away real quick, that
everything would be fine, that he would come
back. But as we're going to see in Jacob's story,
he ends up spending 20 years away from home in
this place. Now, it was there that Jacob is going
to encounter Uncle Laban. This man is the mini
-boss of his spiritual journey and is going to
cause much, much trauma and difficulty for Jacob.
And I say mini -boss because ultimately God is
the final boss of Jacob's life later on when
he wrestles with the Lord and the Lord wins and
renames him Israel. This is the beginning of
his sanctification process. The very beginning
of the process in which God is going to work
in the life of this flawed man, this liar, this
deceiver, is going to work in his life as his
child because he has faith in God's word, even
though he's kind of a messed up dude. And so
God is going to start working in his life. But
we get there through verse 46. It says, so Rebecca
said to Isaac, her husband, I'm sick of my life
because of these Hethite girls. If Jacob marries
someone from around here like these Hethite girls,
what good is my life? So Isaac summoned Jacob,
blessed him, and commanded him, do not marry
a Canaanite girl. Go at once to Paddan Aram,
to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father.
Marry one of the daughters of Laban, your mother's
brother. May God Almighty bless you and make
you fruitful and multiply you so that you become
an assembly of peoples. May God give you and
your... give you and your offspring the blessing
of Abraham so that you may possess the land where
you live as a foreigner, the land God gave to
Abraham. So Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan Aram,
to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother
of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob, and Esau. Now,
earlier in this chapter, we saw that Rebekah
was just as much a schemer as her son Jacob was.
And I had made the comment that it's very likely
that Jacob learned the scheming and manipulating
from his mom. Now, we're going to see later on
that it's likely her whole family was this way
because Laban is also a lying, conniving schemer.
But Rebekah here employs a tactic that has been
used over the centuries when a wife wants the
husband to do what she wants them to do. So she
comes in and she's like, Esau's wives are making
my life difficult. possibly fake tears, possibly,
you know, just, ah, but what she's trying to
do is to get Isaac to think the plan to send
Jacob to Paddan Aram is his own plan. And so
she employs the subtle manipulation, nudging
him into this idea that she had come up with
for Jacob to flee. Now, the reason that she says
she's upset is not because of Esau, not because
of the plan, but because of the wives, the Hethite
wives that Esau had married. And you remember,
These wives were Hethites in the CSB, or otherwise
known as Hittites. These were offspring from
the line of Canaan, which was the cursed line.
These were people that could not and would not
be included into the promise of God. And so therefore,
her concern that she voices to her husband is,
what if Jacob does the same thing? What if Jacob,
who's the one who has the birthright now and
the promise, what if he marries one of these
Canaanite women? That can't possibly be a good
thing for the family. And so Isaac says, you
know, wife, I got a great plan. Let's send him
away to your family. Now, in this, we do see
Isaac now finally fully accepting the truth that
Jacob indeed is the promised one. He is the one
that inherited the blessing. He is the one that
has the birthright. He is the one through which
God is going to carry the Abrahamic covenant
forward. Isaac is in full acceptance of this.
This is one of the reasons he's saying, wife,
you're right. He might marry a Hittite, so let's
send him away so that he marries someone that's
in the family, within the clan and the family
line. And so he says two things to him that really
shows that Isaac is in full acceptance of God's
will at this point, that he has truly learned
a lesson. He says, may God bless you. Make you
fruitful and multiply that you become many peoples.
That was the direct covenant that God had given
to Abraham that had passed down to Isaac. Then
he says, may God give you the promise of the
land. Again, the exact covenant that God had
given to the people. And so Isaac now is fully
a submitted man at this point. He is fully submitted
to God's will, accepting that, acknowledging
Jacob as the promised one. And so verse 6, it
says, Esau noticed that Isaac blessed Jacob and
sent him to Paddan Aram to get a wife there.
When he blessed him, Isaac commanded Jacob, do
not marry a Canaanite girl. And Jacob listened
to his father and mother and went to Paddan Aram.
Esau realized that his father Isaac disproved
of the Canaanite women. So Esau went to Ishmael
and married, in addition to his other wives,
Mahalath, daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son.
She was a sister of Nebaioth. Now, this is a
wonderful picture of how to not fix the problem,
okay? Esau noticed that that word there means
that he either saw or he just realized, like,
hey, my brother's gone, right? in verse 8 when
it tells us Esau realized that his father disproved,
it kind of gives us the idea here that Esau may
have secretly observed or overheard this conversation
between Isaac, Rebekah, and Jacob. And so he
suddenly realizes that his father disproved of
the Canaanite women. This just shows us how out
of touch Esau is with what's been going on in
his own family. We've made the point that the
reason God took the birthright from him as the
firstborn and gave it to Jacob, was because Esau
didn't care about it. He didn't care about the
things of God. He didn't care about God's word.
He didn't care about God's will. He cared about
himself, that he was a self -absorbed, selfish
individual that only cared about what pleased
him in the moment. And so this immensely valuable
thing, the birthright of God, the covenant, he
gave it away for a bowl of stew because he was
hungry. right? So we've talked about this in
Esau's life, and he's just a dull dude, and he
doesn't get it. He doesn't get the things of
God, and so he realizes that his father doesn't
approve of his Canaanite wives. How did he just
realize that? I don't know. It's possible Isaac
never said anything to him about it because he
was Isaac's favorite son. He was the one that
he was trying to sneak the blessing back to.
He approved of Esau in many ways and possibly
never said anything to Esau about marrying the
Canaanite wives. It told us earlier in Scripture
that they caused great problems within the family
and stuff. And so we don't know, but Esau has
this light bulb moment. Aha, dad's sending Jacob
away to find a wife from the family. That's the
problem. is I didn't marry someone from the family.
Well, Ishmael's close. He's part of the family.
Let me go marry one of his daughters, and it's
just ridiculous. Esau has no clue, no understanding
of what God wants, no understanding of God's
will, no understanding of the covenant, and he
is a picture right here of all human attempts
to fix things between man and God. God says,
I am righteous, I am holy, I am true, I am the
creator. And man looks up at him and goes, wow.
And God says, you're sinful, you're separated
from me. And what does man do? Well, let me create
my own religion and I'll work my way to you.
Let me come up with all manner of human attempts
at religion. And they're empty. They're ineffective.
They don't accomplish anything. Because you don't
get it. If you're trying to work your way to
God, you don't get it. The reality of sin. You
don't get the reality of God's righteousness
and the relationship we have with Him. You don't
get the hopelessness of our situation. That as
fallen sinful people, there is absolutely nothing
we could do to earn our way into righteousness.
And this is Esau. Now, in the story of Jacob
and Esau in the beginning here, neither one of
them have acted righteously so far. Jacob was
a liar. Esau was selfish. But there's a difference
between them that is very profound because, as
I said, Esau had no faith in God's Word, didn't
care about it, just said, take it. I don't want
it. It doesn't mean anything to me because he
was a selfish, materialistic guy. Jacob, even
though he was deeply flawed, even though he lied
and connived and schemed, he believed God's Word.
He believed in what it promised to the one who
had it. He believed it so much that he came up
with these schemes to steal it, to procure it
for himself. Now, at this point in Jacob's life,
I think it's very clear that Jacob didn't care
so much about the relationship with God, but
about what God could give him. And that's a problem
in and of itself, but he believed it. He had
faith. And so even though his faith is still
incomplete, it's still rough, it's still reliant,
he had faith. And that's what we're going to
see then in this story, that that's enough for
God to be with him. But because... His faith
was still rough and ragged because he cared more
about what God could give him than God himself,
because he thought he had to help God to procure
the promises and lie and scheme and cheat and
steal. Because of that, the next 20 years of
his life are going to be unnecessarily but necessarily
hard as God goes through the process of sanctifying
him and making him holy. Verse 10, Jacob left
Beersheba and went toward Haran. He reached a
certain place and spent the night there because
the sun had set. He took one of the stones from
that place, put it there at his head, and laid
down in that place. So again, as he was traveling
from the southern part of Israel where Beersheba
was in the Negev desert, he's traveling north
through the promised land up to Haran in this
land called Paddan Aram. Now this journey is
long. It's a very long journey. And the fact
that it says that he took a stone to place it
at his head as a pillow tells us that he probably
left really fast. He didn't properly prepare
for this journey. He didn't have the right supplies
that he just kind of had to get out of there
real quick. Maybe his mom said, go, go, go, go.
And so, but Jacob is now finding himself in this
place. That is unnamed here. It's named later
in the story, but it says he reached a certain
place. The idea of that phrase is to tell us
that he's in the middle of nowhere. He's in the
boonies. There's nobody around him. It's dark.
He's alone. He's traveling away from what is
supposed to be promised to him. He's now in this
place where he's left his father. He's left his
mother. His brother's not around. It's just him.
Not only that, he has to sleep on a stone because
he didn't even prepare enough for the journey.
It was so hasty. And yet all of this, his whole
situation he finds himself in is because of his
own choices. He chose to lie. He chose to scheme.
When mom came along and said, hey, we're going
to dress you up as goat boys so you can steal
the blessing, he went along with it. He said,
okay. You remember earlier in Genesis 27, he
didn't object to his mom's plan to steal the
blessing because he thought it was wrong. He
didn't want to get caught. And so now he finds
himself in this very, very difficult situation,
probably tired from the journey, like I said,
alone, maybe discouraged. We don't know exactly
what's going on here, but has he been thinking
about why he was in the circumstances that he
was in? Could he have been thinking about, you
know, the reality? Like, did I mess up so bad
that my brother really wants to kill me? Like,
he's family. Like, we fight, you know. We had
sibling rivalry, but he wants to kill me? Did
I really do that? Is he maybe thinking about
regret? Because now he's out here alone in the
wilderness. Maybe he's struggling with the fact
that none of it adds up. Like, wait, no, I stole
the birthright. I got the blessing. Like, I got
the blessing of the people. I got the blessing
of the land. This is supposed to be mine. And
now I'm fleeing away from the land that is supposed
to belong to me through the birthright and the
blessing. God, this isn't adding up. Your covenant
is not true right in this moment. What am I supposed
to do about this? And so, possibly all of this
was going through his mind as he's laying down
to go to sleep here. Now I have no home. Still
have no wife, no kids. I'm all alone. So verse
12, and he dreamed. A stairway was set up on
the ground with its top reaching the sky, and
God's angels were going up and down on it. The
Lord was standing there beside him saying, I
am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and
the God of Isaac. I will give you and your offspring
the land on which you are lying. Your offspring
will be like the dust of the earth, and you will
spread out towards the west, the east, the north,
and the south. All of the peoples on the earth
will be blessed through you and your offspring.
Look, I am with you and will watch over you wherever
you go. I will bring you back to this land, for
I will not leave you until I have done what I
promised you. God's response to Isaac in his
dream here is what tells me Isaac was worrying
about these things. Is this land going to be
mine? Am I going to come back to the land? Is
this God that my dad has told me about, that
my grandfather believed in, is he really there?
Is he really real? And he has this dream, right?
This whole vision is while he's sleeping. And,
you know, God speaking through dreams is a well
-established concept in Scripture. We see him
obviously speaking to here in Jacob through a
dream. He speaks to Joseph in a dream, Solomon,
Daniel, Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus,
the Magi, right? So God speaking through dreams
is fairly a normal thing. In fact, the prophet
Joel said that in the last days when God's Spirit
would come upon mankind, that God's Spirit would
cause people to have dreams and visions, right?
I myself have had both in my life as God has
spoken to me in dreams, but we have to be very
careful about these types of things because if
you don't exercise discernment, you can very
easily misinterpret things. You know, we've all
had dreams that maybe are speaking to issues
we're dealing with or things we're thinking about
and we wake up and we go, oh, that was the Lord.
And it might be. But you need discernment because
I've had many situations in ministry and stuff
where people have approached me and I had a dream.
And because I had the dream, that means it's
true. And then they tell me the dream and it's
like, well, it could be. And in most of the cases,
absolutely, categorically, 100%, demonstrably
not God speaking. That doesn't mean don't say,
God, if you want to speak to me in a dream, speak
to me in a dream. It means have discernment about
those things after. And so, God is speaking to
Jacob here, and he sees this stairway, it says.
Some of you may have heard the story of Jacob's
ladder, right? ladder, stairway. You know, we're
not sure exactly what it was because this word
here is unique. This word here that is translated
stairway, this is the only place in Scripture
where it appears, the only place. And so we don't
have other references to compare it to. And so
some people say stairway, some people say ladder,
some people are like, well, it was like a ziggurat,
you know, those stepped ziggurats that existed
in the day. We don't know. It could be an escalator
for all we know, right? We have no idea. It's
an ascending structure. So I say that because
as you read different translations, you might
see different words there, right? And that's
simply because it's an ascending structure of
some kind. Now, he sees this structure and he
sees these angels going up and down on it. What
is that supposed to tell him? Well, first, this
structure is connecting heaven and earth. And
as he sees these angels coming up and down the
structure, it tells him that there is heavenly
business being conducted, that there is transaction
happening between heaven and earth. As he sees
that, it's meant to tell him that he's not alone
out here, just isolated and desolate and nothing's
taking place. That there is work being conducted
on his behalf between heaven and earth. And it's
really interesting because the Hebrew of this
verse where it says, a stairway was set on the
ground with its top reaching the sky and God's
angels were going up and down on it and the Lord
was standing there. In the Hebrew, this is how
it reads. There, a ladder. Oh, angels. And look,
the Lord himself. Right? It's very shocking.
You've been in those situations maybe. You know,
what? That's what's going on with Jacob right
now in this dream. And when it says he sees the
Lord standing there, that word for Lord is Yahweh.
That's the personal. That's the covenant name
that we've talked about, right? This is the name
of God when God's trying to indicate personal
relational connection. specifically when he's
talking about I'm the covenant maker and I fulfill
the promises I make. I am that personal God who
cares about you. I make promises, I keep promises.
And so he sees the Lord standing there with him
here in what is this dark, desolate place where
he's alone and he's seeing there is heavenly
business being conducted. But the Lord being
there with him, that was the important part.
Not only was their business being conducted on
his behalf, but the Lord was with him. The Lord
was there with him. He was not alone. Rather,
that in the midst of this situation, the midst
of these difficulties, right in the middle of
what is the consequences of his own decisions,
God is still with him. God is personally visiting
him to reiterate the very promises that he might
have been wondering about due to his circumstances.
Did you see that? What does God say there? I'm
the Lord. I will give you your offspring. Your
offspring will be like the dust of the earth.
You will spread out to the west, east, north,
and south. All of the peoples will be blessed
through you. What he's reiterating to Jacob here
is, bro, The promises are true because I made
them. And stop helping me because you just mess
it up. I will do what I said I'm going to do.
I don't need you to lie. I don't need you to
scheme. I don't need you to steal. I don't need
you to do anything that I haven't told you to
do to make sure that the promises I have made
come true in your life. The Lord was with him.
Now, depending on the translation you have, when
it says the Lord was standing there beside him
in verse 13, some of your translations might
say the Lord was standing at the top of the ladder,
right? And those seem like two completely different
things. The word in the Hebrew there is also
a unique word that only appears here. Oh, actually,
this is the word that only appears here, not
the ladder word. I'm sorry about that. The phrase
beside him. only here in the Old Testament. Now
it could be translated above, it could be translated
before as in in front of, it could be translated
on, right? It's a difficult word to find out
what the context is. And because this word isn't
anywhere else, they don't know exactly what it
means. And so some translations go, oh, the Lord
was beside him. Some translations go, no, the
Lord was above him at the top of the ladder.
There's even one translation that says he was
leaning against the ladder, like he's just chilling
or something. It's irrelevant, all right? The
idea, the point here is not exactly where he
was standing. The point is that God was present
with Jacob, okay? So don't make a big deal about
like, oh no, this translation says that and that
says that. It's simply because they're not exactly
sure whether it's beside, before, above, or whatnot.
So regardless of the exact position, Yahweh was
personally present with Jacob. And so he reiterates
the promise, those things that Jacob was probably
thinking about. Am I going to get the land? Is
there going to be a people for me? And God's
like, I'm going to do it. I will. You don't have
to question that. You don't have to worry about
that. But the important thing he says here, which
I think is foundational at the very beginning
here of Jacob's sanctification, is he says, look,
I am with you and will watch over you wherever
you go. You see, a lot of times we as Christians,
we struggle with, we sin, and we instantly can
feel that disconnection from the Lord. And then
we think God is gone. And God doesn't want to
be near me. God hates me. God's so mad at me,
he'll talk to me later. In fact, that's why I
can't talk to him right now. And the devil goes,
yeah, you're exactly right. Don't pray. Don't
ask for forgiveness. Wait a few hours. And that
is wrong. That is absolutely wrong. God says,
I am with you and I will watch over you wherever
you go. Jacob, it doesn't matter what you did.
Your faith in me makes you my child. We're going
to work on that faith. We're going to refine
that faith as you live your life. But I am here
with you. In fact, there is nowhere you can go
that I am not. There is nowhere you can go where
I will not be with you. My presence is with you
everywhere and at all times. My protection is
with you. My promises are with you, and they
will not fail no matter how far you wander, no
matter how much you mess it up. Now, I'm speaking,
of course, of the unconditional promises that
God makes. There are plenty of promises throughout
Scripture that are conditional. We're not dealing
with that. We're dealing with God's covenant.
I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this in
your life. And because God made the promise,
it's going to happen. What this staircase was
symbolizing for Jacob is that no matter where
he went, he could not and never would be able
to go beyond God's reach to work in his life.
Do you believe that this morning? Whatever you've
done, you are not out of the reach of God's work
in your life. mess up you've done, whatever it
is. You might be this morning sitting in the
middle of the consequences of your own stupidity.
God's going, I love you, stupid. I'm with you.
I'm here. I'm still working on your behalf. As
a matter of fact, I'm the one that's sanctifying
you and making you holy, even through this screw
-up, even through this sin. Now, stop. Trust
in me. Trust in my spirit. I want to give you
the power to say no to the sin. Yeah. But separate
that from the reality of, oh, God hates me and
he's not with me no more. That's false. He's
there with you. And he's telling Jacob the same
thing. In his isolation, God doesn't even rebuke
him. Right? That's how we think. Okay, God's
with me, yeah, but he's going to show up and
he goes, you're dumb. Why'd you do that? You
got what's coming to you. Ha ha. And that's not
what God does. God's not surprised that we're
sinners. That's why he had to come and die on
the cross, because we're sinners. God's not surprised
that we still wrestle with our flesh post -salvation.
He knows. Just as Paul said in Romans, look,
I've discovered a law here. My spirit exists
with my flesh, and we wrestle. God knows that.
That's why God didn't make salvation dependent
on our good works, because we would all lose
it in a heartbeat. But he made salvation based
upon his promise. He goes, you trust me, you
put your faith in me. You believe in me and my
word and what I did for you. You're saved. Now
justified. Now let's work on being sanctified
and being made holy. And we go, well, I want
to get to the part where I don't even struggle
with sin anymore. That's future. That's glorification.
We'll get there. But right now I want to work
in your life so that other people who are messed
up are going to look at your life and go, wow,
God could love me too, a messed up person? Yes,
he can. And he will and he wants to. I would
love to be sin free. Because the devil beats
me up all the time with stuff. We all deal with
it. I go through my day, I go through my whatever,
I'm dealing with what I'm dealing with and I'm
like, gosh, I'm such an idiot. God, just don't
look at me, Lord. I can't even have your eyes
on me right now. And the Lord's like, I'm still
working. I'm still sanctifying you. I'm sanctifying
you through this moment. Look up. Look at me.
Don't forget that I'm here. I love you. I don't
like what you did, but let's work on that. It's
just an amazing thing that Jacob is going to
need for the next 20 years of his life as God
continues to refine his life. And this is what
grace is all about. This is the grace that's
given to every sinner. Jacob wasn't even seeking
God here, right? He's a deceiver. He's an outcast
because of his sin. He's running from the consequences.
He's freaking out, and yet God shows up to give
him a revelation of divine care. He didn't deserve
it. He wasn't expecting it, but grace flooded
over him. That's grace. That's the grace of God,
people. Chuck Smith once wrote a book that said,
why grace changes everything. If you've never
read it, read it. Because grace truly does change
everything. And so this grace of God had brought
Jacob this far in his life, and it would in time
because God said so, bring him all the way back
home. So verse 16. When Jacob awoke from his
sleep, he said, surely the Lord is in this place,
and I did not know it. Duh. He was afraid and
said, what an awesome place this is. This is
none other than the house of God. This is the
gate of heaven. That word surely, you know, like
in other translations with Jesus' speech, he
goes, truly, truly, I tell you, right? These
phrases are phrases of emphasis, right? And this
phrase surely is one of astonishment. So Jacob
wakes up from this dream, and the idea here is
that he's overwhelmed. He's overwhelmed, and
the reason is, is because like all of us do,
he forgot that God is always present, even when
the trouble is his own making. He forgot it,
and yet he's being like, hey, surprise, God shows
up. Surprise, running sinner, I'm right here.
Surprise, scheming, faithless one, I'm still
here, I'm always here. And the result is Jacob
is afraid, it says. That word afraid, it means
that he's filled with awe and trembling. Not
fear like, oh no, God hates me, but just he was
in the presence of true holiness in that dream.
You ever had a dream so vivid you wake up and
you can still feel it? Whether it's a nightmare
and your heart's still pounding? Or you, you
know, I had a dream once of somebody that, hmm,
how detailed do I get on that? It was a girl
I loved once, and the dream was we got back together.
This was like 30 years ago. I woke up and my
heart hurt. I was like, oh, you know, I'm all
good. But it hurt. I woke up with heartache,
and I'm like, it was a dream. Why do I have heartache,
right? And so this is where Jacob's at. He's
overwhelmed with the dream was so vivid. It was
so real. It was undeniable. When I got saved,
and many of you know the story, I went through
the week of Bible roulette, and on the last day
when God spoke to me through the Bible, I remember
the whole week I was just like, God, you can't
be real, you can't be real. And then that final
day, I was like, I remember this was my prayer.
It wasn't like a sinner's prayer. I was in my
bedroom. I wasn't at a crusade. I wasn't at a
Bible study. And I remember I just went, well,
God, I guess you're real. In that moment. There
was a presence. Now it wasn't that the presence
wasn't there before, but now I could sense it.
And it was scary. I felt like if I looked up,
there'd be a giant God eyeball looking at me.
I was like, whoa. It was surreal. But it was
in the moment. I said, God, I guess you're real,
right? What kind of faith prayer is that? I guess
you're real. Boom. Whoa, you're real. And so
Jacob is just kind of shooken up by this. He
declares his place. the house of God. Here I
am in the boonies, right? We're going to find
out that he's close to a city here, but for his
context, he's just alone and in the boonies,
and he says, this is the house of God. What does
that mean? To him, he'd realize that because
God is present everywhere, that God is every
place. That means that he's not relegated to
just temples and this tent and this sacred spot
and all of that. That's how the whole world worships.
You've got to go to this ziggurat. You've got
to go to this thing. You've got to pray to this
statue. No. He's like, God is everywhere. I get
it now. This is the house of God. Wherever I
am at is the house of God. New Testament puts
it a little bit differently that he says, You,
your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Do
you realize you're in church wherever you go?
Wherever you go, in any circumstance, whatever
you're doing. Some of the secret sins you do
in the dark, would you do those sins here Sunday
morning sitting in the pew? Of course not. Why
not? That's what you're doing anyways. Oh, well,
we'll deal with that one later. Okay. And then
he calls it the gate of heaven. That's not only
is God here where I'm at, but God is accessible
where I'm at. God is accessible everywhere, to
anyone, anytime. But Jacob is now realizing,
I don't necessarily have to lie in scheme because
God is right here with me and he's accessible.
He's not a far off. He's not that distant God
that my grandfather knew, and I believe his word,
but no, he's accessible right here. Meaning when
I have a situation and I'm thinking, oh, I've
got a lying scheme to get it, how about instead
I go, hey, God, what should I do? Because he's
right there. He's accessible. He's listening.
So verse 18. Early in the morning, Jacob took
the stone that was near his head and set it up
as a marker. He poured oil on top of it and named
the place Bethel. though previously the city
was named Luz or Luz. So he takes this stone
that was almost representative of his discomfort,
representative of the consequences of his own
sin, representative of the fact that he had to
flee his home and flee hastily and didn't even
be able to pack provisions, and he takes that
stone and he anoints it with oil. You see, in
the New Testament, the anointing of oil is a
symbolic thing of the presence of the Holy Spirit,
right? And so the idea here is as he's going,
this is the house of God. This is the gate of
heaven. He's now anointing this stone and creating
like an altar. This is an echo of what his grandfather
Abraham did when he came through this area. And
so it's a place of worship now. It's a place
of recognition. It's a place of offering. And
so he names this place Bethel. Now, if you're
a Bible student, you might go, wait a second.
If this is the same similar place that Abraham
came through, which it is, back in Genesis 12,
it already told us this place was named Bethel.
So why is Jacob now naming it Bethel, and why
is it saying that it was previously called Luz?
All I can tell you is that according to this
scripture, Jacob was the one who actually named
the place Bethel, house of God, based upon his
experience. And so Moses... years later, writing
this account in the wandering of the wilderness,
when he's telling the story of Abraham, he refers
to the place by the name that Israel then recognizes
it to be named as. It's called Bethel, okay?
Was it really called Bethel in Abraham's time?
Probably not. But Jacob is the one who says this
place is now called the house of God. And this
place, this area, there's a city that develops
here that becomes a very central place through
the history of Israel. And so by anointing this
stone, he's showing his devotion to God. He's
consecrating this place. He's sanctifying this
place as holy and set apart to God. What a beautiful
marker of the work that is beginning in his own
life. So yeah, we look at his astonishment at
God's presence, his reverence, his declarations,
his worship. Wow, what great examples to follow,
right? It's just like, you know, when God shows
up in your life, it's like, oh my gosh, worship,
and just everything's great. But in the very
next verse, we see his vow. And his vow leaves
a lot to be praised. It shouldn't be praised.
Read with me, verse 20. Then Jacob made a vow.
God showed up, God's here. I vow. If God will
be with me and watch over me during this journey
I'm making, if he provides me with food to eat
and clothing to wear, and if I return safely
to my father's family, then the Lord will be
my God. The stone that I have set up as a marker
will be God's house, and I will give you a tenth
of all that you gave me. Anybody see a problem?
Like, this is the moment, right? Like, I can
imagine, you know, God in heaven. He's like,
all right, Jacob's sleeping. Let's go. shows
up. Oh, Jacob wakes up in his dream self. Oh
my gosh, look, ladder, angels, God. Yes, I am
here. And I reiterate my promises to you. I'm
going to do it. You trust me, Jacob? Wow, this
is amazing. He wakes up. This is the house of
God. And God's now back in heaven. You know,
and he's looking, he's going, man, Jacob, I'm
so glad you're getting it. And so if, right,
that's I don't know about you, that's God's relationship
with me. Have these moments of such spiritual
victory and then one second later, God's going,
really? Doesn't mean God's mad and hates you.
You know, I just imagine, you know, and probably
I imagine that because that's how I am, right?
If then statements are not faith. True faith
is not bargaining with God. If you do this, then
I will do this. That's not mature faith. Jacob
has an immature faith right here. This is definitely
not mature faith. He's still a work in progress.
He's still being refined. And I'm so grateful
for this example because I'm still being refined.
And I will be refined until the day that I leave
this flesh and stand before him in glory. But
that's exactly what makes grace so amazing, right?
Jacob was an idiot. He was a liar. He was a deceiver.
He's a bargainer by nature. Grace was his only
hope. Free grace. And it's our only hope. You
see, we may not necessarily verbalize our own
if -then statements when we're dealing with God,
but a lot of our behavior does, doesn't it? We'll
find ourselves, you know, well, if you do this,
then I'll do this. Let me give you the one that
hits most of us most radically. Well, God, if
you bless me, then I'll be generous. Right? Now,
your relationship with that's between you and
God, and we as a church, we trust you with all
of that. Just listen to the Lord. But I know
a lot of Christians will be like, God, if you
do this in my life, then I'll obey your commands
to be generous and give and support. And God's
like, no, that's backwards thinking. Right? You
do what my word says, and then I'm going to fulfill.
That part of my conditional promise. I had a,
when I lived on Belmont back here for years,
I had lived in this house and it was the young
adult's house, right? And so a lot of times guys
would come to the house and live there for a
couple years and I got to teach them how to adult.
And it was really fun, you know? And I had this
one kid once who was 19 or 20 at the time. He
still didn't have his driver's license. And I
was like, dude, let's get your driver's license.
How come you don't have it? And he goes, well,
because I don't have a car. And I'm like, well,
you know that there's people all the time at
the church, and we have seasons where this happens
a lot, where people are just giving away cars.
You know anybody that needs a car? I got a car.
And he goes, yeah, if someone gives me a car,
then I'll get my license. And I'm like, why would
they give you a car if you don't have a license?
You can't drive it. And he was like, huh. How
about you get ready for the blessing? So that
when the blessing comes, you're able to be involved
in the blessing. You know, our call is to, through
the power of the Holy Spirit, just do what God
tells us to do. You know, another one of these
if -then things. It happens a lot in relationships.
If they apologize, then I will. How does that
work for you? Let's prolong the conflict. Because,
no, we do the thing first. We do what God's calling
us to do first. We're the people that God wants
us to be through us just submitting to the Spirit
and saying, Spirit, give me the power to make
the godly choice in things. And then we see that
when it comes to the conditional promises God's
making, it's like, wow, God does his part. He
always does his part. But when it comes to these
unconditional things, God's just saying, trust
me and get out of the way. Now, on this side
of the resurrection, we should see very clearly
that Jesus Christ is the staircase. He's the
connection between heaven and earth. He is the
bridge between us and God the Father. He is the
one through which the angels are ministering
to us, right? The book of Hebrews tells us that.
He is the one who is the ladder. He's in charge
of the ladder. He's everything that the ladder
is about. He oversees it. He mediates all the
business between heaven and earth. He is the
connection. 1 Timothy 2 .5 says, For there is
one God and one mediator between God and mankind,
the man Christ Jesus. And because he is God,
he is everywhere at all times, hearing our prayers,
acting on our behalf. That commerce, that business
between heaven and earth on your behalf is happening
at all times. No matter where you're at, what
situation you find yourself in, especially the
situations that are a result of your own bad
decisions, God is still working. He is still
sanctifying. He is still doing the things that
he promised to do in your life. Jesus is the
true place where God reveals himself to us. It's
not in a temple. It's not just in church. It's
not at the old Bethel. The temple in Jerusalem,
it's obsolete now. Everywhere we go is the house
of God because we are there. Everywhere we go
is the gate of heaven because we are there. And
because His promises stand, He keeps His word.
And the promise of his presence with us, the
promise that he is working on our behalf, the
promise that he is conducting business, sanctifying
us at all times is true. This is not a license
to sin. Paul the Apostle dealt with that in the
book of Romans. But it's a license to stop beating
yourself up. Stop letting the devil lie to you
about whether God is with you or not. Stop giving
in to the depression and all the things and the
guilt to stop letting those things control your
life because God is with you. And like Jacob,
he's standing right there and he's going, look,
I'm here in the darkest part of your life. You
know what you did was dumb. I don't even need
to say anything. I just want you to know I'm
here and I'm with you. and I will be with you
wherever you go, so trust me. You see, we're
all Jacobs. We're all works in progress. Some
of us are at different places on that progress,
but we're all sinners, and we all sin, and then
we try to outrun the consequences at times, and
sometimes we can even feel that I'm all alone.
God has left me because I messed up, but the
truth is, That if you've put your faith in Jesus
Christ, there exists a staircase between heaven
and God for you, between heaven and earth for
you. And the one who commands that staircase,
the one who is that staircase is Jesus Christ
our Lord. If you don't know Jesus Christ as your
Lord today and you're the one that's in this
darkness, this wilderness of hopelessness and
sin, know this, Jesus is with you too right now.
And that staircase exists for you right now and
the business he is conducting is your salvation.
And he is calling you today to trust in him because
he is with you. And the promise is that he will
be with you every moment of every day for the
rest of your life, and he will be with you forever
in heaven. But that promise only comes through
trusting in his work on the cross and putting
your faith in him. And when you do that, When
you do that today, every day from here forward
will be a process of sanctification. God and
the Holy Spirit working through you to make you
more holy. But you don't have to live a life
where you're guilt -ridden and beat up and think
God hates you because you've messed up. No, quite
the opposite. God knew you were a sinner. He
died for you anyways. And through your faith,
you were made righteous. And he works in your
life to make you holy. The truth is, is we all
have that staircase. And why is it there? It's
because he's a God of grace. He's a God of grace.
He's not done with you yet. If you're his child
this morning, he's not going to be done with
you until you step into glory. When you've moved
past the power of sin, the penalty of sin, and
now you're past the presence of sin. What a beautiful
thing that's going to be. But while we're here
on this earth, take heart. Never lose sight of
the staircase and the angels going up and down
for you, all under the command of the Son of
God who's working on your behalf. Because God
is constantly working to sanctify you. He is
constantly working to sanctify me, moment by
moment, every single day. So trust the process.
Ask Him for the strength for obedience and all
that, but when you fall, because you will, trust
Him. Trust His Word. Trust His promises. Don't
let the devil beat you up. And as you're moving
forward, living a life of sanctification, learning
and experiencing the promises of God, stop trying
to help Him. He doesn't need your help. He needs
your faith. He needs your trust. He wants that.
Let's pray. Father, it is in your word, God,
that we find the hope of life and the hope of
everything we need. Lord, we are all Jacob. We're
all flawed individuals. Many of us are flawed
individuals who have trusted in your word, who
have received the free gift of salvation because
of you, because of what you did on the cross,
Lord. And like Abraham, Lord, through our faith,
we've been made righteous before your eyes positionally,
but here in the process of life, we still struggle.
And God, we want to live a life without sin,
Lord, but the reality is, That's not going to
happen until we're with you. What we have here
on this earth is an opportunity moment by moment
to choose the Spirit over the flesh. And Lord,
we can't even do that right without your power.
Help us, Lord. But God, help us to not forget
the process of sanctification that you're working
in our lives, Lord. That, Lord, you are here.
This whole earth, this whole universe is the
house of God. Lord, that there's no place in
all of existence where you are not accessible.
And so, God, may we stop trying to figure things
out and doing it on our own and lying and skeeving
and conniving and running. But, God, that we
would just rest in you. Rest in your word. Rest
in the truth. God, I pray for all those in this
room that know you that have been wrestling with
this isolation and this depression, that have
been wrestling with, Lord, doubts. wondering,
God, if your word is really true in their life,
in their hearts. God, maybe they're running from
the consequences of their own sin or suffering
the consequences, Lord. God, you don't take the
consequences away as we're going to see in Jacob's
life, but you remain with us through those consequences.
Lord, we ask that we would just make the right
decision and not have to go through the consequences,
but Lord, we know we're going to mess up, and
so we just pray that we would remember that staircase,
God, that you are conducting business on our
behalf at all times, at all places, everywhere,
that you are with us. That, God, we don't have
to fear, that we don't have to lie and connive.
We just have to trust. Help us to do that, Lord.
Lord, help us to remember you, even when our
consequences are due to our own failures. Help
us to trust that you're with us. And help us
to know that you're with us through everything
to the very end. God, for those in this room
this morning that don't know you as their own
personal Lord and Savior, I pray for them now,
God. I pray, Lord, that as they have heard your
Spirit speak into them this morning, that they
would pray just right now, Lord, out loud or
in their own heart, these words, Lord, to invite
you into their life. If you want to receive Jesus
this morning, just say, Lord. I believe you are
God. I believe in you. I believe you are the
bridge between where I am today and where you
are. I know you're with me, but I don't have
a relationship with you. God, I pray this morning
that you would forgive me. of all my sin. I pray,
God, that the business of salvation would be
settled now. That you would be my Lord, that
you would be my God, that I would be cleansed
by the blood of Jesus Christ. Thank you for loving
me, God. Thank you for being here with me. Thank
you for dying for me. And thank you for saving
me. I give my life to you. Let your presence
be real in every moment of my life. Sanctify
me, God. Make me holy as you are holy. And help
me to stay out of the way, to let you do the
work only you can. I love you, Lord. In Jesus'
name we pray. Amen. Well, God bless you guys.
If you gave your life to the Lord today, you've
started a relationship with the God of all creation.
I guarantee your life's gonna change. Is it gonna
get all peachy and roses and fun? Probably not.
It's probably gonna get a little worse for a
while because the devil is mad. He lost another
one. But we're here to help and walk with you
through that. We have these white envelopes up
front called New Believers Packs or out in the
foyer as you leave today. Please make sure you
pick up one of those. Plug into a church. If
you're going to plug into this one, welcome.
We're so glad that you're here. But stay surrounded
with the body of Christ because the support that
we lend to one another is important. It's so
crucial. But don't think that God is only in
this building. He's with you as you leave today.
He's with you as you go home. He's going to be
with you this week, and He's going to be with
you forevermore. Learn to talk to Him. Learn
to trust in Him. Read your Bible. Worship Him.
Pray. But just know the truth, the reality, that
your God is with you. He is conducting business
on your behalf every moment of every day. You
have nothing to fear. Let's close this morning
worshiping him because I think we would all agree
he is worth it. He is worth every word of praise,
every note played because he is the God of glory.
He is so amazing. He is our Lord. He is our Savior.
Let's worship him. God bless you guys.