WEBVTT

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How are y 'all doing today? I'm doing fantastic.

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Thank you so much. If it is your first time visiting

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us here at Hosanna, we want to say welcome to

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all of you. We're so glad you're here to worship

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with us. And I did not forget those of you online

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either. We're just so blessed to have all of

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you with us today to worship the Lord, to get

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into the Word of God. And today, I am Pastor

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Nathan, by the way, and today we're going to

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be talking about the hope of sanctification.

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How many of you guys remember a children's game

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called Chutes and Ladders? Right? Yeah, it's

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still around apparently, but I remember it from

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when I was a kid. It's a children's board game

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that was designed to teach moral lessons. In

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this game, you would spin a spinner and move

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your piece around the board, going up ladders

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or down chutes on your way to the final square,

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which is where you would win the game. Now, in

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this game, the ladders represented good deeds

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and good moral choices. And so if you got to

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a ladder, you got to skip ahead on the board

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and get closer to the winning spot. But if you

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landed on a spot with a chute or a slide, that

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represented bad. and would cause players to slide

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backwards, losing progress. And so, of course,

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the goal of this game was to reach the last final

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square first, and the whole thing was built to

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emphasize this idea for kids that good choices

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lead to progress, while bad choices lead to setbacks.

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And that's a great idea, except for the fact

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that in real life, when it comes to holiness

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and godliness, We have to understand as believers

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that it's not so much about the choices we make

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per se, but that sanctification, the work of

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God in our lives in making us more holy is his

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job. It's his work. It's what he does in and

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through us and empowers us, enables us to make

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the choices to obey and be obedient to him. But

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that's what this idea of sanctification is. This

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work of God does within us to make us holy. holy.

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The Greek word for sanctification is hasgeismos,

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and you don't need to remember that at all. All

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you need to remember is that what sanctification

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means is holiness or a separation, where God

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separates us from the world around us. Now, sanctification

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operates in three phases in the life of a believer.

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The first phase we usually call justification.

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This is the moment when we put our faith in Jesus

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Christ and we are saved. God grants grants us

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what we call positional holiness. That now standing

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before God, because we have been made righteous

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by faith, that we are positionally holy before

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the Lord. And this is the work of God separating

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us from the penalty of sin. The second phase

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of sanctification is what we commonly refer to

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as sanctification. This is the ongoing process

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of growth and maturity in the life of a believer

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that is God's work in us meant to produce a growing

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holiness in our lives between the time we are

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saved to the time that we go home to be with

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him. And this is the work of God separating us

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from the power of sin. And then the third phase

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of sanctification is what we might call glorification.

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This is in the future where we're all gonna receive

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a permanent, ultimate holiness, and this is where

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God separates us fully from the presence of sin

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forever. And so many of you have probably heard

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it said, I've said it before, that when it comes

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to the life of a believer, we have been sanctified,

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we are being sanctified, and we will be sanctified

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in the future. The reason I bring all that up

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is we start our study of the life of Jacob this

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morning, and his life is a vivid example of the

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ongoing process of sanctification in the life

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of someone of faith. Jacob, as we've seen already

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and are going to see progressively through the

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next few chapters of Genesis, is a deeply flawed,

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selfish sinner who believed in God's word and

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God's promises. He believed in God's word and

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promises so much that he took it upon himself

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to scheme and to lie and to deceive to obtain

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the blessing that God had for the family of Isaac

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and his sons down through his line. Yet despite

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all the sin in his life, despite his problems,

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despite his weaknesses, God worked in his life

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because of his faith. And that's an important

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lesson we've been learning all the way through

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Genesis. That as Abraham was made righteous by

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faith, we've learned very much that it's not

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about our works. It's not about what we do. It's

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not about anything other than our faith in God

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that brings us to that place of justification.

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The question always comes up when we say, but

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what about after? Have you ever met a Christian

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who's a sinner? Are you a Christian who's a sinner?

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Yeah, right? We're saved. Why do we keep struggling

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with stuff and falling into sin? That is what

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we call the process of sanctification where God

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is redeeming and reconciling and reshaping us

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into the holiness that only he can bring. And

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so really the big truth about Jacob's story is

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Jacob is us. Jacob is you. Jacob is me. And if

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that bothers you, then I don't think you're being

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real honest with who you are because we all wrestle

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with sinful desires. We all wrestle against our

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flesh. And then in those times, where we lose

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the battle and give in, we can often find ourselves

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thinking that God has left us or that we are

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alone or that God is mad at us and therefore

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his presence has departed, but the truth is,

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and the truth we're gonna learn today is that

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there is a staircase, a ladder, a path of accessibility

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between heaven and earth, one through which the

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Lord works on our behalf at all times, never

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ending. You know, astonishingly, God ministers

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to believers, not just through their failures,

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but in spite of their failures. He keeps working

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because he is doing a work in the life of a believer

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that is called sanctification. It's a work he

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does. It's a work he continually does to bring

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us into more and more holiness until that day

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that we are glorified and stand before him. So

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today we're going to begin Jacob's sanctification

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story, a story that gives hope to all who are

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in Jesus Christ, that in our fallen nature, in

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our sinful struggles, in our helpless state,

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We can all still cry out just as Paul the Apostle

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did, what a wretched man that I am. Who will

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rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be

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to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let's pray.

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Father, we're so grateful to you. Lord, we are

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nothing without you. Lord, we're not good in

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our fallen nature. We're definitely not holy.

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Yet, Lord, you looked upon us, your creation,

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created in your image, and saw the hopelessness

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of our sinful state. And you came, Lord, to die

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the death that we deserve to die, the penalty

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of sin. And, Lord, it's through the blood that

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was shed on the cross we are able to cry out

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to you in faith, trusting in you. And, God, your

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word says that when we do that, we have salvation.

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And then, God, you begin this process, this often

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painful process of sanctification, Lord, as we

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grow and mature in our walk with you, Lord. As

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we grow to be separated from the power of sin,

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learning, God, that we don't need to do the wrong

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things and slide down those slides and move backwards

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in our progress, but instead, Lord, we could

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climb the ladder, the ladder that you provide.

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to depend on you, our Holy Spirit, to empower

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us to live lives that you want us to live, God.

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And we're so thankful that it's a work you do

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because we are faithless, but you are faithful.

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So God, today as we begin the story of this man,

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Jacob, just speak to our hearts, Lord, encourage

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us, especially those here today, Lord, that might

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be in the midst of consequences of their own

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decisions. God, as they may feel isolated, alone,

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and are wondering, Lord, if you're still with

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them, I pray, God, you would bring them great

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encouragement this morning. Not that you condone

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or are okay with any sin, Lord, but God, even

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when we mess up so bad, you're right there with

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us, still conducting business between heaven

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and earth on our behalf. We love you for that.

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Thank you so much, God. We want to praise you

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now and worship you now, Lord. We lift up this

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time to you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

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We are in Genesis chapter 27. We're going to

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be covering verse 41 all the way through verse

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22 in chapter 28 this morning. And, you know,

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as we've entered into the story of Jacob's life,

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Jacob is a man who stands out in Scripture as

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one of the most morally questionable figures

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in the entire Bible. I mean, you got to start

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with his name literally means supplanter. right?

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He's named after lying and scheming and deceiving,

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and yet he is a man that had faith in God's Word.

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Now, at this point in his life, he maybe didn't

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have so much interest in a relationship with

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God. His interest was more in what God could

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give him, but he believed in it. He believed

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that God's promises were true, so much so that

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he stole the birthright from his brother Esau

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and then connived with his mother to steal the

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blessing from his father Isaac. And so he's a

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man of faith. The Bible's going to tell us, even

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though at this point in his life the expression

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of that faith is a bit twisted and corrupted.

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But his story is not a story about personal worthiness.

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Jacob's story, like other men of God in the Bible,

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his story is not about, look how good you have

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to be to be able to be in God's house. Look how

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good you have to be to have God love you. It's

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a story about God who makes promises and keeps

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those promises despite the issues in this man's

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life. You see, God will always keep his promises,

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even in the life of someone whose behavior in

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the moment clearly doesn't deserve it because

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God is always faithful to his own word. His word

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will always come to pass. And so as God's children

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through faith, as those of us that have put our

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faith in Jesus Christ and trusted in him for

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salvation, it's no different for us today. I

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mean, think about it. How many of us, maybe this

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week, Maybe this morning you've already done

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things that would try the patience of any parent.

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Said things, thought things, behaved in certain

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ways. And yet, as sinners who are saved by faith,

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we are ongoing recipients of God's infinite patience,

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of God's infinite love, his grace, his mercy.

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And Jacob's life really is a story of how far

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God will go to sanctify those who are his. How

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far God will go to make us holy as he is holy.

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And so as we come to verse 41 in Genesis 27,

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Esau has realized now that Jacob has not only

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stolen his birthright, his younger brother, but

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now he's stolen his blessing from his father.

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We just looked at that earlier in Genesis 27.

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And so as we open the story here, we find Esau

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now who is overcome with a deep just murderous

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hatred for his brother, such that made their

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mother very concerned for Jacob's life. And so

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read with me in Genesis 27, starting in verse

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41. It says, Esau held a grudge against Jacob

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because of the blessing his father had given

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him. And Esau determined in his heart, the days

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of mourning for my father are approaching. Then

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I will kill my brother Jacob. When the words

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of her older son Esau were reported to Rebekah,

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she summoned her younger son Jacob and said to

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him, listen, Your brother Esau is consoling himself

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by planning to kill you. So now, my son, listen

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to me. Flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran.

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Stay with him for a few days until your brother's

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anger subsides, until your brother's rage turns

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away from you and he forgets what you have done

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to him. Then I will send for you and bring you

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back from there. Why should I lose both of you

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in one day? So, Rebecca, mom now is in a conundrum.

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She schemed with her son Jacob to steal the blessing

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from Isaac just earlier in this chapter. And

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now there's a chance she might not only lose

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Jacob, but lose Esau as well, lose both of her

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children in one fit of murderous vengeance. And

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so we've seen how Jacob attempted to sidestep

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God's will, God's prophetic word that Jacob would

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be the one who inherited the blessing. He tried

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to sidestep that by secretly passing the blessing

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to Esau. Now, if you remember, his excuse for

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that was, I'm old, and I don't know when I'm

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going to die. So I've got to do this before my

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time runs out. And so here we see Esau, after

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the fact of Jacob stealing the blessing, holding

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this grudge against him, this murderous hate

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for his brother. And it says, though, the days

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of mourning for my father are fast approaching.

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Esau is under the impression, even though we

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know that Isaac's going to live another 43 years,

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Esau is under the impression that dad's going

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to die soon, and so I'm going to honor my father,

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and we're going to have the time of mourning,

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but as soon as he's gone, I'm going to go and

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kill Jacob. Now, Rebecca had heard about this

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somehow. She had got word that this was taking

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place. Possibly she had like a little network

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of informants within the family and servants

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there. And I say that because you remember the

00:13:58.320 --> 00:14:01.220
last chapter, she was possibly eavesdropping

00:14:01.220 --> 00:14:03.679
over Isaac, having a private conversation with

00:14:03.679 --> 00:14:06.240
Esau. That's how she found out about Isaac's

00:14:06.240 --> 00:14:09.139
plan. And there's just a lot of mistrust in this

00:14:09.139 --> 00:14:12.659
family. There's a lot of just conniving and secrets

00:14:12.659 --> 00:14:15.019
and stuff. And so I don't think it was hard to

00:14:15.019 --> 00:14:17.509
imagine that she had... servants in the household

00:14:17.509 --> 00:14:19.409
who were instructed, hey, if you hear anything

00:14:19.409 --> 00:14:23.110
from dad or Esau, let me know. So she finds out

00:14:23.110 --> 00:14:25.929
and she immediately acts to protect her son Jacob

00:14:25.929 --> 00:14:29.210
because Jacob was her favorite. She was the one

00:14:29.210 --> 00:14:31.190
that she wanted to be lifted up in the family

00:14:31.190 --> 00:14:34.049
even though he was the second born. But again,

00:14:34.269 --> 00:14:36.570
just as a mom and a good mom, she didn't want

00:14:36.570 --> 00:14:38.789
to lose either one of them in the process. So

00:14:38.789 --> 00:14:41.470
she comes up with this plan. Hey, you need to

00:14:41.470 --> 00:14:46.009
flee. To my family back in Haran. If you remember

00:14:46.009 --> 00:14:49.049
the map of Israel, you know, you had Israel here,

00:14:49.289 --> 00:14:52.090
and then you had Ur over here where Abraham originally

00:14:52.090 --> 00:14:55.509
started, and he went up to Haran and then down

00:14:55.509 --> 00:14:57.850
into the promised land. And so at this point

00:14:57.850 --> 00:14:59.789
in time, they're living in the southern section

00:14:59.789 --> 00:15:02.450
of what is Israel, and she's telling them, I

00:15:02.450 --> 00:15:04.309
want you to flee all the way back north to where

00:15:04.309 --> 00:15:08.509
her family was. First time. somebody was sent

00:15:08.509 --> 00:15:10.669
back there was Abraham when he sent his servant

00:15:10.669 --> 00:15:14.210
there to find a wife for Isaac. And so she comes

00:15:14.210 --> 00:15:16.529
up with this plan to go back home and stay there.

00:15:16.590 --> 00:15:18.129
And you'll notice she tells him to stay there

00:15:18.129 --> 00:15:21.529
for a few days, right? She expected that this

00:15:21.529 --> 00:15:24.789
murderous hate to sweep away real quick, that

00:15:24.789 --> 00:15:26.289
everything would be fine, that he would come

00:15:26.289 --> 00:15:28.669
back. But as we're going to see in Jacob's story,

00:15:28.870 --> 00:15:32.129
he ends up spending 20 years away from home in

00:15:32.129 --> 00:15:36.279
this place. Now, it was there that Jacob is going

00:15:36.279 --> 00:15:39.799
to encounter Uncle Laban. This man is the mini

00:15:39.799 --> 00:15:42.720
-boss of his spiritual journey and is going to

00:15:42.720 --> 00:15:45.879
cause much, much trauma and difficulty for Jacob.

00:15:46.059 --> 00:15:49.139
And I say mini -boss because ultimately God is

00:15:49.139 --> 00:15:51.419
the final boss of Jacob's life later on when

00:15:51.419 --> 00:15:53.440
he wrestles with the Lord and the Lord wins and

00:15:53.440 --> 00:15:58.360
renames him Israel. This is the beginning of

00:15:58.360 --> 00:16:01.700
his sanctification process. The very beginning

00:16:01.700 --> 00:16:04.039
of the process in which God is going to work

00:16:04.039 --> 00:16:07.100
in the life of this flawed man, this liar, this

00:16:07.100 --> 00:16:11.320
deceiver, is going to work in his life as his

00:16:11.320 --> 00:16:14.620
child because he has faith in God's word, even

00:16:14.620 --> 00:16:17.639
though he's kind of a messed up dude. And so

00:16:17.639 --> 00:16:19.480
God is going to start working in his life. But

00:16:19.480 --> 00:16:22.419
we get there through verse 46. It says, so Rebecca

00:16:22.419 --> 00:16:26.039
said to Isaac, her husband, I'm sick of my life

00:16:26.039 --> 00:16:28.889
because of these Hethite girls. If Jacob marries

00:16:28.889 --> 00:16:30.990
someone from around here like these Hethite girls,

00:16:31.090 --> 00:16:34.590
what good is my life? So Isaac summoned Jacob,

00:16:34.730 --> 00:16:37.470
blessed him, and commanded him, do not marry

00:16:37.470 --> 00:16:41.370
a Canaanite girl. Go at once to Paddan Aram,

00:16:41.409 --> 00:16:43.870
to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father.

00:16:44.389 --> 00:16:46.669
Marry one of the daughters of Laban, your mother's

00:16:46.669 --> 00:16:49.690
brother. May God Almighty bless you and make

00:16:49.690 --> 00:16:52.070
you fruitful and multiply you so that you become

00:16:52.070 --> 00:16:55.350
an assembly of peoples. May God give you and

00:16:55.350 --> 00:16:57.620
your... give you and your offspring the blessing

00:16:57.620 --> 00:17:00.320
of Abraham so that you may possess the land where

00:17:00.320 --> 00:17:02.580
you live as a foreigner, the land God gave to

00:17:02.580 --> 00:17:05.700
Abraham. So Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan Aram,

00:17:05.819 --> 00:17:08.859
to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother

00:17:08.859 --> 00:17:13.000
of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob, and Esau. Now,

00:17:13.099 --> 00:17:15.640
earlier in this chapter, we saw that Rebekah

00:17:15.640 --> 00:17:18.559
was just as much a schemer as her son Jacob was.

00:17:19.130 --> 00:17:21.049
And I had made the comment that it's very likely

00:17:21.049 --> 00:17:23.609
that Jacob learned the scheming and manipulating

00:17:23.609 --> 00:17:27.130
from his mom. Now, we're going to see later on

00:17:27.130 --> 00:17:29.450
that it's likely her whole family was this way

00:17:29.450 --> 00:17:32.789
because Laban is also a lying, conniving schemer.

00:17:33.390 --> 00:17:36.829
But Rebekah here employs a tactic that has been

00:17:36.829 --> 00:17:40.549
used over the centuries when a wife wants the

00:17:40.549 --> 00:17:43.450
husband to do what she wants them to do. So she

00:17:43.450 --> 00:17:47.349
comes in and she's like, Esau's wives are making

00:17:47.349 --> 00:17:52.029
my life difficult. possibly fake tears, possibly,

00:17:52.150 --> 00:17:54.089
you know, just, ah, but what she's trying to

00:17:54.089 --> 00:17:56.809
do is to get Isaac to think the plan to send

00:17:56.809 --> 00:17:59.829
Jacob to Paddan Aram is his own plan. And so

00:17:59.829 --> 00:18:03.529
she employs the subtle manipulation, nudging

00:18:03.529 --> 00:18:05.750
him into this idea that she had come up with

00:18:05.750 --> 00:18:08.890
for Jacob to flee. Now, the reason that she says

00:18:08.890 --> 00:18:11.150
she's upset is not because of Esau, not because

00:18:11.150 --> 00:18:13.650
of the plan, but because of the wives, the Hethite

00:18:13.650 --> 00:18:16.049
wives that Esau had married. And you remember,

00:18:16.750 --> 00:18:19.470
These wives were Hethites in the CSB, or otherwise

00:18:19.470 --> 00:18:22.750
known as Hittites. These were offspring from

00:18:22.750 --> 00:18:24.670
the line of Canaan, which was the cursed line.

00:18:24.769 --> 00:18:26.829
These were people that could not and would not

00:18:26.829 --> 00:18:29.809
be included into the promise of God. And so therefore,

00:18:29.930 --> 00:18:32.670
her concern that she voices to her husband is,

00:18:32.769 --> 00:18:37.009
what if Jacob does the same thing? What if Jacob,

00:18:37.130 --> 00:18:38.569
who's the one who has the birthright now and

00:18:38.569 --> 00:18:40.849
the promise, what if he marries one of these

00:18:40.849 --> 00:18:43.549
Canaanite women? That can't possibly be a good

00:18:43.549 --> 00:18:46.920
thing for the family. And so Isaac says, you

00:18:46.920 --> 00:18:49.700
know, wife, I got a great plan. Let's send him

00:18:49.700 --> 00:18:54.019
away to your family. Now, in this, we do see

00:18:54.019 --> 00:18:56.740
Isaac now finally fully accepting the truth that

00:18:56.740 --> 00:18:59.920
Jacob indeed is the promised one. He is the one

00:18:59.920 --> 00:19:01.680
that inherited the blessing. He is the one that

00:19:01.680 --> 00:19:04.099
has the birthright. He is the one through which

00:19:04.099 --> 00:19:06.019
God is going to carry the Abrahamic covenant

00:19:06.019 --> 00:19:09.359
forward. Isaac is in full acceptance of this.

00:19:09.700 --> 00:19:11.380
This is one of the reasons he's saying, wife,

00:19:11.500 --> 00:19:13.809
you're right. He might marry a Hittite, so let's

00:19:13.809 --> 00:19:16.210
send him away so that he marries someone that's

00:19:16.210 --> 00:19:18.250
in the family, within the clan and the family

00:19:18.250 --> 00:19:20.910
line. And so he says two things to him that really

00:19:20.910 --> 00:19:23.690
shows that Isaac is in full acceptance of God's

00:19:23.690 --> 00:19:25.309
will at this point, that he has truly learned

00:19:25.309 --> 00:19:29.950
a lesson. He says, may God bless you. Make you

00:19:29.950 --> 00:19:32.069
fruitful and multiply that you become many peoples.

00:19:32.150 --> 00:19:34.509
That was the direct covenant that God had given

00:19:34.509 --> 00:19:37.410
to Abraham that had passed down to Isaac. Then

00:19:37.410 --> 00:19:40.289
he says, may God give you the promise of the

00:19:40.289 --> 00:19:43.109
land. Again, the exact covenant that God had

00:19:43.109 --> 00:19:45.809
given to the people. And so Isaac now is fully

00:19:45.809 --> 00:19:48.730
a submitted man at this point. He is fully submitted

00:19:48.730 --> 00:19:51.049
to God's will, accepting that, acknowledging

00:19:51.049 --> 00:19:55.109
Jacob as the promised one. And so verse 6, it

00:19:55.109 --> 00:19:58.839
says, Esau noticed that Isaac blessed Jacob and

00:19:58.839 --> 00:20:01.819
sent him to Paddan Aram to get a wife there.

00:20:02.220 --> 00:20:04.680
When he blessed him, Isaac commanded Jacob, do

00:20:04.680 --> 00:20:07.480
not marry a Canaanite girl. And Jacob listened

00:20:07.480 --> 00:20:09.480
to his father and mother and went to Paddan Aram.

00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:12.759
Esau realized that his father Isaac disproved

00:20:12.759 --> 00:20:15.900
of the Canaanite women. So Esau went to Ishmael

00:20:15.900 --> 00:20:17.839
and married, in addition to his other wives,

00:20:18.220 --> 00:20:21.240
Mahalath, daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son.

00:20:21.380 --> 00:20:25.480
She was a sister of Nebaioth. Now, this is a

00:20:25.480 --> 00:20:28.900
wonderful picture of how to not fix the problem,

00:20:29.180 --> 00:20:33.440
okay? Esau noticed that that word there means

00:20:33.440 --> 00:20:35.940
that he either saw or he just realized, like,

00:20:35.960 --> 00:20:39.519
hey, my brother's gone, right? in verse 8 when

00:20:39.519 --> 00:20:42.140
it tells us Esau realized that his father disproved,

00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:44.680
it kind of gives us the idea here that Esau may

00:20:44.680 --> 00:20:47.980
have secretly observed or overheard this conversation

00:20:47.980 --> 00:20:51.500
between Isaac, Rebekah, and Jacob. And so he

00:20:51.500 --> 00:20:54.720
suddenly realizes that his father disproved of

00:20:54.720 --> 00:20:58.200
the Canaanite women. This just shows us how out

00:20:58.200 --> 00:21:00.400
of touch Esau is with what's been going on in

00:21:00.400 --> 00:21:03.579
his own family. We've made the point that the

00:21:03.579 --> 00:21:06.220
reason God took the birthright from him as the

00:21:06.220 --> 00:21:08.980
firstborn and gave it to Jacob, was because Esau

00:21:08.980 --> 00:21:10.799
didn't care about it. He didn't care about the

00:21:10.799 --> 00:21:12.960
things of God. He didn't care about God's word.

00:21:13.059 --> 00:21:15.140
He didn't care about God's will. He cared about

00:21:15.140 --> 00:21:17.859
himself, that he was a self -absorbed, selfish

00:21:17.859 --> 00:21:20.160
individual that only cared about what pleased

00:21:20.160 --> 00:21:23.859
him in the moment. And so this immensely valuable

00:21:23.859 --> 00:21:26.319
thing, the birthright of God, the covenant, he

00:21:26.319 --> 00:21:28.160
gave it away for a bowl of stew because he was

00:21:28.160 --> 00:21:30.960
hungry. right? So we've talked about this in

00:21:30.960 --> 00:21:33.859
Esau's life, and he's just a dull dude, and he

00:21:33.859 --> 00:21:35.720
doesn't get it. He doesn't get the things of

00:21:35.720 --> 00:21:39.019
God, and so he realizes that his father doesn't

00:21:39.019 --> 00:21:42.779
approve of his Canaanite wives. How did he just

00:21:42.779 --> 00:21:46.119
realize that? I don't know. It's possible Isaac

00:21:46.119 --> 00:21:48.920
never said anything to him about it because he

00:21:48.920 --> 00:21:52.220
was Isaac's favorite son. He was the one that

00:21:52.220 --> 00:21:54.160
he was trying to sneak the blessing back to.

00:21:54.220 --> 00:21:56.900
He approved of Esau in many ways and possibly

00:21:56.900 --> 00:21:59.859
never said anything to Esau about marrying the

00:21:59.859 --> 00:22:03.440
Canaanite wives. It told us earlier in Scripture

00:22:03.440 --> 00:22:05.619
that they caused great problems within the family

00:22:05.619 --> 00:22:08.519
and stuff. And so we don't know, but Esau has

00:22:08.519 --> 00:22:13.779
this light bulb moment. Aha, dad's sending Jacob

00:22:13.779 --> 00:22:17.160
away to find a wife from the family. That's the

00:22:17.160 --> 00:22:20.680
problem. is I didn't marry someone from the family.

00:22:21.339 --> 00:22:24.900
Well, Ishmael's close. He's part of the family.

00:22:25.019 --> 00:22:27.880
Let me go marry one of his daughters, and it's

00:22:27.880 --> 00:22:32.339
just ridiculous. Esau has no clue, no understanding

00:22:32.339 --> 00:22:35.299
of what God wants, no understanding of God's

00:22:35.299 --> 00:22:37.779
will, no understanding of the covenant, and he

00:22:37.779 --> 00:22:40.099
is a picture right here of all human attempts

00:22:40.099 --> 00:22:44.910
to fix things between man and God. God says,

00:22:44.970 --> 00:22:47.009
I am righteous, I am holy, I am true, I am the

00:22:47.009 --> 00:22:49.549
creator. And man looks up at him and goes, wow.

00:22:49.589 --> 00:22:51.670
And God says, you're sinful, you're separated

00:22:51.670 --> 00:22:54.930
from me. And what does man do? Well, let me create

00:22:54.930 --> 00:22:56.990
my own religion and I'll work my way to you.

00:22:57.710 --> 00:23:00.309
Let me come up with all manner of human attempts

00:23:00.309 --> 00:23:03.309
at religion. And they're empty. They're ineffective.

00:23:03.809 --> 00:23:07.190
They don't accomplish anything. Because you don't

00:23:07.190 --> 00:23:09.069
get it. If you're trying to work your way to

00:23:09.069 --> 00:23:12.299
God, you don't get it. The reality of sin. You

00:23:12.299 --> 00:23:14.259
don't get the reality of God's righteousness

00:23:14.259 --> 00:23:16.839
and the relationship we have with Him. You don't

00:23:16.839 --> 00:23:21.519
get the hopelessness of our situation. That as

00:23:21.519 --> 00:23:23.700
fallen sinful people, there is absolutely nothing

00:23:23.700 --> 00:23:26.799
we could do to earn our way into righteousness.

00:23:27.539 --> 00:23:32.220
And this is Esau. Now, in the story of Jacob

00:23:32.220 --> 00:23:34.140
and Esau in the beginning here, neither one of

00:23:34.140 --> 00:23:37.640
them have acted righteously so far. Jacob was

00:23:37.640 --> 00:23:40.579
a liar. Esau was selfish. But there's a difference

00:23:40.579 --> 00:23:42.799
between them that is very profound because, as

00:23:42.799 --> 00:23:46.519
I said, Esau had no faith in God's Word, didn't

00:23:46.519 --> 00:23:51.119
care about it, just said, take it. I don't want

00:23:51.119 --> 00:23:52.819
it. It doesn't mean anything to me because he

00:23:52.819 --> 00:23:55.940
was a selfish, materialistic guy. Jacob, even

00:23:55.940 --> 00:23:58.519
though he was deeply flawed, even though he lied

00:23:58.519 --> 00:24:02.140
and connived and schemed, he believed God's Word.

00:24:03.400 --> 00:24:07.319
He believed in what it promised to the one who

00:24:07.319 --> 00:24:11.480
had it. He believed it so much that he came up

00:24:11.480 --> 00:24:14.220
with these schemes to steal it, to procure it

00:24:14.220 --> 00:24:17.200
for himself. Now, at this point in Jacob's life,

00:24:17.299 --> 00:24:19.619
I think it's very clear that Jacob didn't care

00:24:19.619 --> 00:24:22.859
so much about the relationship with God, but

00:24:22.859 --> 00:24:25.940
about what God could give him. And that's a problem

00:24:25.940 --> 00:24:29.180
in and of itself, but he believed it. He had

00:24:29.180 --> 00:24:31.519
faith. And so even though his faith is still

00:24:31.519 --> 00:24:33.839
incomplete, it's still rough, it's still reliant,

00:24:33.900 --> 00:24:36.019
he had faith. And that's what we're going to

00:24:36.019 --> 00:24:38.819
see then in this story, that that's enough for

00:24:38.819 --> 00:24:43.059
God to be with him. But because... His faith

00:24:43.059 --> 00:24:46.099
was still rough and ragged because he cared more

00:24:46.099 --> 00:24:48.019
about what God could give him than God himself,

00:24:48.240 --> 00:24:51.339
because he thought he had to help God to procure

00:24:51.339 --> 00:24:53.720
the promises and lie and scheme and cheat and

00:24:53.720 --> 00:24:56.220
steal. Because of that, the next 20 years of

00:24:56.220 --> 00:24:59.940
his life are going to be unnecessarily but necessarily

00:24:59.940 --> 00:25:04.220
hard as God goes through the process of sanctifying

00:25:04.220 --> 00:25:08.380
him and making him holy. Verse 10, Jacob left

00:25:08.380 --> 00:25:12.000
Beersheba and went toward Haran. He reached a

00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:13.720
certain place and spent the night there because

00:25:13.720 --> 00:25:16.599
the sun had set. He took one of the stones from

00:25:16.599 --> 00:25:18.539
that place, put it there at his head, and laid

00:25:18.539 --> 00:25:22.359
down in that place. So again, as he was traveling

00:25:22.359 --> 00:25:24.940
from the southern part of Israel where Beersheba

00:25:24.940 --> 00:25:27.460
was in the Negev desert, he's traveling north

00:25:27.460 --> 00:25:31.059
through the promised land up to Haran in this

00:25:31.059 --> 00:25:34.440
land called Paddan Aram. Now this journey is

00:25:34.440 --> 00:25:37.660
long. It's a very long journey. And the fact

00:25:37.660 --> 00:25:40.380
that it says that he took a stone to place it

00:25:40.380 --> 00:25:43.240
at his head as a pillow tells us that he probably

00:25:43.240 --> 00:25:46.599
left really fast. He didn't properly prepare

00:25:46.599 --> 00:25:49.000
for this journey. He didn't have the right supplies

00:25:49.000 --> 00:25:51.279
that he just kind of had to get out of there

00:25:51.279 --> 00:25:53.720
real quick. Maybe his mom said, go, go, go, go.

00:25:54.259 --> 00:25:57.019
And so, but Jacob is now finding himself in this

00:25:57.019 --> 00:26:00.549
place. That is unnamed here. It's named later

00:26:00.549 --> 00:26:02.509
in the story, but it says he reached a certain

00:26:02.509 --> 00:26:04.829
place. The idea of that phrase is to tell us

00:26:04.829 --> 00:26:07.529
that he's in the middle of nowhere. He's in the

00:26:07.529 --> 00:26:11.750
boonies. There's nobody around him. It's dark.

00:26:12.089 --> 00:26:16.289
He's alone. He's traveling away from what is

00:26:16.289 --> 00:26:19.410
supposed to be promised to him. He's now in this

00:26:19.410 --> 00:26:22.390
place where he's left his father. He's left his

00:26:22.390 --> 00:26:25.009
mother. His brother's not around. It's just him.

00:26:26.299 --> 00:26:29.359
Not only that, he has to sleep on a stone because

00:26:29.359 --> 00:26:31.740
he didn't even prepare enough for the journey.

00:26:31.779 --> 00:26:35.579
It was so hasty. And yet all of this, his whole

00:26:35.579 --> 00:26:37.759
situation he finds himself in is because of his

00:26:37.759 --> 00:26:42.380
own choices. He chose to lie. He chose to scheme.

00:26:42.660 --> 00:26:44.579
When mom came along and said, hey, we're going

00:26:44.579 --> 00:26:46.160
to dress you up as goat boys so you can steal

00:26:46.160 --> 00:26:48.240
the blessing, he went along with it. He said,

00:26:48.279 --> 00:26:52.000
okay. You remember earlier in Genesis 27, he

00:26:52.000 --> 00:26:54.519
didn't object to his mom's plan to steal the

00:26:54.519 --> 00:26:56.599
blessing because he thought it was wrong. He

00:26:56.599 --> 00:27:00.099
didn't want to get caught. And so now he finds

00:27:00.099 --> 00:27:02.380
himself in this very, very difficult situation,

00:27:02.680 --> 00:27:06.700
probably tired from the journey, like I said,

00:27:06.700 --> 00:27:10.500
alone, maybe discouraged. We don't know exactly

00:27:10.500 --> 00:27:13.099
what's going on here, but has he been thinking

00:27:13.099 --> 00:27:17.359
about why he was in the circumstances that he

00:27:17.359 --> 00:27:21.190
was in? Could he have been thinking about, you

00:27:21.190 --> 00:27:24.289
know, the reality? Like, did I mess up so bad

00:27:24.289 --> 00:27:27.670
that my brother really wants to kill me? Like,

00:27:27.670 --> 00:27:31.809
he's family. Like, we fight, you know. We had

00:27:31.809 --> 00:27:33.769
sibling rivalry, but he wants to kill me? Did

00:27:33.769 --> 00:27:38.430
I really do that? Is he maybe thinking about

00:27:38.430 --> 00:27:43.150
regret? Because now he's out here alone in the

00:27:43.150 --> 00:27:45.609
wilderness. Maybe he's struggling with the fact

00:27:45.609 --> 00:27:48.250
that none of it adds up. Like, wait, no, I stole

00:27:48.250 --> 00:27:52.269
the birthright. I got the blessing. Like, I got

00:27:52.269 --> 00:27:54.130
the blessing of the people. I got the blessing

00:27:54.130 --> 00:27:56.329
of the land. This is supposed to be mine. And

00:27:56.329 --> 00:27:59.250
now I'm fleeing away from the land that is supposed

00:27:59.250 --> 00:28:01.529
to belong to me through the birthright and the

00:28:01.529 --> 00:28:06.829
blessing. God, this isn't adding up. Your covenant

00:28:06.829 --> 00:28:09.930
is not true right in this moment. What am I supposed

00:28:09.930 --> 00:28:13.930
to do about this? And so, possibly all of this

00:28:13.930 --> 00:28:15.630
was going through his mind as he's laying down

00:28:15.630 --> 00:28:19.519
to go to sleep here. Now I have no home. Still

00:28:19.519 --> 00:28:24.299
have no wife, no kids. I'm all alone. So verse

00:28:24.299 --> 00:28:28.779
12, and he dreamed. A stairway was set up on

00:28:28.779 --> 00:28:31.000
the ground with its top reaching the sky, and

00:28:31.000 --> 00:28:33.859
God's angels were going up and down on it. The

00:28:33.859 --> 00:28:35.960
Lord was standing there beside him saying, I

00:28:35.960 --> 00:28:39.200
am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and

00:28:39.200 --> 00:28:43.019
the God of Isaac. I will give you and your offspring

00:28:43.019 --> 00:28:45.869
the land on which you are lying. Your offspring

00:28:45.869 --> 00:28:49.009
will be like the dust of the earth, and you will

00:28:49.009 --> 00:28:51.329
spread out towards the west, the east, the north,

00:28:51.390 --> 00:28:54.109
and the south. All of the peoples on the earth

00:28:54.109 --> 00:28:56.190
will be blessed through you and your offspring.

00:28:56.690 --> 00:29:00.569
Look, I am with you and will watch over you wherever

00:29:00.569 --> 00:29:03.450
you go. I will bring you back to this land, for

00:29:03.450 --> 00:29:06.390
I will not leave you until I have done what I

00:29:06.390 --> 00:29:10.900
promised you. God's response to Isaac in his

00:29:10.900 --> 00:29:13.339
dream here is what tells me Isaac was worrying

00:29:13.339 --> 00:29:17.180
about these things. Is this land going to be

00:29:17.180 --> 00:29:22.500
mine? Am I going to come back to the land? Is

00:29:22.500 --> 00:29:25.180
this God that my dad has told me about, that

00:29:25.180 --> 00:29:27.960
my grandfather believed in, is he really there?

00:29:28.519 --> 00:29:32.799
Is he really real? And he has this dream, right?

00:29:32.880 --> 00:29:34.740
This whole vision is while he's sleeping. And,

00:29:34.759 --> 00:29:37.259
you know, God speaking through dreams is a well

00:29:37.259 --> 00:29:39.720
-established concept in Scripture. We see him

00:29:39.720 --> 00:29:41.519
obviously speaking to here in Jacob through a

00:29:41.519 --> 00:29:44.359
dream. He speaks to Joseph in a dream, Solomon,

00:29:44.519 --> 00:29:49.660
Daniel, Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus,

00:29:49.779 --> 00:29:52.640
the Magi, right? So God speaking through dreams

00:29:52.640 --> 00:29:54.980
is fairly a normal thing. In fact, the prophet

00:29:54.980 --> 00:29:58.480
Joel said that in the last days when God's Spirit

00:29:58.480 --> 00:30:01.119
would come upon mankind, that God's Spirit would

00:30:01.119 --> 00:30:04.119
cause people to have dreams and visions, right?

00:30:04.359 --> 00:30:07.579
I myself have had both in my life as God has

00:30:07.579 --> 00:30:10.000
spoken to me in dreams, but we have to be very

00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:12.579
careful about these types of things because if

00:30:12.579 --> 00:30:16.220
you don't exercise discernment, you can very

00:30:16.220 --> 00:30:20.019
easily misinterpret things. You know, we've all

00:30:20.019 --> 00:30:23.660
had dreams that maybe are speaking to issues

00:30:23.660 --> 00:30:25.980
we're dealing with or things we're thinking about

00:30:25.980 --> 00:30:28.240
and we wake up and we go, oh, that was the Lord.

00:30:29.740 --> 00:30:33.099
And it might be. But you need discernment because

00:30:33.099 --> 00:30:37.279
I've had many situations in ministry and stuff

00:30:37.279 --> 00:30:39.740
where people have approached me and I had a dream.

00:30:40.460 --> 00:30:43.720
And because I had the dream, that means it's

00:30:43.720 --> 00:30:46.619
true. And then they tell me the dream and it's

00:30:46.619 --> 00:30:51.119
like, well, it could be. And in most of the cases,

00:30:51.180 --> 00:30:55.380
absolutely, categorically, 100%, demonstrably

00:30:55.380 --> 00:31:01.599
not God speaking. That doesn't mean don't say,

00:31:01.660 --> 00:31:03.140
God, if you want to speak to me in a dream, speak

00:31:03.140 --> 00:31:05.900
to me in a dream. It means have discernment about

00:31:05.900 --> 00:31:10.759
those things after. And so, God is speaking to

00:31:10.759 --> 00:31:13.440
Jacob here, and he sees this stairway, it says.

00:31:13.519 --> 00:31:15.619
Some of you may have heard the story of Jacob's

00:31:15.619 --> 00:31:19.519
ladder, right? ladder, stairway. You know, we're

00:31:19.519 --> 00:31:21.819
not sure exactly what it was because this word

00:31:21.819 --> 00:31:24.799
here is unique. This word here that is translated

00:31:24.799 --> 00:31:27.119
stairway, this is the only place in Scripture

00:31:27.119 --> 00:31:30.099
where it appears, the only place. And so we don't

00:31:30.099 --> 00:31:32.259
have other references to compare it to. And so

00:31:32.259 --> 00:31:35.380
some people say stairway, some people say ladder,

00:31:35.559 --> 00:31:37.619
some people are like, well, it was like a ziggurat,

00:31:37.680 --> 00:31:40.339
you know, those stepped ziggurats that existed

00:31:40.339 --> 00:31:44.490
in the day. We don't know. It could be an escalator

00:31:44.490 --> 00:31:47.170
for all we know, right? We have no idea. It's

00:31:47.170 --> 00:31:49.190
an ascending structure. So I say that because

00:31:49.190 --> 00:31:51.509
as you read different translations, you might

00:31:51.509 --> 00:31:53.950
see different words there, right? And that's

00:31:53.950 --> 00:31:56.789
simply because it's an ascending structure of

00:31:56.789 --> 00:31:59.950
some kind. Now, he sees this structure and he

00:31:59.950 --> 00:32:02.450
sees these angels going up and down on it. What

00:32:02.450 --> 00:32:05.769
is that supposed to tell him? Well, first, this

00:32:05.769 --> 00:32:08.869
structure is connecting heaven and earth. And

00:32:08.869 --> 00:32:11.269
as he sees these angels coming up and down the

00:32:11.269 --> 00:32:13.509
structure, it tells him that there is heavenly

00:32:13.509 --> 00:32:17.450
business being conducted, that there is transaction

00:32:17.450 --> 00:32:23.009
happening between heaven and earth. As he sees

00:32:23.009 --> 00:32:26.589
that, it's meant to tell him that he's not alone

00:32:26.589 --> 00:32:29.210
out here, just isolated and desolate and nothing's

00:32:29.210 --> 00:32:32.470
taking place. That there is work being conducted

00:32:32.470 --> 00:32:35.529
on his behalf between heaven and earth. And it's

00:32:35.529 --> 00:32:37.910
really interesting because the Hebrew of this

00:32:37.910 --> 00:32:39.869
verse where it says, a stairway was set on the

00:32:39.869 --> 00:32:41.950
ground with its top reaching the sky and God's

00:32:41.950 --> 00:32:43.829
angels were going up and down on it and the Lord

00:32:43.829 --> 00:32:46.589
was standing there. In the Hebrew, this is how

00:32:46.589 --> 00:32:53.109
it reads. There, a ladder. Oh, angels. And look,

00:32:53.289 --> 00:32:56.130
the Lord himself. Right? It's very shocking.

00:32:56.829 --> 00:32:58.990
You've been in those situations maybe. You know,

00:32:59.009 --> 00:33:02.319
what? That's what's going on with Jacob right

00:33:02.319 --> 00:33:05.779
now in this dream. And when it says he sees the

00:33:05.779 --> 00:33:08.099
Lord standing there, that word for Lord is Yahweh.

00:33:08.140 --> 00:33:10.279
That's the personal. That's the covenant name

00:33:10.279 --> 00:33:13.140
that we've talked about, right? This is the name

00:33:13.140 --> 00:33:15.759
of God when God's trying to indicate personal

00:33:15.759 --> 00:33:18.980
relational connection. specifically when he's

00:33:18.980 --> 00:33:21.559
talking about I'm the covenant maker and I fulfill

00:33:21.559 --> 00:33:24.519
the promises I make. I am that personal God who

00:33:24.519 --> 00:33:27.779
cares about you. I make promises, I keep promises.

00:33:28.059 --> 00:33:30.740
And so he sees the Lord standing there with him

00:33:30.740 --> 00:33:35.200
here in what is this dark, desolate place where

00:33:35.200 --> 00:33:39.440
he's alone and he's seeing there is heavenly

00:33:39.440 --> 00:33:43.319
business being conducted. But the Lord being

00:33:43.319 --> 00:33:45.200
there with him, that was the important part.

00:33:45.819 --> 00:33:48.299
Not only was their business being conducted on

00:33:48.299 --> 00:33:51.339
his behalf, but the Lord was with him. The Lord

00:33:51.339 --> 00:33:55.099
was there with him. He was not alone. Rather,

00:33:55.200 --> 00:33:57.279
that in the midst of this situation, the midst

00:33:57.279 --> 00:33:59.579
of these difficulties, right in the middle of

00:33:59.579 --> 00:34:02.160
what is the consequences of his own decisions,

00:34:02.500 --> 00:34:10.170
God is still with him. God is personally visiting

00:34:10.170 --> 00:34:13.230
him to reiterate the very promises that he might

00:34:13.230 --> 00:34:15.030
have been wondering about due to his circumstances.

00:34:15.510 --> 00:34:18.289
Did you see that? What does God say there? I'm

00:34:18.289 --> 00:34:23.289
the Lord. I will give you your offspring. Your

00:34:23.289 --> 00:34:25.349
offspring will be like the dust of the earth.

00:34:25.769 --> 00:34:28.630
You will spread out to the west, east, north,

00:34:28.690 --> 00:34:31.489
and south. All of the peoples will be blessed

00:34:31.489 --> 00:34:36.349
through you. What he's reiterating to Jacob here

00:34:36.349 --> 00:34:40.309
is, bro, The promises are true because I made

00:34:40.309 --> 00:34:45.630
them. And stop helping me because you just mess

00:34:45.630 --> 00:34:50.309
it up. I will do what I said I'm going to do.

00:34:50.409 --> 00:34:52.369
I don't need you to lie. I don't need you to

00:34:52.369 --> 00:34:54.750
scheme. I don't need you to steal. I don't need

00:34:54.750 --> 00:34:58.150
you to do anything that I haven't told you to

00:34:58.150 --> 00:35:02.250
do to make sure that the promises I have made

00:35:02.250 --> 00:35:08.170
come true in your life. The Lord was with him.

00:35:08.250 --> 00:35:11.269
Now, depending on the translation you have, when

00:35:11.269 --> 00:35:13.110
it says the Lord was standing there beside him

00:35:13.110 --> 00:35:15.190
in verse 13, some of your translations might

00:35:15.190 --> 00:35:17.510
say the Lord was standing at the top of the ladder,

00:35:17.650 --> 00:35:19.829
right? And those seem like two completely different

00:35:19.829 --> 00:35:23.550
things. The word in the Hebrew there is also

00:35:23.550 --> 00:35:27.349
a unique word that only appears here. Oh, actually,

00:35:27.389 --> 00:35:28.889
this is the word that only appears here, not

00:35:28.889 --> 00:35:31.090
the ladder word. I'm sorry about that. The phrase

00:35:31.090 --> 00:35:34.550
beside him. only here in the Old Testament. Now

00:35:34.550 --> 00:35:36.789
it could be translated above, it could be translated

00:35:36.789 --> 00:35:39.570
before as in in front of, it could be translated

00:35:39.570 --> 00:35:43.230
on, right? It's a difficult word to find out

00:35:43.230 --> 00:35:46.289
what the context is. And because this word isn't

00:35:46.289 --> 00:35:48.030
anywhere else, they don't know exactly what it

00:35:48.030 --> 00:35:50.610
means. And so some translations go, oh, the Lord

00:35:50.610 --> 00:35:53.789
was beside him. Some translations go, no, the

00:35:53.789 --> 00:35:55.789
Lord was above him at the top of the ladder.

00:35:56.050 --> 00:35:58.170
There's even one translation that says he was

00:35:58.170 --> 00:36:00.190
leaning against the ladder, like he's just chilling

00:36:00.190 --> 00:36:03.420
or something. It's irrelevant, all right? The

00:36:03.420 --> 00:36:07.000
idea, the point here is not exactly where he

00:36:07.000 --> 00:36:09.659
was standing. The point is that God was present

00:36:09.659 --> 00:36:14.099
with Jacob, okay? So don't make a big deal about

00:36:14.099 --> 00:36:16.139
like, oh no, this translation says that and that

00:36:16.139 --> 00:36:18.320
says that. It's simply because they're not exactly

00:36:18.320 --> 00:36:21.000
sure whether it's beside, before, above, or whatnot.

00:36:21.219 --> 00:36:25.780
So regardless of the exact position, Yahweh was

00:36:25.780 --> 00:36:29.679
personally present with Jacob. And so he reiterates

00:36:29.679 --> 00:36:31.619
the promise, those things that Jacob was probably

00:36:31.619 --> 00:36:33.699
thinking about. Am I going to get the land? Is

00:36:33.699 --> 00:36:35.300
there going to be a people for me? And God's

00:36:35.300 --> 00:36:38.820
like, I'm going to do it. I will. You don't have

00:36:38.820 --> 00:36:40.719
to question that. You don't have to worry about

00:36:40.719 --> 00:36:43.159
that. But the important thing he says here, which

00:36:43.159 --> 00:36:45.059
I think is foundational at the very beginning

00:36:45.059 --> 00:36:47.719
here of Jacob's sanctification, is he says, look,

00:36:47.880 --> 00:36:50.760
I am with you and will watch over you wherever

00:36:50.760 --> 00:36:56.500
you go. You see, a lot of times we as Christians,

00:36:56.579 --> 00:37:00.519
we struggle with, we sin, and we instantly can

00:37:00.519 --> 00:37:04.739
feel that disconnection from the Lord. And then

00:37:04.739 --> 00:37:08.280
we think God is gone. And God doesn't want to

00:37:08.280 --> 00:37:11.739
be near me. God hates me. God's so mad at me,

00:37:11.800 --> 00:37:13.840
he'll talk to me later. In fact, that's why I

00:37:13.840 --> 00:37:17.360
can't talk to him right now. And the devil goes,

00:37:17.460 --> 00:37:19.300
yeah, you're exactly right. Don't pray. Don't

00:37:19.300 --> 00:37:23.760
ask for forgiveness. Wait a few hours. And that

00:37:23.760 --> 00:37:27.840
is wrong. That is absolutely wrong. God says,

00:37:27.860 --> 00:37:29.659
I am with you and I will watch over you wherever

00:37:29.659 --> 00:37:31.659
you go. Jacob, it doesn't matter what you did.

00:37:32.539 --> 00:37:35.780
Your faith in me makes you my child. We're going

00:37:35.780 --> 00:37:37.780
to work on that faith. We're going to refine

00:37:37.780 --> 00:37:40.300
that faith as you live your life. But I am here

00:37:40.300 --> 00:37:44.000
with you. In fact, there is nowhere you can go

00:37:44.000 --> 00:37:47.789
that I am not. There is nowhere you can go where

00:37:47.789 --> 00:37:50.789
I will not be with you. My presence is with you

00:37:50.789 --> 00:37:53.250
everywhere and at all times. My protection is

00:37:53.250 --> 00:37:55.110
with you. My promises are with you, and they

00:37:55.110 --> 00:37:57.769
will not fail no matter how far you wander, no

00:37:57.769 --> 00:38:01.630
matter how much you mess it up. Now, I'm speaking,

00:38:01.690 --> 00:38:03.769
of course, of the unconditional promises that

00:38:03.769 --> 00:38:06.190
God makes. There are plenty of promises throughout

00:38:06.190 --> 00:38:08.210
Scripture that are conditional. We're not dealing

00:38:08.210 --> 00:38:11.030
with that. We're dealing with God's covenant.

00:38:11.489 --> 00:38:14.769
I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this in

00:38:14.769 --> 00:38:17.900
your life. And because God made the promise,

00:38:17.940 --> 00:38:21.239
it's going to happen. What this staircase was

00:38:21.239 --> 00:38:23.960
symbolizing for Jacob is that no matter where

00:38:23.960 --> 00:38:27.079
he went, he could not and never would be able

00:38:27.079 --> 00:38:29.699
to go beyond God's reach to work in his life.

00:38:30.920 --> 00:38:35.940
Do you believe that this morning? Whatever you've

00:38:35.940 --> 00:38:38.260
done, you are not out of the reach of God's work

00:38:38.260 --> 00:38:41.769
in your life. mess up you've done, whatever it

00:38:41.769 --> 00:38:44.030
is. You might be this morning sitting in the

00:38:44.030 --> 00:38:47.090
middle of the consequences of your own stupidity.

00:38:50.130 --> 00:38:55.289
God's going, I love you, stupid. I'm with you.

00:38:55.329 --> 00:38:59.170
I'm here. I'm still working on your behalf. As

00:38:59.170 --> 00:39:01.250
a matter of fact, I'm the one that's sanctifying

00:39:01.250 --> 00:39:04.989
you and making you holy, even through this screw

00:39:04.989 --> 00:39:10.059
-up, even through this sin. Now, stop. Trust

00:39:10.059 --> 00:39:12.099
in me. Trust in my spirit. I want to give you

00:39:12.099 --> 00:39:16.300
the power to say no to the sin. Yeah. But separate

00:39:16.300 --> 00:39:19.199
that from the reality of, oh, God hates me and

00:39:19.199 --> 00:39:22.840
he's not with me no more. That's false. He's

00:39:22.840 --> 00:39:26.420
there with you. And he's telling Jacob the same

00:39:26.420 --> 00:39:32.980
thing. In his isolation, God doesn't even rebuke

00:39:32.980 --> 00:39:37.250
him. Right? That's how we think. Okay, God's

00:39:37.250 --> 00:39:38.590
with me, yeah, but he's going to show up and

00:39:38.590 --> 00:39:42.150
he goes, you're dumb. Why'd you do that? You

00:39:42.150 --> 00:39:46.190
got what's coming to you. Ha ha. And that's not

00:39:46.190 --> 00:39:50.289
what God does. God's not surprised that we're

00:39:50.289 --> 00:39:53.730
sinners. That's why he had to come and die on

00:39:53.730 --> 00:39:57.889
the cross, because we're sinners. God's not surprised

00:39:57.889 --> 00:40:00.429
that we still wrestle with our flesh post -salvation.

00:40:00.489 --> 00:40:03.389
He knows. Just as Paul said in Romans, look,

00:40:03.429 --> 00:40:05.989
I've discovered a law here. My spirit exists

00:40:05.989 --> 00:40:10.750
with my flesh, and we wrestle. God knows that.

00:40:11.769 --> 00:40:13.849
That's why God didn't make salvation dependent

00:40:13.849 --> 00:40:16.750
on our good works, because we would all lose

00:40:16.750 --> 00:40:20.480
it in a heartbeat. But he made salvation based

00:40:20.480 --> 00:40:23.099
upon his promise. He goes, you trust me, you

00:40:23.099 --> 00:40:24.940
put your faith in me. You believe in me and my

00:40:24.940 --> 00:40:28.260
word and what I did for you. You're saved. Now

00:40:28.260 --> 00:40:31.400
justified. Now let's work on being sanctified

00:40:31.400 --> 00:40:35.199
and being made holy. And we go, well, I want

00:40:35.199 --> 00:40:36.760
to get to the part where I don't even struggle

00:40:36.760 --> 00:40:39.900
with sin anymore. That's future. That's glorification.

00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:43.760
We'll get there. But right now I want to work

00:40:43.760 --> 00:40:45.699
in your life so that other people who are messed

00:40:45.699 --> 00:40:47.159
up are going to look at your life and go, wow,

00:40:47.239 --> 00:40:49.739
God could love me too, a messed up person? Yes,

00:40:49.800 --> 00:40:56.380
he can. And he will and he wants to. I would

00:40:56.380 --> 00:41:01.659
love to be sin free. Because the devil beats

00:41:01.659 --> 00:41:03.440
me up all the time with stuff. We all deal with

00:41:03.440 --> 00:41:05.940
it. I go through my day, I go through my whatever,

00:41:06.099 --> 00:41:07.699
I'm dealing with what I'm dealing with and I'm

00:41:07.699 --> 00:41:12.980
like, gosh, I'm such an idiot. God, just don't

00:41:12.980 --> 00:41:15.599
look at me, Lord. I can't even have your eyes

00:41:15.599 --> 00:41:21.239
on me right now. And the Lord's like, I'm still

00:41:21.239 --> 00:41:24.760
working. I'm still sanctifying you. I'm sanctifying

00:41:24.760 --> 00:41:27.920
you through this moment. Look up. Look at me.

00:41:29.019 --> 00:41:33.820
Don't forget that I'm here. I love you. I don't

00:41:33.820 --> 00:41:37.090
like what you did, but let's work on that. It's

00:41:37.090 --> 00:41:39.530
just an amazing thing that Jacob is going to

00:41:39.530 --> 00:41:42.150
need for the next 20 years of his life as God

00:41:42.150 --> 00:41:44.690
continues to refine his life. And this is what

00:41:44.690 --> 00:41:46.449
grace is all about. This is the grace that's

00:41:46.449 --> 00:41:49.909
given to every sinner. Jacob wasn't even seeking

00:41:49.909 --> 00:41:55.289
God here, right? He's a deceiver. He's an outcast

00:41:55.289 --> 00:41:57.829
because of his sin. He's running from the consequences.

00:41:58.349 --> 00:42:02.510
He's freaking out, and yet God shows up to give

00:42:02.510 --> 00:42:04.949
him a revelation of divine care. He didn't deserve

00:42:04.949 --> 00:42:08.409
it. He wasn't expecting it, but grace flooded

00:42:08.409 --> 00:42:12.730
over him. That's grace. That's the grace of God,

00:42:12.809 --> 00:42:16.030
people. Chuck Smith once wrote a book that said,

00:42:16.150 --> 00:42:17.809
why grace changes everything. If you've never

00:42:17.809 --> 00:42:21.210
read it, read it. Because grace truly does change

00:42:21.210 --> 00:42:26.610
everything. And so this grace of God had brought

00:42:26.610 --> 00:42:29.670
Jacob this far in his life, and it would in time

00:42:29.670 --> 00:42:31.510
because God said so, bring him all the way back

00:42:31.510 --> 00:42:36.769
home. So verse 16. When Jacob awoke from his

00:42:36.769 --> 00:42:39.150
sleep, he said, surely the Lord is in this place,

00:42:39.190 --> 00:42:43.550
and I did not know it. Duh. He was afraid and

00:42:43.550 --> 00:42:46.849
said, what an awesome place this is. This is

00:42:46.849 --> 00:42:48.590
none other than the house of God. This is the

00:42:48.590 --> 00:42:53.349
gate of heaven. That word surely, you know, like

00:42:53.349 --> 00:42:55.130
in other translations with Jesus' speech, he

00:42:55.130 --> 00:42:57.289
goes, truly, truly, I tell you, right? These

00:42:57.289 --> 00:43:02.530
phrases are phrases of emphasis, right? And this

00:43:02.530 --> 00:43:05.500
phrase surely is one of astonishment. So Jacob

00:43:05.500 --> 00:43:07.860
wakes up from this dream, and the idea here is

00:43:07.860 --> 00:43:11.500
that he's overwhelmed. He's overwhelmed, and

00:43:11.500 --> 00:43:13.960
the reason is, is because like all of us do,

00:43:14.139 --> 00:43:16.559
he forgot that God is always present, even when

00:43:16.559 --> 00:43:19.519
the trouble is his own making. He forgot it,

00:43:19.579 --> 00:43:22.139
and yet he's being like, hey, surprise, God shows

00:43:22.139 --> 00:43:24.159
up. Surprise, running sinner, I'm right here.

00:43:25.059 --> 00:43:27.219
Surprise, scheming, faithless one, I'm still

00:43:27.219 --> 00:43:29.920
here, I'm always here. And the result is Jacob

00:43:29.920 --> 00:43:32.460
is afraid, it says. That word afraid, it means

00:43:32.460 --> 00:43:35.719
that he's filled with awe and trembling. Not

00:43:35.719 --> 00:43:39.340
fear like, oh no, God hates me, but just he was

00:43:39.340 --> 00:43:42.599
in the presence of true holiness in that dream.

00:43:44.099 --> 00:43:46.219
You ever had a dream so vivid you wake up and

00:43:46.219 --> 00:43:48.880
you can still feel it? Whether it's a nightmare

00:43:48.880 --> 00:43:52.980
and your heart's still pounding? Or you, you

00:43:52.980 --> 00:43:57.639
know, I had a dream once of somebody that, hmm,

00:43:57.739 --> 00:44:02.039
how detailed do I get on that? It was a girl

00:44:02.039 --> 00:44:04.579
I loved once, and the dream was we got back together.

00:44:04.679 --> 00:44:07.179
This was like 30 years ago. I woke up and my

00:44:07.179 --> 00:44:11.500
heart hurt. I was like, oh, you know, I'm all

00:44:11.500 --> 00:44:15.300
good. But it hurt. I woke up with heartache,

00:44:15.300 --> 00:44:17.300
and I'm like, it was a dream. Why do I have heartache,

00:44:17.320 --> 00:44:20.980
right? And so this is where Jacob's at. He's

00:44:20.980 --> 00:44:23.659
overwhelmed with the dream was so vivid. It was

00:44:23.659 --> 00:44:28.010
so real. It was undeniable. When I got saved,

00:44:28.170 --> 00:44:29.650
and many of you know the story, I went through

00:44:29.650 --> 00:44:32.250
the week of Bible roulette, and on the last day

00:44:32.250 --> 00:44:34.750
when God spoke to me through the Bible, I remember

00:44:34.750 --> 00:44:37.409
the whole week I was just like, God, you can't

00:44:37.409 --> 00:44:40.010
be real, you can't be real. And then that final

00:44:40.010 --> 00:44:42.369
day, I was like, I remember this was my prayer.

00:44:42.989 --> 00:44:45.829
It wasn't like a sinner's prayer. I was in my

00:44:45.829 --> 00:44:47.949
bedroom. I wasn't at a crusade. I wasn't at a

00:44:47.949 --> 00:44:50.650
Bible study. And I remember I just went, well,

00:44:50.650 --> 00:44:57.329
God, I guess you're real. In that moment. There

00:44:57.329 --> 00:45:01.210
was a presence. Now it wasn't that the presence

00:45:01.210 --> 00:45:03.269
wasn't there before, but now I could sense it.

00:45:03.929 --> 00:45:06.670
And it was scary. I felt like if I looked up,

00:45:06.670 --> 00:45:08.750
there'd be a giant God eyeball looking at me.

00:45:09.110 --> 00:45:13.510
I was like, whoa. It was surreal. But it was

00:45:13.510 --> 00:45:15.130
in the moment. I said, God, I guess you're real,

00:45:15.190 --> 00:45:17.329
right? What kind of faith prayer is that? I guess

00:45:17.329 --> 00:45:21.809
you're real. Boom. Whoa, you're real. And so

00:45:21.809 --> 00:45:25.309
Jacob is just kind of shooken up by this. He

00:45:25.309 --> 00:45:28.139
declares his place. the house of God. Here I

00:45:28.139 --> 00:45:31.360
am in the boonies, right? We're going to find

00:45:31.360 --> 00:45:35.199
out that he's close to a city here, but for his

00:45:35.199 --> 00:45:38.440
context, he's just alone and in the boonies,

00:45:38.480 --> 00:45:41.840
and he says, this is the house of God. What does

00:45:41.840 --> 00:45:44.800
that mean? To him, he'd realize that because

00:45:44.800 --> 00:45:47.719
God is present everywhere, that God is every

00:45:47.719 --> 00:45:51.159
place. That means that he's not relegated to

00:45:51.159 --> 00:45:55.119
just temples and this tent and this sacred spot

00:45:55.119 --> 00:45:57.460
and all of that. That's how the whole world worships.

00:45:57.460 --> 00:45:58.900
You've got to go to this ziggurat. You've got

00:45:58.900 --> 00:46:01.079
to go to this thing. You've got to pray to this

00:46:01.079 --> 00:46:05.679
statue. No. He's like, God is everywhere. I get

00:46:05.679 --> 00:46:11.500
it now. This is the house of God. Wherever I

00:46:11.500 --> 00:46:15.619
am at is the house of God. New Testament puts

00:46:15.619 --> 00:46:18.880
it a little bit differently that he says, You,

00:46:18.880 --> 00:46:23.199
your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Do

00:46:23.199 --> 00:46:25.420
you realize you're in church wherever you go?

00:46:26.820 --> 00:46:30.139
Wherever you go, in any circumstance, whatever

00:46:30.139 --> 00:46:33.860
you're doing. Some of the secret sins you do

00:46:33.860 --> 00:46:36.139
in the dark, would you do those sins here Sunday

00:46:36.139 --> 00:46:41.639
morning sitting in the pew? Of course not. Why

00:46:41.639 --> 00:46:43.760
not? That's what you're doing anyways. Oh, well,

00:46:43.840 --> 00:46:48.199
we'll deal with that one later. Okay. And then

00:46:48.199 --> 00:46:52.380
he calls it the gate of heaven. That's not only

00:46:52.380 --> 00:46:55.159
is God here where I'm at, but God is accessible

00:46:55.159 --> 00:46:59.360
where I'm at. God is accessible everywhere, to

00:46:59.360 --> 00:47:01.980
anyone, anytime. But Jacob is now realizing,

00:47:02.219 --> 00:47:06.920
I don't necessarily have to lie in scheme because

00:47:06.920 --> 00:47:09.800
God is right here with me and he's accessible.

00:47:09.880 --> 00:47:13.250
He's not a far off. He's not that distant God

00:47:13.250 --> 00:47:15.349
that my grandfather knew, and I believe his word,

00:47:15.449 --> 00:47:19.190
but no, he's accessible right here. Meaning when

00:47:19.190 --> 00:47:21.090
I have a situation and I'm thinking, oh, I've

00:47:21.090 --> 00:47:22.869
got a lying scheme to get it, how about instead

00:47:22.869 --> 00:47:25.389
I go, hey, God, what should I do? Because he's

00:47:25.389 --> 00:47:27.469
right there. He's accessible. He's listening.

00:47:28.150 --> 00:47:32.050
So verse 18. Early in the morning, Jacob took

00:47:32.050 --> 00:47:33.829
the stone that was near his head and set it up

00:47:33.829 --> 00:47:36.590
as a marker. He poured oil on top of it and named

00:47:36.590 --> 00:47:39.170
the place Bethel. though previously the city

00:47:39.170 --> 00:47:43.769
was named Luz or Luz. So he takes this stone

00:47:43.769 --> 00:47:47.750
that was almost representative of his discomfort,

00:47:48.150 --> 00:47:50.530
representative of the consequences of his own

00:47:50.530 --> 00:47:53.130
sin, representative of the fact that he had to

00:47:53.130 --> 00:47:55.730
flee his home and flee hastily and didn't even

00:47:55.730 --> 00:47:57.949
be able to pack provisions, and he takes that

00:47:57.949 --> 00:48:01.170
stone and he anoints it with oil. You see, in

00:48:01.170 --> 00:48:03.670
the New Testament, the anointing of oil is a

00:48:03.670 --> 00:48:06.769
symbolic thing of the presence of the Holy Spirit,

00:48:06.969 --> 00:48:09.230
right? And so the idea here is as he's going,

00:48:09.309 --> 00:48:11.230
this is the house of God. This is the gate of

00:48:11.230 --> 00:48:14.409
heaven. He's now anointing this stone and creating

00:48:14.409 --> 00:48:16.949
like an altar. This is an echo of what his grandfather

00:48:16.949 --> 00:48:19.670
Abraham did when he came through this area. And

00:48:19.670 --> 00:48:22.929
so it's a place of worship now. It's a place

00:48:22.929 --> 00:48:26.730
of recognition. It's a place of offering. And

00:48:26.730 --> 00:48:29.840
so he names this place Bethel. Now, if you're

00:48:29.840 --> 00:48:31.619
a Bible student, you might go, wait a second.

00:48:32.219 --> 00:48:34.760
If this is the same similar place that Abraham

00:48:34.760 --> 00:48:39.179
came through, which it is, back in Genesis 12,

00:48:39.239 --> 00:48:41.059
it already told us this place was named Bethel.

00:48:41.840 --> 00:48:44.179
So why is Jacob now naming it Bethel, and why

00:48:44.179 --> 00:48:46.320
is it saying that it was previously called Luz?

00:48:48.179 --> 00:48:50.239
All I can tell you is that according to this

00:48:50.239 --> 00:48:52.179
scripture, Jacob was the one who actually named

00:48:52.179 --> 00:48:55.219
the place Bethel, house of God, based upon his

00:48:55.219 --> 00:48:59.119
experience. And so Moses... years later, writing

00:48:59.119 --> 00:49:01.239
this account in the wandering of the wilderness,

00:49:01.579 --> 00:49:04.360
when he's telling the story of Abraham, he refers

00:49:04.360 --> 00:49:07.460
to the place by the name that Israel then recognizes

00:49:07.460 --> 00:49:09.960
it to be named as. It's called Bethel, okay?

00:49:10.599 --> 00:49:13.340
Was it really called Bethel in Abraham's time?

00:49:13.639 --> 00:49:16.769
Probably not. But Jacob is the one who says this

00:49:16.769 --> 00:49:19.389
place is now called the house of God. And this

00:49:19.389 --> 00:49:21.969
place, this area, there's a city that develops

00:49:21.969 --> 00:49:24.309
here that becomes a very central place through

00:49:24.309 --> 00:49:27.190
the history of Israel. And so by anointing this

00:49:27.190 --> 00:49:29.590
stone, he's showing his devotion to God. He's

00:49:29.590 --> 00:49:33.010
consecrating this place. He's sanctifying this

00:49:33.010 --> 00:49:38.030
place as holy and set apart to God. What a beautiful

00:49:38.030 --> 00:49:42.130
marker of the work that is beginning in his own

00:49:42.130 --> 00:49:45.239
life. So yeah, we look at his astonishment at

00:49:45.239 --> 00:49:47.880
God's presence, his reverence, his declarations,

00:49:47.880 --> 00:49:50.079
his worship. Wow, what great examples to follow,

00:49:50.219 --> 00:49:52.840
right? It's just like, you know, when God shows

00:49:52.840 --> 00:49:54.719
up in your life, it's like, oh my gosh, worship,

00:49:54.920 --> 00:49:57.420
and just everything's great. But in the very

00:49:57.420 --> 00:50:00.679
next verse, we see his vow. And his vow leaves

00:50:00.679 --> 00:50:06.679
a lot to be praised. It shouldn't be praised.

00:50:06.739 --> 00:50:08.880
Read with me, verse 20. Then Jacob made a vow.

00:50:09.960 --> 00:50:14.300
God showed up, God's here. I vow. If God will

00:50:14.300 --> 00:50:16.139
be with me and watch over me during this journey

00:50:16.139 --> 00:50:19.139
I'm making, if he provides me with food to eat

00:50:19.139 --> 00:50:21.559
and clothing to wear, and if I return safely

00:50:21.559 --> 00:50:24.239
to my father's family, then the Lord will be

00:50:24.239 --> 00:50:28.260
my God. The stone that I have set up as a marker

00:50:28.260 --> 00:50:30.340
will be God's house, and I will give you a tenth

00:50:30.340 --> 00:50:33.559
of all that you gave me. Anybody see a problem?

00:50:34.960 --> 00:50:37.480
Like, this is the moment, right? Like, I can

00:50:37.480 --> 00:50:39.519
imagine, you know, God in heaven. He's like,

00:50:39.559 --> 00:50:42.059
all right, Jacob's sleeping. Let's go. shows

00:50:42.059 --> 00:50:45.099
up. Oh, Jacob wakes up in his dream self. Oh

00:50:45.099 --> 00:50:47.760
my gosh, look, ladder, angels, God. Yes, I am

00:50:47.760 --> 00:50:50.199
here. And I reiterate my promises to you. I'm

00:50:50.199 --> 00:50:52.940
going to do it. You trust me, Jacob? Wow, this

00:50:52.940 --> 00:50:55.199
is amazing. He wakes up. This is the house of

00:50:55.199 --> 00:50:57.780
God. And God's now back in heaven. You know,

00:50:57.780 --> 00:50:59.300
and he's looking, he's going, man, Jacob, I'm

00:50:59.300 --> 00:51:04.340
so glad you're getting it. And so if, right,

00:51:05.940 --> 00:51:11.690
that's I don't know about you, that's God's relationship

00:51:11.690 --> 00:51:15.170
with me. Have these moments of such spiritual

00:51:15.170 --> 00:51:18.230
victory and then one second later, God's going,

00:51:18.369 --> 00:51:23.849
really? Doesn't mean God's mad and hates you.

00:51:24.130 --> 00:51:26.250
You know, I just imagine, you know, and probably

00:51:26.250 --> 00:51:28.010
I imagine that because that's how I am, right?

00:51:28.230 --> 00:51:31.610
If then statements are not faith. True faith

00:51:31.610 --> 00:51:34.010
is not bargaining with God. If you do this, then

00:51:34.010 --> 00:51:39.360
I will do this. That's not mature faith. Jacob

00:51:39.360 --> 00:51:42.320
has an immature faith right here. This is definitely

00:51:42.320 --> 00:51:44.840
not mature faith. He's still a work in progress.

00:51:44.940 --> 00:51:47.860
He's still being refined. And I'm so grateful

00:51:47.860 --> 00:51:50.739
for this example because I'm still being refined.

00:51:51.019 --> 00:51:54.559
And I will be refined until the day that I leave

00:51:54.559 --> 00:51:58.760
this flesh and stand before him in glory. But

00:51:58.760 --> 00:52:00.699
that's exactly what makes grace so amazing, right?

00:52:01.900 --> 00:52:08.460
Jacob was an idiot. He was a liar. He was a deceiver.

00:52:09.079 --> 00:52:13.739
He's a bargainer by nature. Grace was his only

00:52:13.739 --> 00:52:19.519
hope. Free grace. And it's our only hope. You

00:52:19.519 --> 00:52:22.599
see, we may not necessarily verbalize our own

00:52:22.599 --> 00:52:24.420
if -then statements when we're dealing with God,

00:52:24.480 --> 00:52:27.820
but a lot of our behavior does, doesn't it? We'll

00:52:27.820 --> 00:52:29.599
find ourselves, you know, well, if you do this,

00:52:29.639 --> 00:52:31.960
then I'll do this. Let me give you the one that

00:52:31.960 --> 00:52:36.019
hits most of us most radically. Well, God, if

00:52:36.019 --> 00:52:42.210
you bless me, then I'll be generous. Right? Now,

00:52:42.250 --> 00:52:44.550
your relationship with that's between you and

00:52:44.550 --> 00:52:46.369
God, and we as a church, we trust you with all

00:52:46.369 --> 00:52:49.190
of that. Just listen to the Lord. But I know

00:52:49.190 --> 00:52:51.309
a lot of Christians will be like, God, if you

00:52:51.309 --> 00:52:54.469
do this in my life, then I'll obey your commands

00:52:54.469 --> 00:52:59.329
to be generous and give and support. And God's

00:52:59.329 --> 00:53:02.630
like, no, that's backwards thinking. Right? You

00:53:02.630 --> 00:53:07.369
do what my word says, and then I'm going to fulfill.

00:53:08.090 --> 00:53:11.590
That part of my conditional promise. I had a,

00:53:11.690 --> 00:53:14.730
when I lived on Belmont back here for years,

00:53:14.889 --> 00:53:17.090
I had lived in this house and it was the young

00:53:17.090 --> 00:53:19.570
adult's house, right? And so a lot of times guys

00:53:19.570 --> 00:53:21.170
would come to the house and live there for a

00:53:21.170 --> 00:53:22.949
couple years and I got to teach them how to adult.

00:53:23.489 --> 00:53:25.769
And it was really fun, you know? And I had this

00:53:25.769 --> 00:53:28.429
one kid once who was 19 or 20 at the time. He

00:53:28.429 --> 00:53:31.510
still didn't have his driver's license. And I

00:53:31.510 --> 00:53:33.650
was like, dude, let's get your driver's license.

00:53:33.769 --> 00:53:34.909
How come you don't have it? And he goes, well,

00:53:34.969 --> 00:53:38.769
because I don't have a car. And I'm like, well,

00:53:38.789 --> 00:53:40.750
you know that there's people all the time at

00:53:40.750 --> 00:53:43.590
the church, and we have seasons where this happens

00:53:43.590 --> 00:53:45.289
a lot, where people are just giving away cars.

00:53:45.769 --> 00:53:47.289
You know anybody that needs a car? I got a car.

00:53:48.969 --> 00:53:50.610
And he goes, yeah, if someone gives me a car,

00:53:50.650 --> 00:53:53.849
then I'll get my license. And I'm like, why would

00:53:53.849 --> 00:53:55.409
they give you a car if you don't have a license?

00:53:55.869 --> 00:54:02.989
You can't drive it. And he was like, huh. How

00:54:02.989 --> 00:54:07.119
about you get ready for the blessing? So that

00:54:07.119 --> 00:54:11.500
when the blessing comes, you're able to be involved

00:54:11.500 --> 00:54:17.860
in the blessing. You know, our call is to, through

00:54:17.860 --> 00:54:20.000
the power of the Holy Spirit, just do what God

00:54:20.000 --> 00:54:24.199
tells us to do. You know, another one of these

00:54:24.199 --> 00:54:26.059
if -then things. It happens a lot in relationships.

00:54:26.900 --> 00:54:30.820
If they apologize, then I will. How does that

00:54:30.820 --> 00:54:36.809
work for you? Let's prolong the conflict. Because,

00:54:36.809 --> 00:54:41.789
no, we do the thing first. We do what God's calling

00:54:41.789 --> 00:54:44.769
us to do first. We're the people that God wants

00:54:44.769 --> 00:54:46.590
us to be through us just submitting to the Spirit

00:54:46.590 --> 00:54:48.389
and saying, Spirit, give me the power to make

00:54:48.389 --> 00:54:52.090
the godly choice in things. And then we see that

00:54:52.090 --> 00:54:54.110
when it comes to the conditional promises God's

00:54:54.110 --> 00:54:56.550
making, it's like, wow, God does his part. He

00:54:56.550 --> 00:54:58.929
always does his part. But when it comes to these

00:54:58.929 --> 00:55:01.869
unconditional things, God's just saying, trust

00:55:01.869 --> 00:55:06.730
me and get out of the way. Now, on this side

00:55:06.730 --> 00:55:09.769
of the resurrection, we should see very clearly

00:55:09.769 --> 00:55:15.030
that Jesus Christ is the staircase. He's the

00:55:15.030 --> 00:55:17.389
connection between heaven and earth. He is the

00:55:17.389 --> 00:55:21.010
bridge between us and God the Father. He is the

00:55:21.010 --> 00:55:23.650
one through which the angels are ministering

00:55:23.650 --> 00:55:25.670
to us, right? The book of Hebrews tells us that.

00:55:27.500 --> 00:55:30.460
He is the one who is the ladder. He's in charge

00:55:30.460 --> 00:55:32.679
of the ladder. He's everything that the ladder

00:55:32.679 --> 00:55:34.920
is about. He oversees it. He mediates all the

00:55:34.920 --> 00:55:37.059
business between heaven and earth. He is the

00:55:37.059 --> 00:55:40.099
connection. 1 Timothy 2 .5 says, For there is

00:55:40.099 --> 00:55:42.280
one God and one mediator between God and mankind,

00:55:42.719 --> 00:55:46.860
the man Christ Jesus. And because he is God,

00:55:46.980 --> 00:55:49.099
he is everywhere at all times, hearing our prayers,

00:55:49.159 --> 00:55:52.920
acting on our behalf. That commerce, that business

00:55:52.920 --> 00:55:55.340
between heaven and earth on your behalf is happening

00:55:55.340 --> 00:55:58.650
at all times. No matter where you're at, what

00:55:58.650 --> 00:56:01.489
situation you find yourself in, especially the

00:56:01.489 --> 00:56:03.449
situations that are a result of your own bad

00:56:03.449 --> 00:56:08.449
decisions, God is still working. He is still

00:56:08.449 --> 00:56:11.690
sanctifying. He is still doing the things that

00:56:11.690 --> 00:56:22.210
he promised to do in your life. Jesus is the

00:56:22.210 --> 00:56:26.460
true place where God reveals himself to us. It's

00:56:26.460 --> 00:56:29.000
not in a temple. It's not just in church. It's

00:56:29.000 --> 00:56:32.639
not at the old Bethel. The temple in Jerusalem,

00:56:32.699 --> 00:56:36.980
it's obsolete now. Everywhere we go is the house

00:56:36.980 --> 00:56:40.539
of God because we are there. Everywhere we go

00:56:40.539 --> 00:56:43.340
is the gate of heaven because we are there. And

00:56:43.340 --> 00:56:45.920
because His promises stand, He keeps His word.

00:56:47.119 --> 00:56:49.219
And the promise of his presence with us, the

00:56:49.219 --> 00:56:51.079
promise that he is working on our behalf, the

00:56:51.079 --> 00:56:54.619
promise that he is conducting business, sanctifying

00:56:54.619 --> 00:57:00.079
us at all times is true. This is not a license

00:57:00.079 --> 00:57:02.260
to sin. Paul the Apostle dealt with that in the

00:57:02.260 --> 00:57:08.059
book of Romans. But it's a license to stop beating

00:57:08.059 --> 00:57:11.309
yourself up. Stop letting the devil lie to you

00:57:11.309 --> 00:57:14.250
about whether God is with you or not. Stop giving

00:57:14.250 --> 00:57:17.650
in to the depression and all the things and the

00:57:17.650 --> 00:57:20.630
guilt to stop letting those things control your

00:57:20.630 --> 00:57:25.250
life because God is with you. And like Jacob,

00:57:25.289 --> 00:57:26.869
he's standing right there and he's going, look,

00:57:26.969 --> 00:57:31.949
I'm here in the darkest part of your life. You

00:57:31.949 --> 00:57:33.489
know what you did was dumb. I don't even need

00:57:33.489 --> 00:57:35.869
to say anything. I just want you to know I'm

00:57:35.869 --> 00:57:38.980
here and I'm with you. and I will be with you

00:57:38.980 --> 00:57:41.619
wherever you go, so trust me. You see, we're

00:57:41.619 --> 00:57:46.500
all Jacobs. We're all works in progress. Some

00:57:46.500 --> 00:57:48.619
of us are at different places on that progress,

00:57:48.760 --> 00:57:52.860
but we're all sinners, and we all sin, and then

00:57:52.860 --> 00:57:55.320
we try to outrun the consequences at times, and

00:57:55.320 --> 00:57:58.260
sometimes we can even feel that I'm all alone.

00:57:58.340 --> 00:58:03.079
God has left me because I messed up, but the

00:58:03.079 --> 00:58:06.219
truth is, That if you've put your faith in Jesus

00:58:06.219 --> 00:58:08.440
Christ, there exists a staircase between heaven

00:58:08.440 --> 00:58:11.940
and God for you, between heaven and earth for

00:58:11.940 --> 00:58:14.920
you. And the one who commands that staircase,

00:58:15.099 --> 00:58:17.300
the one who is that staircase is Jesus Christ

00:58:17.300 --> 00:58:21.199
our Lord. If you don't know Jesus Christ as your

00:58:21.199 --> 00:58:23.119
Lord today and you're the one that's in this

00:58:23.119 --> 00:58:25.699
darkness, this wilderness of hopelessness and

00:58:25.699 --> 00:58:28.820
sin, know this, Jesus is with you too right now.

00:58:28.960 --> 00:58:31.280
And that staircase exists for you right now and

00:58:31.280 --> 00:58:33.760
the business he is conducting is your salvation.

00:58:35.530 --> 00:58:39.550
And he is calling you today to trust in him because

00:58:39.550 --> 00:58:42.510
he is with you. And the promise is that he will

00:58:42.510 --> 00:58:44.769
be with you every moment of every day for the

00:58:44.769 --> 00:58:47.409
rest of your life, and he will be with you forever

00:58:47.409 --> 00:58:51.190
in heaven. But that promise only comes through

00:58:51.190 --> 00:58:53.250
trusting in his work on the cross and putting

00:58:53.250 --> 00:58:58.599
your faith in him. And when you do that, When

00:58:58.599 --> 00:59:00.840
you do that today, every day from here forward

00:59:00.840 --> 00:59:03.920
will be a process of sanctification. God and

00:59:03.920 --> 00:59:08.039
the Holy Spirit working through you to make you

00:59:08.039 --> 00:59:11.619
more holy. But you don't have to live a life

00:59:11.619 --> 00:59:13.800
where you're guilt -ridden and beat up and think

00:59:13.800 --> 00:59:16.199
God hates you because you've messed up. No, quite

00:59:16.199 --> 00:59:21.579
the opposite. God knew you were a sinner. He

00:59:21.579 --> 00:59:25.119
died for you anyways. And through your faith,

00:59:25.139 --> 00:59:28.199
you were made righteous. And he works in your

00:59:28.199 --> 00:59:33.460
life to make you holy. The truth is, is we all

00:59:33.460 --> 00:59:36.619
have that staircase. And why is it there? It's

00:59:36.619 --> 00:59:39.460
because he's a God of grace. He's a God of grace.

00:59:39.519 --> 00:59:43.880
He's not done with you yet. If you're his child

00:59:43.880 --> 00:59:45.659
this morning, he's not going to be done with

00:59:45.659 --> 00:59:49.679
you until you step into glory. When you've moved

00:59:49.679 --> 00:59:53.000
past the power of sin, the penalty of sin, and

00:59:53.000 --> 00:59:56.920
now you're past the presence of sin. What a beautiful

00:59:56.920 --> 00:59:59.460
thing that's going to be. But while we're here

00:59:59.460 --> 01:00:03.099
on this earth, take heart. Never lose sight of

01:00:03.099 --> 01:00:05.079
the staircase and the angels going up and down

01:00:05.079 --> 01:00:07.460
for you, all under the command of the Son of

01:00:07.460 --> 01:00:10.159
God who's working on your behalf. Because God

01:00:10.159 --> 01:00:12.719
is constantly working to sanctify you. He is

01:00:12.719 --> 01:00:15.239
constantly working to sanctify me, moment by

01:00:15.239 --> 01:00:20.500
moment, every single day. So trust the process.

01:00:23.730 --> 01:00:26.150
Ask Him for the strength for obedience and all

01:00:26.150 --> 01:00:31.429
that, but when you fall, because you will, trust

01:00:31.429 --> 01:00:36.710
Him. Trust His Word. Trust His promises. Don't

01:00:36.710 --> 01:00:40.909
let the devil beat you up. And as you're moving

01:00:40.909 --> 01:00:43.250
forward, living a life of sanctification, learning

01:00:43.250 --> 01:00:47.250
and experiencing the promises of God, stop trying

01:00:47.250 --> 01:00:53.809
to help Him. He doesn't need your help. He needs

01:00:53.809 --> 01:00:56.289
your faith. He needs your trust. He wants that.

01:00:57.570 --> 01:01:04.510
Let's pray. Father, it is in your word, God,

01:01:04.650 --> 01:01:07.429
that we find the hope of life and the hope of

01:01:07.429 --> 01:01:16.670
everything we need. Lord, we are all Jacob. We're

01:01:16.670 --> 01:01:20.989
all flawed individuals. Many of us are flawed

01:01:20.989 --> 01:01:24.590
individuals who have trusted in your word, who

01:01:24.590 --> 01:01:27.469
have received the free gift of salvation because

01:01:27.469 --> 01:01:29.309
of you, because of what you did on the cross,

01:01:29.489 --> 01:01:31.789
Lord. And like Abraham, Lord, through our faith,

01:01:31.969 --> 01:01:34.909
we've been made righteous before your eyes positionally,

01:01:34.949 --> 01:01:39.250
but here in the process of life, we still struggle.

01:01:42.750 --> 01:01:46.929
And God, we want to live a life without sin,

01:01:47.010 --> 01:01:50.139
Lord, but the reality is, That's not going to

01:01:50.139 --> 01:01:53.719
happen until we're with you. What we have here

01:01:53.719 --> 01:01:56.019
on this earth is an opportunity moment by moment

01:01:56.019 --> 01:02:01.139
to choose the Spirit over the flesh. And Lord,

01:02:01.199 --> 01:02:02.920
we can't even do that right without your power.

01:02:03.579 --> 01:02:08.000
Help us, Lord. But God, help us to not forget

01:02:08.000 --> 01:02:10.199
the process of sanctification that you're working

01:02:10.199 --> 01:02:14.579
in our lives, Lord. That, Lord, you are here.

01:02:14.699 --> 01:02:17.400
This whole earth, this whole universe is the

01:02:17.400 --> 01:02:21.389
house of God. Lord, that there's no place in

01:02:21.389 --> 01:02:23.150
all of existence where you are not accessible.

01:02:24.429 --> 01:02:26.449
And so, God, may we stop trying to figure things

01:02:26.449 --> 01:02:29.030
out and doing it on our own and lying and skeeving

01:02:29.030 --> 01:02:34.130
and conniving and running. But, God, that we

01:02:34.130 --> 01:02:38.050
would just rest in you. Rest in your word. Rest

01:02:38.050 --> 01:02:41.389
in the truth. God, I pray for all those in this

01:02:41.389 --> 01:02:43.769
room that know you that have been wrestling with

01:02:43.769 --> 01:02:45.769
this isolation and this depression, that have

01:02:45.769 --> 01:02:49.980
been wrestling with, Lord, doubts. wondering,

01:02:50.039 --> 01:02:52.260
God, if your word is really true in their life,

01:02:52.300 --> 01:02:57.780
in their hearts. God, maybe they're running from

01:02:57.780 --> 01:03:00.639
the consequences of their own sin or suffering

01:03:00.639 --> 01:03:04.599
the consequences, Lord. God, you don't take the

01:03:04.599 --> 01:03:06.739
consequences away as we're going to see in Jacob's

01:03:06.739 --> 01:03:11.599
life, but you remain with us through those consequences.

01:03:13.300 --> 01:03:15.260
Lord, we ask that we would just make the right

01:03:15.260 --> 01:03:17.360
decision and not have to go through the consequences,

01:03:17.380 --> 01:03:21.199
but Lord, we know we're going to mess up, and

01:03:21.199 --> 01:03:23.340
so we just pray that we would remember that staircase,

01:03:23.500 --> 01:03:25.300
God, that you are conducting business on our

01:03:25.300 --> 01:03:27.280
behalf at all times, at all places, everywhere,

01:03:27.519 --> 01:03:32.340
that you are with us. That, God, we don't have

01:03:32.340 --> 01:03:34.900
to fear, that we don't have to lie and connive.

01:03:35.159 --> 01:03:37.980
We just have to trust. Help us to do that, Lord.

01:03:41.519 --> 01:03:46.119
Lord, help us to remember you, even when our

01:03:46.119 --> 01:03:50.900
consequences are due to our own failures. Help

01:03:50.900 --> 01:03:54.539
us to trust that you're with us. And help us

01:03:54.539 --> 01:03:56.219
to know that you're with us through everything

01:03:56.219 --> 01:03:59.300
to the very end. God, for those in this room

01:03:59.300 --> 01:04:00.920
this morning that don't know you as their own

01:04:00.920 --> 01:04:02.800
personal Lord and Savior, I pray for them now,

01:04:02.900 --> 01:04:05.659
God. I pray, Lord, that as they have heard your

01:04:05.659 --> 01:04:07.400
Spirit speak into them this morning, that they

01:04:07.400 --> 01:04:09.760
would pray just right now, Lord, out loud or

01:04:09.760 --> 01:04:12.239
in their own heart, these words, Lord, to invite

01:04:12.239 --> 01:04:17.920
you into their life. If you want to receive Jesus

01:04:17.920 --> 01:04:22.039
this morning, just say, Lord. I believe you are

01:04:22.039 --> 01:04:30.199
God. I believe in you. I believe you are the

01:04:30.199 --> 01:04:35.380
bridge between where I am today and where you

01:04:35.380 --> 01:04:42.639
are. I know you're with me, but I don't have

01:04:42.639 --> 01:04:47.579
a relationship with you. God, I pray this morning

01:04:47.579 --> 01:04:54.360
that you would forgive me. of all my sin. I pray,

01:04:54.420 --> 01:04:56.360
God, that the business of salvation would be

01:04:56.360 --> 01:05:03.320
settled now. That you would be my Lord, that

01:05:03.320 --> 01:05:06.300
you would be my God, that I would be cleansed

01:05:06.300 --> 01:05:11.360
by the blood of Jesus Christ. Thank you for loving

01:05:11.360 --> 01:05:16.139
me, God. Thank you for being here with me. Thank

01:05:16.139 --> 01:05:18.940
you for dying for me. And thank you for saving

01:05:18.940 --> 01:05:25.699
me. I give my life to you. Let your presence

01:05:25.699 --> 01:05:30.559
be real in every moment of my life. Sanctify

01:05:30.559 --> 01:05:35.659
me, God. Make me holy as you are holy. And help

01:05:35.659 --> 01:05:38.679
me to stay out of the way, to let you do the

01:05:38.679 --> 01:05:45.000
work only you can. I love you, Lord. In Jesus'

01:05:45.059 --> 01:05:49.340
name we pray. Amen. Well, God bless you guys.

01:05:49.440 --> 01:05:52.679
If you gave your life to the Lord today, you've

01:05:52.679 --> 01:05:54.719
started a relationship with the God of all creation.

01:05:55.260 --> 01:05:58.119
I guarantee your life's gonna change. Is it gonna

01:05:58.119 --> 01:06:00.519
get all peachy and roses and fun? Probably not.

01:06:01.400 --> 01:06:02.840
It's probably gonna get a little worse for a

01:06:02.840 --> 01:06:05.719
while because the devil is mad. He lost another

01:06:05.719 --> 01:06:08.860
one. But we're here to help and walk with you

01:06:08.860 --> 01:06:10.800
through that. We have these white envelopes up

01:06:10.800 --> 01:06:12.639
front called New Believers Packs or out in the

01:06:12.639 --> 01:06:14.159
foyer as you leave today. Please make sure you

01:06:14.159 --> 01:06:17.440
pick up one of those. Plug into a church. If

01:06:17.440 --> 01:06:18.780
you're going to plug into this one, welcome.

01:06:18.940 --> 01:06:21.559
We're so glad that you're here. But stay surrounded

01:06:21.559 --> 01:06:24.219
with the body of Christ because the support that

01:06:24.219 --> 01:06:26.340
we lend to one another is important. It's so

01:06:26.340 --> 01:06:29.420
crucial. But don't think that God is only in

01:06:29.420 --> 01:06:31.139
this building. He's with you as you leave today.

01:06:31.260 --> 01:06:32.780
He's with you as you go home. He's going to be

01:06:32.780 --> 01:06:34.139
with you this week, and He's going to be with

01:06:34.139 --> 01:06:37.320
you forevermore. Learn to talk to Him. Learn

01:06:37.320 --> 01:06:39.519
to trust in Him. Read your Bible. Worship Him.

01:06:39.619 --> 01:06:44.780
Pray. But just know the truth, the reality, that

01:06:44.780 --> 01:06:47.449
your God is with you. He is conducting business

01:06:47.449 --> 01:06:50.429
on your behalf every moment of every day. You

01:06:50.429 --> 01:06:53.510
have nothing to fear. Let's close this morning

01:06:53.510 --> 01:06:55.730
worshiping him because I think we would all agree

01:06:55.730 --> 01:06:58.250
he is worth it. He is worth every word of praise,

01:06:58.389 --> 01:07:01.489
every note played because he is the God of glory.

01:07:01.670 --> 01:07:04.409
He is so amazing. He is our Lord. He is our Savior.

01:07:05.090 --> 01:07:07.349
Let's worship him. God bless you guys.