WEBVTT 00:00:00.330 --> 00:00:02.629 I am Pastor Nathan, and today we're going to 00:00:02.629 --> 00:00:06.089 be in Genesis chapter 31, seeing what it looks 00:00:06.089 --> 00:00:11.310 like when we grow in grace. This chapter is a 00:00:11.310 --> 00:00:14.789 story of Jacob's departure from the northern 00:00:14.789 --> 00:00:17.390 side of Mesopotamia back down to the Promised 00:00:17.390 --> 00:00:21.579 Land. This story of his departure or his exodus, 00:00:21.600 --> 00:00:24.120 if you will, it's not an isolated event. It's 00:00:24.120 --> 00:00:27.280 not a singular departure story in Scripture. 00:00:27.559 --> 00:00:31.140 Rather, it's one of the many departure stories 00:00:31.140 --> 00:00:34.619 in the greater arc of redemptive history which 00:00:34.619 --> 00:00:38.140 covers or goes through the entire Bible. Here 00:00:38.140 --> 00:00:40.619 in Genesis already, if we look back before Genesis 00:00:40.619 --> 00:00:45.000 31, we see that Jacob's exodus back to the promised 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:47.539 land mirrors that of his grandfather Abraham. 00:00:48.490 --> 00:00:52.049 as Abraham lived in Ur in Mesopotamia and was 00:00:52.049 --> 00:00:54.729 called by God to leave to a land that he would 00:00:54.729 --> 00:00:58.009 show him, wherein he did. He left in obedience 00:00:58.009 --> 00:01:00.429 to God's call and brought his family and all 00:01:00.429 --> 00:01:04.250 his possessions towards that area, took a brief 00:01:04.250 --> 00:01:07.769 stop in Haran, and then proceeded down into the 00:01:07.769 --> 00:01:11.579 Promised Land. Here in Genesis 31, we're going 00:01:11.579 --> 00:01:13.599 to be seeing the story of Jacob's departure from 00:01:13.599 --> 00:01:16.659 Paddan Aram, where he again brings his family 00:01:16.659 --> 00:01:19.159 and all his wealth back down towards the exact 00:01:19.159 --> 00:01:22.140 same promised land. And then looking forward 00:01:22.140 --> 00:01:24.359 in Scripture, we're going to see that Jacob's 00:01:24.359 --> 00:01:29.359 exodus prefigures the exodus of Israel from Egypt, 00:01:29.459 --> 00:01:33.680 like Jacob fleeing from Laban. Here in the future, 00:01:33.739 --> 00:01:36.819 we see Israel fleeing from Pharaoh. Like Jacob's 00:01:36.819 --> 00:01:39.219 family plundering Laban, we're going to see later 00:01:39.219 --> 00:01:42.120 that Israel would plunder the Egyptians. And 00:01:42.120 --> 00:01:44.980 like Laban being forced by God to let Jacob go, 00:01:45.159 --> 00:01:47.620 we're going to see later on in Scripture a Pharaoh 00:01:47.620 --> 00:01:51.019 being forced to let Israel go. And all of this, 00:01:51.019 --> 00:01:54.890 of course, is pointing towards Christ, our great 00:01:54.890 --> 00:01:57.170 Redeemer, who is the protagonist of the greatest 00:01:57.170 --> 00:02:01.510 Exodus story of all time, where he, being an 00:02:01.510 --> 00:02:05.030 Israel, if you will, God's people, entered into 00:02:05.030 --> 00:02:08.229 the place of bondage, which is the world, the 00:02:08.229 --> 00:02:11.610 place of sin. And then he took everything from 00:02:11.610 --> 00:02:14.050 the powers of darkness as he died to pay the 00:02:14.050 --> 00:02:16.770 price for all of our sin, defeating the power 00:02:16.770 --> 00:02:19.569 of sin and death permanently, and then offering 00:02:19.569 --> 00:02:22.699 the opportunity and leading his people. ultimately 00:02:22.699 --> 00:02:24.979 from sin into the promised land, which is the 00:02:24.979 --> 00:02:28.020 greatest point and the greatest arc of the story 00:02:28.020 --> 00:02:30.860 of God's redemption. But the reason we have these 00:02:30.860 --> 00:02:34.319 stories throughout Scripture, not only to prefigure 00:02:34.319 --> 00:02:36.360 and point to the ultimate exodus found in Christ, 00:02:36.500 --> 00:02:39.340 but God wants us to see our lives in the same 00:02:39.340 --> 00:02:42.479 light. That your life and my life, we're not 00:02:42.479 --> 00:02:46.439 just some random beings existing on an earth. 00:02:46.960 --> 00:02:50.439 subject to a random set of events that happens 00:02:50.439 --> 00:02:52.840 through a random life that ends in just a random 00:02:52.840 --> 00:02:55.539 death that has no meaning and no purpose in the 00:02:55.539 --> 00:02:58.659 greater story of the universe. We're not just 00:02:58.659 --> 00:03:01.560 people wandering without direction. In fact, 00:03:01.580 --> 00:03:05.319 our story, just like Jacob's, fits within the 00:03:05.319 --> 00:03:07.960 greater story of redemption that the Bible gives 00:03:07.960 --> 00:03:11.580 us. The trial you might be walking through this 00:03:11.580 --> 00:03:14.889 morning, the hard decision that you're... having 00:03:14.889 --> 00:03:17.250 to make, or that obedience that God is calling 00:03:17.250 --> 00:03:19.349 to you that is very difficult to step out in, 00:03:19.449 --> 00:03:22.610 they're not isolated random events. They're not 00:03:22.610 --> 00:03:26.430 just chance happenings. But instead, they are 00:03:26.430 --> 00:03:29.710 particularly part of a great story arc in your 00:03:29.710 --> 00:03:32.770 life, in my life, and the greater story of everything 00:03:32.770 --> 00:03:34.969 that happens in this universe of how God saves, 00:03:35.229 --> 00:03:38.349 how God delivers, and how God glorifies his own 00:03:38.349 --> 00:03:43.610 people. But really, the big... big application 00:03:43.610 --> 00:03:45.250 of today's word that we're going to be getting 00:03:45.250 --> 00:03:48.289 into is that even when you don't see the big 00:03:48.289 --> 00:03:52.409 picture, God does. Because he's omnipotent. He 00:03:52.409 --> 00:03:55.750 sees everything. And you can rest in that because 00:03:55.750 --> 00:03:59.069 the author of history is also the author of your 00:03:59.069 --> 00:04:02.090 life. But first we're going to spend time worshiping 00:04:02.090 --> 00:04:04.789 our Lord and Savior because he is worth it. He 00:04:04.789 --> 00:04:07.870 is worthy of all the praise. Just knowing that 00:04:07.870 --> 00:04:11.620 he is watching our life, guiding our life, directing 00:04:11.620 --> 00:04:13.699 our life, that he is the God we can turn to in 00:04:13.699 --> 00:04:17.199 all things. Gosh, why wouldn't we praise him 00:04:17.199 --> 00:04:19.899 every moment of every day, right? Let's pray. 00:04:20.019 --> 00:04:23.800 Father, we love you so much. We're so grateful, 00:04:23.860 --> 00:04:29.019 God, for who you are. Lord, you are so amazing. 00:04:29.100 --> 00:04:32.699 You are so awesome. You're so almighty. You are 00:04:32.699 --> 00:04:35.160 love. You are light. You are everything we need. 00:04:36.519 --> 00:04:38.560 You are the point and the purpose of all existence, 00:04:38.740 --> 00:04:43.660 God. And Lord, the fact that you love us, the 00:04:43.660 --> 00:04:45.879 fact that you see us and pay attention to us, 00:04:46.019 --> 00:04:49.740 let alone die for us and adopt us into your family, 00:04:49.779 --> 00:04:55.000 God, is just bigger than we can understand. And 00:04:55.000 --> 00:04:57.939 yet, Lord, we receive it and we thank you for 00:04:57.939 --> 00:05:01.779 it. God, knowing that our lives are a part of 00:05:01.779 --> 00:05:04.279 a greater story of redemption, that you are working 00:05:04.279 --> 00:05:07.879 in this universe, God, It just makes life so 00:05:07.879 --> 00:05:09.839 much more meaningful, Lord, that we're not just 00:05:09.839 --> 00:05:13.000 an accident of evolution. We're just not an accident 00:05:13.000 --> 00:05:16.579 of just existence, Lord, but there's a purpose 00:05:16.579 --> 00:05:18.860 for our life, and that purpose is to know you. 00:05:19.519 --> 00:05:22.699 That purpose is to be with you, God. And the 00:05:22.699 --> 00:05:24.959 entire story from beginning to end is one of 00:05:24.959 --> 00:05:28.459 how you save, you deliver, and you glorify. So, 00:05:28.480 --> 00:05:30.180 God, as we get into your word today, Lord, and 00:05:30.180 --> 00:05:33.050 we see... your work in Jacob's life, we see, 00:05:33.149 --> 00:05:36.290 Lord, his growth in the grace, in walking in 00:05:36.290 --> 00:05:38.209 grace, God, that we would be encouraged, Lord, 00:05:38.290 --> 00:05:41.889 of our place in the story, where we fit into 00:05:41.889 --> 00:05:44.629 the great story of redemption, Lord, because 00:05:44.629 --> 00:05:48.649 you love us. God, if there's anybody here today 00:05:48.649 --> 00:05:51.230 that doesn't know you, I pray, Lord, that they 00:05:51.230 --> 00:05:54.550 would see your great love for them this morning, 00:05:54.649 --> 00:05:58.649 that they would see, God, the separation that 00:05:58.649 --> 00:06:01.310 sin has wrought in their life. they would see, 00:06:01.370 --> 00:06:05.089 God, their need for salvation. And, Lord, that 00:06:05.089 --> 00:06:07.870 you would draw them to yourself today. Lord, 00:06:07.930 --> 00:06:11.889 we love you. We thank you. We want to worship 00:06:11.889 --> 00:06:16.250 you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We are 00:06:16.250 --> 00:06:21.769 in Genesis chapter 31. And just to recap where 00:06:21.769 --> 00:06:24.129 we're at, Jacob, who is the son of Isaac, the 00:06:24.129 --> 00:06:27.050 son of Abraham, he's been on this very long journey 00:06:27.050 --> 00:06:31.040 of personal development in his life. About 20 00:06:31.040 --> 00:06:33.660 years prior to the text we're looking at this 00:06:33.660 --> 00:06:37.079 morning, he had to flee his home because he lied 00:06:37.079 --> 00:06:39.779 and he cheat and he stole his birthright and 00:06:39.779 --> 00:06:42.180 the blessing that belonged to his older brother. 00:06:42.339 --> 00:06:45.660 His older brother Esau, who as a result of Jacob's 00:06:45.660 --> 00:06:48.019 stealing and deception wanted to kill him. He 00:06:48.019 --> 00:06:50.439 was so angry, he wanted to murder his brother. 00:06:50.540 --> 00:06:53.220 And so Jacob ends up fleeing from his home in 00:06:53.220 --> 00:06:56.600 fearful self -preservation. But on the way north, 00:06:56.779 --> 00:06:58.620 his mom said, hey, why don't you go north to 00:06:58.620 --> 00:07:01.740 my family, find a wife there, but get away from 00:07:01.740 --> 00:07:03.920 the family right now because Esau is very upset. 00:07:04.500 --> 00:07:07.160 He had this vision, this wonderful vision in 00:07:07.160 --> 00:07:09.439 a place he named Bethel where he learned that 00:07:09.439 --> 00:07:13.459 God was with him and that God would be with him 00:07:13.459 --> 00:07:16.620 wherever he goes, whatever circumstance he finds 00:07:16.620 --> 00:07:20.319 himself in. That because Jacob was God's person, 00:07:20.360 --> 00:07:22.740 that he was one of God's people, that God wanted 00:07:22.740 --> 00:07:25.639 to reinsure him. I'm with you. No matter what 00:07:25.639 --> 00:07:28.720 happens, I am always with you. And so as a result 00:07:28.720 --> 00:07:31.839 of that, he poured oil on the stone that he had 00:07:31.839 --> 00:07:34.160 used as a pillow because he left so quickly, 00:07:34.180 --> 00:07:35.980 he didn't even have supplies for the journey. 00:07:36.300 --> 00:07:40.819 And he made this rock a memorial to this moment 00:07:40.819 --> 00:07:43.199 that he had with God where he made vows that 00:07:43.199 --> 00:07:45.180 he would respond to the Lord's promises. And 00:07:45.180 --> 00:07:48.060 then he went on for 20 years after he arrived 00:07:48.060 --> 00:07:52.100 to his family's... family's place in Haran. For 00:07:52.100 --> 00:07:54.480 20 years, he served his uncle Laban, who was 00:07:54.480 --> 00:07:58.439 a very deceitful scoundrel. He made Jacob the 00:07:58.439 --> 00:08:00.779 deceiver look like Jacob, the most honest person 00:08:00.779 --> 00:08:03.860 in the world. And so for the first seven years, 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:06.819 as he worked for his uncle Laban, it was to win 00:08:06.819 --> 00:08:10.120 the hand of Rachel in marriage. It was his wages, 00:08:10.180 --> 00:08:13.509 if you will, his dowry to... purchased the right 00:08:13.509 --> 00:08:15.649 to marry her, and then, of course, he had to 00:08:15.649 --> 00:08:17.750 work a second seven years after that because 00:08:17.750 --> 00:08:20.589 his uncle swindled him, tricked him into marrying 00:08:20.589 --> 00:08:23.949 Leah, his eldest daughter, and so after 14 years, 00:08:24.269 --> 00:08:27.589 Jacob now ends up with both of these women as 00:08:27.589 --> 00:08:30.069 his wives and a large family growing, and at 00:08:30.069 --> 00:08:32.129 the end of that, he ends up working six more 00:08:32.129 --> 00:08:35.929 years developing his own flocks of sheep and 00:08:35.929 --> 00:08:38.649 goats from his uncle Laban's herds. Now, over 00:08:38.649 --> 00:08:41.850 this time, God has been with Jacob just as he 00:08:41.850 --> 00:08:44.080 had told old Jacob he would be, and Jacob had 00:08:44.080 --> 00:08:47.799 prospered well because of the Lord. So much so 00:08:47.799 --> 00:08:51.320 that Laban's sons had begun to resent Jacob's 00:08:51.320 --> 00:08:54.679 success, and Laban, the uncle who had been so 00:08:54.679 --> 00:08:58.919 deceitful and so eager to take advantage of Jacob, 00:08:58.980 --> 00:09:01.480 was now starting to get really upset himself. 00:09:01.779 --> 00:09:03.440 And that's where we pick things up in Genesis 00:09:03.440 --> 00:09:07.259 chapter 31, verse 1. Read with me. It says, now 00:09:07.259 --> 00:09:10.990 Jacob heard what Laban's sons were saying. Jacob 00:09:10.990 --> 00:09:13.470 has taken all that was our father's and has built 00:09:13.470 --> 00:09:15.549 this wealth from what belonged to our father. 00:09:15.990 --> 00:09:18.590 And Jacob saw from Laban's face that his attitude 00:09:18.590 --> 00:09:21.509 towards him was not the same as before. The Lord 00:09:21.509 --> 00:09:24.070 said to him, go back to the land of your ancestors 00:09:24.070 --> 00:09:28.190 and to your family and I will be with you. So 00:09:28.190 --> 00:09:30.690 after these 20 years of being taken advantage 00:09:30.690 --> 00:09:33.450 of and tricked, these 20 years of Jacob growing 00:09:33.450 --> 00:09:37.250 in his own faith and these 20 years of God molding 00:09:37.250 --> 00:09:39.409 Jacob's character, the time had finally come. 00:09:40.059 --> 00:09:42.820 That God, who is the author of his life, the 00:09:42.820 --> 00:09:45.299 architect of his life, was now directing Jacob. 00:09:45.480 --> 00:09:49.460 It was now time to leave this place and go back 00:09:49.460 --> 00:09:53.620 to the land of promise. Now his deal, his arrangement 00:09:53.620 --> 00:09:55.740 with his uncle Laban, if you remember where he 00:09:55.740 --> 00:09:58.840 said, Uncle, I will work for you, and what I'm 00:09:58.840 --> 00:10:01.620 going to do is I will take the ugly sheep as 00:10:01.620 --> 00:10:03.700 my payment, and you will get to keep all the 00:10:03.700 --> 00:10:06.539 beautiful and pristine and pretty sheep. And 00:10:06.539 --> 00:10:08.840 the uncle said, Yeah, that's great. Do that. 00:10:09.080 --> 00:10:11.440 He tried to trick him again, but this whole arrangement 00:10:11.440 --> 00:10:14.360 had been very, very fruitful for Jacob. He had 00:10:14.360 --> 00:10:17.679 become very wealthy because of this, and it was 00:10:17.679 --> 00:10:20.539 very unfruitful for Laban. And so the time had 00:10:20.539 --> 00:10:22.759 come. Laban's attitude had changed. Maybe Laban 00:10:22.759 --> 00:10:24.919 was about to be violent. Maybe Laban was tired 00:10:24.919 --> 00:10:27.460 of things not working out for him, even though 00:10:27.460 --> 00:10:29.720 he was scheming and all that. And so God said, 00:10:29.840 --> 00:10:32.059 it's time to go back to the land of your ancestors 00:10:32.059 --> 00:10:35.549 and family. But I do find it interesting that 00:10:35.549 --> 00:10:37.690 God reiterates there at the end of verse 3, and 00:10:37.690 --> 00:10:41.070 I will be with you. See, how many times does 00:10:41.070 --> 00:10:44.529 God have to remind us of that? Right? It's like 00:10:44.529 --> 00:10:46.769 God saying, I will be with you, and then the 00:10:46.769 --> 00:10:49.769 parentheses that he doesn't say is, just as I 00:10:49.769 --> 00:10:54.470 have been with you this whole time. Just as I 00:10:54.470 --> 00:10:56.649 have been with you since the promise I made at 00:10:56.649 --> 00:11:00.269 Bethel and even before that. But just in case 00:11:00.269 --> 00:11:02.429 you forgot, I'm going to remind you again that 00:11:02.429 --> 00:11:06.250 I will be with you. So verse 4, it says, Jacob 00:11:06.250 --> 00:11:08.190 had Rachel and Leah called to the field where 00:11:08.190 --> 00:11:11.629 his flocks were. He said to them, I could see 00:11:11.629 --> 00:11:13.570 from your father's face that his attitude towards 00:11:13.570 --> 00:11:16.230 me is not the same as before, but the God of 00:11:16.230 --> 00:11:19.330 my father has been with me. You know that with 00:11:19.330 --> 00:11:21.230 all my strength I have served your father and 00:11:21.230 --> 00:11:24.149 that he has cheated me and changed my wages ten 00:11:24.149 --> 00:11:28.370 times. But God has not let him harm me. If he 00:11:28.370 --> 00:11:30.250 said the spotted sheep will be your wages, then 00:11:30.250 --> 00:11:32.970 all the sheep were born spotted. If he said the 00:11:32.970 --> 00:11:35.009 streaked sheep will be your wages, then all the 00:11:35.009 --> 00:11:37.889 sheep were born streaked. God had taken away 00:11:37.889 --> 00:11:40.909 your father's herds and given them to me. When 00:11:40.909 --> 00:11:42.929 the flocks were breeding, I saw in a dream that 00:11:42.929 --> 00:11:45.629 the streaked, spotted, and speckled males were 00:11:45.629 --> 00:11:48.269 mating with the females. In that dream, the angel 00:11:48.269 --> 00:11:50.809 of God said to me, Jacob. And I said, here I 00:11:50.809 --> 00:11:54.509 am. And he said, look up and see. All the males 00:11:54.509 --> 00:11:56.289 that are mating with the flocks are streaked, 00:11:56.309 --> 00:11:58.809 spotted, and speckled, for I have seen all that 00:11:58.809 --> 00:12:01.429 Laban has been doing to you. I am the God of 00:12:01.429 --> 00:12:04.269 Bethel, where you poured oil on the stone marker 00:12:04.269 --> 00:12:07.629 and made a solemn vow to me. Get up, leave this 00:12:07.629 --> 00:12:12.649 land, and return to your native land. So we see 00:12:12.649 --> 00:12:15.659 the life that Jacob has been living, right? Where 00:12:15.659 --> 00:12:17.980 the original agreement was, look, all the ugly 00:12:17.980 --> 00:12:20.620 ones I'll take. And then Laban, as he started 00:12:20.620 --> 00:12:23.779 to see that the ugly sheep were growing in number 00:12:23.779 --> 00:12:26.240 and the pretty ones weren't, he changed the deal. 00:12:26.379 --> 00:12:28.700 Okay, you can only have the spotted ones. But 00:12:28.700 --> 00:12:30.480 then only spotted ones were being born. Well, 00:12:30.519 --> 00:12:32.580 never mind, you can only have the streaked ones. 00:12:32.720 --> 00:12:35.740 And only streaked ones were born. This is how 00:12:35.740 --> 00:12:37.840 God works in this situation here. But I believe 00:12:37.840 --> 00:12:39.639 that if Laban said, you can only have the ones 00:12:39.639 --> 00:12:42.059 that are tie -dyed, there would only be tie -dyed 00:12:42.059 --> 00:12:45.139 sheep born to the herds, right? God was just 00:12:45.139 --> 00:12:48.259 doing a miracle here. But the bigger issue here 00:12:48.259 --> 00:12:50.639 is we see something about Jacob. We see that 00:12:50.639 --> 00:12:53.580 Jacob has grown spiritually, how he has grown 00:12:53.580 --> 00:12:58.279 in grace as God's people. He is finally responding 00:12:58.279 --> 00:13:01.759 in faith. to God's call. There's no hesitation 00:13:01.759 --> 00:13:04.580 on his part. There's no scheming on his part. 00:13:04.740 --> 00:13:07.759 It's just faith, right? Basically, what he's 00:13:07.759 --> 00:13:12.279 saying here is, hey, wives, God said go. We need 00:13:12.279 --> 00:13:16.679 to go. No question. right? He's just ready to 00:13:16.679 --> 00:13:19.840 be responding in faith, and it says he calls 00:13:19.840 --> 00:13:21.460 his wives there, and it's kind of an interesting 00:13:21.460 --> 00:13:23.659 thing because, you know, we've talked a lot about 00:13:23.659 --> 00:13:26.120 the culture where the patriarch was the head 00:13:26.120 --> 00:13:28.440 of the family, and he kind of had absolute authority 00:13:28.440 --> 00:13:30.840 over the family, including life and death, and 00:13:30.840 --> 00:13:33.799 so why couldn't he just leave on his own? Well, 00:13:34.460 --> 00:13:36.759 There have been archaeological discoveries that 00:13:36.759 --> 00:13:39.500 we know, like the Code of Hammurabi, which was 00:13:39.500 --> 00:13:44.179 one of the earliest sets of civic law that was 00:13:44.179 --> 00:13:47.159 documented, and it was in the time, around this 00:13:47.159 --> 00:13:49.700 time and prior to this time, but it was... in 00:13:49.700 --> 00:13:52.080 Mesopotamia, which was this whole feral area 00:13:52.080 --> 00:13:54.940 where they were at. And in the Code of Hammurabi, 00:13:55.039 --> 00:13:57.120 we have learned that even in this culture in 00:13:57.120 --> 00:14:00.220 this time, women did have specific rights. They 00:14:00.220 --> 00:14:02.559 had very specific rights that helped them navigate 00:14:02.559 --> 00:14:06.000 their roles as daughters, wives, and mothers 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:08.960 within the culture. Well, one of those rights 00:14:08.960 --> 00:14:11.639 in the Code of Hammurabi that we have seen and 00:14:11.639 --> 00:14:14.559 discovered is that if a husband came into the 00:14:14.559 --> 00:14:17.850 country and married a woman, He could not take 00:14:17.850 --> 00:14:20.929 her out of her home country without her consent. 00:14:21.490 --> 00:14:23.610 That was one of the rights that women had in 00:14:23.610 --> 00:14:26.720 the time. So he had to bring his wives together 00:14:26.720 --> 00:14:30.259 to convince them to get their consent to leave 00:14:30.259 --> 00:14:33.120 their homeland according to what we see in the 00:14:33.120 --> 00:14:36.240 Code of Hammurabi. And so Jacob calls them together. 00:14:36.320 --> 00:14:38.279 It says he meets them out in the field where 00:14:38.279 --> 00:14:40.600 the sheep were. And that's simply because he 00:14:40.600 --> 00:14:42.740 doesn't trust Laban. Laban has spies everywhere. 00:14:43.159 --> 00:14:45.820 So let's go and have a private meeting, wives. 00:14:45.960 --> 00:14:48.720 And then he goes on to tell them about what has 00:14:48.720 --> 00:14:52.279 been taking place. This whole recounting of what 00:14:52.279 --> 00:14:55.019 we just read is a review of Laban. Laban's deceit 00:14:55.019 --> 00:14:57.620 and what God did about it. You'll notice that 00:14:57.620 --> 00:15:00.440 multiple times through that, Jacob finally is 00:15:00.440 --> 00:15:03.159 not saying, and I was so smart and I was so clever 00:15:03.159 --> 00:15:05.519 and I was so this. He keeps saying, and God was 00:15:05.519 --> 00:15:08.759 with me. And God did this. And God was with me. 00:15:08.799 --> 00:15:11.360 And that's where we see his growth. This whole 00:15:11.360 --> 00:15:14.080 breeding program, even that he was stripping 00:15:14.080 --> 00:15:16.139 sticks and all that, he finally saw in a dream 00:15:16.139 --> 00:15:18.139 that it was like God was the one saying, I did 00:15:18.139 --> 00:15:20.399 this to him. And so this is what he's telling 00:15:20.399 --> 00:15:23.570 his wives. He even recalls the original promise 00:15:23.570 --> 00:15:25.850 all the way back to Bethel where God reaffirmed 00:15:25.850 --> 00:15:27.889 his promise and Jacob made the vow there. And 00:15:27.889 --> 00:15:30.269 essentially what Jacob's doing in these verses 00:15:30.269 --> 00:15:32.429 with his wives, he's going, look, everything 00:15:32.429 --> 00:15:35.870 that has happened up until this point, everything, 00:15:36.029 --> 00:15:40.309 our family and the growth of our family, the 00:15:40.309 --> 00:15:43.029 growth of the herds and our wealth, all of this 00:15:43.029 --> 00:15:47.490 is God's doing. And that's a big step of growth 00:15:47.490 --> 00:15:51.700 for Jacob because up until this point, Multiple 00:15:51.700 --> 00:15:53.899 times it had always been about his cleverness. 00:15:53.940 --> 00:15:56.039 It had been about his lies. It had been about 00:15:56.039 --> 00:15:58.340 his own manipulation of the situation. But he's 00:15:58.340 --> 00:16:02.200 finally starting to get it. God did it all. And 00:16:02.200 --> 00:16:04.779 he's giving God the credit here. And so his conclusion 00:16:04.779 --> 00:16:08.019 is, since God is the one who did all this, we 00:16:08.019 --> 00:16:10.799 have to obey God. And God said it is time to 00:16:10.799 --> 00:16:13.659 go. So verse 12, it says, then Rachel and Leah 00:16:13.659 --> 00:16:16.659 answered him. Do we have any portion or inheritance 00:16:16.659 --> 00:16:19.320 in our father's family? Are we not regarded by 00:16:19.320 --> 00:16:22.379 him as outsiders? For he has sold us and has 00:16:22.379 --> 00:16:25.240 certainly spent our purchase price. In fact, 00:16:25.240 --> 00:16:27.419 all the wealth that God has taken away from our 00:16:27.419 --> 00:16:30.159 father belongs to us and our children. So do 00:16:30.159 --> 00:16:33.919 whatever God has said to you. Finally, for once, 00:16:34.039 --> 00:16:38.960 Rachel and Leah are in agreement. They're seeing 00:16:38.960 --> 00:16:41.700 how their father not only has treated their husband, 00:16:41.779 --> 00:16:44.519 but they say here, they recognize that their 00:16:44.519 --> 00:16:46.639 father has treated them with the same contempt, 00:16:46.899 --> 00:16:49.700 right? Are we not regarded by him as outsiders? 00:16:49.919 --> 00:16:51.600 They were still in his household. They were still 00:16:51.600 --> 00:16:53.919 under his household. Their husband was working 00:16:53.919 --> 00:16:56.519 for their father, and yet they had been treated 00:16:56.519 --> 00:16:58.919 like strangers and foreigners in their own house. 00:16:59.120 --> 00:17:01.340 On top of that, all the money that Jacob had 00:17:01.340 --> 00:17:05.059 earned for Laban as a dowry to marry them, they 00:17:05.059 --> 00:17:07.960 said that their father had spent. You see, in 00:17:07.960 --> 00:17:10.519 the time when a dowry was given to the father, 00:17:10.559 --> 00:17:13.720 that purchase price was to buy the right to marry 00:17:13.720 --> 00:17:16.210 the woman. And what was supposed to happen is 00:17:16.210 --> 00:17:18.309 that dowry was then supposed to be put aside 00:17:18.309 --> 00:17:22.109 in case the wife ended up abandoned by her husband 00:17:22.109 --> 00:17:25.250 or widowed if her husband died. And what that 00:17:25.250 --> 00:17:28.589 dowry was meant to be for is, okay, here you 00:17:28.589 --> 00:17:31.109 have money to live. You have money to continue 00:17:31.109 --> 00:17:32.990 to survive. It's kind of like life insurance 00:17:32.990 --> 00:17:36.109 if you think of it that way, right? But Laban, 00:17:36.130 --> 00:17:38.269 instead of setting that money aside, blew it 00:17:38.269 --> 00:17:42.430 all. And so they're like. Look, everything that 00:17:42.430 --> 00:17:45.089 God's taken from him and given to you, it belongs 00:17:45.089 --> 00:17:47.549 to us anyway, so do what you want. Husband, we're 00:17:47.549 --> 00:17:50.069 ready to follow you, right? So let's go. Now 00:17:50.069 --> 00:17:52.349 again, Jacob had grown a lot here. He's giving 00:17:52.349 --> 00:17:55.049 God all the credit for the blessings. He's giving 00:17:55.049 --> 00:17:57.410 God all the credit, and he's taking none of it 00:17:57.410 --> 00:18:01.130 for himself. It's how he was in his early life. 00:18:01.210 --> 00:18:04.910 Look what I did. Look at how clever I was. And 00:18:04.910 --> 00:18:09.230 now it's all, look what God did. If you want 00:18:09.230 --> 00:18:12.450 to look into your own life and see spiritual 00:18:12.450 --> 00:18:15.650 growth, am I growing spiritually? Or someone 00:18:15.650 --> 00:18:17.190 you're discipling and you're just like, God, 00:18:17.210 --> 00:18:20.390 what can I see in their life? Among other things, 00:18:20.430 --> 00:18:23.410 one of the huge signs of spiritual growth is 00:18:23.410 --> 00:18:25.529 being quick to give God all the credit for every 00:18:25.529 --> 00:18:29.730 blessing. And the question for yourself is, are 00:18:29.730 --> 00:18:32.109 you quick to give God all the credit for your 00:18:32.109 --> 00:18:35.910 blessings? Or do you still take some of it for 00:18:35.910 --> 00:18:40.680 yourself, right? wow, God did this amazing thing, 00:18:40.799 --> 00:18:46.640 but I mean, it was my idea. God blessed me so 00:18:46.640 --> 00:18:50.019 much in this thing, but it was my hands that 00:18:50.019 --> 00:18:53.680 did the work, and so, wow, God, thanks for partnering 00:18:53.680 --> 00:18:58.740 with me. Spiritual growth, spiritual maturity 00:18:58.740 --> 00:19:01.799 comes to the place of saying, everything in my 00:19:01.799 --> 00:19:04.839 life is because of God, and he gets all of the 00:19:04.839 --> 00:19:07.140 credit. You see, when you see all of your life 00:19:07.140 --> 00:19:10.279 as a gift, all of your life, every breath, every 00:19:10.279 --> 00:19:12.539 heartbeat, everything, the very fact that you 00:19:12.539 --> 00:19:15.519 could stand up and use your hands is a gift from 00:19:15.519 --> 00:19:19.799 God Almighty. It produces humility. It produces 00:19:19.799 --> 00:19:24.460 gratitude. It produces peace. And we have to 00:19:24.460 --> 00:19:28.099 be very careful as God's people to not take too 00:19:28.099 --> 00:19:31.619 much pride in what we've done or any pride for 00:19:31.619 --> 00:19:35.380 that matter. Wow, I came up with this great idea. 00:19:35.440 --> 00:19:37.259 Who gave you the brain to think of the idea? 00:19:38.339 --> 00:19:43.579 God did. Look what I have built. Who gave you 00:19:43.579 --> 00:19:48.460 the hands to build it? God did. So it's easy 00:19:48.460 --> 00:19:50.220 for us to start thinking, you know, it's because 00:19:50.220 --> 00:19:51.880 of us, it's because of us, it's because of us. 00:19:51.940 --> 00:19:56.359 No, no, no. It's because of God. God did this. 00:19:56.960 --> 00:19:59.599 God blessed this. God grew this. And I am just 00:19:59.599 --> 00:20:02.920 so humbled to be the vessel through which God 00:20:02.920 --> 00:20:06.099 did this thing. And that's what we're seeing 00:20:06.099 --> 00:20:08.259 in Jacob's life right now. And so now with his 00:20:08.259 --> 00:20:11.500 wives on board, God's call clear in his mind, 00:20:11.619 --> 00:20:15.420 his agreement from them, he picks the most opportune 00:20:15.420 --> 00:20:19.880 time to go in verse 17. So Jacob got up and put 00:20:19.880 --> 00:20:23.400 his children and wives on the camels. Modern 00:20:23.400 --> 00:20:27.289 paraphrase, he loaded up the minivan, okay? He 00:20:27.289 --> 00:20:29.269 took all the livestock and possessions he had 00:20:29.269 --> 00:20:31.950 acquired in Paddan Aram, and he drove his herds 00:20:31.950 --> 00:20:34.230 to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac. 00:20:35.190 --> 00:20:37.430 When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel 00:20:37.430 --> 00:20:40.490 stole her father's household idols. And Jacob 00:20:40.490 --> 00:20:43.230 deceived Laban the Aramean, not telling him that 00:20:43.230 --> 00:20:46.150 he was fleeing. He fled with all his possessions, 00:20:46.329 --> 00:20:48.049 crossed the Euphrates, and headed for the hill 00:20:48.049 --> 00:20:52.410 country of Gilead. So it's time to go. Wives 00:20:52.410 --> 00:20:54.769 are on board. Let's load up the camels. We're 00:20:54.769 --> 00:20:59.920 out. Should have been a clean break, right? Because 00:20:59.920 --> 00:21:03.220 what this story is a picture for us is as Laban 00:21:03.220 --> 00:21:07.279 is leaving, Jacob is leaving Laban, it's a picture 00:21:07.279 --> 00:21:10.619 of his exodus from a place of bondage. It's a 00:21:10.619 --> 00:21:13.720 picture of his exodus from the place of the power 00:21:13.720 --> 00:21:17.500 and control and influence of sin, right? As I 00:21:17.500 --> 00:21:20.759 said, we saw this prefigured in Abraham's life, 00:21:20.880 --> 00:21:22.720 and then it's a picture of what happens in the 00:21:22.720 --> 00:21:27.779 future when Israel leaves. Egypt. Biblically, 00:21:27.779 --> 00:21:30.619 we know that Egypt is a type of the world, right? 00:21:30.700 --> 00:21:35.740 We're going to talk more about that. But he's 00:21:35.740 --> 00:21:38.400 trying to make a clean break here, and that's 00:21:38.400 --> 00:21:39.880 what God calls us to do with the world, clean 00:21:39.880 --> 00:21:45.400 break. And it would have gone well, except for 00:21:45.400 --> 00:21:48.539 the fact that Rachel stole the household idols. 00:21:50.440 --> 00:21:53.279 Now, it tells us there that Jacob deceived Laban 00:21:53.279 --> 00:21:55.970 in verse 20. not telling him that he was fleeing, 00:21:56.049 --> 00:21:58.650 and we think, oh no, is this still Jacob, the 00:21:58.650 --> 00:22:01.569 deceiver, right? Is his flesh still with him? 00:22:01.609 --> 00:22:05.430 It could be. Because how many of you as Christians, 00:22:05.549 --> 00:22:09.589 your flesh is still with you? Oh, nobody raised 00:22:09.589 --> 00:22:12.309 their hand, right? Y 'all liars. That's proof 00:22:12.309 --> 00:22:16.569 your flesh is still with you, all right? Nobody 00:22:16.569 --> 00:22:19.049 wants to admit it. I'm a good Christian, right? 00:22:20.069 --> 00:22:22.529 Our flesh is still with all of us, and it still 00:22:22.529 --> 00:22:24.630 tempts us, and it still comes at us to do the 00:22:24.630 --> 00:22:27.309 wrong thing. And so, yeah, it's possible that 00:22:27.309 --> 00:22:29.509 Jacob, as he's grown in grace and growing with 00:22:29.509 --> 00:22:32.089 the Lord, still has this little edge. That's 00:22:32.089 --> 00:22:35.029 possible. But the word deceived there, specifically 00:22:35.029 --> 00:22:37.789 in the Hebrew, simply means that he was sneaky. 00:22:39.750 --> 00:22:42.710 It's like the word shrewd, right? In the Gospels, 00:22:42.710 --> 00:22:45.380 we have a story of the shrewd manager. And he 00:22:45.380 --> 00:22:48.859 was clever, not in a deceitful way. He was just 00:22:48.859 --> 00:22:52.960 clever in a way of getting what he needed while 00:22:52.960 --> 00:22:55.400 avoiding the difficulties of the situation. And 00:22:55.400 --> 00:22:57.819 this is what Jacob is doing here. He cleverly 00:22:57.819 --> 00:23:00.980 found the right time to leave and to take his 00:23:00.980 --> 00:23:03.779 family away. And his cleverness was simply he 00:23:03.779 --> 00:23:05.740 didn't tell Laban he was fleeing. Maybe he called 00:23:05.740 --> 00:23:08.619 in sick that day. We don't know. But Laban had 00:23:08.619 --> 00:23:12.099 no idea Jacob was leaving. But Rachel stole these 00:23:12.099 --> 00:23:17.039 household idols. We go, why'd she do that? Why 00:23:17.039 --> 00:23:19.119 did she need to take these idols? These are gods. 00:23:19.400 --> 00:23:21.900 These are little figurines that represented the 00:23:21.900 --> 00:23:25.420 gods that Laban worshipped, the gods that he 00:23:25.420 --> 00:23:29.059 worshipped, that he gave honor to, and that he 00:23:29.059 --> 00:23:32.039 did that with his family and all that. And so 00:23:32.039 --> 00:23:34.799 why would Rachel take these? She's been living 00:23:34.799 --> 00:23:39.140 here for a very long time. She's spent at least 00:23:39.140 --> 00:23:44.700 13 years as Jacob's wife. Seven years before 00:23:44.700 --> 00:23:47.740 that, watching him live, they've seen these things 00:23:47.740 --> 00:23:49.839 happen. I'm sure Jacob has talked about the God 00:23:49.839 --> 00:23:52.559 of his father and all this. And now Jacob's finally 00:23:52.559 --> 00:23:54.319 at this point of saying, God has done all these 00:23:54.319 --> 00:23:56.720 things and God is calling us to live. Why does 00:23:56.720 --> 00:23:59.440 she go and steal these idols? It doesn't tell 00:23:59.440 --> 00:24:03.240 us. So we just kind of have to guess or surmise. 00:24:03.240 --> 00:24:05.799 And there's a few things that are possibly here. 00:24:05.960 --> 00:24:09.019 One. Again, going back to archaeological discoveries, 00:24:09.220 --> 00:24:11.119 there's these things called the Newsy Tablets 00:24:11.119 --> 00:24:14.880 that kind of give us a lot of law and code from 00:24:14.880 --> 00:24:17.700 the time back in Mesopotamian culture. And in 00:24:17.700 --> 00:24:20.079 those tablets, there's a suggestion that the 00:24:20.079 --> 00:24:23.099 possession of the household idols made one's 00:24:23.099 --> 00:24:27.059 claim of inheritance much stronger. So it could 00:24:27.059 --> 00:24:29.900 be... That although she was in this place of 00:24:29.900 --> 00:24:32.819 saying, oh, God said go, she seems to be more 00:24:32.819 --> 00:24:34.640 like, I want to leave because I don't like my 00:24:34.640 --> 00:24:36.700 dad, and less I want to leave because God said 00:24:36.700 --> 00:24:39.039 so, right? But she's going to be following her 00:24:39.039 --> 00:24:41.180 husband. So it could be that she stole these 00:24:41.180 --> 00:24:43.980 idols because if things don't work out, even 00:24:43.980 --> 00:24:47.140 though dad spent all of the inheritance, she 00:24:47.140 --> 00:24:50.279 would have a claim, or her dowry, she would have 00:24:50.279 --> 00:24:52.319 a claim to her inheritance when her father died. 00:24:52.559 --> 00:24:56.740 That could be one option here. But it's just 00:24:56.740 --> 00:25:01.299 funny to me because the gods of Laban are so 00:25:01.299 --> 00:25:03.019 small that she could steal them and hide them, 00:25:03.099 --> 00:25:04.579 and that kind of makes its own point, right? 00:25:05.579 --> 00:25:08.180 A god that you can carry in your pocket is not 00:25:08.180 --> 00:25:12.559 a god who can carry you, okay? But she steals 00:25:12.559 --> 00:25:16.200 them, and it's more than just petty theft here. 00:25:16.299 --> 00:25:18.700 There's something significant taking place because, 00:25:18.759 --> 00:25:21.660 as I've said, what was supposed to be a clean 00:25:21.660 --> 00:25:25.210 break Jacob's obedience to God, his doing what 00:25:25.210 --> 00:25:27.210 God had called him to do, separating from that 00:25:27.210 --> 00:25:30.150 life, is now marred by hidden sin. And this is 00:25:30.150 --> 00:25:33.289 Rachel carrying these idols. See, this clean 00:25:33.289 --> 00:25:35.430 break from life is something God calls us, or 00:25:35.430 --> 00:25:38.369 old life is something God calls us to do. God 00:25:38.369 --> 00:25:41.470 calls us to him, we get saved, and he says, okay, 00:25:41.529 --> 00:25:44.160 now I want you to separate from the world. I 00:25:44.160 --> 00:25:45.920 want you to make a clean break from the world. 00:25:45.980 --> 00:25:48.819 I want you to leave the world behind, the old 00:25:48.819 --> 00:25:51.680 ways, the old gods, the old methods, because 00:25:51.680 --> 00:25:53.680 you're a new creature. You're a new creation. 00:25:54.440 --> 00:25:58.079 And yet what we see here is Rachel is still trying 00:25:58.079 --> 00:26:02.539 to bring the old idols into her new life, the 00:26:02.539 --> 00:26:05.259 life where she's departing. And again, the why 00:26:05.259 --> 00:26:09.599 is unclear. It could be the Newsy tablet thing. 00:26:09.680 --> 00:26:11.839 It could be because she had some lingering belief 00:26:11.839 --> 00:26:14.220 in them. It could be that she just had contempt 00:26:14.220 --> 00:26:17.200 for her dad. But either way, these idols represented 00:26:17.200 --> 00:26:21.539 her old life, her old way of living. And this 00:26:21.539 --> 00:26:24.400 is a danger that we face as well in our lives. 00:26:25.220 --> 00:26:27.460 You know, we get saved. God says, break from 00:26:27.460 --> 00:26:30.900 the world. And outwardly, we might be obeying 00:26:30.900 --> 00:26:32.920 God and moving in the right direction. And we're 00:26:32.920 --> 00:26:34.660 growing and we're learning in grace. And this 00:26:34.660 --> 00:26:37.960 process here of growing sometimes, We still want 00:26:37.960 --> 00:26:42.440 to inwardly bring the old things with us. Inwardly, 00:26:42.440 --> 00:26:44.940 we want to bring the old comforts with us, the 00:26:44.940 --> 00:26:47.039 old sins. We're like, okay, I'm leaving to a 00:26:47.039 --> 00:26:51.240 new life, but I still want this. I still want 00:26:51.240 --> 00:26:54.359 this habit. I still want this thing that has 00:26:54.359 --> 00:26:59.019 no place in the life of faith. And we take it 00:26:59.019 --> 00:27:02.440 with us. It's like trying to run a race with 00:27:02.440 --> 00:27:06.700 a backpack full of bricks. You might be on the 00:27:06.700 --> 00:27:08.480 right track, but you're not going to finish very 00:27:08.480 --> 00:27:12.859 well. You might be in the right race, but you're 00:27:12.859 --> 00:27:16.019 not going to succeed the way you want to because 00:27:16.019 --> 00:27:18.359 you're being slowed down by something you shouldn't 00:27:18.359 --> 00:27:23.779 be carrying. And that's a question that I have 00:27:23.779 --> 00:27:26.099 for myself and the church today. What idols are 00:27:26.099 --> 00:27:29.960 you carrying? What idols are you secretly carrying? 00:27:30.079 --> 00:27:31.960 What things from your old life are you still 00:27:31.960 --> 00:27:36.390 hanging on to in your walk with Christ? You got 00:27:36.390 --> 00:27:38.490 saved. God said, clean break. You're like, yes, 00:27:38.509 --> 00:27:40.730 hallelujah. But are you still carrying on to 00:27:40.730 --> 00:27:45.490 or hanging on to approval from others? Seeking 00:27:45.490 --> 00:27:48.150 what is just pleasurable, whether or not God 00:27:48.150 --> 00:27:52.309 says yes or no to it. Security, control, addictions, 00:27:52.390 --> 00:27:56.170 just self -worship. What is it? What is the idol 00:27:56.170 --> 00:27:57.890 that you might be hanging on to this morning? 00:27:59.369 --> 00:28:01.809 Something that you've hidden so well nobody knows 00:28:01.809 --> 00:28:07.119 about it. But God knows. And God is like, why 00:28:07.119 --> 00:28:09.400 are you carrying that thing from your old life 00:28:09.400 --> 00:28:12.519 still? All it's doing is slowing you down. All 00:28:12.519 --> 00:28:15.819 it's doing is putting you in danger. You don't 00:28:15.819 --> 00:28:19.779 need that thing. You see, the gospel is not just 00:28:19.779 --> 00:28:23.900 about leaving the world. As we said, this is 00:28:23.900 --> 00:28:28.720 a story about Jacob's exodus from his old life, 00:28:28.799 --> 00:28:31.400 his old family, the old way of doing things. 00:28:33.259 --> 00:28:36.500 Israel's exodus was from Egypt, which is a picture 00:28:36.500 --> 00:28:40.640 of the world in the gospel. It's not just about 00:28:40.640 --> 00:28:42.900 leaving the world. It's about leaving the gods 00:28:42.900 --> 00:28:48.099 of the world behind. That's the gospel. We're 00:28:48.099 --> 00:28:50.799 going to see later that in the plagues of Egypt, 00:28:50.920 --> 00:28:55.599 God was attacking each one of the gods of Egypt. 00:28:56.619 --> 00:28:58.579 He attacked the Nile. There's a god of the Nile. 00:28:58.680 --> 00:29:00.039 He attacked the animals. There's a god of the 00:29:00.039 --> 00:29:03.619 animals. He attacked... He just, because he's 00:29:03.619 --> 00:29:06.680 trying to say these gods are powerless. They're 00:29:06.680 --> 00:29:12.200 meaningless. And that's what the gospel is. Don't 00:29:12.200 --> 00:29:13.960 just leave the world, but leave the gods of the 00:29:13.960 --> 00:29:17.339 world behind. Christ delivers us not only from 00:29:17.339 --> 00:29:20.200 the place of bondage. He delivers us from the 00:29:20.200 --> 00:29:24.400 power of bondage. And in that salvation, the 00:29:24.400 --> 00:29:26.619 message is you don't have to carry those things 00:29:26.619 --> 00:29:32.279 anymore. You can let those things go. You have 00:29:32.279 --> 00:29:34.240 the power to do so through the Holy Spirit. Why 00:29:34.240 --> 00:29:40.880 are you still hanging on to Him? Why? If you 00:29:40.880 --> 00:29:44.039 say, God is everything I need, then why are you 00:29:44.039 --> 00:29:46.339 hanging on to this thing from your old life that 00:29:46.339 --> 00:29:51.220 you know has no value, has no power? What is 00:29:51.220 --> 00:29:54.619 it? And God may be speaking to you this morning 00:29:54.619 --> 00:29:56.740 about that very thing, and He's asking you, what 00:29:56.740 --> 00:30:01.420 is it? Because whatever it is you think that 00:30:01.420 --> 00:30:05.220 old idol is doing for you, it's a lie. It's destructive. 00:30:05.259 --> 00:30:09.480 It's harming you. You need to let it go. Now, 00:30:09.500 --> 00:30:13.539 verse 22. It says, on the third day, Laban was 00:30:13.539 --> 00:30:16.940 told that Jacob had fled. So he took his relatives 00:30:16.940 --> 00:30:19.480 with him, pursued Jacob for seven days, and overtook 00:30:19.480 --> 00:30:22.539 him in the hill country of Gilead. But God came 00:30:22.539 --> 00:30:26.180 to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night. Watch 00:30:26.180 --> 00:30:28.099 yourself, God warned him. Don't say anything 00:30:28.099 --> 00:30:33.559 to Jacob, either good or bad. So when Laban overtook 00:30:33.559 --> 00:30:35.400 Jacob, Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill 00:30:35.400 --> 00:30:37.500 country, and Laban and his relatives also pitched 00:30:37.500 --> 00:30:40.200 their tents in the hill country of Gilead. Laban 00:30:40.200 --> 00:30:45.140 said to Jacob, what have you done? You've deceived 00:30:45.140 --> 00:30:47.460 me and taken my daughters away from me like prisoners 00:30:47.460 --> 00:30:50.559 of war. Why did you secretly flee from me and 00:30:50.559 --> 00:30:53.380 deceive me and not tell me? I would have sent 00:30:53.380 --> 00:30:56.980 you away with joy and singing, with tambourines 00:30:56.980 --> 00:30:59.119 and lyres, but you didn't even let me kiss my 00:30:59.119 --> 00:31:02.339 grandchildren and my daughters. You have acted 00:31:02.339 --> 00:31:05.920 foolishly. I could do you great harm, but last 00:31:05.920 --> 00:31:08.180 night the God of your father said to me, watch 00:31:08.180 --> 00:31:11.200 yourself. Don't say anything to Jacob, either 00:31:11.200 --> 00:31:13.640 good or bad, and that's why I'm saying all these 00:31:13.640 --> 00:31:19.299 things right now. I just added that part. Now 00:31:19.299 --> 00:31:21.900 you have gone off because you long for your father's 00:31:21.900 --> 00:31:27.619 family. But why have you stolen my gods? Laban 00:31:27.619 --> 00:31:31.019 wasn't happy. Right? There's words used here 00:31:31.019 --> 00:31:33.640 like fled and pursued and overtook and pitched 00:31:33.640 --> 00:31:37.240 tents. Right? These words are all military terms. 00:31:37.599 --> 00:31:41.789 What it's telling us. is that Laban wasn't going 00:31:41.789 --> 00:31:44.369 after his daughters and going after his granddaughter. 00:31:44.529 --> 00:31:47.549 Oh, family, why are you leaving? He was going 00:31:47.549 --> 00:31:50.890 after enemy combatants. That was Laban's mindset. 00:31:52.430 --> 00:31:56.170 That he was going in pursuit of an enemy to defeat. 00:31:59.230 --> 00:32:01.849 He even accused Jacob, you took my daughters 00:32:01.849 --> 00:32:06.650 away like prisoners of war. Right, that tells 00:32:06.650 --> 00:32:09.009 us the mindset of Laban towards Jacob right now. 00:32:09.900 --> 00:32:12.279 That also tells us what Laban might have had 00:32:12.279 --> 00:32:16.180 in mind to do, to conquer that enemy, to slay 00:32:16.180 --> 00:32:18.799 that enemy and reclaim what he believed was his. 00:32:19.720 --> 00:32:23.839 But God intervened. God was with Jacob. God would 00:32:23.839 --> 00:32:28.519 keep Jacob just like he said he would. Now, it's 00:32:28.519 --> 00:32:32.039 interesting here. It calls Laban, Laban the Aramean. 00:32:32.839 --> 00:32:36.740 This is the second time we've seen this. He's 00:32:36.740 --> 00:32:38.640 never been called Laban the Aramean before. He's 00:32:38.640 --> 00:32:41.839 just been Laban or Uncle Laban, right? Why the 00:32:41.839 --> 00:32:45.720 difference? It's highlighting the divide between 00:32:45.720 --> 00:32:48.019 these two men, but it's highlighting the point 00:32:48.019 --> 00:32:52.960 that Jacob is separating from these old people 00:32:52.960 --> 00:32:57.759 into a new life, that Jacob is separating from 00:32:57.759 --> 00:33:00.900 the Arameans, and he's going to become the Jews. 00:33:01.079 --> 00:33:03.980 He's separating into a new people, and this is 00:33:03.980 --> 00:33:06.920 what is being highlighted here. Now we see Laban 00:33:06.920 --> 00:33:09.619 is still trying his own tricks, right? I would 00:33:09.619 --> 00:33:11.200 have sent you away with celebration. Why are 00:33:11.200 --> 00:33:13.279 you being so mean to me? Yeah, right, Laban. 00:33:13.819 --> 00:33:15.839 And then when that didn't work, he turns to threats 00:33:15.839 --> 00:33:19.700 of harm. I could do you great harm. But your 00:33:19.700 --> 00:33:23.140 God said, don't even talk to you as I'm talking 00:33:23.140 --> 00:33:27.519 to you, right? Laban is all messed up. But I 00:33:27.519 --> 00:33:29.799 want you to notice what's most important to Laban 00:33:29.799 --> 00:33:34.930 here. He's trying to be the... the wounded father. 00:33:35.089 --> 00:33:37.630 You took my daughters. You didn't even let me 00:33:37.630 --> 00:33:42.430 kiss them and my grandkids goodbye. It's like, 00:33:42.490 --> 00:33:46.750 I didn't take your daughters. I took my wives, 00:33:46.849 --> 00:33:52.750 who I worked 14 years for, and my children, whom 00:33:52.750 --> 00:33:57.470 I've had with my wives. But Laban's like, oh, 00:33:57.509 --> 00:33:59.990 my daughters, and okay, fine, you're leaving, 00:34:00.029 --> 00:34:04.339 but why'd you take my gods? That's what's important 00:34:04.339 --> 00:34:09.699 to Laban, his gods. Now, I was like, okay, what 00:34:09.699 --> 00:34:11.880 is the big deal here? What is Laban saying? And 00:34:11.880 --> 00:34:16.480 I believe this is what's going on here. Jacob, 00:34:16.500 --> 00:34:21.860 for 20 years, you've worked for me. For 20 years, 00:34:21.900 --> 00:34:24.380 I've heard stories about the God of Isaac and 00:34:24.380 --> 00:34:27.360 the God of Abraham. I know about the God of Abraham. 00:34:27.440 --> 00:34:31.469 I mean, goodness. When he came to find a wife 00:34:31.469 --> 00:34:33.630 for his son Isaac and all his riches and stuff, 00:34:33.690 --> 00:34:35.309 I was like, oh, wow, I've heard all about that. 00:34:36.510 --> 00:34:39.449 And you've been talking about God, and as you've 00:34:39.449 --> 00:34:41.489 grown in years, I imagine Jacob got a little 00:34:41.489 --> 00:34:44.789 less deceiving, a little more pro -God, and God 00:34:44.789 --> 00:34:46.210 did this and God did that. And he's like, all 00:34:46.210 --> 00:34:49.949 this stuff, I thought you believed in Yahweh. 00:34:51.110 --> 00:34:56.510 Why'd you steal my gods? I thought you were a 00:34:56.510 --> 00:35:03.550 Christian. But then you took my gods. You see, 00:35:03.570 --> 00:35:05.090 now even though Jacob wasn't the one that took 00:35:05.090 --> 00:35:09.610 them, Rachel did, what happened here is Jacob 00:35:09.610 --> 00:35:13.829 looked like a hypocrite. I've told this story 00:35:13.829 --> 00:35:15.650 before, but when I was growing up in high school, 00:35:15.789 --> 00:35:21.349 I wasn't saved. Preface, was not saved. And the 00:35:21.349 --> 00:35:26.550 best parties were the ones thrown by kids from 00:35:26.550 --> 00:35:29.480 the Christian schools. I knew that. In high school. 00:35:29.940 --> 00:35:31.699 I'm not going to name any of the local schools. 00:35:33.079 --> 00:35:36.079 And I don't know how they are today. But when 00:35:36.079 --> 00:35:38.619 I was in high school, if it was a party that 00:35:38.619 --> 00:35:40.139 we'd heard about and it's like, oh, that's a 00:35:40.139 --> 00:35:42.219 such and such school party. If it was a Christian 00:35:42.219 --> 00:35:44.500 school, it's going to blow away every other party. 00:35:44.980 --> 00:35:47.420 More drugs, more alcohol, more this, more just. 00:35:48.000 --> 00:35:51.340 It was insane. And we knew that. And that's a 00:35:51.340 --> 00:35:55.199 sad testimony of some of the kids. It's not every 00:35:55.199 --> 00:35:56.940 Christian school. It's not every kid in the Christian 00:35:56.940 --> 00:36:03.800 school. I grew up seeing Christians do and be 00:36:03.800 --> 00:36:08.380 worse than the worldly people were, and that 00:36:08.380 --> 00:36:10.480 contributed to me going, why do I want to have 00:36:10.480 --> 00:36:13.579 anything to do with your God? You're no different 00:36:13.579 --> 00:36:16.940 than me. In fact, the only difference between 00:36:16.940 --> 00:36:19.199 me and you is we both do the drugs and we both 00:36:19.199 --> 00:36:21.659 drink the alcohol and we both part and we both 00:36:21.659 --> 00:36:24.059 do all the things, and you have guilt and I don't. 00:36:24.780 --> 00:36:27.860 That's the only difference between us. Why would 00:36:27.860 --> 00:36:31.119 I want to go to church with you? And this is 00:36:31.119 --> 00:36:35.500 how Laban is viewing Jacob right now. Why'd you 00:36:35.500 --> 00:36:37.780 steal my gods? You've been telling me for 20 00:36:37.780 --> 00:36:39.579 years that your God is the only true God and 00:36:39.579 --> 00:36:41.340 da -da -da -da -da, and yet you're going to take 00:36:41.340 --> 00:36:45.559 mine? You can have your God. I don't want anything 00:36:45.559 --> 00:36:50.619 to do with your God. Now, verse 31, Jacob answered, 00:36:50.820 --> 00:36:55.519 I was afraid. For I thought you would take your 00:36:55.519 --> 00:36:58.760 daughters from me. So the first question, you 00:36:58.760 --> 00:37:01.119 took my daughters and my grandkids, and he's 00:37:01.119 --> 00:37:03.639 like, look, I know you, Laban. You would take 00:37:03.639 --> 00:37:05.840 them from me by force. That's what kind of gives 00:37:05.840 --> 00:37:09.539 the indication that Jacob expected or was expecting 00:37:09.539 --> 00:37:15.099 Laban to come with violence. But verse 32, if 00:37:15.099 --> 00:37:17.239 you find your gods with anyone here, he will 00:37:17.239 --> 00:37:20.639 not live. Before our relatives, point out anything 00:37:20.639 --> 00:37:23.739 that is yours and take it. Jacob did not know 00:37:23.739 --> 00:37:26.860 that Rachel had stolen the idols. So Laban went 00:37:26.860 --> 00:37:29.500 into Jacob's tent and Leah's tent and the tents 00:37:29.500 --> 00:37:31.320 of the two concubines, but he found nothing. 00:37:31.860 --> 00:37:34.300 And when he left Leah's tent, he went into Rachel's 00:37:34.300 --> 00:37:37.400 tent. Now, Rachel had taken Laban's household 00:37:37.400 --> 00:37:40.239 idols. She put them into the saddlebag of the 00:37:40.239 --> 00:37:43.400 cannibal and sat on them. Laban searched the 00:37:43.400 --> 00:37:46.599 whole tent but found nothing. She said to her 00:37:46.599 --> 00:37:49.809 father, don't be angry, my lord. I cannot stand 00:37:49.809 --> 00:37:53.650 up in your presence. I'm having my period. So 00:37:53.650 --> 00:37:55.849 Laban searched, but he could not find the household 00:37:55.849 --> 00:38:00.269 idols. Yes, the Bible talks about these types 00:38:00.269 --> 00:38:05.369 of things. So Jacob's like, I took my wives because 00:38:05.369 --> 00:38:09.550 I knew who you are. And I'm expecting violence 00:38:09.550 --> 00:38:11.630 from you, but you're stupid household gods. Are 00:38:11.630 --> 00:38:14.489 you kidding me? Right, Jacob is coming from a 00:38:14.489 --> 00:38:18.199 place of. bold, righteous anger here, and rightfully 00:38:18.199 --> 00:38:20.619 so. He doesn't know his wife took these idols. 00:38:21.119 --> 00:38:22.920 But he's like, look, I'm an open book. Search 00:38:22.920 --> 00:38:25.940 wherever you'd like. If anybody in my group took 00:38:25.940 --> 00:38:28.380 your stupid idols, let them die. Death penalty. 00:38:31.480 --> 00:38:34.619 He was very, very sure of his innocence. And 00:38:34.619 --> 00:38:37.320 as far as he knew, he was being honest. And honesty 00:38:37.320 --> 00:38:42.179 does that to us. Right? I'm an open book. I can't 00:38:42.179 --> 00:38:45.610 tell you how many times over the years That I've 00:38:45.610 --> 00:38:48.730 been in a situation where there's a couple and 00:38:48.730 --> 00:38:51.090 the other one says, they won't let me see what's 00:38:51.090 --> 00:38:54.349 in their phone. And I'm like, why won't you let 00:38:54.349 --> 00:38:55.869 them see what's in your phone? There's nothing 00:38:55.869 --> 00:38:59.650 there, right? And in situations where there's 00:38:59.650 --> 00:39:01.550 truly nothing there, but they won't let you see 00:39:01.550 --> 00:39:03.329 the phone, just the fact that you're hiding it 00:39:03.329 --> 00:39:07.789 is suspicious. That's why I tell couples, you 00:39:07.789 --> 00:39:09.829 should have the passwords and full access to 00:39:09.829 --> 00:39:14.329 both devices on either side of the aisle. Why? 00:39:15.070 --> 00:39:16.730 Because when there's honesty there, you can say, 00:39:16.769 --> 00:39:18.489 look at everything I got. There's nothing here 00:39:18.489 --> 00:39:21.769 I need to hide from you. And this is where Jacob's 00:39:21.769 --> 00:39:24.030 at. Now, he doesn't know his wife stole these 00:39:24.030 --> 00:39:26.949 idols, but he's standing in righteous innocence 00:39:26.949 --> 00:39:31.550 in his mind here. So Laban storms through everybody's 00:39:31.550 --> 00:39:34.750 tent. He doesn't find the idols. And then we 00:39:34.750 --> 00:39:40.730 have this weird story of Rachel, right? First 00:39:40.730 --> 00:39:44.309 we ask, why did she steal the idols? And then 00:39:44.309 --> 00:39:46.389 we come to this story, and it kind of fills in 00:39:46.389 --> 00:39:48.349 a couple more blanks of why she might have stolen 00:39:48.349 --> 00:39:51.909 the idols, right? But we do see that in Rachel's 00:39:51.909 --> 00:39:53.690 life, even though Jacob is being called to make 00:39:53.690 --> 00:39:55.869 this clean break to his new life, and he's taking 00:39:55.869 --> 00:39:59.349 his wives with him, the family culture of manipulation 00:39:59.349 --> 00:40:03.110 is still alive in Rachel. She hides the idols 00:40:03.110 --> 00:40:05.130 in the saddlebag, she sits on them, and she says, 00:40:05.170 --> 00:40:07.650 I'm sorry, I can't stand up, Dad. I'm on my period. 00:40:08.210 --> 00:40:13.630 Now, Laban at this point is almost... Crazy with 00:40:13.630 --> 00:40:20.050 suspicion. Tearing apart the tents. His daughter 00:40:20.050 --> 00:40:22.110 says, I can't stand up. Now why would he not 00:40:22.110 --> 00:40:26.269 say anything about that? You gotta understand 00:40:26.269 --> 00:40:28.789 that the gods to these people in these times, 00:40:28.809 --> 00:40:31.409 they were gods. They worshipped them. They put 00:40:31.409 --> 00:40:34.590 so much faith into them. And so the idea that 00:40:34.590 --> 00:40:37.929 his daughter would be sitting on these idols. 00:40:38.590 --> 00:40:41.429 in this state of uncleanness. That's what was 00:40:41.429 --> 00:40:43.829 considered in the time when a woman was on her 00:40:43.829 --> 00:40:46.989 cycle, that she was unclean, that she was, you 00:40:46.989 --> 00:40:49.150 know, contaminating, that you couldn't touch 00:40:49.150 --> 00:40:51.550 her or be around her. You know, it's this idea 00:40:51.550 --> 00:40:54.110 of this uncleanness is even in the law that when 00:40:54.110 --> 00:40:55.769 a woman was on her cycle, there were certain 00:40:55.769 --> 00:40:57.750 laws she had to follow because it was considered 00:40:57.750 --> 00:41:03.460 impure. I mean, the idea of the impurity and 00:41:03.460 --> 00:41:05.320 the uncleanness of that even comes through into 00:41:05.320 --> 00:41:07.860 the symbolism where God says, hey, I want you 00:41:07.860 --> 00:41:10.219 to understand, people, that your good works, 00:41:10.480 --> 00:41:13.699 the best, most noble good work you can possibly 00:41:13.699 --> 00:41:16.940 do as a human, in comparison to the goodness 00:41:16.940 --> 00:41:19.679 of God, what he says in the Bible is your good 00:41:19.679 --> 00:41:23.440 works are like a filthy rag. The word filthy 00:41:23.440 --> 00:41:28.380 rag, it means menstrual cloth. So the idea of 00:41:28.380 --> 00:41:31.280 that uncleanness, right, is even used symbolically. 00:41:31.380 --> 00:41:34.579 And so the fact that his daughter would sit on 00:41:34.579 --> 00:41:37.980 the household idols during that state was just 00:41:37.980 --> 00:41:42.039 so, such a sacrilegious concept to him that I 00:41:42.039 --> 00:41:43.760 don't think you'd even think she would do it. 00:41:45.719 --> 00:41:48.639 But she did. Now, was she really on her period? 00:41:48.940 --> 00:41:53.760 Was she not on her period? We don't know. Some 00:41:53.760 --> 00:41:57.599 people go, yes, she was. And if she was? What 00:41:57.599 --> 00:41:59.920 she was doing was communicating very loudly, 00:41:59.940 --> 00:42:02.579 very clearly, her contempt for her dad's gods. 00:42:03.420 --> 00:42:07.460 Because how disrespectful, how demeaning to sit 00:42:07.460 --> 00:42:11.019 upon those gods in such a condition. It also 00:42:11.019 --> 00:42:13.139 could be that she was just lying about her condition. 00:42:13.929 --> 00:42:15.889 But again, either way, it's showing contempt 00:42:15.889 --> 00:42:18.090 for her father, that she would want to communicate 00:42:18.090 --> 00:42:21.170 that, oh, I'm sorry, you know, I can't stand 00:42:21.170 --> 00:42:23.050 up because I'm on this, knowing that she's sitting 00:42:23.050 --> 00:42:25.750 on her dad's gods. And so, again, when we look 00:42:25.750 --> 00:42:27.949 back to why did Rachel steal the gods and all 00:42:27.949 --> 00:42:30.449 those reasons, it seems to be more likely that 00:42:30.449 --> 00:42:33.429 she was just mad at her dad and really hated 00:42:33.429 --> 00:42:36.469 him for who he was and all that. So, but this 00:42:36.469 --> 00:42:38.530 act of her sitting on them, whether she was or 00:42:38.530 --> 00:42:41.050 wasn't on her period, even if it... Either way, 00:42:41.170 --> 00:42:44.369 it was such a dishonoring thing. It was to treat 00:42:44.369 --> 00:42:46.690 these idols as worthless. It was to treat them 00:42:46.690 --> 00:42:50.010 as worthy of contempt, unworthy of notice. This 00:42:50.010 --> 00:42:55.050 sitting on the idols, even under the thought 00:42:55.050 --> 00:42:57.030 that she would be on her period, was a radically 00:42:57.030 --> 00:43:04.389 huge sign of disrespect for these old gods. When 00:43:04.389 --> 00:43:06.230 we're on the road of faith and our journey of 00:43:06.230 --> 00:43:09.570 faith and growth and we're maturing in God, one 00:43:09.570 --> 00:43:11.469 of the things that happens as we grow in our 00:43:11.469 --> 00:43:15.090 faith is we begin more and more to see the idols 00:43:15.090 --> 00:43:18.610 of our old life as worthless, as contemptible, 00:43:18.690 --> 00:43:21.889 as not worthy of notice, not worthy of anything. 00:43:22.030 --> 00:43:24.570 It happens as we grow in the Lord. Now, we still 00:43:24.570 --> 00:43:25.969 have these places where we're like, what idols 00:43:25.969 --> 00:43:28.690 are we hanging on to, right? But as you grow 00:43:28.690 --> 00:43:31.730 in grace, one of the signs of that is that you're 00:43:31.730 --> 00:43:34.230 going to see these old things that you used to 00:43:34.230 --> 00:43:39.349 worship as the worthless things they are. When 00:43:39.349 --> 00:43:42.530 we know Jesus Christ, we could even see the things 00:43:42.530 --> 00:43:44.849 that other people bow down to that aren't God 00:43:44.849 --> 00:43:47.369 and go, why are you doing that? Why are you chasing 00:43:47.369 --> 00:43:49.269 money like it is the salvation of your soul? 00:43:49.349 --> 00:43:50.929 Why are you chasing material things? Why are 00:43:50.929 --> 00:43:53.530 you chasing satisfaction? Why are you chasing 00:43:53.530 --> 00:43:57.550 women and men? Those things have no value. Now, 00:43:57.610 --> 00:44:00.239 when we were unsaved, We could remember when 00:44:00.239 --> 00:44:01.940 we chased those things too because we thought, 00:44:02.000 --> 00:44:05.760 oh, they're the end all to everything. But a 00:44:05.760 --> 00:44:07.539 part of our growth and our walk with the Lord, 00:44:07.619 --> 00:44:09.940 a part of the process of him taking us through 00:44:09.940 --> 00:44:12.420 these things and molding us and shaping us is 00:44:12.420 --> 00:44:14.099 that we grow more and more to be able to look 00:44:14.099 --> 00:44:16.539 back on the old idols of life and go, you know 00:44:16.539 --> 00:44:19.340 what? They are worthless. They are meaningless. 00:44:19.519 --> 00:44:22.800 They don't have any power in our lives. And we 00:44:22.800 --> 00:44:24.800 know that the world we live in worships these 00:44:24.800 --> 00:44:28.019 things. They don't worship idols as we see them 00:44:28.019 --> 00:44:29.860 in the Old Testament anymore. There's no worship 00:44:29.860 --> 00:44:32.719 of Baal and Ashtoreth and stuff, but those things 00:44:32.719 --> 00:44:35.940 have simply taken on new names. Money, sex, power, 00:44:36.079 --> 00:44:40.480 fame, fortune, control. And we know the world 00:44:40.480 --> 00:44:42.019 worships these things, and we're called to cast 00:44:42.019 --> 00:44:45.980 those things down. We're called to treat those 00:44:45.980 --> 00:44:47.880 things with contempt and say they have no value. 00:44:47.960 --> 00:44:50.579 They're worthless. They can't do anything for 00:44:50.579 --> 00:44:53.820 you. And so, yeah, and a part of our journey, 00:44:53.840 --> 00:44:55.199 we're gonna be like, I'm still hanging on to 00:44:55.199 --> 00:44:58.440 these things. I need to cast them off. And as 00:44:58.440 --> 00:45:01.119 you do that, as you follow the Lord's leading 00:45:01.119 --> 00:45:02.780 on those things, I'm not supposed to carry these 00:45:02.780 --> 00:45:04.880 things into my new life. I'm so separate from 00:45:04.880 --> 00:45:07.079 those things. Then you're able to see them as 00:45:07.079 --> 00:45:09.019 the worthless things they are more and more. 00:45:10.500 --> 00:45:12.840 Like I said, when the plague struck Egypt, each 00:45:12.840 --> 00:45:15.260 plague was meant to humiliate one of the gods 00:45:15.260 --> 00:45:17.900 of Egypt. The Nile, the sun, the animals, they 00:45:17.900 --> 00:45:20.980 were all shown to be powerless before the God 00:45:20.980 --> 00:45:24.980 of Israel. And Rachel's contempt for her father's 00:45:24.980 --> 00:45:28.260 gods here kind of prefigures that moment. We're 00:45:28.260 --> 00:45:32.219 the gods of the world or nothing. So why hang 00:45:32.219 --> 00:45:37.139 on to them? Now, that just begs the question 00:45:37.139 --> 00:45:40.719 of all of us again. What gods of the world need 00:45:40.719 --> 00:45:44.179 to be cast out from your heart? You can't serve 00:45:44.179 --> 00:45:48.059 both them and God. In Christ, you've been made 00:45:48.059 --> 00:45:50.360 free from the power, the influence, the control 00:45:50.360 --> 00:45:52.460 of these things. You don't need to bow down to 00:45:52.460 --> 00:45:55.260 them anymore. You don't need to put them in your 00:45:55.260 --> 00:45:57.119 life as the priority that they once were. You 00:45:57.119 --> 00:45:59.380 don't have to be controlled by them. You can 00:45:59.380 --> 00:46:02.579 and you should cast them off because Jesus Christ 00:46:02.579 --> 00:46:04.420 is the one reigning in your heart as a believer. 00:46:05.719 --> 00:46:08.619 Now, verse 36, it says, then Jacob became incensed. 00:46:09.960 --> 00:46:13.260 and brought charges against Laban. What is my 00:46:13.260 --> 00:46:15.880 crime, he said to Laban? What is my sin that 00:46:15.880 --> 00:46:19.079 you have pursued me? You've searched all my possessions. 00:46:19.280 --> 00:46:21.980 Have you found anything of yours? Put it here 00:46:21.980 --> 00:46:24.159 before my relatives and yours and let them decide 00:46:24.159 --> 00:46:26.739 between the two of us. I've been with you these 00:46:26.739 --> 00:46:29.420 20 years. Your ewes and female goats have not 00:46:29.420 --> 00:46:31.500 miscarried and I have not eaten the rams from 00:46:31.500 --> 00:46:34.860 your flock. I did not bring you any of the flock 00:46:34.860 --> 00:46:37.239 torn by the wild beasts. I myself bore the loss. 00:46:37.980 --> 00:46:40.099 You demanded payment from me for what was stolen 00:46:40.099 --> 00:46:43.119 by day or night. There I was, the heat consumed 00:46:43.119 --> 00:46:46.139 me by day and the frost by night, and sleep fled 00:46:46.139 --> 00:46:49.360 from my eyes. For 20 years in your household 00:46:49.360 --> 00:46:52.659 I served you. 14 years for two of your daughters 00:46:52.659 --> 00:46:55.360 and six years for your flocks, and you have changed 00:46:55.360 --> 00:46:59.119 my wages 10 times. If the God of my father, the 00:46:59.119 --> 00:47:01.559 God of Abraham, the fear of Isaac had not been 00:47:01.559 --> 00:47:04.019 with me, certainly now you would have sent me 00:47:04.019 --> 00:47:07.039 off empty -handed. But God has seen my affliction. 00:47:07.550 --> 00:47:10.630 and my hard work. And he issued his verdict last 00:47:10.630 --> 00:47:13.650 night, referring to the dream that Laban had. 00:47:14.230 --> 00:47:17.349 So 20 years of being taken advantage of finally 00:47:17.349 --> 00:47:19.929 bubbles over, right? Jacob is finally speaking 00:47:19.929 --> 00:47:23.150 his mind, and he angrily, he firmly declares, 00:47:23.170 --> 00:47:26.449 you know why I left secretly, because I don't 00:47:26.449 --> 00:47:29.269 trust you. And you have the audacity to accuse 00:47:29.269 --> 00:47:32.730 me of stealing your stupid gods? You found nothing. 00:47:33.929 --> 00:47:36.269 And you think I'm dishonest. You're the cheat, 00:47:36.389 --> 00:47:40.789 right? He's just upset here. I faithfully served 00:47:40.789 --> 00:47:43.289 you for 20 years. I endured loss. You've cheated 00:47:43.289 --> 00:47:46.809 me over and over. I've done nothing to deserve 00:47:46.809 --> 00:47:53.090 your pursuit. But still, he gives God the credit 00:47:53.090 --> 00:47:56.409 for his deliverance. And this is a great picture 00:47:56.409 --> 00:47:59.670 of both righteous anger and humble faith, right? 00:47:59.809 --> 00:48:03.590 The evidence speaks for itself. Laban, you're 00:48:03.590 --> 00:48:08.210 the cheat, but God defended me. God defended 00:48:08.210 --> 00:48:12.190 me. God is the one. You know, there's a time 00:48:12.190 --> 00:48:15.429 to speak up. There is a time to stand up. There's 00:48:15.429 --> 00:48:18.510 a time to defend righteousness, but instead of 00:48:18.510 --> 00:48:21.070 it being about your own honor and your own vengeance, 00:48:21.230 --> 00:48:23.750 we're to speak in faith. We're to speak with 00:48:23.750 --> 00:48:26.650 faith. We're to make the moment about God's grace 00:48:26.650 --> 00:48:31.760 and God's power and God's testimony. That is 00:48:31.760 --> 00:48:33.599 what the world needs right now in light of the 00:48:33.599 --> 00:48:36.679 Charlie Kirk incident. Yes, we need to stand 00:48:36.679 --> 00:48:39.360 up. Yes, we need to stop cowering. Yes, we need 00:48:39.360 --> 00:48:41.360 to stand up and defend righteousness, but not 00:48:41.360 --> 00:48:43.820 to defend our own honor, not to seek vengeance, 00:48:44.139 --> 00:48:48.400 but instead to continue to proclaim the truth 00:48:48.400 --> 00:48:51.780 of who God is, to proclaim the truth of what 00:48:51.780 --> 00:48:54.320 God is, to give him the credit for everything 00:48:54.320 --> 00:48:57.300 and say he is the one. He is the one who defends 00:48:57.300 --> 00:49:01.309 us. He is the one who fights for us. He is the 00:49:01.309 --> 00:49:03.429 one you stand before if you don't know him. He 00:49:03.429 --> 00:49:10.150 is the one that'll judge. And you need him. That 00:49:10.150 --> 00:49:12.190 is a picture of righteous anger. This is what 00:49:12.190 --> 00:49:16.090 righteous anger looks like. I'm angry. I'm upset. 00:49:17.929 --> 00:49:20.309 Like many of you, yeah, when the Charlie Kirk 00:49:20.309 --> 00:49:22.250 thing, like I said, I heard about it and I was 00:49:22.250 --> 00:49:26.489 like, I'm done. I avoid politics. So I'm done 00:49:26.489 --> 00:49:31.050 avoiding politics. I'm done. I'm just like, no, 00:49:31.210 --> 00:49:32.949 Lord, I can't do this anymore. And God's like, 00:49:33.070 --> 00:49:42.429 what? We need to fight back. Yeah. And I'm doing 00:49:42.429 --> 00:49:47.670 it my way and in my time. Lord, what do you want 00:49:47.670 --> 00:49:53.429 me to do? You already know. Speak up, stand up, 00:49:53.469 --> 00:49:57.460 absolutely. But make the moment about God's grace, 00:49:57.539 --> 00:50:01.000 God's power, and God's testimony. Make the moment 00:50:01.000 --> 00:50:03.360 about who God is and what he can do, what he 00:50:03.360 --> 00:50:08.260 is doing. Vengeance is mine, says the Lord. It's 00:50:08.260 --> 00:50:13.820 not mine. I'd mess it all up. But God can perfectly 00:50:13.820 --> 00:50:15.619 mete out justice, and we need to let him and 00:50:15.619 --> 00:50:19.380 trust him to do that. So we see Jacob here just 00:50:19.380 --> 00:50:23.670 like, what crime have I done? I mean, there's 00:50:23.670 --> 00:50:26.489 the exasperation of, I've done nothing to deserve 00:50:26.489 --> 00:50:31.710 your pursuit. But God saw my affliction. And 00:50:31.710 --> 00:50:35.289 God issued his verdict. And God is the one who 00:50:35.289 --> 00:50:36.989 has been with me. And if he had not been with 00:50:36.989 --> 00:50:39.070 me, you would have totally taken everything I 00:50:39.070 --> 00:50:43.670 have. You cannot defeat God. You will not defeat 00:50:43.670 --> 00:50:46.110 God. And that is the message we're called to 00:50:46.110 --> 00:50:52.030 carry, especially in times like this. Yeah, Charlie's 00:50:52.030 --> 00:50:55.719 wife. when she gave her message, she repeated 00:50:55.719 --> 00:50:59.619 this over and over. You can't defeat God. You're 00:50:59.619 --> 00:51:01.500 not going to stop God. Now she did say, which 00:51:01.500 --> 00:51:05.500 I was just like, yeah. You have no idea what 00:51:05.500 --> 00:51:12.000 you have started. And I'm like, oh, yeah. Grace 00:51:12.000 --> 00:51:17.079 and peace. Okay, yes, prayer. And this is what 00:51:17.079 --> 00:51:19.159 we see here in Jacob's life, right? I mean, God 00:51:19.159 --> 00:51:21.280 sees the affliction. God sees the trauma. God 00:51:21.280 --> 00:51:25.420 sees the labor. And God defends his people in 00:51:25.420 --> 00:51:28.820 his way. And one of the thoughts that came to 00:51:28.820 --> 00:51:30.800 me this last week as I was praying about the 00:51:30.800 --> 00:51:32.960 whole Charlie Kirk thing, I was reviewing these 00:51:32.960 --> 00:51:37.019 notes. I'm like, people go, how did God defend 00:51:37.019 --> 00:51:41.280 Charlie? He got killed. And I just had this thought, 00:51:41.340 --> 00:51:45.019 and I'm like, he did defend Charlie. He took 00:51:45.019 --> 00:51:47.300 Charlie out of this broken, sinful, disgusting, 00:51:47.559 --> 00:51:51.139 hateful world into his presence, where he is 00:51:51.139 --> 00:51:56.300 in eternity forever in the glory of God. Yeah. 00:51:59.400 --> 00:52:02.460 Jacob here was vindicated, credited everything 00:52:02.460 --> 00:52:04.940 to God, honored God alone, and that's what we're 00:52:04.940 --> 00:52:08.139 called to do. So verse 43, then Laban answered 00:52:08.139 --> 00:52:12.019 Jacob, the daughters are my daughters. The children, 00:52:12.099 --> 00:52:15.460 my children, the flocks, my flocks. Everything 00:52:15.460 --> 00:52:17.800 you see is mine, but what can I do for these 00:52:17.800 --> 00:52:19.760 daughters of mine or for the children that they 00:52:19.760 --> 00:52:23.559 have born? Come now, let's make a covenant, you 00:52:23.559 --> 00:52:25.639 and I. Let it be a witness between the two of 00:52:25.639 --> 00:52:28.360 us. So Jacob picked out a stone and set it up 00:52:28.360 --> 00:52:30.300 as a marker. Then Jacob said to his relatives, 00:52:30.539 --> 00:52:33.380 gather stones. They took stones and made a mound, 00:52:33.420 --> 00:52:36.940 and then they ate there by the mound. Laban named 00:52:36.940 --> 00:52:40.440 the mount Jegar -Shahaduthah. but Jacob named 00:52:40.440 --> 00:52:43.840 it Galid. Then Laban said, This mound is a witness 00:52:43.840 --> 00:52:46.440 between me and you today. Therefore the place 00:52:46.440 --> 00:52:50.480 was called Galid and also Mizpah. For he said, 00:52:50.599 --> 00:52:53.179 May the Lord watch between you and me and when 00:52:53.179 --> 00:52:57.519 we are out of each other's sight. If you mistreat 00:52:57.519 --> 00:52:59.980 my daughters or take other wives, though no one 00:52:59.980 --> 00:53:02.260 is with us, understand that God will be a witness 00:53:02.260 --> 00:53:05.380 between you and me. Laban also said to Jacob, 00:53:05.480 --> 00:53:07.199 look at this mound and the marker I've set up 00:53:07.199 --> 00:53:09.440 between you and me. This mound is a witness and 00:53:09.440 --> 00:53:11.480 the marker is a witness that I will not pass 00:53:11.480 --> 00:53:13.900 beyond this mound to you and you will not pass 00:53:13.900 --> 00:53:16.199 beyond this mound and this marker to do me harm. 00:53:16.900 --> 00:53:19.699 The God of Abraham and the gods of Nahor, the 00:53:19.699 --> 00:53:21.860 gods of their father, will judge between us. 00:53:22.659 --> 00:53:25.380 And Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac. 00:53:26.059 --> 00:53:28.320 Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain 00:53:28.320 --> 00:53:30.900 and invited his relatives to eat a meal. So they 00:53:30.900 --> 00:53:32.539 ate a meal and spent the night on the mountain. 00:53:32.679 --> 00:53:34.599 Laban got up early in the morning, kissed his 00:53:34.599 --> 00:53:36.780 grandchildren and daughters, and blessed them. 00:53:37.219 --> 00:53:41.760 Then Laban left to return home. So here at the 00:53:41.760 --> 00:53:45.179 end, exposed for what he was, Laban is now trying 00:53:45.179 --> 00:53:51.480 to cover himself. He didn't find anything. It 00:53:51.480 --> 00:53:56.780 was there. But for reasons known to God, God 00:53:56.780 --> 00:54:01.460 didn't let Laban find them. Jacob's righteous 00:54:01.460 --> 00:54:05.039 innocence was being defended here. So Laban, 00:54:05.059 --> 00:54:07.340 he needed to do something. He had to save face. 00:54:07.420 --> 00:54:09.920 So after huffing and puffing, these are my daughters. 00:54:10.079 --> 00:54:15.440 These are my kids. These are my flocks. Well, 00:54:15.639 --> 00:54:18.639 what can I do for these wonderful daughters of 00:54:18.639 --> 00:54:22.059 mine? Let's make a covenant, right? False benevolence. 00:54:23.059 --> 00:54:24.739 Let's make an agreement. And this agreement was 00:54:24.739 --> 00:54:27.690 a big deal. Laban again is trying to make it 00:54:27.690 --> 00:54:29.530 a private deal. Let it be a witness between the 00:54:29.530 --> 00:54:32.670 two of us. And Jacob is like, uh -uh. You're 00:54:32.670 --> 00:54:35.449 a liar. You're a cheat. The whole family is going 00:54:35.449 --> 00:54:37.949 to witness this. Not just you and me. No more 00:54:37.949 --> 00:54:39.809 of these private discussions that you could change 00:54:39.809 --> 00:54:43.190 the details on. So they make this mound. They 00:54:43.190 --> 00:54:47.510 stack it up. The Jegar Sahaduthah, that's Aramean. 00:54:48.190 --> 00:54:50.960 And then Galid is Hebrew. They both mean the 00:54:50.960 --> 00:54:53.260 exact same thing, heap of witness. But again, 00:54:53.360 --> 00:54:55.260 we're seeing the divide that God is separating 00:54:55.260 --> 00:54:59.880 Jacob from these people of the old way into a 00:54:59.880 --> 00:55:02.340 new people by using the language separation here. 00:55:03.139 --> 00:55:05.119 Mizpah means watchtower, which I just think is 00:55:05.119 --> 00:55:08.800 funny. They also called it watchtower. Why? They 00:55:08.800 --> 00:55:11.260 said, look, Laban's like, I'm drawing a line 00:55:11.260 --> 00:55:12.760 in the sand. You stay on your side, I'll stay 00:55:12.760 --> 00:55:16.679 on my side. Now, the whole idea here was because 00:55:16.679 --> 00:55:20.809 I don't trust you out of my sight. May God watch 00:55:20.809 --> 00:55:23.969 over you. Now Jacob didn't need a treaty because 00:55:23.969 --> 00:55:26.449 God had already protected him from Laban. God 00:55:26.449 --> 00:55:28.769 had already blessed Jacob, but this treaty would 00:55:28.769 --> 00:55:32.170 officially and legally recognize before all of 00:55:32.170 --> 00:55:36.969 these people that they were to be a separate 00:55:36.969 --> 00:55:40.210 people. That God was using this moment and this 00:55:40.210 --> 00:55:42.789 agreement, this covenant in front of all these 00:55:42.789 --> 00:55:45.369 witnesses that Jacob was now recognized as a 00:55:45.369 --> 00:55:49.150 separate, independent people. That they were 00:55:49.150 --> 00:55:51.349 now being looked at as two separate ethnic groups. 00:55:52.289 --> 00:55:55.250 God working his plan through all of it. Laban 00:55:55.250 --> 00:55:57.949 seals the covenant by invoking every God he could 00:55:57.949 --> 00:56:02.210 think of. God of Abraham, God of Jacob, the multiple 00:56:02.210 --> 00:56:05.909 gods of Nahor, your father, this God, that God, 00:56:06.230 --> 00:56:08.349 you know, Pac -Man, everybody we could think 00:56:08.349 --> 00:56:13.789 of. And it's just, that's what pagans do. They 00:56:13.789 --> 00:56:15.230 believe in all the gods because they believe 00:56:15.230 --> 00:56:17.760 in none of them. They just believe in themselves. 00:56:19.679 --> 00:56:23.320 So he tries to seal this by naming all these 00:56:23.320 --> 00:56:25.679 gods. When he says the gods of Nahor, if you 00:56:25.679 --> 00:56:27.360 go back into Genesis, you're going to find that 00:56:27.360 --> 00:56:29.940 Nahor was the father of Terah, who was the father 00:56:29.940 --> 00:56:34.460 of Abraham, Nahor, and Haran. Okay, so they were 00:56:34.460 --> 00:56:36.559 all, the whole family was originally from Ur. 00:56:37.380 --> 00:56:39.880 They primarily worshipped the moon god Nana, 00:56:40.039 --> 00:56:42.300 but there was a whole pantheon of gods that were 00:56:42.300 --> 00:56:44.099 worshipped there. And so Laban is just referring 00:56:44.099 --> 00:56:47.980 back to the family history. I think it's his 00:56:47.980 --> 00:56:50.280 last parting way to say, your God is nothing 00:56:50.280 --> 00:56:52.420 more than all the other gods our family has worshipped 00:56:52.420 --> 00:56:56.239 all these years. But Jacob, he rejects all that 00:56:56.239 --> 00:56:59.619 nonsense. He swears by the one and only true 00:56:59.619 --> 00:57:01.199 God, and he calls him the fear of his father 00:57:01.199 --> 00:57:03.539 Isaac. That word fear there means that which 00:57:03.539 --> 00:57:07.260 causes reverence. So he's like, I'm only going 00:57:07.260 --> 00:57:09.619 to swear by the God that causes reverence in 00:57:09.619 --> 00:57:12.260 my father. And I believe by implication there's 00:57:12.260 --> 00:57:14.820 reverence in my heart now that he is God. He 00:57:14.820 --> 00:57:19.389 is my God. Sacrifice to the Lord, last meal, 00:57:19.570 --> 00:57:21.150 Laban leaves the next day, and I just think it's 00:57:21.150 --> 00:57:23.050 funny that Laban kisses everybody but Jacob. 00:57:25.150 --> 00:57:29.829 Kiss, kiss, kiss. Takes off. These men were not 00:57:29.829 --> 00:57:34.010 on good terms, but Jacob was now free. He was 00:57:34.010 --> 00:57:36.449 a free man, free to pursue God's promises for 00:57:36.449 --> 00:57:40.710 his life. And that is what God wants in the separation. 00:57:42.289 --> 00:57:44.590 That is why God calls us to separate. That is 00:57:44.590 --> 00:57:46.650 why God calls us to do things opposite from the 00:57:46.650 --> 00:57:48.670 world, to be different from the world, because 00:57:48.670 --> 00:57:53.309 we're not of the world. That's why he'll come 00:57:53.309 --> 00:57:54.989 into our life and go, hey, you're still carrying 00:57:54.989 --> 00:57:56.809 those idols. You need to put them away. They're 00:57:56.809 --> 00:57:59.570 worthless. See them as worthless. Know that they're 00:57:59.570 --> 00:58:02.469 worthless and powerless, because he's calling 00:58:02.469 --> 00:58:05.909 us to be a different people, a separate people. 00:58:07.250 --> 00:58:11.530 But that means separation. Is there a Laban in 00:58:11.530 --> 00:58:14.610 your life, a something or a someone that God 00:58:14.610 --> 00:58:18.489 is calling you to separate from? A situation, 00:58:18.750 --> 00:58:22.809 a vice, an entertainment, a relationship, and 00:58:22.809 --> 00:58:26.030 God is saying, look, we're supposed to be making 00:58:26.030 --> 00:58:30.210 a clean break here. Don't be like Rachel. Be 00:58:30.210 --> 00:58:35.789 like Jacob. Make the clean break. And in these 00:58:35.789 --> 00:58:37.969 separations, God doesn't necessarily say, oh, 00:58:37.989 --> 00:58:41.559 separate because you hate them. It's separate 00:58:41.559 --> 00:58:45.119 because you love God more. And you want to pursue 00:58:45.119 --> 00:58:47.079 God, and you want God to be the one and only 00:58:47.079 --> 00:58:49.260 in your life, and you want to be able to legitimately 00:58:49.260 --> 00:58:51.679 say, God, you are my one and only. You are all 00:58:51.679 --> 00:58:55.340 I need. And my life demonstrates that because 00:58:55.340 --> 00:58:59.920 I've left aside all of those things. In fact, 00:58:59.920 --> 00:59:02.639 I see them as contemptible. They're worthless. 00:59:04.659 --> 00:59:07.800 Sometimes God calls us to separate, calls us 00:59:07.800 --> 00:59:10.329 away from something. Because he wants us into 00:59:10.329 --> 00:59:14.090 something better. He says, I want you to run 00:59:14.090 --> 00:59:17.889 this race. And we're still carrying that backpack 00:59:17.889 --> 00:59:19.349 full of bricks. And he's like, what are you doing? 00:59:21.269 --> 00:59:24.969 I can't let them go, Lord. He's like, do this. 00:59:26.170 --> 00:59:30.449 They're gone. I already cut the strap. Why are 00:59:30.449 --> 00:59:35.750 you holding it together? Jacob left Laban's household, 00:59:35.889 --> 00:59:38.429 left his family. Because God was calling him 00:59:38.429 --> 00:59:40.110 into something greater, and he became the father 00:59:40.110 --> 00:59:44.429 of a nation, a new people, just as God has promised. 00:59:45.050 --> 00:59:46.789 You know, none of us know what lies ahead of 00:59:46.789 --> 00:59:52.190 us. None of us know what tomorrow holds. I know 00:59:52.190 --> 00:59:54.909 that Charlie didn't go into Wednesday thinking, 00:59:54.989 --> 00:59:58.869 I'm going to die today. But I do know from his 00:59:58.869 --> 01:00:00.869 testimony in his life that every single day of 01:00:00.869 --> 01:00:02.489 his life, he was like, God, my life is yours. 01:00:03.989 --> 01:00:06.900 I belong to you. Do with me what you will. I 01:00:06.900 --> 01:00:08.880 read one article that said every time he would 01:00:08.880 --> 01:00:11.460 go on stage to do the events like he was doing, 01:00:11.639 --> 01:00:14.219 he would say, God, this is your event and I'm 01:00:14.219 --> 01:00:16.980 your vessel and please use me to accomplish whatever 01:00:16.980 --> 01:00:21.639 you want in these people's lives. That's how 01:00:21.639 --> 01:00:24.619 we're called to live. We don't know the big picture. 01:00:24.659 --> 01:00:28.760 God does. And so every moment of every life, 01:00:28.820 --> 01:00:30.699 we gotta be living that part of the picture that 01:00:30.699 --> 01:00:32.800 we're in. It could be more than you can imagine. 01:00:33.960 --> 01:00:35.960 God could be calling you to separate something 01:00:35.960 --> 01:00:37.559 that's going to be beautiful and you're hanging 01:00:37.559 --> 01:00:40.219 on to these things still. God's like, I can't 01:00:40.219 --> 01:00:41.780 get you here while you're hanging on to that. 01:00:44.699 --> 01:00:47.940 So Jacob's exodus from Paddan Aram, it's a testimony 01:00:47.940 --> 01:00:50.019 to God's sovereignty amidst all the deception 01:00:50.019 --> 01:00:53.659 and the betrayal and the lies and the conniving 01:00:53.659 --> 01:00:57.099 and the theft and the anger. God was still at 01:00:57.099 --> 01:01:00.389 work in all of it. because he was sanctifying 01:01:00.389 --> 01:01:03.409 Jacob. He was sanctifying the man that was his. 01:01:03.530 --> 01:01:05.889 He was doing the work of molding him and shaping 01:01:05.889 --> 01:01:08.369 him, and God was at work through all of it, just 01:01:08.369 --> 01:01:11.030 as he is in all of our lives. God is at work 01:01:11.030 --> 01:01:13.989 in your life today. In the midst of whatever 01:01:13.989 --> 01:01:17.090 you're going through, God is still at work. God 01:01:17.090 --> 01:01:19.230 still provides in his way in his time. He still 01:01:19.230 --> 01:01:21.349 protects in his way in his time. He still prospers 01:01:21.349 --> 01:01:24.900 in his way in his time. And what we see at the 01:01:24.900 --> 01:01:27.800 end of the story is that he shaped Jacob into 01:01:27.800 --> 01:01:32.559 a man of integrity. And Jacob, because of God, 01:01:32.699 --> 01:01:38.079 grew in grace. And that grace led to the exoduses 01:01:38.079 --> 01:01:40.280 in his life where he walked away from the old 01:01:40.280 --> 01:01:45.079 ways to pursue the new ways. And so, yeah, his 01:01:45.079 --> 01:01:47.420 story foreshadowed the exodus of Israel, as I 01:01:47.420 --> 01:01:50.599 said, but the most important thing is it foreshadowed 01:01:50.599 --> 01:01:52.940 the ultimate exodus that is found in Jesus Christ. 01:01:55.039 --> 01:01:57.519 Where Jesus came into this world, into the place 01:01:57.519 --> 01:02:02.099 of bondage, lived here without sin, died the 01:02:02.099 --> 01:02:04.780 death that is due for all the sin that is in 01:02:04.780 --> 01:02:10.699 this world to set you free. He said, all you 01:02:10.699 --> 01:02:12.619 need to do is believe in me, put faith in who 01:02:12.619 --> 01:02:14.900 I am and what I did for you, and you will be 01:02:14.900 --> 01:02:18.639 set free. You'll be freed from the power of sin, 01:02:18.719 --> 01:02:21.179 you'll be freed from the power of death. You'll 01:02:21.179 --> 01:02:22.920 have the hope of heaven knowing that one day 01:02:22.920 --> 01:02:26.000 when you leave this vessel, this fleshly vessel, 01:02:26.219 --> 01:02:28.820 you're going to have the ultimate exodus into 01:02:28.820 --> 01:02:32.760 paradise to be with God forever in heaven. That's 01:02:32.760 --> 01:02:36.159 what he's promised. All of us that are Christians 01:02:36.159 --> 01:02:39.719 as we're living this life, our stories are a 01:02:39.719 --> 01:02:42.510 part of the same story. That Jacob was a part 01:02:42.510 --> 01:02:44.809 of. God is shaping us. He's delivering us. He's 01:02:44.809 --> 01:02:47.329 pruning us. He's growing us. And you may look 01:02:47.329 --> 01:02:49.010 at your life and you're like, yeah, I am far 01:02:49.010 --> 01:02:53.070 from perfect just like Jacob. But God is making 01:02:53.070 --> 01:02:58.050 you into a person of faith. Trust him. Don't 01:02:58.050 --> 01:03:00.489 hide. Don't hold. Don't lie. Don't be dishonest. 01:03:00.489 --> 01:03:03.730 Be the person that can say, here's my life, wide 01:03:03.730 --> 01:03:08.440 open. You're not going to see all the things 01:03:08.440 --> 01:03:10.800 that are hidden because I've thrown them away. 01:03:10.880 --> 01:03:14.219 I want you to see God in my life. And when that 01:03:14.219 --> 01:03:16.320 journey we're on feels too hard, just remember 01:03:16.320 --> 01:03:20.599 that Christ already did all the work. He already 01:03:20.599 --> 01:03:22.559 did all the work. He freed us from that power. 01:03:22.699 --> 01:03:24.719 So don't hang on to the addles of your old life. 01:03:26.340 --> 01:03:28.019 Don't keep carrying that backpack. You're not 01:03:28.019 --> 01:03:30.889 going to grow that way. Let it go. so that you 01:03:30.889 --> 01:03:32.809 would grow in grace, so that you would be the 01:03:32.809 --> 01:03:35.150 person who's quick to give God all the credit 01:03:35.150 --> 01:03:37.030 for the blessings in your life, not taking it 01:03:37.030 --> 01:03:41.050 for yourself. That even in righteous anger, you'd 01:03:41.050 --> 01:03:43.110 be able to stand up and say, this is not right, 01:03:43.210 --> 01:03:48.869 but God will defend me. God will defend those 01:03:48.869 --> 01:03:51.469 that believe in him. God is the one who will 01:03:51.469 --> 01:03:54.889 bring salvation, bring wrath. It's God's business. 01:03:55.030 --> 01:03:59.960 In the meantime, I'm not like you. I'm not going 01:03:59.960 --> 01:04:01.840 to live that way. I'm not going to be that way. 01:04:02.619 --> 01:04:04.260 I'm going to be the new creation that God has 01:04:04.260 --> 01:04:21.980 called me to be. Let's pray. Lord, we love you. 01:04:26.769 --> 01:04:28.809 God, you are at work in this world in ways we 01:04:28.809 --> 01:04:36.210 can't even understand. Lord, we know that you 01:04:36.210 --> 01:04:44.449 allow things that we don't understand. And yet, 01:04:44.469 --> 01:04:49.630 God, you are sovereign. Everything you do, everything 01:04:49.630 --> 01:04:54.579 you allow. is perfectly a part of the good. You're 01:04:54.579 --> 01:04:56.099 working through everything even when we don't 01:04:56.099 --> 01:05:00.059 understand, Lord. And God, every single one of 01:05:00.059 --> 01:05:01.639 us that know you, we're on this journey where 01:05:01.639 --> 01:05:03.739 you are sanctifying us, molding us and shaping 01:05:03.739 --> 01:05:11.460 us, Lord. That God, the more holy we become, 01:05:11.579 --> 01:05:21.079 the more wicked injustice will seem to us. And 01:05:21.079 --> 01:05:22.820 yet, Lord, you're calling us out of the world 01:05:22.820 --> 01:05:24.820 not to be like the world, not to react like the 01:05:24.820 --> 01:05:31.079 world. God, we know you deal with those things 01:05:31.079 --> 01:05:37.340 like what Rachel did. But we know that your grace 01:05:37.340 --> 01:05:41.239 supersedes everything we do, Lord, as we've put 01:05:41.239 --> 01:05:45.519 our faith in you. That where sin abounds, grace 01:05:45.519 --> 01:05:50.000 super abounds. And Lord, we pray for those who 01:05:50.000 --> 01:05:51.960 stand against you. We pray for those who try 01:05:51.960 --> 01:05:54.920 and take advantage of your people. We pray for 01:05:54.920 --> 01:05:59.119 those that want to harm your people, God. We 01:05:59.119 --> 01:06:01.539 pray for safety, yes. We pray for protection, 01:06:01.800 --> 01:06:06.639 yes. But Lord, your word said that no greater 01:06:06.639 --> 01:06:09.059 love has manned than this to lay down his life 01:06:09.059 --> 01:06:14.039 for his brethren. And Lord, we know that the 01:06:14.039 --> 01:06:18.380 sacrifice that is Charlie Kirk's death has ignited 01:06:18.380 --> 01:06:22.199 a flame around the world for you. And we celebrate 01:06:22.199 --> 01:06:26.559 that, Lord. Not his death, but the fruit that 01:06:26.559 --> 01:06:28.260 you are bringing through, that people would come 01:06:28.260 --> 01:06:31.920 to know you. And we pray for the salvation of 01:06:31.920 --> 01:06:34.380 those who don't know you. We pray for the labans 01:06:34.380 --> 01:06:36.320 of this world, that they would be saved. We pray 01:06:36.320 --> 01:06:38.820 for the evil in this world, that it would be 01:06:38.820 --> 01:06:40.760 held at bay by your Holy Spirit until the time 01:06:40.760 --> 01:06:42.340 where you're going to remove your hand. But in 01:06:42.340 --> 01:06:45.219 the process, Lord, we pray that people would 01:06:45.219 --> 01:06:49.590 know you, that are witness. that as peacemakers, 01:06:49.710 --> 01:06:51.409 as those who turn the other cheek, Lord, those 01:06:51.409 --> 01:06:54.030 who stand for righteousness, Lord, and Lord, 01:06:54.090 --> 01:06:56.610 even when we have to express our righteous anger, 01:06:57.289 --> 01:06:59.690 that we would still use those moments to point 01:06:59.690 --> 01:07:01.829 to you and the grace and the forgiveness and 01:07:01.829 --> 01:07:03.650 the mercy and the salvation that is in Jesus 01:07:03.650 --> 01:07:08.829 Christ. Lord, help us as people of faith to grow, 01:07:08.969 --> 01:07:14.429 to grow in the grace that you've given us. To 01:07:14.429 --> 01:07:16.469 continue to walk the exodus that you've called 01:07:16.469 --> 01:07:21.329 us to. To leave the old ways behind. To leave 01:07:21.329 --> 01:07:23.829 the old nature behind. To leave the old idols 01:07:23.829 --> 01:07:29.150 behind. Because we are a new people. We are a 01:07:29.150 --> 01:07:33.530 new creation in Christ. And Lord, I pray for 01:07:33.530 --> 01:07:35.550 just any of those that are in this room or listening 01:07:35.550 --> 01:07:40.750 to this message at any time, God. That may... 01:07:41.389 --> 01:07:43.449 because of circumstances in their life, they 01:07:43.449 --> 01:07:46.829 may be considering extreme action like this young 01:07:46.829 --> 01:07:50.809 man. Yeah, maybe they're considering hurting 01:07:50.809 --> 01:07:56.230 somebody. That, God, they would know that there's 01:07:56.230 --> 01:07:59.329 hope in you, that there's forgiveness in you, 01:07:59.389 --> 01:08:01.070 that there's love that they can never understand 01:08:01.070 --> 01:08:05.070 in you. And I pray, God, for those people to 01:08:05.070 --> 01:08:10.090 come to know you, God. To not act out in the 01:08:10.090 --> 01:08:12.889 violence that the world wants them to do, but 01:08:12.889 --> 01:08:18.489 instead to receive the peace that surpasses all 01:08:18.489 --> 01:08:24.829 understanding. God, we lift up your name. That 01:08:24.829 --> 01:08:29.270 your name would be holy. And that God, for every 01:08:29.270 --> 01:08:33.850 other martyr that's still to come, Lord, that 01:08:33.850 --> 01:08:37.710 you would use their lives. as a catalyst as you're 01:08:37.710 --> 01:08:41.630 doing with Charlie Kirks. Lord, that you would 01:08:41.630 --> 01:08:44.270 work through all these people like Jacob and 01:08:44.270 --> 01:08:46.289 Abraham and Isaac and all the believers in the 01:08:46.289 --> 01:08:49.770 world today, Lord, to shine the light of the 01:08:49.770 --> 01:08:53.949 gospel and nothing else. We love you. We thank 01:08:53.949 --> 01:08:58.989 you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Well, 01:08:59.050 --> 01:09:02.430 if you're dealing with something today, then 01:09:02.430 --> 01:09:07.119 you're here. and you are having the temptations 01:09:07.119 --> 01:09:11.619 to do something extreme and violent, please come 01:09:11.619 --> 01:09:13.859 up and talk. There's no condemnation. There's 01:09:13.859 --> 01:09:19.279 no condemnation in the Lord. Get prayer. Come 01:09:19.279 --> 01:09:20.920 forward and talk with the pastors or the elders, 01:09:21.159 --> 01:09:24.819 because you don't have to do that horrible, violent 01:09:24.819 --> 01:09:28.479 thing that you think you want to do. God could 01:09:28.479 --> 01:09:30.119 change your life. God could change the path. 01:09:31.560 --> 01:09:34.100 For the rest of us, we're surrounded by evil 01:09:34.100 --> 01:09:39.000 in this world. Be a light. Shine brightly. Don't 01:09:39.000 --> 01:09:41.319 live a life of hypocrisy. Don't hang on to the 01:09:41.319 --> 01:09:42.899 things that are going to water down your witness, 01:09:42.960 --> 01:09:47.399 but instead, cast those things aside. The world 01:09:47.399 --> 01:09:49.579 needs Christians to be Christians more than ever. 01:09:50.720 --> 01:09:55.439 We're not perfect, but we are forgiven. We're 01:09:55.439 --> 01:09:57.960 not without sin, but we are full of the Holy 01:09:57.960 --> 01:10:01.720 Spirit. Let God do a work in your lives. Amen? 01:10:02.340 --> 01:10:03.600 All right. God bless you.