This morning, we're gonna be in Genesis chapter
35 talking about revival, renewal, and residuals.
And if you don't know what the word residuals
mean, it's a financial term primarily that refers
to doing work once and then you continue to reap
the benefits of that work long after the work
is done. But I wanted to open with a story that
highlights the problem that we all have. and
this story is about a scorpion who wanted to
cross a pond. So he wanted to cross the pond,
and he couldn't swim, and he thought, well, this
is a problem. He looked around, and he saw a
turtle, and he asked the turtle for a ride. Can
you please give me a ride across the pond? And
the turtle said, no way, because if you sting
me, I'll drown, and I don't want to drown. And
scorpion said, bro, that's not logical. If you
drown, I drown. And the turtle went, well, that
kind of makes sense. And so he let the scorpion
climb up on his back and proceeded across the
pond. And about halfway across the pond, the
scorpion stung him. And they immediately began
to sink. And before, you know, the poison and
everything set in, the turtle cried out and said,
why did you do it? And the scorpion said, well,
it really has nothing to do with logic. It's
just my nature. Now, that is an illustration
of our sin nature, right? You know, we find ourselves
doing things that's illogical, things that harm
us, things that cause us pain and suffering and
trauma. And then after the fact, sometimes we'll
be like, why did I do that? Like, that makes
no sense. And the reality is it has nothing to
do with logic. It's our nature. We are sinners
by nature. And, you know, the Bible tells us
that we're born in sin. The Bible tells us that
it is the nature that we have, that we've all
been poisoned by this. And Jacob, the man who
we've been studying in Scripture, knew this very
well because through his life, he had stung just
about everybody he had come across, his brother,
his uncle, his own father. As we saw last week
in Genesis chapter 34, the sting of his own sin
even affected his daughter as there was great
trauma and suffering and assault there in Shechem,
all due to his halfway obedience to the Lord.
So yeah, Jacob is the scorpion in that illustration,
but Genesis 35, I love this chapter because this
is where the scorpion gets a second chance. This
is where the scorpion gets a do -over. And, you
know, last week when we looked at Genesis 34,
I had mentioned that it was a godless chapter,
that the name of God, the word God, any moniker
that would refer to him. None of that appeared
in Genesis 34 at all. It was completely devoid
of God. It was a chapter that was just full of
lies and lust and rape and murder, and it's just
a very terrible chapter. Well, if that's what
Genesis 34 is, Genesis 35 is the antithesis of
that. This is a chapter that is full of God.
In fact, the name, the word God, appears 11 times
in the text itself, which is 29 verses long.
Other ways of referring to God's name, like Bethel,
which means house of God, appears an additional
11 times in this chapter. And what Genesis 35
really is, is the first big revival in Scripture.
The first big revival that we see. It's a personal
revival, which is really the beginning of any
revival. And it's a personal revival that began
in one man's heart and then spread out to affect
his entire family. Now the word revive in the
dictionary, it simply means to bring something
back to life. And this is exactly what happens
to Jacob in this chapter with his spiritual life.
Charles Finney once said, revival is simply a
new beginning of obedience to God. You see, we've
heard revival talked about a lot over the years.
And a couple years ago, there was revival in
Ashbury and different places and this great move
of God. You know, revival's great, but we have
to understand revival, it's not emotion. It's
not an event. It's not when the worship goes
on for hours. It's not when the prayer meeting
lasts all afternoon. That isn't revival. Revival
is obedience. Fresh, humble, grateful obedience
to God. That is what revival is. When revival
happens in the heart of a person, it's seen as
that person begins to radically commit to obeying
God in ways they hadn't been previously. And
happily, Genesis 35 records Jacob's revival,
his turnaround, his renewed obedience to God,
but it also records the sad residuals of his
sinful half -obedience. And it's a very important
chapter to understand because as we're here today,
not only to worship and to study the word, we're
also here to celebrate baptism with some people
who are taking this step. That salvation and
taking that step to get baptized and making this
fresh or new or first time commitment to obey
the Lord doesn't mean that the consequences of
past sins go away completely. Now, the eternal
consequences dealt with by God, amen, but sometimes
things are going to still happen. Those residuals
are still going to come in, but it doesn't mean
that God has abandoned us or that God's promises
aren't true or that he's not with us anymore.
But here in Genesis 35, it's this point in Jacob's
life where God finally becomes the center of
Jacob's entire life, and it's a wonderful, wonderful
thing to see. But first, we're going to worship
God and praise his name because he's worth it,
right? Do you guys praise the Lord? Are you thankful
to God for your salvation? That's a youth pastor.
So yeah, like God's work in our lives is amazing.
He's changed everything. He's changed our eternity.
And some of you, he's changing not only your
life, but the family around you. through the
work that he's done in you, and it's an amazing
thing. And so we're so excited to worship God
today, to hear his word, and to celebrate baptism.
So let's pray together, okay? Father God, we
love you so much, and we're so grateful for who
you are. Lord, you are the most amazing, just
almighty, infinite, perfect, loving God. You're
the creator of all things, Lord. You are the
doer of the impossible. And God, you are the
faithful keeper of your promises. And so, Lord,
today as we are gathered together, we want to
glorify you. We want to lift your name on high.
God is your people, Lord. Those of us that know
you here in this room and watching online, Lord,
Lord, we want to just sing loud and praise with
everything we have because you are worth it.
You are worthy. You're deserving of all praise.
God, not only because you died for us, And then
when we put our faith in you, you forgave us
and welcomed us into your family, adopted us
as your children. But then, God, you continue
a process of sanctification and blessing in our
lives, Lord. That you provide everything we need
when we fall into difficult situations. When
we stumble and fall, your promises hold true
that, God, you have forgiven us. That we could
get up and move on and do better. That, God,
your Holy Spirit dwells within us to empower
us to be the people that you've created us to
be. And so, God, we're so grateful. So, Lord,
be blessed today. We honor you in this time.
We honor you in our worship. And, Lord, we ask
that you would speak to us through your word
today. And, God, for those getting baptized today,
Lord, bless them. Lord, bless them so abundantly,
Lord, with your presence. because you are here
with them. You are the God who has saved them,
and Lord, as they make this public proclamation
today to this entire congregation of the decision
they've made to trust you and put their faith
in you, that, Lord, they would know that they
have a whole body of people to support and help
and hold them accountable, Lord. And God, if
there's anybody here in this room today that
didn't sign up to get baptized, but Lord, you're
stirring their heart even in this moment and
in this prayer, Lord. I pray, God, that when
that time comes, they would come forward and
they would get baptized. But Lord, just be glorified.
We love you. We thank you for everything. It's
in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, we are
in Genesis 35 this morning. And as I open, we're
going to be talking about revival and renewal
and residuals. You know, revival often throughout
history, if you study revivals, you look at biblical
revivals, you'll see that they often follow periods
of great wickedness. There's a period of despair,
of evil, of trauma, of pain, or whatever. And
then revival often comes right after that. And
Genesis 35 opens that way. It comes right on
the heel of what happened in Genesis 34. This
chapter 35 opens up with God's call to Jacob.
right after terrible, terrible moral failure.
If you remember, just as a recap, you know, Jacob
was called by God out of Paddan Aram, where he
had lived for 20 years serving his wicked and
deceitful uncle Laban. God had finally said,
it's time to come back to the promised land.
And so Jacob left, and different scriptures point
to the reality that God had intended Jacob to
come back to Bethel. Bethel was the place Jacob
met God on the way out. to Paddan Aram. It was
a place where God reinforced the truth with Jacob
that I'm with you wherever you go. Like, you
can't outrun me. I've made promises to you, and
I am the God who keeps promises, and so I'm always
working on your behalf. And so after 20 years
of sojourning up in Padana Ram, God said, I want
you to come back to that place, that place where
we met, that place where I revealed myself to
you, that place where I reiterated those promises.
And so, unfortunately, what Jacob decided to
do was stop 20 miles short of Bethel in a place
called Shechem. And he settled there. Now, it
was in the promised land. And so there was, you
know, likely a justification in his mind where
I'm like, well, yeah, I'm in the promised land.
So, you know, close enough. And so he settles
in Shechem. And that just led to very disastrous,
traumatic, painful experiences by his family.
The biggest, I think, is his daughter being sexually
assaulted. But then coming right on the heels
of that was his sons then using the sign of the
covenant as a way to deceive all the men of Shechem
and go in and just commit genocide, just slaughter
all the guys there. And then they stole everything
that this town had and just a radical, radical
misrepresentation of God and hurt and harm and
trauma in the family. And this was all a result
of Jacob's hypocrisy. That Jacob as the father,
as the husband, as the patriarch of this family,
who is the one that God had been speaking to
and he was supposed to be the example. Well,
he was a hypocrite because as he might have been
telling his family, God is our God and we follow
him. Jacob stopping in Shechem was not fully
following God. And so his hypocrisy just resulted
in this terrible trauma in his own life, in the
life of his family. And we read chapters like
that, and one of the questions that comes up
is, why did God allow that to happen? Victims
of sexual assault that are believers often wrestle
with that question. Why would God allow that
to happen? When we hear about things happening,
terrible things happening, we hear about trafficking
around the world, whether it's sexual trafficking
of children or organ harvesting and these just
horrible, terrible things, we go, why? Would
God allow that to happen? And, you know, it would
take much longer than the time we have here today
to fully explore what ultimately will not be
a completely satisfying answer to us. But in
this case, why did Genesis 34 happen? Why did
God allow it to happen? I can say this definitively.
It was because that was exactly what would bring
Jacob to the point of being utterly ready to
listen to God's voice. Now, that doesn't fully
explain all the details, but God will often allow
things to happen in our life for our spiritual
benefit. And sometimes those things are trauma
and tragedy, that he's trying to get our attention.
He's trying to get us out of sin. He's trying
to bring us back to him. And that's exactly what
happens with Jacob here. In Genesis 35, verse
1, if you'll read with me, God said to Jacob,
get up. Go to Bethel and settle there. Build
an altar there to the God who appeared to you
when you fled from your brother Esau. So trauma,
terrible crimes, lies, rape, murder, all this
stuff in Genesis 34, God had allowed so much,
but he was done with that. He was done with the
land. It was time for him to intervene, if you
will. It was time for him to come to his child
and to give him that nudge that he needed to
give him. It was time to direct his kid directly.
And so, you know, the devil, we all know. If
you don't know, I think you're lying. The devil's
really good at tempting us to sin, isn't he?
Really good. He knows exactly what buttons to
push, what situations to create. And then after
he tempts us to sin and we give in, he's really
good at then coming right up after and condemning
us after we do. You terrible Christian. You don't
love God. How did you do that? And the result
of that in many people's lives, and really I
think we've all dealt with it one way or another,
is we get tempted. We halfway obey God. We don't
do the right thing. Bad things happen as a result
of those things. We get condemned, and then we
say, you know what? I have to skip church now.
I can't go to church. I can't face God. I can't
go to my community group this week. I can't face
my brothers and sisters, you know? I can't even
crack open my Bible. I just feel so convicted
by that. And, you know, and it's like I just,
I'm such a terrible and wicked and, you know,
bad Christian, and I want to share a secret with
all of you, okay? You are a wicked, terrible
sinner. We all are. That's the truth. We are
all wicked, terrible sinners. So when you stumble
and fall, come hang out with the rest of us terrible,
wicked sinners because we need each other. It's
a part of the process that God has instituted.
You see, wallowing in the aftermath of sin and
the gross swamp of our consequences of our passive
half -obedience doesn't do anything good for
us. It doesn't do anything good for us. It doesn't
help us. It doesn't help our souls. And so God
here, right after Genesis 34, says, Jacob, get
up and get to Bethel. Now Bethel, we know, means
house of God. So what is God saying to Jacob?
Get back to the house of God and settle there.
Don't settle 20 miles away. Don't settle almost
there. Get back to the house of God and settle
there. Now, we know, and I've said it many times,
that it's not this building that is the house
of God, right? This building is where the house
of God meets. We are the house of God. And so
when he's telling Jacob to get back to the house
of God, he's saying get back to where the presence
of God is. And God's presence doesn't only reside
in this building. He resides where we gather,
where two or more of us are together. There is
God. And so what he's telling Jacob in the aftermath
of this sin is you need to get up and get back
in fellowship. You need to get up and go back
to church. You need to get up and go back to
your community group. You need to get up and
go back to those people who are just as broken
and wicked as you are and confess that there
may be healing. Get prayer. Get the support that
I've created in my body. And so he says, build
your altar there. So you remember when Jacob
got to Shechem, it says he built an altar. Well,
I know, God, I didn't do everything you called
me to do, but look, I'm worshiping you. And I'm
going to put some of you just on the spot right
now. There are some of you in this room right
now who are here in church. who just sang worship
to the Lord, and God's going, yeah, I told you
to stop doing that thing or don't do that thing,
and you're going, yeah, but God, I came to church
and worshiped you. Now, worship is good. We need
to do that. Being together with God's people
is good. I'm not saying don't come to church,
but this doesn't replace your duty to obey God.
And so he say, look. Go to Bethel and build the
altar. Go to Bethel and worship me. Get your
focus back on me. Stop justifying. Look at all
the stuff that happens when you're disobedient.
Go back to the place where my presence is. Now,
that's not to say God's not with you when you're
alone, but the idea is the fellowship, the prayer,
the support, the place that God has told you
to be. And stay there. The idea is don't dwell
on the bad. Don't dwell on the bad. Forget the
bad. You messed up. Yes, we confess it. We acknowledge
it. But then we move past it. You see, this idea
of forgiveness is so huge. God tells us in his
word that when we confess, we say, God, I did
this, and I'm so sorry. Please forgive me. It
says the memory of the sin is as far from his
mind as the east is from the west. Do you know
how far that is? It's forever far, right? It's
forever far. And God says, so come back. Come
back to my presence. Let's fellowship. Let's
walk. Let's move. Let's keep going. And oh, but
this terrible thing and these consequences happen
and the result of me disobeying and I just, I
can't open the Bible. He's like, what are you
doing? You know how you're going to overcome
this thing? Get back in my presence. You know
how you're going to have the strength to resist
the temptation? Get back in my presence. And
auxiliaryly, if that's a real word, get back
in fellowship. Get back in prayer. Get back in
support. You know, the Bible tells us something
that I think is very key. In Philippians 4a,
Paul writes this. Finally, brothers and sisters.
Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever
is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,
whatever is commendable. If there's any moral
excellence and if there's anything praiseworthy,
dwell on these things. Jacob, don't stay in Shechem.
Don't dwell on the bad. Move on. I want you to
get to the presence of God. I want you to get
to the house of God. I want you to build an altar
there. I want you to worship there. And I want
you to think of the honorable things, the just
things, the lovely, the pure, the commendable
things, whatever is of moral excellence. If there's
anything praiseworthy, it's him. Go praise him.
Saturate yourself with him. That is how we recover.
That is how we heal. That is how we grow. It's
like Peter, right? Remember Peter stepped out
of the boat. The second he stopped focusing on
the Lord, he sank. Stop looking at the storm.
Stop looking at the bad. Stop looking at all
that stuff. Look at me. Focus on me. Think of
who I am. Think of my promises. Think of what
I've done. Think of what I can do and what I'm
going to do. Now, Jacob, although he was very
stubborn, he was still God's child. And so, as
his heavenly father, after allowing Jacob to
suffer the consequences of his own disobedience,
which I believe a lot of Genesis 34 was, God
now is stepping in, taking the initiative, breaking
the silence, and telling him to get up and go
to be where he's supposed to be. See, 2 Timothy
2 .13 says, if we are faithless, he remains faithful.
Why? For he cannot deny himself. I am so glad
that God keeps his promises. I am so glad that
the fulfillment of God's promises hinges on the
fact that God made the promises and God cannot
lie. I'm so grateful for that. And so he says,
go. You know, parents, those of you that are
parents or have been parents, you know, when
your kids mess up, they don't stop being your
kids, right? You're like, well, you're not my
kid anymore. My child wouldn't do that. Get out.
Can you imagine saying that to a baby? It poops
on itself. It's like you pooped on yourself.
I'll clean it up. Let's keep going. I'm not going
to further that illustration. But when we mess
up, God doesn't stop loving us. God doesn't stop
guiding us. God doesn't stop teaching us and
training us. Yeah, we will experience consequences,
temporal consequences of our sins, and we're
going to talk about that in a moment. But God
is so good. And so personal revival begins in
Jacob. Look at verse 2. So Jacob said to his
family and all who were with him, Get rid of
the foreign gods that are among you. Purify yourselves
and change your clothes. We must get up and go
to Bethel. If you're a highlighter or an underliner,
a circler, whatever, note the word must. We must
get up and go to Bethel. I will build an altar
there to the God who answered me in the day of
my distress. He has been with me everywhere I've
gone. Then they gave Jacob all their foreign
gods and their earrings, and Jacob hid them under
the oak near Shechem. Finally, we see something
in Jacob we've never seen before. Immediate full
obedience. Just no hesitation, no passivity.
Jacob's experience has changed his life. And
again, one of the reasons I believe God allows
terrible, horrible things to happen in our life
is so that we are changed by them. And God knows
the change we need, and he knows the change that
that experience is going to wrought, and it changed
Jacob. For what seems like the first time in
decades, Jacob is finally taking leadership of
his family. Finally. And he says, get rid of
the foreign gods. Why? Because they had plenty.
You guys remember when they fled Uncle Laban's
house, it says Rachel took the family gods? And
Uncle Laban's like, you stole my gods. And Jacob
was like, whoever has them now shall die. He
didn't know that his wife had taken them. It
says she hid them in the saddlebag and sat on
the saddlebag. You know what it doesn't tell
us after that? That she ever got rid of them.
So it's very likely she still had them. And very
likely he knew. The others in his family, I believe
their time in Shechem, it was a pagan Canaanite
place. They had gathered other little trinkets
and items there. And it's kind of weird because
he goes, get rid of your foreign gods and your
earrings. Jacob really doesn't like jewelry,
does he? Like rings are okay, but earrings, got
to go, right? The idea is that the earrings that
they would wear in this place, they were trinkets.
They were like pagan worshiping. talismans, those
types of things. So he's like, get rid of all
that nonsense. Now the kids may have kept their
foreign gods because their mother did, right?
She never got rid of hers. And like I said, I
believe Jacob probably knew this, but he was
so passive, right? He had done nothing about
it until now. And if you want personal revival
in your life, it demands that you stop tolerating
what God forbids. Stop. Stop tolerating. Stop
justifying. Stop finding a way to say, you know,
I know God says that's wrong, but I'm kind of
okay with it. Or just stop. And you will find
personal revival begin in your heart. He says,
purify yourselves and change your clothes. The
idea of purify, it means to be ritually cleansed,
right? When the priests would go into the temple,
they'd have to wash and they had all these. basins
to ritually cleanse themselves. And the idea
was, is before you came before God, you wanted
to wash off all the filth of sin and compromise.
And so he's saying, you know, guys, let's stop.
Let's stop at the compromise and change your
clothes. You know, changing clothes in scripture
or clothing in scripture often symbolizes your
character. And so when we see these times where
there's like this great God moment, we're back
to the Lord. Change your clothes. He's not saying,
like, go put on your nice clothes. We're going
to church now. That's not what he's talking about.
The idea is you are becoming a different person.
Shed the old person. Put on the new person, right?
We've had Bible studies about that. The Bible
talks about us being clothed with the pure white
robes of righteousness. That's the idea, that
you're a different person. You're a new heart.
You're like, I'm not going to be the person I
was before. So I'm so blessed that this study
landed on the day we're doing baptism, right?
Because that's what this represents. You know,
I'm going into the grave. The old person has
been crucified with Christ. I come up, I'm brand
new. I'm a new person. I'm proclaiming that.
It's not that this saves you. You're proclaiming
that God has done that in your life. So then
he says, we must, we have to go to Bethel. Now
dads, you have to understand. how huge of an
impact you have on your children in the family.
Now this isn't to diminish the impact of moms,
so moms, this isn't saying that you have no impact.
But studies do suggest that when both parents
go to church regularly, 72 % of their children
will go. I don't know how you get at 72 % of
a kid, but you know, in the big bucket of people,
right? Now, when neither parent goes to church,
only 6 % of the children will end up going as
adults, which that kind of makes sense, right?
Oops. But listen to this. When there's a mom
and dad and only mom goes to church but dad doesn't,
only 15 % of the children will go to church as
adults. But when there's a mom and dad and only
dad goes to church regularly, 55 % of the children
will go to church as adults. Guys, do you see
the impact? Fathers, do you see the impact? Your
kids are watching you. Now Jacob's family seems
to have responded immediately and they got rid
of the idols and it says they buried it under
the tree. And that's just, again, another powerful
picture of burying the past, leaving it behind,
going under the water. The old life is gone.
That's not who I am anymore. And again, I just,
you know, parents, you have to understand the
sacred right and responsibility that you have,
you know, and I keep bringing this up because
there's so much of this in context of Jacob as
the father and the husband in the family here.
Parents, you have the sacred responsibility and
the right to declare in your children's lives,
this is right, this is wrong. Children spend
83 % of their time under their parents' influence.
83%. The rest is school and church and youth
group and whatever. But 83 % of the time, they're
directly under your influence, parents. It's
not enough to take them to church once or twice
a week for a few hours. And then the other 167
hours a week when they're under your influence.
You contradict what they learn in those two hours
of church a week. It doesn't work. You go to
church, then you go home and you're cussing all
the time. Then your kid cusses. You're like,
where did you learn that? Come on. Really? You
know, dads, you are the spiritual leader of the
home. Your influence often has the most dramatic
effect on your entire family. So don't be passive.
You got to be active. Jacob's family got right
with God after Jacob did. You notice that? That's
a beautiful truth. So dads, fathers, if you're
being less than godly in your speech at home
or your behavior, husbands, if you're not the
one that's supporting and respecting your wife
in front of your children, You are teaching your
children to not support and respect them as their
mother. That's the reality. And so dads, if you're
in this place where you're just kind of being
passive and you're not standing up and you're
not proclaiming what's right and you're not...
standing and saying, get rid of the idols and
purify yourself and change your clothing. Let's
get to Bethel. Well, then you are in sin as a
father. So how do you fix it? Do better. Do better.
Say, God, I want to do better. Help me. And do
it. Proverbs 22 .6, it's a verse we all know.
It says, start out a youth on his way. Even when
he grows old, he will not depart from it. Most
of us might be familiar with the New King James
Version, train up a child in the way they should
go, right? That phrase, train up or start out
a youth, it's hanak in the Hebrew, and it means
to create a taste for. The idea is... You don't
just tell them what is right and wrong. You need
to do that, but you then need to live it in a
way that they develop a taste for righteousness,
that they develop a taste for living godly. So
dad's personal revival, it starts with your active
and full obedience to God. That's where you have
a personal revival. Revival in your family starts
with you. So lead. And you can. God has already
equipped you to do it. He's given you the power.
You just need to yield to his spirit and follow
his word. Now, here in Jacob's life, Jacob's
finally took in the lead. He's doing the right
thing. He's getting his family straightened out
spiritually. Look what happens when he's obedient.
Verse 5. When they set out, a terror came from
God over the cities around them, and they did
not pursue Jacob's sons. So Jacob and all who
were with him came to Luz, that is Bethel, in
the land of Canaan. Jacob built an altar there,
called the place El Bethel, because it was there
that God had revealed himself to him when he
was fleeing from his brother. God has a way of
protecting the obedient. After the genocide by
his sons, Jacob rightly feared retribution. Remember,
he was mad at his sons. You made me stink. Or
in the King James, stinketh. It's really there.
You made me stink to the people. We are few in
number. They are larger. They're going to come
after us. But for some reason, this larger group
of people were terrorized. Now, I imagine the
fact that the sons slaughtered everybody in Shechem
had something to do with that. But still, God
put this terror in these people so they didn't
come after them. God's grace covered Jacob and
his family. And I believe when a man's ways please
the Lord. He's going to find that even his enemies
are at peace with him. And it's supernatural.
Now still, I believe Jacob was looking over his
shoulder the whole time on the way to Bethel.
But the Canaanites never pursued. And so he gets
there. He builds the altars God told him to.
And then it says he called the place El Bethel.
You see, the first time Jacob was here, he was
impressed with the place. And he named it Bethel,
house of God. Wow, there's a ladder here. The
angels are going up and down. This place, this
is pretty cool. But this time when he comes back,
he's impressed with the God of the place. And
that's a major distinction. El Bethel means God
of the house of God. You see, when God told him,
go back to the place where my presence was with
you. That was the thing Jacob needed to key in
on. That was the thing that Jacob needed to be
connected to. You see, it's not the place that
God wants us to be connected to. It's not the
building. It's not the pews. It's not even the
preacher. One of the things that God really ministered
to me when I was in Africa, and I think I shared
the story about this. Or did I? I can't remember.
Anyways, there was this one pastor we met and
the pastor was really excited and he goes, hey,
can I show you guys what God did? And he took
us over and he showed us this really basic brick
rectangular structure with no doors, no roof,
and no windows. And he looks at the group and
he goes, look what God gave me. And he's overwhelmed.
And we're like, but it doesn't have a roof. And
he's like, That's coming. And I'm being told
this story and I'm sitting here going, man, here
I am in America going, our carpet's old. We got
a roof. It only leaks sometimes. He's got no
roof. And he's overwhelmed. He's floored with
the graciousness of God. And it was just a reflection
of, wow, you know, to be thankful for what we
have. You know, and so, yeah, our carpet's old.
And if you don't like it, you know, write a check.
No, you know. But this is God's house, right?
And some people, though, will go to a church
and they'll be very impressed with the place.
Wow, look at the building and the structure and
the paint and oh, and the lighting and the production
and this is so amazing. Wow, wow, wow. And it's
like, that's fine and well, but is the presence
of God in that place? Because that's what we
need to be connected to and attached to. It's
the presence of God. It's not the house of God.
It's the God of the house. And so here at Hosanna,
yeah, the goal is that we know the truth and
live the truth and share the truth, that you
guys know God, you know who he is, and he is
Jesus Christ, and he died for you. And if the
carpet looks old and God is glorified, then praise
God that this is a place where his presence is
lifted up and nothing else. And that doesn't
mean you don't take care of things, right? But
it's having things in the right priority, and
this is where Jacob finally was, El Bethel. So
God's about to renew his covenant with Jacob.
He's about to reaffirm Jacob's new name. But
before that happened, okay, you're here. You
listened to me. You obeyed. We're here at the
place. My presence is here. I'm about to reiterate
the promises, but I need something. I need you
to experience one more thing, Jacob, so you understand
what's taking place. Verse 8. Deborah, the one
who had nursed and raised Rebecca, died and was
buried under the oak south of Bethel. So Jacob
named it Alanbekuth. Deborah was the one who
nursed and raised Rebecca. Now it's very possible
that when he spent the time up in Paddan Aram,
Deborah was there as part of the family, and
then she's come back with Jacob. But either way,
what happens is Jacob's last living connection
to his mother passes away. that this was God
beginning the transition to a new generation.
Everything in Jacob's life that was connected
now to the previous generation, his mother and
his mother sending him away, all of that is now
finished. Now, alon bakuth, it means oak of weeping,
so we do see the sadness that Jacob had, but
the death of Deborah here, just told in one sentence
here, was to remind Jacob and all the people
that, That that era has ended. And starting here
at Bethel, a new era is beginning. And so verse
nine, God appeared to Jacob again after he returned
from Paddan Aram and he blessed him. God said
to him, your name is Jacob. You will no longer
be named Jacob, but your name will be Israel.
So he named him Israel. God also said to him,
I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply.
A nation, indeed an assembly of nations will
come from you and kings will descend from you.
I will give to you the land that I gave to Abraham
and Isaac, and I will give the land to your future
descendants. Then God withdrew from him at the
place where he had spoken to him. Jacob set up
a marker at the place where he had spoken to
him, a stone marker, and he poured a drink offering
on it and poured oil on it. Jacob named the place
where God had spoken with him Bethel. And so
the entire covenant is restated. There's no new
information here, right? This is all stuff that
Jacob had already known. It's just a confirmation
of the old truths. But sometimes that's exactly
what we need. It's not a fresh revelation. It's
not a new experience or a new truth. It's simply
a reminder of what God has already said. What
has already been promised. That's huge. We mess
up, we stumble, we halfway obey, we experience
just the tragedies of that. God allows it to
happen. We finally are ready to hear God's voice.
He speaks, listen to me, get back. Okay, I'm
coming. We get there. And oftentimes when we're
in these spiritual slumps and stuff, we think,
oh, I need to get to a retreat. That'll fire
me up. I need to go to camp. That'll fire me
up. I need this or that. Maybe I need a new Bible,
different translation. That'll fix everything.
Guess what's in the new translation? The same
promises that were in the last one. Guess who
you meet up at that mountaintop? The same God
who's down here with you. Sometimes we just need
to be reminded of the promises that God has made
to us. And so God confirms the name change. I
think in that he's just reminding Jacob, look,
your stumbles in Shechem haven't erased my promises.
Your mistakes have not caused me to want. I'm
not far from you. I haven't left you. I'm still
here. 30 years ago, bro, I told you that you
can't go anywhere that I will not be working
on your behalf. And now that you're finally back
in Bethel, guess what I'm telling you? There's
nowhere you can go where I will not be working
on your behalf. Maybe you understand it differently
now. Maybe it applies differently now, but it's
just this reminder. You know, Ephesians 1 .3
says, blessed is the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual
blessing in the heavens in Christ. Leave that
on the screen. You notice the verb tense? Has.
He has blessed us. That is past. He has blessed
us already with every spiritual blessing in the
heavens in Christ. Do you believe that? Ask yourself
that question next time you halfway obey and
God allows the consequences to happen. And then
ask yourself, do I believe that? He has already
blessed me with every spiritual blessing in the
heavens in Christ. There was a rich guy once
named William Randolph Hearst. A lot of you have
heard of him. There's a story of him spending
an absolute fortune to find this particular painting,
only to find out that he already owned it and
it was in his gallery. Don't get caught up in
chasing the new milestone, the new experience,
the new truth, the new revelation, and forget.
What God has already told you. And forget the
promises that you already have, what you already
possess in the riches of the grace in Christ.
So then God uses here, just really for the first
time, this beautiful phrase. He says, I am God
Almighty. In the Hebrew, that's El Shaddai. I
am El Shaddai, and he uses this to refer to himself.
That name El Shaddai, it's referring to his power
and his sovereignty. It's just that reminder
again that I am almighty God. I am the one who
makes things happen according to my power and
my might. I am the one who fulfills every promise.
It's not you, Jacob. And so Jacob's reminders
and his reaffirmation, his renewal, his personal
revival, great. But that didn't mean that there
would be no more pain in his life. And this is
an important thing to understand, especially
for those of you getting baptized today. You've
put your faith in Christ. Today you're going
to get baptized and proclaim to the church. But
that doesn't mean you're never going to have
problems again. And Jacob was about to experience
the most painful one of his life, verse 16. They
set out from Bethel. When they were still some
distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth
and her labor was difficult. During her difficult
labor, the midwife said to her, don't be afraid
for you have another son. And with her last breath,
for she was dying, she named him Ben -Oni, but
his father named him Benjamin. So Rachel died
and was buried on the way to Ephrath, that is
Bethlehem. And Jacob set up a marker on her grave
and it is the marker at Rachel's grave still
today. We all remember Rachel was the unchallenged
love of his life. Rachel was everything that
he had ever wanted. The moment he saw her, he
fed head over heels for her. He said, I'll work
seven years for free to be able to marry her.
And then Laban switched in the older daughter
Leah, and he's like, I'll work another seven
years for her. She was just his everything. He
loved her so much. She was the favorite in the
family. That was wrong of him to have favorites,
but it was her and her children that were favorites
above all the other kids and the wives that he
had. And then you imagine they're in the promised
land, their journey, and they're finally like,
okay, we're doing what we're called to do. And
they set out from Bethel because ultimately he
was going to go down and see his dad. And his
favorite wife gets pregnant again. Glory to God.
And in all places, the promised land, right?
This child is the chosen one. This is everything.
He had to have been so excited. But then tragedy
comes. If you remember earlier in life when Rachel
couldn't bear children, she told her husband,
give me children or I will die. And now it's
the very gift of children that kills her. The
midwife tried to give her comfort. You have a
son, because that was a big deal in the culture,
right? But still, Rachel, knowing she was dying,
she names him Ben -Oni, son of my sorrow. That
his name would forever signify the sadness of
the moment, the hurt, the pain of the moment.
And you have to imagine Jacob being crushed here.
Absolutely crushed. Rachel's dead, right? But
I have this child. I mean, later on, on his deathbed,
he recalls his sorrow for her. I think it affected
him forever. But here in the moment, after this
personal revival he's been having, he's different.
His faith is different. His obedience is different.
His relationship with God was different. And
that's what we see in the renaming. That Rachel,
as she's dying and passing away, she names this
kid, son of my sorrow. That this child will forever
be a reminder of the sadness and the sorrow of
this moment. But it says, He named him Benjamin.
Benjamin means son of my right hand. The idea
of the right hand is a place of strength, right?
Jesus is at the right hand of the Father. It's
a place of honor and power and recognition. And
what's happening here is that instead of saying,
I'm gonna remember the sorrow and wallow in this
terrible, terrible pain, he says, I'm gonna choose
to see. God's promises in this. God's strength.
God's power. Not only to get me through it, but
to see that even in this moment of sorrow, I
could see the legacy of God's promise coming
through. And so, instead of all of this sorrow,
his faith is now, even in this God, you are God.
Even in this, I could even see your strength
through this. Part of maturing in Christ is knowing
that we grow through trials. That God allows
the trials for our spiritual growth. And it's
important because this is after his revival,
right? Revival. Life is supposed to be great.
I'm never supposed to have a problem again. For
those of you getting baptized today, I want to
celebrate with you and warn you. Things might
get really difficult after today. Why? Because
Satan has ticked off. And he wants nothing more
than to knock you off your spiritual excitement
and your enthusiasm. He wants to get you depressed.
He wants you to give up. He wants you to go,
why did I ever do that? That's what Satan wants
to get for you. Which is why post -baptism you
need to stay in the presence of God because you
need the support and the prayer of the people
around you. This is what personal revival does.
It doesn't erase the pain. It renames it. Instead
of sorrow, he names it strength. And so Rachel
is buried on the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem.
This is the first mention of Bethlehem in Scripture,
and we know this is a very important place. This
is where Ruth would glean, where King David would
be born, and this is where Jesus would enter
the world. And just that picture that even in
the midst of tragedy, God is working, and God's
plan of redemption works through all of it. But
yeah, sin has consequences. And those consequences
can continue through grace and through forgiveness
and through revival. These are just simply the
residual effects of sin. Know that. Be ready
for that. You know, Jacob's past life of unfaithfulness
meant these ongoing effects. And so verse 21,
it says, Israel set out again and pitched his
tent beyond the tower of Eder. While Israel was
living in that region, Reuben went in and slept
with his father's concubine, Bilhah, and Israel
heard about it. I thought this was about Jacob's
revival. Why are all these terrible things happening?
Again, sin has consequences. Now, Jacob is now
referred to as Israel. That's his name of sanctification.
He stops at this place called the Tower of Eder.
It's near Bethlehem. And this other terrible
tragedy happens. And it's mentioned almost as
an aside. That's what's kind of weird to me,
right? And Jacob and Bethel and yeah. Oh, by
the way, Reuben slept with Bilhah. And then let's
go on with the story. And it's just weird. Now,
Bilhah was Rachel's... servant, her handmaiden.
She was the wife that Rachel gave to Jacob, whom
bore Dan and Naphtali to Jacob. But why is this
mentioned so quickly and so nonchalantly? What
is the deal with Reuben doing this? Reuben was
the firstborn. He was the one that was supposed
to get the leadership of the family. He was the
one that was supposed to get the double portion
of inheritance as the firstborn, which that's
what the birthright is. But Reuben had lived
his entire life watching Rachel be the favorite
wife over Leah, his mother. Watching Rachel favored.
Watching her kids treated better than all the
other kids. And now that Rachel was dead, Reuben's
fear was that her maidservant Bilhah would take
her place. That she would become the favorite.
And now her kids and Rachel's kids, they would
all ascend to claim leadership and birthright
over the family. And so Reuben sleeping with
Bilhah was a power grab. It was him going in
to say, I'm going to claim leadership. I'm challenging
the leadership of my father. And I'm going to
secure the birthright for myself. Kind of weird,
but that's how it worked in those days. And so
he felt that his position of firstborn was threatened
after Rachel's death, and so he wanted to secure
his control and his power, and essentially sleeping
with her made her belong to Reuben. So her and
Jacob couldn't raise her up and all that. But
all we're told here is that Jacob heard about
it, and that's it. Later on, though, in Genesis
49, when Jacob's dying, he basically lays the
smackdown on Reuben and says, because you did
that, you're going to lose everything. Every
right and privilege you had as a firstborn. He
says that Joseph's sons, who is Ephraim and Manasseh,
they get the inheritance. They're the ones getting
the double portion. So it was Rachel's kids'
kids that got all of that. And in the leadership
of the family, the scepter was given to Judah.
which is where God starts to set up the line
of the tribe of Judah. So, verse 22, Jacob had
12 sons. Leah's sons were Reuben, Jacob's firstborn,
Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. Rachel's
sons were Joseph and Benjamin. The sons of Rachel's
slave Bilhah were Dan and Naphtali, and the sons
of Leah's slave Zilpah were Gad and Asher. These
are the sons of Jacob who were born to him in
Paddan Aram. And so it just kind of bookends
this with this is the start of the new generation.
This is the genesis of the nation here with these
12 tribes. And we're seeing that God is still
going to be working through all of this. And
then verse 27, Jacob came to his father Isaac
at Mamre in Kiriath Arba, that is Hebron, where
Abraham and Isaac stayed. Isaac lived 180 years
and he took his last breath and died and was
gathered to his people old and full of days.
His sons Esau and Jacob buried him. And so this
whole story of Jacob's revival and his recommitment
and taking the leadership and then experiencing
these horrible things but still having faith,
it just kind of quietly ends with, and Isaac
dies. Isaac was Jacob's father. He was the son
of Abraham. And that concludes this second generation
as now we actively get into what is the third
generation of the patriarchs. So much death,
but so much grace, right? And that's what revival
is. Revival is not an emotional mountaintop experience.
Revival is the slow and steady recovery of God's
faithfulness, even in the midst of loss. obedience
in the midst of tragedy. And so Jacob's treasure,
it was always at Bethel. He just had to take
the 30 -year long way around to get to it. What
about you? Are you on the 30 -year long way around?
You don't have to be. Are you still living in
Shechem, a place of half obedience? A place where
you're like, yeah, I know God and I'm a Christian
and I know I'm saved. But I'm not really fully
doing what God has called me to do. I'm not really
fully committing to the ways of the Lord, whether
it's individually or in my job or my business
or in my family as a husband or a father. Are
you still in this place of just comfortable compromise?
Maybe you feel that you're like, I'm in this
spiritual slump. I don't feel the vibrancy of
my walk with the Lord anymore. Maybe God is saying
to you this morning, get up and get to Bethel.
Not the church building, the presence of God.
Maybe that's what God's saying to you today.
Put away your idols, purify yourself, change
your clothing. Or as Jesus said in Revelations,
return to your first love. When you do, I firmly
believe you're going to find exactly what Jacob
found. Not just the house. of God, but the God
of the house. See, because great revival, it's
not when the crowd sings louder. It's not when
we pray longer. It's when one single heart starts
obeying God completely again. And when you do
that, the people around you are going to be affected.
If you're a father, your family will be affected.
Your husband or wife, your spouse will be affected.
Your business, your coworkers, your employees
will be affected. Your church will be affected.
And then the community is affected. And the county
and the state and the country. But it starts
with you. So if God is speaking to you this morning,
listen. Listen, stop playing around. Now, we're
going to have a baptism here in a moment to close
out our day, and I just encourage all of you
to stick around for that because baptism is this
public profession that there are some people
here going to make today. I've committed to the
Lord. He is mine. I am His. My life has been
changed. And the whole symbolism of the baptism,
right? You go under the water. That's symbolizing
that death. You're burying that old life. And
then you come up out of the water because you
are a new creation. You've put on new clothes.
You have been washed clean. And you're proclaiming
to everybody. That that's what's happened in
my life. And so everybody, you are the public
that is being proclaimed to. So I encourage you
guys to hang out. I know we have a couple that
have signed up and in a moment I'm going to invite
you forward. But if you're here in this room
today and you didn't sign up to get baptized
and you're like, man, I really need to do this.
God is calling me to do this. Even if this is
going to be the moment where you're like, I want
to commit my life to the Lord and get baptized
to profess that. This is a perfect time to do
that. We have clothes you could change into.
We have towels you can dry off with. So don't
let that be your excuse. But what's going to
happen is we'll have the people come forward
to get changed in the back, and then we'll have
myself and Pastor Rick come out and get in the
baptism where we're going to perform the baptisms.
The worship team will be leading us in worship
during that whole time. And so please, worship
God and celebrate with those making this profession
today. Now here in the front rows, if you're
in front of the cameras, I'm going to ask that
you would stay seated if you can because we are
live streaming this and there are family and
friends that love to watch and participate and
so we don't want you to block the cameras. But
if you want to get up and, you know, with order
worship exuberantly, feel free to come over here,
go in the back, do whatever you want, okay? As
long as it's biblical. And we're going to celebrate
together this time. And so let's pray. But if
you're getting baptized today, please come forward
right now. I know there was a couple that signed
up and I think they're here today. Are you here
today? Nobody's getting up. Is that you? You're
getting baptized. Amen. All right. Go ahead and
come forward. Just come all the way forward down
to the back here where you can change. If there's
anybody in here that I said, you didn't plan
on this today, but God is speaking to you right
now. Listen. Get up. Obey the Lord and come and
get baptized today. Now, if during the baptism
the Spirit moves on anybody and you're just like,
you know what? I got to do it now. Just hustle
on up here and we'll figure it out, okay? But
with that, let's pray. And then we're going to
start worshiping the Lord and celebrate with
our brother. God, we're so grateful to you. God,
your presence is so amazing. Your presence is
what changes everything, Lord. It was your presence
that existed before this universe existed. That
it is your presence that indwells this entire
universe. It is your presence that changes us.
that lives within us, that has changed our entire
lives, our heart, given us a new nature. And
so, Lord, we know your presence is here with
us, and we glorify you. God, we thank you, Lord,
that in our lives you would bring us to those
times of renewal and revival. God, I pray for
those of us that may be questioning That very
thing, because we're still experiencing the residuals
of past sin, God. Lord, just remind us. Lord,
we're never gonna be free from sin and the effects
of sin in the sense of total, total absence of
it until we're gone from this earth. So Lord,
if there's those experiencing residual effects
of past sin, God, I pray, Lord, that they would
learn from it, to trust that you're allowing
it for a reason, that they would grow through
whatever it is you're trying to teach them. But
Lord, if there's anybody in here, especially
dads, moms, parents, that have been not living
a good example at home, Lord, I pray, God, that
they would be encouraged by Jacob's story here
where he finally stood up and did the right thing,
especially the dads. It's so easy for us to be
passive, but God, I pray, Lord, that they would
be righteous, godly, not overbearing and oppressive,
but loving, standing for righteousness leading
their family in knowing you. That, God, we would
all be people who would throw away our idols,
cast off all the trinkets and talismans of false
worship. That we would purify ourselves, Lord,
ceremonially to just let your Holy Spirit fall
upon us. That we would be people, God, who remember
that we've changed our clothes. And if there's
those of us in here that maybe have put back
on the old clothing, Lord, help us today to cast
that stuff off and to bury it. Lord, we pray
for our brother getting baptized today and anybody
else that may be coming forward, Lord, that this
day would be the incredible blessing it is intended
to be. That, God, there would be such a powerful
sense of your presence in their life individually,
Lord, and that you would steel them against the
tribulations that are going to come, Lord. That
they, like Jacob, would see difficulty through
a new faith and a new life and a new set of eyes,
God, to understand that even in sorrow, Lord,
there is a strength of God. So, Lord, we praise
you. We thank you. We love you. It's in Jesus'
name. Amen. God bless you guys.