People of God, would you please turn with me in your copy of God's Word to Genesis chapter 30. Genesis chapter 30. If you're using the Black Pew Bible there in front of you or underneath you, if you're in the front or back rows, our text is on page 24, continuing on to page 25. I'm going to start at verse 25 and read to the end of the chapter. So Genesis 30, starting at verse 25 on page 24, going on to page 25. When you get there, would you please stand with me if you're able? At home, too, if you're able, I invite you to stand with us. Help you remain connected to us even though you can't be with us in person. Genesis chapter 30, beginning of verse 25. Family, this is the word of the Lord. As soon as Rachel had born Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, send me away that I may go to my own home and country. Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you that I may go, for you know the service that I have given you. But Laban said to him, if I have found favor in your sight, I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you. Name your wages, and I will give it. Jacob said to him, you yourself know how I have served you and how your livestock has fared with me. For you had little before I came, and it has increased abundantly. And the Lord has blessed you wherever I turned. But now when shall I provide for my own household also? He said, what shall I give you? Jacob said, you shall not give me anything. If you will do this for me, I will again pasture your flock and keep it. Let me pass through all your flock today, removing from it every speckled and spotted sheep and every black lamb and the spotted and speckled among the goats, and they shall be my wages. So my honesty will answer for me later when you come to look into my wages with you. Everyone that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, shall be counted stolen." Laban said, good. Let it be as you have said. But that day Laban removed the male goats that were striped and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spottled, every one that had white on it, and every lamb that was black, and put them in charge of his sons. And he set a distance of three days journey between himself and Jacob. And Jacob pastured the rest of Laban's flock. Then Jacob took fresh sticks of poplar and almond and plain trees, peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white of the sticks. He set the sticks that he had peeled in front of the flocks and the troughs, that is the watering places where the flocks came to drink. And since they bred when they came to drink, the flocks bred in front of the sticks, and so the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted. And Jacob separated the lambs and set the faces of the flocks toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban. He put his own droves apart and did not put them with Laban's flock. Whenever the stronger of the flock were breeding, Jacob would lay the sticks and the troughs before the eyes of the flock that they might breed among the sticks. But for the feebler of the flock, he would not lay them there. So the feebler would be Laban's and the stronger Jacob's. Thus the man increased greatly and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys." Family, this is the word of our holy God. Let's pray and give thanks to him for it. Will you pray with me? So Father, we thank you for your word. We're thankful to you that we encounter you in it, that we meet you in it, that we see Jesus in it. So we ask, Holy Spirit, that you would help us to see. Would you open our eyes? Would you open our ears? Would you open our hearts that we might see and hear and understand? Would you cause us, God, to know you more, that we might love you better, that we might love like you love? We ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Would you please be seated? So the Hebrew people had been rescued out of Egypt and they're making their way toward the promised land. I mean, these are the first readers of this book we've been studying together called Genesis. And as they're journeying through the wilderness and wandering through the deserts of the ancient Near East, along the way they'd encounter cities and kings and people groups and armies, all who would oppose them. People who would try to take advantage of them, who would try to use them, maybe mistreat them, try to enslave them again. Kings and armies who would come out and try to prevent them from ever arriving in the promised land. Kings and people groups and armies who would try to prevent them from entering and coming into the promised land. And so we have these first readers of Genesis, and they identify with Jacob in our text. Here's Jacob. He finds himself mistreated and used. Jacob wants to go home. He wants to go back to the land that God promised to give to his grandfather Abraham, his father Isaac. He wants to go home and back to this promised land. And Laban stands in the way. Laban the cheat. Laban the deceiver, Laban who will do anything to keep prospering off the back of Jacob. And he wants to keep him from going back to the promised land. The first readers of Genesis, they'd see themselves here. Jacob is their story. Jacob is their story. Jacob is our story. We're on our way on this journey toward the world made new and whole and right again when King Jesus returns. The promised land in the Old Testament, it's a picture designed to teach us about King Jesus coming back one day to heal the world, to fix all that is broken, to right every wrong. Life with Jesus is following Jesus in this world, making our way toward eternity with Jesus. That's our journey. That's our promised land. And on the way, we encounter people who mistreat us, people who use us. We encounter the spiritual powers who oppose and assail us, the enemy who wants to prevent us from making it to the end, the enemy who wants to keep us from ever entering into that promised land of a world made new and whole and right again. Jacob's story in our text here is courage and hope for those first Hebrews on their way to Canaan. And it's courage and hope for us on our journey toward eternity with Jesus. And so let's jump into our text this morning, and here's what I want us to see in our text. Let's look together at God's justice. We'll look then at God's mercy and last at God's promise, God's justice, God's mercy, and God's promise so that we will find courage and hope for our journey toward eternity with Jesus. Let's start this morning here with God's justice. Now Genesis 30 verse 25 picks up right where we left off last week. Rachel has just given birth to her son Joseph, and that means now Jacob feels free to finally leave Laban. Conceivably, Jacob was a little bit timid about leaving any sooner because his father-in-law keeps showing himself deceitful. And we think Jacob probably assumes that Laban's going to try to keep Rachel if Jacob leaves. It's a way to keep Jacob in the land. But the birth of Joseph here keeps Laban in check. So Jacob comes to Laban, tries to leave. Even so, even with the birth of Joseph, Laban doesn't want Jacob to leave, because Laban has prospered through Jacob's work. Now, Laban, of course, he credits the Lord for this prosperity, verse 27, but it seems like Laban comes to this knowledge through some kind of pagan form of seeking spiritual insight. It's a little unclear in the original language and context, but what is really clear is Laban knows that Jacob is his cash cow, his moneymaker. Jacob, Laban has flourished and prospered. And even in the midst of this flourishing and prospering, look at this also. Verse 30, here's Jacob's reply to Laban. Even though Laban has prospered, Laban has not shared his prosperity with Jacob. Jacob says, I'm not even able to provide for my own family. And there's a hint here, again, of this stinginess of Laban. So Laban says to Jacob, he says, well, how about this? Stay with me and you name your wages. Just work for me a little longer and I'll pay you whatever you think is fair. Jacob, just you name your wages, Laban says. Ever heard that before? Doesn't it sound a little bit familiar? You remember when Jacob first comes to Laban and he begins to work for Laban, Laban comes out and says the exact same thing, name your wages. And Jacob says, how about this, I'll work for seven years and you let me marry Rachel. And what did Laban do? He tricked Jacob back then, didn't he? Jacob suspects here Laban's going to trick him again. And sure enough, Laban does. They agree. Jacob's going to take all the spotted and speckled sheep, the black ones, and among the goats, too. And you have to remember, normally goats in the Near East are black or dark brown. The sheep are white. And so his wages would be the abnormally born one, a true minority among the flock. So there's one scholar. He points out a shepherd's normal wages in the ancient Near East would be about 20% of the flock. But rarely, if ever, would there be that many speckled and abnormally colored sheep and goats. But even then, Laban says, I don't even want Jacob to have that much. So he goes through all the flock before Jacob does, takes all the speckled, all the abnormally colored ones out, sends them with his sons three days away to prevent them from breeding with the black goats and the white sheep. Laban here, he's minimizing the chances, from a human perspective, that any animals would be born abnormally colored. Laban's trying to cheat Jacob again. Laban's trying to prevent Jacob from getting any goats or any sheep. Jacob suspected Laban would try to cheat him, and that's exactly what Laban does. And yet, in spite of Laban's efforts, in spite of Laban's deception and manipulation, God provides for Jacob. God protects Jacob. God multiplies the spotted and speckled animals. Jacob ends up plundering Laban. That's the language here we're going to see in the next chapter, where God tells Jacob that I've taken all of the flocks from Laban and given them to you. Family, this is the justice of God. God gives to that deceiving Laban his just desserts. God gives to that cheating, manipulating Laban exactly what he's earned. God protects here the oppressed and the vulnerable. God gives justice by plundering the oppressor here. This is exactly what that first generation of Hebrews coming out of Egypt experienced. When they leave Egypt, their neighbors lavished riches upon them. The Bible uses this language, says they plundered the Egyptians when they left that land. The story here of Jacob is a story of God's justice for his oppressed people, and it reminds us God protects. It reminds us God provides. It reminds us God gives justice to the oppressed. We might not see it in this life like Jacob does. Jacob gets to see it, we might not get to. But our hope is the same. In the end, God will give justice to his people who suffer at the hands of the wicked. That gives us courage to press on, right? It gives us courage to press on toward eternity with Jesus. Even though you're mistreated, even when you experience oppression, even when you're opposed along the way, we know we will see God's justice in the end. So press on toward eternity with Jesus. Press on toward eternity with Jesus. Now, but some of you are thinking, now wait a minute, Chris. Jacob was a trickster and manipulator too, wasn't he? I mean, Jacob was also deceitful, wasn't he? You say, well, yes. Yes, he was. And so at the same time in our text, we see both God's justice and also God's mercy. Let's look at this together now, God's mercy. Read through the text, we see finally Jacob starting to get it. Jacob, his whole life, he's been self-sufficient, he's been manipulative, he's been grasping and conniving, but finally he's starting to see actually it's the Lord who gives. Life with God is gift, not achievement, as we continue to quote Walter Brueggemann. And so Jacob here in our text, he credits the Lord at the beginning of our text. And in the next chapter, Jacob's going to acknowledge to his wives, he's going to say, it was the Lord who gave us the spotted and speckled animals. This all came from the Lord. Jacob's starting to get it, right? And all this blessing, it is a mercy from the Lord. Just like Rachel in the previous chapter, she finally at the end acknowledges life comes from the Lord. Here in our text, we see all these blessings come only from God. In Jacob's case, God as the source of blessing is magnified by Laban's deception. Laban takes all the spotted ones far away. Only these apparent purebreds are left in the flock. It looks to Jacob, this is impossible. There's no spotted ones left. There's no black sheep left. There's no way that I can get the spotted and the speckled and the black. All the sheep and goats under Jacob's care, there's not a single speckled spotted or black one. And it looks once again like Laban's going to win. So Jacob here, faced with what seems like impossible circumstances. Well, Jacob's like us, isn't he? Maybe God needs a little bit of help. Maybe we need to help God advance his plan. Maybe we need to help God keep his promises. This is just what Rachel does when she turns to the Mandrakes. Jacob seems to take up some kind of local superstition. If I just put this white bark in front of the strong sheep and goats when they're drinking, then when they have babies, those babies will have spots. If I just put the white in the feeding trough, when they have babies, they'll come out different colors. This is how I can make God's promise come true. It's Rachel and the Mandrakes all over again. And it's what we do all the time, isn't it? Somehow I can make God's will happen for me. Somehow I can bring about God's blessing if I just do the right things or if I take matters into my own hand. God helps those who help themselves, right? No friends. Just like the Mandrakes in the previous story, our text and the next chapter in particular, they make really, really clear only God brings about His blessing and promise. And it's here especially that we see God's mercy. Jacob is no less a manipulator and conniver than Laban. Jacob here, he's trying to force God's plan, force God's promise, force God's blessing. Jacob even turns to superstition and magic instead of trusting the Lord. And so how does God respond? How does God respond to Jacob here? He blesses him anyway. He blesses Jacob anyway. Family, this is the mercy of God, undeserved, unearned, even when we're actively trusting in things other than Jesus, and God gives us grace anyway. That's the mercy of God. Jacob's story here reminds us that everything that we have is a gift from God, a gift of God's mercy. The New Testament book, James, says all good gifts, all good gifts come from the Father, a result of His mercy. And we receive that mercy only because of His goodness. It's not because of anything we do, not because of anything I do or you do. We receive God's mercy only because of His goodness. Only because of His general goodness to His creatures and His particular goodness to His people. Undeserved, unearned, simply receiving when we don't deserve it. That's the mercy of God to us. That's the heart of the cross, isn't it? While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. While we were enemies and opposed to the Lord, God loved us and sent His Son for us. While we were outsiders, God brought us into His family. That's the mercy of God. Undeserved, unearned, simply given when we don't deserve it. Press on to eternity, dear loved ones, because God has given us His Son, given us His mercy. And he who did not spare his son, he'll make sure we make it until the end. That's the mercy of God. That's the mercy of God. That's the commitment of God to his promise. Let's look at that now together. We'll end with this, God's commitment to his promise. Our text shows us God's justice, shows us God's mercy. Even more, it shows God's commitment to his promise. Remember, when God first calls Abraham to follow him, God makes Abraham a promise. He says, I'm going to give you descendants. I'm going to make your descendants as numerous as the stars. Go out and see if you can count the sand. That's how plentiful your descendants will be. And I'm going to bless you. And I'll make you a blessing. All nations on Earth will be blessed through you. And I'm going to give you this land, the land of Cain and the promised land. In our text today and our text last week, what we're seeing is God starting to fill out and keep His promise, starting to fulfill that promise. Last section, last week, through that baby competition between Rachel and Leah, God has now given Jacob 11 sons and one daughter. That promise to Abraham of numerous descendants, it's happening. The family of Abraham is growing. Laban says to Jacob that you were a blessing to me, right? That's the promise of Abraham. Through you, all nations will be blessed. Those who bless you, I will bless. The promise of Abraham, it's growing. And here, Jacob's abundance is multiplying. Our text this morning, it ends with these words, right? That Jacob has large flocks, servants, camels, donkeys. The Lord is blessing Jacob. God has multiplied Jacob. God has given Jacob descendants. He's given him abundance. Through him, he's blessed others. And in the next chapter, we'll see Jacob starting to make his way back to the promised land. What God's doing here is he's keeping the promise that he made to Abraham, that he made to Isaac, and he made already to Jacob. And for the first readers of our text, those Hebrews fresh out of Egypt, they'd be reminded here that they, even more than Jacob, they're the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham. Those 11 sons and a daughter, they're now a multitude. They left Egypt with an abundance. They're on the way to the promised land. God then is saying to them, I keep my promise, and I am keeping my promise. For us this morning, we can see, too, we're the fulfillment of that promise. The Apostle Paul reminds us that we who put our hope in Jesus, we are the spiritual children of Abraham. We're the fulfillment of God, keeping all those promises that he made to Abraham. Through Jesus Christ, the good news of Jesus has gone out to the nations. And through that true descendant of Abraham, through Jesus, God has blessed the nations. He's brought in an innumerable number of descendants, blessed us with all the spiritual blessings, all the riches of God to us in Christ Jesus, and he's leading us to an eternity with him. leading us to a world new and whole and right again. God is keeping his promises. He's keeping his promises. You are the fulfillment of God's promises to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And so family, when you're discouraged, when you encounter opposition, when you endure people mistreating you, when you can sense the enemy and the spiritual forces assailing you, take heart. have courage, press on, because God is committed to keeping His promise. You are that commitment. You are that promise fulfilled. And He will bring us safely to the land. God is not slow. He is not absent. He is not distant. He's watching over His plan for His people and for the world. And our text this morning gives us courage and hope to press on toward eternity with Jesus, press on, strengthened with God's justice, strengthened with God's mercy, strengthened by God's commitment to keep his promise. Will you pray with me? And so Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for this reminder of your justice, your mercy, your commitment to your promise. We thank you for Jesus. When we were enemies, when we were outsiders, when we were hostile to you, you brought us in. You made us belong. You made us the fulfillment of your word all the way back to Abraham and Isaac and to Jacob. And so God, where we're discouraged, where we're frustrated, where we're lonely or hurting, would you grant us peace and restore our soul? Would you give us courage? to press on toward eternity with Jesus. We pray in his name, amen.