Be seated. And please open your Bibles to Genesis 29. We continue making our way through this book of beginnings. It'll take more than a hurricane to stop us from our study of Genesis. Chapter by chapter, precept by precept, tonight we'll be considering the first 30 verses of Genesis 29. And you can find that on page 21 in your Pew Bible. Genesis 29 verses 1 through 30. Brothers and sisters, this is the word of God. So let us all be careful and take heed how we hear, knowing that with the measure we use, it will be used to us and still more will be added unto us. Then Jacob went on his journey and came to the land of the people of the East. As he looked, he saw a well in the field, and behold, three flocks of sheep lying beside it. For out of that well the flocks were watered. The stone on the well's mouth was large, and when all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep, and put the stone back in its place over the mouth of the well. And Jacob said to them, My brothers, where do you come from? And they said, We are from Haran. And he said to them, Do you know Laban, the son of Nahor? And they said, we know him. He said to them, is it well with him? And they said, it is well. And see, Rachel, his daughter is coming with the sheep. He said, behold, it is still high day. It is not time for the livestock to be gathered together. Water the sheep and go pasture them. But they said, we cannot until all the flocks are gathered together and the stone is rolled from the mouth of the well. Then we water the sheep. While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she was a shepherdess. Now, as soon as Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother, Jacob came near and rolled the stone from the well's mouth and watered the flock of Laban, his mother's brother. And then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept aloud. And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's kinsman and that he was Rebekah's son. And she ran and told her father. As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister's son, he ran to meet him and embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. And Jacob told Laban all these things. And Laban said to him, surely you are my bone and my flesh. And he stayed with him a month. Then Laban said to Jacob, because you are my kinsmen, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be? Now Laban had two daughters. The name of the older was Leah and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah's eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance. Jacob loved Rachel. And he said, I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter, Rachel. Laban said, it is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to any other man. Stay with me. So Jacob served seven years for Rachel and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her. Then Jacob said to Laban, give me my wife that I may go into her for my time is completed. So Laban gathered together all the people of that place and made a feast. But in the evening he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob and he went into her. Laban gave his female servant Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her servant. And in the morning, behold, it was Leah. And Jacob said to Laban, what is this that you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me? And Laban said, it is not so done in our country to give the younger before the firstborn. Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years. Jacob did so, and completed her week. Then Laban, gave him his daughter, Rachel, to be his wife. Laban gave his female servant, Bilhah, to his daughter, Rachel, to be her servant. So Jacob went into Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah, and served Laban for another seven years. Here ends the reading of God's holy word, and to his name be praise. Let's pray together. Oh Father, we pray that through this strange and sordid tale, you would teach us more of the love of Jesus Christ for harlot sinners like us, and that you would instruct us in the way everlasting. And I do pray, O Lord, in the midst of a week filled with distraction and anxiety and fear and care, that you would help us, O Lord, concentrate upon your word, that you would rivet our attentions, our minds, and our hearts to your word as it is being preached, and as the Lord Jesus, through the ministry of his spirit, drives it home into our hearts, that we would be changed and conformed more and more into his image, all for his glory. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, it was only a few weeks ago that Vinny was kind enough to give me and my sons Locke and Bo a demonstration in how boomerangs work. You might not have known that we have a boomerang aficionado in our midst, but there he sits. And even more impressive, he didn't just bring one boomerang to the field. No, he brought how many? 30 boomerangs out You just don't, you never know. So I was trying to explain to my sons beforehand what a boomerang does. All they'd ever seen were baseballs and footballs and frisbees with a linear flight pattern. And they just couldn't wrap their minds around the thought that you could throw something. And according to their father, that it does a great big circuit and then it returns. And nevertheless, Vinny showed them on the field just across the street a few weeks ago. that when properly thrown, the boomerang does, in fact, return to sender. Even was able to get me and my boys throwing boomerangs with such precision that we had to jump out of the way at the last minute to avoid being struck. Unlike a little boy named Max, a nine-year-old, back I think it was in 2008, who didn't have a wise boomerang mentor like Vinny to teach him. His friends had picked up a boomerang as a souvenir on a family trip to Australia, and so one afternoon the boys took that boomerang out into a field of practice, and try as they might, no one, to get the boomerang to do what it was supposed to do. And so Max went last, determined to impress his friends. He hurled the boomerang as hard and as far as he could, and then he watched in amazement as this whirling throwing stick, that's what the Australians call them, flew in a graceful, gravity-defying arch. It was working, but by the time he realized the degree of his success, the boomerang had returned and hit him right in the face. Luckily, a local plastic surgeon was able to close the gash on his cheek and reattach his nose. In our passage tonight, we see boomerangs and sin have this one thing in common. They both tend to come back. Jacob, the cheat, gets cheated. The deceiver gets deceived. The scam artist gets scammed. It's almost delicious if it wasn't so maniacal. Realizing, dear friends, the danger of our sin and its propensity to return to sender will teach us to hate it all the more, will teach us to turn away from it all the more, and it will also teach us how amazing is the grace of God who saved us from our sins by nailing each and every single one of them through His only sinless Son to the cross of Calvary. And so Genesis 29 teaches many things, the one we'll focus on tonight. is that you reap what you sow. If we learn one thing from this chapter, it is this. You reap what you sow. Sin and boomerangs, after all, do have this one thing in common. First, we'll consider the context After hoodwinking Esau's blessing and his birthright, Jacob's on the run for his life, you remember, to Uncle Laban's house in Haran to the north. It's about the same distance and same relative direction as Statesboro to Augusta. But along the way, something happened. Jacob has a dream in which God breaks in and reveals himself as the latter connecting Sinful man to sinless God. We know that ladder in the fullness of time would be none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, the only bridge between earth and heaven. But this revelation was so powerful and so impressed Jacob that upon awakening, he owned the God of his father and grandfather and dedicated his life in obedience to the Lord. But is it all talk? Will his life bear the fruit of a changed heart? And after weeks of walking, Jacob finally crosses the finish line, a field, where three flocks had gathered to drink from the well there. And Jacob could see that the well was blocked by a great stone. Why a well in front of a stone? Well, it's for the same reason you sharpie your name on your lunch in that shared refrigerator at work. to keep it safe from hungry fridge-raiders. So the stone was so large it could only be moved by the combined strength of several men, a sort of archaic security system, and also a savory little detail for us to just put away for a few minutes. So Jacob hollered out to the men there in verse 4, My brothers, where do you come from? And they said, We're from Haran. Haran, the exact place to which he was heading. What are the chances? So Jacob hones his question a bit here in verse 5. Do you know Laban, the son of Nahor? And they answered, we know him. What are the chances they know the same guy? So Jacob asked this third and final question here in verse 6. Is it well with him? And they said, it is well. And see, Rachel, his daughter, is coming with the sheep. What are the chances? The same town to the same family looking for the same lady, presumably. What are the chances? I wonder what you do with that word, chance. How much stock you put in happenstance. A few days before Charles Spurgeon preached at London's Crystal Palace, he went to test the acoustics. And so he mounted the pulpit and he cried out, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world. It's just a sound test. But Spurgeon remembered, quote, in one of the galleries, a workman who knew nothing of what was being done heard the words, and they came like a message from heaven to his soul. He was so smitten with conviction on account of sin, he put down his tools, went home, and thereafter, a season of spiritual struggling, found peace and life by beholding the Lamb of God. It's just a sound test. What are the chances? Friends, chance had nothing to do with it for Spurgeon and chance has nothing to do with it here for Jacob. And that's important to remember as the people of God in this age and culture in which gangrenous atheism has infected our society, our schools, our government, It's important for us to remember and to preach to our own hearts and any who will listen know chance has nothing to do with it. This world is not ruled by raw and random forces of nature. You and I are not just sentient stardust as the materialist would insist, floating meatballs in space, a highly evolved African ape, You and I were created in the image of a sovereign God who governs every single aspect of your life and human history in perfect power. The preacher, or pardon, Solomon in Proverbs 16 says, the heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. You see, God reigns over every single step of your life. Every single second, every single success, and even every single sin. Our accidents are actually God's divine appointments. Our coincidences are in accord with His divine commands. Your life is not the sum total of your triumphs and tragedies, but rather it is the unfolding of a story written by God before the pillars of creation were sunk, wherein He superintends all things to His own glory and the good of His people. And it's important that we remind ourselves of that, especially when we see it so clearly in the Word of God. Because that understanding of our life, our past and our present, that understanding will redeem the way we look back on former years. And it will equip us to face the trials of today and tomorrow, recognizing that chance has nothing to do with it. Well, what comes next has to be one of the strangest and most endearing first impressions of all history. Verse 10 says that when Jacob saw Rachel, when he beheld her beauty, something came over it. Some of you husbands know what that feels like. As the Spirit rushed upon mighty Samson, it seems that Jacob was so smitten by Rachel's beauty that he took hold of that great stone over the mouth of the well and rolled it away single-handedly like it was a beach ball. You can almost hear him saying, you mean this stone? And Rachel doesn't have a chance to ooh and aah, because as soon as Jacob rolls the stone away, he walks right up to her, kisses her, and then starts crying. Not just crying, the text says, he lifted up his voice and wept. You may have had a strange first date, spouses. I highly doubt it has anything on Jacob and Rachel. Quite a first impression. We've got feats of strength. We've got kissing, we've got crying, but I suspect that you'd weep too if after nearly 500 miles you fell across the finish line and into the arms of the love of your life. And it's important to note that this kiss is not the smoldering smooch of passion. It is the customary greeting of the ancient Near East. It's the same, um, kiss that Laban plants on Jacob in verse 13 of our same chapter. That's the context. What about the contract? Rachel runs to tell her father Laban about this mystery man that's come up from the south and Laban comes running to meet Jacob and we've met Laban before maybe you remember back in Genesis 24 when Abraham's servant traveled north to Haran to find Rachel and bring her back to Isaac. And at first you remember back in Genesis 24, Laban appeared to be a godly man, full of faith. But he begins to show his true colors when it comes time for Rebekah to pack up and follow Abraham's servant home. And Laban begins desperately trying to delay Rebekah's departure. And once again in Genesis 29, Laban strikes us as a godly man. at first. And there are two kinds of men. There are those like Laban who make a stellar first impression, But the more time you spend with them, the more you observe their character, it's a gradual downhill from that first impression. And then on the other hand, there are men, I hope all of us are, and certainly want to be, and those are men who may make a good first impression, they may not, but the more you get to know them, and the more you witness their character in varying circumstances, the more deeply you come to respect them as their character is proven. Laban made a great first impression. He takes Jacob into his home for a month. He gives him a job. He even comes to him and allows him to name his wages. But we'll see that there's more to Laban than meets the eye before the chapter is over. Laban and Jacob strike a deal, a verbal contract there in verse 16. Laban had two daughters. The name of the older was Leah. The name of the younger was Rachel. Leah's eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful and formed an appearance. Jacob loved Rachel, and he said, I will serve you seven years for the younger daughter, Rachel. You understand the parameters of the contract? Seven years of labor for Rachel. It's pretty simple. But why Rachel and not Leah? It's very kind of the Lord. that we don't have to speculate or guess. Scripture offers only one answer. In verse 17, Leah's eyes were weak, but Rachel was lovely in form and appearance. What does it mean that Leah's eyes were weak? I don't know. Maybe it means that to Jacob she just didn't have that sparkle, that fire. We can't be sure. But we certainly know what it means that Rachel, like Sarah and Rebecca before her, was attractive in form and appearance. It seems to me that when it comes to physical beauty, in a prospective spouse, that believers can slide into error in two directions. And I say prospective spouse, I think married folk make the same mistakes as well. We can make too much of beauty. That's certainly the trajectory of our culture, isn't it? We can make too much of beauty, like Samson chasing after Philistines that were pleasing in his eyes, though they were hideous in the sight of the Lord. We can make beauty the ultimate or even the only feature that we really care about or desire in a spouse. It's important to remember, especially if you're single tonight, praying for the Lord to provide you with a spouse. If Rachel's beauty was the primary reason that Jacob loved her, then Jacob was a fool. Because beauty will fade. Smooth skin will crease and fold. Hair will frost and fall out. And gravity comes for us all. Proverbs 31 30 says it, so clearly. Charm is deceitful. You know what charm is? I think the kids call it Riz. Charm is a person's ability to draw people after them and to them. Charm is magnetism, right? What the Bible says, charm is deceitful. Someone's cool, wow, shiny factor. Don't trust that. Don't trust that. Proverbs 31 30 continues, charm is deceitful, don't trust Riz. And beauty is vain. You know what vain means? It's the same word from Ecclesiastes, that means it's empty, it's hollow, here today and gone tomorrow, like ash in the breeze. But a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. So you must prize the imperishable beauty of a heart captured and a life transformed by Jesus Christ as the most desirable, loveliest attribute of a prospective spouse. Or even for you married folks, how important it is for us to remember when the world tells us the most important thing about your spouse is what they look like, the Bible tells us, no, the most important thing about my spouse is his or her disposition to the Lord Jesus Christ. the imperishable beauty. It doesn't fade, but rather it just grows more lovely with age and sanctification. The first mistake that we make when it comes to physical beauty is over-prioritizing it. But the second mistake is to pretend that physical beauty doesn't matter at all. After years of marriage and kids and moves and mortgages and a mountain of life's burdens, it's easy, isn't it, to stop seeing the beauty in our spouses like we once did? After all, isn't the thrill of romance for kids? Well, if it is, nobody seems to have told the lovebirds of Song of Solomon that. Let's flip there real fast. Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon. There it is. Song of Solomon 4 verse 1, "'Behold, you're beautiful, my love. Behold, you are beautiful. Your eyes are doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead. Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes that have come up from the washing, all of which bears twins, and not one among them has lost its young. Your lips are like a scarlet thread. Your mouth is lovely. Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil. Your neck is like the Tower of David built in rows of stone. On it hang a thousand shields, all of them the shields of warriors." And it's important to note that this appreciation of physical beauty is not only a masculine endeavor, As we see in Song of Solomon chapter 5 verse 10, as the wife sings to her husband, my beloved is radiant and ruddy, distinguished among ten thousand. His head is the finest gold, his locks are wavy, black as a raven. His eyes are like doves beside streams of water, bathed in milk. sitting beside a full pool. His cheeks are like beds of spices, mounds of sweet-smelling herbs. His lips are lilies, dripping liquid myrrh. His arms are rods of gold set with jewels. His body polished ivory bedecked with sapphires." So it's good for us to remember Jacob loved Rachel for a reason. And one of those reasons was because she was beautiful in His eyes. You who lack the gift of singleness, you singles who want to get married, and you married folks who definitely lack the gift of singleness or else you shouldn't have gotten married, it's good for you to remember that you were created to be passionately loved. Yes, by God, but body and soul by your spouse. So do you put in the time and the effort to recognize the beauty of your beloved and to maintain your own as best you can through diet and exercise? Do you tell them how much you love what you see within them and without? Let us then rejoice in the beauty of the spouse that God has given to us. I don't know about you, but as I've gotten older, Charles Schultz peanut cartoons just get funnier and funnier. They just let the lights turn on that I never understood before in these cartoons. In my favorite bit, Lucy invites Charlie Brown to kick a football that she's holding in place, but he refuses, and you know why. Because each and every time he attempts the kick, she pulls the ball away at the last moment, causing Charlie Brown to soar up into the air and come crashing back down to the earth. But in the Halloween special, she says, it's hilarious, now that I'm grown, this time you can trust me, she says to Charlie Brown. See, here's a signed document testifying that I promised not to pull it away. And then Charlie Brown takes the document, and as he's walking back to his starting point, he's reading the document, and he says to himself, it's signed. It's a signed document. I guess if you have a signed document in your possession, you can't go wrong. This year, I'm really going to kick that football. And you and I know how it ends. For seven years, for seven years, Jacob went to work early in the morning and he came home late with the very same confidence that this signed verbal contract with Laban would hold. And that all this work was worth it in the end because Laban was going to keep his end of the deal. I love the note that because of the love with which he loved her, those seven years flew by for him. So when the time was complete, as was the custom, Laban threw a great week-long celebration and on the first night of the feast, maybe one of the most interesting features of an ancient Near Eastern marriage, the bride and the groom were to consummate their marriage. Which brings us to our final point. The con. As Jacob the con man gets himself conned. Look at verse 23. In the evening Laban took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob. And he went into her and Laban gave his female servant Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her servant. And in the morning behold it was Leah. And Jacob said to Laban what is this that you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?" Because Laban, like Lucy, pulled the football away at the very last minute. He pulls Rachel away and swaps in Leah at the very last second. How could this have happened? You and I have read this passage of Scripture before. No doubt you've wondered, as I have, what happened here? I trust none of you were in jeopardy of making the same mistake on your wedding night. Whoops, wrong bride. How could this have happened? Could it really have been that dark to make that kind of a mistake? Was Leah's veil as thick as the curtain in the tabernacle so that Jacob couldn't see through it? Did Jacob have too much to drink? We don't know. Because the text doesn't tell us and the text doesn't tell us because we don't need to know. Because that's not the point. The point is that the cheater got cheated. Matthew Henry says it so well, Jacob was paid with his own coin. Jacob was paid with his own coin. Jacob who deceived his blind father Isaac to usurp his older brother was deceived by his father-in-law when he, Jacob, could not see into taking the eldest daughter before the youngest. That's the thing about sin and boomerangs after all. God has so ordered his world that our character and our conduct comes back upon us for good or for evil. Proverbs 26 27 says whoever digs a pit will fall into it and a stone will come back on him who starts it rolling our character and our conduct come back upon us for good or for evil Isaiah 3 verse 11 woe to the wicked it shall be ill with him for what his hands have dealt out shall be done to him Galatians 6 verse 7 says do not be deceived God is not mocked For whatever one sows, that will he also reap. And Hosea 8, 7. For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. Our character and our conduct comes back upon us, either for good or for evil. Now, it's very important not to over-apply the principle. There are, of course, exceptions. Jesus Christ, chief among them. He was repaid evil and a most shameful death on the cross of Calvary, not because His deeds were coming back upon Him, but because He was righteous and because He was holy. Not every evil is caused by some past evil, nor is every blessing that you or I enjoy God's paying you back for some past obedience. But the general rule remains, you reap what you sow. Thus Jesus says in Matthew 7 verse 12, whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them. For this is the law and the prophets. Now that ought to cause us to stop and search our own hearts and our own lives. Asking ourselves questions like, am I speaking to my wife or my husband? Am I speaking to my children, my friends, my co-workers the way that I want to be spoken to, the way I want to be spoken of? Am I treating people with the same kindness and dignity and charitable esteem and respect that I hope to receive from them? Or do I live a selfish life? and ends justified the means life, a survival of the fittest, an eat or be eaten life. Jacob is proof the kind of life we live matters and that kind of self-living has consequences in this life and if someone does not repent and run to the cross of Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins, consequences in the life to come. So when we repent of sowing the wind and reaping the whirlwind, the promise of the gospel is that God is kind and faithful to forgive us our sins and bless us in our pursuit of holiness. Why? Only because Jesus paid the ultimate price for our sins and all of our cons on the cross. The beautiful thing about the gospel is that while we may experience a temporal return of our good deeds and our evil deeds in this life, the eternal consequences of the whirlwind that we have sown have fallen upon the Lord Jesus Christ instead. Because he didn't just die for us. He lived for us. What must Rachel have felt those seven years? Actually, we can say those 14 years. Seven to get her, and he got her, and then seven to keep her. What must she have felt those 14 years? as she watched Jacob, her husband, who loved her, rise early each morning and go to work for her. What must she have felt as she watched him come home late each evening, sweaty and dirty and bloody and bruised and tired, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, knowing all along that each and every single step each and every single act of obedience was for her, so that he could have her, knowing all the while that she, Rachel, was Jacob's all-consuming passion. How must she have felt? She must have felt so unspeakably loved. She must have felt so prized. She must have felt so special, so honored, so cherished. She must have felt like we feel or like we should feel when as Christians we read the gospel accounts of the New Testament, when we read of Jesus Christ rising dark and early to pray and to meet with his Father. When we read of Jesus' ceaseless journeying, ceaseless preaching and teaching and healing and feeding of the masses. When we read of Jesus' withstanding in sinless perfection, forty days of starvation and temptation in the wilderness. When we read of Jesus' flawless observance of the moral and ceremonial and judicial laws of God, when we read of Jesus' perfect love for his God and for his neighbors, you and I should feel what Rachel felt as she watched Jacob go to work. Because Jesus didn't just die for you, beloved. Jesus lived for you. Jesus worked for you, exhaustively obeying every commandment of His Father in word and thought and deed. He committed no sin. He omitted no obedience. He fulfilled all righteousness for the joy that was set before Him. What joy was that? What joy was sufficient that He would despise the cross with its shame? That means shake His fist in the face of the cross for the joy that was set before Him. What else can it be but the joy of a relationship with you in glad obedience to God and all for the glory of His Father? Remember that this week. And in the weeks to come that before he died for you, Jesus lived for you so that we would die to sin and to self and the world and live for him. So let us live for the glory of Jesus Christ who lived for us. Amen. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for our wonderful, merciful savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we thank you, oh God, that while we were still sinners, Jesus lived for us. kept the law for us, fulfilled all righteousness for us, and died for us to remove the reproach of our sin, that we might live for Him and for Your glory. Help us to believe these things, to believe them so deeply that we are forever changed, that our lives are marked by this faith that we profess. We ask in