Turn with me in your Bibles to Genesis 28. By way of update, in Genesis 25, we had the twins were born. 26, we saw it returns back to the narrative of Isaac. 27, we see Isaac give Jacob the blessing. One word, I've struggled for one word. What's one word to summarize Jacob so far? that's appropriate for children to hear. Weasley is a really good word for him. Arrogant? Yeah. What else? Deceiving. Mine was scummy, just kind of scummy. Like I wouldn't, if I shook his hand, I'd have to wash my hand afterwards. I just don't, I don't know. You look at him and you see his dishonesty and you see his selfishness, and he's really the least likely person, I think, so far in Genesis, to be one of the fathers of our faith. I thought about that this weekend. He might be one of the fathers of our faith, but I wouldn't let him babysit my kids. What's that? Spoiled? Good. That's a problem that he's gonna pass on to some of his children. We're gonna see with Joseph. I don't think we could trust him any further than we could throw his 77 year old body at this point. And yet he's the one whom God has said, I'm gonna bless you and through you, I'm gonna bless the nations. Can you imagine that? He's not even a blessing to his family. And God's saying, I'm gonna bless the nations through you. But isn't that the way of our God? That he would bless the most undeserving among us. He would bless those of us who deserve it the absolute least. And I think if you were gonna label this account, if you were writing the headings in your Bible, mine says, Jacob sent to Laban and then he saw, I think the whole heading for this section should be grace. God's grace here. Why in the world is God so good to Jacob? Let's try to get our bearings at the close of chapter 27. Rebekah tells Jacob, tells Esau, I mean, Isaac, excuse me. My life is miserable because of these Hittite women that Esau has married. We must send Jacob away to find a wife. We remember that Esau married two Hittite women and apparently they're making Rebekah miserable. But do you know what Rebekah is really doing? What's she doing here? She's still kind of deceiving a little bit. She's trying to have an excuse for Jacob to get out of the house till Esau cools off. And so Esau has married these Hittite women. She's grieved over it. And now they're sending Jacob off. They're doing what you do with any good son. You say, hey, go meet your first cousin and go get married. All right, obviously things have changed a little bit since these times, but what we do see at the end of 27 and beginning of 28 is Isaac is finally acting like a father to Jacob, isn't he? He gives him three pieces of advice there. Look at verse one. What piece of advice does he give him? Good, don't marry a Canaanite woman. What would be the equivalent today for a father to tell his son? Don't marry a Catholic. A Catholic. Don't marry a Catholic. Alright. Don't marry... I thought somebody was going to say don't marry a Yankee. I thought that was what somebody would have to say. Speak for yourself. No, but he says don't marry Canaanite, which is really don't marry an unbeliever. That's how we should understand that. Don't marry an unbeliever, somebody from these wild, godless clans here. That's the first piece of advice. Second piece of advice in verse two, what does he tell her? Tell Jacob. Good. Marry somebody from within the clan, one of Laban's daughters. And then verses three and four, He gives Jacob that blessing that he should have given in the previous chapter, and he's not being deceived at this point. He genuinely realized he should have blessed Jacob in the first place. He didn't. He wanted to bless Esau, even contrary to God's instruction, even contrary to God's promises. Now he's finally doing what's right. I argued last week that it really appears as though Isaac repented last week of his failures. Now here's what's interesting. There's a little aside here. Esau's listening to this and he goes, oh, all right, if I want to make mom and dad happy, what should I do? Take a non-Canaanite wife. But he misses the point, doesn't he? Who does he go and marry? an Ishmaelite woman, an Ishmaelite woman. This is letter of the law without getting the spirit of the law, isn't it? An Ishmaelite woman would have been part of the line that was rejected by God. And Esau goes out and he marries her thinking this will make mom and dad happy. Well, why didn't that work? For one thing, this was a woman who was still part of a rejected line. But second, now Esau's got three wives. I don't believe that was pleasing in God's sight. He's trying to just make it right and he can't. Unbelievers often will think, okay, if I do this, then things will be okay, but they miss the bigger picture. And that's exactly what we see Esau doing here. He's missing the bigger picture of what God wants from him. Now let's focus on Jacob, looking at verse 10. Jacob is going, he's going to Paddan Aram, where Isaac's family, Rebecca's family was from, excuse me, where Rebecca's family's from. He's traveling about 500 miles. This is about a 500 mile journey on foot. He's not on a spiritual pilgrimage. He's not seeking God at all. He's just traveling along, trying to find a wife. He's about 77 years old at this point. So prime age for picking a wife, right? They're traveling along and he takes a nap. He goes to sleep. He pulls up a rock, puts his head down on it as a pillow and goes to sleep. What does God do there? What does God do? Okay, good. God comes in and interrupts his whole world, doesn't he? Jacob wasn't seeking God at all here. He goes to sleep. He's just on his journey to find a wife. God interrupts, flips his whole world upside down through this dream. And Jacob is a totally different person. Now let me ask you, has God done that to you? I don't mean in the form of a dream where you saw a vision or anything like that, but has God come into your life and so rearranged your priorities that you're no longer a different person than you were? I was 18 years old when that happens. I can remember it as a moment. Some of you don't remember it as one moment. It was a lifelong change. But I want you to think about that. Has God interrupted your life? Has he changed your life around so that you don't think the way you used to think, you don't live the way you used to live? That's one mark of being a Christian is that God has come in and interrupted your path. I love hearing testimonies of people who became believers late in life, or later in life than most of us are accustomed to. Jonathan, how old were you when you were converted? 26. Ron, how old were you? 39. What a neat work of God's Holy Spirit. Sometimes he raises them up from young children. How many of you, all you remember is being a believer? We're trained up in the church. For me, I became a believer at 18 years old. I love the way God works differently in different ways in different lives. But one truth is the same, is that when somebody meets God, they're not the same anymore. They're not the same person. He comes in and he interrupts the things that we would have done, the selfish paths that we were on. He comes in and he changes us. He takes us Jacob, like a Jacob and changes us into who he wants us to be. Jacob has this dream. Tell me about the dream if you've read the story. Give us your best illustration of what's going on here. Anybody remember it? Okay, so there's a ladder going up to where? Up to heaven, good. And he sees angels going up and down the ladder. And what's at the top of the ladder? God is at the top of the ladder. This is interesting. Jacob has traveled east from Canaan. On the way, he would have passed two great structures, a ziggurat. Do y'all remember the ziggurat of Ur? Justin, you know something about that, don't you? All right, I feel better, because I didn't either. It was one of the great structures. It was a religious temple. It had stairs going up each side. It would have looked a little bit like what's going on in Jacob's dream. So you had the ziggurat there, and then he would have kept traveling and he would have passed Babel in all likelihood, and he would have seen the Tower of Babel. What was the attempt of the Tower of Babel? Good. In both cases, it was men trying to build up to God, but what's going on in God's dream is that God reaches down to men. God says, no, it doesn't work. You building up to me, it's me reaching down to you. And so Jacob has this dream and there are three parts of it. We've got the ladder there. What do you think the ladder represents? Good. And we're gonna circle back around to that because Jesus himself picks up this passage in John one and he makes it about himself. What else do you think it represents? Communication between whom and whom. Good. It represents there being a way, a way between God and man. Now we know that that way now, we know that way, the only way is Jesus Christ. So we see the latter. Second, we see these angels. What are angels? Do we believe in angels just out of curiosity? What do we think? Are they real or not? Good. Let me ask you this. When humans die, do they become angels? It's a hard one, isn't it? You hear that at almost every funeral. Oh, heaven needed another angel. You know, actually the Bible says that we will do what to the, the saints will do what to the angels in heaven. We will actually judge the angels. We will be ranked above the angels in greatness in heaven. Isn't that a neat thought? So angels are real, but we wanna make sure that we don't have the whole hallmark idea of angels, precious moments kind of thing. What they are is cute little figures with wings. They were busy beings. And what they did was they did God's bidding. Do you think there's angels that have somehow accompanied us this morning in getting here and being prepared? What do you think? We, yeah, we see the work of angels in this book. What other angels do we see in Scripture? Where else do we see angels busy in Scripture? Christ's birth. Good. Where else? Good. Worshipping, right? What else? Okay, good. The resurrection. Okay, good. In the Garden of Eden. All right, we see angels throughout the scriptures having important roles. Their roles, as far as I can remember, their roles are almost always tied to the sin, fall, and redemption of man through Jesus Christ. So their main work is what our main work should be. surrounding the work of Jesus Christ, prophesying his coming is what they did in the Old Testament, revealing it in the New Testament, applying it at the work of the resurrection when Jesus was raised from the dead and an angel announced that good news. So we see the angels, the angels delight to do God's work. And the main thing that they're doing is proclaiming the gospel. but they're also protecting the saints. They're warring. If you look in Daniel 9, I believe, they're warring. They're part of the war between human principalities and spiritual principalities. They're doing things behind the scenes all the time. So we see angels ascending and descending. There's a Greek word for angel, angelos. What does that mean? messenger. Good. So really what an angel is, is a messenger, a messenger from God. So they're there and they're going up and down the ladder. And then third, we see the Lord is there and he's sovereign over all of it. It's no coincidence that the Lord is there looking down upon it. Here's what this is intended to communicate to Jacob. In a moment where he's alone in the desert traveling, he's got a brother who wants to kill him. His life is marked by deceit and failure. And what God is communicating is, I am with you. I am here and I am with you. And if anyone or anything is going to touch you, it'll have to go through me. That's what God is saying to him. I am with you. We're told the Lord spoke to him then. Look with me at verse 13. Notice, this is the first time in Jacob's life that God has spoken directly to him. He's had to live on his parents, his dad, and his grandfather hearing the voice of the Lord. But here, God is speaking directly to him. And what does he say? He says, you dirtbag, you weasel, go get right, and then I'll deal with you. Is that what your version says? That's what the King James says. What does your version say? What does God say? Yeah, somebody read verses 13 through 15, if you would. Somebody with a good loud voice. We got feedback up here that's gonna make you have to talk a little louder. God is saying here, I'm with you. This ladder that you see right now will always be with you. You won't always see it, but I will always be protecting you. There will always be messengers coming from and to you to do my business. God is saying, I am with you. Now, what new material did God speak to him? Look at that. Is it all, is it new material or is it repeat? What do you think? What is it? Good. And what is he saying to him? What's he doing? Good. He's repeating. Is that what you're saying? Sorry, I had trouble hearing you from up here. Good, God made Abraham basically three, well, there were more than three promises, but three main things. What were those three main things? I'll give you land, people, and blessing. Land, people, and blessing. And guess what? It's all the same promises here. It's all the same things being reiterated to him. Good, what is it? Good. There's this, do y'all know what this is? We usually say this around Christmas time. What does Immanuel mean? God with us. There is, in the Old Testament particularly, but fulfilled in the New Testament, what's called the Immanuel principle. What is the Immanuel principle, you think? God dwelling with his people. Think of how contrary, how different this is to the idea that most nations had of their gods, most people had of their gods who are far off and distant, who were removed from them, or would only come if the people had done what was right or done what was good. God is saying here, you Jacob, you little rascal, I'm gonna be with you. I'm gonna be with you through all of this. You know, the Emmanuel principle is expanded on all throughout the Old Covenant. Where is it fulfilled? Where do we see it at its height? In Jesus Christ. Yeah, He is Emmanuel. He is God dwelling among the people. Now, let me ask you that. Do you live your life daily? with the Emmanuel principle in mind, with God with us in mind. It should be a comfort every day, but particularly those of you that are going through struggles, those of you who are going through hardships and you're trying to make decisions, do you live your life in light of that principle, God is with me? God is with me. That should do two things for us. One, it should comfort us. How should it comfort us that God has promised to be with us? We're never alone. I think something like 70 to 80% of Americans say they're lonely. A big part of it is we don't know God. How else should it bless us or comfort us? He knows where we are. He knows what's going on in our life. In fact, not only does he know it, but he's sovereign in it. He's not surprised by anything in it. What else? Okay. Good, good. What else should it do though? It should bring comfort on the one hand, but what should it also do to know that God sees and is with me in all things? Accountability. accountability, and we're gonna see this in just a minute, but there should also be a little tremble that goes down your spine to think of that, that God is with us at all times. Before we get to that, isn't it gracious of God that he wants to deal with Jacob as he is? Now, he's not gonna leave Jacob as he is. He's gonna change Jacob, but he meets him as he is. Most of us think God is sitting there going, all right, if John can get his act in line, then I'll be kind to him. Then I'll give him a good life. The scriptures, this is, I think that's why this story is here, is God starts with a man who is really a dirtbag. I just don't like, I don't know if y'all gathered that, I don't like early Jacob. I see maybe too much of myself in him. But God is so good in that he deals with people where we are, not... where he wishes we were. He will take us where he wants us to be, but he starts with us where we are. What a gracious God that he would do that. Now, most theologians argue, and I agree with this, this is probably the point where Jacob was converted. We see a flawed man still, but a changed man after this. I want you to look at his response. Would somebody with a good loud voice read 16 and 17? Good. Do you see the irreverent becoming the reverent here? Do you see an ungodly man becoming a godly man? Really in a matter of moments, because he sees the world in a totally different light. Let's look at the nature of his faith. Verse 17. Good. Good. What Kat said, we don't have the ability of cleaning up our lives. What would it mean if God is sitting there waiting for us to get our lives together? Yeah, yeah, we cannot come to him unless he starts that work in our hearts already. This is what we've already seen with Jacob, is God chose Jacob for whatever reason in his good pleasure before, even before birth. And Jacob was the unlikely candidate of the two. Esau was the elder brother. And yet God chose him and God revealed himself to him. If God did not work in our hearts, there's nobody that would be a believer. If God did not initiate the process, nobody would be a Christian. Do we get that? Do we see that in scripture? If he just sat there and waited and said, Dave, once you get things together, you come to me and we'll have it all worked out. Well, guess what? God would be waiting for eternity alone. But He initiates that work in our heart. He transforms us because sin has deadened us. Sin has made us dumb and blind to the gospel. And God starts that work transforming us in our hearts so that we'll come to Him. Most people, probably modern churches today in America, think that we start that work and that God has His hands tied and He can't do anything about it. Well, we don't serve a powerless God. We don't serve a God whose hands are tied. We serve a God who initiates the work of redeeming sinners. This is what his world is about. This is what God is up to, is redeeming sinners. Look at the nature of his faith, though. If we were to look at verse 17, what's the nature of his faith? Use one word to describe it. Fear, fear. What is the fear of God? That's something I think we get confused on, but what does it mean to fear God? Respect, good, what else? Acknowledgement, good. So he's, did you say a whole other reverence? Total reverence. Good. Cindy, what'd you say? Being in awe of Him. Good. You know, our culture, have you seen those shirts that say, like, Jesus is my homeboy? I appreciate the point that they're conveying. What's the point that they're conveying? Good, and that's a point we want to keep, right? That God is approachable. That's the Emmanuel principle. But it's not, it doesn't stop there. Yes, he's approachable. Yes, anyone can come to him. Even in our sin, we can come to him. But what is the point that needs to be alongside of that? The approachability of God is what? Good, the transcendency of God, the holiness of God. What's that? Good. You just brought my mind to this. What is the word of God meeting us on our level? Condescending. Oh, we don't like when people speak to us with a condescending tone. But when actually what God is doing, anytime he talks to us, he's condescending. He's coming down to meet with us. John Calvin said that anytime God speaks to us, he's doing what? Do you remember? One of the two, y'all. I'd like you to use English, preferably. He's babbling. I know, that was pretty narrow what I was looking for there. But he babbles to us, like when you talk to a baby and you go, oh, and you speak in baby words and your baby's probably looking at you going, what's wrong with these people? But that's really how God has to speak to us on such a low level for us to understand and yet he's pleased to do it. Let's talk for a minute about worship. and the awe of God, the fear of God. How should the fear of God affect worship? What does that look like to approach God through our own devices rather than in the way he's commanded? Okay. Okay, so something that lowers him to be like us almost. And I think a lot of that's gonna be a heart issue. You know, Paul referring to him as Abba is probably not a whole lot different than that. But the point is well taken that as we approach God, it should be in holiness. It should also be in nearness. And we don't wanna sacrifice either of those. Drawing near to him in holiness, but approaching him as one who wishes for us to meet with him. He invites us in. And both are true. Most churches run off one side of the road or the other. Either you've got the view that you have to speak in the these and thous and God only speaks King James English, that kind of view where it's kind of cold and distant. I'm gonna mock both sides. I'm gonna have to caricature both sides. The other is the Jesus is my homeboy and you go to a church service and they start not with holy, holy, holy, but Sweet Home Alabama. And if you think I'm joking, there's a church in South Carolina, extremely famous church where the opening hymn, the one time I watched a service online was Sweet Home Alabama. You've lost the reverence there. Churches are moving in that direction, by the way. There's an attractiveness to make church look like youth group for adults. And that's something I think we need to be cautious of. Because what they're doing in most cases is trying to emphasize the nearness of God, but they're forsaking the holiness of God. We ought to be able to say when we walk into worship what Jacob says here in verse 17. How awesome is this place? There should be a holiness to the worship service that is different than the world. You know, you've got, this is the approach right now among churches, I think, and something I want us to be well-versed in how to communicate with, but there's a desire in churches to make church look less like church. All you have to do is look at construction right now. Church construction, buildings, by the way, after last week's sermon, do you know how many times I've caught myself saying a building is a church? I've had to be very careful there after putting myself on the line. But if you look at construction of church facilities, oftentimes the goal is to make it look as little like a church as possible. to make it look like a traditional church is what people are wanting to get away from. And then you walk into the service and they don't want it to look reverent. They don't want it to look like historic churches have been. It's kind of like saying, we don't want it like our grandparents had it. Well, I think we're throwing out the baby with the bathwater when we do that, aren't we? We're throwing out holiness when we try to lower God to our level and make everything about comfort. Was Jacob comfortable in verses 16 and 17? What do you think? Should there be a little bit of discomfort? I don't mean your chairs. I know those are uncomfortable. But should there be a little bit of discomfort when we get into worship, when we see the holiness of God? Good. Good. Will you expand on that a little bit and a little bit louder? You were saying discomfort ought to be the goal because it's sin being burned out of us. What do y'all think about that? Is that true? That a cavalier attitude towards worship and towards the Word of God is indicative of a heart issue? Yeah, we can never, she said, we can never say, I got this, I understand it, I get it all. All right. He says, how awesome is this place? It wasn't the place that made it awesome, it was the presence of God. By the way, in worship, that is what makes awesomeness, is the presence of God. We're closing every week this month with the hymn, How Sweet and Awesome is the Place, with Christ within her walls. Do y'all know what that hymn used to say before our language kind of warped it? What did the title of that used to be? How Sweet and Awful is the Place. And we think of awful now as just meaning terrible, bad, horrible. But what did it mean when it was written? Good. We've also really lost the meaning of the word awesome because we think everything's awesome today. That's awesome. Awesome shirt. Looks great on you. Things like that. But to be awful is that we would stand in awe of it. Think about your own hearts as you enter into worship today. I want to challenge you that it is very difficult to live in the world and like the world until 929 and then suddenly step into a place of awe and holiness. It's difficult for your children. If y'all are at home watching cartoons or SportsCenter, and then you come here and it's holy time, and we're gonna turn on holy time from 9.30 until 12, and then we can shut it back off and go back to normal. I don't think it works. I think that's why so many people miss the holiness of God on Sunday mornings, is it takes time to cultivate that. Preparing yourself on Sunday to meet, I mean on Saturday, to meet with the risen God. What are some things, practically, that can be done to prepare yourself to meet with God so that you're not just showing up cold, but you're ready for true worship as God is? What are some things that you can be doing? Immersion in the Word. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, I don't get that song easy like Sunday morning. Doesn't make sense. What else can be done in advance to put your heart into a frame of holiness before you walk in? Preparation to see God, to meet with God as He is. Shut everything off. Good, the distractions that are pulling you away. Wilson said prayer, absolutely. I hope you pray for me before Sunday morning. You know, if I preach a stinker of a sermon, I'm gonna say, did you pray for me? I'm gonna put it back on you. What else? Practically, what else? I love, particularly for young parents, because we've had to change our habits going from one to three children, and Stephanie has much of the Sunday morning burden on her own, because I'm up here early. But what are other things that we can be doing practically to prepare our hearts for worship? Thomas Watson said that the heart is like a bell that takes a while to be raised before it can be struck. And I think that's true. If your life is crazy until 9.30 or 10.45, whether you come to Sunday school or worship, don't expect it to calm down a whole lot in worship. It'll still be stirring. What are other things that we can do? Listen to the Psalms. Good. Right. Do you read the passages in advance? Do you listen to the hymns in advance? That's why we send them out on Thursdays so that, especially in family worship, you can take time to prepare your family, prepare your children, prepare your wife or your husband to worship, to really, truly worship. I think if you've had time to look over things, you're far more prepared. Well, let me ask you today, just think about right now in the past 24 hours, have you been preparing your heart? The way you get seated at the start of worship, are you preparing your heart? You know, if you're coming in on two wheels and you're yelling at your kids on the way in, your heart's probably not very prepared. Sometimes that's just gonna happen. I know it is. We've had those days. But setting apart this time as being unique, unlike anything else in the week, will benefit your soul more than you can imagine. Worship is not about one hour on Sundays. It's the whole week, and it's time spent preparing for this. Let me build on something Jonathan said, and then we need to get back to our lesson before prayer time. Jonathan said, confessing sin. And I want to highlight the difference between resting in God's grace and presuming upon God's grace. I come here as a sinner. I have sins that I've never confessed to God because maybe I don't even recognize them in my own life. Yet, if I come here and I'm hiding sin, I'm harboring sin, and I'm saying it's okay because I'm forgiven, that's what's called presuming upon God's grace. And I think that if you come in here presuming upon God's grace over your sin, presuming on it, you're gonna find that your heart's gonna grow hard during worship. Would y'all agree with that? Has that been an experience? It's been personally an experience for me. So God met Jacob in his sin, but God didn't leave him there. God transforms us, and part of the time of worship is that we would confess our sin. The reason I think Jacob was so humbled by God is because he knew he was a little dirtbag. He knew he was a weasel, and that's what humbled him before God. If we come here thinking all is pretty well with me, then I'm not gonna be that concerned about God's holiness, because he and I are a lot alike. No, we're not. All right, let's make a couple points of application. First is this, God protects his saints. Jacob's life was hanging by a thread, Esau wants to kill him, he's alone in the desert, he's vulnerable, and yet God is guarding and preserving his elect. That should be a great comfort to us. You can't see it, but over you and I is Jacob's ladder. with angels rising and descending to do God's bidding in our lives. Dr. Kelly, my systematics professor used to say, we don't know how many things the angels have protected us from this morning alone. I always say, are you sure you're a Presbyterian? We're not supposed to talk about stuff like that. But truly, this is, there is, Jacob's ladder is over us. We are being protected throughout the day. Second, I want you to see here, God pursues us when we're not pursuing him. We often talk about God's sovereignty and election or predestination as if it's a cold theological point to be dissected, but that's not it. It is perhaps the single most beautiful characteristic of God that you and I will comprehend in this life, that while I was not seeking God, God sought me. If somebody asks you, oh, you're a Presbyterian, y'all believe in predestination or Calvinism or election, whatever, say, not that concerned about the terms. What I'll say is I was a sinner. I was dead in my sins and God sought me and made me alive. God receives the glory alone for my salvation. I wasn't looking for him first. I wasn't getting my life in order so that he would love me. I was an utter mess and God pursued me. That's our theology in a nutshell. God pursued me while I was running away. Third, I want you to digest this one for a minute. God is a speaking God. God is a speaking God. I have heard so many times, and I thought it myself, if I could just hear God's voice, if I could just have a Jacob's Ladder experience, and God meet me there and tell me all these things, and then I would have so much more faith. But what you see here, other than the fact God says, I'll be with you, and he had said something similar to Abraham, God doesn't really tell Jacob anything new here, does he? God's just reaffirming his covenant promises. You and I have more information than Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob, don't we? We have more than any of them understood in their earthly life that has been revealed to us in Scripture. And no, we don't have God come and speak to us in the same way. because we have the scriptures. And if you feel a burden to have God speak out loud to you, you know what you can do? Read your Bible out loud. If you wanna hear the voice of God audibly, read your Bible out loud. That's where God has spoken more to us than any of the times he spoke to the saints of the Old Testament. Hebrews 1, one through three, long ago and at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son, whom he has appointed the heir of all things. We don't need a Jacob's Ladder experience to know that it's true. We simply need God's word. The scriptures contain everything we need to know for life and godliness. Let me show you real quick how much more we know than what Jacob knew. Flip over to John 1. John 1 towards the end of the chapter. Jesus calls Nathanael, he's called Philip. Nathanael is the one that famously said, can anything good come out of Nazareth? You about to throw your bulletin at me, Wilson? Yeah. I still got one minute. And Nathaniel believes and Jesus says, you believe because I said this, but you will see greater things than these. And then Jesus says in verse 51, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on what? The son of man. What is he saying? I'm the ladder, I'm the way. We understand what Jacob could not have understood. We see in a way that he couldn't have seen. What you and I have in the scriptures is everything that we could ever need to know in this life to follow God. We don't need some ecstatic experience because we have the scriptures. We have far more than Jacob did.