Tonight we continue our study through the Book of Beginnings, the Book of Genesis, Chapter 28. I invite you to take your Bible and open there. It gets real interesting tonight. We've been following the saga of Jacob and Esau, both of those boys growing up in the household of Isaac. and his lovely bride. And there's been some drama, to say the least, in this household. As we just get started, I'll just recap a little bit of what's gone on. In the Bible, we never see the family unit together. We never see Jacob, Esau, with their parents, all together. We never see them together for worship. We never see them together for a picnic. We never see them together doing their chores. Whenever we see them, they're cordoned off. It's like they're a divided family. And one of the things that we get from reading that is that that's not good. It's not good to be a divided family. As we get to that juncture, let me just say something about the sermon Sunday morning as we've been going through the story of Jesus. We'll see a family in Luke chapter 2 that is existing as a true family should exist. So this family that we're looking at in Genesis is a negative example, but the family of Joseph and Mary and Jesus, we see them existing, living, thriving as a family should. thrive under the Lord so a definite contrast there and much instruction for family life and for the Christian life as well on Sunday morning with Jesus in Jerusalem as a 12-year-old boy in that account we have his first words recorded in the Bible when he was a boy. And that's the only real glimpse or episode that we have from his life as a boy. I was starting to say as a child, but Luke really frames his life in stages. And so we'll look at that. But anyway, tonight we've got all we can handle from Genesis 28. So there's this drama. Jacob and Esau they're they're twins, right? They're born at the same time and God has a destiny So we're gonna we got a just a very simple three-point outline We have the occasion for the passage that we're reading tonight We have this divine encounter that Jacob will have and then we have his response so there's conflict and or the occasion, the occasion is the conflict, then we have the encounter, the divine encounter, and then Jacob's response. So God has these, he's got his people, he called Abraham out, Abraham and Sarah had this miracle child, Isaac, they had Isaac when they were late in life, late in life and past childbearing, Isaac comes along and Isaac grows up and they seek a wife for Isaac and all that happens and then Isaac is going to have two sons God has a destiny for these two sons And what I'd like you to look at is I'd like to highlight a verse in chapter 25 is verse 23 if we forget this verse and If we ignore this verse and what God had to say about these two boys, it is to our peril. It is to our misunderstanding of the entire drama of Jacob's life. So these two children struggle together within their mother, Rebecca, And in verse 22, and then she said, if it is so, why then am I this way? So she went and inquired of the Lord. The Lord said to her concerning the struggle of the two boys when she was pregnant. This is what the Lord said to her. Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples will be separated from your body. And one people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger and it's that it's those really those last two lines the one people shall be stronger than the other and the older shall serve the younger the older shall be subservient to the younger and that was backwards for that day the oldest had the advantage. The oldest was first. The primogenitor of that pecking order within the family would have gone to the firstborn. But here, God says it's the older Esau that will serve the younger. So, yeah, God called that. He didn't ask anybody what he should do or what it should happen or how this should play out. God said it would be that way. And you know what? At that point, guess what? The older is going to serve the younger. But we're going to find out that Jacob gets into trouble. Jacob and Rebecca tried to really First, Esau gives up his birthright. You remember he wanted something to eat. He was so famished, and Jacob found an opportunity to get or swindle Esau out of his birthright. He said, I'll give you this stew. You give me your birthright. It's good. Esau gave it up. And then the blessing is stolen. Isaac is up in years. He's blind basically and can't tell the difference between Esau and Jacob and he ends up giving the blessing to Jacob by mistake and that was because of Rebecca and Jacob conniving They're they're together in this and they're they're working this deception out on Isaac, and the blessing goes to Jacob. So there's a lot of conflict in the house after the stolen blessing. And we'll pick it up right here in chapter 27, right there at the end. This really spells out the brother's fury, Esau's fury toward Jacob. Well, verse 42, the end of the verse, Behold, your brother Esau is consoling himself concerning you by planning to kill you. Wow, so Rebekah is telling Jacob Esau is not happy. he's been taken advantage of and he is planning to kill you so it's pretty serious in this household now therefore my son obey my voice and arise flee to Haran to my brother Laban this is really interesting so Jacob is the darling of Rebecca And she is always given the instructions. She's telling him what to do. She's telling him where to go. And she's even got an answer for Esau's plan for evil. You need to skedaddle. Go see my brother Laban. He's over there in Haran. Well, we don't have time, but if you want to go back to where the whole story starts, Haran was a significant place, and it wasn't the land that they were to inherit. So Jacob, because of fear and doubt, Even when God had declared he would be the one who would receive the blessing, Jacob, filled with his fear and doubt, is fleeing and he is going away from his inheritance. So let me just say this as a way to encourage you with the first point. You can take this to the house every single time. When you and I are motivated by fear and doubt, we will always be moving away from God's best. our lives. You will never walk in the will of God when you are driven by fear and doubt. Just the way it is. Why? Because he calls us to be people of faith. He calls us to stand when everybody else is hightailing it. And so we're going to see this unfold before us and we're going to see the consequences of Jacob's fleeing. And here's what you're going to find out. Jacob's problem, Rebecca's problem, Isaac's problem, Esau's problem. All of us have the same problem. We have this little world we live in that we want to control. And folks, that just doesn't work. Because we read it a while ago, what did God say? The older shall serve the younger. You know what? That's going to happen. Except for one thing. Jacob and his mom forced the issue. Instead of resting in God's providence, in his providential care, they're going to manipulate things. They're going to twist things. They're going to steal a birthright. They're going to steal the blessing. It's fake news all over the place. That's all it is. So what happens? Well, she goes on. She says, stay with him, verse 44, a few days until your brother's fury subsides. Esau was furious. until your brother's anger against you subsides and he forgets what you did to him. Then I will send and get you from there. So Rebecca's, she's large and in charge, right? There she is. She'll take care of it. Mama's here. She'll take care of it. We'll see. We'll see about that. He says, goes on and says, why should I be bereaved of you both in one day? Rebecca said to Isaac, I'm tired of living because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth like these, from the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?" It's amusing if it wasn't so full of conflict. So here we go, verse 1, chapter 28. I don't know how far we'll get, but we'll get a little ways here. So Isaac called Jacob and blessed him. so he reiterates the blessing to Jacob and charged him and said you shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan there's a great sermon in this one verse on being linked, or connected, or yoked with people of the same mind. With people of the same God-fearing disposition. Being linked, being yoked, being connected, being friends with folks who love Jesus. That's why they're saying, don't take a wife from the daughters of the head. Don't go to the land of Canaan and take a wife. Shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan's what he said he says arise go to Padan Aram to the house of Bethuel your mother's father and From there take to yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban your mother's brother Okay, he says may God Almighty bless you and and make you fruitful, and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. May he also give you the blessing of Abraham to you and to your descendants with you, that you may possess the land of your sojournings, which God gave to Abraham. So this inheritance just passes through these patriarchs and their families. And this one is going to Jacob. Why? Because Jacob's so smart and clever and his mom helped him manipulate Esau out of the blessing? No. Because God declared it. That's why. Then Isaac sent Jacob away and he went to Paddan, Aram, to Laban, son of Bethuel, the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau. Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan Aram to take to himself a wife from there. And that when he blessed him, he charged him, saying, You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. And that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Paddan Aram. So Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan displeased his father Isaac. And Esau went to Ishmael. Now we read about Ishmael. Back there, Ishmael was a product of Abraham and Hagar, the handmaid. God had not promised that child, He had promised Isaac, but there Abraham and Hagar were trying to help God out. Actually, Sarah was the mastermind of this arrangement, and Esau went to Ishmael and married, besides the wives that he had, Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaioth. So Esau is just off the rails. He's taking a wife from the children of the Canaanites, and he's taking, I think, a third wife here. I might have lost count, but God intended one man and one woman, one wife. from the beginning. Don't ever lose sight of that. You get in the Old Testament and you find, you know, Solomon had a bunch of wives. Well, Solomon was wise king. That must be okay. No, it's not okay. God intended one man and one woman, that institution of marriage between a man and a woman for life till death do you part. That's what he intended And time and time again in the Old Testament, you see them basically coloring outside of the lines with regard to that arrangement, that institution of marriage, if you will. So, Jacob is on the run. That's what I want you to get. He is on the run. He's scared. Esau's going to kill him. I mean, Rebekah made that known to him, and he's going, he thinks, to Laban, right? Maybe not, he's forgotten that there's a great God in heaven who's in charge. His problem is, too small minded. It's all about him, it's all about his world. That's what it's about. And sometimes, you know, folks that don't think about the Lord, that's what it's about. It's all about them, it's all about their little world. And Jacob is getting ready for the encounter of his life. A couple things before we leave that though. I do think it's interesting that, remember how Abraham took care of finding a wife for Isaac? He sent the servant to go find the wife. Jacob gets to go find his own wife. So I don't know, I'm sure Jacob had heard the story about his dad and all that and how that happened. But Jacob is basically on his own in searching for a wife. And the other thing is that what we're going to find out is that once Jacob leaves the care of Isaac, because he's leaving, he's going to see Laban, that he separates from that relationship, there's a physical separation, they're not going to be in the same place, and it's almost like the moment that he is out of the vicinity of his dad, and his mom, that he is under the care of his Heavenly Father. And God is about to reveal to him just how big he is. You see, for most people, even if they say they believe in God, their God that they believe in is very much too small. He's too small to make a declaration like, the older shall serve the younger. He's too small to think for a minute that he would have a plan for your life, or a divine destiny for you specifically. That hadn't even dawned on Jacob. Here he is, in his own strength, going to Laban. So verse 10. We're with the 10-11. The conflict, the occasion, we'll wrap that up. Then Jacob departed from Beersheba and went toward Haran. That was like 40 miles, I think. Back then, that's a ways, that's a distance. He came to a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of the place and he put it under his head and he laid down in that place. So he's on the run, he's outdoors, he's in the great outdoors. And he doesn't look to the side and see curtains or sides of a tent or anything like that. He is out in the open air. The stars make up his ceiling, his canopy. And he is just, there's fresh air. And he's seeing the vastness of the outdoors. And God is about to reveal to him God's own uh, vastness and strength and power and control. And so, uh, Jacob goes to sleep. The Bible says he had a dream. Boy, and isn't this, this is just like what many of us experience in a Christian life. The Christian life is full of conflict and, uh, encounters with God. or opportunities to embrace the God of the Bible, to receive him, to follow him, to acknowledge him, to worship him, and to resign yourself to his will. That's a key point here. So he had a dream. Jacob, see him out there, he's going to sleep, he's in Iran, and behold, The ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven, and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord. I'm El Shaddai. I'm El. I'm the strong God. He says, I'm the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. So he reveals himself to Jacob. And then he says, the land on which you lie, and this is, get that picture, the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and your descendants. Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth. What? I mean, whose plan was that? Jacob's not even married. God's telling him. The promise that was made to Abraham is true for Isaac, it's true for Jacob. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth. You'll spread out to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south, and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. So that was basically God reiterating the promise that he gave to Abraham. He's reiterating that promise to Jacob. So this is the former promise in verse 14. But what did Jacob see? We have a couple of beholds there. We have a behold in verse 12. two beholds there and then a behold in verse 13. So this is something shocking to Jacob. He did, listen, there were places that Jacob had been where he would have expected to meet with God, to worship God and to have a divine encounter with God. He did not expect to have a divine encounter with God there toward Haran. He never expected that. That's why we have three beholds. It's like this is a shocker. What's going on here? He had a dream and behold, what did he see? A ladder was set on earth with its top reaching to heaven. That would have been a great object lesson tonight, just to set up a ladder and then to climb the ladder and just sit on top of the ladder and preach this sermon. But something could have gone wrong. We didn't want that. But he sees a ladder. So what's that mean? What's it mean that he sees this ladder and he says, behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. What's that picture? I mean, just think of that picture. And he's dreaming this. There's a ladder, top reaching to heaven. It's a tall ladder. And then the bottom. is on earth and the angels of God are going up and down. So the angels, plural, angels, and they're ascending and they're descending. Well, I'll tell you one thing it means. It means that there's a lot more going on that meets the naked eye. You know, you and I look out here and we see each other and there's some chairs here and then we go out and we look around and there's this and that. You know, if we're not careful, we don't give God a thought to what He's doing. I'm going to tell you something, God is as busy as He has ever been. God employs angels. God employs the services of the intercession of His Son. God employs the activity of the Holy Spirit. God employs the use of the Scriptures. God employs the use of brothers and sisters in Christ to encourage one another, to instruct one another, to bear one another's burdens, to do all of those things, and then not to mention the principalities and powers and the spiritual forces of wickedness in high places that are involved. I'm telling you right now, there's a lot going on between heaven, God's heaven, and His earth today. And we would do well to tune our ears and open our spiritual eyes to understand that. There's more going on behind the scenes, I'm convinced, than is going on right in front of us. God is at work. Never underestimate God's ability to move hearts, to transform lives, to reveal himself to those who are wayfaring strangers like Jacob So he sees this ladder and really you and I know this Jesus represents that ladder Jesus is the connection between heaven and earth Jesus is that mediator he is that connection This ladder and it's top to heaven behold angels up and down that ladder What are they not ministering spirits sent out? to help and aid Believers? I mean, do we believe that or not? I mean, I believe it. I believe there's an unseen multitude of angels. I believe in the ministry of the unseen Holy Spirit. I believe in the work of the Scriptures in our hearts. It's the power of God. The Gospels, the power of God unto salvation. A lot going on. And behold, oh here, here's the focal point though. And behold, the Lord stood above it. The Lord's above it. You know the Lord's over, He's over it all. He's over His work. He said, I remember Jesus said this, He said, He said, I will build my church. Do you know that Jesus builds His church? And do you know that building of His church is, it's It's built as he draws people into local congregations and he puts us in place where we need to be in those local congregations. And you know what? For a while, there was a time in my life when I was kind of critical of Jesus the builder. I just didn't think he was building very good. How dumb is that? I'm going to tell you something. Jesus does all things well. He is a master builder. He's all we need, really, in the building of the church. Sure, He puts us to use, and we're from little to much use at times, and many times that varies, but He is the master builder, and God is over it all. And He even spoke at that point. The Lord stood above it all, and He said, sounds like, it reminds me of creation. When he was over it all, and there he was as Elohim, and he speaks, and he spoke the stars in existence, and the planets, and the galaxies. What did he say to Jacob? He said, I'm the Lord. I'm the one that said the older shall serve the younger. And by the way, Jacob, you're the younger. You don't have to be a swindler, and you don't have to be a manipulator, and you don't have to be a deceiver. to enjoy God's providence. All he had to do was resign his own will to the will of God. You know what Jacob needed? He needed to be born again, and I think that's what happened here. He's born again. He needed to be delivered from small thinking. He needed to be delivered from fear. He needed to be delivered from doubt. He needed to be delivered from darkness. He needed to be delivered from unhealthy influences in his life? I think God just gives him this dream just out of grace. And notice, how hard did Jacob have to work for this? What's he doing? He's asleep. He's in about the most passive position a person can be in and still be alive. And God gives him the dream. I'm the Lord, the God of your father, Abraham, and the God of Isaac. In other words, Jacob, I got a little more experience than you. And by the way, Jacob, remember I said the older shall serve the younger, so why are you running from Esau, thinking he's going to kill you? And what are you going to believe? He says, the land on which you lie. Not the land that you're conquering. Jacob, wake up. Go rouse an army. Overtake the land. Conquer it. Raise the flag. No. The land on which you lie. I'll give it to you and to your descendants. Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth. You'll spread out to the west, to the east, to the north, and to the south. And in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And let me ask you, hindsight's 20-20, did that happen? Everybody says, Amen. Amen. Next week we'll begin with the future promise there in verse 15 as God shares with Jacob what he is going to do for him personally. And then we'll take it to the house down to verse 22. But how powerful is God? I want you, the takeaway is just to be in awe of God. Because that's a response that the Lord's gonna get from Jacob here in a little bit. Jacob is gonna be so, he's just gonna be surprised and overwhelmed by what he sees in that dream. And should we not be surprised and should we not be overwhelmed by the might and the majesty of our God? I'm telling you. Be enthralled by him and resign yourself to his will father in heaven. Thank you for the time tonight Thank you for the opportunity to be together and to learn from your word it just There are no words Lord to no words of a human orientation just to adequately express our appreciation to you our worship of you our desire Lord to submit to your will. I just pray that you deliver us all tonight from small thinking and that we would stand on your promises and that we would be delivered from fear and doubt and just little mindedness and that we would just be full of thoughts of you. We pray these things in Jesus' name, and God's people said, amen. Amen.