Please take your Bibles and open them up this morning to the book of Genesis.
! Book of Genesis, our passage this morning is chapter 28, verses 10 through 22.
We've been walking through the book of Genesis and continuing that series this morning as we make our way here in the section of Jacob and Esau and this famous passage of Jacob's ladder, stairway to heaven.
I promised our musicians there'd be no guitar solos this morning, but we will take a look at this glorious vision of the Lord.
So if you would, when you found that Genesis 28, 10 through 22, let's stand in honor of the reading of God's word this morning.
Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran.
And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night because the sun had set.
And taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep.
And he dreamed.
And behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth and the top of it reached to heaven.
And behold, angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord, the God of Abraham, your father and the God of Isaac.
The land on which you lie, I will give to you and to your offspring.
Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south.
And in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land where I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.
Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it.
And he was afraid and said, how awesome is this place.
This is none other than the house of God.
And this is the gate of heaven.
So early in the morning, Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on top of it.
He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first.
Then Jacob made a vow saying, if God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear so that I come again to my father's house in peace,
then the Lord shall be my God and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar shall be God's house.
And of all that you give me, I will give a full tenth to you.
The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of the Lord endures forever.
Would you pray with me?
Father, we ask now as we open up your word that you would meet with us.
And that you would speak to us.
And that you would reveal yourself to us.
And you would assure us of all your promises to us in Christ.
We pray all this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
You may be seated.
Well, some of you know that I took a quick trip, very quick trip to New York last week.
I'd been to upstate New York before.
I had some family up there in upstate New York, but never been to the New York, to the city, New York City.
Before.
And we took just about every form of transportation known to man to arrive to the city.
We drove to the airport here in Charleston.
And then an airplane from Charleston over to JFK.
And then from JFK, we had to take an air train to the subway station where we got on a subway train,
which took us to our stop.
And finally, once we arrived there, we crawled up out of the underground with all of our luggage.
And we looked up and we were somewhere wandering in the streets of New York City.
And from that point forward, for the rest of the day, we just started walking up and down the street,
this street and that street, walking all over the place, soaking in as much as we could see.
We were on a mission because we had two days to see as much of New York City as we could possibly cram in.
And my watch, my Fitbit, it said that we walked about 26,000 steps that day, which is highly unusual for us.
We're not used to that sort of walking.
But even as we walked and saw all these different sites, we really only had just kind of this small perspective of where we were.
We were locked in with buildings on either side.
We couldn't see beyond those buildings to the next street over here.
We really just had a ground level view of the city.
That is until that night, later that night.
We went to the Rockefeller Center and we got into this elevator that took us up to the top of the tallest building in the Rockefeller Center.
It went up 70 floors to where we were now 850 feet above the street level down below.
And from way up there, we had a view of the whole city.
And so now finally, we had a whole big picture perspective of the grand thing that we had been walking through that entire day.
We had a much better, broader perspective than we had down at the ground level.
We were no longer walking on a mission, putting one foot in front of the next, trying to make it to the next stop.
We were still, and we could see with a greater perspective the entire city.
We could look and see, oh, there's that street that we walked down earlier this morning.
And we got a bagel from over here.
And oh, there's the Statue of Liberty.
We rode past that on the ferry this morning.
And oh, there's the Empire State Building.
We walked all around it all day long, and we never had a great view until now.
We could finally pause and get perspective on our journey.
And I thought this week, as I read this passage about Jacob's journey here to Haran,
I thought, you know, sometimes our life can feel a bit like this, can't it?
You and I can get so busy.
We live down on the ground level.
And so week to week, day to day, we get so preoccupied with just putting one step in front of the next.
So busy and preoccupied with navigating to the next stop and making it to the next attraction.
That we can lose sight of the big picture.
Some of you, I know that your work is so difficult, you're just trying to survive and make it to the next day.
Others of you, I know, are raising children.
And I know that between the practices and between the events and between the parties,
just keeping the fridge stocked up, that is a battle every single week.
Others of you maybe are past all that.
You're retired, you're empty nesters, and maybe the slowness of your journey has left you feeling like you've lost a sense of purpose.
And what we all need more than anything is to pause and to have God give us a big picture perspective on our journey.
And that's exactly what God does for Jacob here in our passage this morning.
Jacob, as far as he's concerned, you remember he is on a journey to go and find a wife.
His head is down.
He's on a mission.
He's got one step in front of the next.
He's on his way.
But on his way, God interrupts this journey and gives him this big picture reminder that puts everything in perspective.
And so let's take a look this morning and what we'll see is three parts of the journey.
Three parts of the journey.
This will be our outline this morning if you're taking notes.
And what we'll see is that these three summaries of Jacob's journey, they overlap and they are also three parts of our journey in Christ.
Our journey, like Jacob's, involves fleeing, meeting, and responding.
Fleeing, fleeing, meeting, and responding first.
We see the journey involves fleeing.
If you look there with me starting in verse 10.
You remember Jacob is leaving Beersheba and he's heading towards Haran.
And do you remember why he's doing this in the first place?
Do you remember why he's setting out on this journey?
It's two main reasons why.
For one thing, he's leaving because his brother Esau wants to kill him.
And that's a pretty good reason to get up and leave, isn't it?
Now you remember what happened.
Jacob has lied and cheated his way into this blessing that belonged to Esau.
And so we saw this last week.
Jacob tricked his father Isaac and he inherited this blessing.
And so now Esau is fed up with all this trickery.
He's fed up with Jacob and his cheating and he wants him dead.
So Jacob hits the road.
That's one reason.
But a second reason why Jacob's on this journey is because his parents, Isaac and Rebekah,
they want Jacob to marry a nice young woman.
In other words, not a Hittite woman.
Not a Canaanite woman.
And they want him to go and find one of their kinsmen.
They want him to go find Laban and marry one of Laban's daughters.
In other words, they don't want him to behave like Esau.
You remember how Esau married these Hittite women and it made life miserable.
It says it made life bitter for Isaac and for Rebekah.
And so second reason why Jacob's on his journey, he does not want to be like Esau.
Now think about these two reasons here for a minute.
Flee your enemy for one thing and do not behave like him for another.
Flee your enemy and do not behave like him.
On the ground level, if we just stay here in the immediate context,
Jacob is on the run from his brother.
His brother's mad at him.
We understand this.
This is a dysfunctional family.
But you zoom out a little bit and you remember there is a bigger picture at play here, isn't there?
There's a bigger conflict at play here than just this family drama.
If you remember all the way back from Genesis chapter 3, the Lord promised, he told the serpent,
I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring.
And so we know there's going to be ongoing conflict, ongoing enmity between the offspring of that serpent,
Satan, and the offspring of the Lord.
But ultimately, God promises, he says, I will send one offspring who will crush the head of the serpent.
The enemy is at work here through Esau to try and snuff out this promise of a coming snake crusher.
The enemy does not want the Messiah to come.
He knows, of course, God has promised that this Messiah is going to come through Jacob.
And so now he wants to try and snuff this out and destroy the coming Messiah before he even comes.
Jacob's not just on the run from his angry brother, is he?
Jacob is on the run from all the powers of darkness.
Jacob is on the run from the enemy Satan that not only wants to crush him,
but wants to make sure that none of God's promises come true for him.
Christian, I wonder if you realize that the same is true for you.
If you are in Christ,
Do you realize that you, like Jacob, have been blessed by the Father?
That we haven't cheated and schemed our way into this blessing.
By his grace, Ephesians 1 tells us that by his grace,
God has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
He says,
In him we have redemption through his blood.
In him we have the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace.
He says,
In him we have obtained an inheritance.
And we were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.
Here's the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory.
We have been blessed in such incredible ways in Christ.
And do you realize that the enemy is not happy about this?
Do you realize that the enemy makes it his personal mission
to try to keep you from realizing the promises of God for you in Christ?
You know, we get so distracted with our heads down in the weeds of our life,
just one step in front of the next,
navigating to the next stop,
making our way to the next thing,
that we can forget we are being pursued by a spiritual enemy who wants us dead.
The enemy hates that you've been blessed by God.
He hates that we have this beautiful inheritance ahead of us in Christ.
Do you realize he hates you and wants to destroy you?
Are you fleeing from your enemy?
Not only this, but are you pursuing righteousness?
Are you fleeing from him?
And are you by the grace of God working and laboring to be different than him?
You remember Jacob's second reason.
He's fleeing the danger, but he's also,
he's distancing himself from the ways of Esau.
He's trying to not be like Esau.
He wants to behave differently and have a different pursuit.
The same is true of us, Christian.
We're called to flee the enemy and we're called to not be like him.
I've heard someone say before that no one naturally drifts towards holiness.
Have you found that to be true in your own life?
You take your foot off the gas pedal, where do you drift?
You don't drift towards Christ.
You drift towards the ways of the world, don't you?
We have to pursue holiness, pursue righteousness by the grace of God.
And so we're told in the pages of the New Testament,
flee from sexual immorality, 1 Corinthians 6.
Flee from idolatry, 1 Corinthians 10.
Flee youthful passions, 2 Timothy 2.
And not only that, it says, but also pursue righteousness,
pursue faith, pursue love, pursue peace.
And not by yourself, but pursue this along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
Christian, we need to pause and be reminded and not get so down in the weeds of our life,
putting one step in front of the next that we forget that there is an enemy to be resisted
and there is righteousness to be pursued.
And we see here, first, our journey is marked by fleeing.
Not only this, second, second, our journey is also marked by meeting.
Our journey is marked by meeting.
Look there to verse 11.
Jacob flees and on his way, verse 11 says,
he came to a certain place and stayed there that night because the sun has set.
And he's just so tired from this journey, he lays down to rest.
He gets a stone for a pillow.
I don't know how tired you got to be, but apparently he was exhausted.
He goes to sleep with a stone for his pillow.
And it says, as he sleeps, he dreams.
And what does he dream?
Verse 12 says, behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth.
We could also call it a stairway.
And at the top of the ladder, it reached all the way up from the bottom of the ground,
all the way up to heaven.
And behold, what does he see?
The angels of God are ascending and descending on the ladder.
They're going up and down and up and down.
This is much more than just a strange dream, isn't it?
This is a vision.
Jacob gets this vision to see and perceive into the spiritual realm that exists all around us,
but we don't always have this sight to see it, do we?
And he sees these angels, which Hebrews, the book of Hebrews tells us,
angels are ministering spirits.
It's sent out to minister, to serve those who are to inherit salvation.
Angels are ministers and messengers of God.
And here, Jacob, he sees these angelic beings just going up and down,
up and down this stairway, and all the way at the top,
Jacob sees the Lord.
He's standing above it all.
And for this moment, whatever it is that Jacob was fleeing from,
and whatever it is that Jacob is heading towards,
I mean, he's fleeing from something dangerous.
He's heading towards something good, a good thing.
But right here in this moment, none of that matters.
It's all blocked out.
He is meeting with the Lord.
And at the top of the staircase, the Lord speaks to Jacob.
And he does two important things here.
He reveals and he reminds.
The Lord reveals himself in this meeting.
He says, I am the Lord, the God of Abraham, your father,
the God of Isaac.
He reveals himself again to Jacob.
And in this meeting, he reminds Jacob of all of his promises.
And you notice, I mean, they're not new promises, are they?
This isn't really new information, is it?
These are the same promises that we've heard over and over and over and over again
since we first heard them back when God first gave them to Abraham.
It's this promise of prosperity, of posterity, and of place.
We've seen this time and time again, haven't we?
He says, Jacob, the land on which you lie,
I will give this to your offspring.
That's a promise of a future place.
He says, your offspring will be like the dust of the earth.
You will spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south.
And in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
That's a promise of posterity that's ultimately fulfilled in Christ and his people.
And he says, in all of this, Jacob, behold, I am with you.
And I will keep you wherever you go.
I will bring you back to this land.
I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.
That's a promise of prosperity, isn't it?
God with him.
His presence will be with him.
Can you imagine a greater blessing?
Here, Jacob is running from his life on one end, trying to get married on the other.
He's left everything behind.
And he is sleeping on rocks.
And God quite literally parts the clouds to speak with him and remind him of the bigger picture.
He says, Jacob, who I am and what I have promised you are the most important things going on in your life right now.
And notice, he doesn't tell him how he's going to protect him from Esau.
What does he say?
He says, I will be with you, Jacob.
I won't leave you.
He doesn't tell him how he's going to marry his spouse.
He doesn't tell him who he's going to marry.
He doesn't tell him how he's going to find her.
What does he say?
Jacob, I promise your offspring are going to be more than the dust on the earth.
This meeting with the Lord, it completely resets Jacob's perspective.
And Christian, what a gift it is to know.
Whatever it is that you're running from, and whatever it is that you're heading to,
we can set aside time to meet with the living God whenever we want.
We can set aside time to lift up our eyes out of the trials of this life,
out of the pursuits of your life,
and be reminded of who he is and what he's promised you in Christ.
Don't you need this perspective?
Don't we need this holy interruption in our lives?
When we're worried about the attacks from the enemy,
we meet with God, and we remember God is with you.
The God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob is also the God of Steve and Treg and James and Pete.
The God who's promised us these glorious promises here to Jacob
has also promised us incredible promises in Christ.
And he will not leave us until he's fulfilled every word.
Don't we need this reminder?
But when we're unsure about what our next steps will be,
how we'll make it to tomorrow,
how we might pay our bills,
how we might handle our children,
how we might do everything that we've set out to do and accomplish in our life,
friend, slow down, open up this book,
meet with the Lord,
and remember who he is
and what he's promised you in Christ.
What comfort it is to meet with God and rest
in the promises of the Lord.
We need more than anything
to meet with him
and have this perspective that we're meant to see,
that we're meant to see that Christ,
Jesus, is infinitely more worthy of our praise and attention
than anything else that's going on in our lives right now.
Now, it's interesting,
you know, Jesus references this passage.
We just read from it from John chapter one.
John is the only writer that includes this story.
I don't know why.
And he never even picks up on it later on.
He doesn't even tell us how this ends up.
He doesn't even give us Nathanael's reaction.
John chapter one,
Jesus says to Nathanael,
he says,
truly, truly, I say to you,
you will see heaven opened
and the angels of God
ascending and descending
on the Son of Man.
What in the world is Jesus talking about?
What in the world is Jesus saying?
Well, for one thing,
you notice Jesus is claiming
that he is the Son of Man.
As you recognize that title from Daniel chapter seven,
it's this image of the Son of Man,
one like the Son of Man coming
and being presented before the ancient of days
and to him was given dominion
and glory and this everlasting kingdom.
Jesus says,
I am the Son of Man.
Nathanael, you're going to see
that I am the one who reigns forever
over the eternal kingdom of God.
As kingdoms come and go
and rise and fall,
you will see me
at the center of everything
ruling over heaven and earth.
You will see it.
But also,
did you see the connection
with our passage here in Genesis?
Jesus says,
Nathanael,
you will see the angels
ascending and descending on me.
Jesus says,
Nathanael,
you probably know the story, right?
Of Jacob and this ladder,
the stairway out in the wilderness.
What you may not realize,
but what you will,
is that I am the ladder.
I am the stairway to heaven.
I am the one who sends my angels
to and from to accomplish all my will.
I am the one who defends you
from all the powers of darkness.
I am the one who has come down
from heaven to earth
in order to bring sinners like you
up to God.
You will see it.
In fact,
let's go a little bit deeper.
If you stick with me
just for a minute,
I got to chase this rabbit trail here.
When Jesus tells Nathanael,
you will see me,
the you there is not singular.
The you there is plural.
He's talking to Nathanael,
but he says,
you all will see.
If he was from Allendahl,
he might say,
y'all gonna see.
Y'all all will see.
Not just you,
but all y'all will see
the angels ascending
and descending
on the Son of Man,
Jesus Christ.
Not just you,
Nathan,
but all who know Jesus by faith.
All y'all will see
the angels descending
and ascending
on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And again,
John never picks back up
on this in his gospel.
He never tells us
what this is gonna look like.
When is this gonna happen?
And so I wonder,
when is this going to happen?
I can think of
at least two ways
in one sense.
If you are a believer,
you have seen this by faith,
haven't you?
If you have put your faith
in Christ,
what God has done in you
is he has given you
by his spirit in you,
he has given you
spiritual sight
to see Christ
for who he is.
He has given you
eyes to see
and a heart to comprehend
this truth
that Christ is God.
That he is the centerpiece
of human history.
That he alone
is your savior.
That he's king
of the universe.
So in one sense,
we see this now
by faith,
don't we?
But in another sense,
this is just fascinating to me.
Stick with me here,
please.
I learned about this
in an article
from Dr. Warren Gage.
When you look
to the book
of Revelation,
which was written
by, guess what?
By John.
You get this image
of this vision
of seven angels.
And I want you
just to try
and visualize this
in your mind
because Revelation
is a very visual book.
seven angels
and all of these angels
are positioned
strategically.
Each angel
has a pair.
They all have
a counterpart.
They all have a partner
except for the fourth angel
which makes him
the centerpiece.
Okay?
Are you tracking with me?
And you look
at where they are located.
Picture this.
The first
and the seventh angel
are positioned on earth.
They're at the bottom.
The second
and the sixth angel
are descending.
And so they're
somewhere in the middle.
They're between
heaven and earth
midway up.
The third
and the fifth angel
where are they?
They are in heaven.
So do you have
this image in your mind?
What does it look like
to you?
It's staggered
a little bit
like a staircase.
Two on the bottom.
Two a step up.
Two up all the way
at the top.
And right there
at the top
what is in the middle?
Where's the fourth angel?
He's right there
standing
at the top.
And what does
John see
with this vision
of the fourth angel?
He says,
I saw heaven opened
and behold
a white horse.
The one sitting on it
is called
Faithful
and True.
And in righteousness
he judges
and makes war.
His eyes
are like a flame
of fire
and on his head
are many diadems.
And he has a name
written on it
that no one knows
but himself.
He is clothed
in a robe
dipped in blood
in the name
by which he is called
is the word
of God.
And the armies
of heaven
arrayed in fine linen
white and pure
were following him
on white horses.
And from his mouth
comes a sharp sword
with which to strike
down the nations
and he will rule them
with a rod of iron.
He will tread
the winepress
of the fury
of the wrath
of God the Almighty.
On his robe
and on his thigh
he has a name
written
King of Kings
and Lord of Lords.
This is a vision
of the risen
Lord Jesus Christ.
King of heaven
and earth.
John looks
and he sees
a staircase.
He sees angels
ascending
and descending
and right
at the top
right at the center
he sees
the Lord
Jesus Christ
ruler
of the world.
Jesus says
y'all gonna see that.
You will see.
You will see me
for who I am.
Friend to know
Jesus
is to see him
as the son of man
to know him
by faith
is to know
that he is
the way
and the truth
and the life.
No one
comes to the father.
No one
ascends the stairway
except by him.
To know him
is to know
that he is
the centerpiece
of all human history.
The one who
descended
to live
and to die
and to rise
so that by faith
in him
sinners like us
might become
heirs of all
the promises
of God.
is also
to know
that one day
friend
we will look
up
and we will
see him
with our very eyes
coming in the clouds
of heaven
to judge
the living
and the dead.
Friend
as we
navigate
our journey
here in this life
we need to be
constantly reminded
that we need
this spiritual sight
don't we?
We need to meet
with the Lord
and hear
from his word
and be
reminded of his promises
and see
King Jesus
for who he is.
Jacob saw
this vision
and he
heard these promises
and guess what?
It absolutely
shook him
to his core.
And in the rest
of the passage
what we see
is Jacob
responding
to this meeting
with the Lord.
So third
third
and we see
our journey
is marked
by
responding.
Verse 16
says that
Jacob
wakes up
from his dream
I would imagine
his neck's got to be
a little sore
probably a big imprint
of a rock
somewhere on his face
but he wakes up
and immediately
he says
surely the Lord
was in this place.
I did not know it.
He recognizes
he has been
in the presence
of God.
Now here's what's
important for us
to see.
Christian
when we meet
with God
and when we hear
from his word
and when by his grace
we see Christ
for who he is
we don't just
get up
and keep moving
as if nothing
has happened.
We can't.
With that meeting
with the Lord
that spiritual side
of the glory of God
that is meant
to change us
and we're meant
to respond
to these things.
It's not just
information
that we're gathering.
This is transformative
for our lives.
You see Jacob's response
here in the text.
Jacob responds
to this meeting
with God
in three key ways
here.
For one
he responds
with reverence
to the Lord.
Verse 17
says he was
afraid.
Now why in the world
would he be afraid?
Everything that God
just said
was pretty positive
wasn't it?
God just promised
to be for him.
He just promised
all these wonderful
things to Jacob
that he's going
to be in Jacob's
corner.
He's going to
help Jacob.
He's going to
bless Jacob.
Why is Jacob
afraid?
Jacob has just
peeked into
the glory
of heaven.
He has just
seen angels
and more than that
he has seen
and heard
the voice
of almighty
God.
This is the same
voice that
God spoke
and created
all things.
This is the same
voice that
thundered
from the top
of Mount Sinai.
This is the same
Lord,
the same glorious
God that hid
Moses in the
cleft of the rock
as his glory
passed by
so that he
wouldn't be
destroyed at
the sight of
him.
Surely in this
moment Jacob
realizes his
unworthiness
holiness.
He understands
that this is
not a God
to treat
casually
and flippantly.
This is a God
to be feared.
Not only this
but he also
responds with
worship.
This is the
second response
here that
Jacob does.
He says,
how awesome
is this place?
This is none
other than the
house of God.
This is the
gate of heaven.
And so what
does he do?
He takes his
pillow and
he turns it
into a
pillar.
Some of y'all
with a thick
country accent,
that's how you
pronounce pillow
anyways, right?
He takes his
pillar and he
turns it into
a pillar.
And he pours
some oil on
top of it and
he renames this
place from
Luz to
Bethel, which
means the
house of God.
What is he
doing?
He is marking
the place and
marking the
occasion as
a holy
moment of
worship.
This is where
I have met
with the
Lord.
This is no
ordinary place.
This is where
I have been
reminded of
who God
is.
This is where
I have heard
his promises.
This is where
I have encountered
him.
This is where
I have been
given the
sight of the
glory of
God and
the worth
of Jesus.
This is no
ordinary
occasion.
We don't
set up
pillars anymore,
but you know
what we do
have,
Christian?
We have
the regular
gathering of
God's people
on the
Lord's Day
each and
every week.
And what a
tragedy it is
that many
Christians view
this holy
moment as
optional
or ordinary
and just
something that
you do
because you
should,
you come in,
you sing the
songs,
you hear
something,
hopefully it
motivates you,
you go off
and you live
your life.
No,
this is a
moment of
holy meeting
with the
risen Lord
Jesus Christ.
We come
here to
meet with
the Lord.
We come
here to
hear from
his promises.
We come
here to be
reminded of
who he is
and all
that he's
promised us
together in
Christ.
We come
here to
meet with
God.
Each of
us comes
from various
trials,
various stresses,
various issues
going on in
your life.
I don't know
what all you've
been through
this week,
but we put
all of that
aside and
for this
moment we're
reminded of
who the
Lord is
and to
respond to
him and
worship.
you realize
that when
the church
gathers we
get a
vision of
heaven.
This
once a
week
gathering is
an
interruption
of our
normal
rhythms of
our life,
yes,
but truly
in the
span of
eternity,
what's the
interruption?
It's all
that out
there that's
the interruption.
Heaven is
filled with
the gathering
of the
saints
worshiping
the risen
Lord
Christ.
Christ,
as we
come
together
and as
we worship
together,
we get
this vision
of what
heaven will
be like.
And we
don't just
leave it
there,
church.
We go
from here
with renewed
devotion.
That's the
last response
here.
Jacob responds
to the Lord
with renewed
devotion.
You can tell
that this
encounter has
changed him,
can't you?
You can tell
that this
encounter has
impacted him.
verse 20,
it says,
Jacob makes
this vow,
saying,
if God
will be
with me
and will
keep me
in this
way that
I go
and will
give me
bread to
eat and
clothing to
wear so
that I
come again
to my
father's
house in
peace,
the Lord
shall be
my God
and this
stone which
I've set
up for a
pillar shall
be God's
house.
And of
all that
you give
me,
I will
give a
full
tenth to
you.
Now this
is one of
the early
foundations for
what would
become the
tithe.
And that
word tithe,
it literally
means a
tenth.
But Jacob
gets very
practical here,
doesn't he?
He doesn't
just leave
this in
general terms.
He gets
very practical,
very specific.
He says,
I'm going to
give the
Lord a
tenth of
all that
he gives
me.
He makes
a plan of
action for
how he's
going to
respond to
the Lord
and what
change this
meeting is
going to
make in
his life.
some of
you have
asked me
before,
how do
I know
how much
money I
should give
to the
church?
And let
the record
show,
in three
and a half,
almost four
years,
I haven't
preached much
on tithing.
But we do
when it comes
up in the
text,
don't we?
Here it is,
and so we
talk about
it.
The Old
Testament,
it gives
more of a
quantitative
principle.
Here we
see 10%,
but you
add in
the temple
tax as you
get later
in the
Old Testament.
Some say
that's 20%,
even as high
up as 30%
that was
required of
the Israelites
there in the
Old Testament.
The New
Testament doesn't
give us so
much of a
quantitative
responsibility as
it does a
qualitative
responsibility.
What is it?
God loves
a what?
A cheerful
giver.
The principle
of the New
Testament is
responding to
all that God
has done for
us in Christ
with a response
of a generous
heart and an
open hand to
say all that I
have, including
my money, but
not just my
money, my
time, my
talents, my
treasures, my
thoughts, my
actions, my
steps, my
words, all of
this belongs to
you.
And so how
can I then
respond to
you, respond to
your worth,
respond to
this meeting
with you in
a life of
worship?
Jacob here
devotes himself
to the Lord
all his life,
all his
actions, all
his words, all
his money, all
his heart, all
of it belongs
to the Lord.
And so he
determines what
he will do in
response to the
living God.
I wonder if you
have determined
how you will
respond to the
Lord.
I wonder if
you have put
steps to your
response to
him.
I wonder if
you will put
this meeting
into action
this week.
I wonder how
this will change
your life.
We sometimes
sing a song,
we should have
sung it today if
I had planned a
little bit better,
maybe we would
have.
take my life
and let it
be consecrated
Lord to
thee.
Take my
moments in
my days,
let them flow
in ceaseless
praise.
Take my
hands and let
them move at
the impulse of
thy love.
Take my
feet, let
them be swift
and beautiful
for thee.
Take my
voice, let
me sing always
only for my
king.
Take my
lips, let
them be filled
with messages
from thee.
Take my
silver and
my gold, not
a mite would
I withhold.
Take my
intellect and
use every
power as
thou shalt
choose.
Take my
will and
make it
thine.
It shall
be no
longer mine.
Take my
heart, it
is thine
own.
It shall
be thy
royal throne.
Take my
love, my
Lord I
pour.
At thy
feet it's
treasure
store.
Take
myself and
I will be
ever only
all for
thee.
Friend,
this is
the theme
song of
our
journey.
Can you
honestly say
this morning
that this
is true
for you?
As you
leave here
this morning
and go
off to the
week ahead,
whatever it
is that
awaits you
this week,
don't get
so distracted
by putting
one foot in
front of the
next and
making your
way to the
next stop,
navigating the
streets of
your life that
you forget
the big
picture.
there is
a God
in heaven
who loves
you and
is for
you and
has promised
you such
wonderful
blessings in
Christ.
Let's pray.
Father,
we pray that
we would be
reminded of
your faithfulness,
God, that we
would be
reminded of
the glory of
Christ.
We pray that
as we
navigate whatever
lies ahead this
week,
Father,
that we would
be constantly
meeting with
you in
your word
and in
prayer and
then responding
to you
with a
transformed
life that
belongs to
you.
We pray
all this in
Jesus' name.
Amen.
Thank you.