Good morning.
I would ask you, if you will, to open your Bibles to the book of Genesis chapter 35.
! We pick up with Genesis this morning.
We pick up with this story about Jacob and his family.
So we'll read 35, we'll read down through verse 8 in chapter 36.
So, if you're able, I would ask in honor of the Word of God, if you would stand as we
read together, as I read, and you'll join me in reading silently.
Is that fair?
If we all try to read at the same time, that might be tough.
All right, so verse 1, chapter 35.
God said to Jacob, arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there.
Make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.
So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, put away the foreign gods that
are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments.
Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers
me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.
So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had and the rings that were in their
ears.
Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem.
And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them so that
they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.
And Jacob came to Luz, that is Bethel, which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people
who were with him.
And there he built an altar and called the place El Bethel, because there God had revealed
himself to him when he fled from his brother.
And Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died.
And she was buried under an oak below Bethel.
So he called its name Elan Bakuth.
God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Padan Aram and blessed him.
And God said to him, your name is Jacob.
No longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.
So he called his name Israel.
And God said to him, I am God Almighty, be fruitful and multiply.
A nation and a company of nations shall come from you and kings shall come from your own
body.
The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give to you and I will give the land
to your offspring after you.
Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him.
And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone.
He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it.
So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him, Bethel.
Then they journeyed from Bethel when they were still some distance from Ephra.
Rachel went into labor and she had hard labor.
And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, do not fear for you have
another son.
And as her soul was departing for she was dying, she called his name Ben-oni, but his
father called him Benjamin.
So Rachel died and she was buried on the way to Ephrath, that is Bethlehem.
And Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb.
It is the pillar of Rachel's tomb, which is there to this day.
Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder.
While Israel lived in the land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father's concubine,
and Israel heard of it.
Now the sons of Jacob were 12.
The sons of Leah, Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.
The sons of Rachel, Joseph, and Benjamin.
The sons of Bilhah, Rachel's servant, Dan, and Naphtali.
The sons of Zilpah, Leah's servant, Gad, and Asher.
These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Padan-Aram.
And Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, in Kiriath-Arba, that's Hebron, where Abraham
and Isaac had sojourned.
Now the days of Isaac were 180 years, and Isaac breathed his last, and he died, and was gathered
to his people, old and full of days.
And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
These are the generations of Esau, that is, Edom.
Esau took his wives from the Canaanites.
Ada, the daughter of Elan, the Hittite.
Olahabah, the daughter of Anna, the daughter of Zebion, the Hivite.
And Basmath, Ishmael's daughter, the sister of Nabiath.
And Adar bore him Esau, Eliphaz.
Basmath bore Raul, and Olahabama bore Jash, Jalem, and Korah.
These are the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan.
Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household, his livestock,
all his beasts, all his property that he acquired in the land of Canaan.
He went into a land away from his brother Jacob, for their possessions were too great for them to dwell together.
The land of their sojournings could not support them because of their livestock.
So Esau settled in the hill country of Seir.
Esau is Edom.
Let's pray.
Father, would you cause your word to come alive in our hearts this morning?
God, would you show us the truths that you mean for us to see
in this story of Jacob and his family and Esau?
God, we ask you to bless this morning in Christ's name.
Amen.
Y'all can have a seat.
Y'all did notice I spared you all the difficulty of reading the rest of those names.
So on your bulletin, you'll see chapters 35 and 36.
I will speak towards that, but I think I would have jumbled them up pretty badly.
Y'all remember chapter 34?
We just read 35 and part of 36.
Do you remember 34 two weeks ago?
Let me ask this question.
How did Jacob get there?
How did he get to the place in 34 where all of that mess took place in their family,
where his daughter was taken, sexually abused, humiliated,
and the people that did it seemed to have no remorse at all?
And he said, don't make a big deal about it.
I'm afraid if you make a big deal about it,
we'll be stench in the nostrils of the people of the land,
and we'll be in trouble.
They will destroy us and our family.
It's as if he didn't want to come to the honor of his daughter.
And then in 34, we saw that never once was a name God mentioned.
This place, Shechem.
And so we go from 34 and we step into 35,
and we see God says this.
God says to Jacob, arise.
Go to Bethel and dwell there.
Make an altar to the God who appeared to you
when you fled from your brother Esau.
How gracious is God?
Do we remember some of the things that Esau has experienced?
If we look back on the truths in the book of Genesis about Esau,
what do we see?
We see that...
Jacob, sorry, did I say Esau?
Jacob.
In the life of Jacob, what do we see?
We see a man that has a sin problem, don't we?
Do you all remember how he tricked his brother to get the birthright?
Do you remember how he planned with his mother to deceive his father?
You remember how...
Do you remember how...
He boldly lied to his father over and over.
Are you really Esau?
Yes.
Yes, I'm really Esau.
Come here.
Let me touch your arm.
He had put goat's hair on his arm.
He shows poor, if any, leadership to his family.
Let me ask this question.
How is it that this man Jacob, who experienced the presence of God at Bethel...
You remember when he was leaving, after all this went down with his family, he's really
running from Esau because Esau was planning to kill him.
And his mom was able to work out a story with his dad and said, you need to send him back
to get a wife in our homeland, not here among the Canaanite people.
And so he goes and on the way...
You remember that God met him on the way?
And as he's laying down at this place, you remember the name of the place?
This place that he called the house of God, Bethel, as he's fleeing from Edom and he lays
his head on a rock and he dreams that night and what does he see?
The stairway to heaven.
And he said, this is awesome.
This is the doorway to heaven.
How is it that a man who experienced that, not only that, but when he goes to the land of
his mother's family to Laban, he sees God bless over and over again such that he becomes rich.
All the livestock and the animals that God put in his hands as he spent 21 years or 20 years
serving Laban in that land.
He sees the hand of God in his life.
And yet here he is in this place, this place where it's worldly.
This is Shechem.
Again, verse 1, God said to Jacob, arise and go to Bethel.
What is he...
When he says arise and go, we have to understand that that means arise and leave.
Leave where you are and I want you to go to this place.
What place, God?
This place where I met you.
This place where you made vows.
This place called Bethel.
This place that you remember, right?
This place you experienced me.
Let me ask this question.
Why do you think that he didn't go to Bethel when he was called to go back to the land of his
relatives?
Why didn't he go to Bethel?
Why did he choose to go to Shechem?
This place of worldliness.
How is it that this guy whose name means trickster, a guy who's got a huge sin issue, a guy who's met God,
how is it that he finds himself in this place of sin and idolatry and worldliness and fear?
How is it?
You know, I would pause for a second.
Do you sometimes find yourself in a place just like that?
a place in Jacob's situation where their family,
at least at that moment, was defined by worldliness
and idolatry and sin and fear.
This was the chosen of God.
We hear in the scriptures, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
And yet he finds himself there.
Let me share this this morning.
And how gracious is God that he would say to Jacob,
the one who has found himself in this sinful place,
he would say, Jacob, do you hear me?
Jacob, I want you to arise and I want you to go to Bethel.
Here's the main point I believe in the passage this morning is this,
is that God patiently and graciously refines his chosen people.
God graciously and faithfully calls his chosen people
to a life of faithfulness and worship.
So I see the refining this morning.
If you like to take notes,
there's three ways that I see here that God refines his people
as we look at the text this morning.
God graciously and faithfully refines his chosen people.
And we see it in the life of Jacob here as we look.
Look with me in verse one again.
He says to Jacob,
Jacob, I want you to leave this place
that's characterized by worldliness,
that is Shechem.
And I want you to go to this place
that's characterized as my house,
the place where I met you before
and I will meet you again.
And I want you to make an altar there to me.
Isn't it interesting that how he says this?
Instead he said,
I want you to make an altar to me.
Look what he says.
I want you to make an altar to the God who appeared to you.
Do you remember him?
Jacob, do you remember that event?
Do you remember the God that appeared to you?
Do you remember the powerful moment?
Do you remember the blessing?
Hey, do you remember what you promised?
Do you remember that you anointed that pillar
with a promise?
We can see it.
Chapter 28, it says this.
Behold, I am with you.
This is when he is in Bethel the first time,
when he's fleeing from Esau.
Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go
and will bring you back to this land
for I will not leave you
until I have done what I promised you.
Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and he said,
Surely the Lord is in this place
and I did not know it.
How awesome is this place?
There is none other.
This is none other than the house of God.
And then again, God graciously,
in 31, chapter 31,
Then the angel of God said to me in the dream,
Jacob, and I said, here I am.
And he said, I have seen all that Laban is doing to you.
I am the God of Bethel,
where you anointed a pillar
and you made a vow to me.
Now arise, go out from this land
and return to the land of your kindred.
Tell me why Jacob didn't go to Bethel.
Tell me why Jacob ended up in Shechem.
It's as if in chapter 31,
God is saying, I want you to rise
and I want you to leave
and I want you to go back to this land
where your relatives are
and I want you to go to Bethel,
the place where I am,
the place that you've called the house of God,
the place that I met you
and you powerfully made a vow to me.
And yet what does he do?
He takes his family to Shechem.
How gracious is God
that God would allow all this stuff
to go on in his life,
all this disobedience.
We do see, right,
that his family is full of idolatry.
They've got idols.
They've got earrings in their ear
that in some way are part of worshiping another God.
Their family is a mess.
And yet God says,
Jacob, Jacob, I want you to go.
You know, I see three aspects of this call.
He speaks to us.
God, point number one,
God refines in this way,
point number one.
He speaks to us
and calls us to faithfulness and worship.
Have you heard it personally?
Have you heard the call of God in your life
to walk faithfully
and to live a life of worship?
You know,
there's a chance that many of us,
if not all of us Christians,
have found ourselves at times in our life
in a place where we didn't hear God,
we didn't sense God,
we had sin that we'd allowed in our life,
we were in somewhat of a wreck
as far as our life.
Have you been there?
Have you been to a place
where you feel far away from God?
How gracious is God to call us back?
You know, the phrase that I see
over and over in scriptures,
this phrase, return to me.
He says it to his children,
return to me.
What is he saying when he says,
return to me?
Turn away and leave.
Turn your back on this worldly living,
this sinful living,
this reliance on self,
this pursuit of your own selfish dreams.
Turn your back on that
and turn to me and come to me.
His call for us as Christians
is to live a faithful life of worship
and that's what he's calling Jacob to.
He's saying to him,
Jacob, return to me.
Do you see him saying that?
He doesn't use these words in the text,
but isn't that exactly what he's saying?
Arise, leave Shechem,
come to Bethel.
What is Bethel?
It's a place where I met with you.
Return to me.
Live for me.
Establish an altar there.
Make an altar.
What is he saying?
What does that mean symbolically
to make an altar?
You know what an altar represents?
It represents worship.
You know what he's calling him to?
He says, turn away from worldliness
and turn to me and worship me.
Come to me.
Walk in my ways.
Worship me.
And what does Jacob do?
I want you to see three aspects of this call.
Number one is,
he has a decision to make, doesn't he?
He has a decision to make.
When God calls us to faithfulness,
we have a decision to make.
Have you been there?
Maybe some of us are there this morning.
Maybe we're at a place
where God has revealed sin in our life.
Maybe God's revealed to us
we're not in the middle of his will right now.
We've wandered off to this place
that we've created on our own.
We're chasing something that's not of God,
that's all of us.
And we find ourselves there right now.
And I want you to hear the truth
of this passage to you and me
is that God is calling us to faithfulness
and calling us to worship.
Is your life right now,
is my life right now
defined by faithfulness and worship?
We have a decision to make.
Are we going to turn away from sinful living
and are we going to turn and face
and walk to God and say,
God, I desire to give my life away
in service of your kingdom.
God, I desire to worship you
not only with my mouth as I say,
but with my heart.
I desire to give my life away
as a ransom for your kingdom,
to give my life away in service to your kingdom
so that you could use me for your glory.
Are we there?
What did Jacob do?
How did he make this decision?
What decision did he make?
Here's what he did.
Verse two,
so Jacob said to his household
and to all who were there with him,
put away the foreign gods that are among you
and purify yourselves
and change your garments.
What is he saying?
All of this stuff,
these idols,
all anything that has anything to do
with these other religions,
now is the time, family,
put it away.
I want you to get rid of every single ounce of it.
Matter of fact,
I want you to get rid of the clothing
that's stained with the stuff.
I want you to take your garments off
and I want you to put fresh garments on
as a way of saying,
God, we're now heading to you
to serve and honor you.
We don't want anything to do
with this worldly lifestyle
that we've been living.
And what did they do?
This might have been,
at least in my estimation,
one of the first times
that Jacob actually stood up
and started to lead his family.
He's been so passive
and we saw that
when we saw his character
years ago
as we've read through Genesis
that he by nature is timid.
He by nature wants to hang out
in the tent.
He is not a confrontational guy.
He's a subtle, slippery guy
who's willing to lie
and trick, cheat, steal.
But God's doing a work in his life.
Do you see it?
Do you see him stand up
and say,
all right, enough's enough.
This is it.
I want you to give me
every idol,
every ring,
anything that has anything
to do with this worldly life
and these other gods.
We're getting rid of him right now.
What did the family do?
Yes, sir.
And they brought him.
And what did he do?
He took every single one of them.
He put it in a place of worldliness.
He dug a hole and said,
we're done.
I'm burying it.
This is it.
He puts it in the hole
and they all together do what?
They all head to Bethel.
And what did they do
when they get to Bethel?
Keep reading with me.
He said to them,
let us arise
and let us go to Bethel
so that I may make there
an altar to God
who answers me
in the day of distress,
who's been with me
wherever I've gone.
Boy, what a good memory.
He must not have remembered it
in Shechem,
but boy,
he remembers it now, right?
God has graciously reminded him
that I've been with you all along.
Have you not seen it?
Christian, let me ask you,
do you believe,
do you recognize,
do you understand
that God will never leave you
or forsake you
if you're his?
And even when we run
headlong after sin,
even when we turn our back
on what God's calling us to do
and we go a different direction,
you know what God does?
He graciously
and faithfully comes
and draws us back to him.
That's what he does
for all his children.
Now, we might be kicking
and screaming
and it might be very,
very painful
because we don't want to honor,
we don't want to return
for some reason,
but he won't ever leave us
or forsake us.
The graciousness of God
is he's refining us.
So you see
the second aspect.
Number one,
he's this aspect
of this call of God
that says return to me
is one,
we've got to make a decision.
Secondly,
we need to come clean.
His family came clean
and they buried all that stuff
and then thirdly,
do you see it?
What do we have to do
in addition?
We have to turn to him
with a life of worship.
Is that what they did
as a family?
Yeah, so verse five,
read with me.
And they journeyed,
as they journeyed,
picture this,
they just left Shechem, right?
You remember
what they did in Shechem?
You remember what the sons did?
They took a sword, right?
Or several swords.
They got,
they caused them all
to be circumcised
and what did they do
with the sword?
They went and slaughtered them all.
Do you think that all the people
of the surrounding land
are happy with them right now?
Do you think that they want to say,
we need to,
man,
who knows where this dude's going next
and his family,
we need to take this dude down now.
We need to go ahead
and,
and do you think he's afraid
that'll happen?
Sure,
if we look in 34,
Zach was afraid of.
And yet,
here we,
here we go.
He finally turns
and he heads the direction
that God's called him to go
and look what God's doing.
God's protecting him along the way.
You know,
there's a principle in scripture
that said that we're in God's hand
and there's not a single power on earth
that can take us out of his hand.
Do you think he's protecting us
as his children?
You better believe he is.
And I see this protection
in the life of Jacob
and his family.
As they turn
and started going
to the place
where God has called them to go,
there's a protection
that God gives them.
As they journey,
a terror of God
fell on the cities
that were around them
and they did not pursue
the sons of Jacob.
And as a result,
Jacob came to Bethel
and there he did what?
He built an altar.
You know what that altar represents?
I've said it before.
It represents worship.
So these three aspects
of this call,
we need to make a decision
we need to come clean
and we need to live our life
in worship to God.
And that's what he did.
I want you to see
point number two.
So the three ways
that God refines,
one is that he speaks to us
and calls us to faithfulness
and worship.
Number two,
he gives us a new name
and blesses us.
Number two,
he gives us a new name
and blesses us.
Where do I see that?
Verse nine.
Look with me at verse nine.
It says this,
God appeared to Jacob again
when he came from Paddan Aram
and blessed him
and God said to him,
your name is Jacob.
No longer.
Why did God do this
a second time?
Hadn't we already visited
this once before?
Hasn't God already met him
and already said,
you're no longer Jacob,
your name's Israel?
Why is he having to do it again?
Let me just say,
he wasn't living like Israel,
was he?
He was living an awful lot
like Jacob.
It's as if God has to remind him,
graciously remind him again.
Jacob,
do you remember?
Your name is Israel.
You're not Jacob.
You're not the cheater anymore.
You're the one
that wrestles with God
and you desire a blessing.
So he shares this with him again
as a way to draw him to himself.
Your name is Jacob.
No longer shall you become,
excuse me,
your name is now Israel.
So he called his name Israel
and God said to him,
I am God Almighty.
Be fruitful and multiply.
A nation and a company of nations
shall come from you.
What do you hear here?
As we read this,
a nation shall come from you.
Verse 12,
the land,
I will give it to you.
Does that ring in your ears
if it was a promise
that was promised to Abraham
and then a promise
that was promised to Isaac
and now here it is,
a promise that's also given to Jacob?
Do you see this truth
that God always follows through
on his promises always
and God is promising him
this covenant promise
has been extended to Jacob
that I'm going to bless you
and I'm going to multiply your seed?
You're going to have so many kids
that if you were to look up
and try to count all the stars,
you'll not be able to number them?
The blessings of God
are going to pour upon you
in ways you can't imagine.
There are kings in your loins.
Your children will be,
some of your children will be kings
that will be on the throne.
Who is he talking about ultimately?
Let's just take a step aside
from the story for a second
and let's just look at the truth
that's being pointed to here.
Do you see the truth?
It's Jesus.
Out of you is going to come a son
who's going to be seated on the throne,
the throne,
that is the throne of God Almighty,
the throne of heaven
and it's through that son
that the world is going to be blessed
and through that son
there's going to be so many children
you can't even count.
Was Jesus married?
You know Jesus didn't marry?
How is it then that Jesus can have sons?
How is it that Jesus can have offspring?
He has offspring
because it's talking about
the spiritual children
that would be born
because of their faith in Jesus
as the Messiah.
You know that is me
and for all of us
who are in the kingdom
or Christians in this room,
it's you,
that we're spiritual descendants of Jesus.
Apart from Jesus,
we're not sons of God.
That's what he was ultimately talking about,
this blessing that he says,
I'm going to give you a new name.
You're going to be different.
Let me ask this question.
Is that true for you?
Have you been given a new name?
Do you act different?
You know all of us as Christians
have been given a new name,
haven't we?
It's a defining name
and it has a life-offering change
that takes place in our life.
What is a new name?
Christian.
And you'll know they're Christians
by their love,
by their love.
You'll know they're Christians
by their love.
You know what God does?
He takes the heart of stone,
this heart that's focused on self,
that wants to satisfy self,
and you know what he does?
He takes it,
in a sense,
he takes it out
and he puts in a new heart.
And you know what that new heart is?
That new heart is a heart of love.
It's a heart of flesh
as we see it in the Old Testament.
He changes our heart.
He creates in us a new heart.
And that new heart desires what?
The honor of God.
The new heart desires to worship God
and serve God.
That's the effect
of what God does
in the lives of his chosen people.
He did this to Jacob.
Isn't it amazing
how long it takes
for this thing
to seat itself in his heart?
Do you see that Jacob
keeps returning
to this sinful life?
It's like,
Jacob, come on, man.
Look what you've seen.
Look at the blessings
you've been given.
How is it you still
live in this way, man?
Why don't you live for God
and serve him?
But you know,
the question's true
for you and me too.
Are we Christian
at a place
where we genuinely
have given our life
over to God
for his kingdom
and his glory?
You know,
that's what the word of God
calls us to, right?
Seek ye first
his kingdom
and his righteousness
is the call
to every Christian.
Live for God.
Give your life away
as a sacrifice.
You know,
this is not new
to scripture.
It's not like
this is the only place.
Listen at what Moses said
to the people
before he departed
as they are,
in the book of Deuteronomy
says this.
He's speaking
to the Israelites,
the nation.
And he says this
to the nation
before he departs
from them,
before he dies.
And if you faithfully
obey the voice
of the Lord your God
being careful
to do all his commandments
I command you today,
the Lord your God
will set you high
above all the nations
of the earth.
And all these blessings
shall come upon you
and overtake you
if you obey
the voice
of the Lord your God.
You know,
when we decide
to turn away
from worldliness
and we decide
to live a life
of worship,
you know what comes
with that?
It's this incredible blessing.
You know,
and that's not
the only place.
Deuteronomy 30,
he says it again.
Listen to this.
The Lord will again
take delight
in prospering you
as he took delight
in your fathers
when,
I emphasize the word
when,
when you obey
the voice
of the Lord your God
to keep his commandments
and his statutes
that are written
in the book of the law.
When you turn
to the Lord your God
with all your heart
and with all your soul.
You know what the result
of a worship-filled life is?
It's abundant blessing.
It's joy
that you can't imagine.
It's peace
that passes
all understanding.
It's the rest
that your soul desires.
It's intimate communion
and fellowship
with God himself.
There's a beautiful verse.
I don't have time
to share the context,
but I want you
to hear this powerful truth
out of 2 Chronicles.
It says this
in terms of
those who
are walking
toward the place
that God has called
them to go.
God says this,
for the eyes
of the Lord
run to and fro
throughout the whole earth
to give strong support
to those
whose heart
is blameless
toward him.
Boy,
don't I want
the Lord
to strongly support me
as I seek
after him.
It doesn't mean
our life
doesn't have difficulty.
Again,
three ways
that God
refines.
Number one,
he speaks to us
and calls us
to faithfulness
and worship.
Number two,
he gives us
a new name
and he blesses us.
And number three,
God uses
the broken world,
this broken world
as a means
of training
his people.
God uses
this broken world
as a means
of training
his people.
Do you notice
here
in 35
that there's
some difficulty?
So we see
in 16 and following,
we see Rachel's death.
She dies
in childbirth.
As she is giving birth
to Benjamin,
a son,
that labors
very hard
and she doesn't make it.
she dies
and the great sadness
that certainly
envelops Jacob
is real.
He sets up
a memorial
for her.
He puts stones
over her grave
so that
no one will forget
this is the woman
that he deeply loved
and the wound
is deep.
So there's still
loss for the Christian
that goes
a direction
that God
calls him to go.
Jacob turned,
he put away
the idols,
he turned
and he went
toward God
and he established
an altar
and he began
to worship
and the statement
was,
God,
no longer
do we want
to live that way.
We want to live
for you
from now on
and what happens?
Death
and sadness
and difficulty
and tragedy.
Do you know
that Christians
are not delivered
from that stuff?
Do you know
it's still real
for all of us
even if we're
following God,
even if we're
faithfully worshiping
with all of our
heart and all
of our life,
you know what
happens?
Death,
tragedy,
and difficulty,
and circumstances,
and pain.
We're not
delivered from that.
It is interesting
how God chooses
in his providence
to use these things
to change us,
to refine us,
to make us
into the image
of Christ.
Do you know
even Christ
wasn't delivered
from that?
Do you know
that Christ
suffered much
even though
he never
even sinned?
Even though
he was doing
exactly what
God called him
to do?
He suffered
much,
was crucified
on a cross.
The word of God
says as he was
young,
he learned
obedience
through the things
that he suffered.
You know
what the book
of James says?
I bet many
of you can
quote it.
It's just
a powerful,
difficult passage
for us to step
into,
but here's what
it says in
James.
Count it all
joy,
my brothers,
when you meet
various kinds
of trials.
If you know
that the testing
of your faith
produces steadfastness,
let me stop.
The testing
of your faith.
Christian,
you know
that faith
that is not
tested is not
faith?
It's just
a concept.
And God
chooses to use
the circumstances
of life
to test
that faith
and to refine
that faith
and to help
us to see
our own sin
and to turn
away from sin
and to help
us see our
own idolatry
and to take
the idols
and bury them
in the ground
and say,
no more,
I'm going
this way.
It's these
difficulties
in life,
these trials
that God
uses to refine
us into the
image of Jesus,
into the character
of Jesus.
It goes on to say,
and let steadfastness
have its full effect
that you may be
perfect and complete,
lacking in nothing.
There's a maturity
that has taken place
through the difficulties
of this life
and God's doing it.
And He's doing it
for our sake
that we might
enjoy Him.
You know how we
enjoy God?
It's when we begin
to feast on Him,
when we begin
to be absorbed
and totally
focused on Him,
when we surrender
our whole life
and yield ourselves
to God.
You know what
the result is?
It's joy
that you can't
contain.
And don't take
my word for it.
We can turn
to John 15.
You remember
what John 15
is about?
It's about
the vine and the branches.
He said,
here's what I want
you to do.
I want you to abide
in me.
Matter of fact,
I command it.
Abide in me.
He says,
apart from me,
you can do nothing,
meaning that there's
no spiritual benefit
of any at all
unless you abide
in me.
Because it's not
what you do for me,
it's what I do
in and through you.
And when I do
these things
in and through you,
when you abide in me,
you know what
the result is?
Verse 11 is the result.
John 15, 11,
you know what it says?
These things I've told you.
Why?
So that you might have joy
and have it to the full.
Overflowing joy.
You know where it comes from?
Abiding.
You know where it comes from?
Worship.
This life of worship
is where it comes from.
God chooses by His own providence
to use this broken world
as a means
to refine His people.
Do you see
how gracious God is
to love us enough
to put us through
trials and circumstances
so that we would be changed
into the image of Christ
and we would be able
to enjoy Him.
And He would do this work
in our character
to refine us
so that we look
a lot like Jesus.
We'll never look
exactly like Jesus.
We've had sin in our life
but you know what He's doing?
He's causing
the Holy Spirit
within us
to shine forth
in such a way
when people see us
it's like
something's different
about that guy.
What in the world
is so different?
They can't get over
the fact
there's something
uniquely different
about this guy.
I see a guy
who doesn't slap me
when I slap him.
I see a guy
who doesn't retaliate.
I see a guy
who loves
even when he's hurt.
Wait a minute.
People don't do that.
You know what's true
for you and me too?
In and of our own self
we would never love
in such a way
but when the Holy Spirit
is free to live
His life through us
you know what it looks like?
It looks like love,
joy, peace,
patience,
gentleness,
kindness.
It looks like
the fruit of the Spirit
and the Holy Spirit
is free to bless people
through our lives
when we will quit
chasing our own
idolatrous sinful things
and begin to say
God I'm yours
to do with
whatever you want
for the sake of your kingdom.
And that's what's going on here.
God is refining him.
But let me make this distinction.
So I haven't talked
about Esau at all
but you see
as we step into chapter 36
we see at the end of 35
and then 36
it talks about
the blessings to Esau.
But let me just say this.
God's special grace
and covenant promises
are not given to all people.
Let me say it again.
God's special grace
and covenant promises
are not given to all people.
Do you notice that
God's work of grace
is uniquely different
towards Jacob
compared to Esau?
Have y'all seen that
as y'all have read?
God's work of grace
is uniquely different
in the life of Jacob
than it is in Esau.
Look at Esau.
Did y'all read it
while I was praying maybe?
The rest of them?
I don't know if y'all read it
before we met today
but if you start reading all this
you know what you're going to see?
You're going to see
name after name after name
after name after name
after name.
It sounds like Esau
has been incredibly blessed
doesn't he?
You know what?
He has.
Isn't this a promise to Abraham
that your offspring
are going to be blessed?
And so God's common grace
has been abundantly
poured upon Esau
and what do you see?
What does that common grace
look like?
Well,
in this case
for Esau
he's so wealthy
he's got so many herds
that he can't even stay
in the same land as Jacob.
Both of them have been
tremendously blessed
with possessions.
And now he migrates to Seir
so God gives him a place
to call home.
You see children,
you see property,
you see possessions
but you know what you don't see
in the life of Esau?
The call of God.
Never do you see Esau
receive this draw,
this touch on his life
and his heart.
Never do you see
in Esau
this calling out of sin
and remorse.
You don't even see
he's interested
in spiritual things.
Have you noticed?
He never was interested
in spiritual things.
He gave away his birthright
which is a spiritual place
that he found himself
because he was first born.
He's never been interested.
He's only wanted things.
You know,
when he didn't receive
the blessing from his father,
Isaac,
what was his beef?
He said,
no,
don't you have something for me?
I want all the goods.
I mean,
you've got so much,
I want it all.
You know what,
did he get it?
He ended up getting it,
didn't he?
Why?
Because Jacob went
to another land.
He couldn't even keep it up.
The grace of God
is different
in the life of Jacob.
What is it?
Hey,
Jacob,
you're mine.
Has God said that to you?
Let me just say
that there might be some here
that are not a Christian.
And I get it.
There's a time
up until I was 22
I wasn't a Christian either.
and I didn't even understand.
But my question to you
if you're not a Christian,
have you heard the call of God?
Have you heard him say,
I want you to come
and follow me?
You know,
there's an invitation
to anyone today
who's not in the kingdom.
God would say to you,
come,
follow me.
And you know what I'll do?
If you'll follow me,
I will change your heart.
I will protect you
I will give you
a whole new life.
I will do a work
in your heart
you can't even imagine.
And you will be mine.
And you will be with me
one day where I am.
Now,
how is that possible?
You know how it's possible?
We talked earlier about Jesus.
You know,
all of this,
all of these promises,
these covenant promises
of God
that he's given
to Abraham,
Isaac,
and Jacob.
You know what
they were all pointing to?
Jesus.
They were all pointing
to a Messiah.
They were all pointing
to one who would
live in our place
and die in our place.
You know,
because we can't do it
without sin.
Ask Jacob
if he struggles with sin.
And yet,
God chose him.
And God graciously
worked on his life
to try to change
his heart,
to change him.
And he promised him
these incredible promises.
You know,
those promises
are for you and I,
for all of those
who turn their lives over,
who recognize their sin,
who recognize their rebellion,
who see that Jesus
was the promised Messiah,
who understand
that Jesus died
in our place.
Christian,
I hope you hear this call
from this passage
this morning.
Will you please,
please,
I beg you,
take the idols
out of your life.
What is it
that you've allowed
in your life
that doesn't honor God?
What is it
that you've allowed
a place
that reside with you
and you carry it along
and it doesn't honor God?
He's calling to us
to turn aside
from all that stuff,
to leave it,
and to turn
and symbolically,
in a sense,
to make an altar
and say,
as of this day,
from now on,
I choose to worship you.
You know what worship
looks like?
Abiding.
That's what it looks like.
Let's pray.
Father,
we are humbled
that you would
so graciously
refine us.
God,
you would so graciously
show us our sin
and by your power,
you would put something
within us
that allows us
to turn away
from that sin.
God,
you said you've given us
everything we need
for life
and godliness
in this world.
everything we need
in the person
of the Holy Spirit
that we now
can choose
to live for you
and honor you
and worship you
fully.
God,
would you
continue to do
this work,
this maturing work,
this changing work
that's taken us
to this place
that looks a whole lot
like Jesus?
God,
where we don't choose
to let our selfish ways
rule our lives,
we choose
to let you
rule our lives.
God,
would you do
that work
and for those
that don't know you
as Lord and Savior,
God,
would you open
their eyes
to understand
what it means
to turn to you,
what it means
to give their life
to you
and I pray
in your name,
amen.
Amen.