Establishing Jacob’s Faith
Genesis 28:1-22
November 2, 2014
As you know we are working through Genesis.
It is the “The Gospel According to Moses”
By this point it should be obvious to you
That Moses is preaching quite a sermon to the children of Israel,
Whom he is leading through the wilderness.
It is important that Israel understand
• Who their God is, and who they are in His sight.
• What it means to be the chosen of God, heirs of the promise,
• What it means to be vessels of mercy, recipients of grace.
• The necessity of responding to God the right way.
And in order to teach these priceless truths to his congregation,
Moses is telling the redemptive story of God from the beginning.
• Lest the children of Israel think sin is a minor thing
Moses taught them about Adam.
• Lest the children of Israel think judgment is a myth
Moses taught them about Noah.
• Lest the children of Israel think faith is insignificant
Moses taught them about Abraham
• And lest the children of Israel think God doesn’t desire them
Moses teaches them about Jacob
It is Moses’ gospel
That God saves unworthy sinners from their sin as an act of grace,
Requiring only that those sinners love and trust Him.
And that message has been absolutely unmistakable thus far in our study.
Well this morning we continue on with our study of this marvelous book.
And you are familiar where we currently are in our story.
God is now at work on the third Patriarch
• We’ve seen God select, save, and sanctify Abraham
• We’ve seen God select, save, and sanctify Isaac
• Now God is at work on Jacob
God clearly selected Jacob, even when Jacob was in his mother’s womb.
And now God is in the process of saving and sanctifying him.
In short, God is now in the process of molding Jacob
Into the man God desires him to be.
And thus far in the story, we have come to realize that
Jacob is in need of a little work.
And the main reason is because
Jacob is a man who lacks the faith that God requires.
Hebrews 11:1-2 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval.”
Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”
And we saw this last week.
We saw the incident by which Jacob pretended to be Esau
And went in and received Isaac’s blessing.
That story was about Esau and Isaac trying to steal Jacob’s blessing,
But God intervened.
God caused an otherwise ridiculous plan to work to perfection
In order to secure His prophetic word to Rebekah.
Now the problem in the story was that instead of just trusting God to protect His promise, Rebekah and Jacob instead took matters into their own hands and chose a plan of deception.
In short, Jacob still lacks the faith that God requires.
• He is chosen
• He is blessed
• But he is far from a finished product
And Jacob is about to go on a journey where God will mold Jacob
Into a man of faith and into the patriarch of a nation.
It is all a story of God’s grace
AND THIS MORNING GOD’S GRACE IS SEEN IN THE FACT
THAT HE BEGINS TO ESTABLISH JACOB’S FAITH.
It is nothing short of grace
That God doesn’t start out requiring flawless faith from us.
Instead God is patient, granting us faith, growing our faith,
Grooming our faith.
He is patient with us.
Psalms 103:14 “For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.”
God first gives us faith and then He grows it.
And that is what we see taking place in our text here this morning.
We are seeing Jacob’s faith established
And we are learning about the necessity of faith.
There are four points that we can gain from Moses this morning.
#1 ISAAC’S REMINDER
Genesis 28:1-5
The chapter picks up right where the previous chapter ended.
After deceiving Isaac and obtaining the blessing that Esau wanted,
Esau planned to kill Jacob.
Rebekah’s counter plan was to send Jacob away.
And the opportunity Rebekah used to do this was that
Jacob shouldn’t marry a Canaanite woman.
Genesis 27:46 “Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am 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?”
And so, the answer of Isaac is in fact to send Jacob away.
(1-2) “So Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and charged him, and said to him, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. “Arise, go to Paddan-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.”
Now that may not seem like a big deal to you,
But I want you to understand that this is a MAJOR DILEMMA!
Previously God had called Abram out of that land and into Canaan.
And even when Abram ventured out of the land to Egypt,
God quickly brought him back to Canaan and established him there.
Abraham learned that THIS was his land and he should not leave it.
In fact, when it came time to find a wife for Isaac,
Abraham was just as convinced that Isaac didn’t need a Canaanite wife,
But if you will remember Isaac was not to leave the land.
Genesis 24:5-8 “The servant said to him, “Suppose the woman is not willing to follow me to this land; should I take your son back to the land from where you came?” Then Abraham said to him, “Beware that you do not take my son back there! “The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my birth, and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give this land,’ He will send His angel before you, and you will take a wife for my son from there. “But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this my oath; only do not take my son back there.”
It has been understood from the beginning that
THIS was the land of promise and the plan was not to leave it.
And now that is exactly what is happening.
Jacob is walking away from the entire inheritance he had sought.
Jacob is leaving the birthright he had fought to obtain.
Yes Jacob received the birthright
Yes Jacob received the blessing
But all of that must have seemed like a fragile reality
In light of the fact that he was now having to leave
And not return until Esau’s anger subsides.
I’m sure this is NOT how Jacob imagined it all playing out.
And because of the uncertainty of the moment,
Isaac has a very important reminder for Jacob.
(3-4) “May God Almighty bless you 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.”
I have to think that this must have been
A very important moment for Jacob.
Yes it is true that Isaac had already blessed him,
But it is also true that Isaac thought Jacob was Esau when he did it.
Now, Isaac is blessing Jacob on purpose.
That had to feel good to Jacob.
But this is more than just a feel good moment between a father and a son.
In this moment Isaac is seeking to encourage Jacob to have faith.
Unlike the previous blessing
Isaac is very careful to recall the fact that God had blessed Abraham.
He is asking Jacob to remember what God did for Abraham.
Genesis 12:1-3 “Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
God made that promise to Abraham, and if you will remember,
God kept that promise.
• God kept that promise despite the threat of Lot
• God kept that promise despite the threat of Pharaoh
• God kept that promise despite the threat of Abimelech
• God kept that promise despite Abraham’s ignorance with Haggar
• God kept that promise despite the seemingly impossibilities of it
No doubt Jacob had heard many times from Abraham
About how God had fulfilled His promise.
And Isaac is reminding Jacob of God’s faithfulness here.
In short Isaac is asking Jacob to remember who God is
And how He keeps His promises.
“May God Almighty bless you 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.”
And with that promise, “Isaac sent Jacob away”
Isaac certainly had his flaws
As with all the patriarchs, there are things we wish Isaac would have done differently.
However, it is clear Isaac did understand one very important truth,
That the blessings of God are only obtained through faith in God.
So Isaac’s encouragement to Jacob
Isn’t about what Jacob should do, but rather what God would do.
Isaac is reminding Jacob to trust God.
Isaac’s Reminder
#2 ESAU’S RELIGION
Genesis 28:6-9
I realize this story is just sort of stuck in the middle
Of an otherwise clear narrative.
(Trust me when I tell you that I wrestled with its purpose for quite some time)
For here we have a story of Esau yet again completely missing the point.
Esau recognized that Isaac sent Jacob away
Because he didn’t want him marrying a Canaanite.
(You’ll remember that Esau had already married two)
Esau sees that Canaanite wives displeased Isaac, so what does Esau do?
He runs out and gets himself a non-Canaanite wife.
He runs to Ishmael and marries one of his daughters to get a wife from the line of Abraham (ironically, from the unchosen child of Abraham)
And it seems apparent that Moses is using this story
To make a very important contrast.
Whereas Jacob is encouraged to receive the blessing by faith.
Esau is here trying to obtain the blessing by works.
But the blessing of God is not obtained by works of the flesh.
Esau’s religion is all wrong.
Galatians 3:6-9 “Even so Abraham BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS. Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU.” So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.”
You don’t earn God’s favor by fulfilling some list of outer requirements.
We read it all the time.
Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Esau is here just giving and outward attempt
To obtain a spiritual blessing.
That is just like those who adopt some religious routine today
Simply because they think God will honor it.
It’s no different than the children of Israel thinking they could live in sin
So long as they continued to do some religious ordinance that God liked.
And is that not Esau?
He saw that Canaanite women displeased his father so he added a non-Canaanite wife…but did he get rid of those who were displeasing? No.
He tried to add favorable works to unacceptable sin
In an attempt to obtain a blessing.
But blessings are not obtained like that.
This would have been a strong point for Israel to learn.
If you want the blessing, have faith in God,
But don’t expect to earn it through some work of the flesh.
Isaac’s Reminder is a good one
Esau’s Religion should be avoided
#3 GOD’S REVELATION
Genesis 28:10-15
And this is the most significant builder of Jacob’s faith in the entire chapter.
One thing I know about faith is that it is not genetic.
You can learn a great deal about faith from your parents,
But you cannot exercise your parent’s faith.
Your faith has to be your own
Your walk with God has to be your own
• Abraham had his encounter with God
• Isaac had his encounter with God
• Now it’s Jacob’s turn
Jacob comes to a certain place, puts a rock under his head, and goes to sleep.
(12) “He had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.”
This is certainly an interesting event.
If you will remember, Jesus referenced this very event in His ministry.
John 1:49-51 “Nathanael answered Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” And He said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
Jesus’ point to Nathanael was that
You are about to see heaven at work on earth.
If you think me seeing you while you were under the fig tree was impressive, just wait until you see all that God is doing to do through Me.
And that is the same point to Jacob.
Heaven is at work on earth.
In short, God is at work in your situation.
(What could we call that but grace?)
At times it may feel as though God is distant, far removed, sitting way away up in heaven and uninvolved in the affairs of man.
I don’t know if that is what Jacob thought, but that certainly isn’t true.
Jacob just saw that God is very busy at work on earth.
He sees a ladder and God sending His angels
Scampering up and down that ladder.
And of course you notice who is in charge of the entire process:
(13) “And behold, the LORD stood above it”
WHAT IS GOD DOING?
(13-15) “And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants. “Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will 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. “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 have promised you.”
If we simply want to state the obvious we can easily say that:
GOD IS WORKING ON BEHALF OF JACOB
God begins by saying, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac;”
And that is such an important introduction.
God is in the process of establishing faith in Jacob
And it is very important that Jacob know who God is.
He is not only the sovereign LORD of the universe,
But He is also the God with a track record of faithfulness.
This God who does what He pleases
Did not fail Abraham and He did not fail Isaac.
And that is important
Because God has some very important promises in store for Jacob.
(13) “the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants.”
And that is such a huge promise,
Namely because Jacob was presently leaving the land.
“You may be leaving, but that doesn’t change the fact that this land is yours.”
(14) “Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will 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.”
Not only will I give you this land, but I will also multiply your descendants
(good news to a man on a journey for a wife)
And you and your descendants will be a blessing to the rest of the earth.
Jacob had never been anything but a contention.
He came out grabbing Esau’s heal and was named “Jacob”
But now God is going to make him a blessing.
And then perhaps the greatest part of God’s message:
(15) “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 have promised you.”
Now friends that is a great statement!
• You are leaving this land, but it is yours
• You have been a contention, but you’ll be a blessing
• You will face hardship, but I won’t let My promise to you fail
Look, Jacob has no idea what is about to be in store for him.
He’s about to endure some pretty serious molding and shaping.
Last week I told you he is about to go do the University of Laban
Laban has forgotten more about double dealing than Jacob ever knew
And at the end of his adventure here is what Jacob will have to say.
Genesis 31:38-41 “These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten the rams of your flocks. “That which was torn of beasts I did not bring to you; I bore the loss of it myself. You required it of my hand whether stolen by day or stolen by night. “Thus I was: by day the heat consumed me and the frost by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. “These twenty years I have been in your house; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock, and you changed my wages ten times.”
And at this point in the story that is what Jacob is about to walk through.
• Twenty Years it will take to prepare this man
• Compensating for losses that were not his fault
• Enduring the elements, heat and cold
• Serving 7 years for the wrong daughter then another 7 for the right one
• Serving 6 more years for a flock
• Enduring 10 wage changes
If Jacob knew ahead of time what was waiting for him with Laban,
I’m not sure he would have gone.
It is about to get very difficult for Jacob,
But God is promising at the outset,
No matter the hardship you need to know that
I will be with you and I will not let you fail.
I just can’t stress enough the security aspect here.
I literally hate the doctrine that so many hold to
That man can be saved one day and then lose that salvation the next.
That is so contrary to both the nature and the plan of God.
I suppose if you could prove:
It is man who chooses God and it is man who sanctifies himself,
Then perhaps you could prove that man can fail at his attempt.
But we have clearly seen:
It is not man who chooses God, it is God who chooses man
It is not man who sanctifies himself, it is God who sanctifies man
And it is not man who secures the promise, it is God who does it
God is promising Jacob, “I have a plan for you, and I will be with you so that you do not fail.”
“I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
The God who promised blessing to you will not let you fall short of it.
How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
You, who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?
Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen and help thee, and cause thee to stand
Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.
When through fiery trials thy pathways shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.
The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.
And this is also God’s promise to Jacob
This is God’s revelation to Jacob
God is establishing Jacob’s faith.
He is simply telling Jacob that despite what you are about to face,
Just trust Me, I’m going to do for you what I promised.
I think you can see why Moses would have wanted
The children of Israel to know this story.
Here they were, fresh out of Egypt, headed to the Promised Land
About to face foreign armies
About to face men who looked like Giants
About to cross a wilderness with no means of sustenance
Their only hope was Jacob’s only hope
That God was for them and that He would be with them
And would not let His promise fail.
YOU ALSO MUST SEE
That God has now removed every possible crutch from Jacob’s life.
Jacob is headed to a foreign land and the only tool he has at his disposal is faith.
Jacob’s only hope of ever returning to this land and possessing it
WAS GOD
Faith is the only tool Jacob is taking – and that’s good,
Because it is the only tool God wants him to have.
Isaac’s Reminder, Esau’s Religion, God’s Revelation
#4 JACOB’S RESPONSE
Genesis 28:16-22
I really like verse 16, especially as it reinforces a point we often make
About those who are spiritually dead.
(16) “Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.”
How many times have I told you that those who are spiritually dead
Have no capacity to recognize God?
God can move and they won’t see, God can speak and they won’t hear.
UNLESS God grants them the ability to hear and see.
Jacob is certainly proof of that.
Here he was at the foot of heaven’s ladder and didn’t even know it.
But now God has revealed Himself to Jacob
And he knows this place is awesome.
And notice how Jacob responds to God’s message.
(18-22) “So Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on its top. He called the name of that place Bethel; however, previously the name of the city had been Luz. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I take, and will give me food to eat and garments to wear, and I return to my father’s house in safety, then the LORD will be my God. “This stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”
Jacob gets up early and builds a one stone altar to God.
And Jacob makes a great statement.
“If God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I take, and will give me food to eat and garments to wear, and I return to my father’s house in safety, then the LORD will be my God.”
Not only that but “I will surely give a tenth to You.”
Jacob understood a foundational truth.
God has promised to bless me
God has promised to multiply me
God has promised to care for me and return me to my land
God has chosen to do great and mighty things for me
GRACE LIKE THAT DESERVES WORSHIP
• If God is in fact a God who has chosen me
• If God is in fact a God who has predestined me
• If God is in fact a God who won’t leave me
• If God is in fact a God who has secured my blessing
Then a God like that most certainly deserves
All of my worship and all of my allegiance.
DO YOU AGREE?
You should.
Ephesians 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,”
If God really has chosen us and predestined us and blessed us and secured us, then certainly we ought to bless Him!
Certainly we ought to worship Him!
Romans 12:1 “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”
Jacob understood this.
Up until now he had heard many stories about God and what He could do.
But now, as Jacob is starting a brand new chapter of his life,
He has met God for Himself and has determined to give faith a try.
He is going to try trusting God.
Can I ask you to try the same?
Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”
• I don’t know what you are facing in life at the moment.
• I don’t know where you’re headed
• I don’t know what God is asking you to do
• I don’t know what you are currently walking away from
• I don’t know the hardships that potentially lay before you
But I must tell you to try trusting God.
He is at work in this world, and He never fails in His plans for us.
And when God proves Himself faithful – and He will
Give Him the worship He deserves.
