04/06/2025: "Step by Step"

The condescension of God to humanity through Jesus Christ is the ultimate revelation of divine love and the only means by which we can approach Him.

• God reveals Himself to Jacob through a dream of a ladder connecting heaven and earth
• The Bible is sufficient for salvation and equips us with everything we need
• True revival begins in our hearts when we understand God's gracious condescension

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:20

Good morning church. If you have your Bibles with you, I invite you to turn with me to Genesis, chapter 28. And now that your bride's in the room, would you like to make that announcement again? Ladies and gentlemen, mr Chuckie Schultz, my wife of 29 years, he waited until you left the room. I don't understand. I'm here for you, brother. You know I'm here for you.

Speaker 1 0:52

Genesis 28. Let's pray together. Our great God, we glorify you. We ask that your kingdom might expand and grow. You, we ask that your kingdom might expand and grow. Help us today to receive the bread of the Word, the bread that will not leave us hungry, but the bread that will make us desire for more. Father, keep us from sin, keep us from temptation. Forgive each of us the great sins and the small sins in our lives. May we always bring them before you and confess them. You are everything, lord, and we ask that your Spirit might teach us this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. Genesis, chapter 28. I'm going to read verses 10 through 22.

Speaker 1 1:52

Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran, and he came to a certain place and stayed there that night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and laid down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on 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, the 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 of which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like dust to 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 I will bring you back to this land, for 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 he 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 time. 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. This is God's Word.

Speaker 1 3:45

Well, my teen years were in the early part of the 1990s. I am from the 19th century, like some of you, but my teen years were in the early 90s, and I think that's when I gained my earliest appreciation for good music. My mother was probably the biggest influence in my life with music. I was raised on her music, which I disliked at the time until, of course course, I got older, and even though mom has passed away she passed away about 15 years ago her legacy of Elvis and Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline and George Jones. That all still remain. And now what's interesting is, my kids, now that they're in adulthood, now have appreciation for that same music and they'll often say, hey, dad, we're starting to listen to your style of music. But it's not. It's actually my mom's style of music. There was influence also from my oldest sister.

Speaker 1 4:34

I'm the youngest of three. I have two older sisters. My middle sister grew up listening to the big hair music from the late 1980s. I always call it that throwaway rock. She still listens to it and if you like that music, that's fine. But my oldest sister is about five years older than me and she grew up with REO Speedwagon. Anyone remember REO Speedwagon? Okay, a bunch of hippies. She had Journey as well. Anyone remember Journey? Wow, huey Lewis and the News. Yeah, tip, to be square. I was actually happy to introduce my kids to Huey Lewis a few years ago. Full-on 80s synthesizer, rock and roll, shoulder pads, the whole thing. Most of it's pretty good.

Speaker 1 5:19

I was actually reminded this week they have a song called Jacob's Ladder. Huey Lewis and the News sang a song called Jacob's Ladder. If you've ever heard the song, it's pretty tame, of course, by today's standards. I never made the connection between that song and our text until recently. But the problem is that although the song is great, the theology of the song is dreadful. It's actually about the manipulation of televangelists in the 1980s and I think we can agree that they were and are still charlatans. But the song when Huey Lewis sings it.

Speaker 1 5:51

The song is basically I don't need your way of salvation, I don't need what you're selling, I don't need to be saved because I'm saving myself Climbing to heaven on Jacob's ladder. And he goes step by step, one by one, higher and higher, step by step, climbing Jacob's ladder. Mickey, you should have come up with the synthesizer on that. We should have organized that better. But sadly that's not at all what Jacob's ladder is about, is it? It's not a means for men and women to earn or climb or eke their way into heaven. In fact, it's the exact opposite of that.

Biblical Context: Jacob's Dream

Speaker 1 6:23

The main point of this whole chapter is that and listen to this, this is the main point of the whole thing the Lord condescends to His people even when we are alone and forsaken, and this is, of course proved in John, chapter 1 in the New Testament, that condescension is personified in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the stair between heaven and earth. Jesus is the ladder. Jesus is the only means to reach God. Jacob, of course, thinking himself lost and alone, the Lord reveals to him this great condescension to show him that he's never forsaken, no matter how needy he thinks he is. And so the framework for our time today will be two big questions how do we meet with God and how do we talk with God? And that's what this chapter is addressing for us, and I'll do this under three big pieces, three big headings. Let's start, actually, with Jacob's ladder itself, which will be our biblical context. Jacob's ladder itself, which will be our biblical context.

Speaker 1 7:31

The last time that we left this family, jacob had schemed, with his mother, rebecca, to fool his father, isaac, into giving the blessing that was intended for Esau, and you almost have to draw a chart to understand what's going on here. But Isaac realized what happened and later blessed his son Esau. The boy knew that he had received what basically was an anti-blessing and that Jacob had taken not only his birthright with the soup, but now his blessing from his father. And, of course, this murderous hatred gripped his heart, and he was just letting time pass, it seems, until his father died so he could enact revenge on his brother. He hated his brother so much that he thought killing him would bring him great comfort. Of course, rebekah caught on to this. She sends Jacob away.

Speaker 1 8:14

Rebekah's life would then become miserable at the hands of her two daughter-in-laws, the Hittite women, the Canaanite women, the wives of Esau. And so she wanted him to go off into where they're from and to marry somebody of their people, not of the Canaanites. And so he flees to Haran. He feared for his life at the hands of his brother and now, likely for the first time in his entire life, he is actually alone, and he is profoundly alone. There's no mother here to protect him, there's no father here to cook for, there's no servants, there's no grand household For Jacob. In the dark wasteland. It's full of real and present danger, and he is fully and actually alone, and he's exhausted and he's despondent. And he's exhausted and he's despondent and he's so tired, he finds a stone and he uses it as a pillow.

Speaker 1 9:12

And then, in verse 12,. And he dreamed and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. Now, when we read ladder, we might think of a rung ladder that you would use to reach a rooftop. Other authors that I respect and have studied suggest that this is likely a ziggurat, a building, a large, stepped building that you see especially in the in the middle east, not unlike the tower of babel. Either way, I don't think it makes difference how you translate this.

Speaker 1 9:43

The point is what's actually going on here. This mechanism to reach heaven to earth was full of angels. Some were near Him, others were coming down, and the central point of this entire vision is not the angels or the ladders, it is God Himself in v 13. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said I am the Lord, the God of Abraham, of Abraham, your father, and the God of Isaac. The land of 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, to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

Speaker 1 10:30

God speaks, the unconditional personal and national promises first made to Abraham were now made to Jacob by the Lord Himself. God had become the God of Abraham, isaac and Jacob, and this is the divine title that he would use throughout the Scripture. Then, of course, we learn the significance of the latter itself in verse 15. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised. You See, it is the dynamic presence of God that would never leave Jacob. As an heir of the covenant, jacob would never go beyond the keeping power of God. If you will, god would be with him as he travels for 20 years throughout Mesopotamia, always the latter, always the angels, always God.

Speaker 1 11:21

Jacob was not seeking God, it seems. At best he was fleeing from the consequences of his actions, and so Jacob's response to this whole thing is fear, and I think it's a proper fear. I know modern Christians we don't like to talk too much about fear of God, because we think about it in terms of abuse and pain, and so we reduce God almost to an idol that we can control and that really isn't that dangerous but the God of creation, the God who made the heavens and the earth, is to be feared, and it is a fear that is both terror and adoration at the same time, with a proper leaning toward adoration and trust. We can see it, imperfectly, in our heavenly fathers, can't we?

Speaker 1 12:11

Did anyone in here ever listen to what your mother said, raise your hand? Okay, mostly females did. Did anyone in here ever listen when your dad spoke? Yeah, the hands go up. Right, I love my dad. I still do always have. I love my mom, but when my mom spoke I didn't really listen. Moms always had to say you got your listeners on, but when dad spoke, I didn't need've got your listeners on, but when Dad spoke I didn't need to turn my listeners on because I stood up.

Speaker 1 12:52

So this ladder is all about meeting with God, god the Father, and talking with God, god the Father, and it's all about this covenant. This is all about meeting and talking with God. Jacob poured oil on this stone pillow. He consecrates it. He calls it Bethel. He says this is talking with God. Jacob poured oil on this stone pillow. He consecrates it. He calls it Bethel. He says this is holy to God and this was one of the first places in the Bible where the Hebrew people would meet with God. It literally means house of God, bethel. We know God can't be contained in a physical building or a location, but we earthbound humans, we often need something solid and physical to remind us of the presence of God and of course we have that. In baptism and in the Lord's Supper we have tangible reminders of what God has done for us.

Speaker 1 13:40

Bethel is mentioned about 60 times in the Bible, representing about 30 different narratives and prophecies, all of them in the Old Testament. Abraham built an altar here. Jacob would stop here again and would settle here. Bethel was one of the first places that the Ark of the Covenant was set up and where the priests offered sacrifices to God. But when there was a division in Israel and the northern kingdom of Israel separated from the southern kingdom of Judah, this spot, the king Jeroboam would set up golden calves Idols. He had the people worship there instead of going to Jerusalem to worship at the temple where the ark was. And Bethel became so corrupted by the worship of idols and other gods several of the prophets actually rallied against it. And although Bethel served as the ancient Hebrews as this early point of communication with God and entry into the Holy Land, even if it was not always the first. The cultural and political and religious life of the Israelites focused more and more on jerusalem, and bethel faded in into insignificance. Bethel became one of the two major centers of idol worship and, of course, this corruption sealed its fate in redemptive history. So by the time jesus is on the scene, bethel pretty much faded away as having any importance, and we'll discover why in a bit.

Man's Ladder vs. God's Condescension

Speaker 1 15:10

And so standing in contrast to Jacob's ladder will be our second heading, the second big piece, that is man's ladder. Jacob's ladder is all about God condescending and coming down to man. It's all about the covenant with Abraham, isaac and Jacob. It's all about meeting with and talking with God His way. Man's ladder, like Huey Lewis in the news sang, it's about earning your right to go up to God. It's all about mankind, and it's really it's any theological system that seeks to make a way for us to climb to heaven, to earn salvation or to gain enlightenment, to gain a God state or to be near God with our own efforts. And so the questions of where do we meet with God and how we hear from God are important, especially in 2025. They're especially important to us here. Where do we meet with God and how do we hear from God?

Speaker 1 16:08

I can tell you the biggest opponent to biblical Christianity. I don't think it's atheism, I don't think it's any other form of outside religious systems. It's actually a brand and I use that term lightly. It's a brand of Christianity and you've heard me use this word before, called universalism. In universalism, you are a God, you are a little g God, effectively, and you meet God on your own terms and you hear from your God when you think or speak, and all of this is flavored with biblical terms and biblical words.

Speaker 1 16:42

Universalism is the belief that comes in all theological shapes and sizes, and the most appealing thing to the universalist is that everyone, everywhere, no matter if you rejected Jesus in this life or not, goes to heaven when they die. That is the majority of our neighbors this morning, isn't it? No matter who you are, no matter what you did, no matter if you rejected Jesus in this life, you will go to heaven in the next life, unless the person who holds that belief system deems you unworthy because of your political affiliation or if you drive a Tesla or something like that. At best, it's superficiality. It's superficial Christianity and it could be hard to deny that superficially, the belief that everyone eventually will be saved has an existential pull to it, particularly to our modern hearts and minds. But with all theological beliefs, all beliefs about everything and anything, we, as believers in the risen Christ, we need to submit everything we believe to the authority of God's Word Amen. Biblical revelation speaks truth into everything. It doesn't matter your culture, it doesn't matter your culture, it doesn't matter your history, it doesn't matter anything about you. Biblical truth speaks to your life. But I can tell you that's not the case in many churches this morning.

Speaker 1 18:19

I think many are teaching a form of universalism, whether it's in the Bible Belt or Yankee Land. They're teaching universalism. Some are incorporating as much from the culture as they can. Others are simply and seemingly innocuous. Live a good life, be a good person and go to heaven. You're slowly climbing that ladder to heaven. Friends, it's a tragic day. It will be a tragic day when so many nice, well-meaning, well put together, successful, happy people will stand before god and are cast away from god because they relied on their own slow, good, nice performance to get them into heaven and disregarded salvation made available through Jesus Christ. And so, with man's ladder.

Speaker 1 19:13

You meet God and talk with God on your terms, in the place of your choosing, based primarily on your feelings towards a location. The question is not not does this glorify god or does this line up with his revealed will, but does it make me feel good, does it make me feel comfortable, so that lake location could be a mountaintop or it could be? I can go there by myself and I can meet with god on my own terms, no need for the word, no need for teachers. Now, here's the reality. There's truth to that isn't there. You can worship God alone, can't you? You can pray alone. You can be a student of the Bible alone.

Speaker 1 19:58

One man said to me I can pray on the 18th hole just as much as I can in your church. Sure, you can, but that's not what you're doing. Man, don't lie to me and lie to the Holy Spirit. I knew some people in the New Testament that lied to the Holy Spirit and it didn't work out for them. Why do so many people get struck by lightning on the 18th hole when they're supposed to be in church? I don't know. You can do all these things alone, but you can't be discipled alone. You can't serve others alone.

Speaker 1 20:32

When you come to a place like this, it's messy, but when you meet together with a group of redeemed people who are seeking God's will and doing it God's way, with your whole heart, there is absolutely nothing like it. And there's also great danger on the flip side of that, in thinking that we can only meet with God in a place like this. I mean words mean something. People say what do you call this room? I call this the worship center. Some call it the sanctuary, and I get that. I tend to shy away from that word because the word sanctuary means safe place and people say well, isn't it a safe place If the Word of God is preached faithfully? This room is not always going to be a safe place, but it'll always be a truth place, won't it? It'll be a place for compassion and love and care, but it'll always be a place of truth. This is where worship happens, and the danger is we think this ground here is sacred or that you can only meet with God here, and I think this place is certainly set apart. But the only thing that makes this place sacred is if God's people are here. The only thing that makes the church a sacred place is if God's people are there and if God's words are taught.

Jesus as the True Ladder

Speaker 1 21:56

Man's ladder will also say that you can talk with God however you like and He'll respond in kind. And of course, you have the prosperity Gospel, you have the social justice Gospel. Both of them are perversions and not the Gospel at all. One man I listened to at one point I was reading him. He said this Jesus is more concerned with feeding the poor than he is with men and women knowing him as Savior. That's absolutely false. One man responded to him correctly. He said it sounds like something that Satan would say, because it does. Jesus is concerned with the poor and we are concerned with the poor, aren't we? But Jesus is infinitely more concerned and therefore we are with the eternal state of the poor rather than their bellies. Should we feed people? Yes, and we do, but if we don't share the Gospel, we're doing them no eternal good. Man's ladder seeks to make self feel good. The Gospel seeks to make men and women into redeemed creatures, final.

Speaker 1 23:03

We need to look at the fact that Jesus is the ladder, jacob's ladder. All about hearing from God, being with God in Bethel and that region. It's all about covenant. Man's ladder, let me earn my way to heaven. Let me get my own way. Let me meet with God on my terms. Friends, like everything else in the Old Testament if you were with us on Wednesday night, we showed this that everything in the Old Testament has its fulfillment, even this ladder, in the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything we read about, from Genesis to Malachi, has its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. And because Jesus is now the ladder and this is all about the new covenant it's all about meeting with God only through Jesus and speaking with God, holding His Word as supreme authority, jesus was and is the focus of this divine ladder.

Speaker 1 23:52

I want us to see the amazing congruence of the Old Testament and the New Testament yet again. So we see this confirmed in John, chapter 1, and this is the conversion of Philip and Nathanael. When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit. Nathanael's like, well, how do you know me? And Jesus said I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you. Nathanael declared Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel. Now listen to this. Jesus said you believe, because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that. Very truly, I tell you. You will see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of man. Today, the ascended Son of man mediates the commerce between heaven and earth. He is at both ends of the ladder. Even the old Bethel, a place that would hold significance for generations, is now superseded in Jesus. God no longer reveals Himself in Bethel or Jerusalem or in the glass cathedral. He reveals Himself to us only in Jesus Christ. God no longer needs those things.

Speaker 1 25:07

So we must consider how the Bible answers those questions. How do we meet with God and how do we hear from God? The good news is that we encounter these questions first in Genesis and if we pull the string, we could see both questions as threads running throughout the Scripture. We first encounter these questions in the very beginning of Genesis, where we see God personally speaking and communing with Adam and Eve. He met them in Eden and spoke to them face to face. After the fall, humanity is kicked out of Eden. There's no central meeting place of God and humanity, at least until he calls Israel up out of Egypt and he meets with Moses on Sinai. But he still spoke personally and audibly to Israel, or at least His prophets, who then relayed His messages to the masses.

Speaker 1 25:55

But maybe these two questions are not more fully on display than in our text. God speaks in which he gives His covenant promises to Jacob that he promised to His father and His grandfather and Jacob wakes up. Surely, the Lord is in this place, and I didn't know it. He even names the place House of God. But for the Christian who knows and loves the Bible, it may be very easy to see this account in Genesis 28 as normative, since God Himself seems to confirm Jacob's understanding, and so the idea that God speaks to people in visions and dreams, just like he did with Jacob, is increasingly influential sentiment in the church worldwide in 2025. But even a cursory reading of the Old Testament would seem to support that viewpoint. Worship in the Old Testament, especially within the covenant nation of Israel, was very much built around meeting with God in a very specific place, and so today there are modern proponents of prophetic visions and dreams and everything else. So should we, as Christians, expect to hear from God, like Jacob did, and see him in a dream or a vision? Well, I think the question we need to answer is this when do these two questions lead Meeting with God and hearing from God. Where does this lead us? Well, we have to answer is this where do these two questions lead Meeting with God and hearing from God. Where does this lead us? Well, we have to answer that they lead to the same place that all other worlds in the Old Testament lead to, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ.

How We Meet With God Today

Speaker 1 27:26

The New Testament believer mustn't see as normative the experiences and interactions with God in the Old Testament that Old Testament believers had. The writer of Hebrews makes this very clear right at the beginning of his letter. He says long ago, at many times and in many ways, god spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son. How do we Christians living 2,000 years separated from Christ, how do we meet with God? How do we Christians living 2,000 years separated from Christ, how do we meet with God? How do we hear with God? Well, we come to Christ. We hear from God through His Word, the Bible. Peter makes this clear. In 2 Peter he says he has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us. Peter argues that it is only through the written and inspired Word of God which is better than a personal experience of God such as his own experience of seeing Christ transfigured on the mountain. So we hear from God by reading His Word. That is the most normative, plain way that God expresses to us His will today, by the Word of God.

Speaker 1 28:39

And people sometimes say to me I want to experience God, I want to have these big experiences with God. Then go to the Word of God. It's unlikely, as a believer in Jesus Christ, you'll have big experiences if you're not faithful to the Word of God. The writer of Hebrews makes clear. He says enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus. We draw near. We draw near to God as we gather with this church. Christ is present when the church gathers in His name. Christ is here with us now because we are in Christ. So when somebody asks how you can know God or hear from God or meet with God, the answer is that God has spoken to us in the Bible and we meet with Him corporately, gathering as His church, and that seeking any experience of God outside of those things is counter to the storyline in the Ark of the Bible. Now, it's not to say that God can't give you those experiences, but the normal course of life is we meet with God in His Word and through the corporate gathering of His people.

Speaker 1 29:47

And here's the beauty of this chapter and the beauty of Jesus and the beauty of the Gospel is that God condescends to us. The Creator, the I Am the Messiah. He leaves His glory, he condescends and he takes on the frailty of human flesh. And even God's revelation of Himself in the Bible is a product of that condescension. Our great, loving God condescends. He has come down to reveal Himself to us. The Bible says and because of this we have a real knowledge of our Creator, we have a real knowledge of our Redeemer. So through Jesus, the latter, we meet with God. Through Christ alone, there's no other means by which we can be reconciled to God. Jesus is the center of God's eternal plan for creation.

Speaker 1 30:38

Now, despite the diversity of human authors and the books of the Bible and time frames and continents, scripture speaks as a unified, divine, communicative act by which God reveals Himself to the whole history of redemption, from creation to new creation. And this unified Word of God has one main point. The one main point of the whole Bible is that the God of the universe, in His infinite wisdom and power, has chosen to bring all of His purposes and all of His plans to fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ. And so let me end this way I think, while there are so many truths of science and history that aren't in the Scripture, the Bible is sufficient for our salvation. Scripture equips believers with all that is needed to be saved and to persevere to the ultimate salvation. This is proved to us in the words that sum up John's Gospel. This is from John 20, and I'll close with this word. Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not recorded in this book, but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.

Closing Prayer and Invitation

Speaker 1 31:56

Let's pray together, lord God. This morning we pray so strongly and vehemently for revival in America, and if we can't have revival in America, we pray for revival in Kentucky. And if we can't have revival in Kentucky, we pray for revival in Hopkinsville. If we can't have revival in Hopkinsville, let's have it at First Baptist Church, and if we can't have it at First Baptist Church, let's have it in our hearts, lord, send fire from heaven, a heaven-sent, god-breathed Holy Ghost revival that will get God's people off the fence and ready to serve Him. Dear Lord, let that fire fall upon us.

Speaker 1 32:54

And, friend, if you are not in Christ, if you are not a Christian, if you are not saved, if you don't have the assurance that you will go to heaven when you die, if you're not sure, settle it. I offer you a prayer and you can pray with me in the quiet of your own heart and, as you do, cry out to God. Oh God, I am lost and I need to be saved and I want to be saved. You died to save me. I believe that God raised you from the dead. I believe that you can save me. I believe you want to save me. So, lord, right now, please save me. Friends, we will sing our closing song. I invite everybody, if anyone can, come down to this altar, as it were, and pray. If you need prayer, I can pray with you, but I invite everyone who wants to just to come down and pray freely at this altar. Pray for revival, pray for the lost, just while we sing our last song. We love you, lord, amen.