SPEAKER_00: We study through books of the Bible here at the Village Chapel.
SPEAKER_00: We have extra paper copies.
SPEAKER_00: If you'd like one of those, raise your hand up real high, and we'll be glad to drop one off at your row, your aisle about halfway back in the center on both sides there.
SPEAKER_00: And uh if you would prefer to uh go online, you can jump on the network here at the Village Chapel.
SPEAKER_00: And uh and that little tip up there on the screen tells you the password and the name of the network.
SPEAKER_00: And uh if you're listening or watching us online, hello everybody.
SPEAKER_00: Let's let's wave at them one more time, those cameras right there.
SPEAKER_00: So glad you joined us online and uh glad to be together.
SPEAKER_00: Uh and that's a just a growing group of people.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just thrilled uh to know that they're out there.
SPEAKER_00: Uh we are studying the book of Genesis, and of course, we're calling our study of Genesis in the beginning, which is uh apropos, that's how it begins.
SPEAKER_00: It says in the beginning.
SPEAKER_00: I've made the argument before.
SPEAKER_00: I think that in our day, in our time, that may be the most offensive verse in the entire Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Uh some people don't like to think that there might be some other source for life, or some other source for truth, or some other source other than the self that might have created them.
SPEAKER_00: And so we we have right there a huge dividing line when you when you sort of think of the way people look at the world and look at reality.
SPEAKER_00: And we happen to believe, along with the Nicene Creed from uh 325 AD, there that we just recited, we happen to believe that actually there is a creator.
SPEAKER_00: This isn't just all random chance collocation of atoms and chemicals that collided, and so life is meaningless.
SPEAKER_00: No, this is all actually designed, and there is telas, there is purpose written into that design.
SPEAKER_00: And so we are so grateful uh that there is a God, that he has uh indeed spoken and not left us alone and uh revealed himself to us.
SPEAKER_00: And back here in the study of Genesis, we now come to chapter 28.
SPEAKER_00: If you want to turn there in your Bibles, uh I don't know if you can relate to this or not, but um uh some of us have actually messed our lives up from time to time.
SPEAKER_00: Is that okay?
SPEAKER_00: A couple of you are there's a couple smiles and a couple nods, and and you might be maybe you're thinking of somebody else.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe they're maybe they're thinking of you, you know.
SPEAKER_00: But some of us have had that experience where we've made some choices and we've isolated ourselves from others.
SPEAKER_00: Um it might be that we did that by withdrawing in some kind of passive aggressive way uh in a relationship, or it might be that we actually were a runaway, a prodigal at some point, or maybe you know a prodigal, and maybe you have a prodigal.
SPEAKER_00: What do you do?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, what's what and what and what does God think of that kind of thing?
SPEAKER_00: And we come to Genesis 28, and this is a great example.
SPEAKER_00: Here we find Jacob on the run.
SPEAKER_00: Now he's not like a teenager prodigal, guy's 70.
SPEAKER_00: He's been living at home with mom and dad since he was 70.
SPEAKER_00: All right, so there's a there's a you know a bunch of years and a bunch of hurdles we have to jump over those years to understand some of what's going on.
SPEAKER_00: And all of what he went through, you won't go through and I won't go through.
SPEAKER_00: Some of what he has gone through, we will go through.
SPEAKER_00: And this story is here for a reason, and we need to ask the question why is it here?
SPEAKER_00: What does it say to us in our own lives, in our own day and time, and in our relationship with God if we have one?
SPEAKER_00: And if we don't have one, what does it perhaps uh inspire us to?
SPEAKER_00: And so that's that's kind of where I think we want to go today.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I'm gonna put up on the screen the map just to orient you a little bit as to where what we're about to see is happening.
SPEAKER_00: Um, Beersheba is at the bottom of the map right there as you're looking at it.
SPEAKER_00: And you can see the blue line, which is tracing essentially the journey of Jacob as the camera lens and the storyline now focuses in on Jacob away from Isaac.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and and we'll see that he's gonna travel north all the way up there to the top of the blue line where it says Haran.
SPEAKER_00: It's probably 400, maybe 450 miles.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, so it's a long way to go when you don't have like a uh a motor coach or you know a car or an airplane or a helicopter or something like that.
SPEAKER_00: It's a long way to go if you're walking.
SPEAKER_00: I he maybe he had a maybe he had a camel, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: But even that seems like that wouldn't be such an attractive ride for me.
SPEAKER_00: Camels don't have air conditioning, as long as I know, as far as as far as I know.
SPEAKER_00: But to go that far, to travel that far, he's on the run.
SPEAKER_00: And as we saw in the storyline preceding this, he's on the run because why?
SPEAKER_00: His brother Esau wants to kill him, is actually thinking about killing him.
SPEAKER_00: And Jacob knows this because Rebecca, his mother, told him about that.
SPEAKER_00: She had heard about that since Jacob had stolen not only the birthright, but also the blessing away from Esau.
SPEAKER_00: And so we're gonna call this, if we can, um, sort of the idea.
SPEAKER_00: We're moving from greedy schemer to gospel dreamer in a way in this chapter.
SPEAKER_00: That's what's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00: This is the story of the dream that Jacob has, where God appears to him in the dream and speaks to him, and and and there's this uh experience with a ladder or a stairway.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you will know this story, but let's uh look at it together, read it, make a few points and throw just a few ideas your way about how this might relate to your life as well.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 10 picks up with Jacob on the run.
SPEAKER_00: He departed from Beersheba and he went toward Haran.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, and so what we have is in our passage, we have him starting to move right out.
SPEAKER_00: He had to do that pretty quickly.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because Isaac, his father, was uh aged and close to death, and the rumor around the camp was that Esau was going to kill Jacob as soon as Isaac died.
SPEAKER_00: And so Rebekah says, Run! Run, my son, run! And remember, Jacob was Rebekah's favorite.
SPEAKER_00: Esau was Isaac's favorite, and so we have parents that are playing favoritism.
SPEAKER_00: We have brothers that are at each other's throats.
SPEAKER_00: And we have this guy, Jacob, whose name means heel grabber.
SPEAKER_00: He's a schemer, he's one that trips others up.
SPEAKER_00: And he literally has uh stolen from his brother, lied boldface to his father, and his mother and he have been conspiring, and so he he's got to take off, he's gotta go.
SPEAKER_00: And how long would that take on foot?
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: I've never walked 400 miles.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if any, but maybe somebody in the room has.
SPEAKER_00: My guess is weeks it would take, okay?
SPEAKER_00: He came to a certain place, and it's not the narrator isn't gonna tell us exactly where that place is, but that's okay.
SPEAKER_00: That's not what's important.
SPEAKER_00: However, this place will be named by the end of the chapter, which will be really interesting for us.
SPEAKER_00: He came to a certain place and he spent the night there because the sun had set.
SPEAKER_00: He took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head, and he lay down in that place.
SPEAKER_00: And so he doesn't have his own bedding with him, he doesn't have one of those really comfy, you know, air mattresses, doesn't have his my pillow with him or whatever.
SPEAKER_00: He's he grabs a rock and he puts it under his head, and that's all he's got.
SPEAKER_00: And he's out there sleeping under the stars.
SPEAKER_00: And uh yet he's and he's on the run because his brother wants to kill him.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't know if his brother's on the chase right now, coming after him or not.
SPEAKER_00: Um, think of all the things that could be going through your mind in this particular moment.
SPEAKER_00: You've run away, you had to drop everything you stole, everything you schemed for, you had to drop it all and go immediately, with literally just the robes on your back and the sandals on your feet.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: So he lays down there and he's got a rock under his head, and he had a dream.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 12 says, Behold, a ladder was set on the earth, uh staircase, some of your translations might say, was on set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven.
SPEAKER_00: And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: Your descendants shall also be like the dust of the earth.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, many, okay?
SPEAKER_00: And you shall 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.
SPEAKER_00: And listen, Jacob is kind of familiar with this kind of language and this kind of promise because he's been sitting around the campfire with Uncle Abraham, I mean grandfather Abraham, and with Father Isaac, and those two guys were told the exact same thing.
SPEAKER_00: And so now here's God appearing to him in a dream, and he's saying those kinds of things that he said to Isaac and to Abraham.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, and this is the most beautiful part of it, right here, I am with you.
SPEAKER_00: And I like to posit the notion that none of the rest of that stuff matters unless this is true.
SPEAKER_00: Because you can have all the stuff in the world and still have a completely empty soul, empty life.
SPEAKER_00: That's why so many of our recovery clinics and therapy clinics are filled with the wealthy people who have achieved much, acquired much, but found life still wanting in some way.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because you just can't build your life on finite stuff.
SPEAKER_00: We need I am to be with us.
SPEAKER_00: He put eternity in my heart and in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: And the deepest, most chronic longing all of us have, whether we know it or not, is for him.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, I am with you, verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: And I love this.
SPEAKER_00: It's like this could be a four-part, verse 15 could be a four-part sermon sermon all by itself, but trust me, we won't, I won't, um, don't worry, I won't go there.
SPEAKER_00: But I am with you, I will keep you wherever you go, I will bring you back to this land, and I will not leave you.
SPEAKER_00: That's beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: I will not leave you until I've fulfilled all these promises, basically.
SPEAKER_00: He says, and Jacob awoke from his sleep and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.
SPEAKER_00: And he was afraid, and he said, How awesome is this place?
SPEAKER_00: This is not other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: And Jacob rose early in the morning and took the stone that he had put under his head, and he set it up as a pillar and poured oil on its top, and he called the name of that place Bethel.
SPEAKER_00: That means the house of God.
SPEAKER_00: Now the place has a name.
SPEAKER_00: And the name is given.
SPEAKER_00: It's a given name.
SPEAKER_00: It's like your name has been given to you.
SPEAKER_00: Can you legally change it?
SPEAKER_00: Sure, you can.
SPEAKER_00: But somebody gave it to you before you had any say in that whole process, you know.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the name of the place: Bethel, House of God.
SPEAKER_00: However, previously the name of the city had been LUS.
SPEAKER_00: Now I haven't got a clue what LUS means, but it doesn't sound that great.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, it just sounds like kind of one of those snory kind of places, you know.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and Jacob made a vow saying, if, or in some of your English translations, this and the same Hebrew word couldn't be translated since, which is very interesting, little difference, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Since, or 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 will I return to my father's house in safety, then the Lord will be my God.
SPEAKER_00: Now, you guys, we've talked about Jacob, he's a bit of a negotiator, isn't he?
SPEAKER_00: And you see him in his dream actually making a deal with God.
SPEAKER_00: All right?
SPEAKER_00: Now, how many of you have, you know, don't raise your hand, but you if you're like me, at some point in your life you made a deal or you tried to strike a deal with God.
SPEAKER_00: You you said, God, if you'll just do this, you know, then I'll serve you forever and I'll tithe 11% instead of 10.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I'll all these different things.
SPEAKER_00: And you're trying to make a deal with God, right?
SPEAKER_00: And Jacob is one of these manipulators, I just think it's still in his bones.
SPEAKER_00: Here, God goes graciously, as he's on, as Jacob's on the run, God graciously shows up and intrudes, intervenes in his the course and trajectory of his life, which is going down the hill, and God shows up.
SPEAKER_00: And his response is if it's since, that feels a little better to me, since God will be with me and help me get in this journey and take and will give me food and all that, I will return to my father's house and safety, then the Lord, since he is, then the Lord will be my God.
SPEAKER_00: If it's if, it sounds like a condition.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know which it is, but I can learn something in either direction.
SPEAKER_00: You know, and I think we can as well.
SPEAKER_00: And then the last verse, and this stone, he's pointing to the stone, you know, this big this one stone that was his pillow, which I've set up as a pillar, will be, and now it's a it's a pile of stones.
SPEAKER_00: It's like a it's like a memorial, it's like something to remind him of something, will be, and very common practice for them to do back in that day, will be God's house.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, it's called Bethel, the house of God.
SPEAKER_00: And of all that thou dost give me, all that God that you give me, I will surely give a tenth to thee.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is an example of what we typically would call tithing in our day and time.
SPEAKER_00: This is an example of that in motion.
SPEAKER_00: We've seen it before with Abraham.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and we'll we'll read about it a few more times.
SPEAKER_00: Uh uh and and uh and the idea of giving, of course, in our New Testament is there's not a number that's given to it in the New Testament, but we're told to give cheerfully and generously.
SPEAKER_00: Actually, it's hilariously and generously.
SPEAKER_00: That means it's supposed to be a real kick, a real exciting thing to give.
SPEAKER_00: And and so around the village chapel, since the beginning, we've always said no grumpy giving.
SPEAKER_00: Because if you if you give in a grumpy way, um you're you might help some, you might help fill the box a little, and that's fine.
SPEAKER_00: But you're not gonna receive really any kind of a real blessing yourself in this regard.
SPEAKER_00: Because you're still grumpy about it.
SPEAKER_00: And and we always remind ourselves around here anyway, God owns it all.
SPEAKER_00: You know, the question for us is not about is it 10% or 2% or 30%?
SPEAKER_00: It's how much am I willing, how how much am I comfortable keeping for myself when I know God owns it all.
SPEAKER_00: And and he wants us to be generous givers.
SPEAKER_00: That's so important.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and so here uh a lot happens in this chapter.
SPEAKER_00: And I just want to throw a couple of things up on the screen to remind us and highlight some of these things.
SPEAKER_00: First, one sometimes that that God comes to us when we least expect it, where we'd least expect it, and when we least deserve it.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so this is this is the first thing I thought about.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, this is kind of his who, when, where, what moment.
SPEAKER_00: Jacob's who, what, when, where moment.
SPEAKER_00: Who is God?
SPEAKER_00: God shows up.
SPEAKER_00: When does he show up when Jacob's on the run?
SPEAKER_00: Uh and in his life, I don't see him looking for God.
SPEAKER_00: I I I haven't read anything yet about Jacob that leads me to believe that he's like Mr., you know, Mr.
SPEAKER_00: Example of strong, solid faith, committed to, you know, the Lord and all that.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not, I haven't seen that yet.
SPEAKER_00: This is going to be a real pivot point.
SPEAKER_00: That's why I'm saying this might be his who, when, where, what moment.
SPEAKER_00: The where is is he's on the run, he's he's out in the middle of nowhere.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, he doesn't actually know exactly where he's going, just like his father Abraham.
SPEAKER_00: He's he's starting to have to live this life as a sort of a nomad, just going and then trusting that God will show him at some point where to go.
SPEAKER_00: And that's somewhat the life of faith as well.
SPEAKER_00: Um, the who, when, where, what moment.
SPEAKER_00: The what is is God showing up, reiterating his covenant promises to Jacob and reminding him of who, God reminding Jacob of who God is and what God promises to do and God intends to do.
SPEAKER_00: And it's interesting, you some of us might think with religions that God would show up and unfurl the list of things that Jacob has to do.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the rules follow ye them or burn in hell.
SPEAKER_00: No, that's not what happens.
SPEAKER_00: God shows up and says, I'm going to do this.
SPEAKER_00: And then he unfurls a list of things, right?
SPEAKER_00: That God promises to do.
SPEAKER_00: And even though Jacob's response might be if and it might be since, either way, um, he's still the recipient of grace.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the what, man.
SPEAKER_00: The who is God, the when is when he's on the run, the where is en route, running the other way, away from God, away from his responsibilities, away from his family.
SPEAKER_00: And the what is grace.
SPEAKER_00: It's so amazing.
SPEAKER_00: Jacob on the road, on the run, running on empty, as some of us would say.
SPEAKER_00: No hotel, didn't have a pillow to lay his head on, had miles to go and just didn't even know how far he had to go.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I think sometimes God comes to us when we least expect it, where we'd least expect it, and when we least deserve it.
SPEAKER_00: If I'm Jacob and I'm reading him right and the way he's presented by the narrator in this book, what he's doing and what he's dreaming of is going to be more since he's such a manipulator, is he's gonna be writing narratives on how he's gonna control the outcome.
SPEAKER_00: Do you do that?
SPEAKER_00: I do that all the time.
SPEAKER_00: And it it leans into anxiety when I'm not thinking about laying it at God's feet, it leans into anxiety and and even unbelief because at that in in the place of anxiety, I'm actually saying, God, you're probably not gonna get this right.
SPEAKER_00: The outcome isn't, you're not trustworthy with the outcome.
SPEAKER_00: And so I get anxious or worried.
SPEAKER_00: And so for me, as I sort of look at my own life and think about this guy and him being a manipulator, and and we're all manipulators in some level, but when we fall into that anxiety thing, it might actually be something we need to repent from, and not just try to, you know, patch it up or whatever.
SPEAKER_00: It might be something we need to repent from.
SPEAKER_00: Um so that's where his who, when, where, what moment comes from God.
SPEAKER_00: And um, he's asleep, he's on the roadside, nothing but a rock for his lost everything he had collected and manipulated and stolen, and no idea of his future.
SPEAKER_00: And that's that's again so surprising that God would do that.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you have heard of Tish Harrison Warren and the book that she's written called Prayer in the Night, which uh Kim and I have read and enjoyed.
SPEAKER_00: Um sleep and she's saying we're all helpless when we sleep.
SPEAKER_00: No matter how important our job is, no matter how impressive we may be, in order to live, we all have to turn off and be unconscious for about a third of our lives.
SPEAKER_00: Every day, whether we like it or not, we must enter into vulnerability in order to sleep.
SPEAKER_00: And y'all, you know, you've been if you've been around at all, you've seen pictures of dogs that are cashed out on the couch, you know.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and just totally vulnerable, their bellies up, you know.
SPEAKER_00: Or if you have if you're a parent and you see your kids sleeping like that, you know, you know how vulnerable they are.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes when you go to sleep, you yourself feel quite vulnerable.
SPEAKER_00: You know, some of us have our alarms that we turn on at night so that if somebody comes in, some narrative well breaks into the house or whatever is going to go and wake us up at some point.
SPEAKER_00: But sleep is a vulnerable place to be, and that's exactly where Jacob was when God showed up in Jacob's vulnerability.
SPEAKER_00: I love the way Spurgeon said it.
SPEAKER_00: You guys have heard this quote before, I think.
SPEAKER_00: When you go through a trial, the sovereignty of God is the pillow upon which you lay your head.
SPEAKER_00: So you and I have the blessed opportunity, as we study Genesis 28, to look back and learn from our older brother Jacob's, you know, sort of uh this season of his life where it was quite quite a struggle.
SPEAKER_00: We can learn from that.
SPEAKER_00: I can look back and go, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: The sovereignty of God is what I should really trust in.
SPEAKER_00: Not my own ability to manipulate things, not my own ability to ensure the outcome goes the way I want it to, um, and or to ensure that someone else behaves in a certain way, because I can't control other people.
SPEAKER_00: That's so true.
SPEAKER_00: Secondly, you can never outrun God's reach, you can always trust God's grace.
SPEAKER_00: I see that in this chapter as well.
SPEAKER_00: There's no indicators, like I say, that Jacob was looking for God.
SPEAKER_00: We don't read much here about his spiritual life.
SPEAKER_00: But no matter how isolated or lonely we might feel, I just want you to know God has not forsaken us or left us alone.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, look at this.
SPEAKER_00: This story is a great example of that.
SPEAKER_00: Out in the middle of nowhere, you know, God can still reach him.
SPEAKER_00: God's grace is still gonna be enough.
SPEAKER_00: And he comes to Jacob in this dream.
SPEAKER_00: And it should be.
SPEAKER_00: And I believe ultimately it was a very important pivot moment in Jacob's faith journey in terms of his relationship with God.
SPEAKER_00: It's a very humbling experience as he's en route to his mother Rebecca's homeland, that everything has gone south for him.
SPEAKER_00: It's a very humbling experience.
SPEAKER_00: He's vulnerable in his sleep.
SPEAKER_00: Here comes God to him.
SPEAKER_00: And I think it's a great example of God being trustworthy.
SPEAKER_00: What Jacob didn't know is that while he had his father's blessing behind him, he had our father's blessing ahead of him.
SPEAKER_00: And we have our father's blessing, that which has been put on offer to all of us, which is this salvation that God intends, this redemption that God intends to weave into history through the line of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, all the way to Jesus Messiah, who would come and offer reconciliation between sinful human beings like us and a holy and righteous God.
SPEAKER_00: And life forever, in a sense, living in Bethel, in the dwelling place where we dwell together with God.
SPEAKER_00: And because of Jesus, see, God is taking the initiative, just like he did in Genesis 28, to come to us where we are on our dark little strange lost journey.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is broken into the world that's dark, and a world that loved darkness more than it loved light.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus, the greater Jacob, brings us this great opportunity to dwell with God and with God forever.
SPEAKER_00: As uh we've quoted before Keller, we are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus than we ever dared hope.
SPEAKER_00: And so, although Jacob is homeless and on the run right now, he has his real dwelling place, the opportunity to know God.
SPEAKER_00: Um, no mess that Jacob had made of his life could put him beyond God's reach.
SPEAKER_00: No amount of guilt and shame that he might have felt uh could short circuit the transforming power of the grace of God at work in his life.
SPEAKER_00: And the same thing is true for you, the same thing is true for me.
SPEAKER_00: No matter where you're at spiritually in your journey, you can't outrun God's uh reach.
SPEAKER_00: You just can't.
SPEAKER_00: Um We'll also see later in the book that we our arms are far too short to box with God.
SPEAKER_00: That is a you know one of those sort of battles that we think sometimes we want to fight, but we we actually don't, and we'll learn that a little bit later on, even with Jacob.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but here it's more about the fact that you can't outrun his reach and you can always trust his grace.
SPEAKER_00: Thirdly and lastly, this morning I want to say Jesus invites us into the house of the Lord, Bethel, and life everlasting.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus the greater Abraham, Jesus the greater Isaac, Jesus the greater Jacob.
SPEAKER_00: All of those personalities and all of this storyline pointing forward to and finding its fulfillment in the finished work of Christ on the cross, and before that the incarnation itself, that he came for us.
SPEAKER_00: And then that crucifixion, he gave himself for us, and that glorious resurrection, that he's defeated our last and greatest enemy.
SPEAKER_00: All of that's so beautiful and foreshadowed in all of this.
SPEAKER_00: So if we want to move from being a self-schemer to a gospel dreamer, uh, and I'm again titling this chapter that, um, what is called upon for us is how will we respond to this God who intrudes into our lives on his schedule, on his agenda, when he knows we're at that place of uh running out of our own resources and that sense of isolation, all of that sense when we've just run out of ourself, he shows up.
SPEAKER_00: When we've run out of our own ability to manipulate, our own things that we can hope in and all that sort of thing, he shows up and reiterates his promises.
SPEAKER_00: We see this even in the life of Jesus when he said in John 1.51, and you know what, let's do it.
SPEAKER_00: We've got enough time.
SPEAKER_00: I'm still about five minutes ahead of where I normally am.
SPEAKER_00: And so I want to turn to John chapter 1 with me.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to see what Jesus said when he was in John chapter 1, he's um he's collecting up a couple of his disciples, and um he's meeting some of them for the first time.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 44 of John chapter 1.
SPEAKER_00: All the way, go to the right in your Bibles if you don't if you don't know exactly where that is, just go to the right.
SPEAKER_00: Uh in my Bible, it's page 1047.
SPEAKER_00: I have no clue what page it is in your Bible.
SPEAKER_00: But um, here it is, where uh verse 44 says, Philip was from Bethsaida of the city of Andrew and Peter, and so they're all from the same hometown there on the shores of Galilee, the Sea of Galilee.
SPEAKER_00: Philip found this guy named Nathaniel, and he said to him, We found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, we found this guy who all of the Old Testament, this is another way of saying the Old Testament points to.
SPEAKER_00: And the Jews of the first century were looking for Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: And so he comes to him.
SPEAKER_00: Philip is great this way, and he says to Nathaniel, we found him, who Moses wrote about in the law, and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
SPEAKER_00: And he's the legal son of Joseph, of course, we know that.
SPEAKER_00: Nathanael said to him, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?
SPEAKER_00: That's like him saying, Can any good thing come out of Hillsborough village?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's kind of like a little slam on Nazareth, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: It's like from that side of the tracks, are you kidding me?
SPEAKER_00: And Philip said to him, Come and see.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the invitation to you as well.
SPEAKER_00: That's the invitation to me as well.
SPEAKER_00: Come and see.
SPEAKER_00: Come and see Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Consider Jesus, the one to whom all of that stuff in Genesis points forward to.
SPEAKER_00: Genesis, one of the books of the law of Moses.
SPEAKER_00: Books of books of Moses would be considered those first five books.
SPEAKER_00: And so here in the New Testament, way before the Nicene Creed, way before anything that somebody wrote has in it who's written about in a fictional uh novel in our own day and time, suggesting that that some weary followers of Jesus tried to prop up his self and his image after he died and all that.
SPEAKER_00: No, they already are seeing Jesus as Messiah here.
SPEAKER_00: And so he says, uh uh come and see Philip says that.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, Philip is all, he's such a great evangelist.
SPEAKER_00: He's always inviting people to come see Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 47, Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him and he said of him, Behold, an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile.
SPEAKER_00: And here, you know, we've just been told that uh Nathaniel's got a little bit of city prejudice, perhaps some kind of, you know, some kind of, you know, we might it might be some kind of uh uh uh you know akin to a racism.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: And here Jesus says, in whom there is no God.
SPEAKER_00: And I love this.
SPEAKER_00: Nathaniel says to him, How do you know me?
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus answered and said to him, Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.
SPEAKER_00: This is one of those times where Jesus does something supernatural.
SPEAKER_00: And we don't get a lot of time sort of, it's not a lot of time spent dwelling on it, but something there happened.
SPEAKER_00: And and and Nathaniel answered him and said, Rabbi, you are the son of God.
SPEAKER_00: All right, the light just went on.
SPEAKER_00: You are the king of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus answered and said to him, Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe?
SPEAKER_00: You'll see greater things than these.
SPEAKER_00: And now check this out and see if you think this connects with Genesis 28.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said to him, Truly, truly I say to you, you shall see the heavens opened up and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.
SPEAKER_00: Turn to the right to John chapter 14.
SPEAKER_00: This image of this ladder or this staircase in heaven was not just the inspiration for some Led Zeppelin song or something like that.
SPEAKER_00: And I and I don't think it actually was the inspiration for Stairway to Heaven, but um at all.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you guys who know uh music history can help me out with that a little bit later.
SPEAKER_00: But here's in 14.6, here's Jesus saying, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
SPEAKER_00: Pretty bold claims, all three of those.
SPEAKER_00: I am the way, the truth, and the life.
SPEAKER_00: Our dear friend Edgar Arnold has just taught about this.
SPEAKER_00: He's uh 80, 83, 83-ish, right?
SPEAKER_00: Living out here in Bellevue at the NHC Center.
SPEAKER_00: Leads a Bible study at age 83, leads a Bible study every Wednesday at 10 o'clock.
SPEAKER_00: And he's just been teaching on the I am statements of Jesus to the residents.
SPEAKER_00: They wheel them out in their wheelchairs, and Edgar has a little uh shamwild microphone that he wears, a little, you know, one of these kind of things, and he and he does the Bible study for them all.
SPEAKER_00: It's just so beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: I love hearing him tell stories about uh the way he's been teaching, but this is one of the things he just taught on.
SPEAKER_00: I'm the way, the truth, and the life.
SPEAKER_00: No one comes to the Father but through me.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, the staircase, Jesus, the the bridge.
SPEAKER_00: There's so many metaphors we could use.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, the one who has reconciled sinners like us to God.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the one who's connected heaven to earth.
SPEAKER_00: While religion is people on earth trying to reach up and connect to heaven, the gospel is God saying, You're never going to be able to reach me.
SPEAKER_00: And so here's heaven reaching to earth, coming in the person and work of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And that's just how beautiful and powerful it is, and how much we see it in the life and ministry of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You see, folks, the symbol of the Christian faith is not a ladder.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a set of scales, it's a cross and an empty tomb.
SPEAKER_00: And I, for one, am really glad about that.
SPEAKER_00: A ladder, and and I understand that the image has been used uh down through the years and art for people to be shown in their in their advancement in holiness and that sort of thing.
SPEAKER_00: I get it.
SPEAKER_00: I get all of that.
SPEAKER_00: And do we need to be, do we need to see visible growth and all that?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, we do.
SPEAKER_00: And do we hope to see that?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, we do.
SPEAKER_00: But it isn't by our own power, it's by the grace of God that we become Christians at all.
SPEAKER_00: It's by the grace of God that we grow at all.
SPEAKER_00: And just when you are thinking you got this one, God, you can go manage the rest of the universe, you don't have this one, and you need him to come to you.
SPEAKER_00: Um in those sort of who, what, when, where, how moments like this.
SPEAKER_00: Jacob goes from greedy schemer, and now I really think he's on the road because of what God says to him, to being a gospel dream.
SPEAKER_00: But that is that God is going to come and do everything necessary for um for his redemption to be put on offer to us.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to know something today.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, if you don't hear anything else, please know this.
SPEAKER_00: Um he's coming for you.
SPEAKER_00: And some of you think, I don't, I don't need him never.
SPEAKER_00: I've I've been I walked down there when I was five years old.
SPEAKER_00: He never, I just want you to know something.
SPEAKER_00: He never stops coming for you.
SPEAKER_00: And I also want you to know something else.
SPEAKER_00: That's not a threat.
SPEAKER_00: That's good news.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, aren't you glad that he's still coming for you given who you are?
SPEAKER_00: Given how you've messed up like Jacob, like me?
SPEAKER_00: Given how inconsistent we are, given how fearful we are sometimes, given how manipulative we can be sometimes, he's coming for you.
SPEAKER_00: And he's coming for me, and that is such sweet good news.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, please keep coming for us and uh open our eyes to see that you have done that.
SPEAKER_00: Open our ears to hear of your covenant promises.
SPEAKER_00: These are so rich as we look back through redemption history into the book of Genesis, and how we are reminded that for so long you have put uh this plan in place, and for a long, long time you have been guiding history to this moment where each one of us might hear this and learn from this story about how much you have been in pursuit of a people you can call your own, and you've done everything necessary to make it possible through Jesus Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And though our sins are of many, uh your mercy is more, and you keep coming for us.
SPEAKER_00: So please, please, Lord, um open our eyes to see that that we might delight in you and in this good news of the gospel, that you haven't left us alone out on some dark road filled with all kinds of fear and and uh um unknown and and and stuff, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: But you actually meet us right where we're at, and you speak to us, Lord, and you bring us this good news.
SPEAKER_00: Uh so give us then, grant us then the faith that leads to repentance that we might turn to you, trust you, and hope in you.
SPEAKER_00: We pray in Jesus' name and for his sake, amen and amen.