THROUGH THE BIBLE - Genesis..

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What a great privilege is to have you worshiping our Lord Jesus Christ with us. If you have your Bible, would you please open them up to the book of Genesis? Genesis chapter 31. The glorious book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, chapter 31, the beginning of the story of redemption. If you are in Christ, brothers and sisters, if you are in Christ, the book of Genesis is the beginning of the history of the story of your redemption.

The history of how we have been saved is what we have in front of us in the book of Genesis. And as we always do, by the grace of God, we come to read this time chapter 31, chapter 31 of the book of Genesis. So with much reverence and paying much attention, brothers and sisters, to each one of the words that are contained in this holy book, we're going to be reading congregationally, together, as a church, chapter 31 of the words of God. Now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban were saying, Jacob has taken all that was our father's, and from what was our father's he has gained all this wealth. And Jacob saw that Laban did not regard him with favor as before.

Then the Lord said to Jacob, Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you. So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah into the field where his flock was, and said to them, I see that your father does not regard me with favor as he did before, but the God of my father has been with me. You know that I have served your father with all my strength, yet your father has cheated me and changed my way just 10 times. But God did not permit him to harm me. If he said, The spotted shall be your wages, then all the flock bore spotted.

And if he said, The striped shall be your wages, then all the flock bore striped. Thus God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me. In the breeding season of the flock, I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream that the goats that mate with the flock were striped, spotted, and mottled. Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, Jacob. And I said, here I am.

And he said, lift up your eyes and see. All the goats that mate with the flock are striped, spotted, and mottled. For I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Now arise, go out from this land and return to the land of your kindred.'

Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, Is there any portion of inheritance left to us in our father's house? Are we not regarded by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and he has indeed devoured our money. All the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do."

So Jacob arose and set his sons and his wives on camels. He drove away all his livestock and all his property that he had gained. The last took in his possession that he had acquired in Paddan Aram to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac. Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her father's household goods. And Jacob tricked Laban and Aramean by not telling him that he intended to flee.

He fled with all that he had and arose and crossed the Euphrates and set his face towards the hill country of Gilead. When he was told Laban and on the third day that Jacob had fled, he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him for seven days and followed close after him into the hill country of Gilead. But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream by night and said to him, be careful. not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad. And Laban overtook Jacob.

Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his kinsmen pitched tents in the hill country of Gilead. And Laban said to Jacob, What have you done, that you have tricked me and driven away my daughters like captives of the sword? Why did you flee secretly and trick me and did not tell me, so that I may have sent you away with myrrh and songs with tambourine and lyre? And why did you not permit me to kiss my sons and my daughters farewell? Now ye have done foolishly.

It is in my power to do harm. But the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad. And now you have gone away because you longed greatly for your father's house. But why did you steal my gods? Jacob answered and said to Laban, Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force.

Anyone with whom you find your god shall not live. In the presence of your kinsmen, point out what I have that is yours and take it. Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them. So Laban went into Jacob's tent and into Leah's tent and into the tent of the two female servants, but he did not find them. And he went out of Leah's tent and entered Rachel's.

Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them into the camel saddle and sat on them. Laban felt all about the tent. but did not find them. And she said to her father, let not my Lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the way of women is upon me. So he searched, but did not find the household gods.

Then Jacob became angry and berated Laban. Jacob said to Laban, what is my offense? What is my sin that you have hopefully pursued me? For you have failed through all my gods, all my goods, What have you found of all your household goods? See it here before my kinsmen and your kinsmen, that they might decide between us two.

These twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams of your flocks. What was torn by wild beasts I did not bring to you. I bore the loss of it myself. From my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.

There I was by day, the heat consumed me, and the cold 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 have changed my wages ten times. If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God saw my affliction and the labor of my hands and rebuked you last night.'

Then Laban answered and said to Jacob, The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day for these my daughters or for their children whom they have born? Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it be a witness between you and me. So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. And Jacob said to his kinsmen, gather stones.

And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap. Laban called it Jigar Sadahduha, but Jacob called it Galid. Laban said, this heap is a witness between you and me today. Therefore, he named it Galid and Mizpah. For he said, the Lord watched between you and me when we are out of one another's sight.

If you oppress my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us, see, God is witness between you and me. Then Laban said to Jacob, see this heap and the pillar which I have set before you and me. This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness that I will not pass over the heap to you. And you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me to do harm. The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the god of their father, judged between us.

So Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac, and Jacob offered a sacrifice in the hill country and called his kinsmen to eat bread. They ate bread and spent the night in the hill country. Early in the morning Laban arose and kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned home. Amen, brothers and sisters.

This is the word of our God, the word of our Savior. Brothers and sisters, when God enters into a covenantal disposition and relationship with his people, when he, out of his grace, out of his amazing grace, as we sang, out of his abundant mercy, when he decides to enter into a covenantal relationship with a person or with a people, in this case, with the people of Israel or with the church, his intention is to call them into separation from the place where they belong. If it's spiritual, it's calling them from death unto life, from darkness into light, from being dead in our trespasses to be alive in Christ. And if it's physical, as a shadow of these spiritual realities as we have in the book of Genesis, he's taking his people from the land of the gods, the fake gods, the gods who do not have power, the gods who cannot transform alive. to take those people from that place and to set them apart for Himself.

This is the story of redemption, brothers and sisters. From the very beginning, from the moment that sin entered into the world, and that disobedience entered into the world, and that death entered into the world, and that death spread to all people, because all people sinned. Salvation and redemption has been a process of God entering into a covenantal relationship to call a people to separate them into holiness, to calling them into separation. That was the promise that was given to Abraham, the promise that was given to Isaac, and the same promise that was given to Jacob. Jacob received this promise and he went to this place, Haran, to this men to find a wife for himself, if you want to find a helpmate for his journey of redemption.

He thought that this was going to be a short term there, but he spent 20 years, as we have just read, 20 years he spent in that place. But then it comes the time when the Lord says to those whom he has called, go back to the land, to the promised land, go back to Canaan. Go back to the land that I promised to Abraham and to Isaac, and it's also your land. Do not belong to this land with these gods and with these people that are not my people, but rather take everything that belongs to you and go back to the land that I gave you as I promised. What we have in front of us, brothers and sisters, is the providential work of God in taking his covenantal son, Jacob, taking him from the land of the gods, taking him back to his land.

And what this chapter teaches us, brothers and sisters, is in this process of redemption of our lives, we are called into a separation from the schemes of Satan, from the offspring of the serpent. You see, salvation and redemption is just simply a story of two tales of two offsprings, one of the serpent and another one, the offspring of God. And God was very intentional in separating his offspring from the midst of the offspring of the serpent. So he says to Jacob through a dream, take everything that you have and go back to the land that I have promised you. He comes to his wife, to Leah, and to Rachel, and he explained everything that he has received from the dream.

And they acknowledge that this is of God, and they decide to go and to depart. When they are departing, when Jacob is departing with Leah and with Rachel and with everything that he had, Laban starts a trip, actually an army type of trip, in which he wants actually to come and to destroy Jacob. He was with anger. He was not happy for the fact that he had departed. But the Lord, in his grace, appears in a dream or in a vision, if you want, to Laban and says, do not say, do not do any good or bad to Jacob.

Now, brothers and sisters, this whole journey, this whole trip, this whole process of departing from Haran or Padana Ram into Canaan is a physical shadow of the separation of the people of God from these kings of men. It's said that one of his wives, Jacob's wife, Rachel, that she took one of the gods of his father, or the idols of his father, and he did not know that. And she placed those underneath her, so that when Laban will come, he will not find those things. Now, the text says something very interesting, brothers and sisters. Go to verse 32.

He says, anyone, this is Jacob when Laban is approaching him, and he says, if you find those idols with someone from my people, take the life of that person. And then he says, anyone with whom you find your gods shall not live in the presence of your kinsmen. Point out what I have that is yours and take it. Now, something very important. Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen those guts.

You see, brothers and sisters, Chapter 28, 29, 30, they are pointing to a very important moment in the life of Jacob. And this is found in Chapter 35, in which Jacob is going to have a personal encounter with God himself. And the name of Jacob is going to be changed to Israel. All of these chapters, everything that the Lord is doing from chapter 28 towards chapter 35, is the providential work of God in conforming, in working in the life of Jacob, so that when he comes and he's changed to this covenantal Israel, in him, the tribes that inherited, that received the promise given to Isaac or Abraham will be. Jacob was an idolatrous person.

He had gods and he had lack of faith. But as he progresses in this path, we can see that Jacob grows in an understanding that the God of salvation, that the God of his promise, he was only one. that he needed to depart from the presence of this idolatrous Laban, who we know from the previous chapter that was into gods and divination and all of these practices. He was going to depart from that. But when they are having this discussion between Laban and Jacob, we can see something very important, brothers and sisters.

They are going to enter into a covenant, into an agreement of respecting one another, and something glorious Jacob is going to do. In verse 44, put your eyes in verse 44, he says, Now, Jacob and Laban, they are going to enter into an agreement to respect. Laban has said, OK, you can take my daughters and my son and my children, all the things that belong to you. You can go and depart. And I think I will take my way.

But now let's establish an agreement, a covenant between the two of us in which we respect one another. Now, in verse 44, come now, let us make a covenant, Laban says, you and I, and let it be a witness between you and me. This covenant was going to be a witness between the two of them. Now, brothers and sisters, in the ancient times, when a covenant was going to be made between two men, a pillar of stones will be built just to remember the agreement that was made. And that pillar of those stones will be the witness of the covenant in which the two parties will enter in.

And the number of stones that a person will bring to this agreement will represent the number of gods that they will believe that they were bringing as witness to this particular covenant. Now, we only believe in one God, the only triune God, and we might not see the depths of what Jacob is doing here. But pay attention with the eyes of your spirit here and see in verse 44. So Jacob, instead of taking many stones and bringing them as witness to this agreement, instead of taking many, many stones, he takes one stone and set it up as a pillar. And then in verse 46 says, and Jacob said to his kinsmen, gather stones.

because he was an idolatrous who was bringing as witness gods, not a single God of Israel, not a single God or the unique only God of Isaac, of Abraham and of Jacob. They were bringing many gods. Now, brothers and sisters, what am I trying to say here? that this chapter is showing us the providential work of God in separating his people from the schemes of the Adamic race, that is a fallen race, this Adamic race that is idolatrous, that is filled with pride and filled with hatred towards the only God, that God was using all of this providentially, pointing towards a moment in which Jacob was going to meet God face to face in chapter 35. The Lord was working providentially, calling his people out in separation, because the one who calls people to be redeemed is holy.

So he wants his people to be holy and separated. And I want you to go to first Peter just to conclude. If you please go to first Peter. Go to 1 Peter chapter 1. Chapter 2, sorry.

Verse 9. This was everything that God, the triune God, did in the Old Testament, brothers and sisters, to separate His people from the schemes of men, from the schemes of Adam from the schemes of the devil, separating these people unto himself, so that these people will be devoted to him, devoted to the only true God. And now the apostle Peter is speaking of the church in verse 9 in chapter 2. He will say, but you are a chosen race, speaking to the church. a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you might proclaim the excellences of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, just as Abraham was called out of the earth of the Chaldees into the promised land.

Just as Isaac was also called to live and to dwell into the promised land. Just as Jacob was also called to abide in the promised land. And just as Israel was in slavery in Egypt, and they are taken by the promise of God to dwell in the promised land. The church has been taken out of the schemes of darkness. into his marvelous light.

Verse 10. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you have not received mercy, but now you have received mercy, beloved. And he's going to use the same language. I urge you as sojourners and exiles.

Just as Jacob was a sojourner and an exile that he went to find a wife for himself. And now going back to Canaan, just as he was a sojourner, Just as Israel, the people of Israel were sojourners from Egypt towards the Promised Land, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh with which war against your soul. keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evil doers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation." Brothers and sisters, Peter will say that as obedient children, we are to conduct ourselves, we are not to conform ourselves to our former passions, because the one who called us, the one who take us from our darkness into light, because he is holy. So now being in him, we have been separated, brothers and sisters.

We have been redeemed from the schemes of darkness to follow him, to be like him, to put our eyes in Jesus Christ. This is why Jesus Christ came to this world. He came to save us, to set us apart from this which is death. This, all of this scheme is death. He separated us from that and took us into life.

And now he has us in his hands and he has promised us he is going to complete the work that he started in us. And brothers and sisters, you have to love this, that God in his providential power, He works all things for good for those who are in Him by grace through faith. Even from before they are saved, their life is preserved. Their steps are governed by the hand of God. They are given mercy to the point in which they come and out of grace, they believe and have faith in Christ.

What can separate us from that? It is God the one who has redeemed us from darkness. It is the one who has separated us and called us into separation. Now, with this great salvation, brothers and sisters, with this great light, just as Peter says, we are proclaimers of the excellences of that God who has separated us. Not a salvation that transforms us in a moral way, but a salvation that gives us a new nature.

and we become proclaimers of that glorious message. May the Lord give us grace. Amen.