Latest / Reformed Thinking / Fearful Obedience, Lingering Idolatry, and the Faithfulness of God (Genesis 31:17–21)

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Fearful Obedience, Lingering Idolatry, and the Faithfulness of God (Genesis 31:17–21) · Reformed Thinking

• 0:00
  Welcome to reformed thinking. I want you to imagine having a
• 0:04
  direct verbal guarantee of protection from the Creator of
• 0:09
  the universe. Right.
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  The absolute backing of the Almighty Yeah.
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  God himself looks at you and says I will be with you.
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  But then, when it comes time to act on that promise, you still
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  choose to sneak out of town in the dead of night.
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  Looking over your shoulder like a thief.
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  Absolutely. Because we usually picture a
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  massive high stakes escape as something highly coordinated,
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  you know, led by a protagonist with absolute resolve.
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  Yeah. We want the pristine,
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  unflinching faith of a Hollywood hero.
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  We really do. But today our deep dive
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  investigates a historical moment that completely shatters that
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  expectation. We are looking at Genesis
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  31.7221. Such a pivotal text.
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  It is the patriarch Jacob is gathering his wives, his
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  children, his vast flocks and all his wealth.
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  He is fleeing from his father-in-law Laban.
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  Leaving the region of pen and arm to head back toward the
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  promised land of Canaan. Yeah.
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  And you know, for you the listener, here is the central
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  tension to consider today. You might assume a biblical
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  patriarch, directly obeying God's command to return home
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  would act with bold, spotless faith.
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  But that is, that is not what happens at all.
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  Instead, what we find in the text is a household defined by
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  staggering fear, midnight secrecy and stolen hidden idols.
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  It is not a clean getaway. No, it is a messy, compromised
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  flight. Right, So what is the framework
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  we need to use to understand this?
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  Well, that messiness requires a very specific lens if we're
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  going to understand it accurately.
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  For this deep dive, we are operating within the framework
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  of reformed theology. Specifically adhering to the
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  Westminster confession, right? That is correct.
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  Our focus today is the spectacular clash between divine
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  Providence and human pragmatism. We're going to look at how God
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  secures His covenant promises despite the intensely flawed
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  trembling instruments He chooses to use.
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  OK, let's unpack this, because we have to start by looking at
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  the physical reality of this departure before we can even
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  begin to diagnose the spiritual condition of this family.
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  There is a massive tension right out of the gate.
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  Yeah, a tension between God's clear instruction and Jacob's
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  very fearful execution of that instruction.
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  So what is the actual atmosphere in Laban's camp leading up to
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  this exit? We really have to understand the
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  background here. I mean, Jacob has not just been
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  visiting Laban for a long weekend.
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  Right, it's been 20 years. Two grueling decades under
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  Levens manipulation, this was a hostile, toxic environment.
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  Jacob actually describes it later by saying the heat
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  consumed him in the day and the frost by night.
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  And sleep fled from his eyes. Yes, Laban changed Jacob's wages
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  10 times. He exploited Jacob's labor and
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  you know, he famously tricked Jacob into marrying Leah before
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  Rachel. So the atmosphere had become
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  thoroughly poisoned. Absolutely, especially as
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  Laban's sons grew jealous of Jacob's increasing wealth.
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  Yet in the midst of that hostility, God explicitly
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  commanded Jacob in Genesis 31.3 to return to the land of his
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  father. 'S God gave him a direct mandate
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  and a promise of presence. He did.
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  And when Jacob decides to go, he does not travel light.
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  I mean the text, except that he takes absolutely everything.
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  Every last thing. He takes all his livestock, all
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  his property, everything he acquired in Pedanerum.
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  But something I want to clarify for the listener is Jacob
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  stealing from Laban here, Because Laban's sons were
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  certainly complaining that Jacob took their father's wealth.
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  That is a vital detail to clear up.
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  Jacob is not leaving as a thief in terms of his flocks.
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  He is leaving as a blessed man. OK.
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  So the wealth is legitimate. Entirely historical and biblical
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  data stress that this wealth is completely legitimate.
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  Jacob's prosperity was a direct result of God's blessing
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  overriding Laban's continuous oppression.
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  So God intervened in the breeding of the flocks.
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  Yes, God prospered Jacob in the very place where Laban tried to
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  break him financially. Wow, so the property is legally
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  and morally his is, but the way he packs it up and leaves is
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  what raises eyebrows. I know there is something unique
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  happening with the verbs in the original language here.
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  Oh, the Hebrew syntax is fascinating here.
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  Can you walk us through how the text describes his movement?
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  Yeah, the syntax paints a vivid picture of the mood.
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  When we look at the original text, we see a rapid, tense,
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  almost breathless progression. Breathless.
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  How so? The narrative uses a grammatical
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  feature known as a series of wah, consecutive imperfect
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  verbs. We see Weyakum meaning and he
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  arose, then Weijia and he lifted his family onto the camels, then
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  Wey and Hag and he drove away his livestock.
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  For someone listening who might not be a Hebrew scholar, what
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  does that grammatical mechanism actually do to the story?
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  Well, a walk consecutive is essentially a way of linking
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  actions together in a tight, unbroken chain of events.
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  So it speeds things up. Yes, it signals intense urgency.
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  Think of it like a drum beat, constantly accelerating.
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  Boom boom boom. OK.
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  Jacob is no longer passively enduring Laban's household.
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  He is moving fast. The grammatical structure
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  creates a sense of rapid fire execution without a single
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  breath between the actions. He gets up, he packs the camels,
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  he drives the flocks. Right.
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  He is fleeing a threat, acting with the distinct pressure of a
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  man who believes that if he slows down for even a second, he
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  will be caught and destroyed. Which makes sense on a human
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  level, given Laban's history of abuse.
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  But you know that frantic pace creates a blind spot.
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  It really does. Jacob is so focused on his own
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  logistical deception that he makes a very specific kind of
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  move against Laban. The English translation often
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  says Jacob tricked Laban, but the original Hebrew idiom is so
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  much more descriptive. It says Jacob stole the heart of
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  Laban the Aramean. Right stole the heart.
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  Yes, the Hebrew phrase is ganav ET Liv, and the author's choice
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  of that specific idiom is deliberate and incredibly rare.
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  Because there are other words for lying, right?
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  Absolutely, the biblical author could have used common Hebrew
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  words for lying, such as shakar, or for betraying and deceiving,
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  such as rima, but instead he writes that Jacob stole the
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  heart of Laban. What does that actually mean in
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  the ancient world? Because we use the phrase stole
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  my heart as a romantic term today, I I'm guessing Jacob was
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  not wooing his father-in-law. No, far from it.
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  In that ancient context, the heart was considered the seat of
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  the intellect and the will, not just emotion.
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  Oh, the intellect. OK.
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  So to steal someone's heart means to bypass their knowledge
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  entirely. It means intercepting their
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  ability to perceive reality. You are keeping them completely
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  in the dark, acting with thorough calculated concealment.
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  So Jacob, whose very name means supplanter or heel catcher, is
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  essentially reverting to his old fleshly nature.
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  Spot on. He is relying on his innate
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  ability to scheme. I have to push back on Jacob's
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  methods here. Think about this from a
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  practical, modern perspective for you, the listener.
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  If you have a direct verbal guarantee of protection from the
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  creator of the universe, God literally said I will be with
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  you. Why on earth do you need to
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  sneak out like a fugitive? It seems contradictory.
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  Right. Why not walk out the front door
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  in broad daylight, look Laban in the eye and say God told me to
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  leave and you cannot stop me? I want to press you on this.
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  Why does the biblical narrative refuse to sanitize Jacob's
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  actions here? What's fascinating here is that
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  Scripture offers a rigorously realistic portrait of believers.
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  It refuses to paint Jacob as a flawless hero because flawless
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  heroes do not exist outside of Christ.
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  That is a great point. The text demonstrates an intense
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  psychological reality. In the life of a believer,
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  genuine faith and crippling fear frequently coexist.
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  Faith and fear at the same time, yes.
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  Jacob's obedience is very real. He is physically packing his
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  bags, gathering his family, and heading toward Canaan, just as
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  God instructed. Right, he's actually doing it.
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  But that genuine obedience is mingled with extreme human
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  frailty and a distinct lack of open trust.
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  He believes God enough to pack his bags and leave, but he fears
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  Laban enough to hide in the shadows.
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  He obeys, but he obeys while trembling, and his reliance on
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  secrecy rather than sovereign protection has a ripple effect.
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  It always does. That physical departure, full of
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  logistical deception, leads us directly into a much darker
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  issue. It uncovers an inward spiritual
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  deception festering right inside his own family.
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  Yes, the narrative shifts here. While Jacob is busy stealing
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  Laban's heart by sneaking away, someone else in the family is
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  busy doing something much more tangible.
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  We reach verse 19, which details the theft.
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  Laban is away from the camp, shearing his sheep.
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  And that was a big deal back then, right?
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  Oh. This was a major agricultural
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  event in the ancient world. Sheep shearing was not just a
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  chore, it was an extensive festival, often involving days
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  of Labor, feasting and extended time away from the main
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  household. So Laban is gone for a while.
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  Yes, and while Laban is entirely distracted by this, Rachel
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  secretly steals her father's household gods, which the text
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  calls Tarafim. I am struggling with Rachel's
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  motivation here. A modern reader might look at
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  that and think she just took some creepy little religious
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  trinkets because she was superstitious.
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  That is a common reading, but it misses the historical mark.
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  Why risk the wrath of her father and potentially the wrath of her
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  husband for some wooden or clay statues?
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  What do these items actually represent?
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  To understand her motivation, we have to look outside the
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  biblical text at the broader archaeological context.
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  Of archaeology. Discoveries in the Near East,
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  specifically the unearthing of the Nuzi tablets, provide the
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  key. The Nuzi tablets, OK.
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  These tablets were found in modern day Iraq and date back to
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  the same general patriarchal period.
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  They are thousands of clay tablets detailing family law,
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  adoption, marriage and inheritance in Hurrian culture.
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  And that culture influenced Laban.
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  Yes, it heavily influenced the region of Padanaram where Laban
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  lived. So what do these legal documents
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  tell us about Rachel's statues? The Nusi tablets revealed that
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  these teraphim were not simply religious statues used for
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  household worship or good luck charm.
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  They weren't just idols. In that specific cultural
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  milieu, possessing the household gods was legally tied to family
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  leadership and property inheritance rights.
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  Wait, really? Legally tied?
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  Yes, the person who held the physical tariff him could stake
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  a legal claim to the primary portion of the family estate.
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  Wow so Rachel taking the household gods is like someone
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  fleeing A collapsing bank but stopping to steal the bank
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  managers Ledger book. That is a brilliant way to put
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  it. She believes whoever holds the
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  book holds the legal power. Precisely.
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  Rachel's theft is an act of extreme, calculated pragmatism.
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  She knows her husband has been mistreated financially.
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  Sure, his wages were changed 10 times.
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  She knows she is leaving her homeland, so she is attempting
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  to secure her family's future financial and social standing
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  using tangible legal objects from her father's culture rather
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  than relying entirely on the invisible spoken promises of
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  God. She is literally taking her
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  father's pension plan. She is.
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  It makes me think of a modern believer who claims to trust God
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  for their future, but secretly maintains an illicit hidden bank
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  account just in case God's provision falls through.
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  Right, a backup plan. You are keeping an insurance
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  policy tucked away in the floorboards, but you know, how
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  does a family literally walk toward the promised land while
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  carrying the idols of their oppressor hidden in their
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  luggage? That is the theological tension
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  the text forces us to confront. It exposes the severe sin of a
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  divided heart. Because relocating
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  geographically does not purify the soul.
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  Exactly. I mean, absolutely you can leave
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  a corrupt environment physically, but still carry the
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  corrupting influences of that that environment in your mind
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  and your affections. Rachel wants the God of Jacob,
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  but she also wants the Terrifim of Laban.
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  And in theology, this is called the sin of syncretism, blending
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  the true worship of God with the false securities of the
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  surrounding culture. She wants Yahweh for her eternal
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  salvation, but she wants the Terrifim for her earthly 401K.
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  And you know, before we judge Rachel too harshly, let us look
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  at our own context. It is a sobering comparison.
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  Recent polling data indicates A staggering reality about our own
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  culture. Over 60% of modern American
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  evangelicals hold some form of synchronistic or New Age belief.
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  That is a massive number. It is.
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  That means a huge portion of people sitting in church today,
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  taking communion and singing hymns are simultaneously
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  carrying their own versions of terrafim.
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  The human heart remains a factory for idols.
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  We might not carve statues out of wood or stone today, but the
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  underlying motivation to control our outcomes and secure our own
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  safety apart from God remains identical.
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  Our modern tariff him take different shapes.
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  For some, it takes the shape of the prosperity gospel, demanding
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  tangible financial guarantees from God, treating him like a
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  vending machine rather than a sovereign Lord.
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  That is very common one. For others, it takes the form of
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  mysticism, constantly looking for secret knowledge, emotional
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  highs, or personalized signs rather than trusting the closed
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  revealed Canon of scripture. Right, looking for something
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  extra? Or it could be a heavy reliance
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  on secular psychology over biblical counseling to fix our
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  deepest spiritual ailments. We constantly crave A tangible
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  God, something we can control, measure and hide in our tents
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  when things get difficult. If we look at the Westminster
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  Confession, specifically Chapter 21 on religious worship, this
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  behavior is addressed with absolute clarity.
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  What does the confession say about this?
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  The Confession states that the acceptable way of worshipping
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  the true God is instituted by Himself.
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  He bounds our worship by His own revealed will.
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  So we do not get to make up the rules.
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  No, therefore he may not be worshipped according to the
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  imaginations and devices of men or the suggestions of Satan
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  under any visible representation or any other way not prescribed
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  in the Holy Scripture. So adding our own methods or
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  keeping a little cultural idolatry on the side is a direct
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  violation. Completely.
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  We are strictly forbidden from inventing our own methods of
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  worship or adding worldly insurance policies to our faith.
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  Rachel's syncretism is a blatant violation of that standard.
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  God demands exclusive trust. Yes, he does not share his glory
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  with carved images, nor does he share his provision with stolen
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  legal ledgers. So we have a patriarch who uses
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  a stolen heart and calculated deception to escape, and a
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  matriarch who uses stolen idols to secure her inheritance.
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  It is quite a household. The obvious question arises, how
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  does the covenant possibly survive such intensely flawed,
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  compromised people? If this family is the vehicle
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  for God's redemptive plan, it looks like it is going to drive
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  straight off a Cliff. Which is why the answer to that
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  question requires us to shift our focus completely away from
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  human action. You have to look somewhere else.
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  We have to look directly at divine governance to understand
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  how the covenant survives. We have to understand the
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  doctrine of Providence. Let's bring in the Westminster
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  Confession again, specifically chapter 5 on Providence.
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  Can you explain the mechanics of what the confession actually
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  teaches about how God governs the world?
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  The Confession states that God, the Great Creator of all things,
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  upholds, directs, disposes, and governs all creatures, actions
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  and things, from the greatest even to the least.
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  Even the least of things. Everything he does this by his
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  most wise and holy Providence, according to his infallible
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  foreknowledge and the free and immutable counsel of his own
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  will. That is a massive claim.
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  It means nothing occurs outside of His sovereign decree.
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  Nothing, And that includes the mess we are looking at in
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  Genesis 31. God's decree actively folds in
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  even the sinful, pragmatic choices of Rachel and the
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  fearful, deceptive strategy of Jacob.
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  Now we need to clarify that right?
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  God isn't making them sin. Right.
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  We must be careful here. God is not the author of sin.
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  The confession makes that clear. He permits sin, and he bounds
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  and directs it to his own holy ends.
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  He uses secondary causes like Jacob's fear or Rachel's greed
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  to accomplish his primary will. So how does that contrast with
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  other theological views? I know many people listening
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  might lean toward an Armenian view of free will.
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  How does this passage challenge that perspective?
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  Arminianism generally posits that God the plans are
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  contingent upon human free will. In that framework, God looks
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  down the corridor of time, sees what humans will choose, and
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  then reacts to it. Or he provides grace.
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  But that grace can be ultimately, I mean in the end,
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  resisted, meaning God relies on human cooperation to get his
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  plans accomplished. So in an Armenian framework, God
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  is essentially sitting in heaven, wringing his hands,
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  hoping Jacob will finally act brave so the escape plan can
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  move forward. That is a great way to put it,
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  and it is the exact opposite of what the text portrays.
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  The text forcefully rejects the notion that God's covenant
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  relies on human integrity. Thank goodness it doesn't.
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  Yeah, the human frailty on display here only magnifies the
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  absolute sovereignty of God. God does not need Jacob to be
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  brave. God just needs Jacob to be
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  moving. And he uses the fear to get him
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  moving. Yes, God uses Jacob's very real
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  fear of Laban as the engine to get him moving toward Canaan.
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  We see this plainly in verse 21. Jacob successfully flees.
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  He crosses the river which refers to the Euphrates, and he
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  sets his face toward the Hill Country of Gilliar.
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  Let's talk about that river crossing.
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  Jacob. Crossing the Euphrates seems
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  like a massive geographical transition.
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  It is a monumental historical milestone.
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  Geography in the biblical text is rarely just about location.
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  It is intensely theological, right?
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  Many theological frameworks, particularly dispensationalism,
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  highlight the significance of land in God's promises.
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  Can you explain the mechanics of that?
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  Yeah. What is the dispensational
• 17:43
  framework regarding this geography?
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  Well, in dispensational theology there is a very clear
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  distinction maintained between the nation of Israel and the New
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  Testament church. While Reformed theology
• 17:53
  highlights the continuity of the covenant of grace across both
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  Testaments, A dispensational view strongly insists that the
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  specific terrestrial promises made to Abraham regarding a
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  physical piece of real estate in the Middle East must be
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  literally fulfilled to his physical descendants.
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  So in that view, geography is theology.
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  Crossing a literal river matters because God's contract with
• 18:15
  Abraham wasn't just about a spiritual feeling, it was a real
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  estate deed. Correct.
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  When Jacob crosses the Euphrates, he is stepping out of
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  the sphere of Mesopotamian influence and stepping back
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  toward the actual soil of that divine contract.
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  That makes a lot of sense. This is not just a spiritual
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  metaphor about leaving your old life behind and finding your
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  best self. It is a concrete geographical
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  relocation mandated by God to secure a physical inheritance.
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  It is history unfolding under divine mandate.
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  Here's. Where it gets really
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  interesting, God uses a deeply deceptive man and a functionally
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  idolatrous woman to fulfill a perfectly holy promise.
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  It's quite a paradox. When you grasp that, it
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  completely shatters any moralistic reading of the Bible.
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  If you read the Bible looking for heroes to emulate, this
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  story breaks your system. We cannot make Jacob the hero of
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  this story. He is cowardly.
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  He is sneaky. He is acting out of sheer self
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  preservation. If we connect this to the bigger
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  picture, we must flatly reject liberal theology and certain
• 19:18
  branches of evangelical critical scholarship that attempt to
• 19:21
  treat this narrative as ancient folklore or a moral fable.
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  What do you mean by a moral fable?
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  How do critical scholars usually treat this text?
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  Critical scholarship often views these stories as ideologies,
• 19:32
  myths created later by the nation of Israel to explain how
• 19:35
  they got to a certain place or why they have certain customs.
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  Like a tall tale. Yeah, they treat it like a fable
• 19:41
  designed to teach leadership principles or tribal
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  superiority. But Genesis 31 is not available
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  about how to be a brave leader. If it were, it would be a
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  terrible one because the leader acts like a coward.
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  Right, if you are inventing A myth to make your ancestors look
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  glorious, you do not write them as idol stealing, deceiving
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  fugitives. Precisely.
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  The gritty, unflattering realism of the text is evidence of its
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  historical authenticity. It is a meticulous historical
• 20:07
  record of God's sovereign hand actively working in real time.
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  It really is. It proves beyond a shadow of a
• 20:14
  doubt that his redemptive purposes cannot be thwarted by
• 20:16
  our inherent deceit. God's plan succeeds because God
• 20:19
  is faithful, not because Jacob is honest.
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  That reality forces a listener to look any word.
• 20:25
  Understanding God's Providence over this ancient, messy history
• 20:29
  naturally pushes you to ask how this applies to your own
• 20:33
  standing before a holy God today.
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  It demands self reflection. How do we, as people who are
• 20:37
  just as prone to pragmatism and fear as Jacob, stand before God?
• 20:42
  If God demands perfection and we are acting like Jacob, we're in
• 20:45
  serious trouble. To answer that, we have to look
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  at how the Bible functions in the life of a believer,
• 20:49
  specifically focusing on what Reformed theology calls the uses
• 20:52
  of the law. Walk us through those uses,
• 20:54
  particularly the first one. In Reformed theology, the first
• 20:57
  use of the law is pedagogical. That means the moral demands of
• 21:00
  God's law act as a mirror to show us our sin and as a hammer
• 21:04
  to crush our self righteousness. A mirror and a hammer, yes.
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  It is meant to show us that we cannot save ourselves, We cannot
• 21:11
  keep God's standard. And Genesis 31 functions
• 21:15
  exactly. I mean, it functions completely
• 21:18
  like that hammer when you read this.
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  It crushes any pretenses we have of autonomy or self generated
• 21:25
  righteousness. It really exposes us.
• 21:27
  It exposes our intense reliance on pragmatic schemes.
• 21:31
  Think about modern church culture for example.
• 21:33
  We see the exact same stolen heart pragmatism in the seeker
• 21:37
  sensitive movement. How does that parallel work in
• 21:39
  your mind? We'll look at how many modern
• 21:41
  churches rely on marketing, entertainment, and emotional
• 21:44
  manipulation to draw a crowd. They want the blessing of God
• 21:48
  just like Jacob did, but they use the tactics of the world to
• 21:51
  get it. That is a harsh reality to.
• 21:52
  Steal the hearts of the people people through slick
• 21:54
  presentations, concert lighting, and Ted Talk style sermons
• 21:58
  rather than confronting them with the plain offensive truth
• 22:00
  of Scripture. Because they are afraid.
• 22:02
  Yes, they are terrified that if they just rely on the word of
• 22:06
  God, people will leave. So they scheme, they manufacture
• 22:10
  an atmosphere. It is Jacob's pragmatism dressed
• 22:14
  up in modern production values. That is a very sharp
• 22:18
  application. We constantly try to manufacture
• 22:20
  outcomes that only God can sovereignly provide.
• 22:24
  We use fleshly means to try and achieve spiritual ends.
• 22:27
  We really do. We think our cleverness will
• 22:29
  accomplish what only the Holy Spirit can do.
• 22:31
  So what does this all mean? If we are all prone to act like
• 22:34
  Jacob, hiding behind deception and slick marketing, And if we
• 22:38
  are prone to act like Rachel, clutching our secret idols and
• 22:41
  financial safety Nets just in case, where is the hope?
• 22:44
  It can feel hopeless if we stop there.
• 22:46
  Right. How do you and I find a secure
• 22:48
  standing before God if our default setting is syncretism
• 22:52
  and fear? The hope is found exclusively in
• 22:54
  Christ. The text drives us to see that
• 22:56
  Jesus is the true and better patriarch.
• 22:58
  The better Jacob. Yes, when we look at the flaws
• 23:01
  of Jacob, they are meant to create a hunger for a leader who
• 23:04
  does not fail. We must contract the two
• 23:07
  figures. Look at Jacob.
• 23:09
  He fled in the shadows of the night.
• 23:11
  He was terrified of Laban's wrath.
• 23:13
  He used concealment to protect himself and his assets.
• 23:16
  He scurried away in the dark, hoping nobody would notice until
• 23:18
  he was miles away. Now look at Jesus.
• 23:21
  When he faced the absolute wrath of God and the hostility of men,
• 23:24
  He did not hide. No, he didn't.
• 23:26
  Think about the Garden of Gethsemane.
• 23:28
  When the soldiers came for him, he did not slip out the back.
• 23:31
  He stepped forward and said, I am he.
• 23:34
  During his trials before the Sanhedrin and before Pontius
• 23:37
  Pilate, Jesus stood openly in the blazing light of day, he
• 23:41
  declared in John 1820. I've spoken openly to the world.
• 23:45
  I have said nothing in secret. He did not steal anyone's halt
• 23:47
  through deception. No, He marched boldly, publicly
• 23:51
  and resolutely to the cross to secure the eternal inheritance
• 23:54
  for His people. He did not need a pragmatic
• 23:56
  scheme to win our salvation. He.
• 23:58
  Didn't need a backup plan. He simply offered himself as the
• 24:01
  perfect, unblemished sacrifice. He succeeded in every single
• 24:06
  place where Jacob failed. That contract is breathtaking.
• 24:09
  Jacob sneaks out to save his own life.
• 24:12
  Jesus steps forward to lay down his life.
• 24:15
  You know, understanding that difference is key to grasping
• 24:18
  the difference between justification and
• 24:21
  sanctification. Two very weighty terms.
• 24:23
  These are massive theological terms, but they're vital for
• 24:26
  you, the listener, to understand your own faith.
• 24:29
  Let's break down the mechanics of these two concepts.
• 24:31
  Let us define them clearly. Justification is a one time
• 24:34
  legal declaration by God. In justification, God the Judge
• 24:39
  strikes the gavel and declares A Sinner legally righteous in his
• 24:42
  sight. So it happens in a moment.
• 24:43
  Yes. This declaration is based
• 24:45
  entirely on the finished work of Christ, His perfect life, and
• 24:48
  His sacrificial death being imputed or credited to your
• 24:51
  account by faith alone. You do not earn it.
• 24:54
  You do not grow into it. It is instantaneous and
• 24:56
  complete. It is a change of legal status.
• 24:59
  You go from guilty to innocent in a fraction of a second purely
• 25:02
  because of Jesus. Correct sanctification, on the
• 25:04
  other hand, is the ongoing, progressive and often very messy
• 25:08
  work of being made actually holy over the course of your life.
• 25:11
  The day-to-day stuff. It is the Holy Spirit working in
• 25:14
  you to put sin to death and to produce the fruit of
• 25:17
  righteousness. So how do we see those two
• 25:19
  concepts illustrated in the narrative of Genesis 31?
• 25:22
  Well, Jacob's safe arrival in the Hill Country of Gilead,
• 25:26
  crossing that boundary out of Laban's reach, is a beautiful
• 25:29
  picture of justification. He arrived safely, his standing
• 25:33
  secured by God's grace alone, entirely apart from his own
• 25:36
  performance. Right, because he didn't perform
• 25:39
  well at all. Exactly.
• 25:40
  For sure he did not earn that safe passage through bravery or
• 25:44
  moral purity. God granted it through sheer
• 25:47
  grace because of the covenant. His arrival was guaranteed the
• 25:50
  moment God spoke in verse. Three, yes.
• 25:53
  But Jacob's ongoing daily struggle with his own fear, his
• 25:56
  reliance on deceit and the literal idols hidden in his
• 25:59
  camp, that illustrates the reality of sanctification.
• 26:03
  It shows the mess. It is progressive, it takes
• 26:05
  time. He is in the promised land, but
• 26:07
  he is still acting like an Aramean.
• 26:09
  It takes a lifetime of God wrestling with him to get the
• 26:11
  Mesopotamia out of the man. And this gives the believer
• 26:14
  immense comfort. If you are listening to this and
• 26:17
  feeling the weight of your own failures, your own pragmatic
• 26:20
  schemes, your own secret fears, know this.
• 26:23
  You do not try to earn God's favor by out scheming the world.
• 26:28
  That is such a freeing truth. You do not have to hustle and
• 26:31
  deceive to secure your future. Your inheritance is already
• 26:35
  entirely secure in the resurrected Christ.
• 26:38
  Your justification is a finished work.
• 26:40
  We can rest in that finished work.
• 26:42
  The pressure to perform Florida State is removed.
• 26:45
  Which brings us to the core application for you today.
• 26:48
  God's promises are utterly secure, grounded in His
• 26:51
  sovereign decree, not your flawless performance, But
• 26:55
  knowing that security should not lead to laziness, it should lead
• 26:58
  to great full obedience. In reformed theology, that is
• 27:01
  called the third use of the law. Explain that mechanism for us.
• 27:04
  If the first use is a hammer that crushes our self
• 27:06
  righteousness, what is the third use?
• 27:08
  The third use of the law is the normative use.
• 27:11
  It acts as a guide for the justified believer.
• 27:13
  OK, a guide. Because we have been saved by
• 27:15
  grace, we now look at God's law not as a way to earn salvation,
• 27:19
  but as a manual for how to please the Father who already
• 27:22
  loves us. It shows us how to walk in
• 27:25
  gratitude. And guided by that gratitude, we
• 27:28
  are instructed by this text to stop hiding modern tariff him in
• 27:31
  our tents. We are called to step into the
• 27:34
  light, to abandon our pragmatic schemes and to trust fully in
• 27:38
  the meticulous Providence of God.
• 27:40
  Amen to that. If he can bring Jacob safely
• 27:43
  across the Euphrates despite Jacob's cowardice, he can
• 27:45
  certainly manage your life, your career and your family.
• 27:49
  This raises an important question for all of us.
• 27:51
  Will we rely on the visible securities of this world, or
• 27:54
  will we rest in the invisible yet unbreakable promises of the
• 27:58
  Word? We have to choose.
• 27:59
  We must castaway the false ledgers we cling to and rest
• 28:02
  entirely in the One who governs all things.
• 28:04
  I want to leave you with a final thought to Mull over as you go
• 28:06
  about your today, look closely at your own life.
• 28:09
  What if your most cherished safe religious routines, the very
• 28:13
  habits you rely on to feel secure, acceptable and
• 28:15
  comfortable in your daily life, are actually modern tariff?
• 28:19
  Them that is a piercing thought. Are you relying on your church
• 28:22
  attendance, your theological knowledge, or your moral
• 28:25
  performance to secure your standing?
• 28:28
  Are those routines secretly blinding you to a true radical
• 28:31
  reliance on God's sovereign Providence?
• 28:34
  We all need to ask ourselves that.
• 28:36
  Consider what hidden idols you might need to leave behind in
• 28:38
  the dust of Mesopotamia before you come to the Lord's Table.
• 28:42
  Thank you for joining us for this deep dive on Reformed
• 28:44
  thinking. Until next time, remember, true
• 28:47
  faith doesn't require a flawless escape plan, just a God who can
• 28:51
  bring you safely home even when you're terrified and hiding in
• 28:54
  the dark.