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Voddie Baucham - Love Triangle and the Promised Seed · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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Speaker 1: Well, as we examine the life of the patriarchs, we
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Speaker 1: have turned our attention from Isaac and his life to Jacob.
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Speaker 1: And we are about to see Jacob strike out on
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Speaker 1: his own. And as we watch things develop, one thing
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Speaker 1: has become painfully obvious. And that is that neither Isaac
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Speaker 1: nor Jacob have anything in them or about them that
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Speaker 1: warrants the position they hold. Isaac is a scoundrel. Jacob,
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Speaker 1: his son, is perhaps more of a scoundrel. Isaac is
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Speaker 1: a terrible father and Jacob is a terrible son. And yet,
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Speaker 1: the God whom we serve is the God of Abraham, Isaac,
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Speaker 1: and Jacob. And so, as we as we come to
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Speaker 1: this point in the life of Jacob, the one thing
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Speaker 1: that is obvious is that somehow Jacob has to be transformed.
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Speaker 1: Somehow Jacob has to be changed. Somehow Jacob has to
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Speaker 1: become someone who is usable by God, for lack of
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Speaker 1: a better phrase. Somehow Jacob has to have an encounter.
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Speaker 1: Somehow Jacob has to experience transformation. And that's where it
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Speaker 1: gets interesting. We talked about this idea of election and predestination.
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Speaker 1: And unfortunately, some people believe when you hold high the
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Speaker 1: doctrines of election and predestination, that somehow you do not
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Speaker 1: value things like holiness and righteousness and That somehow the
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Speaker 1: doctrine of election and predestination leads to licentiousness. God just
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Speaker 1: sort of works it all out. You can just do
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Speaker 1: whatever you want. Do whatever you feel. Do whatever you please.
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Speaker 1: By the way, that is what I would argue. You
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Speaker 1: can do whatever you want, whatever you feel, whatever you please.
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Speaker 1: But here's what I know. One of the evidences that
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Speaker 1: you are saved is that God works in you both
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Speaker 1: to will and to do his good pleasure. He changes
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Speaker 1: your want to, amen? Christianity is not about going through
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Speaker 1: your life, never again doing what you want. Authentic Christianity
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Speaker 1: is about God transforming you so that the things that
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Speaker 1: you want aren't even the same anymore. Yet, there is
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Speaker 1: this issue of the balance. How do we get there
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Speaker 1: from here? This moment where the doctrine of election and
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Speaker 1: predestination is seen in real life, where this encounter happens.
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Speaker 1: Our culture talks often about it in terms of meaningful transformation,
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Speaker 1: meaningful life change. You've probably heard these phrases before. They're
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Speaker 1: very common in our culture. In fact, I was just
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Speaker 1: sort of searching for a couple of these. I didn't
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Speaker 1: do an in-depth search by any stretch of the imagination,
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Speaker 1: just looking for life change and meaningful life change and
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Speaker 1: churches that talk about meaningful life change, because that is
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Speaker 1: one of the catchphrases. Come here for meaningful life change.
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Speaker 1: I actually found a church called Life Change Community Church. Amen.
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Speaker 1: It's in their name. Life Change Community Church. And they
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Speaker 1: talk about what you find when you come to Life
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Speaker 1: Change Community Church. They say on their website, you make
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Speaker 1: your way from the parking lot and you will see
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Speaker 1: the new courtyard. There, we have drinks and snacks to
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Speaker 1: kick off the morning with caffeine and sugar. Once you
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Speaker 1: are appropriately buzzing from that, you can check your kids
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Speaker 1: into the CWC or the Children's Worship Center, and then
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Speaker 1: you will make your way into the worship center. The
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Speaker 1: experience at Life Change is comprised of two primary elements,
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Speaker 1: heartfelt worship experience and a life-changing message. Our pastoral staff
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Speaker 1: seeks God's heart in order to bring truthfully relevant teachings
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Speaker 1: each week. A weekend experience lasts for one and a
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Speaker 1: half hours. You can always expect us to start and
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Speaker 1: end on time. I got another name for this church.
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Speaker 1: This is the anti-GFBC. Life change. Meaningful life change. Here's
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Speaker 1: another church. This church is called The River. And there
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Speaker 1: are many churches that talk about that theme of river.
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Speaker 1: And they talk about their small groups. Our small groups,
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Speaker 1: this is where they see life change happening. Our small
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Speaker 1: groups are intended to be safe places where you can
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Speaker 1: connect with others, ask questions about God and the Bible,
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Speaker 1: and just have fun doing life together. Each small group
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Speaker 1: of 8 to 14 people gathers regularly to connect and
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Speaker 1: care and challenge each other and to provide an environment
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Speaker 1: where you can experience, there's the word, meaningful life change.
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Speaker 1: As each of us experiences this kind of life change,
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Speaker 1: this God life, if you will, we become more spiritually
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Speaker 1: healthy and God in turn uses us to produce this
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Speaker 1: God life in others. Life change, meaningful life change Small groups,
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Speaker 1: because that's where you get meaningful life change. Or a
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Speaker 1: particular worship experience that is founded upon caffeine, sugar, and timeliness.
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Speaker 1: Life change. Meaningful life change. Well, I would argue that
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Speaker 1: in Genesis chapter 28, verses 10 and following, that if
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Speaker 1: anybody ever experienced meaningful life change, Jacob experiences meaningful life
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Speaker 1: change here in Genesis chapter 28. But the elements are
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Speaker 1: a little different than our culture would expect. And as
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Speaker 1: we talk about this issue of meaningful life change, there's
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Speaker 1: this phrase, and again, this is a phrase that our
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Speaker 1: culture uses. This is evidently what people are after out there. Somehow,
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Speaker 1: some sort of experience that will change your life in a, quote,
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Speaker 1: meaningful way. I don't believe the Bible at all is
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Speaker 1: against experience. If anything, that's exactly what Jacob has here
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Speaker 1: is an experience. But it was not one that was manufactured.
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Speaker 1: His meaningful life change has several elements that I think
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Speaker 1: are pretty universal as it relates to a life that's
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Speaker 1: changed in a meaningful way by the God of the Bible.
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Speaker 1: First of all, we see that it is directed by
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Speaker 1: God's providence. In fact, you see that from earlier on
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Speaker 1: in chapter 27, then on into the beginning of chapter 28.
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Speaker 1: Something has to happen in Jacob's life. Here he is
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Speaker 1: in a home where his father, in rebellion against the
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Speaker 1: very word of God, is trying to give the blessing
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Speaker 1: that belongs to him to his twin brother instead. His mother,
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Speaker 1: to whom this revelation was given directly, has gone about
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Speaker 1: things the absolute wrong way in manipulating his father in
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Speaker 1: order to get the blessing that Isaac was in line for. Now,
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Speaker 1: all of a sudden, his brother wants him dead, his
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Speaker 1: father wants him gone, and his mother just wants him protected.
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Speaker 1: In the midst of all of this, Isaac goes ahead
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Speaker 1: and really reiterates this blessing to to his son Jacob
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Speaker 1: earlier on in chapter 28. He says the things to
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Speaker 1: Jacob knowing this time that it's Jacob and not thinking
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Speaker 1: that it's Esau. He says these things and blesses his
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Speaker 1: son as he sends his son away on a journey
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Speaker 1: that will take him months, some 500 miles to get
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Speaker 1: where he's going. Interestingly enough, There is much here that
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Speaker 1: mirrors the life of Abraham. In the life of Abraham, however,
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Speaker 1: the same place was chosen to find a wife. But
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Speaker 1: in the life of Abraham, he sent a servant to
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Speaker 1: this place to find the woman and bring her back
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Speaker 1: for Isaac. Isaac, however, under the guidance of his wife,
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Speaker 1: chooses another route because he needs to get Jacob away
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Speaker 1: from Esau, who, by the way, wants him dead. So
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Speaker 1: he sends his son off and says, you go down
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Speaker 1: to Laban. And that's where you'll find a wife. So
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Speaker 1: in the providence of God, we have Jacob on his
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Speaker 1: way to the place where he will meet his bride.
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Speaker 1: And by the providence of God, begin this legacy of multiplication.
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Speaker 1: Through his 12 sons. who in turn, his sons, along
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Speaker 1: with two of his grandsons, will become the 12 tribes
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Speaker 1: of Israel. But something has to happen. The first piece
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Speaker 1: of it is just God's providence that gets him in
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Speaker 1: line for this encounter that will change his life. You
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Speaker 1: ever think about that? You ever think about the way
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Speaker 1: that God encountered your life and God saved you and
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Speaker 1: then backed up a few months or a few years
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Speaker 1: or a few decades. In fact, if you're here today
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Speaker 1: and you've been born again, you can go all the
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Speaker 1: way back to before your life began and see God's
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Speaker 1: hand of providence even in the family into which you
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Speaker 1: were born. I don't care if it was the worst
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Speaker 1: family imaginable. God used that in his providence to get
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Speaker 1: you to the place where he encountered you and brought
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Speaker 1: you to an understanding of the gospel and you came
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Speaker 1: face to face with your sin and responded in repentance
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Speaker 1: and faith to the person and work of the Lord
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Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. You can go all the way back, not
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Speaker 1: just to the day that you were born, but to
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Speaker 1: before you were born and see God's hand of providence
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Speaker 1: working even in that and not just in the good
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Speaker 1: experiences and the good scenarios. Have you ever thought about
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Speaker 1: those most tragic moments in your life and how God
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Speaker 1: used those to shape you for what he had in
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Speaker 1: store for your future? There are some of you in
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Speaker 1: this room who've had siblings who were like Esau and
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Speaker 1: you felt like they wanted you dead, amen? There are
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Speaker 1: some of you who had siblings who abused you. There
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Speaker 1: are some of you who had parents who abandoned you.
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Speaker 1: There are others of you whose families experienced great tragedy
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Speaker 1: and perhaps your parents didn't even live to see the
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Speaker 1: process of raising you through to its completion. And in
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Speaker 1: every one of those instances and in every one of
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Speaker 1: those circumstances, when you look back through the lens of
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Speaker 1: your salvation, that God brought about, you see his hand
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Speaker 1: of providence in it all. Jacob has no idea of
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Speaker 1: the life change that is about to come. He's not
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Speaker 1: looking for the life change that is about to come.
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Speaker 1: He's not working for the life change that is about
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Speaker 1: to come. He doesn't even know he needs the life
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Speaker 1: change that is about to come. He doesn't have sense
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Speaker 1: enough to know, to look for the life change that
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Speaker 1: is about to come. And yet God in his providence
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Speaker 1: is putting him in the absolute right place at the
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Speaker 1: absolute right time. God is good. You cannot manufacture authentic, biblical,
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Speaker 1: God-wrought life change in your life or in anyone else's
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Speaker 1: life for that matter. Interestingly enough, we think, and if
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Speaker 1: you just read this through, as we read this through,
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Speaker 1: here's the obstacle that we think is in Jacob's life.
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Speaker 1: We think Jacob's biggest problem is that his father, Isaac,
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Speaker 1: is not going to bless him and give him what
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Speaker 1: God says he's supposed to have. So the tension in
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Speaker 1: the text appears to be this. How on earth is
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Speaker 1: Jacob going to have the inheritance and be, you know,
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Speaker 1: this next one in the line of bringing the promised
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Speaker 1: seed if his father Isaac is not going to see
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Speaker 1: fit to bless him properly as he ought to? Newsflash.
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Speaker 1: Esau gets to stay with Isaac and all the stuff. Anyway. Anyway.
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Speaker 1: Do you follow me? Jacob does not need Isaac's blessing
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Speaker 1: to become what God intends for him to become. Nor
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Speaker 1: does Jacob need Isaac's wealth. We're going to learn that
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Speaker 1: later on. Just give him a few speckled and spotted goats.
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Speaker 1: He'll be all right. Amen. God can take him completely
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Speaker 1: outside of this line of the wealth that went from
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Speaker 1: Abraham to Isaac and give him everything that he needs
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Speaker 1: in order to be all that God has called him
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Speaker 1: to be. And yet, God uses Isaac to make Jacob
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Speaker 1: who he is. And God uses Isaac to bless Jacob.
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Speaker 1: The providence of God. Think about that as we balance
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Speaker 1: our lives and our multi-generational vision. Do my children need
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Speaker 1: me to give them anything in order for God to
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Speaker 1: accomplish what he desires for their lives? Absolutely not. They
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Speaker 1: don't need that. But in the providence of God and
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Speaker 1: by his grace, he allows you and me to bless
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Speaker 1: our children to instruct our children, to guide our children.
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Speaker 1: And he uses even that in his providence. And yet,
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Speaker 1: it is still absolutely not enough. It's not enough. So
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Speaker 1: here we are. We look at the first nine verses
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Speaker 1: there in chapter 28, and we think, finally, Jacob's got
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Speaker 1: what he needed. Finally, his father knowingly blesses him. Finally,
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Speaker 1: his father knowingly gives him this charge. But that's not
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Speaker 1: what he needed. Because meaningful God-wrought life change, not only
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Speaker 1: directed by God's providence, but it always follows God's special revelation.
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Speaker 1: Look at the next part of this, verse 10. Jacob
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Speaker 1: left Beersheba and went toward Haran. And he came to
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Speaker 1: a certain place and stayed there that night because the
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Speaker 1: sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place,
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Speaker 1: he put it under his head and lay down in
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Speaker 1: that place to sleep. And he dreamed and behold, there
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Speaker 1: was a ladder set up on the earth and the
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Speaker 1: top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels
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Speaker 1: of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold,
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Speaker 1: the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord,
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Speaker 1: the God of Abraham, your father, and the God of Isaac.
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Speaker 1: The land on which you lie, I will give to
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Speaker 1: you and your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the
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Speaker 1: dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to
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Speaker 1: the west and to the east and to the north
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Speaker 1: and to the south. And in you and in your
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Speaker 1: offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold,
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Speaker 1: I am with you and will keep you wherever you
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Speaker 1: go and will bring you back to this land. For
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Speaker 1: I will not leave you until I have done what
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Speaker 1: I have promised to you. Then Jacob awoke from his
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Speaker 1: sleep and said, surely the Lord is in this place.
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Speaker 1: and I did not know it. And he was afraid
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Speaker 1: and said, how awesome is this place? This is none
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Speaker 1: other than the house of God, and this is the
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Speaker 1: gate of heaven. Meaningful life change is impossible apart from
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Speaker 1: special revelation from God. Let me say that again. Meaningful
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Speaker 1: life change is impossible apart from special revelation from God.
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Speaker 1: Can you have life change apart from special revelation from God? Yes,
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Speaker 1: you can have life change apart from special revelation from God.
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Speaker 1: You can. You can have life change. For example, you
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Speaker 1: can stop smoking and it'll change your life. Amen? There
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Speaker 1: are people in this room, smoking just had them. They
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Speaker 1: quit smoking, it changed their lives. If you could see
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Speaker 1: a picture of their lungs 10 years ago and a
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Speaker 1: picture of their lungs today, you'd see they've had life change.
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Speaker 1: Losing weight can change your life. Getting married will change
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Speaker 1: your life. All of these things can change your life.
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Speaker 1: Going to college, getting a degree can change your life.
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Speaker 1: It can. It really can. All of these things can
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Speaker 1: change your life. But is that meaningful, God-wrought life change? No,
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Speaker 1: it's not. Because you can quit smoking and go to
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Speaker 1: hell when you die. You can quit drinking and go
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Speaker 1: to hell when you die. You can lose weight and
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Speaker 1: go to hell when you die. You can get married,
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Speaker 1: go to hell when you die. All of those things
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Speaker 1: will change your life. But there's a difference between a
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Speaker 1: change in your life and a meaningful, God-wrought change in
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Speaker 1: your life. You can even go to church and have
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Speaker 1: a changed life, but not a meaningful, God-wrought change in
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Speaker 1: your life. Church is filled with people whose lives are different.
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Speaker 1: but not because they've had a meaningful God-wrought change in
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Speaker 1: their life. This meaningful God-wrought change is about an encounter
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Speaker 1: with God, and it is about God's special revelation. Let
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Speaker 1: me share this with you from Romans chapter 1. This
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Speaker 1: is 18 to 21. For the wrath of God is
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Speaker 1: revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness. of men
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Speaker 1: who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can
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Speaker 1: be known about God is plain to them because God
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Speaker 1: has showed it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely
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Speaker 1: his eternal power and his divine nature have been clearly
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Speaker 1: perceived ever since the creation of the world in the
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Speaker 1: things that have been made. So they are without excuse. Listen,
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Speaker 1: general revelation is very important. But general revelation won't save you.
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Speaker 1: General revelation can only make you guilty. It's enough to
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Speaker 1: make you guilty, but not enough to make you clean. Amen? Amen?
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Speaker 1: So there's general revelation out there, and there are people
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Speaker 1: out there who are trying to grab these tidbits of
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Speaker 1: general revelation. There are people out there who go to
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Speaker 1: psychology or psychiatry, and what are those individuals relying on?
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Speaker 1: They're relying on general revelation. They're looking at, you know,
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Speaker 1: people's lives and people's behavior, and they're learning how to
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Speaker 1: deal with people's lives and deal with people's behavior so
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Speaker 1: that they can sort of manage life and manage behavior.
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Speaker 1: They'll give you drugs so that certain symptoms may go
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Speaker 1: away and things of that nature, and but can it
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Speaker 1: save you? Absolutely not. There are life coaches nowadays. You
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Speaker 1: can make a lot of money, by the way, being
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Speaker 1: a life coach. And people hire life coaches to help
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Speaker 1: them get the most out of their lives. What are
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Speaker 1: these individuals working on? They're working on general revelation, stuff
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Speaker 1: that we've seen out there in the world that can
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Speaker 1: be helpful, that can be useful. Leadership seminars, marriage seminars,
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Speaker 1: all these sorts of things. There is this general revelation
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Speaker 1: out there. But here's what tends to happen when you
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Speaker 1: have general revelation and not special revelation. When you have
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Speaker 1: general revelation, you try to figure out how to manage
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Speaker 1: and master the world around you so that you can
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Speaker 1: have a better, more fulfilling life. It is not until
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Speaker 1: you get special revelation where God steps in and says, oh,
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Speaker 1: by the way, creation screams that there is a God,
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Speaker 1: but I scream that I am God, that there is
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Speaker 1: no other God, and that you can only come to
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Speaker 1: me on my terms. That's where special revelation comes in.
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Speaker 1: The word of God comes to bear. And what happens
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Speaker 1: here in Jacob's life is that he has special revelation
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Speaker 1: from God. Now, in order for us to be clear,
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Speaker 1: we do this all the time, but we're going to
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Speaker 1: do it again. You're going to get sick and tired
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Speaker 1: of Hebrews chapter 1. However, we are going to look
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Speaker 1: again at Hebrews chapter 1 because we have to. In
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Speaker 1: this culture in which we live and in this day
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Speaker 1: and age in which we live, whenever we talk about
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Speaker 1: Special revelation. We have to go back to Hebrews chapter 1.
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Speaker 1: Hebrews chapter 1. We ought to know it. Because we
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Speaker 1: go back here again and again and again and again
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Speaker 1: and again. But that's okay. This is important. We need
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Speaker 1: to be reminded of it. Hebrews chapter 1. Look there
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Speaker 1: in the first verse of Hebrews chapter 1. talking about
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Speaker 1: divine revelation, special revelation. Long ago, at many times, and
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Speaker 1: in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets.
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Speaker 1: But in these last days, he has spoken to us
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Speaker 1: by his son, whom he appointed the heir of all things,
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Speaker 1: through whom also he created the world. In other words,
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Speaker 1: Jacob's experience at what is ultimately referred to as Bethel,
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Speaker 1: was not normative for your life and mine as believers
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Speaker 1: who now live after the completed revelation of God in
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Speaker 1: the person and work of Jesus Christ. So if you
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Speaker 1: have an experience like Jacob did, keep it to yourself
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Speaker 1: and ask God to make that thing stop messing with you.
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Speaker 1: I realize that I say that in the midst of
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Speaker 1: a culture that is enamored with the idea of new
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Speaker 1: revelation from God. It's enamored with the idea of being
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Speaker 1: able to say, God told me this. God spoke this.
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Speaker 1: enamored with preachers who'll stand behind the pulpit and actually
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Speaker 1: speak as though they are speaking the very words of
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Speaker 1: God afresh and anew, a fresh word from the Lord,
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Speaker 1: a new revelation from God, something that the church has
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Speaker 1: never known before and has all of a sudden been
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Speaker 1: deposited in the spirit of the man who is speaking
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Speaker 1: forth this new, fresh word from God. That's heresy. And
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Speaker 1: that's not my opinion. That's the clear teaching of Hebrews
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Speaker 1: chapter 1. So now, when we look at the life change,
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Speaker 1: this meaningful God-wrought life change that was experienced by Jacob,
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Speaker 1: we have to put it in its proper theological context.
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Speaker 1: So when we say that the special revelation of God
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Speaker 1: is absolutely essential here, Here's what we have to recognize.
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Speaker 1: This special revelation of God came to Jacob by way
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Speaker 1: of this dream and this vision. The special revelation of
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Speaker 1: God has come to us in actually a superior form.
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Speaker 1: Jacob's got bits and pieces. He has no idea. He
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Speaker 1: doesn't get it. We understand the fuller picture. as it
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Speaker 1: is culminated in the person and work of Jesus Christ,
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Speaker 1: who was the promised seed, by the way, who's being
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Speaker 1: protected in the midst of what's going on here in
26:02
Speaker 1: Genesis chapter 28. Jacob didn't know that. You and I do.
26:09
Speaker 1: You and I do. All Jacob knows is he's seen
26:14
Speaker 1: something that changed his life forever. He didn't get it.
26:18
Speaker 1: He didn't understand it. He didn't completely know how to
26:21
Speaker 1: respond to it. But he does the best he can
26:26
Speaker 1: with what he has. Amen? See, if you're looking for meaningful,
26:33
Speaker 1: God-wrought life change, the place we find it is in
26:38
Speaker 1: God's Word. Because I don't know about you, but I'm
26:43
Speaker 1: not very interested in my life changing in a way
26:46
Speaker 1: that does not line up with what the Scripture says
26:49
Speaker 1: my life ought to look like. Amen? Amen? So Jacob
26:56
Speaker 1: has this encounter with God that reorients his whole life
27:04
Speaker 1: around God's word, God's truth, and God's revelation. That's the
27:10
Speaker 1: life change that you and I desperately need. Life change
27:15
Speaker 1: that's oriented around God's word, God's truth, God's revelation. That's
27:22
Speaker 1: the life change that we desperately need. And I don't
27:26
Speaker 1: know about you, but all these folks out there looking
27:28
Speaker 1: for new revelation from God, I'm still trying to wrap
27:31
Speaker 1: my head around this one. Amen? There is so much here.
27:39
Speaker 1: His divine power has given us everything for life and
27:43
Speaker 1: godliness through our knowledge of him who calls us by
27:45
Speaker 1: his own glory and excellence. All Scripture is breathed out
27:52
Speaker 1: by God and profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training
27:56
Speaker 1: in righteousness that the man of God may be thoroughly
27:59
Speaker 1: furnished for every good work. The Scriptures have all we
28:03
Speaker 1: need for meaningful, God-wrought life change. It's governed by the
28:11
Speaker 1: Word of God, by His special revelation, not just by
28:16
Speaker 1: what we see out in nature, And definitely now, not
28:21
Speaker 1: just by sort of esoteric spiritual experiences. It's governed by
28:27
Speaker 1: his word. Thirdly, meaningful life change rests on the promises
28:33
Speaker 1: of God. Rests on the promises of God. Here's what's
28:40
Speaker 1: meaningful for Jacob. Look with me in verses 13 and 14.
28:43
Speaker 1: Because Here's the question. Your life is going to change,
28:52
Speaker 1: but to what and for what? Most people don't ask that.
28:59
Speaker 1: Most people's attitude is just, hey, I don't like the
29:01
Speaker 1: way my life is now, and my life needs to
29:04
Speaker 1: be changed. Yeah, but to what and for what? And
29:08
Speaker 1: most people, if they're honest and answer those questions, it's just,
29:11
Speaker 1: my life just needs to be changed to something more wealthy,
29:16
Speaker 1: more beautiful, and more happy. Thank you very much. But
29:23
Speaker 1: change to what? And change for what? Listen to this,
29:27
Speaker 1: verse 13. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said,
29:34
Speaker 1: I am the Lord, the God of Abraham, your father,
29:39
Speaker 1: and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie,
29:45
Speaker 1: I will give to you and to your offspring. Your
29:49
Speaker 1: offspring shall be like the dust of the earth. You
29:53
Speaker 1: shall spread abroad to the west, to the east, to
29:56
Speaker 1: the north, and to the south. And in you and
29:58
Speaker 1: your offspring, Shall all the families of the earth be blessed?
30:09
Speaker 1: Not might, but shall. Here's what you need to understand.
30:17
Speaker 1: Meaningful life change is not based upon what you can accomplish.
30:24
Speaker 1: That's not meaningful. You're way too finite for that. That's
30:28
Speaker 1: not meaningful life change. Me, a finite individual, I'm going
30:32
Speaker 1: to go out there and I'm going to get what
30:34
Speaker 1: I can accomplish. What I can accomplish doesn't amount to
30:36
Speaker 1: a hill of beans. If the life change is to
30:40
Speaker 1: be meaningful and God wrought, it's based on the promises
30:44
Speaker 1: of God and what God brings about in our lives.
30:47
Speaker 1: By the way, turn to the left and look at
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Speaker 1: Genesis chapter 15. And note the similarities. Note also that
31:08
Speaker 1: God said, the God of your father Abraham, and also Isaac.
31:14
Speaker 1: Did you catch that? The God of your father Abraham,
31:17
Speaker 1: and yeah, Isaac. Yeah, him too. Chapter 15. After these things,
31:28
Speaker 1: the word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision.
31:30
Speaker 1: Sound familiar? Fear not, Abraham. Fear not, Abraham. I am
31:35
Speaker 1: your shield, your reward shall be great. But Abraham said,
31:39
Speaker 1: O Lord God, what will you give me? For I
31:42
Speaker 1: continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eleazar
31:46
Speaker 1: of Damascus. And Abram said, Behold, you have given me
31:50
Speaker 1: no offspring, and a member of my household will be
31:54
Speaker 1: my heir. And behold, the word of the Lord came
31:58
Speaker 1: to him. This man shall not be your heir. Your
32:01
Speaker 1: very own son shall be your heir. And he brought
32:04
Speaker 1: him outside and said, look toward the heavens and number
32:07
Speaker 1: the stars if you are able to number them. Then
32:10
Speaker 1: he said to him, so shall your offspring be. And
32:14
Speaker 1: he believed the Lord and he counted it to him
32:17
Speaker 1: as righteousness. Very similar experience in the life of Abraham
32:27
Speaker 1: to the experience in the life of Jacob. It was
32:33
Speaker 1: not enough for Jacob to follow in his father's footsteps
32:39
Speaker 1: and carry on the family vision. Did you catch that?
32:47
Speaker 1: It was not enough for Jacob to follow on in
32:52
Speaker 1: his father's footsteps and carry on the family vision. He
33:01
Speaker 1: had to live in accordance with the promises of God.
33:07
Speaker 1: His life had to be yielded to God. The same
33:13
Speaker 1: is true for your children and for mine. Do we
33:17
Speaker 1: believe in multi-generational vision? Absolutely we do. But the day
33:21
Speaker 1: we trust in it alone, apart from the providence of
33:24
Speaker 1: God and the revelation of God and the intervention of
33:27
Speaker 1: God in saving souls and calling them to himself is
33:31
Speaker 1: the day we have left the reservation. Jacob's life would
33:44
Speaker 1: have continued to be insignificant apart from the intervention of
33:48
Speaker 1: God and the promises of God as a guiding post
33:55
Speaker 1: for the way he lived. That's why the most important
33:58
Speaker 1: thing that you and I can give to our children
34:00
Speaker 1: is the gospel. The most important thing that you and
34:06
Speaker 1: I can give to our children is a vision beyond themselves,
34:10
Speaker 1: a vision beyond us, a vision beyond anything that they
34:14
Speaker 1: or we can ever imagine, but a kingdom-sized vision And
34:21
Speaker 1: a reminder that they must depend upon God to set
34:26
Speaker 1: its course. God makes a promise that's repeated from Genesis 15.
34:38
Speaker 1: And it's land, offspring, blessing to the nations, and just
34:46
Speaker 1: like in Genesis 15, a bringing back to the land.
34:50
Speaker 1: In other words, in Genesis 15 and then again here
34:53
Speaker 1: in Genesis 28, there is a foreshadowing of what's going
34:57
Speaker 1: to happen as God's people go into exile, into bondage
35:03
Speaker 1: in Egypt. There's a foreshadowing of what's going to happen
35:08
Speaker 1: again and again as God's people are removed from the
35:11
Speaker 1: land and brought back to the land and removed from
35:13
Speaker 1: the land and brought back to the land and this
35:15
Speaker 1: promise that we hear. By the way, it's echoed again.
35:20
Speaker 1: Turn with me to the right. Look at Jeremiah. Jeremiah 29.
35:34
Speaker 1: These are the words that gave hope during the Babylonian exile.
35:40
Speaker 1: Jeremiah 29. These are the words of the letter that
35:45
Speaker 1: Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders
35:48
Speaker 1: of the exiles. and to the priests and the prophets
35:50
Speaker 1: and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile
35:53
Speaker 1: from Jerusalem to Babylon. This was after King Jeconiah and
35:58
Speaker 1: the queen mother, the eunuchs and the officials of Judah
36:00
Speaker 1: and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, the meadow workers had departed for Jerusalem.
36:04
Speaker 1: The letter was sent by the hand of Elasa, the
36:05
Speaker 1: son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah, the son of Zedekiah, king
36:14
Speaker 1: of Judah, sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.
36:17
Speaker 1: It said... Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God
36:19
Speaker 1: of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent
36:22
Speaker 1: into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, build houses and live
36:25
Speaker 1: in them, plant gardens and eat their produce, take wives
36:28
Speaker 1: and have sons and daughters, take wives for your sons
36:30
Speaker 1: and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear
36:33
Speaker 1: sons and daughters, multiply there and do not decrease. but
36:36
Speaker 1: seek the welfare of the city where I've sent you
36:38
Speaker 1: into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf.
36:41
Speaker 1: For in its welfare, you will find your welfare. For
36:43
Speaker 1: thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,
36:47
Speaker 1: do not let your prophets and your diviners who are
36:50
Speaker 1: among you deceive you and do not listen to the
36:53
Speaker 1: dreams that they dream. For it is a lie that
36:56
Speaker 1: they are prophesying to you in my name. I did
36:58
Speaker 1: not send them, declares the Lord. For thus says the Lord,
37:00
Speaker 1: when 70 years are completed for Babylon, I will visit
37:03
Speaker 1: you and will fulfill to you my promise and bring
37:06
Speaker 1: you back to this place. For I know the plans
37:10
Speaker 1: that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for
37:12
Speaker 1: welfare and not for evil, to give you a future
37:15
Speaker 1: and a hope. Then you will call upon me and
37:17
Speaker 1: come and pray to me, and I will hear you.
37:20
Speaker 1: You will seek me and find me when you seek
37:22
Speaker 1: me with all your heart. I will be found by you,
37:24
Speaker 1: declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and
37:27
Speaker 1: gather you from all the nations and all the places
37:30
Speaker 1: where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I
37:32
Speaker 1: will bring you back to the place from which I
37:35
Speaker 1: sent you into exile. This is the land I'm going
37:46
Speaker 1: to give you, Abraham. You're going to have it. Your
37:53
Speaker 1: descendants are going to have it. They're going to be
37:55
Speaker 1: blessed here. There'll be times when they'll go away from it.
37:58
Speaker 1: They'll come back to it. He says again to Jacob,
38:02
Speaker 1: you're going to have this land. There'll be times you
38:06
Speaker 1: can go away from it. You'll come back to it.
38:09
Speaker 1: This is my promise. See, meaningful life change. If my
38:16
Speaker 1: life change is about me and my hopes, my dreams,
38:21
Speaker 1: my aspirations, and my desires, those die with me. But
38:30
Speaker 1: if my life changes and brings me in line with
38:33
Speaker 1: the promises of God, brings me in line with a
38:38
Speaker 1: kingdom vision, then I'm part of something that's never going
38:41
Speaker 1: to die. if all we seek when we seek this
38:48
Speaker 1: meaningful life change is a better version of what I
38:53
Speaker 1: have now, that's useless. If Jacob's change is to just
39:03
Speaker 1: not lie as much as he did anymore, if Jacob's
39:07
Speaker 1: change is to just get away from his family and
39:10
Speaker 1: all the bickering and backbiting, If Jacob's change is just
39:14
Speaker 1: to get to another place where he can start a family,
39:18
Speaker 1: then that's absolutely useless. And he's like millions upon millions
39:22
Speaker 1: of others who lived during his time and thereafter who
39:26
Speaker 1: had absolutely no impact beyond their own time. day. But
39:35
Speaker 1: if his life is lined up with the promises of God,
39:42
Speaker 1: then we still talk about him thousands of years later. Fourthly,
39:51
Speaker 1: This meaningful God-wrought life change produces worship towards God. We
39:55
Speaker 1: see that in 18 and 19. Look at 18 and 19.
40:01
Speaker 1: So early in the morning, Jacob took the stone that
40:04
Speaker 1: he had put under his head and set it up
40:06
Speaker 1: for a pillar and poured oil on top of it.
40:10
Speaker 1: He called the name of the place Bethel, but the
40:13
Speaker 1: name of the city was Luz at the first. How
40:19
Speaker 1: does he respond? The only way to know is how,
40:22
Speaker 1: in worship toward God. He commemorates this event with a stone.
40:27
Speaker 1: This was a common practice in the ancient Near East.
40:30
Speaker 1: There are these standing stones. You know, the clearest thing
40:32
Speaker 1: that we have that corresponds to this is crosses that
40:35
Speaker 1: you see on the side of the highway. You ride
40:39
Speaker 1: down the road and you see a cross on the
40:41
Speaker 1: side of the highway and you know that someone is saying,
40:44
Speaker 1: we lost a loved one right here in this spot.
40:47
Speaker 1: Our lives were changed forever. Our lives will never be
40:50
Speaker 1: the same. And we put this cross here so that
40:53
Speaker 1: we will remember and so that everyone who rides by
40:56
Speaker 1: here will remember. That's what Jacob is doing. And ultimately,
41:06
Speaker 1: he's not commemorating the life of a loved one. This
41:10
Speaker 1: is an act of worship toward the one true and
41:13
Speaker 1: living God. Not only does he commemorate, but he also
41:17
Speaker 1: consecrates with the oil. This oil was symbolic of consecration,
41:22
Speaker 1: of setting apart. I mean, this is not just a stone.
41:26
Speaker 1: This is not just us remembering a joyous occasion that
41:29
Speaker 1: we had as a family. This is not just me
41:32
Speaker 1: remembering a moment in my life where something special happened.
41:35
Speaker 1: This is the commemoration and the consecration of an event
41:40
Speaker 1: that was about the God of the universe revealing himself
41:44
Speaker 1: to me right here on this spot while my head
41:47
Speaker 1: was Lay on this rock. It's not a normal rock anymore.
41:57
Speaker 1: And then he goes another step and he even dedicates
41:59
Speaker 1: the place. That city was called Luz. The city can't
42:04
Speaker 1: be called that anymore. This is Bethel. House of God.
42:15
Speaker 1: We know in chapter 31 that he comes back through
42:20
Speaker 1: and there is another encounter in the same place. You see,
42:27
Speaker 1: when we have meaningful, God-wrought life change, it's not like
42:32
Speaker 1: other life change. See, if I have life change that
42:36
Speaker 1: comes as a result of a life coach, my praise
42:39
Speaker 1: and honor and adoration goes to the life coach. If
42:42
Speaker 1: I have life change that comes as a result of
42:45
Speaker 1: a psychologist or a psychologist, then my praise, adoration, and
42:49
Speaker 1: worship goes toward that professional because they use general revelation
42:53
Speaker 1: to help bring about this change in my life. If
42:56
Speaker 1: I have life change that is wrought in my life
42:58
Speaker 1: because of a spouse, then my worship and my adoration
43:02
Speaker 1: is pointed toward that individual. But if I have meaningful,
43:07
Speaker 1: God-wrought life change that is a result of Almighty God
43:11
Speaker 1: intervening in my life, placing me on a Godward path,
43:16
Speaker 1: living for His purposes and His promises, then my worship
43:19
Speaker 1: and my adoration are all pointed toward Him. Does that
43:28
Speaker 1: mean that there shouldn't be any life coaching or there
43:30
Speaker 1: shouldn't be any counseling or there shouldn't be any? No, absolutely.
43:33
Speaker 1: I wouldn't argue that at all. But I argue that
43:35
Speaker 1: it all needs to be based on God's revealed word
43:39
Speaker 1: so that God is the one who is praised and
43:42
Speaker 1: God is the one who gets the glory as a
43:44
Speaker 1: result of the change that is wrought. And so that
43:46
Speaker 1: the change that is wrought is always remembered as a
43:49
Speaker 1: change that put that individual on a trajectory toward living
43:53
Speaker 1: a life for God and not themselves. There's a final piece.
44:03
Speaker 1: Meaningful life change ultimately results in covenantal obedience. Look what
44:12
Speaker 1: happens in 20 through 22. Then Jacob made a vow saying,
44:19
Speaker 1: if God will be with me and will keep me
44:21
Speaker 1: in this way that I go and will give me
44:24
Speaker 1: bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I
44:27
Speaker 1: come again to my father's house in peace. Then the
44:31
Speaker 1: Lord shall be my God, and this stone, which I
44:34
Speaker 1: have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house.
44:37
Speaker 1: And of all that you give me, I will give
44:40
Speaker 1: a full tenth to you. Now, interestingly enough, in the
44:43
Speaker 1: English language, this doesn't come across properly. Because the if phrases...
44:51
Speaker 1: Make it sound like a bargain with God. God, if
44:53
Speaker 1: you do this, then I worship you. That is very unfortunate.
44:58
Speaker 1: Listen to what Jameson, Fawcett, and Brown say. His words
45:03
Speaker 1: are not to be considered as implying a doubt, far
45:08
Speaker 1: less as stating the condition or terms on which he
45:12
Speaker 1: would dedicate himself to God. Let if be changed into since,
45:17
Speaker 1: and the language will appear a proper expression of Jacob's faith.
45:21
Speaker 1: and evidence of his having truly embraced the promise. See,
45:27
Speaker 1: not if, but since. If you want to understand what
45:31
Speaker 1: Jacob is saying here, our word if doesn't do justice.
45:36
Speaker 1: Look at it with since. Verse 20, Jacob made a
45:43
Speaker 1: vow saying, since God will be a God to me
45:46
Speaker 1: and will keep me in this way that I go.
45:49
Speaker 1: and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear,
45:52
Speaker 1: so that I come again to my father's house in peace,
45:56
Speaker 1: then the Lord will be my God, and this stone
46:01
Speaker 1: which I have set up will be God's house, and
46:05
Speaker 1: all that the Lord gives me, I will give a
46:10
Speaker 1: full tenth to him. Not if, there is no if.
46:18
Speaker 1: He just met with God. This is a vow of
46:28
Speaker 1: covenantal obedience. And it's appropriate. Far from the idea that
46:38
Speaker 1: somehow election and predestination means that, you know, covenant obedience
46:43
Speaker 1: for what? Covenant obedience because it's the only thing that
46:47
Speaker 1: makes sense when you meet God. Amen? Because that's what
46:57
Speaker 1: God brings about. Turn with me to the right and
47:00
Speaker 1: look at the book of Ephesians. and we'll see the
47:18
Speaker 1: picture of the way these things work together. Ephesians chapter 2.
47:28
Speaker 1: And again, if we had time, we'd read Ephesians chapter 1,
47:30
Speaker 1: and it's just election and predestination from beginning to end,
47:34
Speaker 1: all over it. It's just election and predestination. It's all
47:38
Speaker 1: about what God wills, what God decrees. That's what salvation
47:41
Speaker 1: is all about. It's not about man. Man is incapable
47:45
Speaker 1: of helping God save him. Then we come to chapter
47:47
Speaker 1: two and we read, and you were dead in the
47:51
Speaker 1: trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the
47:54
Speaker 1: course of this world, following the prince of the power
47:57
Speaker 1: of the air, the spirit that is now at work
47:59
Speaker 1: in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once
48:03
Speaker 1: lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the
48:06
Speaker 1: desires of the body and of the mind, and were
48:08
Speaker 1: by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.
48:11
Speaker 1: But God, being rich in mercy because of the great
48:14
Speaker 1: love with which he loved us, even when we were
48:16
Speaker 1: dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.
48:19
Speaker 1: By grace you've been saved and raised us up with
48:23
Speaker 1: him and seated us with him in the heavenly places
48:25
Speaker 1: in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he
48:28
Speaker 1: might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness
48:31
Speaker 1: toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have
48:34
Speaker 1: been saved through faith, and this is not of your
48:37
Speaker 1: own doing. It is the gift of God, not as
48:40
Speaker 1: the result of works, so that no one may boast.
48:44
Speaker 1: Don't ever stop there. The paragraph's not over yet. Verse 10,
48:49
Speaker 1: for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for
48:52
Speaker 1: good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk
48:56
Speaker 1: in them. Folks, part of what you were predestined to,
49:00
Speaker 1: according to Romans chapter 8, is to be conformed to
49:03
Speaker 1: the very image of Christ. Part of what we're predestined
49:06
Speaker 1: to is to walk in works of righteousness. So one
49:10
Speaker 1: of the evidences of our predestination and election is that
49:13
Speaker 1: we don't just give lip service, but we actually give
49:16
Speaker 1: covenantal obedience. So far from the doctrines of grace negating
49:29
Speaker 1: holiness and righteousness, they in fact establish it. The culture
49:40
Speaker 1: at large says what you look for is a man
49:43
Speaker 1: who will pay lip service. Walk to the front of
49:46
Speaker 1: the aisle, repeat after me, and say some words. If
49:51
Speaker 1: that man pays lip service, he's in. You look at
49:56
Speaker 1: that man who's just paid lip service, and you tell
49:58
Speaker 1: that man, you write your name in your Bible, and
50:00
Speaker 1: you write down this date. And just like you write
50:03
Speaker 1: your name in your Bible and you write down this date,
50:05
Speaker 1: God has written your name in the Lamb's book of
50:07
Speaker 1: life right here and right now. Why? Because you asked
50:10
Speaker 1: Jesus into your heart. I hadn't found that. It's not there.
50:28
Speaker 1: What I do find is if you love me, Keep
50:32
Speaker 1: my commandments. What I do find is by this all
50:36
Speaker 1: men will know that you're my disciples, that you have
50:38
Speaker 1: love one for another. What I do find is warning
50:46
Speaker 1: after warning after warning in 1 John. You live like this,
50:50
Speaker 1: you're not his. You live like that, you're not his.
50:54
Speaker 1: That's what I find. That's what we find. It's not
51:00
Speaker 1: lip service. Not at all. It is the change wrought
51:09
Speaker 1: in the soul of a man by the spirit, presence,
51:14
Speaker 1: and power of Almighty God. And it bears much fruit.
51:29
Speaker 1: It bears much fruit. See, if genuine life change, and
51:37
Speaker 1: this is what our culture talks about. You need to
51:40
Speaker 1: have genuine life change so that you can be healthier
51:44
Speaker 1: and happier and wealthier and feel better about yourself. Let
51:47
Speaker 1: me just explain to you how that happens more often
51:50
Speaker 1: than not. Here's the way the culture at large sees
51:56
Speaker 1: real life change. You must change your expectations about Amen.
52:08
Speaker 1: Change your expectations. That way you'll feel better about yourself.
52:15
Speaker 1: You're struggling and you're suffering because of something in your
52:18
Speaker 1: life that you, you know, feel like you've done wrong. Well,
52:22
Speaker 1: you let the culture make you feel guilty about that thing.
52:24
Speaker 1: You just have to let that go and you just
52:26
Speaker 1: have to, you know, be who you are. Accept yourself.
52:32
Speaker 1: Love yourself. If you don't love yourself, no one else
52:36
Speaker 1: will love you. Does that sound familiar at all? Does
52:39
Speaker 1: it sound biblical at all? Not? The culture says just
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Speaker 1: change your perspective and believe a few lies and you'll
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Speaker 1: feel better about yourself. No. Meaningful life change from a
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Speaker 1: biblical perspective involves the exact opposite. It involves God coming
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Speaker 1: into your life and saying, you know what, however bad
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Speaker 1: you feel about yourself, it's not bad enough. Amen. You
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Speaker 1: know what, that horrible feeling that you feel when you
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Speaker 1: think about that thing that you did, it's not horrible enough.
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Speaker 1: You know what, all that work that you're doing to
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Speaker 1: try to get better, it's not work enough. You know,
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Speaker 1: all of these efforts that you're making, they're simply not
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Speaker 1: cutting it. And by the way, they never will. You
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Speaker 1: will never hate yourself enough to be accurate based on
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Speaker 1: who you are compared to my holiness and righteousness. You
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Speaker 1: will never beat yourself up enough to make up for
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Speaker 1: the things that you've done. You will never, ever, ever
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Speaker 1: work hard enough to make who you are worthy of
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Speaker 1: my presence and my love. Now the good news. That's
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Speaker 1: why Jesus came to die. If you could love yourself enough,
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Speaker 1: forgive yourself enough, help yourself enough, then the blood of
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Speaker 1: Jesus was shed in vain. You can't get there from here.
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Speaker 1: You need to be broken over your sin. You need
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Speaker 1: to come to a place of repentance and faith. You
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Speaker 1: need to turn from your own efforts and rest solely
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Speaker 1: in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That
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Speaker 1: is your only hope. And anything else will involve you
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Speaker 1: fooling yourself and convincing yourself that things are better than
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Speaker 1: they actually are. It is a lie. It is a deception.
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Speaker 1: Run from it. You don't need to be made better.
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Speaker 1: You need to be made over. And that only happens
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Speaker 1: through a meaningful, God-wrought life change. Based upon His providence,
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Speaker 1: His word, His promises, Our appropriate worship response and the
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Speaker 1: covenantal obedience that is the fruit thereof. Knowing all the
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Speaker 1: while you and I can't get there from here. And
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Speaker 1: so we rely wholly and completely on the one who
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Speaker 1: would be brought forth as a result of this life
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Speaker 1: change and promise that's made to Jacob. The promised seed.
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Speaker 1: The lion of the tribe of Judah. Judah's not even
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Speaker 1: born yet. And as we continue to say, I just
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Speaker 1: can't say it enough. Not only is Judah not even
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Speaker 1: born yet, but Judah's going to be born to who
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Speaker 1: Jacob thinks is the wrong woman. Isn't God good? Amen? Amen? Oh,
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Speaker 1: if I can just get that woman, my life will
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Speaker 1: change and I'll have everything I need. Yeah, maybe so, Jacob.
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Speaker 1: And if life was about you getting what you need,
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Speaker 1: that would be great. But it's not about you getting
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Speaker 1: what you need. So I'm going to give you this one.
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Speaker 1: And the promise seed is going to come through her,
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Speaker 1: not the one you think you want. Thank you very much.
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Speaker 1: God wrought meaningful life change. That's what we're about. There's
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Speaker 1: not enough caffeine, not enough life groups, not enough hour
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Speaker 1: and a half prompt services in the world to make
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Speaker 1: that happen. Only God can do that. Cry out to
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Speaker 1: him and him alone. Let's pray. Father, as we bow
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Speaker 1: before you, we confess and proclaim our gratitude to you
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Speaker 1: for the work that you have wrought in us and
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Speaker 1: the change that you bring. We recognize that just as
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Speaker 1: Jacob looked and saw this vision, and recognized in this
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Speaker 1: vision the reality that there is a world beyond our world.
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Speaker 1: There is a God who governs that world and our
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Speaker 1: only hope is his intervention in ours. May we be
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Speaker 1: mindful of that today and come to you in repentance
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Speaker 1: and faith. Empty handed and desperate I pray for those
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Speaker 1: here under the sound of my voice who have been trusting, relying,
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Speaker 1: and depending on anything other than this truth. And ask
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Speaker 1: that you would display your mercy and your grace in
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Speaker 1: calling unto yourself. Use these coming moments as we reflect
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Speaker 1: on what we've heard and as we remember. again in
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Speaker 1: the Lord's Supper the finished work of the Lord Jesus
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Speaker 1: Christ grant us peace grant us grace grant us mercy
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Speaker 1: grant us faith Grant his obedience. And we will be
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Speaker 1: so careful to give your name all the praise.