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