Christian Growth - Part 6 — Alan Redpath

Spiritual Maturity and the River of God

Now, toward spiritual maturity, and if you will turn with me this morning to a portion in the Old Testament, in the prophecy of Ezekiel, chapter 47, Ezekiel, chapter 47. We'll read the first twelve verses and then we'll bow our hearts and heads before God and we'll quietly, reverently sing that chorus, Father, I adore you.

Then he brought me back to the door of the temple, and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the temple faced east. And the water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple south of the altar.

Then he brought me out by way of the north gate, and led me round on the outside to the outer gate that faces toward the east, and the water was coming out on the south side. Going on eastward with a line in his hand, the man measured a thousand cubits, and then led me through the water, and it was ankle deep.

Again he measured a thousand and led me through the water, and it was knee deep. Again he measured a thousand and led me through the water, and it was up to the loins. Again he measured a thousand, that was a river that I could not pass through, for the water had risen, and it was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be passed through.

And he said to me, Son of Man, have you seen this? Then he led me back along the bank of the river. As I went back, I saw upon the bank of the river very many trees on the one side and on the other. And he said to me, the water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, and when it enters the stagnant waters of the sea, the water will become fresh.

And wherever the river goes, every living creature which swarms will live, and there will be very many fish, for this water goes there that the waters of the sea may become fresh. So everything will live where the river goes.

Fishermen will stand beside the sea from En-Gedi to En-Iglam, it will be a place for the spreading of nests. Its fish will be of very many kinds, like the fish of the great sea. But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh, they are to be left for salt.

And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month because the water for them flows from the sanctuary.

Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing. This is the word of the Lord.

Let us pray. And Holy Spirit, open our hearts wide to you today.

Happy are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for the desire for yourself, implanted in our hearts by your Spirit. Thank you, Lord, that our hearts are wide open and expecting that you will speak through your word today.

Lord, uphold me as I would seek to uplift you. And speak, Lord, for thy certainty. Speak just now, some message to meet my need, which thou only dost know. Speak now through thy holy word and make me see some wonderful truth.

Thou hast to show to me. For Jesus' sake, Amen. Toward spiritual maturity. We have just two more sessions today and tomorrow, and I'm more and more impressed by what has not been said, rather than what has been said.

And so much ground to cover. The great subject of our theme verse for the whole conference has been that we might be transformed into the likeness of Christ, that we might be filled with all the fullness of God.

The Fullness of the Holy Spirit

But how? And that's our subject for today. Those of you who have responsibilities for ministry, as you all do, will probably understand when I say that quite an amount of the time available at night is spent wishing I hadn't said what I had said, and wondering what I'm going to say when I speak again.

But fortunately, the Lord doesn't fail when I trust him to give me this day my daily bread. So hopeless trying to prepare and settle on a subject for ministry weeks ahead, and then you find it dries up on you.

And this only really came to life again in my heart last evening after the service. And to speak to you on a subject, the subject of the fullness of the Spirit of God, in our hearts, isn't easy. Because, of course, the Holy Spirit, who was given by our Lord Jesus, who earned the right for all of us to be indwelt by his blood, is the subject of controversy.

That's typical of the devil, of course. He attacks right at the center. And the very one who was sent to unite us is now the subject of a great division, which is very sad. And all I can do, and all I could do, is to say, Lord, well, all I want to do is to speak your word as you show it to me.

And as we tread through some controversial areas, may love overcome in every area. As we thought about various areas in our lives, which there needs to be a constant maturing, we need to think especially about what it means to be filled with the Spirit.

Let me quote a very well-known Methodist minister in Britain, who at the Keswick Convention some years ago now said, There is no such thing as a once and for all fullness of the Spirit. It is a constant appropriation of a constant supply from Jesus himself.

A moment-by-moment trust in a moment-by-moment filling. And at the moment I begin to believe, at that moment I begin to receive. That's very simple. It's very wonderful. So what I'm talking to you this morning about is not a sort of, something which puts you on a first-class level and leaves other Christians wading away in second-class experience.

The Holy Spirit is not an optional extra. He's a divine necessity. You can't live without him. And it's a subject which fills my heart, because he's the one by whom we live. Now you might wonder why I should turn to an obscure Old Testament passage like this, when there must be many areas of the Bible where there's a lot of teaching about the Holy Spirit.

You know them all too well, particularly, for instance, in John 14 through 16. And there are many other areas. But I don't know any way there is such an inclusive teaching ministry upon what the Holy Spirit does and who he is.

As is given to us here in Ezekiel 47. You see, the Bible is a book written in the land of the Middle East, a land which knew barrenness, dryness, wilderness. And therefore, its metaphors and illustrations are drawn from the background of that kind of situation.

That is why you have phrases in the Old Testament such as wells of salvation, streams in the desert, rivers in the wilderness. The godly man, says Psalm 1, the godly man, is like a tree planted by a river whose leaves never wither and who brings forth fruit in its season.

And whatsoever he does prospers. A godly man. And, of course, that imagery is taken over into the New Testament. Where, for example, the Lord speaking to the woman of Samaria by the well, says to her, If you go on drinking of that water which has its source in the ground, you'll go on being thirsty.

But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. For the water that I shall give him shall be in him not a well but a fountain, springing up into everlasting life. And a little later on in the same gospel, in chapter 7 and verse 37, at the end of the Feast of Tabernacles, the Lord Jesus stands at the gate and says, If any man thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

And out of his heart shall flow not a trickle, not a stream, not even a river, but rivers of living water. Divine proficiency. And you could take the imagery right through to the very end of the Bible, the book of Revelation.

The little glimpse we have of heaven. I wish we had more, but that's enough for now. Perhaps it's all we can take. But in heaven there's no night, there's no moon, there's no sun, there's no sea. I'm rather sorry about that.

I love the sea, but it may be the sea marks separation. But there's a river, a river as clear as crystal, that flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb. And so right through the Bible, here's your picture of a river.

And John, to explain what the Lord Jesus said about streams and rivers of water flowing through us, said this, he spoke of the Holy Spirit, who they should believe in him should receive. And so it is with that authority that I turn to this passage this morning to describe to you the growing maturity of an experience of being filled up with all the fullness of God.

The River's Source and Power

Let me ask you therefore, remembering homiletics in this situation, let me ask you to look first of all at what I would call the essence, the essence of the river's power. The essence of the river's power.

Notice the source of it, and the course of it, and the force of it, the source of it. Verse 1, He brought me back to the door of the temple, and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east.

And the water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple south of the altar. The source of it. The river had its source in the temple of God, in the place, the highest place of heaven's administration, heaven's authority on earth.

And when I receive the Holy Spirit in my life, and when do I receive him? When I'm born again. Let me be quite clear about that. You cannot be a Christian without having the Holy Spirit. You can be a believer without having the Holy Spirit.

I hope that doesn't shock you. As a matter of fact, I hope it does. You can believe all the facts, and your Bible from cover to cover, and be a thoroughgoing evangelical, but not a Christian. A Christian is not being a believer.

He's someone who has changed, repented, and received the gift of God's Spirit, and born again of the Spirit of God, and whose life is marked by a dramatic change of behavior. And my great speech preacher, C. H. Spurgeon, used to say, if your faith does not lead to a drastic change of behavior, it will never change your destiny.

That's most unpopular preaching these days. But that's true. My faith must lead to a dramatic change of behavior, if it's going to change my destiny. Therefore, when I receive the Holy Spirit at my new birth, that life comes, comes from the throne of God.

The Holy Spirit was not given because 120 people met for a 10-day prayer meeting. Between Calvary and Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came, because Jesus said to his disciples, you remember, I'm going away from you.

It is better for you that I should go away. I can imagine that must have taken somebody. It's better for you to go away, because if I go not away, the whole comforter will not come to you. Now, don't let me start to be awkward right from the beginning, but I don't like that word comforter.

Advocate, counselor, that's better. There's a tapestry in the Tower of London, which depicts on it the wars between England and France of several centuries ago. And the tapestry shows the British troops going in to attack the French, and King William in charge of them, with a long spear in his hand, long, long spear on horseback, prodding his troops into action, pushing.

And the caption of this tapestry says, King William comforted his soldiers. Some comfort. And I find the Holy Spirit to be the most uncomfortable comforter you can know. Oh yes, he comforts. But my, he prods, he pushes, he protects, he chastens, he gives me a rough time.

Thank the Lord he does. I think the biggest thing that I marvel about is God's patience with me. I would be heretical if I said to you that God's patience with his children, even to me, seems to exceed his everlasting mercy to the unconverted.

Because after all, his people ought to know how to behave. And ought to behave differently. And there ought to be something unique about them. And yet we struggle along on low level Christianity so much.

No wonder he has to prod. But when he comes to us in our hearts, he comes from the throne of God in heaven. For our Lord Jesus ascended to the throne and received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit.

And he comes to us from the throne. At the moment of your new birth, you have thrown life. You may not know much about the victory, but you have the victor. You don't have to battle against sin. Your battle is to trust and to believe that in you dwells the one through whom we are more than comfort.

The battle is not mine, but his. But at your condition, at the moment when he comes to dwell within you, you have the victor. The source of life at the throne of God. He comes to you from the throne. And he comes to you, notice the course of his coming, by way of the altar.

By the place of sacrifice. The Holy Spirit was not given in Jesus' lifetime because the sin question hadn't been dealt with. But when it was dealt with and removed and the penalty had been paid, the way was clear for heaven to do the most thrilling, exciting thing that it ever could do.

And that was to give to a new humanity the life of Jesus. To indwell, to control, and to fill them. He comes to us from the throne, but he comes by way of Calvary. He comes by way of the place of sacrifice.

The price has been paid. And the way is clear now for the Lord to bring on earth a new humanity which no longer is living independently of him in rebellion, in revolt, but whose joy it is to submit to the Lordship and the authority of Jesus Christ himself.

You have received, therefore, life that comes from the throne, and it comes by the way of the cross. And it's natural for that life to be in authority, but it's also natural for that life to submit. It's a life of absolute power, absolute authority, but it's a life of absolute submission.

I'd better just clarify this. A few years ago, by way of illustration, I was walking down Regent Street in London to Piccadilly Circus. It was summertime. It was desperately hot. Temperature was just over 70.

And everybody was wilting. And the thing that struck me was the traffic jam. Crowds of London buses, double-deckers, all lined up and none of them moving. I wondered why. And being an accountant by nature, I began to count the horsepower under the hood of those buses.

I soon lost count. Thousands and thousands of horsepower. And I wondered why they were all stuck. When I got to Piccadilly Circus, I found the traffic lights had broken down. So, in an emergency, a rather fat, a very fat London policeman had come on duty.

He was actually rather small. Normally, a London policeman is over six feet, but this man was certainly not. And he was put on the job to look after this colossal traffic jam, and he was standing with one arm on his hip, with the other hand in the air, and his back to all the traffic.

He wasn't even looking at them. He just stood there with his helmet on the back of his head, sweating it out. And I stood and looked at that man, and I was absolutely fascinated. And I said to him, well, I didn't say it to him, but I thought in my mind, I said, you know, you think you're no end of a guy, don't you?

I guess you've got a wife and five kids, and you probably live at Camden Junction somewhere. And what I would like you to do is to go home, and take off that uniform, and put on a suit of clothes like I've got on, and come there, and stand in Piccadilly Circus and do that.

In half a minute, you'd be in hospital, if you weren't dead. Those horses under those hoods, and those drivers at the wheel of those buses, didn't care a scrap for a fat London policeman, but they cared a mighty lot for the authority of his uniform.

He was in control of the whole situation, because he was under the authority of Scotland Yard, headquarters of London Police Force. You shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you. Give him it, dynamic.

You'll receive dynamite when he has come upon you. And he comes to exercise the authority and the sway of his kingdom in my life. And if I'm prepared for total submission to his absolute authority, without any reservation, the mark of humility, then, in any situation, I'll be in charge.

I don't mean boss, but I mean Satan hasn't got a look-in. I love that verse in James. You believe there's one God? You do well. The devil believes and trembles. That's the A .V. I found that another version, which shall be nameless, another version, but it's this way.

You believe there's one God? So do the devil, and he shudders. That's an interesting change. So I thought I'd look up the Greek New Testament and find what the word really is. And do you know, it only occurs once in the Bible.

And do you know what its real meaning is? If I translate it, if we translate it into written English, we could read this. You believe there's one God? You do well. So does the devil, and his hair stands right on end.

That thrills me. And, brother and sister, let me tell you, let me tell you this. I don't care what your situation is, what your circumstance, where you're going back to, what your home, what your ministry, what your condition.

If, if all of your life is under the authority of a risen Lord, you have the devil on the run. K-O-P-D. Keep on kicking the devil hard. And he's beaten. Oh, he won't lie down. And he won't admit defeat.

But he has an unearthly chance in the presence of a Christian who's under the sway, the domination of Jesus. And therefore, he's in charge. He's got the dynamite. You know, this is good. All authority is given unto me, said Christ.

And I'm not pouching that authority under anybody else. It's mine. Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel. The authority is the dunamis, dynamite, mine. In answer to my submission to his authority.

Forgive me for getting excited. The essence of the river's source. Huh. The throne. The essence of the river's power, rather. The throne. That's the source of the river. How wonderful. Oh, my. I mustn't allow myself to get diverted.

But isn't it wonderful that our crucified Lord paid the price in order that this might be true of all his people. And he rose, triumphant God, perfect man. And he'd won the right to us, for us to live again in his power, by his strength.

That life comes to us by the throne that came by way of the cross and, and the force of it walked us to swim. Now that's God's purpose for his people. Live can on. The second thing this morning is this.

Growing Into the Depths of the River

Not only, not only the essence of the river's power but the experience of the river's depth. Did you notice repeated in this chapter several times, this little phrase. Verse three, going on eastward with a line in his hand.

The man measured a thousand cubits and then led me through. And he was ankle deep. Again he measured a thousand and led me through the water and it was knee deep. Again he measured a thousand and led me through the water and was up to the line.

Again he measured a thousand and it was the river that I could not pass through for the water had risen deep enough to swim. You notice, over and over again he led me through. He led me through. He led me through.

He led me through the water and it was ankle deep. What does that suggest to you? There's an awful lot of the man who's still dry. There's an awful lot of the man who never got under it. There's an awful lot of the man still in view and he's simply paddling in the river.

My mind flashes to 1 Corinthians where Paul speaks of three types of people. There are only three types of people in the world. The natural man, the carnal man, and the spiritual man. The natural man who's only two-thirds alive.

He's got the nerve to suggest the Christian is not all there. Bless his heart. He's only two-thirds there himself. He's got physical life. He's got mental life, but he's no spiritual life. The natural man.

He doesn't understand the things of God. The carnal person. Oh, he's a Christian. Sure. Brethren, says Paul, I could not speak to you as spiritual but as a carnal. And there's so much strife and division among you.

Are you not carnal? You can't even feed yourself from the word of God. You're like little babies who have to be fed with a bottle. Carnal Christians. You've never grown up. You're only ankle-deep in the river.

The experience of the river's depth. He brought me through and the waters were to the ankles. Let me ask you a personal question. Can you remember the day in your life when the river began to flow? Can you?

It doesn't really matter. Not to move from the natural to the carnal and then to the spiritual. Very often it is the natural, the spiritual, and then the carnal. And it's not how I begin life that matters.

It's how I end it. And the bigger the rise of the tide, the greater can be the disaster of the fall. But for the grace of God, there's nothing that can prevent us ending up dry, stale, out of touch, utterly.

And that's what Paul said when he said to the Corinthian church, I buffet my body, need it blow upon blow, lest having proclaimed the rules to other people, I should be disqualified. Not lose my salvation, but lose my touch with heaven, my fellowship with Jesus.

He brought me through and the waters were to the ankles. I remember the day of your conversion. I remember mine because I happened to be there at the time. In a public house, a tavern in the northwest of England, in the northeast of England, I was training to be a chartered accountant in what you would call a CPA.

And I was one of 60 people in the office who were training for the same thing. But one of the 60 was different from all the others. I'd never met anybody like him. Everybody else thought he was a religious maniac.

But he made us mad. He was horribly consistent. Consistent on arriving on time. Never took time off for coffee or something stronger. Never took time off for lunch other than the allotted time. Never wanted to get home about 3 or 4 to play golf.

Never leaving till about 6 o 'clock at night. Whenever we got round to tell stories that were very questionable, we couldn't do it when he was around. He didn't tell us not to, but they were out of place in his company.

And it was impossible to be neutral. You can't be neutral in the presence of a spiritual Christian. You've got to take sides. Yes, everybody can be neutral when you're around, but if you're around a friend there's something wrong with your testimony.

You'd either make people mad or glad or sad. But they can't be neutral. And that chap made us all mad. My employer told me that I had to go and work at this particular village in Northumberland where there was a huge paint factory right away out by the Roman Wall because of the smell of paint.

And so I had to go there and stay there for three weeks. Night and day in a little pub with one guest room. And I had to go and work with this religious maniac. So a week before I went I took all my friends out and over a glass of beer vowed I'd knock the religion out of him in a week's time.

So they wished me well. And we set out. And the first night together in the same room, two separate beds but the same room, at eleven o 'clock at night, he knelt down to pray. I thought to myself, now what on earth do I do now?

I've never seen anybody do that before except occasionally in church. Let's see, I'd better do it myself I suppose. So I followed his example. And do you know how long he stayed there? And I was timing him.

Fifty-two minutes. Oh, I ate. In every bone in my body. Wooden floor, no mat. Fifty-two minutes. And then, oh, I wish he'd get up. And in fifty-two minutes he got up. I stayed down an extra minute just to impress him.

And then I went to bed. And I thought, oh, I put up a good show tonight. That's good. And within a few minutes he began walking across the bedroom and sat down on the edge of the bed and said to me, excuse me, Red Cross, he said, but do you ever think about anything seriously?

Excuse me? I was known to be the one who whipped up all the nonsense. I said, what do you mean? He said, do you want to be saved? Hmm, that's a diplomatic approach. I find it in six easy lessons on soul winning.

And do you want to be saved? He knew his man, you see. And I just let him have it with every barrel from every gun that I could fire. What do you mean? Saved me? I'm not in the Salvation Army. I'm not so bad as some people.

I'm worse than others. Why should I bother about that? Nothing to do with me at all. I've been to church, not again. In fact, every week when I was at school I had to go. So what's the matter? And then he said to me when I just dried up, do you know anything about victory over sin?

I was glad it was dark because I was conscious of going red. I said no. Did you want to? I said yes, but it's impossible. And then for the first time in my life at the age of about 21 he told me about Jesus.

How the life he lived and the death he died and the tomb from which he rose and ascended to heaven and the Holy Spirit he would give to live in me. And I received Christ that day. But of course I had three weeks to go.

And he took me every night to a different meeting and talked to me endlessly. And I began to be thrilled and got excited. I really did. And then of course I had to get home. And I went home and I was due to start playing rugby football that day and my parents said they phoned you up from the club.

They want you to turn up today for practice. And I said no thanks, I'm not going. I'm going to read my Bible. At the look on their face they suggested psychiatrists, quickly. I went out and sat beside the Roman wall.

Oh, lovely place. And read my Bible with tears. The reality of it just filled me. It had come alive. But the Monday morning I had to go to the office. And I went there. All my friends were waiting. Have you done it?

I said done what? Have you not religion? Well, not exactly. You mean you've got religion? Oh, no, nothing like that about me. Oh. Come have a drink. No, I'd rather not. You what? I don't think so. You don't think so?

What's the matter? You? No. Come have a drink. No, I don't think so. You're religious. No, I'm not. Yes, you must be. Come and have a drink. No, I won't. Get off my neck. Come and have a drink. Oh, get off my neck.

Okay. So I went. And didn't have one, but six. Two days later a young lady, not my wife, I didn't know her then, called me on the telephone and said, dear, what about a date? That's how they did it in Noget.

And I said, well, no, thank you, because she wasn't doing me any good. And she said, why not? Well, I'd rather not. Oh, but we haven't seen each other for a long, long time. I want you to take me to a dance.

No, I don't think so. Aren't you well? Yes, very well. Well, what's the matter with you? Nothing. Well, come on. So I came on. And those two decisions cost me seven wasted years of Christian living. For six, for three weeks, I'd been a spiritual Christian.

At my new birth, at your new birth, He filled me to my capacity. And I was rejoicing in the Lord, and my Bible had come alive. But a test from my enemies was too much. Fear of being unpopular. Fear of losing people that really were doing me no good.

Fear of losing friends. And I descended to the depths of carnality. Went to my friend and said to him, no more religion for me. I'm not going to be doing any more of your meetings. All right. He said, that's your decision.

You'll never be happy. You're right with God. Oof. I qualified as a chartered accountant. Got a good job in London. Plenty of money. I wasn't married. Those two facts are connected sometimes. And I had a good job, and plenty of cash, and I whipped it up.

Dances, shows, nightclubs, everything. You can't be a Christian and live like that. You don't get your chance. How do I know it was a Christian? Because I was miserable. I used to enjoy it all, but now I hated it.

Absolutely miserable, but I didn't know the answer. I did, but I wasn't prepared to take it. For six years, seven years, I lived like that. During that seven years, my friend came down to see me in London.

And the friend had led me to Christ. He didn't talk to me about Jesus at all. Just chatted about business things, and then said, goodbye now. Nice to see you after all these years, but don't forget, will you, it's possible to have a saved soul and a wasted life.

Saved soul, wasted life. That was a Friday. That night I was due to travel up by sleeper train to play rugby football for one of our counties in the north of England. And every click of the wheel, saved soul, wasted life, saved soul, wasted life.

Went out onto the field to play 20 ,000 people there. Tremendous match. Every step I took, saved soul, wasted life, saved soul, wasted life. I went to the team dance at night. And the orchestra were playing just the same thing.

Saved soul, wasted life, saved soul, wasted life. I couldn't get away from it. But there came a time, soon after that, when in desperation, I said to the Lord, Lord, for seven years, I've had you. Thank you for making me miserable.

You've never had me take possession. That wasn't a second blessing. Do I believe in a second blessing? Of course. Because I believe in a third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, ten million blessings. But that was a crisis.

When, for the first time, I, who have been spiritual and descended into eternity, was lifted up into a new understanding, a new experience of the grace of God and the sufficiency of the Lord Jesus. Oh, that's not a final thing.

It's happened many, many times since. And I come back to my question that I asked you a little while ago. How deep is the river right now? Anchor deep. And there was a time when you were swimming in it.

But today, if you're honest, the tide's gone right up. He brought me through. He brought me through and the waters were to the knees. Ah, that's better. When God gets a man's knees, things begin to happen.

There's less of the man's feet now and more of the river. The tide is coming in. Hallelujah. It's getting deeper and the man's going down. And, if I may say so, he's getting desperate. I don't know a thing about you, dear folks, except that you've been such a wonderful group.

I know that much. But I wonder if the Lord answered a prayer which I prayed and my wife prayed too. He gave us people at this conference who are desperate. People who are saying, I just can't go on any longer.

I have no right to be a leader. My life's in a mess. And I'm failing desperately. And I'm right down. The tide has gone right out. And the things at home are wrong. And the situation everywhere is in collapse.

And I said, I'm quoting you, I said before I came here to my husband, or we prayed together. Or I said to myself, Lord, if you don't meet me during this week and revolutionize my life, I'm resigning. I'm quitting.

I just can't go on maintaining a pretense. Oh, I can do homiletics. I can do the things I'm supposed to do. And I know the rules. I know it all. There's nobody better than me from the point of view of intellect and understanding.

But I know the things of theory. And somehow there's some dimension drastically missing. And Lord Jesus, I'm just desperate for you. Like Jacob. What a remarkable character. He didn't leave home until he was nearly 70.

And he's staying at home until he's nearly 70. But of course, he's got half way to go. I'm so glad the Lord has shortened our last span. And at Bethel, you remember the first night away from home when he was running away from his brother and truly cheated.

The Lord met him. And Jacob saw the angels coming down with heaven's supplies and going up again with Jacob's prayers. And God spoke to him. And said, Jacob, if you'll trust me, I'll care for you. I'll take you on a journey and I'll bring you safely back home.

And so Jacob made his covenant with God. He feared the Lord. He worshipped him. Those are two evidences of real conversion which are often lacking. And therefore I would say that at that moment Jacob came to know God and trust him and he set out on his journey.