A Stone For A Pillow

Old Testament readings in Deuteronomy 26, 16 through 19.

I have you stand in honor of the word of God. It's found on 167 in the

Pew Bible. This day, the Lord God commands you to do these statues and rules.

You shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul.

You have declared today that the Lord is your God and that you will walk in his ways and keep his statues and his commandments in his rules and will obey his voice.

And the Lord has declared today that you are a people for his treasured possession as he has promised you and that you are to keep all his commandments and that he will set you in praise in the fame and the honor high above all nations that he has made and that you shall be a people holy to the

Lord your God as he promised. New Testament reading is

John 1, 43 through 51, can be found in 887. The next day,

Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, follow me. Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.

Philip found Nathanael and said to him, we have found him of whom Moses and the law and also the prophets wrote

Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Nathanael said to him, can anything good come out of Nazareth?

Philip said to him, come and see. Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, behold, an

Israelite. Indeed, whom there is no deceit. Nathanael said to him, how do you know me?

Jesus answered, before Philip called you, you were under the fig tree. I saw you. Nathanael answered him, rabbi, you're the son of God.

You're the king of Israel. Jesus answered him, because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree.

Do you believe? You will see greater things than these. And he said to him, truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the son of man.

You may be seated. If you would take your

Bibles this morning and turn to Genesis chapter 28 as we continue the series on these stories from the

Old Testament. I might mention Pastor Andrew's not here because they had a family reunion and if you know anything about his family, they don't see each other very often and he feels an obligation to go since many of his brothers are not believers.

And so he is there today in Michigan. Genesis 28, we'll continue in the next episode of Jacob's Life.

Genesis 28, and we'll be reading verses 10 through 32.

Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. He came to a certain place and stayed there that night because the sun had set.

Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and laid down in that place to sleep.

And he dreamed and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth and the top of it reached to heaven and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord, the God of Abraham, your father, and the

God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring.

Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth and you shall spread abroad to west and to east and to the north and to the south.

And in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land for I will not leave you until I have done what

I have promised you. Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, surely the

Lord is in this place and I did not know it. And he was afraid and said, how awesome is this place.

This is none other than the house of God and this is the gate of heaven.

So early in the morning, Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it.

He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was

Luz at the first. Then Jacob made a vow saying, if God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear so that I come again to my father's house in peace and the

Lord shall be my God, then this stone which I have set up for a pillar shall be

God's house. And of all that you give me, I will give a full 10th to you. Let's pray.

Father, thank you again for your word. Once more, we come to it asking the same thing that we do every week, that this text would not just be a story, that as Eric has prayed earlier, that we just don't discard the words of this message when we walk out the door, but that this would be alive to us and teach us what you intend for us to learn.

Help us to give attention to this. Help us to look to you and to your spirit to apply it to our lives.

But God, help us in these minutes now to hear you speak to us in the living word of God.

And we'll thank you for what you're going to do in us. In Jesus' name, amen.

I remember this Old Testament story very well. In fact, it's one of the ones that I remember the most.

It's one that caught my attention as a child. Why would anyone choose a stone for a pillow?

That's what I remembered most about the story, you know? Of course, the pictures in my

Bible would have a picture of this stairway to heaven with angels coming up and down it, but it didn't register with me.

The only thing that I could think of is, wow, how could anybody get comfortable when he has a stone for a pillow?

Why would you even choose a stone for a pillow? I didn't get it, but that's all that stuck with me.

And because of that, I missed the whole point of the story. Missed the whole point of the story. But then many of us miss the point.

And so what we have to do is ask the most important question you can ever ask when you're studying the

Bible. You've heard me say this. What is the most important question to ask as you begin to study the scriptures?

Here it is. Why is this story here? Why is this text here?

Why is this story in this place? What's it supposed to do? Well, let's think about it for a moment.

Jacob has embarked on a journey. He's traveling from Beersheba, which is at the very south of Canaan.

If you have to look at the Bible maps in the back of your Bible, he's starting at the south of Canaan, almost in the

Sinai Peninsula. You know where that is. And he's traveling from there all the way up here to way up in the northeastern part of what's called

Turkey today. So he's traveling this huge distance. And you've got to remember the modes of transportation that day, whether it be some beast, a donkey, or just by foot.

And it appears to me he's walking. So here he is walking. And so you've got this huge, long trip.

And yet the writer tells us of only one day on that trip. Why? Why choose that one day?

Why single out that particular day on this long and arduous trip? Well, here's what we see.

This meeting between God and Jacob begins the transformation of the man. The son sets on a fugitive, afraid of his brother, coming to a no -name place with a rock serving as his pillow.

But when the sun rises, a man running away from home runs into God.

A man afraid of his brother begins to fear God. An insignificant place becomes the house of God.

A rock becomes a temple of God. The sun sets on a thief.

It rises on a worshiper. That's why that text is there. That's why this part of Jacob's story is here.

This day changes the whole journey and sets Jacob in a different direction.

This is the story of the grace of God that transforms a man.

This is the story of God's grace to you. Well, let's look at this then.

Verses 10 through 15, let's look at those verses again. Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran, and he came to a certain place and stayed there that night because the sun had set.

Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and laid down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven.

And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said,

I am the Lord, the God of Abraham, your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie,

I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south.

And in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what

I have promised you. All right, it's about grace. What is the grace that transforms you?

What is the grace that transforms you? It is a grace that takes the initiative.

It takes the initiative. Here you find a man fleeing from an assassin. He has traded the comforts of his parents' tents for a rock.

He is a thief and a scoundrel. He has defrauded his brother and deceived his father.

He certainly has no interest in God. He is a sinning schemer, not a serious seeker.

Now, remember his conversation with his father Isaac in the previous chapter?

Or yeah, in the previous chapter, Isaac. "'How is it,' he says, he asked Jacob when he came in to deceive his father, "'How is it that you have found the game so quickly, my son?'

And Jacob replies, "'Because the Lord your God granted me success.'"

Now, does he ask for a vision for God? Does he stop here because he wants to meet God? Is he like the man who's so desperate to meet

God that he stops at the first church he sees? Is that what's going on? Absolutely not.

He stops because it's dark and he has to find a place to sleep. This vision is unsought and unexpected.

Jacob is not looking for God. His interest is in his wealth and his safety.

And yet he sees God. Why? Why?

Because God chooses to make himself known to Jacob. That's the only reason.

Jacob's not looking for God, but God in grace reveals himself to Jacob.

The grace that transforms is by definition takes the initiative.

Grace, the grace that transforms you takes the initiative. Consider Ephesians chapter two, verses one through five.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we also once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind.

And we're by nature, children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. Huh? It sounds a lot like Joe Jacob and you.

But he goes on, but God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.

By grace, you have been saved. It's not you. No one is saved because they're looking for God.

They're saved because God reveals himself. The grace of God that transforms you always takes the initiative.

That's what he did with Jacob, that's what he does with you. The grace of God that transforms us always takes the initiative.

And it is a grace that reveals God. The vision that Jacob had was a ladder, that's what our text says, reaching from heaven to earth.

Now, I used to think of it as a ladder, right? Kind of like the angels are coming down and one's saying, no, no, no, don't put your foot there, my hand's on that wrong.

That's not the kind of ladder it is. It's a stairway, it's a stepping, it's a stairway, it's a flight of stairs.

And what you need to think about as the people in that age thought about, you need to think of a ziggurat.

Do any of you remember what a ziggurat is? You should have learned this in your high school history class, of which we all loved history, right?

So a ziggurat, remember, are those ancient temples that look like this, right?

They went like that, they used to call them pyramids. Not the pyramids that look like this, they look like this.

That was a ziggurat, that was the ancient temples, the most ancient temples in which they worshiped.

They were a flight of stairs, and they represented access to the gods.

They represented making your way up to the gods. That's what it was. And so this represents access to God.

But as you hear this vision, something should come to your mind, really, as it did to the original hearers, and that is

Babel. Why? In verse 12, it says, and he dreamed, behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven.

That should remind you, it's a clear reference to the top reaching the heavens, like in Babel.

The very top was supposed to be the heavenlies, where they met with God. And then verse 17,

Jacob calls it the gate of heaven, compared to Babel, where it's called the gate of God. But while those rebels in Babel tried to reach

God, this is God reaching down to Jacob. This is

God reaching down to a rebel. This is a

God who takes a vital interest in what's happening here. As the angels, his messengers continually move up and down between heaven and earth.

But the Lord is the one who is in the spotlight here, Yahweh, for he suddenly appears at the top of the staircase.

Suddenly, he appears, identifying who he is. He says,

I am the God of Abraham, the God who called the man out of his paganism and made him great promises.

He is the God of his father, Isaac, the God who graciously gave him all he had promised, including his very presence.

Now, note, when God reveals himself to Jacob, God often comes to you in the darkest moments.

He comes to you not when you're at the top of the world, but when you're in your darkest.

God took you through dark times in order to reveal his light. God sought you when you were not seeking him.

Even there was nothing in you to draw God to you. God in his grace sought you out and God revealed himself to you.

The grace that transforms reveals God. And he shows to you how to come to him.

We heard it this morning as Camden read John chapter one in verse 51, did you hear it?

And he said to him, truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the son of man.

What is Jesus saying there? He is simply saying he is the staircase.

Jesus claims to be the staircase to God. He is the one who reveals

God. He is the one who gives you access to God. The transforming grace of God is found in Jesus for it's only in Jesus that you have access to God without him.

No matter how much you try to live the right way, no matter what kind of religious exercises you go through, the only way to God is through Jesus.

He is that stairway. That's exactly what Jesus is saying. Now, notice lastly, that this grace that transformed is a grace that makes great promises.

Do you see the promises made here? At the last part of verse 13, the land on which you lie,

I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south.

And in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land for I will not leave you until I have done what

I have promised you. Look at these great promises that God makes. Grace always makes great promises.

Grace always makes great promises. Can you believe this? God is speaking to this deceitful, defrauding, wicked man.

And he's making these promises to him. And they're nothing less, first of all, than the promises he made to Abraham.

See grace here. When Jacob schemes to get, God freely gives.

In this revelation to this undeserving man, you find no reproach or demand, but a string of assurances flowing from, notice, the great

I am. I am Yahuwah. I am the

Lord and I'm making you these promises. You know what? God is not merely interested in telling you how bad you are.

God also saves you. Never forget that. He's not just interested in telling you how bad you are.

He doesn't stop there, but he gives us hope in saving us. Do you notice these promises to this undeserving man?

The land he leaves is the land his descendants will inherit.

They'll be like dust breaking out over the land to the north, to the south, to the east and the west.

They will all occupy it. The land he's leaving is gonna be where his descendants live.

And even though he's such a rascal, even though he is such a rascal bringing heartache and misery to his parents, his seed will bless all the nations.

Do you see that? His seed, his descendant will bless all the nations.

But God's not merely making promises about the future, but he promises present intimacy.

Look at verse 15. Look at the personal promises he makes. He reiterates the promises he'd made to his father and his granddad.

And now he tells him that he's gonna promise his personal intimacy with him.

God will be with him all the time. He's gonna protect him and he's gonna bring him home. He makes that promise.

He will be God with us to Jacob, this wretched, scheming, grasping sinner.

Now why would he do all that? Why would he do it to this guy? You know why? Because he made a promise to his grandfather,

Abraham. He made those same promises to Abraham. Now look, know.

Know this, that God manifests his grace to you because of the promise he's made to another.

The promises that he made to his own son. In John chapter six, verses 37 through 40.

John six, 37 through 40. Listen to what he says. This is Jesus now. All that the

Father gives me will come to me. All that the Father gives to me will come to me.

And whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.

For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.

God promises you eternal life, not because you deserve it. God promises you eternal life because he made a promise to his son.

He says, I'm gonna give you a people, and you will rescue all of them. Do you see that?

You're not saved because you deserve it. You don't deserve the grace of God, but you belong to God because he promised you to another, to his son.

And his son will accomplish the purpose of calling all that he has given to him. Well, the story doesn't end there.

It doesn't with grace, because God's grace always will do things in us.

So what does God's grace do to you? What does God's grace do to you? Let's learn from Jacob, verses 16 through 22.

Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "'Surely the Lord is in this place.' And I did not know it.

And he was afraid and said, "'How awesome is this place! "'This is none other than the house of God, "'and this is the gate of heaven!'

So early in the morning, Jacob took the stone that he'd put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it.

He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first.

Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "'If God will be with me "'and will keep me in this way that I go, "'and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, "'so that I come again to my father's house, "'and the

Lord shall be my God, "'then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, "'shall be

God's house, and of all that you give me, "'I will give a full tenth to you.'" What does

God's grace do to you? First of all, God's grace transforms your perspective. It transforms your perspective.

Notice that the writer uses the word place six times, okay? He uses it six times.

In verse 10, in verse 11, twice in verse 11, in verse 16, in verse 17, in verse 18, and the name of that city should be the name of that place, right?

Or those six times, it's called that place. As if this is some insignificant place, like it was a pit stop on the way to Herod.

He mentions this place, this place. Actually, it was the city of Luz, a Canaanite city of some importance, but in truth, it means nothing.

It's just this place, until Jacob names it Bethel, or Beth -el,

Beth -el, Bet -el, Bet -house -el. God, house of God.

He names it, this insignificant place, the house of God. Jacob's perspective is changed.

Rather than a mere city, it's the meeting place between God and man. This is the place that causes awe in him because it is the gate of heaven.

He consecrates that stone so it's no longer a memorial, or no longer a mere stone in the field, but a memorial to the stairway.

Let me ask you, has grace changed your perspective? Because God, his grace has acted on you, has your perspective changed in any way?

It should. How do you view Jesus? How do you view

Jesus? In 2 Corinthians chapter five, beginning in verse 16, the apostle

Paul writes this. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded

Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. Because of God's grace, your view of Jesus has changed.

Maybe you thought of Jesus as just, well, he's this religious leader. He's the founder of one of the greatest religions in the world.

He is this nice guy, right? But your perspective should change.

Now, he is God. Now, to you, what is he? He is your savior.

To you, he's the ultimate object of your faith. He is the one that you love. Everything has changed.

He's no longer a figure from long ago. He's ever present with you. Grace has transformed your perspective on Jesus himself.

He is Bethel. He is the dwelling place of God. By the way, how do you view things like your work?

Has grace changed or transformed your perspective on work? I love what Colossians chapter three, verses 24 and 25 says.

All of you ought to listen to this. Whatever you do, work hardly what? As for the

Lord and not for men. Knowing that from the Lord, you'll receive the inheritance as your reward.

You are serving the Lord Christ. This is the ultimate retirement plan. You see that?

You know, you slave at work, do you not? I know what that's like. You go to work every day and it gets tedious and it's hard and you get tired, right?

And you go, oh, these people that I work for, they are such idiots, right?

And here he says, no, no, no, no, no. You don't look at work as working for men. You look at it as working for the

Lord. And you know why? Because he has inheritance for workers.

Isn't that what that text says? You will receive the inheritance as your reward.

God sees that. Your perspective should be different on your job. Has grace transformed your perspective on marriage, right?

Yeah, you know, we got married because that's what people do, right?

Well, sometimes anymore. What's your perspective on marriage? What does the

Bible say? Your perspective on marriage is this is the way we show the world how Jesus relates to his church.

You ever thought about that? People are looking at us and we have the opportunity of showing that marriage is much more than two people living together for the rest of their lives because of some ceremony.

Marriage instead is that in which we show the grace of God, in which we show the relationship of the

Lord to his church. How about the church? Do you have a different perspective than you used to?

Yeah, my mom and dad made me go to church all the time when I was a kid. Well, I'm glad I'm free of that. Or maybe you're just coming now because you think, yeah, well, it's the right thing to do instead of, wow,

I want to be here because this is where we join in this wonderful, delightful thing called worship.

And I love the people here. I love these people here, unlike anybody else in the world.

This is my family. Is that your perspective? How has

God's grace changed your perspective on everything in life? We of all people, having been transformed by the grace of God should have a different perspective on the menial things of life that is,

Christ has taken all the menial things of life and elevated them to a height that no one else can know but us.

Has he changed your perspective on those things? The fact that God has revealed himself and his promises to you, undeserving as you are, should have a profound effect on how you view life.

God changes your perspective. Notice as well, this grace transforms your approach to life.

Jacob will now live a life of commitment. It's seen in his vow in verses 20 through 22.

By the way, this is the longest recorded vow in the Bible. Now you notice that I changed it a little bit.

You probably noticed that. I changed it a little bit because I think the way I've stated it is a better way to translate it, is a more accurate way to translate it.

It goes like this. If God will be with me and will, if God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear so that I come again to my father's house in peace and the

Lord shall be my God, then this stone, which I set up for a pillar, shall be

God's house. And of all that you give me, I will give a full tenth to you.

Now, some have accused Jacob here of bargaining with God. If, right, if God, and then does all these things, then

I will, or then this stone will. He's not bargaining with God here. Suppose you promise to give me $100 ,000.

You say, Tim, I'm gonna give you $100 ,000. And I say, if you give me that $100 ,000,

I will use it to help those people in need. Am I bargaining with you when I say that?

No, no, I'm not setting up a condition. If you give me $100 ,000, then

I'll give it to people who need it. No, if you give me $100 ,000, I'm gonna use it for others. The emphasis falls on the last part, does it not?

It's not setting up a condition. It's not making a bargain. It's telling what I intend to do.

And that's what Jacob's doing. He's not bargaining with God here. He's saying, if all these things are true, then this stone shall be

God's house. God's house will be here. Now, does this commitment of his flow from the fact that he's terrified of God?

Has God threatened him with terrible things, and that's why he's gonna do this? No, he commits himself to God because God has made great promises to a great sinner.

You will approach life with commitment to Christ. Why are you committed to serving

Jesus? Because he saved you, not because God's wagging his finger at you and saying, you better serve me, or you're dead meat.

I know you've accepted Jesus, but boy, you better toe the line. No, I'm committed to Christ because of the great grace that God has given me in Christ.

I want to serve him. I want to serve him. And notice this.

He has a confident approach to life. He's now equipped to face the future, not because of his ability to manipulate, but because he has faith in the promises of God.

Notice as well, he owns God as his own now. It's no longer like he says to his father

Isaac, your God did this. What does he say in verse 21, right?

The Lord, then the Lord shall be my God. No, I'm sorry, the Lord shall be my

God, right? The Lord is gonna be his God. He owns God as his own by grace.

And the last thing, please note, he moves from grasper to giver. What does it end with?

I'm gonna give him a 10th of everything I have, all right? Now, we all know the story of Jacob.

We have to remember the hardship and the temptation that lie ahead of Jacob. Please note, the grace that transforms does not eliminate problems or temptation.

The grace that transformed does not eliminate problems or temptations. It doesn't even achieve immediate perfection.

Because as we continue, if we continue to go through the story of Joseph, you're gonna see someone who faces hardship and temptation and doesn't always come through in the best light.

But again, but again, neither did Abraham and neither did

Isaac. Nevertheless, Jacob is a different man. A transformed person has been equipped to face hardship and temptation.

A transformed person becomes a growing person. When you start kicking yourself around the room because you failed

God again, always remember, God has not given up on you.

Because Jesus has dealt with your sin, the father can come along and say to you,

I know you failed, my son's atonement has dealt with that.

Let me, he now says, I'm going to come alongside and help you grow.

And guess what? You're equipped to do it because of his grace. You can grow because of that grace.

You can now trust God. A transformed person is one who's not perfect, but he's growing.

God's grace will always have an effect. In Titus chapter two, we read these words.

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self -controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.

Grace of God is what moves us to say no to ungodliness and to live upright and godly lives.

God's grace always transforms us. Some of you have experienced the grace of God in the

Lord Jesus. You're not perfect, but you've been transformed. You now have a love for God and you want to serve him.

Your view of life is entirely different. Always remember that the grace of God in Christ has changed you.

As the apostle Paul says, we don't view ourselves the same anymore. We're new creatures because of the grace of God in Christ.

Some of you here have not experienced the grace of God in Jesus. Please know this.

God's taken the initiative for you. He offers you Jesus. He says, here, stop trying to work your way to me.

Stop trying and stop thinking, if only I do really well, God will accept me because God says that's not gonna happen, but here's my grace.

You believe in Jesus and your record is clean. I will accept you because now, because you've entrusted yourself to the grace that you find in Jesus, you are now accepted by God regardless of anything you've done, regardless of anything you will do.

It's not you, it's him. That's his grace and he holds it out to you. And listen, some of you here have never experienced the grace of God and said, wow,

I've never been transformed. I don't have that kind of perspective in life. I don't have that commitment to God.

I hope you found that it sounds inviting, right? It's inviting to have a different perspective.

It's wonderful to be able to know that whatever comes my way, God is equipping me to handle it by his grace.

Listen, don't, don't keep putting Jesus out there. Embrace him, embrace him.

This is the grace of God to you. Embrace him and find hope and help in every part of your life.

But you see, the grace of God will always change us. It will always have an effect on us.

It did with Jacob, it will with us. Father, thank you for your word today.

Thank you that it speaks marvelously of your grace. Father, would you help us to recognize your grace in our lives?

And Lord, to remember that you, you will change us by that grace.

Thank you for this story of a scheming sinner who becomes one who loves