Laban and Leah

Well this morning, we're not quite finishing chapter 29 We'll we'll go up to verse 30 and then we'll take verses 31 through 35 into chapter 30

Next week, so we're going to be introduced of course to the marriage between both

Jacob and Leah as well as Jacob and Rachel and then we'll meet the offspring of Jacob and Leah next week heading into the conflict that arises in chapter 30

But this morning we want to focus on verses 21 through 30 Last week we considered

Jacob's arrival at Haran. Remember he had been sent there by his father really at his mother's insistence and He of course encountered

God along the way at Bethel the place that to him seemed like the gate of heaven He called it the house of God And it was at Bethel that he had

God's assurance that he would be with him that he would go before him That he would protect him and provide for him and we saw

Jacob our twisting Manipulating very self -willed and selfish friend

Counter with God and say if you're willing to do this and provide for my daily needs then indeed you will be my

God And he continued on in his journey and arrived at Haran and last week

We read of his encounter with Rachel the shepherdess at the well and the excitement and the joy as she rushed back to introduce

Jacob to Laban and then we begin really in chapter 29 verse 18 and following the sort of Negotiations with Laban we read this is going back to last week verse 18

Jacob loved Rachel That's setting up a contrast that we'll see in verse 31 next week.

So keep that as a banner Jacob loved Rachel He did not love Leah Jacob loved

Rachel so he said I will serve you seven years for Rachel your younger daughter and Laban said it is better that I give her to you than that.

I should give her to another man. Stay with me So Jacob served seven years for Rachel and they seemed only a few days to him because of the love he had for her

Now this is not the first time we've encountered Laban. We encountered him back in chapter 24

When Abraham arranged the servant to go perhaps it was Eliezer and to fetch

Rebecca for Isaac and of course Laban at the time we didn't necessarily see it

But he seemed to be extremely interested in the wealth that this servant brought with him and of course these chapters later

Laban wouldn't have forgotten that Abraham's grandson was part of this wealthy family

Although Jacob appeared and there's no indication that he brought much wealth with him. There's no camel train

He's not bringing gold chests out from under the saddles He's on the run and that doesn't mean he came only with a backpack and you know cargo pants but it probably does mean that he didn't have this very

Extravagant train of wealth that Laban could attach himself to but what he did notice about Jacob was his strength

Who but a highland Scotsman could move a stone like that as we read last week and he's on the run now

And of course, there's this question of the murder plot hanging over everything. Jacob's not exactly the best prospect for marriage

So you're the heir and what brings you here? You're the heir and what's the family situation?

How did you become heir by the way? And what of your older brother Esau? What of the firstborn of your family?

So the fact that Jacob is on the run introduces some uncertainty into the prospect of marriage

Laban doesn't really seem that concerned. He's mostly interested in what Jake we can offer him and of course in the background

We need to remember be reminded of the fact God had assured Jacob that he was with him and he was going to bring him

Back into the land. He didn't say when he would do it. He just said that he would do it now for Laban He clearly wants to marry off his daughters, but he's not down with Jacob absconding back to Canaan He wants

Jacob to stay with him in her on he wants Jacob to be a laborer And so Laban just like Jacob is constantly trying to manipulate things to his own benefit

And that's really important Laban is constantly trying to manipulate things to his own benefit even his nephew even his own daughters

All his relationships are means by which he can get ahead he can provide for himself

Have more comfort in life have more ease Laban is a twister as we said of Jacob his own daughters most likely named after one of the greatest prizes in his life his prowess at Raising cattle will will be seeing that in chapters 30 and 31, but of course

He named his children probably an honorary name Leia means cow

Rachel means you if you're looking for you know Good names there most likely this was meant to be sort of a symbol of prosperity or blessing or abundance

He had been blessed with all this great cattle and sort of as a tribute He named his daughters

But that becomes ironic in its own regard as he now in this chapter will Sell his daughters for his own gain just like he might sell cattle for his own gain

In fact when the time finally comes for Jacob to leave Laban's house Even his own daughters realized just what kind of man their father is we read in Genesis 31 14

Jacob had brought them out into the field and told both Rachel and Leia His plan to leave and this is their reply.

Is there any portion or inheritance left in our father's house? He sold us and indeed he's devoured all of our money meaning the dowry

So this was not a father that was interested in his daughter's well -being This was not a daughter who was very carefully and cautiously

Arranging a marriage. This was a cattle trader This was a man who had consumed their own livelihood for his gain and even they recognized what's left for us in our father's house

He's devoured at all Laban is a deceiver Laban is a twister.

Laban is a master manipulator and it comes as zero surprise That God in his providence has placed

Jacob the twister the deceiver the master manipulator Right at this man's disposal

Jacob of course is on the run from Esau and Esau according to God's prophecy is supposed to be serving

Jacob the older shall serve the younger and Indeed that was part of the blessing your brethren shall serve you but now

Jacob is the one serving Laban rather than being served by his elder brother.

He is serving his deceitful twisting uncle Greedy Jacob now has met his match in greedy

Laban It means they're cut from the same cloth and perhaps now we look at verse 14 with new eyes

Laban saying surely you are flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone and we're saying

Oh more than you realize And so when we're reading chapter 29

We're seeing God moving forward in Jacob's life from the call what we would call perhaps the effectual call at Bethel where he becomes the

God of Jacob where Jacob owns him and worships him as his own

Not by the hearing of the ear as it would have been at Beersheba, but by his own sight he now worships the

Lord But if that was his calling there's so much work to be done and in chapter 29 what we really have is

Sanctification the beginning of God untwisting the twister the beginning of God taking

Jacob as he had called him out of Beersheba and Making him into a man who walks before him in righteousness and holiness

That's the difference really between Not just Beersheba and Haran, but even

Bethel and Haran between the calling and the encounter the experience of God and then the grace that God is going to work in and work through like leaven in a dough slowly, but surely

Captivating and saturating the life of Jacob chapter 29 beginning in verse 21.

God is sanctifying Jacob So we read beginning in verse 21

Jacob says to Laban give me my wife now that already tells us something of the

The way that this Conversation and the way that the feelings are when I approached

My father -in -law to marry Elisha. I did not say that Give me your daughter that I might marry her

Hey I've got something really big to ask you and you want to smooth things over So what kind of relationship has it been for seven years if there's this kind of conversation, all right, listen sit down Give me my wife.

He was counting the days. He didn't want any games We almost get the sense that there's no love lost between these two men and here's the deal

Give me my wife stop playing games. Stop putting things off. My days have been fulfilled Give her to me that I may go into her

Now, of course Laban would have been the type of guy that you needed to remind Laban was not counting down the days in the same way that Jacob was

Laban wasn't said isn't this wonderful? Aren't you so excited Rachel? We've been preparing all these years and it's gonna be the most momentous wonderful thing.

Aren't you excited? I'm so excited for you. Come give me a hug Rather Laban is trying to push off.

And so Jacob has to come in and demand Rachel's hand And we read verse 22

Laban gathered together all the men of the place Made a feast and it came to pass in the evening.

The darkness here is significant that he took Leah already a problem not

Rachel but Leah his daughter and brought her to Jacob and He went in to her

So you have the feast you have what would have been the celebration would have lasted a week

According to Judges 14 this great feast is great Celebration and of course in that evening when they were finally married one to the other

They went in into the bridal chamber and as part of the gift

We read verse 24 Laban gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah as a maid that's setting up in the next chapter

Part of the progeny of Jacob, but this would have been really part of the bridal price part of the gift

Zilpah the handmaiden to Leah Now ordinarily as we said a wedding in those times would have involved a large feast and you can imagine a feast would have wine

And it would have been very long even I mean, I had a relatively short wedding, but it was pretty exhausting so I can only imagine a week of celebration and festivity just how exhausting that would be and No doubt there was wine being passed around and it was evening and all of these things perhaps

Can explain how Jacob could not understand that Leo was standing before him behind that veil

It would have been common for the bride to be veil We already got a sense of that veil though It was not a marriage so many at the time when his father

Isaac met Rebecca and she covered herself with a veil Of course

Jacob was there alone. He didn't have any family He didn't have any sisters or any servants that were putting some detective work together

Wait a minute. Something's not adding up here Rachel's over there And so he has no help here he's just being pulled around in the dancing as the wine goblets are being passed around and the evening is setting in as late

Laban is Constantly hovering and ensuring that Jacob's not able to uncover unveil the plot of who's actually behind the wedding veil

We remember that Leia had been described as dull of eyes an idiom That's very hard to explain and the fact that it's an idiom

That's hard to explain most likely means it was there for this ironic parallel to Jacob who is now dull of eyes

He's not able to discern that the woman he's about to take into the bride chamber is in fact

Leia and not the love of his heart Rachel and so the whole idea of the veil is

Really at play there's an unveiling of the bride, which is the unveiling of Laban's plot

We read that in verse 25 it came to pass in the morning and Behold it was

Leia behold there in Hebrew. You could translate it 20 different ways, but it's an exclamation so often in the

Psalms. Oh You know, let us praise the Lord or in narrative often behold as we have it translated here

But sometimes it's just sort of an exclamation and where I think we're meant to read it that way it came to pass in the morning

And ah, it was Leia That's how he would have reacted When his senses had returned to him and light was now flooding into the bridal chamber and he could actually see

No longer being dull of eyes that he had spent that night with who he thought was

Rachel And in fact, it was Leia and what does he do? He says to Laban What have you done to me?

What is this that you've done to me Esau said the exact same thing

Jacob Perhaps ignorant of the irony at this very moment in the split -second reaction

But it's the same words with the same tone in light of the same sudden shock.

What have you done to me? Was it not for Rachel that I served you?

Why have you deceived me? And it wasn't just the ironic echo of Esau's Grievous complaint that we have on Jacob's tongue.

We also recognize the significance of Laban exchanging daughters that one might be blessed in marriage in The same way that Isaac had received swapped sons so that one might be blessed

Why have you deceived me in other words is a question that Jacob could sympathize with Why have you deceived me?

Laban's answer to that question if it wasn't rhetorical Would have been the exact same answer that Jacob would have given when he deceived his own father and his own brother

Why did I deceive you? Laban would say that behind the excuse if he was being honest because Laban lives for Laban Laban lives for Laban Why did you deceive me?

Jacob lives for Jacob. It's a dog -eat -dog world out there You got to provide for yourself

No one's gonna help you along. No one's gonna do things for you. You gotta you gotta make it And you got to do whatever is necessary to get ahead

Why have you deceived me? Laban of course says well It's because of my daughter the the custom of having the elders, but the answer is really

Laban lives for Laban He doesn't live for his daughters. He has no real concern for them for his nephew

He's only concerned about himself, but he gives this excuse in verse 26. Oh, it must not be done in our country

Should I have mentioned this seven years ago? Maybe well anyways just so you know This is not done in our country to give the younger before the firstborn

I just wonder hearing these terms if Jacob's complaint all of a sudden was muted

The younger the firstborn this deception this scandal

Now what was meant to be? For the younger has been given to the firstborn

But Jacob of course received what was meant to be for the firstborn as the younger

So there's this ironic reversal that's taken place at the wedding And I wonder if Jacob could begin to see the providential

Rebuke of God upon all that he had done to obtain the blessing in this marriage

And so he says nothing Fulfill her week and we will give you this one also for the service, which you will serve me still another seven years

It must have struck Jacob He must have seen

God's fingerprints upon this providence He of course begins to react like Esau But he never quite follows it through and even when

Laban all of a sudden adds another seven years of service to him To gain the bride that he originally was seeking.

We don't read of Jacob's complaint. We don't read of him Hatching this counterplot to run away.

We don't read of him having this murderous rage He doesn't howl like a lion like Esau did he doesn't tremble violently like his father

Isaac if anything Jacob Submits to this providential unfolding of God you can imagine what it would have been like To give

Laban credit at least he doesn't make him wait to have Rachel after that second set of seven years

They they end up fulfilling that week of the marriage ceremony and now he has Rachel the woman that he sought the woman that he loved so dearly

But he has to stay around in Haran for another seven years And we read verse 29 that Laban gave

Bilhah So here again, we have this aspect of the bride price Bilhah Setting up the genealogy in the next chapter is given to Rachel as a maid and we read that Jacob went into Rachel an idiom for the fact he took her into the bride chamber consummated the marriage and Then setting us up for next week

He loved Rachel more than Leah We have that again just as a statement.

It's about to be repeated two verses down And so we think of how Leah Must feel in light of this whole week

Maybe there was a part of her deep down in her heart that Maybe he will love me when he sees me when he's with me

Maybe somehow Somehow he will love me. We're gonna see it tragically in the rest of chapter 29

Every time she names a child the child is not is not enough for her

Her heart is longing for her husband's affection her husband's desire. Maybe now maybe now surely now and So she's going to have to submit to the providence of God and trust

God in Light of this destructive week think of Jacob and Rachel For seven years.

He had daydreamed of what it would be like to be at this place. It seemed like a few days to him and now

What a complete mess and all the joy of that anticipation between Rachel and Jacob, it's it's completely spoiled

Think of how this destroyed the way that Rachel and Leia viewed Laban their father surely they were in on the plot

They were forced not to not to reveal it too soon not to do anything

They had to submit to it and we're gonna see that it's not only Jacob submitting to the providence and leadership of God But it's also

Leia and Rachel who submit to the providence in the leading of God and now

Laban not only Begins these marriages in the most difficult places imaginable, but he he creates for Jacob a household

That's already in conflict and the rivalry between these two sisters Will carry through not only the next chapter but down through Israelite history as in Leviticus 18

It's forbidden for a man to marry two sisters Well, they're both alive and it seems to be a lesson learned from this very episode so the the banner the the big idea the big point of everything that we've read from verses 21 through 30 is simply this

In order to untwist Jacob in order to begin to work into Jacob's life that the grace and the holiness that God requires of him

He introduces Laban the twister The tables in other words are completely turned on Jacob You could put it and this is perhaps reductive.

He gets a taste of his own medicine You know what goes around comes around all these little sayings we have but it's so much more profound so much more poetic than that It's providential.

It's sovereign. It's part of God's good design It flows out of his love for Jacob out of all that he had promised

Jacob the Laban the Haran all of it is Necessary for God to cause

Jacob to walk before him in uprightness and so Jacob Who had deceived his brother his poor old blind father?

Who got the blessing instead of Esau now begins to see the mirror of that before him in this episode?

Now Laban is the one who's deceived blind Jacob in the evening when he cannot see the unveiling of the deception comes through the unveiling of Leia and He gives

Leia Who gets the blessing instead of her sibling all of these things would have been like daggers to Jacob's conscience recognizing?

God's handiwork Jacob has been Jacob as one preacher said

But of course Jacob is not like Esau and Jacob is not like Laban He does not react

He does not think or plot in the way that he himself had once done He submits to the providence of God and so we begin to see the impact of God's presence in Jacob's life even in this short time between his calling and Seven years of hard work under an unjust and manipulating man.

We find Jacob to have a certain patience and resolve He had already worked harder than he needed to to obtain

Rachel and even now that he does not have Rachel in the way that he expected he submits to work an additional seven years.

That's like well you work seven years for her You're gonna work seven years for Rachel again, and he submits to that now

Sort of double the injustice The generosity of Jacob's obedience is taken and manipulated against him by Laban and yet even there

Jacob submits and he's not submitting to Laban He's submitting to the discipline and the providence of God in his life very important point in The Christian life.

It's not so much that we submit to the circumstances of Haran We submit to a very difficult person like Laban.

Maybe you have a Laban in your life It's not that you're submitting to them so much as you're submitting to God's providence of having them in your life

And so the comparison between Jacob and Laban at one point in Jacob's life that would have been identical

But already they're so far apart and It's simply because of God's grace to Jacob.

We remember the echo of God's promise at Bethel I'm going to be with you I'm gonna prosper you

You don't have to fend for yourself anymore You don't have to lie and cheat and steal manipulate deceive to get ahead

I'm gonna provide for you. I'm gonna be with you and Jacob puts faith in that promise of God Even when he knows

He's at the hands of Laban and he's completely vulnerable to more Manipulation and abuse and he's probably thinking what's the surprise gonna be seven years from now?

What's waiting for me then but he submits in faith to the providence of God So both

Jacob and Laban are sinners and they're sinners with almost the same sins They have the same sinful desires and they have the same sinful means they use to get them

But now there's this difference between them and the difference is simply that the grace of God came to Jacob and took

Jacob and Providentially guided Jacob and gave Jacob a spirit and a faith and a willingness

To trust God in the midst of this discipline in this difficulty in the midst of trial

So if I could reduce everything down to a sentence, it would be this God keeps his promise but God keeps his promise through the trials of sanctification

God keeps his promise But it's not like tada. Here I am at Bethel now go on back home

Everything's been done for you. Isn't that great? You know, I wanted you to come out here So, you know that I'm your God and I'm with you

No, go ahead back home and take ownership of everything. Isn't that great that you know me now?

It's here I am Jacob and I'm gonna be with you and I've got work to do in your life and Now here you are in Haran and it's gonna be a long stretch

But I've given you something to work for and as Jacob is working toward Rachel He's also growing in this grace for seven years and and when this whole plot is unveiled

Jacob is not ruined He's not thrown about by every wind of doctrine He's contented

There's a certain resolve that he has he does not object. He does not counter plot

He submits God is keeping his promise to Jacob Jacob knows that he is

But he's keeping his promise through the trial of sanctification And so this passage is really calling our attention to God's work in us

God's work in Jacob God's work in Jacob through being in Haran God's work in Jacob as a result of being under Laban And this is all part of how

God works in his people I don't know what your Haran is meaning your setting your situation the circumstances that are pinching you

Making life difficult more difficult than it should be more difficult than it is for others

We all have a Haran at one point or another Or maybe on top of that it's not just the

Haran but it's the Laban some difficult person some difficult relationship You're getting a raw deal in the world's eyes.

It shouldn't be this way It wasn't meant to be this way and you recognize in this passage that God God's grace

God's providence has designed you to encounter this setting and this relationship for his work in you

This is his design This is how he's building grace into your life How he's conforming you to be able to walk with him in an upright way.

I was reading an excerpt from a sort of moral philosopher contemporary to Paul Plutarch and He raised this point the book was on the progress of virtue

He was a sort of a stoic philosopher. And so the point he raised was how do you progress in virtue?

What do you need in order to progress to grow in virtue? And he says well you need to have some kind assistance in your life kind assistance

That will that will overlook your faults and carry you forward you need kind assistance But then you also need challenges to overcome that that will cause you to be

Aware and always pressing forward you need some obstacle some grist for the mill so to speak

And so he said therefore if anyone wants to progress in virtue, they must have a close friend and a sworn enemy

That's very wise and Jacob has that he has a kind friend in the presence of God In the love he has for Rachel in the love of his mother who'd sent him to her on he has all sorts of kind assistance in his life

Then he also has this This treacherous man and God is using both of the both of these things to to grow

Jacob in his grace in Sanctification in the Christians life has both blessing and trial both kind assistance and difficult opposition

But God keeps his promise And he keeps it through the trials of sanctification

So what is sanctification? We're going to be returning here a few weeks from now

This is sort of a larger theme for this part of Jacob's life all the way up to chapter 32

What is sanctification to set some things out? well

Sanctification according to the shorter Catechism is the work of God's free grace

Whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God now, let's pause there

Please notice the agent of all this activity of sanctification Sanctification is the work of who not us not

Jacob not Laban Sanctification is the work of God It's a work of his free grace the free grace that bestows itself at Bethel the free grace that's not as of evident or apparent or Experiential but it's very much there and at work and active even in Haran Whereby we are renewed

Notice that's passive. We are renewed in the whole man after the image of God So we are renewed by God sanctification is the work of God, but then notice this

We are enabled That's an interesting word, isn't it? We are enabled more and more to die unto sin and live unto righteousness shorter catechism that word enabled all the sudden says

Yes, sanctification is a work of God if you don't have God's free grace You won't have sanctification.

It's a work that God is doing and he's doing it so that you might be renewed But he's also doing it to enable you

That's an interesting word Because it implies that you are responsible for your sanctification

It does not give you the credit for your sanctification. It is a work of God's free grace But that free grace enables you to walk in sanctification and So you have to walk in Sanctification and what does that walk in sanctification look like for you?

you're enabled more and more and more and more to die to sin and Coupled with that simultaneous to that the other side of that coin

More and more and more to live unto holiness

You can't pull those apart, right if you take dying unto sin and turn it over.

It's living unto holiness That's what it looks like and so God his free grace

Poured out upon Jacob throughout his whole life even before he was born. God's grace was being poured out upon Jacob It was said before the twins were even born

Romans 9 the older shall serve the younger God's free grace bestowed upon Jacob but Jacob this man who walks in deceitfulness and manipulation the selfish self -willed

Laban like man Has now encountered God's grace his effectual calling at Bethel and God now as a result of that grace is is actively renewing

Jacob according to his own image and With Haran with Laban not just with the blessings, but with the trials

He's enabling Jacob to walk with him by faith putting sin to death and living unto righteousness

So God is the worker of our sanctification God is at work actively in the life of a

Christian to bring about sanctification and Yet this is not some passive event for the

Christian It wasn't passive for Jacob Every time he picked up the plow or tied up the hay bales or ran after the lost sheep every time he moved the wellstones

And somehow that became his job. Why am I the only guy all of a sudden that's dragging the wellstone? Every time he did anything

He was recognizing that he was walking by faith in the work that God had begun in his life

He recognized that he was not preserving providing preparing himself. God was preserving him

God was providing for him. God was preparing him for all that he had promised. And so what is his part?

It's to recognize that that grace has enabled him and every day It's enabling him to press on another day

To deal with that difficult Laban to put up with all the injustice at Haran every day

He recognized that God would give him the strength that was sufficient just for that day the bread that was sufficient for that day

And he could let tomorrow's troubles worry about themselves It's an enabling grace

When we talk about sanctification So Jacob could not fall into the old

Keswick error The Keswick error came out of what we call sometimes the higher life movement or the holiness restoration it was a huge part of Wesleyan Methodism about a century and a half to two centuries ago and especially in the 19th century in both

England and America this higher life teaching this holiness teaching was widespread The idea was you can be fully sanctified in this life

If you've been a Christian for any length of time, I hope you've never been deceived at that kind of thought

But you had these teachers that would go around and they wouldn't necessarily claim to have arrived You'd really want to walk with them closely if anyone claimed that can

I you know, can we spend some time together this week? I have a feeling I could catch you out

But you had these people claiming no no, no, not that we've arrived but it is possible it's fully attainable in this life

To never sin again and JC Raul wrote his book holiness against in part against this very false understanding of holiness and sanctification

The famous phrase that came out of the Keswick conferences where this teaching was promoted was let go and let

God Let go and let God And when you take that phrase and you apply it to sanctification

It sounds very pious and very holy. It sounds somewhat like the shorter catechism, doesn't it?

It's it's a work of God work of his free grace. So let go and let God It's actually a very dangerous unbiblical phrase

Sanctification is a work that begins by God that's actively worked by God That's maintained that every at every turn by the grace of God through his indwelling spirit.

And so it's never something passive It's something that we're actually called to participate with to enact to live out to walk out to work out even with fear and trembling

And so you never let go and let God passively as though there's some sanctification

Zap when scripture describes the process of sanctification in the Christians life

It looks a lot like Jacob's sweating it out for seven years in Iran It looks like a marathon where you're running to win the prize and you're casting off every entangling weight that clings to you

It looks like a wrestling match where you're beating your body into submission so that you can be a little stronger than you were last

Season, it looks like a hunt. It looks like a battle. It looks like warfare or even a crucifixion

These are the images of a Christian's life being made holy. And so we emphasize especially

We are enabled More and more to die unto sin We're enabled

God's grace enables and Then we pluck out the eye and we lop off the arm and we repent on our knees for all the things that that grace

Was spurned for was resisted reacted against wasn't held on to wasn't sought

Wasn't thanked We're enabled more and more to die into sin and to live unto righteousness

Another thing we see here is simply this God is all and this is a point we've made elsewhere.

I think we've made it with Abraham probably made it with Isaac, too We always think that God is at work

Most specifically most uniquely perhaps only in those nights of Bethel There he is

Right his presence his power His work in my life.

I Trace it all back to that night at Bethel. I've been living off the vapors of that ever since He filled up my tank that night at Bethel and I'm just driving and waiting for another night of Bethel to come

That's how we think of the Christian life. So often that he's doing his work in that Bethel night

And what we see is no If anything, that's the preparation for the work

God is doing his work in the long long long years at her on Where Jacob's not having these night visions of God, but he's nevertheless seeing

God's active work in his life and so after the night of Bethel comes the long

Years of her on where your faith is being tested and when your faith is tested it produces all of these fruits of righteousness brief

Mountaintop Experiences in other words are always followed in the

Christian life by long years of valleys And it's in the long years of valley that the real test of our faith is tried and and the real

Fruitfulness of our faith is produced Jacob perhaps would have thought he's the most fruitful at Bethel when he's floored and just Receiving God's presence in his life

This is amazing and he probably doesn't feel that way when he's working it out day by day

Seeing all of his failures and stumblings Gritting his teeth hating Laban like an enemy all of these things unfolding over the long years of her on But that is where God is doing his work in Jacob's life and So brothers and sisters the test of our faith the fruitfulness of that test.

It's not at Bethel. It's in her on It's not in the mountaintop. It's in the long valley. It's not in the night.

It's in the years It's not in other words the initial reaction we have to grace that produces

God's work in us. It's the long patient conduct of our faith one of the most practical

Pointed pressing questions that I can ask from this then is What are you doing with your laban's?

What are you doing with your laban's? Are you submitting to them?

Because you're submitting to the providence of God This is where he's led us. This is where he has us

It seems like everything's unraveling. But in fact, this is where God's building Seems like my my life and what

I thought these seven years were for is imploding But actually no God is

God is building. He's strengthening. He's reinforcing What are our labors doing for us

How is God's grace? operating in our lives through the trials of sanctification if You're not looking for that if you're not consciously aware of that You're probably thinking back to the

Bethel if only I could have another Bethel I'm just kind of floating by until another

Bethel drops in front of me and that's not living the Christian life That's not living the

Christian life two points as we come to a close and I trying to make this as Straightforward as possible knowing we're going to be diving into it for weeks to come

But there's really two fundamental points that we must have in place if we're to Understand where we are and why we have a haran or a laban surrounding us in other words

There's two things I think uniquely that we need to understand that we need to practice in order to see

God's grace Operating in us as we submit to a trial of sanctification The first is this we need to learn contentment in trials

It's amazing to me that Jacob does not respond to lake to laban's manipulation.

It's like he sees right through it It's almost like the divine rebuke has been pronounced in the words and Jacob just doesn't even respond

Laban's like well, this is why we do it. It's complete foolishness. He doesn't argue with him Why wouldn't you have told me that before?

You know, no way. I'm you know, you've cheated me, you know May God be your judge. He doesn't do that at all. He just submits to it

Laban has free range and you can work another seven years for her. Remember that generous offer you made to work almost double yeah, you can do that again and Jacob's just Where do

I sign? That's God's grace.

That's God's grace Learn contentment in trial Jacob saw the divine rebuke

That that promise at Bethel echoed through that moment if he was about to howl in a rage like Esau He would have remembered

God is with me. God's gonna prosper me. God's gonna bring me back. Yeah, I feel that pull

I know what I want to do. I know what I would do. I'd run I'd run away. He cheats me. I'll cheat him I'm gonna arrange the goat hair for a pillow and make to put the blanket over top.

He'll think Rachel's there. We're gonna be gone I'm gonna take my bride the one that I worked for and I'm gonna head back to Canaan myself

He just submits Okay, God I'm really trusting you now that this is part of your plan.

I Don't know how you're gonna make this right, but I'm trusting you Christ's followers are transformed old things pass away all things become new

For those who believe in him were fashioned into his image and and our life is filled with the blessings of conforming to his holiness

But those blessings do not come easily. I love what the tremendous pastor tremendous writer

J. R. Miller Old older gentleman 19th century, I believe he said

People sometimes think that salvation imparts godly virtues fine qualities of Christian character lovely traits elements of spiritual beauty

Without any cost or effort to the believer himself In other words Keswick theology.

I'm just passive Yeah I became a Christian and wait till you see all the beauty and growth and patience and grace that's gonna fill my life

You've been a Christian, you know God is going to patiently work that into your life and it's not gonna fall out of the sky an impatient man doesn't wake up patient the next day a man with a hot head and a temper rarely just says

You know, I'm done with all that now. God can intervene in that way He can take things away praise that he prays him that he does that But for most of us and for most of our struggles

God's going to patiently but consistently work it out of our lives How is he going to do that, especially?

By sticking you in a Huron and giving you a Laban Whatever that might look like It might be you know,

Laban is your health something with your health that might be your Laban J.

R. Miller says there's a cost there's an effort He says heavenly graces are not put into our life like someone hanging up a lovely picture on a wall

They're wrought in our lives, you know worked By our own hands.

He says by our own hands We work out our salvation and he gives us example

For example patience is not put into anyone's life like someone bringing in new furniture

You cannot merely receive patience as a gift from God Patience is a lesson that you learned through long and watchful self -discipline

Christ is the teacher and You are the student and it's the student who is learning the lesson and not even

Christ will learn it for you He won't spare you the effort and it can't be made easy for you

It's going to cost you to grow patient and you're going to pay the price Now take that for any of the graces that God wants to work in our lives

Bethel doesn't produce the patience of submission Bethel did not bring

Jacob to this place where he could submit to this trial of God's presence in his life if This had happened if somehow he had been cheated the day after Bethel Everything would have reverted back to old

Jacob It was the seven years of sanctifying grace through hardship in trial that brought

Jacob to a place that he could submit He had learned how to be content in this trial and that's what

Paul says, isn't it? I've learned I Sat at the feet of the teacher. It was a costly lesson.

It took a long time. I've learned how to be content I know how to be abased.

I know how to abound everywhere and in all things I've learned both to be full to be hungry to abound to suffer need

I Can do all things through Christ who strengthens me? Are you learning these lessons?

Are you recognizing that God has put you in Haran God has given you labor?

Are you looking for why he's given you this opposition this difficulty? this injustice even

Are You letting him provide for you him go your way. Are you looking for his reward?

Have you learned how to stop providing for yourself manipulating people or situations to give yourself ease?

Have you put off what is Laban like and and put on God's grace? You have to learn it it's not gonna fall out of heaven for you

We'll know that we're content or that we've learned or are learning contentment in the trials of sanctification

When we're Slow to pronounce upon God's providence in our lives so often discontentment is

Just us not wanting God's will for us We want God's will when it aligns with our will

So easy to submit then isn't it? Discontent in the Christians life is so often just simply this is not what

I want. This is not my will I Don't want it submitting then

Submission to God's will submission to his providence his providential outworking in your life Is how you will learn to be content?

How you'll mute when Laban is spouting off and you'll say God's going to bless me God's building into my life

This is part of my conformity into his image This is how I'm going to be enabled more and more and more to die to sin die to myself die to my will live unto righteousness

Contentment in other words requires embracing God's providence in your life by faith Jacob had to have real faith here

Jacob's faith had to trust and embrace God's providence in chapter 29

Faith is not then looking for the bright side of a situation. That's not gonna get Jacob very far Maybe it won't be so bad.

You know, maybe we can work this what bright side is there? It's not

Blind optimism, it's not well, this is gonna work out. You know, who really cares? I'm so depressed and passive.

Anyways, I don't really care That's not faith. None of that's faith It's this active trust that God has allowed these things to be and I will submit to his will in my life

And I will trust that he is sanctifying me and this well may be a trial But if it's a trial there will be a blessing

That's how we learn to be content in every situation whether we're suffering or abounding Whether we're a based or honored

And we learn how to have Thanksgiving. That's that's a mark of contentment in trial. You actually learn how to be thankful thankful for how much worse it could be

Thankful for what it's not but even in time thankful for how God is using it You might have absolutely nothing to thank about the

Laban But you can at least be thankful for how God is using that Laban part of learning how to be content part of understanding

God's sanctifying grace in your life and so again contentment requires embracing

God's providence by faith And we've sung it in the hymn by William Cooper.

And if you've ever Read the story the life of William Cooper, which is a very sad life

You'd see that this is not some flippant Christian who's always at 99 % Their batteries never load or never stumble in there.

Just this, you know, come on Just trust the Lord that kind of Christian Cooper wasn't that way at all But even he could write you fearful

Saints Fresh courage take the clouds that ye so much dread are big with mercy and will break and blessing on your head

Don't judge the Lord by feeble sense dull eyes Trust him for his grace

Behind a frowning providence. He hides a smiling face Learning to be content in these sanctifying trials is recognizing just that there's these clouds that you dread the

Haran That is misery the Laban that is unjust that is making your life so difficult

But behind that providence you see God smiling God saying this is the way that I'm building you up I know it seems like you're coming apart

But this is actually my deep work in your life to bring you closer to me and make you more like me

Behind a frowning providence. He hides a smiling face. So the first application if You're going to find

God's grace operating in you through trial of sanctification. You need to learn to be content in trial

It's a progress. It's a process It's not just submitting initially to it

It's actually growing in contentment through it That's the real challenge and then the only way you'll be able to do that the second and last application is to seek strength from Christ Seek strength from Christ How could you possibly submit to the trials of sanctification in your life apart from the strength of Christ?

apart from the presence of Christ Framing everything as though it's for the sake of Christ as Paul did

I suffer all these things that I might know him more These are his affliction I'm filling up what was lacking in his body

He frames everything with reference toward Christ. He's seeking Christ's strength FB Meyer said

Christ will not merely give us his strength He will be in us the power of God unto salvation

We don't need simply the strength of Christ like some dispensary, you know, give me strength today.

Okay, here's some strength for you Like a vitamin we need Christ who gives us strength

So marvelous. We don't just need strength from Christ Give me a little hit today to get through the day and you can say over there

No We need to be brought into union with the Christ who gives us strength and that's what we mean seek strength from Christ No Christ no strength

No Christ no grace for today bright hope for tomorrow C .s.

Lewis said God cannot give us peace and happiness apart from himself. It's it's not there

There's no such thing And so it is with strength to walk through the trial

To find God's grace and what he's building and what he's doing in Haran and through Laban You must find his strength without Christ Jesus tells his disciples

We can do nothing do nothing apart from the vine and so Christ strengthens us

He strengthens us to persevere in the midst of the trials that he's guiding us through Apart from him each of us will go astray each of us will go our separate way

Each of us will revert back to old patterns and ways But when we're seeking the strength that he provides when we're communing with his gracious presence

We'll be restrained from doing those things. We'll be kept in line. We'll be given peace

Surpassing our understanding of where we are and why we're here and how this could have possibly all come together

He gives us faith We trust him eyes of faith see how he provides discern what he's doing

See the the poetry of why you've come to this stage in your life this season for this time

To address these issues these needs that you'd never otherwise see you'd never otherwise work on He gives you mercy as you confess so much of the sin that the

Haran is showing you and That mercy begins to draw you closer and closer to him.

You know more of yourself, but you also therefore know more of him You recognize he's kept you this whole way and if he's kept you here nothing.

No one can pluck you from his hand This is the precious strength that he gives his people

Jesus loves uniquely Loves to answer the prayers of his people when they sound something like I I can't do this.

I Can't do this. How am I gonna do this? I Can't do it Jesus loves those prayers.

He loves to answer those prayers. He loves to say you can't But I can and you can do all things

Through me as I strengthen you and so you can boast in your weakness because in your weakness you'll find my strength

So often my prayers are only led by what I'm capable of doing Part of learning contentment and submitting to God's sanctifying trials is learning how to pray for the things.

You can't do you know You can't do it Lord revive my spirit within me strengthen me gird me up Train my hands for a war

We're not battling against flesh and blood principalities and powers And that means that we have to endure the hardship in this fight

And we're seeking the strength from Christ to help us endure that hardship That's what he says to Timothy my son be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus Next verse verse 3 you must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus So Son be strong in the grace that he provides be strong in Jesus so that you can endure hardship for Jesus He's not strengthening us up for nothing.

I have absolutely no utility at all for strength training in my life If I was an athlete if I was an

Olympian I would need to be strength training every day If there was a marathon to run if there was a battle to be fought, there's a reason that basic training

Is so rigorous, right You need to be strengthened so that you can endure the hardship of the conflict.

And so it is spiritually speaking in the Christian life And this is part of the strengthening grace of Christ and it becomes a witness

Paul says in the same letter 2nd Timothy the Lord stood with me He strengthened me

Paul could get to these places in 2nd Timothy. He recognizes I've been in trial There's been moments in my life where I've been stone shipwrecked fog that almost lost my head

And even when I had no one around me defending me speaking up for me Visiting for me when

I was wasting away and starving in a Roman prison cell. I Wasn't alone the Lord stood with me the

Lord strengthened me Ignatius of Antioch a church father about 150 years removed from Paul He was sent away by Emperor Trajan to be executed in the games and and as he was transported he wrote letters to some of the churches which we have and So from Antioch he sailed to Smyrna and on to Rome and he wrote letters to the church are meant to be submitted to the church

He was conscious like Paul was conscious of the witness of his hardship The trial of his sanctification and how

God would not only strengthen him But use his witness as a means of strengthening others

And so he uniquely understood My role at the time because of church structure as a bishop really just an overseer and not an elder

But in the setup of the time sort of an elder of locale He recognized

I need the strength of Christ So strengthen me that in my strength, I might not only bear witness to the

Gentiles But I might be a means of strengthening the sheep the flock So strengthen me

God that they will be strengthened to endure hardship like good soldiers in the conquest of your kingdom

This is what he said to the church at Rome He had friends in powerful places in Rome.

I fear your kindness. It may harm me In other words, I know you're gonna try to get me out of this and that's not necessarily what

I want Now he wrote this is one of the letters he wrote to the church at Smyrna Now I begin to be a disciple

Let fire and cross flocks of beasts broken bones loss of limbs Let them come upon me so long as I attain to Christ To be among the wild beasts is to be in the arms of God Only let it be in the name of Jesus.

I Endure all things that I might suffer together with him since he who became perfect man

He Strengthens me that I might suffer with him not just for him.

No With him. Do you see the source of his his resolve?

He's writing that Christ might strengthen him and he's writing out of a place of being strengthened by Christ And you get a sense and he says no.

No don't vouch for me. Don't try to get me out of the situation He's been given in this trial of his sanctification a peace beyond all understanding

He was not superhuman he was not the best of us He did not have some unique Access to the strength of Christ that is barred from you and I here this morning

He simply was a disciple of Christ a believer who had the same Access by the same spirit to the same the same strength in grace to endure the trial that God had brought before him and so whatever your

Haran is whatever your Laban is whatever your trial is you have the same access

The same strength that Christ will bestow in your life as you seek him

And this is how Paul could say my strength is made perfect in My weakness

I most gladly boast in my infirmity that the power of Christ may rest upon me

I take pleasure in my weakness in my reproach in my need in Persecution or distress for his sake because when

I'm weak, I'm strong and it was said of Ignatius When they opened the iron gates and the animals began to charge out.

He he went toward them as if he wanted to hug them He was so conscious that he was on a stage in more ways than one

It wasn't just a Roman stage for the spectators of the games He was on a stage before God and before the

Saints on high If he wanted to show forth that Christ had strengthened him to the end Brothers and sisters if you endure chastening

God deals with you like son What son is there whom a father doesn't chasten and if you're without chastening of which we have all become partakers

Then you're illegitimate We've had human fathers who corrected us and we showed them respect

Shall we not more readily be subject to the father of spirits? and live

Indeed just for a few days. They chastened us. Do you notice that as a parent? I think that's the first one I've ever noticed that for a few days.

They chastened us. Mm -hmm Makes you look at correction a little differently, doesn't it as Seemed best to them.

Of course, he meant in light of their whole lifespan just a few days as it seemed best to them

But our Father in heaven he does it for our profit So that we can partake of his holiness

No chastening seems joyful for the present No Haran seems joyful for the present working under Laban working with a

Laban whatever that Laban looks like that's not joyful in the present But afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it

God is training Jacob He's training

Jacob God is willing to train you as you submit to his providence in your life

Learning to deny your will and submit to his will as you learn through that seven -year stretch or whatever it looks like to find contentment by faith embracing his providence and Day by day hour by hour as you need and more than you need seeking the strength that only he provides now may the

God of peace himself sanctify you completely and May your whole spirit soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our

Lord Jesus Christ He who calls you is faithful. He will do it Let's pray father.

We thank you for Your assurance Lord that you are with your people that you go before them that you keep them and provide for them protect them that you actively

Work in us a grace that enables us to die to sin and live to righteousness

Forgive us Lord when we plot and complain and grumble about the

Haran of a season we're in or a place we're in or circumstance we have forgive us when

We buckle and run from the labans you've brought before us for your work

Not so much for their work Help us to have eyes of faith that embrace your control and your guidance in our lives

To seek you to build in us that which is like you that which is from you For our ambitions and our hopes in this life to to fade and give way

To your ambition and your desire for our lives to be reflections of your perfect son whom you gave for us

Help us to seek your sanctifying power Help us Lord to to trust you as you guide us not just in blessings that sanctify but more

More surely Lord trials that sanctify and I pray if there's a brother or a sister or a household here

Lord Who's who's in a Haran who's dealing with some difficult situation that you would give them that same faith to embrace it

To look for the work you're doing in them by it and and to pray and seek you that that work might be furthered