Genesis #34 - Unlikely Grace #6 - “A Crash Course in the Mystery of Providence” (Genesis 29:1-30)

Let's come to the ministry of God's Word. We are returning finally after a bit of a sort of unplanned break from the book of Genesis, back to our regular sermon series working through the book of Genesis.

We've been in the life of Isaac and Jacob in this series that we've called Unlikely Grace, God's Grace in the

Lives of Imperfect People. If you have a copy of God's Word, and I hope you do, take it and turn with me to Genesis chapter 29,

Genesis chapter 29, Genesis chapter 29 and verses 1 through to 12,

Genesis chapter 29 verses 1 to 12. We're actually going to study all the way to verse 30, but that's kind of a longer reading, so we'll just read the first half.

So Genesis chapter 29 verses 1 to 12. If you got your hands on one of the red Bibles we give away, and by the way, if you need one, just let us know, we'll get one to you.

The Bibles that we give away, that's on page 24, Genesis chapter 29 from verse 1 to 12, page 24 in the red hardback

Bibles that we give away. If you're able to do so, can I invite you to stand with me out of reverence for God's Word as we come to this portion of Scripture.

I like to do this at Redeemer every time we read our sermon text because we want to show even with our bodies that we are honoring the

Word of God as we come to it. I'll warn you in advance, that might happen a lot today, but I'll do my best to not cough in the microphone like I just did.

Genesis chapter 29, beginning in verse 1, brothers and sisters, these are

God's words. Jacob resumed his journey and went to the eastern country.

He looked and saw a well in a field. Three flocks of sheep were lying there beside it because the sheep were watered from this well.

But a large stone covered the opening of the well. The shepherds would roll the stone from the opening of the well and water the sheep when the flocks were gathered there.

Then they would return the stone to its place over the well's opening. Jacob asked the men at the well, my brothers, where are you from?

We're from Haram, they answered. Do you know Laban, Nahor's grandson?

Jacob asked them. They answered, we know him. Is he well,

Jacob asked. Yes, they said. And here is his daughter

Rachel coming with his sheep. And Jacob said, look, it is still broad daylight.

It is not the time for the animals to be gathered. Water the flock, then go out and let them graze.

But they replied, we can't until all the flocks have been gathered and the stone is rolled from the well's opening.

Then we will water the sheep. While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep before she was a shepherdess.

As soon as Jacob saw his uncle Laban's daughter, Rachel, with his sheep, he went up and rolled the stone from the opening and watered his uncle

Laban's sheep. And Jacob kissed Rachel and wept loudly.

He told Rachel that he was her father's relative, Rebecca's son. She ran and told her father.

I pray that God will bless that reading of his word and give us understanding of it. Allow me to pray, ask for God's help, and we will launch ourselves into this text this morning.

Let's pray together. My Heavenly Father, I ask especially today for your help in seeking to communicate your word accurately and rightly.

Pray that as we walk our way through this text that has much to teach us about our walk with you.

We pray that you would open our eyes, that we'd see wonderful things out of your word. Lord, we pray that every week because unless you do that, it will not happen.

So Father, we pray that that would even take place now. Father, it's a habit to pray for other local churches during this time, and let's take a moment to pray for the brothers and sisters at Salem Reformed Baptist Church.

Thank you for Pastor Gustavo Barras, who serves there, and new elder

Joseph Whip, who they have called to serve alongside him. Thank you for the body there.

Thank you for, despite many challenges that they've had, that you are raising up a people there in Salem to serve and honor you.

Pray for Pastor Gustavo as he currently enjoys some family vacation, much needed with his wife and kids.

Pray for the church who are unfortunately unable to meet this morning because of the bad weather up north.

Pray that you would still minister to your people, even if they're not able to gather and enjoy the means of grace together.

May the private use of those means, the word of God and prayer and fellowship as families, may your spirit be pleased to use that to build up their faith.

Pray for Pastor Gustavo's preaching through the book of Titus as they think about matters of the church and leadership.

Your spirit would use that to build that body up. Father, we pray that you would continue to bless them and pray that you would bless us now as we come to your word.

We ask you in Jesus' name and for his sake, amen. You would give me just a moment. I'm going to grab my tea because my throat is probably going to need that later.

Probably. Yes, please.

Thank you. I've tagged our message this morning, a crash course in the mystery of providence.

A crash course in the mystery of providence. So our church,

Redeemed Bible Fellowship, would be in the tradition of what is typically known as Reformed Theology.

If you've been here a while, you probably know we don't throw that term around a lot. Not because we are ashamed of what we believe theologically, but because, honestly, sometimes using labels can be a distraction and we want to focus on the thing we all should agree on, which is the word of God.

But theologically speaking, we would say we're a church that believes in Reformed Theology. If you think,

I've never heard that phrase before, well, let me give you a 90 second version. Reformed Theology simply means we believe in a high view of God, a high view of what

God does as Father, Son, and Spirit, and a high view of scripture because that's how we come to know

God. That would be my really short version of what being Reformed means. But there are lots of more intricate details to that, of course.

And I think one of the unique hallmarks of the theological tradition, this big fancy way of saying what we believe and what churches like us believe, one of the unique hallmarks of that is what

Reformed Theology has to teach us about providence. Not the place in Rhode Island, but the work of God that he does in his providence.

As one of the doctrinal statements that came out of the Reformation stream puts it, and I've put it in the study guide, but it will be on screen as well, in answering the question of what are

God's works of providence, excuse me, they said that God's works of providence are his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing of all his creatures and their actions.

I'll read that again, that God's work of providence are his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures and all their actions.

Explaining this, J .I. Packer put it like this, he said, if creation was a unique exercise of divine energy causing the world to be, providence is a continued exercise of that same energy whereby the creator according to his own will,

A, keeps all things in being, B, involves himself in all things, and C, directs all things to their appointed end.

That's what we mean when we talk about God's providence, that God not only preserves his creation, but he governs, he rules over his creation and the actions of that creation.

As one of my favorite verses in the Bible puts it, Ephesians 1, 11, everything is working out according to the plan of the one who works out everything in agreement with the purpose of his will.

Brief theology lesson over, we'll have another theology lesson in a moment, but I start there this morning because what we're going to study in the life of Jacob is really going to be a crash course in what happens when providence is worked out in real life.

If I can use the illustration, think of this like a movie that comes from a book.

Now I'll be honest, I don't read a lot of fiction, I'd rather watch fiction. That's just me, don't throw stones at me,

I'm sick. But when movies come from books, you have the book which then gets turned into a screenplay which then turns into the movie, right?

The screenplay contains all of the details. When the writer and the director and the producers and all the people come together and make the movie, they know what's going to happen.

They know all the details, right down to what the person's going to wear in the next scene, right down to what moves the camera will make, everything is laid out cleanly.

But when you go to a movie, I think I'm on safe ground in saying that most of us who've ever seen a movie, we've never gone into a movie with the screenplay in our hands reading it page by page.

No, what ends up happening is, we see the finished product. And what we're going to see in this passage is how the finished product plays itself out in the life of Jacob.

Like I said, we are returning to a study in the book of Genesis. If you've not been with us, let me bring you up to speed real quick.

Genesis is the beginning of God's covenant story. It begins with the creation of the world and then it moves into the creation of the people of Israel through whom

God is going to work out his covenant purpose. And we've been studying the life of the fathers of Israel for quite some time.

We studied the life of Abraham about a year ago. And since, I want to say, was it mid -November, since about mid -November, we've been studying the lives of Isaac and now

Jacob. Our last study ended us at the end of chapter 28. And at the end of chapter 28,

Jacob's deception of his father, which happened very early on in the story, and the fallout of that, in a sense, came home to roost.

He was forced to flee for his life, but yes, he's forced to flee from his life from the rage of his brother who he defrauded, but though he's fleeing for his life, he's not fleeing without the promises and the presence of God.

Yes, it's a tragic episode in quite a few ways, but it's not an episode that's without some hope.

Well, Jacob's journey is about to come to an end, at least this part of his journey. And actually, by the time that we're done with the message today, we would have covered close to about 15 years' worth of his life, so we're going to cover quite a big stretch of his life here.

And as I said, this episode in the life of Jacob hopefully will teach us a thing or two about how

God's providence works in the life of a believer.

So what exactly does this passage have to teach us about providence?

Well, if I can put it in one short sentence, providence is designed by God to show us our utter dependence on him.

Providence is designed by God to show us our utter dependence on him.

If you don't remember anything else about the doctrine of God's providence and how it plays itself out, remember this.

We are told the providence of God in the Bible. We are shown

God's providential working in the Bible exactly so that we would be utterly dependent on him.

Providence is designed by God to show us as creatures our utter dependence on him.

Well, how are we going to see this work itself out in this text? Well, like I said, this text is going to give us a crash course in the mystery of providence and is going to do so in two vital lessons.

So this morning we're all going back to school and there's only two lessons on the schedule for today.

Crash course in the mystery of providence in two vital lessons. How does providence show us our dependence on God?

Well, first of all, it shows us because God's providence can look like provision. God's providence can look like provision, verses one through 12.

So without much further ado, let's jump into our text. Verse one, Jacob resumed his journey and went to the eastern country.

Now, the CSB, which is a good translation of what I preach from it, it translates that phrase there, the eastern country, just says, you know, it's the country that's out east.

But literally, and some translations do this, it literally reads the land of the people of the east.

And now the temptation might be to just kind of read that and gloss over, oh, that's the direction he's going in.

But actually, if you've been paying attention in Genesis, which I hope you have, the east, ever since the fall took place, the direction of the east has a less than warm reputation.

Let me see if I can paint the picture here. So Adam and Eve are expelled from the garden, Genesis chapter three, that's after the fall.

They're asked to leave this garden temple, this place that God's presence is supposed to be seen and experienced and known.

They are asked to leave this place. As they leave this place, the Bible says that God posts an angel to guard the entrance to this place.

Where's the angel positioned, if you know the story? If you don't, Genesis 3, 24, the east.

It's interesting, Eden itself is said to be out east. But now the entrance to this place is blocked off from the east.

Fast forward to Genesis chapter 11. There's no doubt if you've read the Bible, or even if you haven't read the Bible, you probably heard the story of the tower of Babel.

Hold on, the codes are terrible.

So you have the tower of Babel incident where all the languages are separated out. Genesis 11, if you remember that passage, it tells us that they build this thing out towards the east as they're migrating east.

Probably remember this from when we looked at the life of Abraham, but chapter 25, when he sends Keturah's children away, text says that he sends them to the land of the east.

I put it to you that when you read the book of Genesis, the east is where those outside of God's covenant promises are.

The east is not just a location, it's, I hesitate to use this word, but I can't think of another one.

It's almost symbolic of where those outside of the promises of God are, which to an extent, that's where Jacob finds himself.

He's away from his family, and he's away from the covenant community. Yes, the presence and the promises of God are indeed with Jacob, but they aren't with the folks that he's about to go make his home with, but apparently he journeys for quite some time as we come to verse two, so look at verse two with me.

Text says, he looked and saw a well in a field, three flocks of sheep were lying there beside it because the sheep were watered from this well, but a large stone covered the opening of the well.

The shepherds would roll the stone from the opening of the well and water the sheep when all the flocks were gathered there.

Then they would return the stone to its place over the well's opening. A well, sheep, and obviously shepherds to look over those sheep, all imply that there's some kind of community nearby.

Now the fact that this well has a stone covering it, no big deal, this is more than likely a private well, and remember this is in the middle of the desert, water is more precious than gold in some respects, you do not want someone having a five -finger discount with your water supply.

But the way that this is put together seems to suggest that this stone, which is meant to be there for protection, is large enough that it seems, and please pay attention to me using that word seems here, it seems as though you need multiple people to move it.

So the local shepherds are like, look, nobody wants to keep moving this thing, let's just all get together one time and move it when we need to do this.

It sounds like this is a really large stone that you need multiple people to move.

I'm going to question that later on, but for now it's not really important so we'll keep moving. But for the most part, this is pretty ordinary.

A man on the journey finds a well and he finds some of the locals. But this is where we start to see, when we talked about this word providence, this is where we start to see providence in action, because look at verse four,

I think Jacob gets some sense of where he is geographically. Because verse four, Jacob asked the men at the well, my brothers, where are you from?

Where from? Haran, they answered. He said, do you know Laban, Nahor's grandson?

Jacob asked them. They answered, we know him. Is he well? Jacob asked.

Yes, they said. And here is his daughter, Rachel, coming with his sheep. Here he is.

He's made it back to the land of his mother. His uncle is still alive and apparently he's a man of means.

How do we know this? He just has to invoke his name and people know who he is. That wasn't the case for everybody, even in small communities in the ancient world.

People know him and he has sheep, which tells you he's a man of means. And his uncle, who's apparently still alive, has at least one daughter, so Jacob's learning some things here.

Jacob might not have immediately known it, but this is God's quiet providential provision at work.

Now, before we dig into that a little more, remember how I said I had some questions about this whole stone over the well thing and how it seems like you need multiple people to move this.

But look at verses seven to nine, because Jacob's a homebody. We know this from how he's described at the beginning, but apparently he knew a thing or two about being a shepherd because look at verse seven.

Then Jacob said, it is still broad daylight. It is not time for the animals to be gathered, water the flock and then go out and let them graze.

He seems to know that, yeah, there's a time when the animals need to come together. There's a time where they need to go roam and graze like animals do.

Jacob is not an ignorant person when it comes to farming, unlike me. But verse eight, it says, they replied, excuse me.

We can't until all the flocks have been gathered and the stone is rolled away from the wells opening.

Then we will water the sheep. So again, here they come with this story of, well, we would, but you know, we aren't all here and we all need to be here to move this thing.

Okay. Cause why are you forcing this point? Well, look at verse 10. As soon as Jacob saw his uncle

Laban's daughter, Rachel, with his sheep, he went up and rolled the stone from the opening and watered his uncle

Laban's sheep. Now, either

Jacob has superhuman strength, which by the way, some commentators actually say this. I've read multiple commentators.

We say, well, this is a feat of superhuman strength. My general rule of Bible interpretation is this.

The simplest answer is the one you probably should go for unless a text tells you otherwise. So if one man, who by the way,

Jacob is about his forties at this point, he's not young young. But if one man can move this thing by himself, either his name that we don't know about is

Clark Kent, but that's way too early, either he has superhuman strength or hear me out.

These guys are just lazy. I happen to lean toward these guys are just lazy because when

Jacob asked what's their first thing to do, give excuses. Here's my take.

Jacob is being presented by the writer of Genesis is hardworking and fruitful, which by the way, was one of the blessings of the covenant.

He's been presented as hardworking and fruitful as opposed to the people of the land of the East, who are kind of not,

God is paving ways for his covenant child, even in a very unlikely environment.

Let me think about this with me for a moment. What are the odds that Jacob would happen to be there at the right time, meet the right people, do the exact thing they needed?

Oh, and by the way, let's not skip over the meeting his second cousin part. Humanly speaking, not that I encourage betting.

You should not bet. That's a bad use of your money. But humanly speaking, these are not betting odds, but all of this to happen at one time.

I'm not putting money behind that. These are not magnificent odds, but can

I put it to you? When has God been in the business of abiding by the odds, especially where his children are concerned?

The Bible makes it clear to us time and time again, that for the sake of his children, God will move heaven and earth to provide for them.

After all, this is the God of the Psalmist, the one the Psalmist spoke of when he said Psalm 57, 1 and 2, be gracious to me,

God, be gracious to me for I take refuge in you. I will seek refuge in the shadow of your wings until danger passes.

I call out to God most high, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.

This is the God of the Psalmist in Psalm 138 when he says, Yahweh will fulfill his purpose for me.

Yahweh, your faithful love endures forever. And so he can say, do not abandon the work of your hands.

Part of how God's providence works itself out is that it looks like provision. And so I have to ask, how quick are you to observe

God's providence in the form of provision and to thank him for it? When we're tempted to think about what we don't have, how quick are you to turn that around and thank

God for the things he has graciously provided? Our culture was over time for us to be constantly disgruntled and dissatisfied and desiring more.

But can I encourage you that one of the most helpful things you can do as a Christian is to meditate on God's providence towards you.

I quote in Psalm 57 verse 2, that was the verse that became the foundation of a really classic book.

It's where I got both the sermon, part of the sermon title today, and I've recommended it in our study guide.

It's called the Mystery of Providence by John Flavel. And his argument in that book is the believer is most helped in their walk with Jesus when they are regularly reflecting on and thinking about God's provision of providence.

So can I encourage you, meditate on that. Take some time to consider how good

God has been to you. It's still early enough in the year, I think, that we can take some time and look back on 2023 and say, how was

God gracious in this year? I don't know, I don't feel like God was all that gracious this year.

Well, not to make light of the difficulties of the year, 2023 had some difficult moments for me too, so I won't tell you that there were no difficult moments in life.

But not to be flippant about it, but you're here, aren't you? You're alive.

As you know, I'm Ghanaian by birth, I suppose. My culture, we say, you're still standing on your two feet.

God has been good. Yes, life is hard. I agree with what Job said. One of the verses that I've always found funny in the

Bible, Job 5, 7, I believe it's Job who says this, that man is born to trouble like sparks fly upward.

That's true. Life is hard. We should not deny that. But we can all agree it's not all doom and gloom though, because God is good and He is gracious and He provides for us that as His word says, that we know all things work together for the good of those who love

God, who are called according to His purpose. Most of this sermon this week was prepped in bed because that was the only place

I felt comfortable to work in. And as I sat in bed preparing this sermon and at one point feeling very sorry for myself,

I think it was like Friday, didn't feel 100 % at all. I remember the song from not long after I became a

Christian in 2005. Maybe not one I'd use in worship, but it's a good song nonetheless.

And the chorus ends with this line, which I think is a great way to think about God's providence of provision.

The chorus ends with this line, life is hard, but God is good.

That even in the difficulties of life, we still have so much to praise God for.

Jacob experienced the reality that God's providence can look like God providing for His people.

That's what some Puritans used to call the sunny side of providence.

The side where God makes His face to shine upon us, the number six passage. He makes

His face shine on us and blesses us. You know, that's the sunny side of providence. We should thank God for that and embrace that.

But can I put it to you that not all providence is indeed that pleasant? Because sometimes, point number two, providence can look like discipline.

God's providence can look like discipline. Verses 13 to 30 of our text.

I'm just going to warn you in advance, this half of the sermon is going to feel way longer than the first part, because there's a lot more work we need to do.

The first half of this episode of the life and times of Jacob starts off promising. He's found his family.

In fact, he's made the local men not look all that great. He's found, this is all looking good, but pick it up in verse 13.

Verse 13, when Laban heard the news about his sister's son Jacob, he ran to meet him, hugged him and kissed him.

Then he took him to his house and Jacob told him all that had happened. Laban said to him, yes, you are my own flesh and blood.

After Jacob had stayed with him, my mom, Laban said to him, just because you're my relative, should you work for me for nothing?

Tell me what your wages should be. Now, this might sound nice on the surface. Uncle's like, hey,

I'm going to hook you up. I'm going to hook you up, though. What do you need? But before you go, there's a couple of details.

First of all, this wasn't the custom in the ancient Near East. No one set their own wages.

You either got paid what the person offered to pay you or they didn't. This is also a small issue that you typically didn't pay family.

Family just worked for you because they were family. But I think Laban's being extra sneaky here because this is an honor and shame culture.

Jacob can't dishonor his clan by asking for too much and Laban knows it. Essentially, he's telling but not telling

Jacob, you got to offer me a family discount. Whether he would like to or not, he's going to take a family discount.

Now, Laban is presented to us as a very shrewd and slick character, and that's going to come back to actually haunt him in the future.

But remember who we're dealing with here. This is Jacob. Laban might be slick, but so is

Jacob. I think he realized he can't make any real money, but he can get something or should

I say someone else? Because look at verse 16. Now, Laban had two daughters.

The older was named Leah and the younger was named Jacob. Jacob was named Rachel. Leah had tender eyes, but Rachel was shapely and beautiful.

Jacob loved Rachel and so he answered Laban, I'll work for you seven years for your younger daughter,

Rachel. Now, we get a foreshadowing of what's about to happen with the description of these two sisters.

Leah is older and Rachel is younger. Leah is described as having tender eyes.

Some of your Bibles might say weak eyes. Yes, you can translate the word weak, tender is weak there.

Small problem, weak eyes. Then the idea is that, well, it's pointing out Leah is,

I want to be careful because I'm a guy and I have to watch my words when I say this. Not as pretty as Rachel, shall we say.

And so this is the author's kind way of saying, Leah ain't much to look at,

Rachel is. Actually, that doesn't work because again, in the ancient Near East, a woman's eyes were part of her charm.

And this word can be translated as tender. Having tender eyes would have been seen as a good thing, which is why the

CSB rightly translates it as having tender eyes. But whereas Leah has tender eyes,

Rachel is described as being shapely and beautiful. So the author is kind of saying,

Leah is pretty, but she's not Rachel pretty. Jacob can apparently see that because the passage says that he loved

Rachel. Now, bear in mind, he's only been here a month. But hey, you know, it's been a month.

That's plenty of time. Um, you know, it's love at first sight. You know, this should, you know, you should make this a period piece.

You know, middle of the desert style. Well, Jane Austen's dead, but maybe she could write something like that,

I don't know. But sorry, you probably knew it was coming. This is no

Jane Austen novel. I mean, this is not Jane, it's Genesis. That word for loved, it can mean romance in the sense we think of it as.

But it can range from genuine romance to infatuation.

In fact, let me give you a preview of, I was going to say coming attractions, but there's nothing attractive about this. Genesis chapter 34.

Um, we're going to witness an event involving Leah's daughter, Dinah, the only one of Jacob's daughters, where a local chieftain's son.

Sees Dinah. Forces himself upon her. And Genesis 34, three, the text says he became infatuated.

With Jacob's daughter, Dinah. The word for infatuated, exactly the same word here. Kofi, why do you think this is negative?

Is it because you generally don't like romance? No, but think about it for a moment.

Oh, Jake, does Jake really know this woman all that well?

I think we can say it's been a month. I mean, you can get to know someone in a month pretty well, but enough to marry him.

I'm sorry, this is just my personal opinion. I'm a little skeptical. I'm also skeptical, not just because I'm personally skeptical, but the passage goes out of his way to only give us physical descriptions of both sisters.

Because it's trying to point out to us something that I think is critical. It's not sensible thinking that's driving

Jacob's decision here. I think it's just bad old fashioned.

I was going to say good old fashioned, but there's nothing good about lust. It's bad old fashioned lust. Laban is more than happy to play on this.

So verse 19, Laban replied, better that I give her to you than some other man. Say with me.

So Jacob worked seven years for Rachel, and it seemed like only a few days to him because of his love read infatuation for her.

Now, if you need any more proof that this is not love, but lust, I think verse 21 clears up all the doubts. So verse 21, then

Jacob said to Laban, since my time is complete. So first of all, can we credit the author of Genesis for how quickly we've just moved through seven years?

Then Jacob said to Laban, since my time is complete, give me my wife.

Now, if he stopped there, I'd have no problem. Because that was, you said, let me set my wages.

Ask for your daughter. You said, no problem. It's what he says afterwards.

I'll be honest. I have a problem since my time is complete. Verse 21, give me my wife so I can sleep with her.

Now, let me pause for a moment. I'm about to be a father of a girl. I'm a father of a son right now. I have sis.

I have actually, I have sisters. I have two sisters, fathers in the room.

If a man came to you and spoke about your daughter in this way, what would your response be?

I salute the honesty. The man just says, hey, give me your daughter so I can sleep with her.

Wait, what? Find your way up at my house. But first of all, it says a lot about Laban that Laban doesn't check this really disrespectful response from Jacob.

But more than that, I think it gives us an insight into who Jacob is. And it's not a good one. Yes, we have seen some growth in Jacob.

But for all the growth that we've seen, this guy is still driven by his lust and by his scheming.

He is God's child. But let's be clear, Jacob is an unruly one. But here's the thing about God, one of the great goodnesses of God.

There are many, of course, but this is one of the great goodnesses of God. As unruly as his children can be prone to be,

God doesn't let his children run riot, not for long anyway. God is about to providentially deal with his son through some divine discipline.

But before we get to how God disciplines Jacob, I want to take a moment and talk about this concept of divine discipline in general real quick.

So I think on the back of the third page, you see a little section titled Divine Discipline.

Remember, I promised you that we'd have another theology lesson this morning. This is theology lesson number two real quick.

I usually don't have one on the sermon. Today you get two for one. Enjoy. The subject of divine discipline is not a popular one.

I was listening to my brother Pastor John Benzinger preach last night on marriage. And he made the point that if you want to empty your church, talk about marriage, talk about money, talk about prayer, and talk about evangelism.

Those typically make people uncomfortable. And I was sitting there listening to this as I was prepping this message.

Yeah, John, I'd add one more. Talk about divine discipline. I've been teaching the

Bible long enough to know that when you start to talk about this, folks get very edgy very quickly. But I found this because as I was preparing this message and I was thinking through this, granted, thinking through a fog,

I struggled to find good material on this because people just don't like talking about this.

So I did what I always do. And honestly, I love doing it. I said, all right, let me go ask some Christians who came before me what they had to say about this.

And this is what I found they had to say. It should be in front of you in the study guide. This is what one of the confessions that came out of the

Reformation period. This is what it has to say. Well, the perfectly wise, righteous and gracious God, excuse me, often allows his own children for a time to experience a variety of temptations and the sinfulness of their own hearts.

He does this to chastise them for their former sins or to make them aware of the hidden strength of the corruption and deceitfulness of their hearts so that they may be humbled.

He also does this to lead them to a closer and more constant dependence on him to sustain them, to make them more cautious about all future circumstances that may lead to sin and for other just and holy purposes.

So whatever happens to any of his elect happens by his appointment for his glory and for their good.

That's the second London Baptist confession, chapter five on providence, section five. That's a mouthful.

So allow me for a few moments. You see, I put five statements there in the study guide. Let's see if we can break this down for a moment.

First of all, we have to begin by noticing that divine providence comes from a good and gracious God.

Divine providence comes from a good and gracious God. If your understanding of providence doesn't start with a good doctrine of God, you're going to have problems.

By the way, shameless plug. We're going to talk about the doctrine of God at our equip weekend in February. So if you want to know more, come join us.

But notice how the statement in the confession begins that the perfectly wise, righteous and gracious God brings about discipline in the life of his children.

I put it to you that part of the struggle that people have is that we, again, all of us are people of our times.

And part of that is we struggle sometimes to rightly understand that you can be loving and yet not condoning of what somebody does.

You see this in our, you see this all over our culture with all manner of issues where people assume that unless you condone what

I'm doing, you don't love me. And sometimes

I'm not saying anybody in this room, but I just, I just, I've been around enough believers. I've been in enough conversations to know that across the board, you will have believers who struggle with this idea that a good

God could ever discipline one of his children. However, if you're taking notes,

Proverbs chapter three, verses 11 and 12, which will be quoted word for word in Hebrews 12. Proverbs 11 says this, do not despise

Yahweh's instruction, my son, and do not loathe his discipline for Yahweh disciplines the one he loves just as a father disciplines the son in whom he delights.

I'll be honest. I thought I understood this verse until I had a son.

I love my son. He's great. But every now and again, he, you know, he needs a little discipline.

Not a whole lot again. He's generally good kid as kids go. In the moment where I might have to say,

Hey, stop that. Or I may have to apply a little physical tap in that moment.

Do I, can anyone look at me and say, I don't love my son because I'm willing to do that. No, I should hope not.

No, you recognize that if you love your child, you're not going to let your child just run amok. God's discipline is not in spite of the fact that he's a loving father.

It's precisely because he is a loving father that he disciplines his children.

So divine discipline comes from a good and gracious God. But there's also another reality. This is where it starts.

This is where this starts to get a little bit dicey for some. See divine discipline can be, and I emphasize the word can because it's not always the case, but it can be because of sins committed in our recent past.

So again, how does the confession put it? He says he does this to chastise them for their former sins.

Now, let me pause right here because I know the misunderstanding that takes place. Kofi, are you saying that even after I've become a

Christian, God is going to punish me for the sins that I did before I was a Christian? Absolutely not.

The good news of the gospel is that God does not count our sins against us.

So Psalm 103, 12, that as far as east is from west, so far he's removed his transgressions from us.

Micah 7, 19, that he cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. Isaiah 38, 17, that he throws our sins literally behind his back.

Because Jesus came, because Jesus died, and because Jesus rose, everyone who believes in him will never suffer eternal punishment for their sin.

But while the believer will never be eternally punished for their sin, persistent and extended periods of sin can merit divine discipline.

That word chastisement might be a hang up for some. The word for chastisement, or not the word, but the concept of chastisement, we typically think of being angry and raking someone over the coals.

That's actually not the idea. Chastisement is pointed and corrective action in love for the believer's prophet.

At times, the way that God deals with us as his people is that when we find ourselves in periods of unrepentant sin that add up and add up and add up, he makes us feel the full weight of our actions in that regard.

So divine discipline can be because of sins committed in our recent past.

Thirdly, it might be for that reason, but divine discipline can also serve to show us the state of our hearts.

It can serve to show us the state of our hearts. So the confession says he does this not only to chastise them for former sins, but also to make them aware of the hidden strength of the corruption and deceitfulness of their hearts so that they may be humbled.

If you want a Bible example of this, if you're taking notes, 2 Samuel 24. If you know 2

Samuel, well, that's the story of David and the census that he calls. A census wasn't a problem.

He's a king. Kings do that. In fact, earlier in David's reign, he called a census and there's no problem. But this time he calls the census and the text seems to very cleverly imply that pride and arrogance is at the statement of this.

David wants to know just how big a military force he has. And so God actually steps in quite painfully.

And David immediately recognizes it for what it is. You see, sometimes divine discipline can happen, not because we have done something overtly, not because you've actually done something.

But because we've not been careful and our hearts are trending in the wrong direction. If I can put it to you, divine discipline can be something like a

CAT scan or an MRI. The CAT scan or the

MRI doesn't cause the problem. All it does is expose the problem that's already there.

So divine discipline can serve to show us the state of our hearts. But another truth that we need to bear in mind is that divine discipline is ultimately designed to deepen our dependence on God.

So I put that in my big idea this morning. Confession also says he also does this to lead them to a closer and more constant dependence on him to sustain them.

One of my favorite verses in the Bible, Psalm 119 verse 71. It was good for me that I was afflicted.

Why does the Psalmist say it was good for me to be afflicted? So that I could learn your statutes.

I have my issues with some of the stuff that C .S. Lewis wrote. I know. I know. Narnia and all that.

I get it. But I will give

C .S. Lewis credit where he's right. He's really right. In his book, The Problem of Pain, he says this. Pain insists upon being attended to.

God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains.

Pain is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world. Say that again.

Pain is his God's megaphone to rouse a dead world, a deaf world.

My wife and I were watching a show recently and it was a medical show. One of the few that my wife will watch because she generally, she does not like inaccuracies in these shows.

I don't blame her. But one of the few that we will actually watch, there was a character who had,

I had never heard of this. And I had to ask Laura about it because Laura is my go -to on all things medical. I can pass

Greek verbs. I can't tell you the first thing about medical stuff. That's a world above me. But apparently there's a disease.

I believe it's called, is it SIPA or SEPA? I forget. I looked up the full term for this. Congenital insensitivity to pain and androhydrosis.

All that simply means is these are people who can't feel pain. Now some of you might be like, that sounds great.

I'm not gonna lie. It would sound great for me this week. But think for a moment, what would happen if your body couldn't experience pain?

Imagine you broke something you didn't know was broken. Imagine you were bleeding inside and you had no idea.

Imagine something was going wrong and you had no indicator that thing was going wrong. You may not like pain, but the reality is if you never felt pain, how would you know something was wrong?

And can I put it to you that sometimes God's divine discipline is not necessarily because you've done something, but he's trying to point out to you, my son, my daughter, things aren't well.

As much as you might wish that you had a congenital insensitivity to pain. Actually, it might be the best thing for you.

Final thought on this. Divine discipline makes us more cautious about sin because we see what sin does.

So the confession ends. He also does this to make them more cautious about all future circumstances that may lead to sin.

God has designed a world where cause, effect, and reaction are all a thing. I like to call this the hot stove theory of sanctification.

If you choose to deny what happens when you stick your hand on a hot stove, stick your hand on a hot stove, and you will learn pretty quickly what happens when you stick your hand on a hot stove.

Some things you might not learn until you experience the full weight of the consequences that come from them.

Unless you think, Kofi, that's just kind of harsh. Well, the author to the Hebrews agrees. Hebrews chapter 12, verses 10 and 11.

He says, for earthly fathers disciplined us for a short time based on what seemed good to them. But he, the heavenly father, does it for our benefit so that we may share his holiness.

Verse 11, no discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness by those who have been trained by it.

I personally think that the author to the Hebrews had much of Proverbs on his mind as he wrote this. Given the fact he quotes Proverbs earlier on.

There's a whole category in Proverbs about how the rod of discipline is good for a child.

You know, we may debate what discipline should look like. That's fine. And that's a conversation to be had. But the concept of discipline is good for a child.

Why? Because it teaches a child. It brings about transformation in a child.

And what is true in the physical is, I would argue, even more true spiritually speaking. I appreciate that this can sound weighty.

This is not a light, pleasant, float out of church topic. Maybe this isn't why you came to church today.

Maybe this makes you uncomfortable. That my friend Pastor John said, I'm aware this is not how church growth works.

It might be easier for the sake of my job to explain this away, to file off the rough edges, so to speak. But follow me here for a moment.

If God is a good, good father, that's who he is. Thank you.

Someone got that joke. Shout out to Chris Tomlin. If God is a good father, which he is, and if he loves his children, which he does, then sometimes, just sometimes, love doesn't always look like provision and everything going well.

Sometimes discipline is the way he shows us he loves us. Now, let me pause for a moment.

I'm going to make a statement that in my preparations, we have realized some find controversial, but I'm going to say, because I think it's a good biblical case for it.

Only two people know if they're being disciplined by God. God and the person undergoing discipline.

It's not my role or anybody else's role, unless we can see clear sin in someone's life, to go point at somebody and say,

I think you're going through X because of this, because you're being divinely disciplined. Not your place to say that.

But it's also not my place to delete that idea from God's word in the spirit of trying to preserve people's feelings.

For Jacob, yeah, I haven't forgot about him. For Jacob, as a child of God, difficult and wayward as he might be, he's about to learn what discipline looks like.

Let's see if we can quickly wrap this up. Verse 22. I'm just going to read as a whole 22 to 27. So Laban invited all the men of the place and sponsored a feast.

That evening, Laban took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and he slept with her. And Laban gave his slave

Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her slave. When morning came, there was Leah. So he,

Jacob, said to Laban, what have you done to me? Wasn't it for Rachel that I worked for you? Why have you deceived me?

It's a little bit rich, Jacob, but we'll come back to that. Verse 26. Laban answered, it is not the custom in our country to give the younger daughter in marriage before the firstborn.

Complete this week of wedding celebration, and we will also give you this younger one in return for working yet another seven years for me.

Why do I think that this, in my opinion, is divine discipline? Let me see if I can paint a picture here.

Jacob is the victim of a hustle involving a switch of older and younger siblings and their father.

This time, the father isn't the victim. He's the pup, though. Oh, and this time, where was food with his father?

It's not food, it's drink. Verse 25. Is it? Make sure I get the text right. Oh, it's earlier on in the text, where he talks about getting together and having a feast.

Oh, verse 22. He invites all the men of the place and sponsor the feast. Basically, it's a drinking party.

If this sounds a little bit familiar, it's because it's supposed to sound a little bit familiar.

This is a crazily similar act of, I don't know if this is a word, but I'm just going to make it up because I can, shysterness.

This is a crazily similar act of shysterness to what

Jacob did. His sin, both in what he did to his father and in his lustful behavior, has come all the way back around.

Now, Jacob is married to a woman he neither wanted nor asked for and has to work another seven years.

Not before he marries Rachel, thankfully. Well, thankfully, he's maybe a strong man there. But he goes through this week of wedding celebration, gets to marry

Rachel, and then has to work another seven years. Jacob receives a painful lesson in the other side of providence.

Or does he? You know, as I studied this passage, I initially thought he had, but as I studied and I spent time this week, it hit me.

I don't think he does at all, actually. And I say that because, did you notice something about this passage?

Who's missing in this narrative? Whose name have we not heard once in everything that's gone down?

Anyone notice how God's name is conspicuous by its absence? In fact,

I think this is on purpose. I think this text is intentionally being told by the narrator as though he's looking at it from Jacob's perspective.

And Jacob's perspective, for whatever reason, is devoid of God in this moment.

Nevermind that God was the one who was orchestrating the good and orchestrating the bad, that both provision and discipline had come from the hand of God.

Has Jacob recognized that? I put it to you, he hasn't, because look at our last verse, verse 30. Jacob slept with Rachel also, and indeed, he loved

Rachel more than Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years.

Jacob is still all about number one. Nevermind this poor girl who is, whether willingly or unwillingly, now in this plural marriage, to a man who apparently doesn't love her.

He doesn't care. And he makes it very plain. Her I love, you

I tolerate. And we're going to see that in the way he treats Leah as this narrative unfolds.

Still, here's who he is. But here's the glimmer of hope as we end this passage. God isn't done with Jacob just yet.

Just like he is not done with me, and with you, and with any of his children. As we're going to keep on seeing as we look at the life of Jacob, God's providence and the story that it weaves is still being written in the life of Jacob.

Because like I said, providence is a mystery. I'd like to tell you that I understand how providence works all the time, and I could, you know, shake the magic eight ball and tell you how providence,

I can't. I can't always tell you why things play out the way they do. Honestly, unless God himself directly tells us, we don't know if something is disciplined or not.

We just don't. But here is the part that I hope I can leave you with, that is no mystery when it comes to providence.

God is always at work. You may not recognize it as him being at work.

He's always at work, and we can always trust him to do what is best.

Pray with me, my heavenly father, as we read this section of your word, which starts off somewhat positively and kind of free falls pretty quickly.

Father, as we read these passages, reminded of the fact that you are

God and you are God alone, and you are the only one who is truly able to say that you bring your will to pass.

Father, we thank you for the good providence of your provision and your care for us as your people. Even the moments where we may not see it or feel it, we know that it's taking place.

And father, we thank you even for the painful providence of discipline. We thank you that you as a father love us too much to let us just run our own way.

But that in ways known only to you, you make us feel the weight of our own sin, not to crush us, but to drive us back to you.

So father, may we always be quick to do so when the opportunity arises. May we not fight your discipline and may we receive it from your hand as a gracious and loving gift.