Gen 28:10-21

Well, as we examine the life of the patriarchs, we have turned our attention from Isaac and his life to Jacob, and we are about to see Jacob strike out on his own. And as we watch things develop, one thing has become painfully obvious, and that is that neither Isaac nor Jacob have anything in them or about them that warrants the position they hold. Isaac is a scoundrel, Jacob, his son, is perhaps more of a scoundrel. Isaac is a terrible father, and Jacob is a terrible son. And yet the God whom we serve is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And so as we come to this point in the life of Jacob, the one thing that is obvious is that somehow Jacob has to be transformed. Somehow Jacob has to be changed, somehow Jacob has to become someone who is usable by God. For lack of a better phrase, somehow Jacob has to have an encounter, somehow Jacob has to experience transformation. And that's where it gets interesting. We talked about this idea of election and predestination, and unfortunately, some people believe when you hold high the doctrines of election and predestination, that somehow you do not value things like holiness and righteousness, that somehow the doctrine of election and predestination leads to licentiousness. God just sort of works it all out. You can just do whatever you want, do whatever you feel, do whatever you please. By the way, that is what I would argue. You can do whatever you want, whatever you feel, and whatever you please. But here's what I know. One of the evidences that you are saved is that God works in you both to will and to do his good pleasure. He changes you want to amen. Christianity is not about going through your life never again doing what you want. Authentic Christianity is about God transforming you so that the things that you want aren't even the same anymore. Yet, there is this issue of the balance. How do we get there from here, this moment where the doctrine of election and predestination is seen in real life, where this encounter happens. Our culture talks often about it in terms of meaningful transformation, meaningful life change. You've probably heard these phrases before. They're very common in our culture. In fact, I was just sort of searching for a couple of these I didn't do an in depth search by any stretch of the imagination, just looking for life change and meaningful life change and churches that talk about meaningful life change, because that is one of the catch phrases. Come here for meaningful life change. Actually found a church called Life Change Community Church Amen it's in their name Life Change Community Church, and they talk about what you find when you come to Life Change Community Church. They say on their website. You make your way from the parking lot and you will see the new courtyard. There we have drinks and snacks to kick off the morning with caffeine and sugar. Once you are appropriately buzzing from that, you can check your kids into the CWC or the Children's Worship Center, and then you will make your way into the worship center. The experience at Life Change is comprised of two primary elements, heartfelt worship and a life changing message. Our pastoral staff seeks God's heart in order to bring truthfully relevant teachings each week. A weekend experience lasts for one and a half hours. You can always expect us to start and end on time. I had another name for this church. This is the ANTIGFBC Life Change Meaningful life change. Here's another church. This church is called the River, and there many churches to talk about that theme of river, and they talk about their small groups, our small groups. This is where they see life change happening. Our small groups are intended to be safe places where you can connect with others, ask questions about God and the Bible, and just have fun doing life together. Each small group of eight to fourteen people gathers regularly to connect, care and challenge each other, and to provide an environment where you can experience. There's the word meaningful life change. As each of us experiences this kind of life change, this God life, if you will, we become more spiritually healthy, and God in turn uses us to produce this God life in others. Life change, meaningful life change small groups, because that's where you get meaningful life change or aticular worship experience that is founded upon caffeine, sugar and timeliness. Life change, meaningful life change. Well, I would argue that in Genesis chapter twenty eight, verses ten and following that if anybody ever experienced meaningful life change, Jacob experience is meaningful life change here in Genesis chapter twenty eight. But the elements are a little different than our culture would expect. And as we talk about this issue of meaningful life change, this phrase and again this is a phrase that our culture uses. This is evidently what people are after out there, somehow, some sort of experience that will change your life in a quote meaningful way. I don't believe the Bible that always against experience of anything idea. That's exactly what Jacob has here is an experience, but it was not one that was manufactured. His meaningful life change has several elements that I think are pretty universal as it relates to a life that's changed in a meaningful way by the God of the Bible. First of all, we see that it is directed by God's providence. In fact, you see that from earlier on in chapter twenty seven, then on into the beginning of chapter twenty eight. Something has to happen in Jacob's life. Here he is in a home where his father, in rebellion against the very word of God, is trying to give the blessing that belongs to him to his twin brother instead. His mother, to whom this revelation was given directly, has gone about things the absolute wrong way in manipulating his father in order to get the blessing that Isaac was in line for. Now, all of a sudden, his brother wants him dead, his father wants him gone, and his mother just wants him protected. In the midst of all of this, Isaac goes ahead and really reiterates this blessing to his son Jacob. Earlier on, in chapter twenty eight, he says the things to Jacob, knowing this time that it's Jacob and not thinking that it's Esau. He says these things and blesses his son as he sends his son away on a journey that will take him months some five hundred miles to get where he's going. Interestingly enough, there is much here that mirrors the life of Abraham. In the life of Abraham, however, the same place was chosen to find a wife, but in the life of Abraham, he sent a servant to this place to find the woman and bring her back for Isaac. Isaac, however, under the guidance of his wife, chooses another route because he needs to get Jacob away from Esau, who, by the way, wants him dead. So he sends his son off and says, you go down to Laban, and that's where you'll find a why. So, in the providence of God, we have Jacob on his way to the place where he will meet his bride, and by the providence of God, begin this legacy of multiplication through his twelve sons, who in turn his sons along with two of his grandsons, will become the twelve tribes of Israel. But something has to happen. The first piece of it is just God's providence that gets him in line for this encounter that will change his life. You ever think about that, You ever think about the way that God encountered your life and God saved you and then backed up a few months or a few years, or a few decades. In fact, if you're here today and you've been born again, you can go all the way back to before your life began and see God's hand of providence. Even in the family into which you were born. I don't care if it was the worst family imaginable. God used that in his providence to get you to the place where He encountered you and brought you to an understanding of the Gospel, and you came face to face with your sin and responded and repentance in faith to the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. You can go all the way back, not just to the day that you were born, but to before you were born, and see God's hand of providence working even in that, and not just in the good experiences, in the good scenarios. Have you ever thought about those most tragic moments in your life and how God used those to shape you for what He had in store for your future. There are some of you in this room who've had siblings who were like Esau and you felt like they wanted you dead. Amen. There are some of you who had siblings who abused you. There are some of you who had parents who abandoned you. There are others of you whose families experienced great tragedy, and perhaps your parents didn't even live to see the process of raising you through to its completion. And in every one of those instances, and in every one of those circumstances, when you look back through the lens of your salvation that God brought about, you see his hand of providence in it all. Jacob has no idea of the life change that is about to come. He's not looking for the life change that is about to come. He's not working for the life change that is about to come. He doesn't even know he needs the life change that is about to come. He doesn't have sense enough to know to look for the life change that is about to come. And yet God, in his providence is putting him in the absolute right place at the absolute right time. God is good. You cannot manufacture authentic, biblical God wrought life change in your life, or in anyone else's life for that matter. Interestingly enough, we think, and if you just read this through, as we read this through, here's the obstacle that we think is in Jacob's life. We think Jacob's biggest problem is that his father Isaac is not going to bless him and give him what God says he's supposed to have. So the tension in the text appears to be this, how on earth is Jacob going to have the inheritance and be you know, this next one in the line of bringing the promised Seid if his father Isaac is not going to see fit to bless him properly as he ought to. Newsflash, Esau gets to stay with Isaac and all the stuff. Anyway, do you follow me? Jacob does not need Isaac's blessing to become what God intends for him to become. Nor does Jacob need Isaac's wealth. We don't learn that later on. Just give him a few speckled and spotted gohats, He'll be all right. Amen. God can take him completely outside of this line of the wealth that went from Abraham to Isaac and give him everything that he needs in order to be all that God has called him to be. And yet God uses Isaac to make Jacob who he is, and God uses Isaac to bless Jacob the providence of God. Think about that as we balance our lives and our multi generational vision. Do my children need me to give them anything in order for God to accomplish what he desires for their lives. Absolutely not. They don't need that. But in the providence of God and by his grace, he allows you and me to bless our children, to instruct our children, to guide our children, and he uses even that in his providence. And yet it is still absolutely not enough. It's not enough. So here we are. We look at the first nine verses there in chapter twenty eight, and we think, finally Jacob's got what he needed. Finally his father knowingly blesses him his Father knowingly gives him this charge, but that's not what he needed, because meaningful God wrought life change not only directed by God's providence, but it always follows God's special revelation. Look at the next part of this verse. Ten Jacob left Beathsheba and went toward Haran. And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed. And behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord, the God of Abraham, your father, and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth. And you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east, and to the north and to the south. And in you and in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised to you. Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it. And he was afraid, and said, how awesome is this place? This is none other than the House of God, and this is the gate of Heaven. Meaningful life change is impossible apart from special revelation from God. Let me say that again, meaningful life life change is impossible apart from special revelation from God. Can you have life change apart from special revelation from God? Yes, you can have life change apart from special revelation from God. You can. You can have life change. For example, you can stop smoking and it will change your life. Amen. There are people in this room smoking. Just had them. They quit smoking and changed their lives. If you could see a picture of their lungs ten years ago and a picture of their lungs today, you see they've had life change. Losing weight can change your life. Getting married will change your life. All of these things can change your life. Going to college, getting a degree can change your life. It can, It really can. All of these things can change your life, But is that meaningful God wrought life change. No, it's not. Because you can quit smoking and go to Hell when you die. You can quit drinking and go to Hell when you die. You can lose weight and go to Hell when you die. You can get married go to hell when you die. All of those things will change your life, But there's a difference between a change in your life and a meaningful God wrought change in your life. You can even go to church and have a changed life, but not a meaningful God wrought change in your life. Church is filled with people whose lives are different, but not because they've had a meaningful God wrought change in their life. This meaningful God wrought change is about an encounter with God, and it is about God's special revelation. Let me share this with you from Romans chapter one. This is eighteen to twenty one. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God as plain to them, because God has showed it to them for his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and his divine nature have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made, so they are without excuse. Listen, general revelation is very important. But general revelation won't save you. General revelation can only make you guilty. It's enough to make you guilty, but not enough to make you clean. Amen. So there's general revelation out there, and there are people out there who are trying to grab these tidbits of general revelation. There are people out there who go to psychology or psychiatry, and what are those individuals relying on. They're relying on general revelation. They're looking at, you know, the people's lives and people's behavior, and they're learning how to deal with people's lives and deal with people's behavior so that they can sort of manage life and manage behavior. They'll give you drugs or that certain symptoms may go away, and things of that nature, but can it save you. Absolutely not. There are life coaches nowadays. You can make a lot of money by the way being a life coach, and people hire life coaches to help them get the most out of their lives. What are these individuals working on. They're working on general revelation, stuff that we've seen out there in the world that can be helpful, that can be useful, leadership seminars, marriage seminars, all these sorts of things. There is this general revelation out there. But here's what tends to happen when you have general revelation and not special revelation. When you have general revelation, you try to figure out how to manage and master the world around you so that you can have a better, more fulfilling life. It is not until you get special revelation where God steps in and says, oh, by the way, Creation screams that there is a God, but that I am God, that there is no other God, and that you can only come to me on my terms. That's where special revelation comes in. The Word of God comes to bear. And what happens here in Jacob's life is that he has special revelation from God. Now, in order for us to be clear, we do this all the time, but we're going to do it again. You are going to get sick and tired of Hebrews chapter one. However, we are going to look again at Hebrews chapter one because we have to in this culture in which we live, and in this day and age in which we live. Whenever we talk about special revelation, we have to go back to Hebrews chapter one. Hebrews chapter one. We ought to know it because we go back here again and again and again and again and again. But that's okay, this is important. We need to be reminded of it. Hebrews chapter one. Look there in the first verse of Hebrews chapter one talking about divine revelation, special revelation. Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days he has spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. In other words, Jacob's experience at what is ultimately referred to as Bethel was not normative for your life and mind as believers who now live after the completed revelation of God in the person and work of Jesus Christ. So if you have an experience like Jacob did, keep it to yourself and ask God to make that thing stop messing with you. I realize that I say that in the midst of a culture that is enamored with the idea of new revelation from God, is enamored with the idea of being able to say, God told me this, God spoke this, enamored with preachers who'll stand behind the pulpit and actually speak as though they are speaking the very words of God afresh and a new, a fresh word from Lord, a new revelation from God, something that the church has never known before, and has all of a sudden been deposited in the spirit of the man who is speaking forth, this new fresh word from God. That's heresy. That's not my opinion. That's the teaching of Hebrews chapter one. So now when we look at the life change, this meaningful God wrought life change that was experienced by Jacob, we have to put it in its proper theological context. So when we say that the special revelation of God is absolutely essential, here, here's what we have to recognize. This special revelation of God came to Jacob by way of this dream and this vision. The special revelation of God has come to us in actually a superior form. Jacob's got bits and pieces, He has no idea, he doesn't get it. We understand the fuller picture as it is culminated in the person and work of Jesus Christ, who was the promised by the way, who's being protected in the midst of what's going on here in Genesis chapter twenty eight, Jacob doesn't know that you and I do. You and I do. All Jacob knows is he's seen something that changes his life forever. He didn't get it, he didn't understand it, he didn't completely know how to respond to it, but he does the best he can about what he has. Amen. See, if you're looking for meaningful God wrought life change, the place we find it is in God's Word. Because I don't know about you, but I'm not very interested in my life changing in a way that does not line up with what the scripture says my life ought to look like. Amen. So Jacob has this encounter with God that reorients his whole life around around God's word, God's truth, and God's revelation. That's the life change that you and I desperately need. Life change that's oriented around God's word, God's truth, God's revelation. That's the life change that we desperately need. And I don't know about you. While these folks out there looking for new revelation from God, I'm still trying to wrap my head around this one. Amen, there is so much here. His divine power has given us everything for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who calls us by his own glory and excellence. All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, that the Man of God may be thoroughly furnished for every good work. The scriptures have all we need for meaningful God wrought life change, governed by the word of God, by his special revelation, not just by what we see out in nature, and definitely now not just by sort of esoteric spiritual experiences. It's governed by His word. Thirdly, meaningful life change rest on the promises of God. Rest on the promises of God. Here's what's meaningful for Jacob. Look with me in verses thirteen and fourteen, because here's the question. Your life is going to change, But to what and for what? Most people don't ask that. Most people's attitude is just, Hey, I don't like the way my life is now, and my life needs to be changed. Yeah, but to what and for what? And most people, if they're honest and answer those questions, it's just my life just needs to be changed to something more wealthy, more beautiful, and more happy. Thank you very much, But change to what and change for what. Listen to this verse thirteen, and behold the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord, the God of Abraham, your father, and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will gift to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth. You shall spread a broad to the west, to the east, of the north, and to the south. And then you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed, not might, but shall Here's what you need to understand. Meaningful life change is not based upon what you can accomplish. That's not meaningful. You're way too finite for that. That's not meaningful life change. Me a finite individual. I'm gonna go out there and I'm gonna get what I can accomplish. What I can accomplish doesn't amount to a hill of beans. If the life change is to be meaningful and God wrought, it's based on the promises of God and what God brings about in our lives. By the way, turn to the left and look at Genesis chapter fifteen and note the similarities. Note also that God said, the God of your father Abraham. And also, Isaac, did you catch that the God of your father Abraham? In Yeah? Isaac, Yeah, him too, chapter fifteen. After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision is not familiar. Fear not, Abraham, I am your shield. Your reward shall be great. But Abraham said, O, Lord God, what will you give me? For I continue childless? And the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus. And Abram said, behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him. This man shall not be your heir. Your very own son shall be your heir. And he brought him outside and said, look toward the heavens and number the stars. If you are able to number them, then he said to him, so shall your offspring be. And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness. Very similar experience in the life of Abraham to the experience in the life of Jacob. It was not enough for Jacob to follow in his father's footsteps and carry on the family vision. Did you catch that? It was not enough for Jacob to follow on in his father's footsteps and carry on the family vision. He had to live in accordance with the promises of God. His life had to be yielded to God. The same is true for your children and for mine. Do we believe in multi generational vision, absolutely we do. But the day we trust in it alone, apart from the providence of God and the revelation of God and the intervention of God in saving souls and calling them to himselves, is the day we have left the reservation. Jacob's life would have continued to be insignificant apart from the intervention of God and the promises of God as a guiding post the way he lived. That's why the most important thing that you and I can give to our children is the Gospel. The most important thing that you and I can give to our children is a vision beyond themselves, a vision beyond us, a vision beyond anything that they or we can ever imagine, but a kingdom sized vision, and a reminder that they must depend upon God to set its course. God makes a promise it's repeated from Genesis fifteen and the land offspring, blessing to the nations, and just like in Genesis fifteen, a bringing back to the land. In other words, in Genesis fifteen and then again here in Genesis twenty eight, there is a foreshadowing of what's going to happen as God's people go into exile in the bondage in Egypt. There's a foreshadowing of what's going to happen again and again as God's people are removed from the land and brought back to the land, and removed from the land and brought back to the land. And this promise that we hear by the way it's echoed again, turned with me to the right. Look at Jeremiah Jeremiah twenty nine. These are the words that gave hope during the Babylonian exile. Jeremiah twenty nine. These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the Prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles, and to the priests and the prophets and all the people whom Nebicaezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. This was after King Jekoniah and the Queen Mother, the eunuchs, and the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen the metal workers had departed for Jerusalem. The letter was sent by the hand to be loss of the son of Shafan and Garamaia, the son of Hlkaiah hed Kiah, whom's Edekiah, King of Judas, sent to Babylon to Nebucanazar, King of Babylon. It's said, thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I've sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. Build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I've sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. For thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel. Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you, deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, For it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name, not sending them, declares the Lord. For thus says the Lord, when seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you and will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me. When you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you, declares the Lord. And I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord. And I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. This is the land I'm gonna give you, Abraham. You're gonna have it. Your descendants are gonna have it. They're gonna be blessed here. There be times when they'll go away from it, they'll come back to it. He says again to Jacob, You're gonna have this, lamb. There'll be times when you go away from it, you'll come back to it. This is my promise, you see meaningful life change. If my life change is about me and my hopes, my dreams, my aspirations, and my desires, those die with me. But if my life changes and brings me in line with the promises of God, brings me in line with a kingdom vision, then I'm part of something that's never gonna die. If all we seek, when we seek this meaningful life change, is a better version of what I have now, that's useless. If Jacob's change is to just not lie as much as he did anymore. If Jacob's changed is to just get away from his family and all the bickering and backbiting. If Jacob's changed is just to get to another place where he can start a family, then that's absolutely useless. And he's like millions upon millions of others who lived during his time and thereafter who had absolutely no impact beyond their own day. But if his life is lined up with the promises of God, then we still talk about him thousands of years later. Fourthly, this meaningful God wrought life change produces worship towards God. We see that in eighteen and nineteen. Look at eighteen and nineteen, so early in the morning, Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on top of it. He called the name of the place Bethel, but the name of the city was luz At the first How does he respond the only way knows how in worship toward God. He commemorates this event with a stone. This was a common practice in the ancient Near East. There are these standing stones. You know. The clearest thing that we have that corresponds to this is crosses that you see on the side of the highway. You ride down the road and you see a cross on the side of the highway, and you know that someone is saying, we lost a loved one right here in this spot. Our lives were changed forever, our lives will never be the same, and we put this cross here so that we will remember, and so that everyone who rides by here will remember. That's what Jacob is doing. And ultimately he's not commemorating the life of a loved one. This is an act of worship towards the One true and Living God. Not only does he commemorate, but he also consecrates with the oil. This oil was symbolic of consecration, of setting apart. I mean, this is not just a stone. This is not just us remembering a joyous occasion that we had as a family. This is not just me remembering a moment in my life where something special happened. This is the commemoration and the consecration of an event that was about the God of the universe revealing himself to me right here on this spot while my head lay on this rock. It's not a normal rock anymore. And then he goes another step and even dedicates the place that city was called Luz. The city can't be called that anymore. This is Bethel House of God. We know in chapter thirty one that he comes back through and there is another encounter in the same place. You see, when we have meaningful, God wrought life change, it's not like other life change. See if I have life change that comes as a result of a life coach, my praise and honor and adoration goes to the life coach. If I have life change that comes as a result of a psychologist or a psychologist, then my praise, adoration, and worship goes toward that professional because they use general revelation to help bring about this change in my life. If I have life change that is wrought in my life because of a spouse, then my worship and my adoration is pointed toward that individual. But if I have meaningful, God wrought life change that is a result of Almighty God intervening in my life placing me on a godward path, living for His purposes and his promises, then my worship and my adoration are all pointed toward him. Does that mean that there shouldn't be any life coaching, or there shouldn't be any counseling, or there shouldn't be any No. Absolutely, I wouldn't argue that at all. But I argue that it all needs to be based on God's revealed word, so that God is the one who is praised, and God is the one who gets to glory as a result of the change that is wrought, and so that the change that is wrought is always remembered as a change that put that individual on a trajectory towards living a life for God and not themselves. It's a final peace, meaningful life change ultimately results in covenant obedience. Look what happens in twenty through twenty two. Then Jacob made a vow saying, if God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, and this stone which I have set up for a pillar shall be God's house. And of all that you give me, I will give a full tenth to you. Now. Interestingly enough, in the English language this doesn't come across properly because the if phrases make it sound like a bargain with God. God, if you do this, then I worship you. That is very unfortunate. Listen to what jameson Fosst and Brown's Brown say. His words are not to be considered as implying a doubt, far less as stating the condition or terms on which he would dedicate himself to God. Let if be changed into sense, and the language will appear a proper expression of Jacob's faith and evidence of his having truly embraced the promise. See not if but since. If you want to understand what Jacob is saying here our word if doesn't do justice, look at it with sense. Verse twenty, Jacob made a vow saying, since God will be a god to me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father's house in peace. Then the Lord will be my God. And this stone which I've set up will be God's house, And all that the Lord gives me I will give a full tenth. Damn not if there is no If he just met with God. This is a vow of coming into obedience, and it's appropriate, far from the idea that somehow election and predestination means that you know, it is what covenant obedience? For what covenant obedience? Because it's the only thing that makes sense when you meet God. Amen, because that's what God brings about. Turn with me to the right and look at the book of Ephesians, and we'll see the picture of the way these things work together. Ephesians chapter two. And again, if we had time, we'd read Ephesians chapter one, and it's just election and predestination from beginning to end, all over it. It's just election and predestination. It's all about what God wills, what God decrees. That's what salvation is all about. It's not about man. Man is incapable of helping God save him. Then we come to chapter two, and we read and you were dead, and the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you've been saved, and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not of your own doing. It is the gift of God, not as the result of works. So that no one may boast. Don't ever stop there. The paragraphs not over yet verse ten. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Folks, part of what you were predestined to, according to Romans chapter eight, is to be conformed to the very image of Christ. Part of what we're predestined to is to walk in works of righteousness. So one of the evidences of our predestination and election is that we don't just give lip service, but we actually give covenantal obedience. So far from the doctrines of grace negating holiness and righteousness, they in fact establish it. The culture at large says, what you look for is a man who will pay lip service. Walk to the front of the owl, repeat after me, and say some words. If that man pays lip service, he's in. You look at that man who's just paid lip service, and you tell that man you write your name and your bible, and you write down this date. And just like you write your name and your Bible and you write down this date, God has written your name and the Lamb's book of life right here and right now. Why because you asked Jesus into your heart and found that it's not there. What I do find is if you love me, keep my commandments. What I do find is by this all men will know that you're my disciples, that you have love one for another. What I do find is warning after warning after warning. In First John, you live like this, you're not his. You live like that, You're not his. That's what I find. That's what we find. It's not lip service, not at all. It is the change wrought in the soul of a man by the spirit, presence, and power of Almighty God. And it bears much fruit. It bears much fruit. See if genuine life change, and this is what our culture talks about. You need to have genuine life change so that you can be healthier and happier and wealthier and feel better about yourself. Let me just explain to you how that happens. More often than not. Here's the way the culture at large sees real life change. You must change your expectations, Amen, change your expectations. That way, you'll feel better about yourself. You're struggling and you're suffering because of something in your life that you, you know, feel like you've done wrong. Well, you let the culture make you feel guilty about that thing. You just have to let that go. And you just have to you know, and hey, be who you are, accept yourself, love yourself. If you don't love yourself, no one else will love you. Does that sound familiar at all? Do you sound biblical at all? Not? The culture says, just change your perspective and believe a few lies and you'll feel better about yourself. No meaningful life change from a biblical perspective involves the exact opposite. It involves God coming into your life and saying, you know what, however bad you feel about yourself, it's not bad enough. Amen. You know what, that horrible feeling that you feel when you think about that thing that you did, it's not horrible enough. You know what, all that work that you're doing to try to get better, it's not work enough. You know, all of these efforts that you're making, they're simply not cutting it. And by the way, they never will. You will never hate yourself enough to be accurate based on who you are compared to My holiness and righteousness. You will never beat yourself up enough to make up for the things that you've done. You will never ever ever work hard enough to make who you are worthy of my presence and my love. Now the good news. That's why Jesus came to die. If you could love yourself enough, forgive yourself enough, help yourself enough, then the blood of Jesus was shed in vain. You can't get there from here. You need to be broken over your sin, and you need to come to a place of repentance and faith. You need to turn from your own efforts and rest solely in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is your only hope, and anything else will involve you fooling yourself and convincing yourself that things are better than they actually are. It is a lie, it is a deception. Run from it. You don't need to be made better, you need to be made over, and that only happens they're meaningful. God wrought life change based upon his providence, his word, his promises, our appropriate worship response, and the covenantal obedience that is the fruit thereof knowing all the while you and I can't get there from here, And so we rely wholly and completely on the one who would be brought forth as a result of this life change and promise that's made to Jacob, the promised seed, the lion of the tribe of Judah. Judah's not even born yet, And as we continue to say, I just can't say it enough. Not only is Judah not even born yet, but Judah's gonna be born to who Jacob thinks is the wrong woman. And God good Amen. Oh, if I can just get that woman, my life will change and I'll have everything I need. Yeah, maybe so, Jacob. And if life was about you getting what you need, that would be great. But it's not about you getting what you need. So I'm gonna give you this one, and the promise Seed's gonna come through her, not the one you think you want. Thank you very much, God wrought meaningful life change. That's what we're about. There's not enough caffeine, not enough life groops, not in an hour and a half prompt services in the world to make that happen. Only God can do that. Cry out to him and him alone, Let's pray,