And now, friends, today we come to the
29th chapter of Genesis, and if you have
your Bible, you'll want to turn there.
And we left off in the 28th chapter.
You remember this man Jacob had to leave
home post haste.
In fact, he took French leave.
He had to go because his brother was
going to kill him.
And his mother sent him, together with the
father Isaac, back to Uncle Laban that he
might get a wife back there.
That's where Isaac had gotten his wife, Rebecca,
and so they are sending Jacob back there,
and he's on his own.
And he's a clever boy, and he's demonstrated
that cleverness, and even that night he was
so homesick, God appeared to him to comfort
him and made these wonderful promises to him,
transferred them, the ones he'd given to Abraham,
Isaac, and to Jacob, now they're already given
to Jacob.
And then, lo and behold, the next day,
if he doesn't make a vow with God
and trades with him, and he says, if
you'll take care of me and do this
for me and bring me back here, then
I'll do this for you.
Well, believe me, friends, God already told him
that.
And if it depended on Jacob's faithfulness, I'm
afraid he'd never receive very much from the
Lord.
After all, isn't it all by grace?
And that's the way you and I got
saved.
We never deserved it.
If we did, none of us would ever
be saved.
Now, over chapter 29, I'd like to write
Galatians 6, 7, and 8.
Be not deceived, God is not mocked.
For whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also
reap.
For he that soweth to his flesh shall
of the flesh reap corruption.
But he that soweth to the Spirit shall
of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
And probably the popular title that we ought
to put over this chapter is, Chickens Come
Home to Roots.
Now, you'll see, beginning in this chapter, Jacob
begins to reap the harvest of his evil
doing.
And you will also find that this is
a universal law of God, that whatsoever a
man sows, that shall he also reap.
Now, if the Bible teaches anything, it teaches
that this is true, and it's true in
any area of life.
You sow corn, you get corn.
You sow cotton, you get cotton.
You sow wheat, you'll reap wheat.
If you sow tares, you'll reap tares.
And you'll find out that that runs all
the way through scripture in every field.
For instance, Pharaoh slew the male children of
the Hebrews.
And what happened?
Well, his own son was slain by the
death angel.
Ahab slew Naboth in cold blood, and the
dogs licked the blood of Naboth.
And Elijah came to Ahab and said, Look,
the very same place that dogs lick the
blood of Naboth, the dogs are going to
lick your blood.
And Ahab, I think, rather smiled at that
and said, Well, I'll keep away from that
place.
But it just happened to be literally fulfilled.
You remember, David found that this was an
inexorable law that was applicable to his own
life in reference to his sin.
He committed a sin, a terrible sin.
God forgave him, yes.
But may I say to you, chickens come
home to roost.
What you sow, you reap.
And his own daughter was raped, and his
son slain.
Even Paul the Apostle, he felt the weight
of this law.
He gave his consent to the stoning of
Stephen.
And what happened?
Well, Paul was taken outside the city of
Lystra and stoned and left for dead.
But this man Jacob is really the classic
example, and we're going to see that.
And I mention all of this at the
beginning of this chapter.
Now, will you notice, this man Jacob is
rather cocky.
He has practiced deceit.
He would stoop to use methods that were
just a little shady to accomplish his purpose.
He was proud of his cleverness.