Genesis 30:25-43

going live with us. perfector Mundo Wonderful. Well, good morning. Good morning. Good morning. It's so good to be with you. This is where every day during the week, you and I we get together we have a little bit coffee. We get into God's word and we grow in love for the Lord together in this year 2023. Lord willing, we'll make it from the book of Genesis to the Book of Leviticus, and we're at Genesis chapter 13 verses 25 through 43 this morning, so glad to be with you. You know, it's a huge blessing and a pleasure. Every day we get to get together. And I'm just shocked that so many of you tune in and you listen to this and, and I'm so encouraged when you leave comments and you send me emails and you tell me about different things that you've been learning and hearing and it's just a huge encouragement. So I wanted to say thank you for tuning in. I hope this is a blessing to you. Have some coffee, we'll pray we'll get into God's Word. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much for this time. It is a blessing to come to Your Word. We need your spirit to understand it. Father, we pray that you would please help us. We pray that you would. Let us be humble as we read, but that you would also apply this word to our hearts that we might live it in our lives. In Jesus's name we pray, Amen. All right, so we are at Genesis chapter 30, beginning of verse 25. Let's go ahead and jump into things. And it came to pass when Rachel had born Joseph that Jacob said to Laban send me away that I may go to my own place and to my country. Give me my wife and my children for whom I have served you and let me go for you know my service which I have done for you, and labored and said to him, please stay. If I have found favor in your eyes for I have learned by experience that the Lord has blessed me for your sake. Then he said, name your wages and I will give it so Jacob said to him, you know how I have served you and how your livestock has been with me, for you had had before I came sorry. For what you had before I came was little and it has increased to a great amount. The Lord has blessed you since my coming and now when shall I also provide for my own house? So he said, What shall I give you? And Jacob said you shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me. I will again feed your feed and keep your flocks let me pass through all your flocks today, removing from there all the speckled and spotted sheep and all the brown ones among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the goats in the shall be my wages. So my righteousness will answer for me in the time to come. When the subject of my wages comes before you every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and brown among the lambs will be considered sold stolen, if it is with me. And Laban said, Oh, that it were according to your word. So he removed that day, the male goats that were speckled and spotted all the female goats that were speckled and spotted every one that had some white in it and all the brown ones among the lambs and gave them into the hands of his sons. Then he put three days journey between himself and Jacob and Jacob fed the rest of Laban flocks. Now Jacob took for himself rods of green poplar, and of the almond and chestnut trees, peeled white strips in them and expose the white which was in the rods and the rods which he appealed. He set before the flocks in the gutters. In the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink, so that they should conceive when they came to drink. So the flocks conceive before the rods and the blocks brought forth treat, speckled and spotted. Then Jacob separated the lambs and made the flocks face toward the street and all the brown in the flock of Laban and he put his own flocks by themselves and did not put them with labels flock. And it came to pass. Whenever the stronger livestock conceived that Jacob placed the rods before in the eyes of the livestock in the gutters, that they might conceive again amongst the rods. When but when the flocks were feeble, he did not put them in so the feebler were Laban in the stronger Jacobs. This the man became extremely exceedingly prosperous and had large flocks, female and male servants and camels and donkeys. Well, we need to ask ourselves, Hey, what's this about me? What's the best verse and see what are we called to do? Jacob's back to his old ways, that his old ways, his normal ways, the schemer scheme and he's doing his thing. He's getting a leg up on his father in law Laban. He's he comes into a conversation with Laban. Right, Jacob asks, he wants to leave sends me send me away, right? I want to go home. I want to go to my own country. He left us a bachelor now he has four wives and a gaggle of children. I want to go home but leaving, looks at the flocks and says man. As long as this guy's here, I'm making a bank, right? He's, he's growing in wealth as the state is getting larger and larger. So he says, I know that the Lord is blessing you. And so I want you to stay tell me what your wages already is. Okay. Okay. I will. And he's been thinking about this. And this is he says, Okay, any animal that speckled or spotted or striped, that'd be mine. And then any of those types will be mine. But then any of the normal ones, those will be yours. That way. When you look at the flocks, you'll be able to see which ones are mine and which ones are yours. And no one can argue and say, Oh, he's wholesome, leaving the sheep. Now he got rich because he stole and Laban says All right, yeah, that's that's a good wage. But what Laban didn't know is that Jacob here when he says so my righteousness shall answer me in the time to come. But Jacob is almost using this as a front. Right he's a he's abusing the situation here. And what he's actually doing is he's setting up a system in which he's hurting his uncle and his father in law's estate. He's purposely setting aside using type of have and I've never raised sheep never tried to feed them or water them where there's poplar branches and things that you've you've stripped the bark off, so it's just the sap in the middle and, and what that's doing somehow to their coat and fur. I can see how that could happen. I don't know anything firsthand about any of this, but it's possible. I mean, we have a dog who's got spots and speckles where all of its brothers and sisters were pretty much pure black. So I don't know exactly how that happens. I think it's more genetics, but that could be environmental too. And here it does seem to be that way. But Jacob has set up a system in which all the strong ones are are given this wood, this kind of treatment of some sort and the best ones he inherits, and all we can feel feeble ones, go to Laban. He's not being a faithful servant here. The faithful son in law. He's doing this to gain his own wealth at the expense of his father in law. He's scheming he's getting a leg up. He's amassing his own wealth at the cost of his father in law. This is a portrait that we're getting of Jacob doesn't seem to really have learned from how he schemed with Esau, yet it doesn't seem like his heart is fully turned to the Lord yet. He's not a perfect man. And for some reason, God so gives him the promises. He's a schemer and yet for some reason, the Lord still loves him. And I don't think it's because of his righteousness. Because we're gonna keep reading later into the in next week, we're going to find No, he's not righteous, but the Lord's going to pin him down. I really want to get ahead of myself. So what's this about? Well, the schemer keeps on scheming with the best versus summarizes. Well, I have verse 43, under the night underlined thus, the man became exceedingly prosperous and had large flocks male female and male servants, and camels and donkey's. Okay, so how does this what are we called to do in response to this? Alright, well, we're able to see once again, like we pointed out seems like a broken record, right? We just keep saying the same thing over and over and over again, but it's the truth of the gospel is the truth of Scripture. God saves and uses even sinful people. The Lord gives his promises to an deserving people. So we looked at Christ, as we were once dead in our trespasses and sins, and yet he saved us by His grace. So there's that I mean, that's the big gospel application we must walk away with every time we come to passages like this. We don't need to whitewash the story. We don't need to look at Jacob and say, Oh, well, look, he's doing these things because No, he's he's a senator. And we're able to just say, you know, that doesn't look right. That looks like a form of stealing. Looks like he's manipulating his father. And lost trust. I think that's what he's doing. We can be honest about people's sin, but we can then be honest about our own. And it shows us the light of God's grace. But we can go on a shallow level. We'll go ahead and go there. Alright, I normally don't, don't do this because it's it's too simplistic of the text, but it can be important. Right, one of the commandments is do not steal the eighth commandment. And so as we think about the commandment do not steal. We think about the implications of that. And the things that it forbids, what are the things that it requires? Well, I think one of them is looking out for our own and our neighbors estate. Jacob isn't concerned about laymen's estate. He's not concerned about laymen's wealth he's concerned about don't and we ought to take note of this and think in our own lives. We for our neighbors good are we loving our God by loving our neighbor? Leaving schemed that Jacob into marrying both his daughters. Now Jacob's getting back at him by scheming him out of his wealth. Is this the picture of how we're supposed to treat our employers? Treat our family No, no. Right we're to promote and preserve our own and our neighbors wealth. It's we should be about caring for our neighbors goods. So whether you're a financial investor, a farmer, or a friend, be about the good of your neighbor. Work hard for your wages, promote your boss's business. I do these things for God's glory. And if you are the boss, be the one who encourages and cares for your employees estates as well. Bless them, give them a living wage. Care for them. That they might bless you and that you might store up treasures in heaven. Let's go ahead and pray. Father, we thank you so much for this thing. We pray, Lord, that You would bless us and that we would indeed, be upright, trustworthy, loving. People. Father, we pray that you would please care for us to stay in Jesus's name, Amen. May the Lord bless you. May you walk in the light of the love of Jesus Christ may love the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. And may love your neighbor as yourself. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye Transcribed by https://otter.ai