As we already announced to you, we hope that in the morning sessions this week, we take a selection from the Psalms, but in the evening services, we're going to have a study in the life of Jacob. Since we are confined to about five meetings in connection with Jacob, we'll have to try and crush a lot in to each tent. Now I'm the only one here I think that can see the clock. I don't see it. I like when the clock's there and not here. Because anyone that's interested then in the time, I can see when the clock runs. However, we'll do our best to keep within the limits of the hour. But it would be nice if at home you can read up some of the chapters dealing with Jacob. And you'll be able to follow them through a little easier. Now, I'm going to suggest to you that what is written in the book of Genesis about Jacob seems to be a kind of miniature picture of the history of the nation that developed from him, at least in some respects. For instance, you'll find Jacob in the land, that's the land of promise, and then you'll find him out of the land. Then you'll find them coming back into the land. And then again you'll find them out of the land. But at last he gets buried in the land. That's where he finishes up. And I think most of you can see right away in a glance that that portrays a little of the nation that developed from him. In the land, out of the land, in the land, out of the land, back in, so on. And then also you'll find that some of the characteristics of this man have come out in his descendants. That should be understood. For instance, now I often tell parents, because I saw it myself, that if you see some traits in children, I've had mother say, I don't know who she picked that up from. You know. The mother never seems to know who the child picked it up. But I always say, well, either she got it from you or him. The child just takes the characteristics from the parents, from the ancestors. And it's an amazing thing how features come out in children that were already observed in the parents. Now I'm going to suggest that likewise the Spirit of God has taken things about Jacob, put them on record here. And you'll find some of these things developing and coming out in his descendants, but better still. I know that most of you here, I would say about eighty-five percent of you here and what you know about Jacob, you have always condemned him. Moralette. But you'll find as you study the life of Jacob, you'll come to know him better. You'll have more sympathy for him. And perhaps you'll find there's an awful lot of Jacob in you. Now I found a lot of Jacob in me. And so therefore I learned in a way to have a little sympathy with Jacob. Now tonight we're going to take him in one big movement of his life. We're going to take him tonight. From the house of disorder. That's where he started. In the house of disorder. And we're going to take him out of the house of disorder. And we're going to take him right over to the house of order. So these two things stand in contrast. From the house of disorder to the house of order. Let us commence our reading then in Genesis chapter twenty-six. There's the twenty-five. Genesis twenty five And read it verse twenty seven Genesis twenty five verse twenty seven And the boys grew And Esau was a cunning hunter A man of the field And Jacob was a plain man Dwelling in tents And Isaac loved Esau Because he did eat of his venison, but Rebecca loved Jacob. Now, may I suggest to you right here, we've got a key to something. In these two verses, the Spirit of God tells us why this house became the house of disorder. There were two boys in the house. One was Jacob and one was Esau. Twins, if you like, although Esau actually was the firstborn. Now here's a father and a mother, and they've got twin boys. Now what I have seen of twins is this, that the parents usually try to dress them alike, and what is bought for one is bought for the other. You can't do something for one twin without doing it for the other. You know, twins must be kept alike, so to say. But here was something different. It distinctly says here that Isaac loved Esau, and it gives us the reason. And Rebecca loved Jacob. He is a house of disorder. Where the mother is showing her affection for one... And the Father is showing his affection for the other. Now I want you to note carefully now. It says that Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field. Now I'm addressing tonight a group of men and women who have been studying their Bibles, I suppose, for a number of years. And you've sat under some outstanding ministry. And I don't need to go into the details to show you that the field in the Bible speaks of the world. So the Lord said so, didn't he? In giving the interpretation of the parable, the field is the world. He is a man who is a man of the field. And what he brought in from the field is father liked. And because his father liked it, he loved Esau. Rebecca, that love was for Jacob. Now that leads on to a little incident that has to do with the position of the fifthborn, which we'll pass over for a moment, and we'll come to chapter twenty-seven. Now in chapter twenty-seven, we have quite a lengthy chapter that brings before us the four particular characters in this whole. Isaac the father, Rebecca the mother, and Esau and Jacob the two sons. Now I'm going to suggest to you right here. Here is the house of disorder. It's a divided whole. Each one having their own particular desires, and each one having their own devices in order to carry out their own desires. To put it in modern language, which our young people do understand today, is that in chapter twenty-seven, everyone is going to do their own things. Now that just corresponds with what we have later on with regards to the nation. If they come to the nation, there comes a time when... There was no king in Israel, and every man was doing that which was right in his own eyes. Now you show me the home where everybody is doing their own thing and doing it their way, and you have a house of disorder. Our mother used to say, now this table will be set at five o'clock. If you're in at five o'clock, you eat. If you come in any time between five and six, you can have your supper. If you come in after six o'clock, the table will be cleared. There'll be nothing on it. So be in at the right time. And we knew we had to be in. My father used to say, you know, in the old days, you used to have a big key in the door. They had little keys, you know. But you couldn't carry around one of those big keys in your pocket too easy. We had a special place where we hid it outside, if you're all going after. My father would say, that door will be locked at such and such a time, and you'll be in. If you're not in at that time, I'll have to know the reason why. And I tell you, he had to. He had to know where we had been, and he had to know who we had been with. Because he had authority in the house. That's the way it should be. Now, in this house, things were in a state of disorder. As we've seen in a moment, a divided home. Now I'm going to give you four words that will describe each character. In Isaac the Father, I see the marks of declension. Declension in Isaac. And we come to Jacob, who's going to be the hero of our talks this week. In Jacob right here, I see he's marked by deception. He was a deceiver in chapter twenty-seven. But don't be too quick to blame him now. Somebody else is behind him. Take his brother Esau. The one who was prepared to sell his birthright in chapter twenty five. Now in chapter twenty seven he's marked by despair. Because he's lost the blessing. There's despair in Esau. And poor Rebecca, who had a lot to blame for it all. Not for all of it, but for most of it. Poor Rebecca is marked by distress. So here's the four things that mark the house of disorder. There's declension. There's deception. There's despair and distress. Let's read some of the chapter and we'll see how these things work out. Verse one. And it came to pass that when Isaac was old and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son and said unto him, My son, and he said unto him, Behold, here am I. And he said, Behold, now I am old. I know not the day of my death. Now therefore take, I pray thee thy weapons, thy quiver, and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison, and make me savoury meat, such as I laugh, and bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul may bless thee before I die. Let us pause here, Mark. Declension in Isaac. Here's a man who knew perfectly well. that the blessing of God came to him although he was not Abraham's firstborn. You will remember Ishmael was Abraham's firstborn. But Isaac of course was the firstborn through Sarah. And the blessing of God would not go to the son of the born woman. That is God's blessing was not to go to Ishmael. But the blessing that was promised to Abraham would be passed on to Isaac, the son of faith. He knew that. He also knew when his two boys were born, Esau and Jacob, that a principle was made known to him, that the elder would serve the younger, which obviously suggested that the blessing would go to the younger. That was Jacob. Now Isaac knew that. And yet here's a case here where he says, no, I don't want to pronounce the blessing on Jacob. I want to pronounce the blessing on Esau. Why? Well, we read it in chapter twenty-five. Jacob loved Esau. Why? Well, because he liked the savory meat that Esau could make for him as he went out to the field and got the venison and so on. Because of those natural desires. And if Esau could come along and bring that which would satisfy the natural desires of his father, he said, I would like to pronounce the blessing on Esau. So my son, go and do it. Go, get the medicine. Make me savoury meat. When I feel nicely disposed toward you, oh, I'll be able then to pronounce the blessing on it. Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim. Taking the natural... to illustrate the spiritual. He was a man who had lost his vision. Lost his vision. Beloved, a lot of us here tonight have been losing our normal natural vision. See that? You're the same as me. When I went to get glasses first, I didn't know I needed glasses. I was having a little trouble reading. Saw little things like bird jumping up and down on the pages and I wondered what was happening. So I went to the doctor. Oh, he says, it's your eyes. You'll have to get glad. He says, how old are you? I said, forty-one. He says, it's your age. Are you telling me I'm old? I said, no, no. But he said, after forty, you know your sight is never the same. Well, he said, I'll take your word for it. I had to start wearing these things too, the same as a lot of you in here to a natural vision. But I hope, beloved, that if you're losing your natural vision, you're not losing your spiritual vision. I hope you can still see things with your spiritual eyes. It's amazing how some people get cold and begin to backslide when they get old, you know. Because this Isaac was old, his eyes were dimmed. so that he could not see. Here's a man in declension, and he wants to do the thing that's wrong. And I want you to notice now that what he wants to do, and this will come out in a moment or two, but let me mention it now. Here's a man who's going to be guided by his senses. Now, we're hearing an awful lot today about this extra sense that people are going in for. I wish they're going for the correct extra sense, which is the guidance of the Spirit of God. That's the extra sense. But here the men, first of all, he takes savory meat. He thought it was venison and it was goat. Now, I don't know what goat meat tastes like at all. At least I don't think I do. I may have taken some time and didn't know what it was. But in some countries, they love the goat. Some love lamb. I love lamb, but I can't get it over here at all. They give you a lot of old mutton, but how long it time for a real piece of roast lamb with mint sauce. But you can't get it here at all. This old mutton doesn't taste the same. But he got the goat stew, savory meat made with goats. And he took it and didn't know the difference between that and venison. So I suggest his wife was very good in the kitchen. She knew how to tone the things up or tone them down to make them taste right. But he was a man who was guided by taste. He said, let me take the savory meat. The taste was all right. Nothing wrong with that. Then later on he said to his son, let me feel you. Touch. He used his hands to feel his son. Touch seemed to be all right, guided by touch. Then later on he says, come a little nearer. And he came nearer and he smelled that garment, which was the garment of the firstborn. And Jacob put it on. We'll come to that in a moment or two. And he could smell it. He said, it smells all right. See, there was nothing wrong with his smell. Didn't see to be anything wrong with his touch. He could feel all right. Nothing wrong with his taste. He could taste. So he was going to come to the senses. He couldn't see too well. Of course, his eyes would dim. But what about his ears? Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. But he was a man who didn't lend his ear to listen to God. He lent his ear. And he heard a voice. And he says, Now, that doesn't sound like Esau's voice, though. yet he wasn't prepared to accept that. Guided by those other things, faith cometh not by seeing, not by tasting, not by touching, faith cometh by hearing. And hearing by the Word of God, may I suggest this man was not acting on faith here at all. Now this is going to be a very important thing. And I hope to point this out to you just as we close our meeting tonight. That is, on what strength did he give the blessing to Jacob. It's obvious at this point it was not according to faith. Yet when I come to Hebrews eleven it says by faith he blessed Jacob. And we'll try to point that out at the end and show you where it fits in. At this point he's not acting in faith at all. He's being guided by his natural senses showing the man is in declension. Now let us come to Jacob for a moment. For it's Jacob we want to follow through. I suggest right here the word that marks Jacob in chapter twenty-seven is deception, but let us beware now he's living in a broken home, a divided home where things are not what they should be. And when things are not what they should be between the father and the mother, how can you expect things to be right between the children and the parents? And you one friend, one home, were the two boys, same as this, father and mother. Father and mother weren't speaking to each other. And the father would say to his boys, Don't ask your mother such a thing. She could hear him. Don't ask your mother such a thing. And he'd go and ask his mom, she'd say, Go back and tell your dad such a thing. Boy, what a state of affairs. How could you expect these boys to grow up to do what's right? Let's beware about it. Things have got to be right in the home first. So poor Jacob was brought up under these conditions. And here's what happened. Verse five. Read it with me. And Rebekah heard when Isaac spake to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt for venison and to bring it. And Rebekah spake unto what? These were Jacob her son. saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying, Bring me venison and make me savoury meat that I may eat, and bless thee before the Lord, before my death. Now therefore, my son obey my voice, according to that which I command thee. Go now to the flock. Fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats, and I will make them savoury meat for thy father, such as he loveth. And thou shalt bring it to thy father that he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his death. And Jacob said to Rebekah, his mother, Behold, Esau, my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. My father, Peradventure, will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver. And I shall bring a curse upon me, not a blessing. And his mother said unto him, Upon me, be thy curse, my son. Only obey my voice, and go fetch them. So he went and got them. She made the savoury meat. And look at verse eighteen now. It comes in with his savoury meat. and he came in unto his father and said, My father, and he said, Here am I, who is thou my son? And Jacob said, Unto his father, I am, he saw thy firstborn. I have done according as thou didest me. Arise, I pray thee. Sit in need of my venison, that thy soul may bless me. And Isaac said unto his son, How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son? He said, Because the Lord thy God brought it to me. And Isaac said, Unto Jacob, Come near, I pray thee. that, I think to you will be my son. Will thou be my very son Esau or not? And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father. He felt him and said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands of the hands of Esau. And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy in his brother Esau's hands. So he blessed him. He said, Are thou my very son Esau? He said, I am. He said, Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son's venison, that my soul may bless thee. He brought it near to him, and he did he. And he brought him wine, and he drank, and his father Isaac said to him, Come near now, kiss me, my son. And he came near and kissed him, and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed. Let's come to Jacob now. So remember now, I have emphasized here that it says, She spoke unto him her son. He said, my son, obey my voice. Now later on Jacob's going to learn to obey another voice, but here he's listening to the voice of his mother. Now in connection with Rebecca, let me say this, in all fairness to her, she knew what was the right thing. She knew that Esau was not to get the blessing. She knew that Jacob was to get the blessing. Now the end that she had in view was right. The method she used was wrong. Now right ends never justify wrong methods. As a lot of people think they do. Even in religious matters. So think if the end in view is right, then it's all the same how you get there as long as you get it. No, it isn't. It's got to be done in God's way or else it's not the right way. Now right ends never justify wrong methods. Here was a woman who had the right end in view, but she went the wrong way about it. And she paid a heavy price for what, Jacob? Jacob, at this point he goes in. He's going to deceive his father. But the man who's going to deceive his own father here will have to learn in later years that his sons are going to deceive him. Whatever a man sow is, that shall he also read. And the very things that he used and the methods he employed to deceive his father, his sons will use the same means and the same methods to deceive him. He's going to come back on him. If a man roll a stone up a hill, it'll come back on him. Sure enough. Now, let me draw your attention to this. That Jacob, first of all, was a deceiver. He deceived his own father. He deliberately stood there and said, I am Esau. That was deception. He was not Esau. He was Jacob. And you see, how could a man like that tell lies? Well, that's a good question. I've often wondered how some other people can tell lies so blatantly and try to persuade themselves of telling the truth. You know, the scriptures are very, very firm on these things. Very firm. They hear the man who deceives his own father by telling lies. Not only so, but he acted the hypocrite. See how he went and dressed up like Esau? He put on Esau's robe. The robe that belonged to the Pope was on. He put that on. so that if he saw the smell of him he would smell the perfume coming off the road that was specially kept for the foodborne. That's a stage actor. You know a man who dresses up to look like someone else. And you know the Bible word for that is the hypocrite. A hypocrite is a stage actor. A hypocrite is one who pretends to be someone that he isn't. Now Jacob played the part here well. He pretended to be Esa. Used to be the days long ago, you know, when men wore gloves. Even the ladies don't wear them now. Of course, you don't need them in Florida. It's so warm. But the days when men wore kid gloves. Man about town, you know, had to have his walking cane and his kid gloves. Not now. Anything's in fashion nowadays. Anything. However, in these days, and I remember a man who said he was going to speak on the man who wore the fur collar and the kid gloves. And they all came along to see who he was. And it was Jacob. He put the kid gloves on all right. Skins of the kids, the goats, put them on. And also around his neck, a nice fur collar. And so when his father fell to be safe, he used like he thought. He was a man pretending, playing the hypocrite. And watch a hypocrite can move in religious circles. For when his father said to him, How was it that you found it so quickly, my son? Again, he tells lies about it, but he acts the hypocrite, and he makes it a religious thing. Why, he says, Because the Lord thy God brought it to me. What a downright piece of deceivory in bringing the name of the Lord into it. You know how people can talk so glibly and use the name of the Lord. I'm always a little... I like people to talk about the Lord. Oh, yes, I said that this morning. It's nice when Christians can get together and talk about the things of the Lord. But, you know, some people, they use the name of the Lord glibly in all their expressions. And the Lord has nothing to do with what they're talking about. He says, because the Lord thy God brought it to you. And the fact is, he went out to the flocks and took them himself. Yet he uses the name of the Lord, and he pretends to be so holy, so religious about it all. It's all right hypocrisy. That's Jacob. A liar. Deliberately told lies to his father. A deceiver. Deceived his father by the way he pretended. A hypocrite. The one he did in bringing the name of the Lord into it. Deception. Deception. in Jacob. Let me remind you again we're painting a black background. Why? To show you that after all Jacob was not altogether to blame. For the simple reason he was brought up in a home where there was disorder, where there was division. If there is disorder and division in the home you know what to expect from the children. Let's be honest and fair about it. And this is the background of Jacob. I'll leave you to study at home what happens to Esau here and the despair that comes in with Esau when he knew what had happened. But at the close of the chapter, look now at the close of the chapter to find poor Rebekah. Look at verse four to three. now therefore my son obey my voice she's still at this game obey my voice why couldn't she said let's have a prayer meeting about it and see what the Lord has got to say about it that never came into her reckoning obey my voice and arrive flee thou to Laban my brother to Heron she was sending him away to a heathen country here where they worshipped idols Go to Laban, my brother to Heron, and tarry with him a few days until thy brother's fury turn away. Now I wrote in the margin of my Bible here, right at that verse, these few days became twenty years. And that's what you'll find in the study of Jacob. He never saw his mother again, far as I can see. She said, away you go for a few days until all the anger of your brother has died down and... I'm going to send for you, you'll come back again. Over twenty years before he came back, never saw his mother. Verse forty-five, till thy brother's anger turned away from thee and he forget that which thou hast done to him, then I will send and fetch thee from sin. She never did. Why should I be deprived also of your boast in one day? She said, if your father dies, Now your brother is going to wait until we've done with the morning and he's going to kill you and I'm going to lose both of you. Now why should I? You run away and wait. She thought Isaac was dying here. Isaac didn't die for a long time after this. Now let's come to chapter twenty eight. Verse one. And Isaac called Jacob and blessed him. Now I have understood that in my Bible and I put a little note in it the side. Hebrews eleven twenty. There's why I mentioned to you that the blessing of chapter twenty-seven was not the blessing according to faith. The blessing of chapter twenty-eight is the blessing according to faith. Isaac has learned his lesson by what has happened. And now as Jacob's going away he knows now he's got to do the right thing. And so he confirms in chapter twenty-eight the blessing. And this I suggest to you is the blessing of faith. as referred to in Hebrews chapter eleven how he blessed Jacob. And Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and charged him and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan and so on. And he sent a way to Paden Aram. Now verse ten, he's on his way to Paden Aram now at verse ten. And Jacob went out from Beersheba and went towards Haram. and he lighted upon a certain place and tarried there all night because the sun was set. And he took of the stones of that place and put them for his pillows and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed. And behold, a ladder set up on the earth and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham, thy father and the God of Isaac. The land whereon thou liest to thee will I give it, and to thy seed, thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south, and in thee, and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land. For I will not leave thee until I have done that, which has spoken. of the earth. And then Jacob wakens up. Now I want to note verse eighteen and Jacob rose up early in the morning and took the stone that he had put for his pillows and set it up for a pillar. Now notice from this place on every time you come across this statement it's worth noting Jacob was a great man for raising pillars. Abraham was a man who was always building altars. Isaac was always digging wells. Jacob was raising pillars. He come to Joseph. He was always associated with dreaming dreams. And it's remarkable how these things mark the lives of these men. Jacob was always raising pillars as memorials. Verse nineteen, and he called the name of that place Bethel. And the name of that city was called Luz at the first, and Jacob bowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, I will give me bread to eat and raven to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace. There shall the Lord be my God. This stone which I have set for a pillar shall be God's house. And of all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give the tenth unto thee. Now here's Jacob. He's had to leave the house of disorder, and God brings them right to the house of order at Bethel, the house of God. How can you expect anything else but order in the house of God? What does Paul say to Timothy? These things I have written that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, the church of the living God. There's a behavior that becomes a house. There's an order that all things be done decently, and... in order. Now Jacob is on his way to Paden Aram. He's out of the house of disorder. He's leaving the land, and God breaks into his life. Right here in Bethel. It has been pointed out by others, and I pointed out to you tonight, there are three main things to be noted here. There's the vision, what he saw. There's the voice, what he had, and there's the vow, what he said. Now in connection with the vision, you'll notice there are three things. There was a ladder, there were angels, and there was the Lord. He saw this ladder and it was set up on up and reaching to heaven, suggesting that right here there was communication with heaven. Back in chapter twenty-seven, there was no communication with heaven. The head of the house was in declension. There's no record of any prayer meetings, no record of any worship, no record whatsoever of acknowledging God in any way. Each man doing his own thing, trying to achieve their own end. House of Disorder. Right here in chapter twenty-eight, God brings them to Bethel. It is Jacob. The first thing you'll have to learn is this. In this house of order, there's communication with heaven. There's a ladder set up on us touching heaven. Then he noticed another thing. As he looked at that ladder, he saw there was angels going up and coming down. Now, if you and I had been writing that, we would have said the angels were coming down and going up. Well, not so. They were going up and coming down. And they weren't getting into anyone's way, you know. There was no collisions on that highway. And it was just two ways. They're going up, they're coming down. They were going up, first of all, to get their orders. And they were coming down to carry them out. Up first, get their orders from God, and come down and carry them out. What is that? There was concord with heaven's servants. They were just doing whatsoever they were commanded. Now, if that had been true in the home that he had left, What a difference there would have been if Isaac and Rebecca had been obeying the Lord and teaching the boys the same thing. There would have been perfect concord, perfect harmony. God's teaching of this now. He left the house of discord. He left that house there, the house of disorder. Now it says, God, learn this. With heaven doesn't, there's perfect order. They're going up. They're coming down. each one carrying out his own particular duty. But he saw something else. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham, thy father, and so on. He saw that the Lord had perfect control over all his own work. You know, beloved, it takes a lot of us a long time to learn these things. We're like the man that put out his hand to steady the ark. We're always trying to steady up the things of God and have them carried out our way. Telling some folks this recently, I said, look, the best thing you can do is get on your knees and have a prayer meeting. Commit and commend the whole matter to the Lord, and the Lord has a hundred and one ways in which he can correct things and carry things out. And he'll do it a lot better than you could do it. I've learned just to commit things to the Lord and leave them with him. He knows a lot more than we know. And, you know, the Lord is controlling. By the way, I've been a little bit upset within recent years of some people who profess to be Christians who don't accept this truth. See, I was brought up under this teaching, and I believed it. That God was working all things after the counsel of his own will. And I still believe that. There'll be no reason for altering my mind on it because the scripture teaches that. He's working all things after the council of his own will. And whether it be a dictator in Russia that rises up or a dictator in Rome or a dictator in Berlin or a dictator in New York or Washington or London, wherever it may be, God knows exactly who are going to take the position. How long they'll be there and when they'll be put down. And God is propelling the ages along according to his plan. And if you and I will just happen to submit to his plan, even for our own lives, let us submit to him. It's a lot easier than fighting against him. The Lord has controlled. He's at the top of the ladder. He's looking down. And if Jacob had known this back in chapter twenty seven, it would have saved him a lot of trouble. There would be no need for him to have deceived his father. No need for him to have upset things in that home and tried to do it his way. His mother and him should have gone into the tent or into the room or wherever it was they were living. And they should have gone in. They should have had a prayer meeting and spread the whole matter out before the Lord. And the Lord could have turned the thoughts abide. Or he could have prevented Esau from getting the venison. It would have been an easy thing for the Lord. He stood at that and took the matter into their own hand and made a mess of it. Now says God, from now on Jacob, you'll learn that I'm in control. Leave me with the wheel. No backseat driving now. Leave the wheel to me and I'll guide you. Jacob saw that division. And then he heard the voice. Now, if the vision has to do with God's presence, the voice has to do with God's promise. What a wonderful promise he gave to Jacob. He said, Jacob, I'm going to protect you. Verse fifteen, behold, I am with thee, and I will keep thee. I'm with thee, Jacob thought he was alone that night, first night out. No tent, no covering, no soft bed that night, laid down on the grass, A few stones for his pillow. Looking up in the open canopy of heaven. And that's to be the great experience. First night out. Sleeping out. Lonely. Running away from his brother. Running away from home. Full of fear. Lonely. Oh no Jacob, you're not lonely. I am with thee. Did you ever feel lonely? It's an awful experience to be lonely. Awful. I remember when I was a boy, eighteen years of age, I had to leave home. Go away to work in the city. Nowadays they don't start to work when they're about twenty-six or twenty-seven, and even then they don't know what to work at. We started to work when we were fourteen. You worked and studied. Worked and studied. For weeks I wasn't in my bed till midnight, nothing in the morning, away my work. You did a whole day's work and then you studied at night. Well, when I was eighteen I had served my apprenticeship. I was out in the world. I was keeping myself. So I bought. Got into the city, I was going to make my fortune. Like a lot more, I met misfortune. I was glad to get home. But however, I'll never forget the second night in the city. First night there was a missionary meeting on and I went to that missionary meeting. That was great, to see about two thousand people at a missionary meeting. Oh, wonderful. Now I'm so tired, I got home and got to my bed, slept. The next night nothing to do. Work was finished. I now wandered around the streets to see the city. And I came down where the buses used to leave. And I saw a bus there. And on the indication board was the name of my hometown. Oh, you know. If I'd had the price of a fare that night, I'd gone home. Lonely. It's awful. Awful to be lonely. And thousands of people. A million and a quarter people round about you. Lonely. You ever felt like that? You ever feel lonely? That's what Jacob felt that night. And all of a sudden he heard the voice and the Lord says to him, I am with thee. Jacob, you're not alone. I'm with thee. Oh, there was protection from his loneliness. But he was helpless. If an enemy came on him, suppose there were some highwaymen there ready to jump him and take whatever little he had. Says the Lord, and I will keep thee. protection in his helplessness but Lord I don't know what lies before me I've never been this way before it's a new road to me this is a journey I've never traveled I don't know what lies before me tomorrow and I don't know what's before me next week Lord I'm full of fear for the future never mind Jacob I'll not only keep you in all the places where you're going but I'll bring thee again into this land But my brother Esau is here and he's ready to kill me when I come back. Jacob, I will bring thee again. Now his mother said, away you go for a few days and I'll send for you. God says, don't listen to her voice now, listen to mine. I will bring thee again. And God did. And God did it at the right time. Now he wraps the whole thing up in a beautiful pastoral and puts the bow on it. You know how you get a nice Christmas present. He wraps it all up. He says, I will not leave thee until I have done that, which I have spoken to thee of. Now some of you have seen a few years. You've traveled a long road. Let me ask a simple question. Does the Lord ever let you down? Now you and I must admit we've let the Lord down often, haven't we? The Lord has never let us down. He said, I will not leave thee. I have done that which has spoken to the earth. So Jacob gets up out of his sleep now, and he's so taken up with the vision he has seen and the voice he has heard. Makes an awful difference on him. Watch what he does. Jacob rose up early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put for his pillars, and he set it up for a pillar. Now watch this. The thing he rested his head on... and slept on, that's the thing he raised up as a pillar, as a memorial. You know, may I suggest that the trouble with most of us is we never rest our head on these things. The things we rest on are the things we can raise up as memorials, but we've got to rest on them first. We must feel what they're like. and experience them, and then we can raise them up as pillows of memorial. But he did something else. Watch what he did. And he poured oil upon the top of it. Where did he get this oil? I understand that in that part of the world, especially in these days, a man wouldn't go a journey without oil. So important. Do you remember the parable of the good Samaritan when he came down to the man who was lying to the wayside? He went to, he had oil and wine. Carried his oil. This thing that he would need for the journey. The thing perhaps that was most precious to him. He took his most precious commodity and he poured it out before the Lord. What a sacrifice. The very interesting thing about this, that later on you'll find that the descendants of Jacob, they came to a point when that nation was in a backslidden condition, they were selling their oil down to Egypt, trading their oil down to Egypt. I'm beginning to wonder where they're going to trade in a little while. They're going to get a lot more of it, it seems to me, and I don't know what they're going to do with it. But an oil in these days is a very precious thing, and Jacob poured it out before the Lord for the Lord. A little act of worship. Then we'll close by drawing attention to his vow. Now at this point, some people have criticized Jacob, and they said, here he is, he's trying to bargain with God. Well, and if that's the way you look at these verses, I'm not going to argue with you, but I'm going to be a little kindlier to Jacob than perhaps you are. I don't think he's bargaining with God here. He's accepting what God has offered. And what he's saying on the strength of that, now if that's what God is going to do for me, this is what I'm going to do for God in return. It's the principle of God's portion. He's going to give God a portion. And Jacob bowed a bow, saying, if God will be with me and will keep me in this way, not what God has promised to do. So in effect it's saying, since God is going to do this, now he's what I'm going to do. I, if I come again to my father's house in peace, then shall the Lord be my God. On this stone which I have set for a pillar shall be God's house. And of all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give the tent unto thee. Who taught Jacob that principle? Don't you think it was his grandfather Abraham? Remember, he paid ties to Melchizedek. So the principle must have been in operation some way or another. Jacob understood it in some measure. And so he long before the law was given. He said, I'm going to give a tenth of all that I acquire to the Lord. Now under the law, of course, the thing was compulsory. May I suggest that under grace, God expects it. When I come to the New Testament, here's what I'll learn about the principle of God's portion. It's to be given cheerfully. The law of love is a cheerful giver. I know we have some Pennsylvania Dutch folk with us. I once heard of one of the Pennsylvania Dutchmen who tried to express this. He said, then I give. It joys me so much. I just give it again and again. It joys of so much. Well, now that's what it should be, shouldn't it? The Lord love is a cheerful giver. Cheerful giver. To give and cheerful. Then you remember it's to be given systematically on the first day of the week. It's not a haphazard thing when letters come in from so and so and so and so and so and so and you just send them a dollar to say you didn't turn it down. You know the idea. It's not to be done like that. It's to be done systematically. And proportionately, as the Lord has prospered, I can't give what I haven't got. The Lord doesn't expect it. God only expects us to give proportionately. But he does expect us to give proportionately. Oh yes. And by the way, it's to be done intelligently. It's no use in man giving to the Lord what he should have given to the grocer up the street. There used to be a man called Nicholson. W.P. Nicholson. Strange character. but the Lord used them mightily to win souls. And he was having some, what they call in this country, revival meetings. And when Nicholson was there, they were revival meetings, you can say, for me. And he was having meetings in a certain place, and he was inviting the people in. And he went into this butcher store, and he was inviting the butcher. Oh, he says, you're the fellow preaching up in the mission hall, he said, yeah. I'm not coming. Oh, he says, that's plain enough. Yeah. He says, doesn't old Mrs. So-and-so go up there? He says, yeah, I believe she does. He says, I understand she takes part in the meetings up there. She's praising a prayer meeting. Is that right? He says, I suppose she does. And he says, if that woman goes there, I'm not coming. He says, what have you got against her? Why? He says, would you like me to show you her name on my books? And what she is owing me here? She hasn't paid her debts with me for months and months. Still comes in and wants more. He said, if she was to pay her debt, would you come to the meeting? They said, if you could get her to pay her debt, I might promise to come. So that night they were at the prayer meeting. So somebody told me that it was there. They were done on her knees, and as usual, she prayed. She prayed at the prayer meeting. Nicholson said, Amen. Amen. He wanted her to stop. She thought that he wanted her to go on. So you be careful, brother, when you say amen, that doesn't always mean they're going to stop. And so... When she did stop. Amen, Lord. He said, you've heard that prayer. Now, Lord, he said, will you give us the courage to go down and pay a debt to the butcher that we may be able to get him to come to the meeting. Amen, Lord. Now, is that the prayer being fresh? There's a so-and-so. You're stopping people from coming to this meeting. So you're going to pay your debt. He said, don't pray anymore. And she went and paid her debt. And the butcher came to me. Oh, that's prayer. And that's revival. It's no use given to the Lord what you should be given to the butcher or the baker or the candlestick maker. If you're due money to some man down the town, pay your debt first before you try to make a boast of putting your check in to the offering. That's plain speaking, but it's much needed. It's an awful business when checks bounce when they're supposed to be given to the Lord. to be done intelligently too and willingly. Willingly. Jacob said, I'm going to do this. I'm going to do it because of what the Lord is doing for me. We'll never be able to repay the Lord. You know that. But we should show some love for the Lord. Now that's Jacob. He's come from the house of disorder to the house of order. For Tuesday night, we hope to deal with them in the house of discipline and cover those twenty years when he was out of the land and see what God taught him for twenty years. Shall we pray? Father, take our thanks for thy kindness to us. Take each of us home now in safety. Be with each one during the hours of night. Give a nice rest to each one. Those who may be in pain, not keeping well, put thy hand upon them, bless thy dear children at this time. We ask it now in the seed of the seed. Amen.