Promise Renewed
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This past week I was in Nashville.
This past week I was in Nashville.
I was with a group of men that I’ve been studying with for the past 2 years.
While in Nashville, we went just out of town, and visited Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage.
It was his personal plantation.
He grew cotton on the land.
It was his private escape from the pressures of the world.
It’s where he welcomed visitors.
It’s where he called home.
It’s where he died.
It’s where he was buried.
I was with a group of men.
After taking a tour of a museum, we took a tour of his home.
It’s this ancient mansion.
95% of the furniture and the things inside the home were original to the home.
It continued to be decorated the way it was when he lived there.
After the tour of the home, we then went to small area of the land where Andrew Jackson and his family were buried.
His beloved wife was buried there.
His children were buried there.
There was even a single spot, where one of his slaves was buried, right next to him.
There I was, visiting the grave of a man I’ve never met.
A man who certainly made an impact on the United States.
He was kind of the original Donald Trump.
He was one of the greatest presidents of the United States of America.
He was an incredibly influential man.
You can see the impact he made on people and our nation.
While there, we watched group after group, somberly visit his grave.
And then there’s me.
Who am I?
I’m not Andrew Jackson.
And who are you?
You’re not Andrew Jackson.
When you compare our lives, there’s this truth that I will never live up to Andrew Jackson.
Life doesn’t matter.
Your life doesn’t matter.
When you die, they won’t build a museum where you lived.
And people will never take buses to visit your grave.
You simply live, then you die.
It may be true that you won’t be famous and no human will remember you in that sense.
But you’ve got a bigger legacy then Andrew Jackson.
You have a legacy that is stronger than any President to have ever lived.
You have a legacy that is stronger than any of the founding fathers.
Your legacy is that you are created in the very image of God.
And being created in the image of God, you exist for His glory.
You exist to reflect the glory of God, the way the Hubble Telescope reflects the glories of God’s heaven to our small planet for us to observe.
When we were at Jackson’s Hermitage, it was a tale of his efforts on earth.
And sadly, they will be forgotten.
But your life on earth tells an even bigger tale.
Your life is to be a resource to tell of the great and surpassing glory of God.
Instead of a life that points to itself, it should point to God and be a testament to His efforts.
Which also is the central story of the Bible.
The Bible is filled with people.
It tells of what they did or didn’t do.
We can study their lives and learn something about the past.
But really it’s a story about the works of God.
The Bible paints a picture of the sovereign God, who not only exists, but is infinitely worthy to be worshipped.
Let’s open our Bibles to .
Read .
You’ve heard the text, now let me set the scene.
We didn’t look at it, but in the previous chapter, Jacob and his sons were passing through the land, and a man named Schechem, took Dinah, Jacob’s daughter, and raped her.
Rightly, Jacob’s sons were furious.
After the assault, Shechem decided he wanted to marry Dinah.
He claimed to be in love with Dinah, and wanted her more than anything else.
And, rightly, Jacob’s sons were furious.
They were furious about the violence done to their only sister.
They wanted nothing more than to get revenge.
So they plotted a scheme in retaliation.
They said they wanted to make a deal with Shechem and the people of the land.
If Shechem’s men were circumcised, then there would be peace between the two.
Jacob’s sons would marry the women of the land.
And the men of the land would marry the people who were with Jacob.
Shechem and his family thought that Jacob’s sons had come up with a good plan, so they agreed.
So on one day, Shechem, his father Hamor, and all the males, not just men, but males of the town went to the city gate, and they were circumcised.
When the men of the town were healing after their circumcisions, Jacob’s sons attacked the city.
They killed the leaders of the town and plundered the city.
Understand that Jacob’s sons and family are not an army.
They may have been violent, and attacked a city, but they are not a military.
They tricked, and attacked like pirates.
They did more than just bring justice.
They went beyond, and brought violence upon the entire region.
They were people marked for death.
As Jacob traveled through the Promised Land, he would not be trusted.
You couldn’t ever make a deal with him or his sons.
People never knew if Jacob would change the deal, change the terms, and respond in violence.
If you saw Jacob’s family coming, instead of them being welcomed:
The city gates would be shut.
Armies would be brought out to stop them.
Their lives would be on the line.
And it’s coming out of this that we come to our first point, God calls for His glory.
And it’s coming out of this that we come to our first point, God calls for His glory.
Jacob’s family are marked men.
They are hated.
They are dead men walking.
It’s like those old Wild West Wanted Posters.
It’d have a picture of an outlaw.
Then in big bold letters, it’d say, “Wanted! Dead or Alive!”
Jacob’s men are wanted dead.
And it’s in this condition, that God comes to Jacob in verse 1, “God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”
Imagine, it’s April of 1992, the Rodney King Verdict was just announced, and someone asked you to run a little errand in South Central LA.
Remember what was going on at that time?
The LA riots were going on.
Buildings were on fire.
Buildings were looted.
And there was violence in the streets.
My dad was a police officer at the time, and he was sent to LA to try and restore order.
I was glued to the TV screen, trying to find my dad on TV.
I remember watching the clip of Reginald Denny, the truck driver who was at the corner Florence and Normandie.
His truck was stopped by protestors.
They pulled him out the truck.
Beat him.
Kicked him.
A brick was even thrown at his head.
Then his attackers danced on the street heroically.
It wasn’t a safe time to go to LA.
It would be foolish to to to LA at that time.
God tells Jacob, “Go to Bethel.”
That’s like saying, “Go to LA.”
“There’s riots in LA.”
It’s not safe to go to LA.
“Go to Bethel.”
It’s not safe in Bethel.
“The people hate you in the Promised Land.”
“Pass through the towns.”
“Pass through the Canaanite towns.”
“Dwell among those who you’ve wronged.”
“Dwell among those who want to kill you.”
This sounds like a crazy plan.
It sounds like suicide.
It sounds like going to LA during the riots.
Now why would God do this?
It’s because God calls for His glory.
Why would God say go to Bethel?
It’s not because Jacob is a swell guy.
It’s not so that Jacob could build his legacy.
It’s so that the glory of God would be seen.
Here is a great truth as we go through Genesis, and it’s especially seen here:
This is written so we can see look what God did.
And this is incredibly encouraging, because God isn’t coming to worthy people.
He’s not coming to good people.
You ever notice that in the Bible?
I can’t think of many that are good, or that are perfect role models.
There’s usually a critical flaw, or an outright, awful sin that accompanies each hero in the Bible.
This isn’t a flaw in God’s plan.
It’s not like God forgot to do a background check on who He uses.
It’s to remind us that God calls for His glory.
If this was about us, then it wouldn’t be His glory, but it would be our glory.
You fit into this plan as well.
You fit this same mold.
There are sins of commission.
Things that we actively do that are wrong.
We see this with Jacob’s sons.
They lied.
They lied.
They were deceitful.
They murdered.
They stole.
This is not who I would pick to lead my people.
Then there’s also sins of omission, this is sin for failing to do what is right.
Jacob was the head of his family, and yet, he never restrained his family from idolatry.
When his family first separated from Rachel’s father, she had stolen her father’s household idols.
And apparently, this same idolatrous worship had continued even till now.
We learn in verse 2 that Jacob was aware of this sin, yet he’d never put his foot down.
He’d never corrected the situation.
He never acted as the leader.
He sinned because he failed to act.
The sons of Jacob - sins of commission.
Jacob - sins of ommission.
And here you are today.
You’re told that there is a legacy before you that is bigger than any president.
And you’re thinking I’m talking about someone else, not you.
You see your sins and your past, they stand out like a stain that you can’t get out.
You have sins of commission.
Things you’ve done, and you are filled with remorse.
You have sins of ommission.
And you think of all the things you should have done.
You are filled with regrets.
You are crippled with fear, and frustrated because you haven’t done more in your life.
Surely, I’m not saying you have a legacy that’s greater than the greatest of men?
But God doesn’t call because of your glory.
God calls for His glory.
You are reflecting His glory.
You are a blank canvas that He will display His skill on.
When you see a beautiful painting, you don’t say:
“Wow, look at that beautiful white canvas. Too bad someone painted on it.”
You admire the painting itself.
I’ve never heard anyone say the best part about the Mona Lisa is the canvas it was painted on.
You admire her strange smile.
You admire the strokes and the colors that compose the art.
God is calling you for His glory.
He’s painting something wonderful.
Think of who Jesus came to when He was here.
Jesus was called a friend of tax collectors and sinners.
In , Jesus describes who he came for, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
You fit the mold of those He came to save.
Your legacy isn’t about you, but you are actually here to display God’s glory.
God is using the unlikely.
, “God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.”
There’s the honor.
You are a vessel to be used by God so that He can show off through you.
You are the canvas that He is going to paint on.
So He calls you to display His glory.
“Look what I can do with this lump of clay.”
Next, God expects obedience for His glory.
Next, God expects obedience for His glory.
God expects for His glory.
God expects for His glory.
God appears to Jacob and says, “Go to Bethel”
Verses 2-3, Jacob takes action.
“So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments. Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.”
He begins cleaning up his family.
He begins cleaning up his life.
“Put away the foreign gods that are among you ...”
The change is to be complete.
“Change your clothes.”
Start fresh.
You come back from a camping trip, the first thing you do is change your clothes.
You’re dirty.
You want a fresh start.
See the pattern here.
God freely calls.
God doesn’t call perfect people.
He calls sinners.
He calls people who are unworthy.
And then they are expected to change, to repent, to turn from sin and turn to God.
Why does Jacob make this great change?
To glorify God.
To show that there has been a change.
No matter where you are at in your spiritual life, we are all called to repent.
We are called to take on sin.
To address sin.
And to mortify sin.
The example of Jacob strikes close to home.
Jacob is not some new believer.
He doesn’t have a mangey beard, or some drug addict who just hit rock bottom.
He’s been with God for a while.
The Lord has been a part of his family for a while.
His grandfather was Abraham.
Who God appeared to and made a promise to back in .
His father was Isaac.
Isaac was the miracle child of Abraham and Sarah, born in their old age.
Jacob was the son of Isaac.
He was born at a late age as well.
God predestined him to be the blessed son, before he was even born.
He had different encounters with the holy God.
And yet, do you see the sin that is in his household?
Idolatry.
Idolatry?
Yea, idolatry.
Even holy families are open to idolatry within the home.
What is an idol?
It’s anything that takes the place of the true God.
It is anything that takes our affections, that should be directed to God.
And it can happen within the home of a holy family.
We must guard our homes from idols creeping in.
Because it’s easy.
It’s easy to compromise Who we love because of what we watch.
It’s easy to compromise Who we love because of where we browse on the internet.
Your obedience to God demonstrates a love of God.
It shows that you think highly of God that you will do whatever it takes to honor Him.
says, “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.”
Your obedience to God shows that you have been born of God.
It shows that you have received the regenerating, life changing, miraculous work of God.
Therefore, your obedience to God actually brings glory to God.
Your obedience is not spotlighting you, it’s spotlighting He who is in you.
In , Jesus said, “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”
By this my Father is glorified - We often talk about glorifying God.
How do we do that? Jesus tells us.
By bearing fruit.
By obeying.
By proving to be His disciple.
So God has called you, how do you glorify God?
By obeying.
Jesus says, “By this my Father is glorified ...”
You want to glorify God? Then obey Him.
This point says, “God expects obedience for His glory” and that’s also because obedience is scary.
Have you ever been scared to obey?
We are commanded to evangelize.
We go out for Gospel to the Valley.
And you know what? It’s scary.
Each time we go I’m scared.
Then afterwards I rejoice.
Leading your family can be scary.
I know some of you dads are absolutely terrified to spiritually lead your family.
It’s funny, you can do the most amazing things.
You’re tough at your job.
You’re tough on the streets as you drive.
Some of you love a good challenge.
But then to lead your family in prayer, or to lead a small devotional with a 6 year old … that is suddenly the hardest thing in the world.
You are terrified.
Feelings of being unqualified rise up.
Your heart rate rises.
Your breathing gets shallow and fast.
Beads of sweat grow on your forehead.
All this because a 50 pound child, whose biggest accomplishment thus far in life is counting to 53, has no idea what comes after, is in front of you and you are supposed to lead her?
You’re terrified.
You have a character trait which is sinful, yet it defines you.
You know you need to change, but it means going to battle with who you are.
These things are scary.
When we obey, especially in these hard things it gives glory to God because you are acting on faith.
You are surrendering your own thoughts, your own desires and your own weaknesses at the feet of God, and saying, “Not my will be done, but yours.”
And Godis glorified.
You are saying, “I don’t know how this will turn out, but this is what you’ve called me to do, so I’m gonna do it.”
A couple years ago, I began reading a bunch of World War II books.
Most of the books were written from a single soldiers point of view.
They described assaults on beaches in France.
Advancing through farmlands.
Freeing villages.
Moving into Berlin.
Trying to survive on Pacific Islands.
Gaining only a few feet in a days battle.
When you read a war account from a single soldier’s point of view, there’s something you don’t get a grasp of, and that is the war at large.
There is a soldier.
He has an objective.
But he doesn’t know how that objective fits into the larger strategy of the war effort.
He has to trust in his CO’s plan.
And hope that this plan fits into the bigger strategy.
When we obey God in hard times, we are acting on faith, that our CO, Who in this case Yahweh, that His sovereignty and omnipotence will succeed and that He will be exalted.
We don’t know what His larger plan is, but we know it’s God plan, so it’s good and true.
God tells Jacob - Go to Bethel.
“Yea everyone hates you, and everyone wants to kill you.”
Out of obedience, Jacob went.
And look at verse 5, “And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.”
As Jacob walked out on faith God made it so that the very people who wanted to kill Jacob refused.
We can’t pass by this without being reminded of God’s absolute authority.
The will of those people was to bring pain upon Jacob for what his sons had done.
I’m so glad that God’s will is stronger than man’s will.
If man’s free will were the supreme and untouchable realm of God.
If man’s will were restricted from the hand of God … the promise would have ended here.
Jacob would have died.
His sons would have died.
Fast forward a few generations, there’s no Jesus.
There’s no sacrifice.
There’s forgiveness.
You are in your sins.
You go to Hell.
says, “The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.”
Man may want to do one thing, kill Jacob, but the Lord is able to change a man’s desires.
And this is seen by God not allowing those in the towns to pursue after Jacob.
And by the way, this also happened to each of you when you were converted, only in reverse.
says, “And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.”
Have you ever thought how you went from an enemy of God to a lover of God?
Because His will is greater than your will.
“The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord
When we talk about Jacob’s successful journey to Bethel, who gets the credit for it?
True he obeyed.
But he would have gotten nowhere had God not blocked the wicked desires of those around Jacob.
In Jacob’s obedience God received glory, because his obedience was done in faith; trusting that God commanded him for a purpose.
And by the way, this also happened to each of you when you were converted, only in reverse.
says, “And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.”
Have you ever thought how you went from an enemy of God to a lover of God?
That is a profound miracle.
How did this happen?
Because His will is greater than your will.
“The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord
Like Jacob who’s obedience glorified God because He obeyed, don’t we have that same opportunity?
We obey so that we would be a demonstration of God’s life altering - regenerating power.
Your obedience and repentance make you a living testimony to the power of God.
This past week, I was talking about one of the members of Southwest.
I was talking to someone who knows many of the folks who are here.
And I mentioned someone, who is being used by the Lord greatly here.
And the look in his eyes when I mentioned the name.
Because he knew this person.
And I got to explain that the Lord has changed this man’s life.
Saved his soul.
And made him an active part of the body.
And there was no, “Luke great job. You’re awesome. You’re the best pastor in the world.”
There was only, “Wow, isn’t God great?!”
Yes He is.
God receives glory in our obedience.
Next, God receives thanksgiving for His glory.
Next, God receives thanksgiving for His glory.
Jacob makes it to Bethel.
And then in verse 7 he makes an altar.
And there he looks back on the faithfulness of God.
He had safely made it through dangerous lands because of the strong hand of God.
And it was here, at this altar, where God had previously revealed Himself.
What is Jacob doing?
He is looking back on the faithfulness of God.
He is looking back on how God has brought him places.
And he worships.
When we worship, what do we worship for?
You ever leave church on a Sunday and reflect on the morning.
“How was it?”
“It was okay.”
“I didn’t like the songs.”
“I didn’t get anything out of it.”
The thing is, it’s not really for us.
We aren’t singing to ourselves.
We are directing our thoughts, and our voices, and and our emotions, and our minds to God.
Listen to .
In fact flip over to it yourself.
“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”
Verse 1 is a command - Bless the Lord, O my soul.
Theres the command to worship God.
Bless the Lord.
But not half-heartedly.
We bless Him with all that is within me.
I can’t do that distracted.
I can’t bless him with all that is within me if I’m distracted.
I can’t do that if I’m:
Thinking about tomorrow.
What I’m going to eat for lunch.
Who’s posting what on Facebook or Instagram right now?
I can’t bless him with all that is within me if I’m concerned about other things.
David continues into verse 2.
He tells us how to bless the Lord, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,”
How do we do this?
We are then commanded to forget not all his benefits.
And now we are seeing how to do this.
We lift our eyes to God.
We take our eyes off of ourselves.
Then we are commanded to think about what He has done for us.
Now we are getting specific.
We worship God.
Now we have a specific God, with specific actions that we are grateful for.
We are thinking of His benefits
And what has He done?
Verses 3-4, “who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,”
What has he done?
He forgives your sin.
All your sins.
He heals all your diseases.
This doesn’t mean that you never get sick.
And it doesn’t mean that Christians will not die of disease.
It means that there is a resurrection.
You may die of cancer, heart attack, car crash, but that won’t keep you dead.
God will heal you of it at the resurrection.
He redeems your life from the pit, and crowns you with steadfast love and mercy.
How did this happen?
At the Cross.
It was at the Cross where our sins were paid for.
It was with the life of Christ that you are secured.
It was at the cross where God demonstrated His steadfast love and mercy.
It was at the cross where He swore and paid to hold you forever.
Verse 5, “who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”
And it’s God who is our greatest treasure.
We live life and we accumulate stuff.
We are so proud of our stuff.
I remember one person, who while on her death bed, decided to remodel her home and get her floors redone.
We are so proud of our stuff, even to the end.
And yet, in Christ we are satisfied.
Paul says he learned to be content in all things, whether with a little or a lot, because he was in Christ.
He was strong even when he was weak.
Why is so much worship boring?
It’s not the tempo of the song.
Because we don’t spend enough time thinking about what God has done for us.
Jacob reflected back on where God had brought him, and he worshipped.
Have you looked back on what God has done for you?
When I was a kid we’d pray: “God is good, God is great. Let us thank him for this food. Thank you God for the birds that sing. Thank you God for everything.”
Don’t only thank Gof for your food and the birds that sing.
Go to the Cross.
This is important.
We need to continue looking back on what God has done, because we are not yet perfect.
Proof of that imperfection, proof of sin still remaining, is that we easily forget God’s mercy.
The only one who should be forgetting anything, is God.
What does He forget?
He forgets, or rather forgives our sins.
We should not forget how those sins were forgiven.
Our thankfulness brings God glory because we are reflecting upon His actions.
This is your legacy … to be a vessel to give God glory.
This is your legacy … to be a vessel to give God glory.
He calls - to demonstrate His love.
Perhaps that’s happening to you.
He expects obedience - to show you’ve been called.
Your obedience gives God glory.
He is to be thanked - recognizing His actions
This is what you have been created for.
Your legacy is not just what you do.
Your legacy is that you get to reflect the Glory of God to His creation.
So reflect it.
Love Him for His call.
Love Him in your obedience.
And love Him as you give thanks.