Genesis 28:10-22 - God’s presence changes us.

I have a bad habit of being a chameleon.

You can ask Hilary about this.

She can tell what preacher I’ve been listening to just by how I talk/act.

Accents are really bad.

I’ve been watching this game-show, Traitors, from Australia.

I’ll tell ya, mate. It’s a great show.

My vernacular has began to be shaped by the Australian cadence.

Everything ends in a question.

It was similar when I went to Scotland.

We don’t notice how easy the presence of something in our lives can influence how we live.

Something happens when we spend time with a specific group of people.

Something happens when we do an activity repeatedly.

Something also happens, when we spend time with God.

Big Idea: God’s presence changes us

Context

Jacob has skipped town after deceiving his dad and stealing a blessing for his brother.

Before he left, Isaac brought him in and told him to go to uncle Laban’s house to retrieve a wife.

He knowledges the blessing of Abraham being passed to Jacob.

Esau has gone and married a Canaanite woman out of spite for his father Isaac.

Jacob is on his way to Laban when he sets up camp for the night.

Stand to read

Genesis 28:10–15 ESV

10 Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 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. 12 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! 13 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. 14 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 your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 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 you.”

Leader: This is God’s Word

Everyone: Thanks be to God

Up to this point, Jacob has shown very little regard to the Lord.

God is working on passing the blessing of Abraham down through the generations just like He promised.

He told Abraham that He would bless him and make him a great nation.

That blessing went to Abraham’s son, Isaac.

Now, God’s redemptive plan involves Jacob becoming the next patriarch in God’s story.

Jacob falls asleep and has this dream where the Lord reveals Himself in a specific way.

He shows Jacob a ladder that goes from earth to heaven.

This ought to draw out mind to the tower of Babel, where people tried to make a tower to heaven.

The man made tower was worthless.

We cannot make our own way to heaven.

God is revealing that His tower is established by God for God’s glory.

This comes at a time where Jacob is alone and an outcast because of his sin.

God is being gracious to Jacob by revealing Himself during a dark time for Jacob.

Jacob was not seeking God, yet the Lord came to Him.

Here, the Lord is revealing Himself to Jacob through a vision

He introduces Himself and speaks directly to Him (vv. 13)

The promise He made to Abraham in Genesis 12 is the same promise He made to Isaac in Genesis 26, and now He is making with Jacob (vv. 13-14).

The Lord is going to create for Himself a people that He will bless and give them the Promised Land and restore them to a right relationship with Him.

He adds an addition to this promise: His very presence (v. 15)

The Lord puts His seal on it—”I will be with you, and I won’t leave until I have done what I said.”

God is affirming His promise by His Word and His presence.

He is ensuring that He will accomplish His promise.

This amazing revelation leads Jacob to acknowledge the Lord!

He wakes up in terrified worship.

Genesis 28:16–17 ESV

16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” 17 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.”

This is an appropriate response to God’s presence.

The reverence he feels is absolutely appropriate because of the magnitude of who God is.

The eternal and sovereign Creator of all things just showed up and Jacob’s eyes grow really big.

He uses the phrase “awesome” to show this idea of holy fear.

Jacob is full of wonder and awe of who God is!

This dream is a turning point for Jacob.

Transition

Up to this point, Jacob has been a piece of work.

He deceived his blind dad, stole from his brother, and blasphemed God’s name.

He’s a work in progress that has a long way to go.

But He has just experienced God’s grace and now he is making this vow.

Genesis 28:18–22 ESV

18 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 the top of it. 19 He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first. 20 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, 21 so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, 22 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.”

In response to God’s presence, Jacob…

Acknowledged God’s presence (v. 17)

Built a pillar altar (v. 18)

Promise a tenth of all that God gave him (vv. 20-22)

This is a different reaction that we’ve seen in Jacob.

Granted, he’s trying to make a deal with God, but Jacob is struck by God’s presence in a way that he has never been before.

The Lord has just come to him and reminds him of the promise the Lord made with Abraham with Isaac.

God is saying, “I’m going to stand by my word.”

This does something in Jacob and we see genuine awe and generosity begin to well up in him.

Church,

God’s presence excites true worship

We have been invited into the presence of God to know Him.

We have a hard time worshipping because we do not know God.

God gave a vision to Jacob to introduce Himself.

God has made Himself knowable through His Word.

We get to know the true and living God by His Word.

There’s nothing boring about the Bible if you are seeking the Lord.

Proverbs 25:2 “2 It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out.”

Something happens to us when we behold God’s glory.

How can we know Him?

The vision of a ladder is a symbol of the theme “God is with us”

He sees the ladder connecting heaven to earth, with angels ascending and descending.

The most important part is that God is not absent.

Ministry of presence

The ladder is the mediator/go-between heaven and earth.

In the New Testament, Jesus began calling His disciples, and He reveals that He saw Nathaniel sitting under a tree before He actually got there.

John 1:49–51 “49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.””

Jesus points to this instance in Jacobs life to make the point that He is the ladder that connects us to God.

He is the link between heaven and earth!

Gospel Presentation

God has shown us His glory by sending us His Son, Jesus Christ, who lived a perfect life and died for our sins on the cross.

When we put our trust in Jesus, He brings us to God.

God has given us new life through Jesus Christ and promises to be with us through the Holy Spirit.

Not a Christian, you can have new life through Jesus Christ today.

You can turn from your past sin, trust in Jesus to save you, and have eternal life in Christ!

Church,

Jesus Christ is God with us.

There is no other way to be right with God but through faith in Christ.

In Him, get a taste of God’s glory and goodness

There is a freedom and safety with Him.

When we are in the presence of God, we feel alive!

Psalm 16:11 “11 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

This is why we sing!

This is why we raise our hands and our voices to God because we want to ascribe honor and glory to Him for who He is!

Jacob explodes in singing, “How awesome is this place!”

We see the glory of God in our lives and around us

We acknowledge His presence and His power

We sing to praise and worship Him because He is worthy!

We sing because we do not deserve grace, but God is good and has given it to us!

Right now, there are angels and saints singing praises to God because of who He is and what He has done!

We are joining into a song that all of God’s people are singing in eternity.

A song of thankfulness to our God who has forgiven our sins in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Church,

True worship shows our changed lives

Jacob had received God’s grace, although he was a scoundrel.

Now he knows that he’s encountered God and that God deserves his first and best.

This is where he promised “Whatever you give, I’ll give you a full tenth of it.”

This is where we get the idea of a tithe.

We want to be, first and foremost, the most generous of all humans.

When we are brought to life in Christ, we recognize that everything belongs to Him!

We give to Him our first and best (Money, attention, talents, opportunity)

Our whole lives are oriented in thankful true worship of God.

When we spend time in God’s presence, we will inevitably begin talking and living like Jesus.

We grow through the Spirit to be more like Christ.

This is because of the presence of God that leads us toward change.

How do we show that our lives have been changed?

By taking steps of faith toward Jesus.

Take the Next Step

Identify what needs to change.

Write it down and ask the Lord to change your heart.

Tell someone how God’s presence has changed you.

Invite someone to experience God’s presence with you.

Invitation to receive, repent, and respond