Jacob Prospers Exceedingly

In Ecclesiastes chapter 5. Solomon says in verse one, guard your steps as you go to the house of God. And draw near. To listen And that's what we're going to do at this point of Our service is listen to God as He speaks to us through His word.

If you guys can turn with me to Genesis chapter 30 for time of listening to God. Genesis chapter, 30. We are continuing in our verse by verse study through the book of Genesis, and as we continue in our study of this book, we come this morning to Genesis chapter 30. And we're going to be looking at verses 25 through 43 this morning and the title of the message is Jacob Prospers exceedingly.

That is the overarching Message of the passage that we will be looking at today. Let me start with this though, talking about a young man who was a troubled 17 year old from a broken home and never knew what it was like to experience love from his biological father. At the age of 17, he was tired of school, committing petty crimes and heading quickly in the wrong direction in life. Prior to his 18th birthday, he found himself standing in front of a juvenile judge at the Wayne County Courthouse in Michigan.

And the judge looked at this young man and said these words, quote, If I had a crystal ball and I could look into your future. I would see one of two things. Either 4 in the core or 10 in the pen once you turn 18. Unquote.

The young man took the judge's suggestion and joined the Marine Corps. And a couple of years later he found himself 4000 miles away in Hawaii. On June 10th, 1962, he attended an evening service at the First Baptist Church of Pearl Harbor, having been invited to that service by a pretty girl that he was interested in. He heard the gospel that night.

And while sitting on a rock wall in front of the church after the service, God visited him in mercy. And brought life to this young man's spiritually dead heart. This young man called upon the name of the Lord and was saved that Sunday evening. And 2 months later, 2 months later, he married the girl who had invited him to church.

And in the next 6 years, They had 4 children. One of whom was me. And my siblings and I have given to my parents 17 grandchildren. At my parents' 50th wedding anniversary celebration.

5 years ago, my siblings and I, together with all of our spouses, along with my parents' 17 grandchildren presented my mom and dad with a book containing each of our testimonies. Of faith in Christ. No one would have looked at my dad at the age of 17 and saw that coming. No one But God came into his life and lavished his mercy upon him, and God has made all the difference.

I see similarities between the story of Jacob and the story of my dad. Genesis 28 started out with Jacob as a single man with no children and in deep, deep trouble. He had stolen the blessing that his father had intended to give to his brother Esau, and now Esau is threatening to kill Jacob as soon as his father dies. And Jacob's mom is telling Jacob that he needs to get out of town and flee for his life to Haran.

That's not a great start to What turns out to be an amazing story, but it is here where Jacob's fortunes begin. To turn before Jacob leaves for Haran, we're told in Genesis 28 that Isaac called Jacob. To himself, and he blessed Jacob. And in that blessing, Isaac says in Genesis 28:3, may God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples.

May he give you the blessing of Abraham to you and your descendants with you. Jacob is a scoundrel who was given a blessing that he does not deserve by his father who is sending him up to Haran to find a wife. And with this blessing, Jacob takes off on A 500 mile journey north to Harran. About 3 days into that journey, God appears to Jacob while he is sleeping on a rock.

And God says to Jacob, amongst other things, your descendants will be like the dust of the earth and you shall spread out, literally, you shall break out. To the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and then you and your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. God then says to Jacob in verse 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.

Jacob didn't deserve this gracious visitation.

From God and he didn't deserve God's blessing, nor did he deserve these wonderful promises from God, but God speaks in his grace. Words of blessing. And words of promise into Jacob. In these verses and it melts Jacob's heart and begins the process of turning him from a scoundrel into a saint.

In Genesis 28:21, Jacob utters a vow in that moment to make God his God, and he continues on his journey to Haran. We've seen how Jacob gets to Haran eventually. And he ends up marrying Leah after 7 years of labor, and then he marries Rachel after agreeing to work for another 7 years. And in the 1st 7 years of Jacob's married life, we've seen how he has 12 children.

Clearly, this is an explosive breakout season in Jacob's life with regard to having children, and the explosion is going to continue in our passage. Today, in the last verse of chapter 30, we will read these words about Jacob. In verse 43, the text says, so the man became exceedingly prosperous and had large flocks and female and male servants and camels and donkeys. In the Hebrew, the first part of this verse reads, so the man was breaking out very much, very much.

Meo, Meod is the way the Hebrew reads. Clearly, God has been blessing Jacob in a number of ways and now here materially and our passage today details the story of how this exceeding blessing and prosperity came about. The way we'll break down our study of this passage is we'll observe six developments in the story of Jacob becoming exceedingly Prosperous. Development number one is Jacob tells Laban to send him back to his own country.

The story of Jacob prospering in Iran actually begins with Jacob going to Laban saying, I'm ready to leave and go back to Canaan. Observe what happens in verse 25. Now, it came about when Rachel had born Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, send me away that I may go to my own place and to my own country. Reading verse 25, you get the impression that Jacob is thinking it's time to move now that Rachel has finally given him Joseph, who is now his 12th child and Rachel's 1st.

And when you put the timeline Together, you realize that Rachel is giving birth to Joseph around the time. that Jacob is completing his seven-year term of service that he had agreed with Laban to work for her. Which means that Jacob has been working for Laban for 14 years total now. Jacob has served his time.

He's fulfilled his contractual obligations. So at the end of verse 25, he says to Laban, literally, send me away that I may go to my place and to my land. My place is probably a reference to Bethel, which was the place where God had appeared to Jacob and where Jacob had made a vow to the Lord. Jacob is anxious to come back to that place.

And my land is the promised land, which would have included Beersheba where his father Isaac is living. Jacob is wanting. To go home. And he thinks it's time.

Obviously he doesn't want to go by himself. He wants to take his family with him, so observe his request in verse 26. He says to Laban, Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me depart, for you yourself know my service which I have rendered. You Does it seem odd to you that Jacob here would ask his father-in-law to give him his own wives?

And his own children. It is odd, but keep in mind that Jacob. has worked for 7 years for Leah. And then he promised to work 7 more years for Rachel, which means that Laban technically could have taken Rachel away from Jacob.

At any point if he deemed that Jacob was falling through on his end of the bargain. If you'll recall Laban said, work for me for another 7 years, I'll give you Rachel. Jacob agrees, so Laban gives to Jacob Rachel. Then Jacob, Begins that 7 years of working.

Had Jacob fallen through on his end of the bargain at any point, Laban could have technically taken Rachel away from him. But evidently, Jacob has completed this additional 7 years of labor that he had promised to work, and now he's asking Laban to give official recognition of the fact that his service for Rachel has been effectively served. And so he says to Laban, give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me depart, for you yourself know my service which I have rendered you.

Well, Laban is not willing to let Jacob go just yet.

This brings us to the next development in this story of Jacob becoming exceedingly prosperous. Number 2, Laban offers Jacob whatever wages he wants. In order to stay. He offers Jacob whatever wages he wants in order to stay.

Observe what Laban says in verse 27. But Laban said to him, if now it pleases you, stay with me. I have divined that the Lord has blessed me on your account. Interestingly, this expression that the new American Standard translates, if now it pleases you, is literally translated.

As this way in the Hebrew, if I have found grace in your eyes. And this guy is the language of someone in an inferior position speaking to someone in a superior position. What this language means is that even though Jacob is Laban's son-in-law, even though Jacob is Laban's employee, Jacob clearly stands head and shoulders above Laban as the blessed one of God. And Laban recognizes this and is hoping in this moment that he might find grace in Jacob's eyes.

He says to Jacob, If I have found grace in your eyes, stay. With me He wants Jacob to continue. On with him for a particular reason which he gives in verse 27 saying, I have divined, or I have come to know by experience or in a conclusive way that the Lord has blessed me, Jehovah has blessed me on your account. He's telling Jacob that he's come to learn two things about the blessing that he is now personally experiencing over these last 14 years.

Number 1, that these blessings that Laban is experiencing are from Jehovah. And number 2, that such blessings have come to him because of Jacob being with him. Laban has observed that Jacob seems to have the Midas touch. Everything that Jacob touches, Jehovah turns to gold.

And Laban wants Jacob to stick around. As his employee and keep putting his Midas touch on everything that belongs to Laban. So observe what Laban says to Jacob in verse 28. And this would be great to have someone say this to you as an employee.

Verse 28, the text says, he continued, name me your wages and I will give it. Laban is willing to pay any amount of wages to Jacob in order to keep him. As his employee. Think about the fact that we're gonna learn, especially in the next chapter that Laban is sly.

We've already seen that. He lied to Jacob about the 1st 7 years that Jacob had labored for Rachel. He's deceived Jacob already. He's a sly character and when you realize that, you realize that one possible tactic that Laban could have used with Jacob in this moment is to quibble with Jacob over some technical violation of the terms of that last 7 years service that Jacob has just worked for Rachel.

Laban could have said, well, you, you failed to do such and such. In the last 7 years, so you still owe me and I'm not gonna let you leave me until you pay me. But Laban doesn't do that, and he would have if he had found something. Commentators say that this shows that Jacob has become an honest man.

who has served Laban with integrity. Laban cannot dispute or quibble with anything about Jacob and his service to Laban. All that Laban wants to know now is what he can pay to Jacob to get him to stay. And keep working for him.

How many of you are employees that work for a company? Just raise your hand. OK. Can I give you an exhortation?

Work for your employer. With such diligence and excellence and integrity that there will be nothing for them to dispute with you about regarding Your service for them and the company you work for. Be such a good employee that it will be hard for your employer to let you go. Pray for God's blessing on the company that you are working for and work to that end.

And may it be that your boss can look at you and say, I have discerned that the Lord has blessed me. On your account because you're here. And working for us. You wanna live a radical Christian life?

Here's one thing you can do, be a crazy good employee. At the company that you are working for. Your job is not just a place to serve your time and make some money for your family. It's a place where you shine as a light and show what godliness looks like in the workplace.

And I point this out at this point of the message because unfortunately a lot of Christians don't think and operate this way. My dad was an employer for many years. After he retired from the Marine Corps, and he actually came to prefer hiring non-Christians to work for him. Because he noticed that non-Christians actually were often better workers than the Christians that he had hired.

And that's really sad. The Christians that he hired seemed to expect certain benefits and leniencies from my dad because they knew my dad was a Christian. And my dad would come home at times and he would talk to us kids and he would say, if you ever work for a Christian boss, don't think that entitles you to certain extras from your boss. Him being a Christian should mean That he can expect extra effort from you as you serve him.

We will learn in the next chapter of the extra effort that Jacob makes in working for Laban. He's a very good employee who goes above and beyond, and Laban does not want to let him go. Name your wages, he says, and I will give it. We observe Jacob's response to Laban, verse 29.

But he, Jacob said to him, Laban, You yourself know how I have served you and how your cattle have fared with me. For you had little before I came and it has increased to a multitude, and the Lord has blessed you wherever I turned. Now Lapin has just already said this. And it may seem like Jacob is bragging a little bit here, but he's not saying these things to brag about himself, but to lay the groundwork for his question that we find at the end of verse 30, where he says to Laban, but now, when shall I provide for my own household also?

That's Jacob's question. Right now. Laban is becoming more and more wealthy on account of Jacob, but Jacob is not benefiting from all of that blessing. From all of that increase.

He's finding himself unable to provide for his growing family the way that he wants to, so his question to Layman is, when shall I provide for my own household also? Jacob's question is a good question. And it's a question that any man who leads a household should be asking. The apostle Paul tells us in 1 Timothy chapter 5, verse 8, that if anyone does not provide for his own, And especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

Guys, a godly man provides for his own household, even if he has to work 3 jobs and flip hamburgers to do that. We've got people in our church that have done that. If you are a husband and a father, a part of what godliness looks like for you is finding gainful employment. And providing for your family.

This might by no means Doesn't mean that a wife cannot work. In fact, in Bible times, most wives engaged in some level of industry, which helped to provide for the family, but providing for one's household is the man's burden to oversee and to shoulder. When shall I provide for my own household? That's what Jacob is asking here.

That's his burden and he's not being selfish. He has a growing household with 12 children, and he's right to say to Laban, Laban, I've been providing for your household through the work that I have been doing, but when shall I provide for my own? Household also. Well, Laban hears that and replies in verse 31.

It says, so he said, what shall I give you? He clearly wants Jacob to stay, and he's saying, tell me what you want from me and I will give it to you in order that you might be convinced to keep working for me longer. Well, Jacob replies with a most unusual answer, and this leads us to the 3rd development in the story of Jacob becoming exceedingly prosperous. And it's at this point, That you guys will need to put on your thinking caps.

and really work hard to track with us as we're working through the passage. Observe Jacob's response in verse 31, and Jacob said, you shall not give me anything. If you will do this one thing for me, I will again pasture and keep your flock. Let me pass through your entire flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted sheep and every black one among the lambs, and the spotted and the speckled among the goats and such shall be.

My wages. The key statement That Jacob is making here is at the very beginning when he says, you shall not give me anything. This is Jacob's way of saying two things. Number 1, you shall not give me anything today.

And number 2, I don't want my wages to come from you, but from God. To understand what Jacob is essentially asking. Laban for here, you should probably understand a few things. First of all, understand that sheep.

are usually some shade of solid white and goats are usually some shade of solid brown or black. And we can presume that this was at least the case. Among the sheep and the goats of Laban's flock. In terms of being a vast majority of the sheep being white and the goats being black or brown.

Yet in most flocks there are inevitably some anomalies. There might be a black sheep or two, and there would be a minority of sheep that would have dark streaks or patches or spots in their wool. And then among the goats there would be a percentage of them that had white patches or streaks. And their otherwise brown or black fur.

So Jacob is saying to Laban, basically this, he's saying, Laban, I don't want you to give me anything today. Let's do this instead. Let's remove all abnormally colored sheep and goats from your flock to where I am only left with normally colored animals in your flock that I will be tending in the days to come. Then from this day forward, any abnormally colored animals produced will become mine.

And all the normally colored animals. Will remain yours, Layman. When Jacob says, such shall be my wages at the end of verse 32, he's saying, in the future, Such abnormally colored animals produce will be my wages. As the Jewish commentator Nahem Sarna says, it is these uncommon types to be born in the future that Jacob demands as wages for His services.

Does that make sense so far? What Jacob is suggesting here should be easily verifiable. Observe what he says in verse 33. He says, so my honesty, and the Hebrew literally is so my righteousness will answer for me later, when you come concerning my wages.

Everyone, every animal that is not speckled and not spotted among the goats and not black among the lambs, in other words, The lambs that don't have black in them somewhere, if found with me, they're going to be considered stolen. Notice that Jacob uses the word later, and he says, when you come, like in the future concerning my wages. In other words, he's saying when you come in the future to check with me on my wages at a later time, this language makes it clear that Jacob is thinking of the spotted, speckled and striped sheep and goats that will be born in the future, not the ones that are presently in Laban's flock.

So this is fairly straightforward at this point, but for the sake of clarity, let me just repeat myself.

Jacob is saying to Laban, let me remove all the abnormally colored sheep and goats to where only normal colored ones are left for me to tend to. The white sheep and the brown and the black solid colored goats. Then, starting with that, from this day forward, any spotted speckled and striped sheep and goats that are born will be mine. And all the normally colored ones will remain yours, Laban.

And Jacob is saying to Laban, if you let me do this and create my own separate flock out of the abnormally colored animals as they're being born, then I will keep watching over your flock. Of normally colored. Animals. So does that make sense?

All right. This is actually a crazy deal that Jacob is offering to Laban, which reflects, either insanity on Jacob's part or an amazing trust in the Lord. In Laban's mind, this would mean that Jacob is going to end up with only a very small percentage of abnormally colored animals in the days to come, especially given the fact that Only the solid colored ones remain. In the flock at the beginning of this agreement and all the abnormally colored ones have been removed.

The Jewish Hamash. says that Laban would naturally jump. At a ridiculous arrangement under which Jacob would be fortunate to earn more than a mere pittance. Anyone listening in on Jacob offering this deal would think that the whole arrangement is going to be entirely to Laban's advantage and not to Jacob's, and that Jacob is a fool for offering this.

Well, Laban responds in the most interesting way. Normally Laban would probably act disinterested in any initial offer. No matter how good it is, but this offer that Jacob's making is too good for that. This leads us to the next development in the story of Jacob becoming exceedingly prosperous.

Number 4, Laban happily agrees, yet acts to limit Jacob's potential. Wages First of all, Laban agrees with Jacob's offer. Look at verse 34. Laban said, good, let it be according to your word.

Literally behold, let it be according to your word. Young's literal translation of this verse has Laban saying, Lo, oh that it were according to thy word. Laban is clearly excited about this idea and he immediately agrees before Jacob can change his mind. In fact, Laban is so excited about Jacob's idea that he starts removing all the spotted and striped and speckled sheep and goats himself rather than letting Jacob do it.

Jacob had offered to do it. That was part of the agreement, but Laban does it. Look at verse 35. The text says, so he, and, and we initially think that he is referring to Jacob, but it's not.

And the text as it unfolds will make that clear. So he, Laban, Removed on that day, the striped and spotted male goats and all the speckled and spotted female goats, everyone with white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep. In other words, any sheep that were either solid black or they had any black spots or speckles or stripes in their wool. And he, Laban, gave them into the care of his sons, verse 36, and he, Laban, put a distance of 3 days' journey between himself and Jacob.

And Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks. In other words, the normally colored ones that were left. Why does Laban do the separating himself? When Jacob had offered to do that as a part of the agreement, well, because Laban is a distrustful man.

Afraid that even one speckled sheep or goat might be left. Among the flock for Jacob to possibly use for cross breeding purposes. This is also why Laban puts a distance of 3 days' journey between these abnormally colored animals and the flock of Laban. That Jacob is left to tend 3 days' journey.

That's a lot of miles. He doesn't want there to be the slightest opportunity for Jacob to cross breed the normally colored animals of Laban. That he's been left to tend with the abnormally colored ones that have just now been separated by Laban and moved 3 days' journey away. So now Jacob is here.

He's made the offer. Laban has accepted. And here he is now left with the normally colored sheep and goats that belong to Laban, and the only animals that will become his on the road ahead will be the odd colored ones produced by this flock of now only normally colored sheep and goats. To be sure, it would be inevitable that these normally colored animals carry recessive traits that have not manifested themselves yet.

And there will certainly be some spotted and speckled and striped animals being born in the days to come. But under normal conditions, that percentage will be very small, which would mean that Jacob will get only a small percentage of animals to create his own separate flock as his wages. Laban, you can imagine, could not be happier with this arrangement. He and his sons are slapping each other on the back over this crazy deal.

That is so much to their advantage. Yet things don't go the way. Laban and his sons would have expected, and this leads us to the next development in the story of Jacob becoming Exceedingly prosperous. Number 5, Jacob manipulates the breeding of the flocks to gain.

Abnormally colored offspring for his wages. So here's Jacob with all the solid white sheep and the solid brown and the black goats of Laban and Jacob's left thinking, how can I get spotted, striped and speckled sheep and goats from these flocks of solid colored animals. Observe what Jacob does in verse. 37.

Then Jacob took fresh rods or branches of poplar and almond and plane trees, and he peeled white stripes in them, exposing the white which was in the rods. He set the rods which he had peeled in front of the flocks in the gutters, even in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink, and they mated. When they came to drink. The last clause of verse 38 is literally, and they, the flocks, became hot.

When they came in to drink. In other words, they became in heat. And they mated with one another. The question is, why in the world is Jacob.

strip these tree branches and put them in the watering troughs that the animals were drinking out of. Many commentators point out that, and there's evidence for this, that in ancient times, there was a conventional belief. That if you put visual stimuli in front of flocks when they are mating, then that visual stimuli could affect the outcome. For the offspring that they produced.

Based on that conventional wisdom, the thought is that Jacob is putting the striped rods in front of the animals so that they would see these rods as they are mating, and it would increase the chances of the animals producing offspring that would end up being striped or multicolored like the branches were. that they were looking at. Other writers suggest that Jacob strips the bark off these branches and stripes and puts them in the watering troughs because he wants The sap-filled contents of these branches to be exposed to the water and release chemicals into the water that the animals were drinking out of.

As one writer says, perhaps Jacob believed that this additive.

In the water would help bring the animals to heat. Which, by the way, is exactly what the Hebrew text tells us happened. When the animals came to drink out of this water with the rods. In it So all in all, it may be that Jacob is trying to engineer the production of striped offspring through this visual stimuli.

Based on some conventional wisdom of the day, or he could be just trying to speed up the process of mating among the animals as much as possible, knowing that at least some percentage of animals will come out spotted and striped and speckled, and then he could use those to produce even more abnormally colored offspring. To understand Jacob's thinking, there's probably one other factor that we should factor in. In the next chapter, we are told without any shadow of a doubt that God is the one.

Who will be causing the outcome of the spotted, striped and speckled animals to be born.

Jacob is going to say in the next chapter, in chapter 31 verse 9, to his wives, he's going to say, thus God has taken away your father's livestock and given them to me. God will even speak to Jacob in a dream in the next chapter and tell him that he is the one who is causing the striped and speckled and spotted animals to be born. So that Jacob could have them as his wages. So perhaps Jacob knows what God is going to do here.

Perhaps God has revealed this to Jacob in advance. Perhaps God had told Jacob to put the striped rods in the watering troughs as an act of faith, trusting that God would use the sight of the striped rods to perform the miraculous outcome of bringing forth striped and spotted and speckled sheep and goats. God can do miracles using any means that he wants, right? Whether it's dirt and spit in the eyes of a blind man and Mark 8 or a woman touching the hem of Jesus' garment in Matthew 9 or even Peter's shadow in Acts 5.

And God can even use striped rods in Genesis 30. To generate the miraculous outcome of his choosing. So there's a lot we don't know about what's going on here and what Jacob was thinking and what motivated him. But regardless of Jacob's intentions or the theory behind his actions, we know that it is God that will be producing the outcome that is recorded in the coming verses.

That's going to be Jacob's testimony in the next chapter. So he puts these striped rods in the watering troughs that the animals. are drinking out of and observe what happens in verse 39. The text says, so the flocks mated by the rods and the flocks brought forth striped, speckled.

And spotted. If what happens here is normal, like if the normal thing would have happened, the text would have said something like, and the flocks brought forth a very small percentage of striped and speckled and spotted sheep and goats, but that's not what the text says. It says that the flocks mated and they brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted offspring. Seemingly in a much higher quantity than one would have expected.

If not even possibly all of the offspring being striped and speckled and spotted. Clearly God has caused this amazing outcome to happen. So what does Jacob do with the striped, speckled, and spotted sheep and goats that have just been born? Look at verse 40 and I'm going to add some words.

to just maybe help us with the interpretation of verse 40. There's actually one commentator I was reading this past week who said there is no way. That we can know what this verse is saying. So you go to a commentary to understand what a verse says, and it's discouraging when a commentator says, I have despaired of ever having an understanding of this verse.

So I'm returning that commentary for a refund. but we'll do our best with this. I'll just add a few words interpretively to help us understand what may be being said. Verse 40, Jacob separated the lambs.

In other words, he divided the lambs that are being born based on their characteristics of being striped and speckled and spotted. And Then in the next mating season, he made the normally colored flocks face toward, in other words, mate with the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban. In other words, sheep that were either solid black or had any black stripes or speckles or spots in their wool. In other words, Jacob did not allow Laban's normally colored sheep and goats to mate amongst themselves in the next mating season.

He made them mate with the abnormally colored sheep and goats that had been produced from the first breeding season. This cross breeding would cause an ever increasing number of abnormally colored animals that would end up belonging to Jacob as his wages per his agreement with Laban. And lessen the production of normally colored animals that would end up belonging. To Laban Having produced that 3rd generation of offspring, the text says, and he, Jacob, put his own herds, in other words, the ones that are coming out striped and spotted and speckled, he put them apart and did not put them with Laban's flock, which were all the white sheep and the brown and the black goats.

In other words, Jacob is now starting to create his own separate flock of sheep and goats that belong exclusively to him. And now serve as his wages. Jacob isn't done though. He keeps on manipulating the breeding of Laban's flocks to produce more abnormally colored sheep and goats among the stronger of the animals.

Look at verse 41. Moreover, whenever the stronger of the flock were mating, In other words, of, of Laban's flock. were mating. So it seems that Jacob had divided Laban's flock between the strong and the weak.

And whenever the stronger of the flock were mating, Jacob would place the rods, the peeled and the striped rods in the side of the flock, in the gutters, in the watering troughs, so that they might mate by the rods. Doing this would ensure that the strongest sheep And the strongest goats would produce the spotted, speckled, and striped offspring, meaning that the strongest sheep and goats are the ones that would eventually belong to Jacob as his wages. But look at verse 42. But when the flock was feeble, in other words, when the feebler animals from the flock mated, Jacob did not put them, the rods in.

The watering troughs. This means that the feebler sheep and goats produced solid colored offspring that would eventually belong to Laban, which is why the text says at the end of verse 42, so the feebler were Labans and the stronger Jacobs. In other words, the feebler sheep and goats ended up being the solid colored ones that belonged to Laban, and the stronger sheep and goats were the speckled and spotted and striped ones that belonged. To Jacob We should keep in mind that regardless of Jacob's efforts to this end, the next chapter again makes clear that God is the one who is causing the outcomes of an increasing number of striped, speckled and spotted sheep and goats, and a decreasing number of normally colored sheep and goats for Laban, and all of this, no doubt would have happened regardless of Jacob's efforts to generate or manipulate that result.

God is very happy in the next chapter to take full credit for all of these outcomes, as we'll see next week. So what results from all of this? This brings us to the final development in the story of Jacob. Becoming exceedingly prosperous, and that is that Jacob breaks out with exceeding prosperity.

Look at the statement that is found in verse 43. So the man became exceedingly prosperous and had large flocks and female and male servants and camels and donkeys. Literally, the Hebrew reads, as I said at the outset of the message, the man was breaking out very much, very much. This is clearly a breakout season in Jacob's life and fulfillment of the promise of God.

As I mentioned at the beginning of the message, the same language was used by God Himself in Genesis 28:14, when he said to Jacob, you shall spread out. Literally, you shall break out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south. And we've seen Jacob breaking out in every direction with 12 children in the first several years of his marriage. Here we see him breaking out with material wealth.

But I know most of us read verse 43 and we're not overly impressed. It's not impressive for us to learn that someone has large flocks and servants and camels and donkeys. So we can word verse 43 in modern day language in this way. So the man became exceedingly prosperous and had large business enterprises with large numbers of employees and a large number of cars.

And tractors and planes and trains. This is Jacob's breakout moment in his life and now the blessing of God on his flocks is redounding to Jacob's benefit as wages, thus enabling him to provide handsomely for his family and bringing Jacob himself one step closer to being able to leave Harron. And head back to Canaan. Which he's going to do in the next chapter.

20 years prior to this moment, Jacob was a lonely man on the run for his life. God visited Jacob in his mercy. And chose to set his blessing on him. And what a difference the blessing of God has made in Jacob's life.

Jacob is now a married man with 12 children, and he's breaking out with this material prosperity. This is the power of God in Jacob's life. This is the power of God's mercy. This is the faithfulness of God to keep his promises that he had made.

To Jacob, God is a promise-keeping God. And as a part of God's blessing, I think we can rejoice to observe that it's not just material blessing that God is blessing Jacob with and a bunch of children. God seems to be changing Jacob into a man of righteousness. Jacob serves Laban with integrity for the 1st 14 years, leaving Laban with no fault.

That he could find in Jacob. We also see Jacob willing to clear the deck and start with only normally colored sheep and goats and trust God to provide for him the spotted and speckled and striped animals that would be his wages. That's a radical display of trust in God for Jacob. Commentators honestly are divided over the rightness and the wrongness of some of Jacob's manipulation.

Of the breeding of the flocks, but To his credit, Jacob tells Laban that he can count on him being righteous and only taking the sheep and the goats that are rightfully his, which is why Jacob set it up that his sheep. And goats would be known by their markings, something that's easily verifiable. Integrity, trust, and righteousness are, are not words that normally get associated with Jacob, but we see them beginning to fit here. Not perfectly But these words can be used to speak of Jacob because God is transforming Jacob little by little from a scoundrel to a saint.

My name is Milton Vincent, and I am a recovering scoundrel. And seeing evidences of growth and transformation in a man like Jacob gives me great encouragement. And hope for myself. We should also point out that we see patience in Jacob as well having a breakout season in our passage today.

But let's not forget that this breakout season was preceded by 14 years of working for a boss who had deceived him. And for wages that were hardly satisfactory. There's no doubt in my mind that those 14 years of difficulty. Help to prepare Jacob now for this breakout season of his life.

that he's experiencing now. Think about it this way, in the 1st 7 years of Jacob living in Haran, he had no wife and no wealth. In years 8 through 14, Jacob has a wife and 12. Children, yet no wealth by the end of the 14th year.

And then in years 15 through 20, Jacob breaks out with exceeding prosperity, a prosperity that did not come to him immediately or overnight. It didn't happen the day after his father blessed him. It didn't happen the day after God appeared to him at Bethel and said, I'm gonna bless you. It happened many years later.

It didn't really start material blessing until 14 years later, and the children didn't come until 7 years after God had spoken that blessing. So think about that for you. I don't know what God has in store for you. Perhaps you have a breakout moment, a breakout season coming on the road ahead, financially, relationally, spiritually.

You guys know that often such breakthroughs are preceded by difficulties and challenges and going without. That are designed to teach you to trust God and to shape your character in such a way that you can handle whatever breakout moments might come on the road ahead. Perhaps we have a breakout moment coming for us as a church on the road ahead. Or maybe you have a breakout moment coming for a ministry that you yourself are involved in.

Regardless, let's all be faithful to serve Christ with integrity and honor and to trust him and ask him to shape our character in such a way that we are ready for those breakout moments when they come. Finally, our story today. Serves to remind us of someone who's greater than Jacob, and that is Jesus. Back in Genesis 28, God had promised Jacob that he would bless all the families of the earth through Jacob and his descendants, and in verse 27, we see that God had already begun to do that.

Laban was being blessed on account of Jacob. Laban didn't deserve that blessing from Jehovah, but it came to him because Jacob was with Laban. And that's why Laban was reluctant to let Jacob go. In the same way those of us who believe And Jesus could easily look at Jesus and say, Jesus, please don't ever leave me.

For I have come to realize that Jehovah blesses me on account of you. Please don't ever leave me. And it's a great comfort for us in such moments to hear Jesus say to us, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. To hear him say, I will never leave you or forsake you.

As long as Jesus remains with us, we can know that we will be blessed of Jehovah on account of him. And the reason this is true guys is because Jesus was willing to be cursed of Jehovah. On account of us at the cross, bearing our punishment for our sins when he was being crucified on the cross, and he endured that cursing from Jehovah on account of us so that through his death in our place and his resurrection, he might bring us into the blessing. Of God.

If you've never personally invited Jesus to come into your life and to live with you and to dwell in your heart by faith and to stay with you, I plead with you to do that today and he will happily accept. That invitation And the thing with Jesus is you don't, you don't have to pay wages. To him, to convince him to come into your life and stay. In fact, he's already paid your wages.

The wages of sin is death. And Jesus paid that wage, he died on the cross for you. You also owed to God the wages of righteousness that you could have never been good enough to pay, and Jesus paid those wages for you. He's paid all that needs to be paid.

In order for him to be able to come into your life, and to be your Lord and Savior and your best friend. All you need to do is receive Jesus into your life and surrender yourself to his love and be saved. And if you do that, I know that you'll be able to join with us for all of eternity in heaven. And behold Jesus together with us and say, Lord, You are with us forever and we are eternally blessed of Jehovah on account of you.

And we'd love to have you join us in being able to say that to Jesus. Let's pray together. Lord, this is not just a story about spotted sheep and goats and Speckles and stripes. This is, this is our story.

Jacob is being prospered here and it moves him one step forward toward Returning to the promised land and from his 12 children will come a mighty nation, and from that nation will come a Messiah. who will come into the world and pay the wages of death and righteousness that we could have never paid so that he can save us who are willing to humble ourselves and believe in Him and invite Him into our life. This is just the early stages of our own story of how the gospel How salvation Came from moments like this, little by little, generation by generation all the way to where it reaches us here in the city of Riverside in 2018.

And we're reading the beginnings of it here.

We thank you for this amazing salvation you've accomplished for us, Lord, that was literally thousands of years in the making. That it might redound to our blessing and our benefit today. And may we be faithful to carry on this blessing to, to others. Make us good employees who shine as lights in a dark world.

Open our mouths that we would share Christ with those who need to hear Him, that more and more families of the earth would be blessed with the very blessing that was given to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob. And that comes through their great descendant Jesus Christ, who is our Lord and our Savior. Give us patience. Give us trust, make us a people of integrity.

And help us to be faithful, to bless you regardless of our circumstances. And when the breakout moments come that our hearts are ready, and we're giving glory to you. And we give all the credit to you and not to us. Not to us, oh Lord, not to us.

But to your name be glory and praise. Thank you for this opportunity to give of our offerings to you, Lord. Receive these funds that we give and this offering this morning. And do much with all that is given for the glory of Jesus.

And his work that's happening in this community and around the world to the missionaries that we support. We give ourselves to you in the name of Jesus. And all God's people said,