The Story of God: Encountering the God of Grace

Over the years I have met all kinds of people who have never encountered the God of grace; people who have never experienced God in a personal way; people who want to believe in God, but have lots of hang ups or roadblocks that keep them from God.

I was one of those people. I had lots of roadblocks that kept me from God. One of those roadblocks was that I had never met a genuine Christ follower. When I was in high school, we had over 740 people in my graduating class and I never knew a single person who claimed to know Jesus. I just figured that God was out there somewhere, but I had no idea if He cared anything about me.

Another roadblock was that Christianity seemed irrelevant to my life. I’d been to church a few times, and it just seemed like a bunch of religious mumbo jumbo. Why would I want to go get dressed up to sit there for an hour to sing songs that were hundreds of years old and listen to some guy talk who made no sense to me?

A third roadblock was that I knew that I wasn’t good enough for God. I knew I was a sinner. No one had to convince me of that. In fact, my idea of God was that He was angry with me, and if He were ever to have anything to do with me, then I would have to clean up my act. So basically I lived my life between a rock and a hard place… something in me longed to know God, but something else in me was afraid of God… so I spent most of my younger years running from God.

My guess is that some of you can relate to my journey of faith, and others of you have friends who have similar roadblocks: Maybe some have been hurt by those who have abused religion. Maybe some feel that church is irrelevant, or maybe some are as conflicted as I once was. And maybe that’s even true of some of you who are here today. And if that’s true, then you’re in good company. Because as we return to the Story of God, we find ourselves following the journey of a man who finds himself stuck between a rock and a hard place.   That man is Jacob, and we pick up his journey of faith in Genesis 28. Our text today is Genesis 28:10-22, where for the first time Jacob personally encounters the God of his father and grandfather, and we get to see how God awakens Jacob to faith. And the truth is, how God met Jacob thousands of years ago isn’t all that much different than how He meets us today. So, if you’ve found Genesis 28, lets begin by looking at verses 10 and 11 where we find Jacob finds himself stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place.

Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. Here is Jacob on his journey to Haran. He’s been sent there to find a wife. But if you were here last week, you know that he’s also on the run from Esau. Jacob has stolen his father’s blessing from Esau, and now Esau wants to kill him. So here is Jacob, the momma’s boy, who enjoyed being part of a wealthy family; the one who enjoyed being doted upon by his mother, the one who enjoyed the comforts of home. But now, he’s alone in the wilderness – the comfort of his parent’s tent has been replaced by a rock. Behind him lays Beersheba, where Esau waits to kill him; ahead of him is Haran, where Laban waits to exploit him. Even though he has his father’s blessing, life isn’t turning out the way he had hoped. He’s between a rock and a hard place. And it’s in this place, away from home for the first time: alone, afraid and uncertain of what the future holds, he is about to meet God.

Just before we made out initial trip to come to Arizona to see if God would have us come and start this church, Becky and I had the privilege of attending Intervarsity’s Winter Conference as guests. It was fun to go and see how God was at work with a bunch of College Students. But it was during this conference that God revealed something to us. At one point in the conference, the speaker shared that there are two times in an adult’s life when they are most open to meeting God. One is when you are away from home for the first time as a student in College. The other time is when you retire. Both times are similar to Jacob’s time in the wilderness! The comfort and security of what was once familiar is now replaced by uncertainty. And it is here in this place of vulnerability where God shows up. In fact, that’s what we see next. God Initiates the Encounter 

He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying.  Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.  I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

Now Jacob had a vivid dream. He saw three images: The first was of the stairway to heaven. This stairway represents God coming down to earth, a gateway between heaven and earth. The second is of angels ascending and descending this stairway. Now we know from Scripture that angels are messengers from God sent to guard, communicate and protect. We also know from Scripture that angels are “ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation” (Hebrews 1:14).   The third image was of the LORD Himself standing above the stairway. Jacob takes this all in, and then upon seeing God, God speaks. And as He does, God reveals His gracious nature to Jacob: And the first thing He reveals is His name:

I am the LORD… the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac.  When God shows up, He reveals himself to Jacob as Yahweh, the Covenant God, the one who exists for the benefit of those He loves. He came to Abraham and blessed him. He came to Isaac and blessed him. Now it was Jacob’s turn – the God of Abraham and Isaac has come to Jacob to bless him with His covenant love. And He begins to reveal His love by giving him the same blessing He had given to his father and grandfather:

I will give you… and your descendants the land on which you are lying.  Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.  I love Yahweh’s phrase, “I will give you…” What we see here is God initiating His relationship with Jacob with grace. He is giving Jacob what he does not deserve. This heel-grabbing deceiver who stole Esau’s birthright and worked in league with Rebekah to trick Isaac into blessing him, is now the recipient of God’s personal blessing. God has chosen to bless Jacob, not because he was good enough, but because if pleased God to do so. Jacob has no home, but God now promises to give him land beyond his wildest dreams. Jacob is estranged from his family, but God comes to him and promises to multiply his seed as far as he can see. To the one who stole the blessing, God promises to make him a blessing to the world.

God shows up when Jacob is at his lowest, when he has nothing and promises to gives him everything beyond his wildest dreams. For the first time Jacob meets God and in meeting Him Jacob comes face to face with the God of grace. It’s almost too much to take in. But there’s more. Yahweh now adds grace upon grace by saying: “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

I am with you… To a fearful deceiver on the run this most have come as a real shock. God had come not just to bless him. He had come to be with him, to watch over him and one day bring him back home. Let that sink in a moment.

This is precisely what God does when we put our trust in Jesus as our Savior. God comes into our life. We enter into a relationship with Him. He initiates the relationship, He comes to be with us, and He promises to stay the course with us until the last day. What a gift. We are no longer alone. The God who created the heavens and earth promises to always be with us.

This is the good news of the gospel. This is why Jesus is called Emmanuel – God with us. He came to us when our relationship with God was broken by sin. He came to us to be with us. Not so we might do stuff for Him, but so He could be with us. Sometimes we have it all wrong. We think the Christian life is about what we can do for God. But that’s not grace. Grace is God coming to us so He can do everything for us. And the greatest thing He does for us besides removing our guilt and shame is to be with us through the ups and downs of life.

This is what God did for Jacob. His relationships were broken because of his sin. He was alone. He was afraid. He was uncertain. But God came near and said, “I am with you.” This is the God of grace. This is the God of the Story of God. He came to be with Jacob, and He comes to be with you. Have you met this God?

Not only does He promise to be with Jacob, to be with us, but look at his next promise: I will watch over you… wherever you go.  Yahweh now promises to guard and protect him wherever his journey takes him. He’s never been to Haran. He’s always stayed close to home. These were comforting words. These words will fortify him for the journey.   With this promise, God says He will be there to help Jacob in whatever he might face. He need not worry or be afraid; God will be with him and watch over him. And then He adds…

I will bring you back… to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”   In other words, God will be faithful to His Word. He is true to His Word. He doesn’t put any conditions on what He promises to Jacob. He doesn’t say, “I will watch over you and bring you back to this land, if you start living a moral life.” He doesn’t say, “I will watch over you and bring you back to this land, if you promise to obey all my commands.” He doesn’t put any conditions on his promises. Why? Because that’s simply how grace works. Grace is giving kindness to one who does not deserve it, with no strings attached. It’s unconditional. We can’t earn it. We don’t deserve it. God simply gives it to us. And what God gives Jacob here is His personal guarantee that He will ensure that every promise He makes, He will fulfill.  And will bring Jacob home.

This is the God of grace. He not only promises to be with us and to watch over us. But He promises to bring us safely home to Him. He loves you so much that He’s planned our salvation from start to finish. Listen to Jesus’ promise to anyone who believes in him: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.” John 6:44 God doesn’t just give us everything, but He does the work to bring us home. This is the God of grace. Have you met Him?

Well, for the first time Jacob met this God of grace, and immediately we see, that in meeting Him, this encounter changes him. Look now at verse 16: When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”

Meeting this God of grace has awakened Jacob to faith. In fact, we see in the remainder of this passage that, It’s the Kindness of God that Awakens us to Faith

The first thing we learn from Jacob’s encounter is that God awakens us to His Presence. The reality of Jacob’s dream has been so convincing that as he awakes, he wakes up to a whole new reality. Before his dream, he was not aware of God’s presence, now he is.

This is what happens when we encounter the God of grace. Before meeting Him, we are ignorant of His presence. But once He reveals Himself our eyes are opened, just like Jacob’s.

So what does Jacob say with this new awareness of God’s presence? “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.” Jacob’s first response to meeting God is worship. He is filled with a holy fear, a reverence. Jacob now realizes that this is no ordinary place, but sacred ground. And he calls it awesome. “Awesome” This is a word of reverence used in the Bible for God alone. Old Testament saints didn’t throw around this term like we do today. We eat a good pizza and we say, “That was awesome.” We watch our favorite team make a miraculous play to win the game, and we say, “That was awesome.” But there is only one person, who is awesome, and it is Yahweh, the God who exists to pour out His kindness on those He loves. Yahweh, who promises to bless us, be with us, watch over us, and bring us home. Who promises to do everything He says He will do, because He has the power and the grace to make it so. He alone is worth to be praised. He alone is awesome.

There is nothing greater, more satisfying than meeting God and resting in His presence. He is awesome in this place. Have you met this God? Jacob did, and the first thing he did was to worship Him. And then it was out of his worship of God that he then responded to His promises. That’s the final thing we see in this encounter. When we meet the God of grace, God awakens us to His Promises: Look now at verses 18-22, Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.  Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the Lord will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.” Jacob does two things that reveal his meeting with God has transformed him.

First, he commemorates the place where he met God. He takes the stone he had laid his head upon, stood it up and anointed it with oil. He has marked this as a sacred place and names it Bethel, the house of God. It will serve as a visible reminder of His encounter with the God of grace.

Second, he commits himself to God by making a vow before Him. The idea of this vow is not a contract he is making with God, but a yielding of his life to God. In other words, his vow is his response of faith. He is now willing to reorient his life to God’s plan. Up to this time, he has grasped at life and used deception to make his way. But now, meeting this God of grace has changed him from a grabber to a giver. That’s what meeting the God of grace will do to you. He will change you.   He will awaken you to His loving presence. He will awaken you to His gracious plan for you. And He will awaken in you a willingness to put your life in His hands.

So then the question that remains for us today is this: Have you met the God of grace? Do you know that He is for you? Do you know He wants to bless you? Do you know He wants to give you salvation so you can be with Him forever?

Rarely does God appear to people like He once did to Jacob, in a dream. Why? Because now He has appeared to us through His Son. This is why God sent us Jesus. Jesus is God’s gift to the world. For just as he said, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16    God sent us Jesus so He could be with us, watch over us and bring us home to Him. Have you met this God of grace?