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00:00 Good morning. Last Monday was chap gou. This month is an interesting month
00:07 because we can say love is in the air.
00:13 February was Valentine's Day and F day. February was chap. If you're not Chinese
00:19 and you're foreigner, this is when people throw oranges into the ocean with the belief that you know you you get a
00:25 you get a you find the love of your life. Today we're going to talk about this topic called love and and second
00:31 service is a bit more interesting because there are a lot more younger people. So maybe a bit more relevant but there's a message for all of us here.
00:37 Yeah. Okay. I want to ask a question. If you are not young, if you're 40 and above, how many of you know this song?
00:44 Who sang it? If you're 40 and above, I've got young people all know this. Anyone 40 and above? Wow. Not very
00:52 contemporary around here. Get on. All the old people first service
00:57 they got it. You know this is at Shiran. All right. And this song uh Grammy
01:04 winner million soul 890 hits on YouTube. The lyrics. Wow. Look at the lyrics.
01:10 Darling I will be loving you till we are 70.
01:15 Baby my heart could still fought as hard at 23. Wow. I mean how much more cornier
01:21 can you get, man? Really corny. But seriously, it's a it's a song about
01:26 eternal love. Okay? And the rest of it is really, you know, really. So, honey, now take me into your
01:34 loving arms. Kiss me under light of a thousand stars. Place your head on my
01:40 beating heart. Guys, don't read this out to your girl, please. She'll think you're weird. But look at this. I'm
01:46 thinking out loud that maybe we found love right where we are. And what Asheran is singing is something which
01:54 really is at the heart of what we're talking about. The quest for true love, a love that lasts a lifetime to your 70.
02:01 And he says, "Maybe we found love right where we are." And you know what? He
02:06 wrote a song for this girl, you know, uh, Attina Andreos. Can you imagine?
02:13 You're being the subject of this song. Wow. Everybody would be saying, "Wow, you lucky girl. he's going to love you till he's 70 and etc etc. Now only one
02:21 problem with this is that he broke up with her after that. He broke up with her. So today we
02:27 looking at this issue of true love which which is something which consumes a lot
02:33 of us. We always say it's about women and love but actually it consumes men also. Let me tell you just that our
02:38 manliness prevents us from mentioning it you know and is why is 99.9%
02:45 of all love songs on this topic? What is love? Is it just a chemical reaction your brain? Why do people fall in love
02:53 and why do people want to be loved? So it's important topic and uh and and today's topic really deals with it in a
02:59 very heart manner. So let's come before the Lord in prayer. Lord, we just ask this morning you be with us, that your
03:05 word speaks to us and your word will not come back north. I ask for humility and that um we have clear understanding. We
03:13 say this in Jesus' name. Amen. I I want to break the topic into three
03:19 parts. Okay. The struggle to find love. um sorry the longing to find love the
03:27 consequences of such longing and how to feel the longing for true love now let
03:36 me just give you a background and last week we studied about how Jacob met God uh so to say and um he gets uh uh
03:44 Jacob's letter David brought us about it and God tells Jacob I'm going to be with
03:49 you now let's look at the story as we continue what happened is that Jacob is at a low point of his life. He's running
03:56 away. His brother wants to kill him. And so his life isn't fantastic and he's in
04:02 the wilderness when God tells him, "You know what? I'm going to be with you." So
04:07 let's see where we take up from there. So essentially, Jacob is trying to fix
04:12 his lousy life. Let me take you a few uh verses earlier in the chapter. He said, "Jacob continued on his journey, came to
04:19 the land of the eastern people because his dad there telling him, look, go find a wife and go to where my grandfather
04:25 thought got me a my wife." You know what Abraham did. So he goes to Haran and
04:31 read this line. It's quite interesting. Jacob saw Rachel, daughter of Laban. Oh, this is like those love stories. No, he
04:37 saw this girl and it was love at first sight. And they do something all these macho men tries to do. You know last
04:43 time there wells they used to put a stone over it or cover it so that sand don't get inside or it won't the water
04:50 is pure and it's none of his business. He's a stranger. He goes there he tried to show it very much. So roll away the
04:55 stone so that the the sheep can be watered. Hey none of a businessman. You're a stranger. Why you want to do
05:01 that? Impress the girl. And then she does something even worse. Then Jacob kissed Rachel. Hello. This first century
05:08 you know. You know exactly. Go to a stranger and kiss her. kisses her. So that's what it shows you
05:14 the intensity of the story. Then he does something even more worse, not very melly. He begin to weep aloud.
05:20 So this is how the story goes. Here's a man who's very alone. His life is lousy.
05:26 He's on this run for his life. God tells him, "I'm going to be with you." And what happens? He goes to this place and
05:32 he sees a girl. Wow. Love at first sight. He kisses the girl. Whoa. And he
05:39 cries. Why? because finally he believes his lousy life is going to turn around.
05:45 Now the way the story is being done is he's trying to do a parallel between Genesis 29 and Genesis 24 because in
05:52 Genesis 24 Abraham tries to find a wife for his son Isaac. And I've listed it up
05:58 for you and you find they almost identical. You can read it for yourself. And the author is trying to tell you
06:05 that is a parallel. This is how people in the olden days found wives. But there is one big
06:11 distinction. And in both cases, Leaban is involved in it. The difference is in Genesis 21,
06:20 Jacob doesn't seek the Lord. But in Genesis 24, Abraham's servant prays.
06:26 Even when he sees Rebecca say, "Wow, she's gorgeous. But is she the right one?" He's not bowled over by the
06:31 beauty. But Jacob goes with his heart. So let me give you a little bit first
06:38 about Laban. We are told here you can see it up there. Laban tells to Jacob, you are my own flesh and blood. Now keep
06:45 that in mind because it's important when you go to the rest of the story. But here's the first point. Can true love
06:51 fix a lousy life. Now let's compare the two sisters because what happens is that two sisters are brought up before him
06:59 and they say Leah had weak eyes but Rachel was lovely in form and beautiful.
07:04 So let's describe Rachel first. The Bible is very direct. He was lovely in form.
07:11 In crude English, she was hot. She was hot and beautiful. So what is
07:19 Rachel? Rachel's a supermodel. That's what she's saying. She had two things going for her. She had a great
07:25 figure and she was beautiful. She would stop traffic.
07:31 She was gorgeous. where Leah now the fact that Leah is not mentioned like
07:37 that simply means a Leah is not lovely in form she doesn't have a great figure
07:42 and Leah is not beautiful and on top of that she had a condition she had weak
07:48 eyes we are not sure what that means but many commentators believe it means she was crosseyed
07:55 so here was one sister who was not pretty doesn't have a good figure and crosse eye and the other was gorgeous and could stop traffic and so Jacob
08:02 guess who He chooses the beautiful daughter. They say love all fair in love
08:08 and war. That's not true. The tragedy is that if you're pretty, it's easier for you to get a husband. That's a tragedy.
08:15 The Bible is saying it. The Bible's not supporting it. But that's what it is. And you're a guy, uh, you know, this is
08:21 the way the world thinks. You are successful in your career. You made tons of money. You have the five C's. Easier
08:26 for you to get a girl. Okay. Now, look at Tina Turner. She sang a song
08:32 called Simply the Best. Of course, you can you can be the best when you're 74, when you're 47. When what what the
08:40 picture trying to tell you is what the world has created is to push women to so
08:45 be obsessed with getting a right figure, spending money on their looks because
08:51 they know this is what men wants. You want to get a husband, you got to spend money on this. The pressure is on that.
08:58 So Peter says this, your beauty should not come from outward adornment. It should be that of your inner self, the
09:03 unfailing beauty. For this in the past, the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves
09:09 beautiful. And the text is not just referring to women, is referring to men.
09:15 And the first thing we want to learn here is that, you know, especially all you guys, you want to find a girlfriend, please don't don't just look at the
09:21 outside. There was a there's a brother in church first service, okay? And and uh he was
09:28 telling me, you know, in his first girlfriend, you know, he he uh he went to a room and the room had the
09:33 cosmopolitan cleo all those women magazines he's now dating another girl in this church I
09:40 have their permission to say this and he was in the room that day and you know what he saw in the room Wayne Rudom
09:46 systematic theology commentaries so I told him oh you found a better girl don't let this one go so
09:53 here's thing for all you guys look at inner beauty and and and women you know here is the point don't look externally
10:01 and the trouble begins this way. The two things the text is telling us, number one, he did not seek out God. Number
10:08 two, his love is actually based on very fleshly and worldly things because she
10:13 was gorgeous. And the text sets us up for that. Okay, so that's the longing for true love. And then the text tells
10:19 us the extent he would go when he's so much in love. He says, Jacob was in love with Rachel. I'll work for you seven
10:26 years in return for your younger daughter Rachel. Now the dowy or the gift to bride's family at that time of
10:33 30 to 45 shekele a a shepherd earn 1.5 shekele a month he's offering four times
10:40 market price you know four times you know why he's desperate
10:46 he's desperate and we can see because laban is very cunning in verse 19 he says oh you know when when she said you
10:52 know seven times I'm seven years I work for you you imagine the dad says oh no need three years is enough you're a good
10:58 man I think you'll take care of my my my daughter anyway my sister married your dad so it must be right instead Laban
11:05 says well it is better I give her to you than to some other man you know what Laban is doing he's threatening him you
11:11 know my daughter a lot of people want her you know she can stop traffic you know got a lot of men queuing up for her
11:19 you want her okay that's what Laban is saying he's threatening threatening Jacob but Jacob is desperate
11:28 to find true love and The text sets us up for that. That that people when they see a woman or or a woman sees a man,
11:36 they think, you know what, I'm going to fix my life. My life is going to get better. Number two, our reasoning for
11:42 that is sometimes much more superficial than we care to admit. Although we say we look at character. Number three,
11:48 God's not in the picture. And number four, we will go to great extent. In his case, he had no money. If
11:57 you had money, you do something else. But here's what Jacob says. He served seven years to get Rachel. They seem
12:03 like only a few days. Wow. Because of his love for her. Wow. Very romantic, huh? You know, like Bruno says, he's a
12:11 grenade for love. He's going to explode. He's in love. You know, you know, like
12:18 those old songs, ain't no mountain high enough. Ain't no river low enough to
12:25 keep me away from you. He's in love, man. This guy. So, he got no money. He works. What happens? You got money? I
12:31 saw this in YouTube. There was this Malaysian man who wanted to marry this
12:37 Taiwanese pop star. And to marry her, what he do? He flew her to Dubai and on
12:42 a private beach, put out the love sign, then got a private uh violinist harpist
12:48 to play. He spent US 2.5 million to propose to her. And then finally a
12:53 helicopter came and a parachute came down with the with the proposal jewelry
12:58 you know you can see the parachute coming down very romantic because he had money the extent he will go we won't
13:04 mention his name okay I didn't say anything not talking about any scandal
13:10 here today and of course he got fireworks up there and he proposed because he had money but the point is
13:17 the extent he went to to get married the extent And people will go through
13:23 whether it's working 7 years or blowing 2.5 million. But here's the tragedy. In his case, she rejected him.
13:32 Now, what am I trying to tell you? The thing is there is this pursuit for love.
13:38 There is this insatable pursuit, deep longing for it. And what the text is
13:43 trying to tell us is here's the other part of it. And in verse 30, he says he loved Rachel more than Leah. And the
13:50 tragedy is although everyone seeks it,
13:55 every human being on this earth, but only a few really get it.
14:01 And the question we have to ask ourselves this morning is why? It's a drive. You're driven. You know, every
14:07 human being is driven to find it. If you're pretty, you use it to your leverage. If you got money, you use it
14:13 to your leverage. You can work for seven years, you use it to your leverage. You do anything. You look at yourself and if
14:18 I'm going to get a girl, I'm going to get a guy, I'm going to do this. But not everyone finds it.
14:24 So, let's look at the other side of the story. Now, there's a relentless human drive to love and to be loved. Here's
14:33 the second second most saddest verse in the Bible. Second, surely my husband
14:39 will love me more now. Why? Because I'm sorry, not what you wanted. I'm
14:44 crosseyed. I'm not beautiful. I'm not I don't have a figure. I can't do that.
14:49 But what can I do? Boy, I can give you babies, man. I can give you babies. So
14:55 one get le maybe three wood. So let's see how the text comes out. He says son
15:01 number one is called Reuben. The Hebrew word means to see. And what's the author
15:06 telling us? The author is saying that Leah is saying maybe now my husband won't treat me like I'm invisible.
15:15 That didn't quite work out. So out comes son number two. Simeon means to hear.
15:23 And what is he saying? Maybe now my husband will listen and talk to me more.
15:29 Didn't quite work again, you know. So out comes son number three, Levi to join. You notice it gets more intense.
15:37 And here it's maybe now my husband heart will be more attached to me. You see the
15:43 desperation, the need to get the husband's love. There's a uh study out
15:50 there very fascinating by Harvard University which is of course one of the top research universities in the world.
15:58 You can get it on YouTube under TED talk is a 75 year survey. Why? What do you
16:04 mean by a 75 year survey? It means it's a longitudinal survey. They service you every two years and they surveyed a
16:12 whole bunch of men who are now in their 80s and 90s is uh very very old. They
16:18 started them off when they were teens and asked them what made them happy. So
16:23 as a teenager they say well to do well my studies sort of get friends and all of that and then as they get older well
16:28 to get a career uh and maybe to do well as they get bit older well to succeed in life and you know to build a family they
16:36 get older well maybe it's my health you find happiness sort of shifts among many things and the quite interesting thing
16:42 as as they go on 75 years is a long time so it's very accurate at the end of it
16:47 overwhelmingly the statistics show one thing okay and the author says this the 75 years and 20 million expanded on a
16:54 grant survey points to a straightforward five-word conclusion. Happiness is what? Love. Full stop.
17:03 And what is the story telling us? The story is telling us this. Whether you get it or you don't, whether you you you
17:08 have a happy marriage or you don't, or you're not fortunate enough to find marriage, uh, or your husband or or wife
17:14 pass on, all of us are hardwired to make finding intimate relationships our
17:22 highest goal in life. You can't get it in a man relationship. You get it in your children because
17:29 there's a vacuum. You can't get it in your children. You get it in your mom and dad or your best friends forever or
17:35 even your dog. There's that vacuum here that makes
17:40 people work seven years and it sounds like a few days.
17:46 There's that vacuum here that makes a woman produce baby after baby
17:52 to get the husband's attention because in the end Leah and Jacob are two sides
17:58 of the same coin desperate to find love and team Keller says that out in the world especially in
18:04 the culture outside the church there are lot of people are cynical about marriage these are those who hoped on it and
18:09 didn't get it they are the left they don't trust marriage they avoid it
18:16 although or give themselves an easy escape by living together because as you find out Jacob never loves Leah not as
18:22 much as Rachel no matter how much he tries then the people inside the church were very much the opposite they think
18:29 marriage family what white pickup fences this is what family value is about that's how you find fulfillment this is
18:34 what human life is about this is the Jacobs I'm going to fix my lousy life by
18:41 marrying the girl of my dreams but Jacob and Leah They are two sides of the same
18:47 coin. Both desperate to find love. And what's Bible telling us nowadays? You
18:53 don't work seven years. You you don't have polygamous relationships. But this is what the Bible saying.
19:00 Maybe if I sleep with him, he'll love me more. Maybe if yeah, I have children, he'll
19:08 love me more. Maybe maybe if I get a better job and be successful,
19:15 then I won't walk into a a house and have the the girl's mother look at me
19:20 like I'm a piece of dump. Maybe if I was slimmer.
19:27 Maybe if I got plastic surgery. Maybe if I was in a church where there
19:33 are younger people. Maybe, maybe,
19:38 maybe. This is what the story is telling you. There is this deep, deep longing
19:44 for it. The longing to find love and then here comes the consequences. And the
19:51 consequences is the heart of the story. And they have two consequences to yourself to others. Uh in this book and
19:58 and Peter Davidson, Looney, I think it's a great book. And he describes really
20:03 what Jacob felt on the day of his wedding feast. He says this, the I am in love
20:10 experience temporary meets one's emotional need for love. It gives us the
20:15 feeling that someone cares, someone admires and appreciates us. Our emotions saw with the thought that another person
20:22 sees us as number one. That he or she is willing to devote time and energies
20:27 exclusively to our relationship for a brief period. However long it lasts, our emotional need for love is met. Our tank
20:36 is full. We can conquer the world. Nothing is impossible. For many
20:41 individuals, it is the first time they have ever lived with a full emotional tank. The feeling is euphoric. Ain't no
20:49 mountain high enough. Ain't no river low enough. There's a new song out there by Rachel Platton called
20:57 I'll stand by you. How many of you know that? Oh, you guys don't listen to music.
21:02 It's not the old I'll stand by me. I'll stand by you. This is a new one. Okay. 350 million hits on YouTube. It says
21:10 I'll stand. He says, "Uh, even if there's no heaven, I'll stand by you."
21:16 Wow, this is really an 80s song. And the reprise is again, even if there's no
21:23 heaven, I'll stand by you. Then I'll go
21:28 through hell for you. Wow. And it shows you the longing
21:35 and what that song by Richard Patton saying that we don't need God. I just
21:40 need to find true love and my tank is full.
21:47 And what happens then? Well, there's an anonymous uh saying, I feel like
21:53 whenever I find the key to happiness, someone changes the lock. And guess what
21:59 happens to Jacob? Laban changes the lock. And he is so happy after seven
22:07 years. It is his wedding day. He gets drunk. He's going to fix his lousy life.
22:14 And when morning came, there was Leah. You see the way the author sets it up is
22:22 an exclamation mark, which is very rare for translation. In fact, the the the
22:27 ESV says, "Behold, there was Leah." It's supposed to stun you. You know, there goes your happy
22:35 ever after. And what the author saying is not just
22:40 that. He says, "You know what, Jacob? The morning after and after and after."
22:47 Again, it's always Leah.
22:53 That's an old program my wife used to watch. I'm a real man. I don't watch stuff like
22:58 that. I occasionally go by the TV and glance a bit of it.
23:03 The title I thought was really demeaning. Desperate Housewife G, but it's it's highly rated and the the
23:09 viewers are mainly women. Now, if you're not familiar the series, it deals with four women and and they they they
23:15 represent the cross-section of American society. Brie Vender Camp is what you call white Anglo-Saxon Protestant. Lyn
23:23 Caro is what you call career woman. Susan Mayor is a girl next door. And Gabrioli is basically the migrant, the
23:30 Hispanic who had a hard life and made it on top by by being a bit loose on her
23:35 morals. They represent the entire American women persona in all its
23:40 diversity. Every type of woman. You notice what they all having in their hands?
23:47 Forbidden fruit. And and the the the series runs with one aim. The challenge
23:52 is is true love enough to weather life because they all fall in love for out of
23:58 love husbands leave them as they all go through challenges. And Dr. Kerry
24:03 Chapman says this. He says this in his book, love is not our only emotional
24:09 need. Psychologists have observed that among our basic needs are the following needs. Security, selfworth,
24:16 significance. And then Dr. Gary rightly says, "Love interfaces with all of
24:21 them." And this is why we have this unconscious need to find love and we pursue it and if we don't get it in a
24:28 man or don't get in a woman, we we rechan it to our friends or we channel it to to to our children or to other
24:35 people. And let me just break it down. Why security? If I feel love, I may face
24:42 uncertainties in challenges at work. I go to work and it's a recession and I I don't feel secure. But when I come
24:49 home, my wife loves me, my kid loves me, my parents love me. Take one of the one of these three or you have all of one.
24:57 You're secured. The worst unsecure, but you're secure at home. Number two,
25:02 selfworth. Your boss tells you you're crap. You're not good at your work,
25:08 but you go home. Those who know and love you, they build your self-esteem.
25:13 And lastly, very correctly he picks up significance because life is driven unconsciously by the desire to succeed.
25:20 We want our lives to come for something. Feeling loved by wife, husband, parent, children, best friends enhances our
25:26 sense of significance. And desperate housewife picks that up. But the thing is the Bible describes the
25:34 first desperate housewife because for all the love Jacob had for Rachel seven
25:39 years and then another seven 14 years
25:44 because he so loved the this girl of his dreams it wasn't enough because the next
25:52 chapter opens by saying when Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children she became jealous of sister
25:58 and look at the next line she said to Jacob Give me children or I'll die.
26:06 So what happened to true love? Are you still ate no mountain high
26:11 enough? No. Very low enough. You see the Bible is very brutal about it because in
26:18 the end there are two desperate housewives here. Rachel really wants children. The husband's love is not
26:23 enough. And Leah really wants the husband attention. The love of kids. She's got four kids. Not enough.
26:31 True love becomes tainted. And the text leads us to that. CS Lewis in mere
26:37 Christianity put it really well. He says this, "Most people if they learn to look into their own hearts would know that
26:44 they do want and want accurately something that cannot be had in this
26:50 world." And he wrote this 80 years ago and it's so true even of today. These
26:55 are all sorts of things in this world that often will give it to you but they never quite keep their promise. The
27:01 longings which arise in us when we first fall in love and take up some subject exciser longings which no marriage no
27:07 learning can satisfy. And he says I'm not speaking of what we ordinary called unsuccessful marriages. I'm speaking of
27:14 the best possible ones. There's something we grasp at in that first moment longing which fades away in the
27:22 reality. I think everyone knows what I mean. The spouse may be very good spouse. In this case, the husband was a
27:31 very good husband to Rachel. You may have a very good job, but some
27:36 things evaded us. For all of the true love of Jacob, it wasn't enough for
27:42 Rachel. These are the consequences of the longing. Let me break it down for you. Number one, you put the weight of
27:48 your struggles and pain on the person you're marrying. Jacob has issues. He's
27:54 a deceiver. He's trying to fix his lousy life and he
27:59 thinks if he marries Rachel, he's going to fix it. But he enters marriage with the same baggage.
28:07 And you see this again and again. People think, you know what, if I get married, I'm finally going to be happy. Guess what? If you're not happy before you're
28:14 married, you're not going to be happy when you're married. That's the first point. Then there's the
28:21 unfortunate thing. Then the marriage doesn't work out or you you try and you can't find a partner. This the the
28:26 reality of life that not many people really make it. You become disappointed. You say, "God, I waited for a man and
28:33 you didn't give him man. I waited for a woman. Didn't get a woman. And God, I have a marriage that he's a terrible. He
28:39 doesn't love me anymore." And you know what? You see this a lot in Christian circles. I I spent time with a friend of
28:45 mine who's a pastor. In fact, I knew two pastors this year. marriage just went south. So let me just
28:53 say something in love. Never be deceived by appearances. Asian society, people don't tell you what goes on inside. They
28:59 come to church, they smile. You become disappointed. And then it become difficult. You look
29:05 for other values. My friend buried himself in ministry. You bury yourself in work. And when that doesn't satisfy,
29:12 you know what happens? You find a love out there. Suddenly this girl out there understands better. this man out there.
29:19 You know what? He listens more. You see what the devil does to you? You find other venues because that hole, that
29:26 longing, you're not getting it filled. And this is what's happening here. Then
29:32 you blame yourself. You blame yourself. If only I was
29:37 slimmer. If only I was prettier. If only I had a better job. And after blaming yourself, guess what
29:43 happens? You blame life. You blame God. You blame everybody. and you become cynical and you come to church but you
29:52 are not happy you are not living you're just going on
29:58 and the story takes us to this the first consequences is this in the morning it
30:04 is always Leah now here just now we talk about flesh
30:09 and blood and Jacob says to Laba why have you deceived me the Hebrew word is used in the very same manner when Jacob
30:16 Jacco deceived Isaac over his inheritance. And what the story is
30:22 telling you is this that consequences of self reaping and sowing. Jacob deceived Esau with birthight. Laban deceived
30:29 Jacob of his wife. What goes wrong comes around. The deception is almost similar. What happens with Isaac? If you follow
30:36 Yian sermon, Isaac's half blind. He can't really see. So Jacob gets away with it. What does Laban do to Jacob?
30:43 Gets him drunk. So he can't see who he's sleeping with. You see the irony of it?
30:48 Galatians says, "Do not be deceived. God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sws." So,
30:56 I didn't say anything. Second service not being tape. I can flex it a little bit. So some people say
31:03 you know they going after the
31:10 intimid in Malay well certain leaders says he's im intimidating people. I remember many
31:16 years ago there was an operation lang then you say you know what you know uh uh you know he he's basically fixing the
31:22 attorney general this not being taped right you know what many years ago I remember some judges being removed you
31:28 know you know now he removed his number two man suspended him I remember a number two man that got suspended too in
31:33 fact he left in jail what goes around comes around
31:38 you see where the Bible is the Bible is so true but here's where the story gets deadly Because Genesis isn't talking
31:47 about politics. Genesis is talking about family. Let me
31:52 connect the dots for you. Jacob dees Esau. Laban dees Jacob. And you know
31:59 what? Leah's children will deceive Jacob.
32:04 If you know the story of Joseph, and we've picked that up weeks to come right there. Every commentator has
32:11 picked this up. What is the underlining reason for this generational deception?
32:18 Firstly, what happened? Isaac love Esau more than he loved Jacob. So, the mother
32:26 played favoritism. Let's look at the next one. Jacob loved Rachel
32:32 instead of Leah. And you know what this about Jacob? That's why we think he brought his baggages inside because when
32:38 he was young, he was a product of favoritism. So when he got married, he practiced
32:46 favoritism. And when he had many kids, guess what he does? He practices favoritism. He loved
32:53 his youngest son, Joseph, more than any of his son. You notice what goes wrong comes around. He never learned. He
33:00 carried the baggage forever with him. and see what happened after that. And
33:07 you see the deception comes from what? From love that's corrupted. Here's a
33:12 side story to all of you family. You know, you know, you when you talk to parents, they say, you know, uh they will all tell you, I'm not playing
33:18 favoritism, but brothers, sisters, you can't see it. You will say, I treat my son, my daughter fairly or my three
33:24 kids. You can't see it because you're in it. It takes an
33:29 outside person to tell you. Here's another side story. You know what Laban does? Laban is like a China man. You
33:35 know, he's probably got Chinese blood in him. You see, he could marry off the younger daughter. Younger daughter's
33:40 supermodel, gorgeous. He could ask any price he want. This guy's money-minded. Know when when Jacob came, he came out
33:45 running. You know why? Because when the sister got married, the sister came with a lot of money. Wow. So must be in the family. So he's money minded. Marrying
33:53 off Rachel is not a problem. Marrying Laban, marrying off Leah, that one got problem. So what does he do? He he he
33:60 basically wants to get rid of the daughter. You bury two for the price of what give you a bargain?
34:06 Because he knows the daughter is a liability. So he basically robs Rachel
34:12 of a marriage. So you know what Rachel does? We find in Genesis 31, Rachel robs
34:17 the dad. It's right there. He steals the idols. The irony is the Bible telling you what
34:25 goes round comes around. Now let's break this down a bit. You know, when I was a when I was in university, I had a I had
34:31 a girlfriend who loved Winnie Houston. I don't like Whitney Houston. But when you have a girlfriend like Whitney Houston,
34:37 you have to go to a concert of Whitney Houston. So, I went to Sydney Entertainment Center, listen to Whitney Houston, and she's a Christian. She
34:44 claims to be Christian. She sang a gospel song. Now, as you know, she has passed on. She had an abusive husband,
34:51 Bobby Brown. She went into drugs. She died in a bathtub. Here's the tragedy
34:57 about a daughter who died two years later cuz she also had an abusive
35:02 boyfriend. She also went into drugs and in the biggest uncanny thing she died in
35:09 the tub. How much more accurate can you get in what scripture says it is
35:14 identical. Now you might think this kind bit extreme don't don't go so extreme. We
35:19 don't do drugs. Thank you very much. Let me tell you old very old songs called cats in the cradle. Anyone knows you?
35:25 All these old people. Oh, we have a few. Okay. Very good. Great. Don knows it.
35:30 Okay. Great song. Now, let me tell you the lyrics. Okay. And and Cat Steven did also the lyrics go this way. My child
35:37 arrived just the other day. He came to the world in the usual way. But they
35:42 were planes to catch and bills to pay. He learned to walk while I was away. He
35:47 was talking before I knew it. And he grew. He say, "I'm going to be like you. You know I'm going to be like you."
35:53 Third line of the chorus, when are you coming home, dad? I don't know. When we
35:58 get together, son, you know, have a good time then. So the song begins with a father that has no time for his son.
36:05 Then it says, "My son turned 10 just the other day." He said, "Thanks for the ball, Dad. Come on, let's play. Can you
36:13 teach me to throw?" I said, "Not today. I got a lot to do." He said, "That's okay." And he walked away, but his smile
36:19 never dimmed. And he said, "He's going to be like him." Yeah, I'm going to be like him. And the last line of the song,
36:27 the song drops its tempo and says, "I've long since retired. My son's moved away.
36:33 I called him up just the other day. I'd like to see you if you don't mind." He
36:38 said, "I love to, Dad, if I could find the time. You see, my new job's a hassle and the kids are having the flu, but
36:45 it's sure nice talking to you, Dad. It's sure nice talking to you." And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me he's
36:53 grown up just like me. You reap what you sow. And here's a
37:00 challenge you ask parents. Do you spend time with your family or
37:05 does your work take away? Do you practice favoritism? You're not going to see this. You know,
37:11 uh if you have an estrange relationship with your wife, are your children becoming collateral? Because when people
37:16 get into fight, they want to kiss the thick sides. And look at what happened. Because of a sin of favoritism,
37:24 deception goes for generation. Because of a sin of laban, of putting money ahead of the kids, it comes around to
37:30 haunt him. The consequences are not just to yourself, but to those you love. So
37:36 let's wrap this up to say how we feel the longing. And the story says, Leah conceived again when she gave birth to
37:43 her son, the fourth son. She said, "This time I will praise the Lord." And he name him Judah. Then she stopped having
37:50 children. What's interesting about this particular verse? She doesn't say the maybe.
37:56 Maybe my husband would do this. She stops. I think by now she realizes the husband is never going to love her.
38:05 But what does she say? I will praise the Lord. And the Hebrew reading for the word Lord is not Elohim. The Hebrew
38:11 reading here is Yahweh. You must understand this first century Christianity who uses Yahweh. The
38:17 Canaanites don't use it. Amalachites don't use it. None of the gener the only people is Abraham. It is a personal name
38:26 to a God is relational. Now we talking about hardwiring. And what Leah has discovered is this. We
38:34 are hardwired to feel that longing. And it's always going to be a struggle because I want to fill it with a man or
38:41 a woman or or some friends or my my wife or my kids. But you know what? Leah
38:47 realizes it. I'm hardwired to find that longing in God.
38:54 True love comes from God. And when she realizes that, what does the Bible says?
39:02 She stopped having children. The text is wonderful. I read you this
39:08 on CS Lewis. I didn't read you the last line because the last line CS Lewis says this. If I find in myself a desire which
39:16 no experience in this world can satisfy. The most probable explanation is that I
39:21 was made for another world something supernatural and eternal. As the story
39:27 goes to the next chapter, Leah disappears from the scene. She never gets the love from the husband. In fact,
39:33 when Rebecca when Rachel dies, Jacob will build a tombstone for Rachel. His
39:39 love for Rachel is eternal, but not for Leah. But Leah had discovered something
39:46 more important. You see, Leah had discovered the love of God to a girl no one loved. And God not
39:54 only looked down and gave her children because the husband didn't love her. The
40:00 last son, well, the fourth in a row is called Judah. And in the end of Genesis, they say the
40:07 scepter will not be taken away from Judah. From Judah is the line of who?
40:14 And King David is the line of Jesus. You see the dignity that God gave upon
40:22 Leah. Not just children. The line of Jesus comes from Leah, the girl no one
40:30 loved. You see who is Leah? Leah is the kid in school nobody wants to play with.
40:39 Leah is the wife who is neglected because the husband got a mistress.
40:45 Leah is the old man who kids don't visit. Leah is the husband who feels that no
40:53 one understands him. Leah is the lonely widow, the lonely spinster,
40:60 the one where the world says no one loves you. Dad didn't love you.
41:06 Husband didn't love you. But who loved her? God. You see, Leah, the girl nobody
41:14 wanted represents the savior nobody wanted. But in this case, the savior
41:20 deliberately came down to be mocked, to be humiliated, to be died, to die on the
41:27 cross. Where when at the point of sin, he actually felt God turning his face
41:32 away. He says, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Because at that point,
41:38 God saw sin. This is our God, our savior.
41:45 Let me wrap up with three propositions for you. The first is how much do you
41:52 love God? Most Christians like to say, you know what, God loves me. Yes, thank
41:57 you very much. But how much do you love God? Do you love God with all your heart, all your mind, all your all your
42:03 soul? And when we read that, we say, gee, that sounds like a lot of effort. But you know what? Every relationship takes an effort. Ask any married people
42:09 here. Every relationship takes work.
42:14 And like Leah, you will struggle. You want love that is tangible that you can
42:19 feel and touch and smell. And God is so big. I can see him. And that's why
42:25 Christ came and so you can feel and his flesh and he could be heard. And then God gives us the spirit to be able to
42:32 see the love of God. How much do you love God? How much do
42:38 you pray? How much do you spend time with in fellowship? How much time do you
42:44 read your Bible? If you're just a person who comes every Sunday,
42:49 you don't have the love of God because you don't love God. And you ask yourself, why is your life crummy? Why
42:54 is why does your life suck? It's because you don't love God. Point
42:59 one, how much do you love God? Point two, how much does your love of God shape your love for others?
43:08 And there are three points I want to pick on this. Number one is intentional.
43:13 You know, there was an old Korean series. Now, I don't watch all of this stuff like this. I happen to be passing
43:19 by the TV, but my wife watches it. And the Koreans are really corny. Nothing.
43:24 Nobody does love stories like the Koreans. Seriously, man. Really corny.
43:30 So, there was one TV series where this girl was dying. She she had a boyfriend who loved her so much. And then in a
43:36 dying moment, she gave a heart to another girl. Of course, as any Korean
43:41 soap operas go, the guy after girl dies falls in love with a new girl who has a heart of the previous girlfriend. You
43:49 don't like Koreans. So the question was, who does he love? That girl or because he had the heart of another girl. We
43:55 won't go there. Okay. But what I'm trying to say, well, you know what the Bible telling you? Love
44:01 people with the heart of God. You see once you love God, it comes out.
44:10 And how does God love people? He loves people intentionally.
44:16 God seeks out those who are unloved, the leas, and he bestows love. And he doesn't do
44:23 it the way we do it, which is token compassion. He does it with dignity because the son of Leah becomes the line
44:29 of kings. Here's the last one for all of you. All of you are in varying degrees of
44:35 relationships. Some of you are married, some of your widow, some of you, a lot of you are single.
44:41 Some of you in good relationships, some of you are bad. Knowing human nature, you're not going to tell us and we're
44:47 not going to ask because we all I'm going to be very brutal. All of us here wear masks when we come to church. Let's
44:52 be honest. And I'll tell you, especially second service, we we don't we put a wall because we are afraid.
45:00 I want to just say one thing. You know what the text is saying in the morning
45:05 it will always be Leah. You want a happy ever after
45:13 is only this word grace. And when you have God's grace, even if
45:19 your husband doesn't love you enough, even you feeling very lonely because you
45:24 lost your mom, you're estranged from your children, God's grace will pull you through. And I
45:31 really wanted to share that with you. And let me just ask the last one. I ask
45:37 worship team to come up now as we prepare for this. How much do you love God? How much does
45:43 your love of God shape your love for other? And this is important. How much do you love your life? And and you know
45:48 in in the Harvard study, they they discovered something really interesting.
45:54 People who were physically healthier in their old age all had steady
45:59 relationships whether it was their mom, I mean with their children or spouses or friends. That means scientific data
46:07 tells you your health is connected to what? Relationships.
46:13 The more stable relationships you have, the better your health is. There should be some incentive to all of us. But what
46:21 is true on the physical level is true on the spiritual level.
46:26 So if you are spiritually healthy, you must have what? Spiritual
46:32 relationships. Because in the end, that longing is only filled with God.
46:39 One day I will grow old and I'll be 70. I will look to my wife and I say,
46:45 "Darling, I'll be living you till I'm 70 because I'm 70." Then
46:52 I'll tell her, "Baby, my heart could still fall as hard at 23.
46:57 I will have lost all my hair. I will have got a bigger belly.
47:03 My wife won't be as gorgeous as she is now." And when people ask us why did you
47:09 sustain your marriage so long? I want to tell people this says maybe we found
47:15 love right where we are. Yes, we found love right where we are.
47:23 True love is from God, not in both of us. And the love of God
47:30 sustains us. And I pray this morning, whatever state you are in, you will find true love from
47:38 God and you will give that love to others. Shall we pray? Lord, as we just
47:45 close this sermon, it's been a long morning. We ask that especially you reach out to those who are hurting. And
47:52 we are not a type of people who will tell the whole world when we're hurting. We come to church, we put on smiles, but
47:58 you know what's inside us. We ask for all the Leas and the Jacobs
48:03 out there that fill that longing with the love of God
48:09 and and and no matter how disappointed we are in our relationships, we always remember as we wake up every morning,
48:14 it's always Leah. But your grace sustains us, oh Lord. Your grace that sent your son to be the savior that no
48:22 one wanted from a girl that nobody wanted. Show us love Lord and let us reciprocate
48:30 by loving you and let us show love to people around us intentionally,
48:36 gracefully. Show them dignity. Show them the love that you gave Leia
48:42 and that we can say we will praise you Yahweh. You are our God. And we say it
48:49 in Jesus name. Amen.
