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Okay, leave your Bibles open there in Genesis chapter 30, just for the sake of our visitors. What we commonly do here on Sunday mornings is go chapter by chapter through the Bible, and we've been going through the book of Genesis, we're up to Genesis chapter 30, okay? So as this was being read to us by Caleb, it just starts off with a mess. I mean, it's just this competition between the sisters and who can bear children, unto Jacob. What I wanted to do is basically look at verse number 2 there, Genesis chapter 30 verse 2. The Bible says, And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, Am I in God's stead? Who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? The title for the sermon this morning is fruit of the womb. Fruit of the womb. We start off with the fruit of the womb, of the wives here of Jacob, okay? And we end with the fruit of the womb with the sheep, the cattle that Jacob is trying to produce for himself and for Laban. So the entire theme of this chapter is basically that which comes out of the womb, okay? Whether it's humans or whether it's animals, it's the Lord's hand that provides that very need, okay? Not just in human beings, but even in the animal kind, we'll see this as we go through this chapter. But let's look at verse number 1 there, Genesis chapter 30 verse 1. And when Rachel, now let's just, before I get the quick context, remember Jacob married the two sisters, right? He married Leah, then he married Rachel, and he loved Rachel. Rachel was definitely the wife that he loved the most. And Leah was heartbroken. She felt isolated from her husband, and the Lord saw that, the Lord comforted her, and in the previous chapter he had given her, Leah that is, four sons. And Rachel still had not produced any heirs to Jacob, so Rachel was barren from this point in time. And it says here, and when Rachel saw that she bared Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister and said unto Jacob, give me children or else I die. Hey, that's pretty extreme, right? That's pretty, obviously she's upset by this. She's looking at her sister, she's envying her sister and these children there. She says, I need children or I'm going to die. You know, I can't live like this. Verse number two, and Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel. This is the wife that he loves. He loves her, he's been with her, he spends time with her, right? He's been making her feel special, making her feel loved, but you can see that her demands are too great for a man, right? Jacob is angered, he's kindled with anger there, his anger was kindled against Rachel. And he said, am I in God's stead, who have withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? Jacob's correct. Jacob's right. You know, he realized that it's God's hand, it's God's provision to give women the fruit of the womb, to give wives the ability to become mothers, right? And she's getting angry at Jacob, when really Jacob is correctly realizing here, he says that it's the Lord who have withheld from thee the fruit of the womb, he's correct. Now as we're going through the previous chapter, I can see how some people might feel sorry for Rachel, right? Leah's having the four sons. It's not Rachel's fault, right? It's not Rachel's fault that her father deceived Jacob. It's not Rachel's fault that, you know, she was put into this position where, you know, she was the second wife, you know, when she was meant to be the first wife unto Jacob. So I can see how we might feel sorry for Rachel in that sense, where she's not been able to produce children. But look at verse number one again, it demonstrates her heart about this. You know, it says there, Rachel envied her sister. You know, the Bible doesn't say that, you know, Rachel was jealous for children. It uses these words very carefully, Rachel envied her sister. What was her desire? Why did she want to have children? Was it that she wanted to be a mother? Was she looking forward to giving birth and having her own children? No, she wanted children because she envied her sister. She wanted children because she wanted to compete against her sister. This is why I believe the Lord has withheld her from childbearing. It's not really her desire, the children. She just feels like, oh, my sister's having it, therefore I need to have it. That is the wrong attitude for having children, all right? The Lord tells us in Psalm 127, you can keep your finger there in Genesis 30, go to Psalm 127 please, Psalm 127 verse 1, Psalm 127 verse 1. The Bible says, except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it, except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. For context here, when it says build the house, we can take many applications, but it's about building your family, growing your family, except if the Lord needs to step into it, right? If we're trying to do it without the Lord, it says we're doing it in vain. We're doing it in vain. But verse number 2, it is vain and for ladies that might be struggling to fall pregnant or having to be able to have children, these kinds of things, it says it is vain, it is empty, it is worthless for you to rise up early, to sit up late and eat the bread of sorrows for so he giveth his beloved sleep. You know, a lack of childbearing, unable to produce children can cause a lot of women to have sorrow, to have grief and the instruction here is God saying, look, it's vain, it's vain worrying about the things you can't control because it's the Lord that builds the house and verse number 3, lo, children are in heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward. So the Bible is very clear that the fruit of the womb comes from the Lord God. It is his reward to that married couple, okay? And if you're kind of struggling in that area, don't stress about it, don't stress, take it to the Lord in prayer, take your request before him. We see many, many women in the Bible that were struggling to bear children. I mean, Jacob's mother herself was struggling, for 20 years was unable to bear children, remember? Jacob's grandmother, right, I forgot her name, Sarah, thank you, Sarah was barren for so long, for years, right? Even past the period where she was even able to physically have children, the Lord stepped in and opened her womb and she was able to bear children. So you can see it's the Lord that provides that married couple children and the fact that Rachel was unable to produce children, the Lord had his hand in that, the Lord had prevented that from happening and I believe it's because she was envying her sister. Now we need to do a quick Bible study on these words, right, envy, jealousy. These things in our modern vernacular, in our modern day, we use these words interchangeably. In fact, if you were to say I'm jealous of Matthew, if I were to say that, you would think that that's a very negative context to have, right? And I guess the way we would look at it today, yeah, it would be a negative thing. And a lot of preachers get behind the pulpit and preach against the sin of jealousy. But if we take a biblical view, jealousy is a positive attribute, it's positive, okay? Envy, envy is like jealousy, but envy as you can see here is a negative attitude, it's a negative character to have about yourself. And again, in our modern day, we use it as a positive, right? If someone has success, let's say in the workplace, you might say, comment saying, oh man, I envy you. And what they're saying is, well done, right? I envy what you've been able to accomplish, like well done, that's good, I wish I could have that kind of success. But actually, envy in the Bible is always sinful, it's always wrong, okay? It's interesting how the Bible uses envy as negative, jealousy as positive, but our society today has swapped those things around. And I just want to prove that to you from the Bible, so please go to, go to Proverbs chapter 14 please, and again, just keep your finger in Genesis 30, we'll come back to that, but Proverbs chapter 14, Proverbs chapter 14, and again, it doesn't say that Rachel was jealous for children, it says she envied her sister, okay? And Psalm 113 verse 9, while you're turning to Proverbs says, he maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children, praise ye the Lord. Why is he going to cause the barren woman to keep house? Why does he want to make her a mother, so she can find joy in her children? That wasn't Rachel's purpose, that wasn't what Rachel was seeking, Rachel was seeking competition, right? She felt undervalued, because her sister was producing heirs to Jacob. Go to Proverbs chapter 14 verse 30, Proverbs chapter 14 verse 30, the Bible says, a sound heart is the life of the flesh, look at this, but envy the rottenness of the bones, rottenness of your bones. If your bones were rotten away, you know, if you had a medical problem with your bones, you'd be very sick, you could die very early, okay, you'd be a very weak person, that's what envy does to you, if you are someone that is envious of others, it is like rottenness in your bones, it will rot you away, it will destroy your character, destroy your joy, you know, and you can see how it's used in a negative attribute there. Go to Proverbs chapter 23 now, Proverbs 23 verse 17, Proverbs 23 verse 17, verse 17, the Bible says, let not thine heart envy sinners, but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long, for surely there is an end, and thine expectation shall not be cut off. Notice what it said there, let not thine heart envy sinners. You know, as children of God, as believers, you know, when we do wrong, we feel, we see the chastisement of the Lord upon us, and we can look at sinners and say, well, hold on, these people don't love God, these people don't believe in Jesus Christ, these people aren't walking in His way, these sinners, but they seem to be successful, why isn't God's hand of chastisement upon them, why isn't God's hand of wrath not upon them? And you know, believers can easily envy sinners in that sense, right, but the Bible says don't envy sinners, right, and then what did it say, what was the promise there at verse number 18, for surely there is an end, you know, their end will come, the Lord will judge those people in due time, and if they do not believe in the Lord God, God will ultimately judge them there in the lake of fire. Hey, you know, you don't have to envy the ungodly, you know, just seek to walk in God's ways, He will reward you, He will reward you in due time, whether that's the fruit of the womb, whether it's treasures in heaven, whether it's other blessings on this earth, whatever way God sees fit for you, He will bless you, you know, so don't envy sinners, you can see how it's a negative attribute to have being envious. And I won't get you to turn there, actually I'll get you to turn to James 3, go to James 3, and while you're turning there, I'm going to read to you from Acts 7 verse 9, you guys go to James chapter 3, I'm going to read to you from Acts 7 verse 9, Acts 7 verse 9 says And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sowed Joseph into Egypt, but God was with him. Why did the brothers of Joseph, and I know that's a later story, we'll get to that eventually, but why did the brothers of Joseph sell him, why did they harm him, why did they sell him as a slave into Egypt? It says because they envied Joseph. When you envy someone, it can cause you to do some wicked things, it can cause you to even desire to harm that individual, you know, see them destroyed or things like that. Go to James chapter 3 verse 13, James chapter 3 verse 13, the Bible says, Who is a wise man and endured with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. So this is positive, right? This is a positive thing, verse number 13, but look at verse number 14, but if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. This is a sin of envy, it's described here as earthly, sensual, devilish, okay? It's a sin of the devil. When you envy other people, it's not coming from God, it's coming from this carnal world, it's coming from this sinful world, it's coming from the devil, verse number 16. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. For where envying is and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. When we get back to Genesis chapter 30, you'll see the confusion, you'll see the evil work that's about to take place, and it's because Rachel envied her sister. So whenever you do a word study, you can do this in your own time for the word envy. Every time in the Bible, it's always negative, it's always sinful, all right? Now, it kind of is related to covetousness. If I were to say I covet Caleb's new car, what am I saying? I want what Caleb had. Caleb has that new, was it a Lancer that you got? A new Lancer, that's what I want, I really want that. That's coveting, that's also a sin. The Bible says in Exodus 2017, thou shall not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shall not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's. So coveting something is sinful, desiring something that does not belong to you, but belongs to someone else. Envy is tied into covetousness, but envy is how you feel toward the neighbor. You want the neighbor's things, that's coveting, but the feeling you have toward the neighbor, that negative feeling, that's envy. So that's how you can kind of look at those two aspects. Now let's talk about jealousy. Please go with me to Exodus chapter 34, Exodus chapter 34 verse 12, because jealousy is seen as a negative in our world today, right? If you're saying I'm jealous for something, say how dare you be jealous, that's a bad attribute to have. No, it's very, very positive. Exodus chapter 34, and I'm saying it's very positive in context of the Bible, right? When we take the biblical definitions and we have these feelings or we have these emotions, these reactions, we know based on the Bible whether they're sinful or whether they're righteous. But look at Exodus chapter 34 verse 12. The Bible says, Exodus 34 verse 12, take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, whither thou goest, lest there be a snare in the midst of thee, but ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves. So Israel has been instructed, listen, destroy the false idols, the false gods, the things that these other people worship, don't have them in your midst, go and destroy them. Why? Verse number 14, for thou shall worship no other god, for the Lord whose name is jealous is a jealous God. You know the Bible, and this over and over again, the Bible says our God is a jealous God. Is jealousy a sin? If you say it's a sin, you're saying God is sinning. No, God is jealous. What was he jealous for? That his people, this Old Testament Israelites, that they would worship the Lord God, they would worship him, and that they would not turn their worship to false gods. So he was jealous for their worship, okay? Now how do we understand this? Well, they were the people of God, right, they made a covenant with God, God made a covenant with them, they're his people, and God has the right of their worship, right? God has the right of their obedience to him, okay? And so the worship to God belongs to God. It doesn't belong to another false god. So he says I'm jealous for that worship. That worship belongs to me. That would not be sinful. Things that belong to you, you ought to be jealous over, okay? Husbands, you ought to be jealous of your wives. Your wives belong to you. You know, if another man was giving your wife constant attention, I know you wouldn't like that. You know what you'd feel? When another man was giving your wife constant attention, you'd feel jealous. And that's positive. That's right. You need to protect your wife from the interest of other men. And wives, same thing. It's right for you to be jealous for your husbands, because your husbands belong to you. How would you feel if some other woman was giving your husband constant attention? You would be jealous, right? And that is a positive attribute. Don't let anyone ever tell you, oh, you need to give your husband more freedom. No, no. You are feeling righteous emotions there. Jealousy for your husband, okay? That's right. That's godly. God not only is a jealous God, it's said there in Acts 34, 14, whose name is jealous. Not only is he jealous, but one of God's names, he says, is jealous. That's one of my names, he says. That's the nature of God. Not just how he feels, but his very nature is jealous. That's his name, okay? So, that's something you need to understand, okay? When you read your Bibles, because this can confuse you, the differences between envy and jealousy. Okay, and again, jealous has to do with things that belong to you. If things do not belong to you, and you want things that do not belong to you, that's kavitin, that's envying, okay? That is a sinful. I'll read to you quickly from Song of Solomon 8, 6, Song of Solomon 8, 6, and this is obviously a book about the marriage relationship between husband and wife. It says here, set me as a seal upon thine heart. You know, like seal your heart with me, you know, the spouse there. As a seal upon thine arm, for love is strong as death. Jealousy is cruel as the grave. The coals thereof are coals of fire, which have a most vehement flame. That's what jealousy ought to be for you, a vehement flame. A flame that never can be quenched. It says here, verse number 7, many waters cannot quench love. That's how you ought to love your husband or love your wife. You know, such a love of fire, a godly jealousy that cannot be quenched by many waters, right? It said there, many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it. If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contempt. So we see jealousy there in that book about husbands and wives. It is a positive emotion to have. It is tied into love, love and jealousy together. You need those two things to have a successful marriage. And the last reference I'm going to turn to, you don't need to turn there, you can go back to Genesis 30 if you want. But 2 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 2, 2 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 2, the apostle Paul, you know, he knew these people, he had won many of them to the Lord. This church, you know, he was looking after this church as an apostle and he says to the church in the Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 11, 2, he says, for I am jealous over you with godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to be to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. You know how I should feel as a pastor of this church? I ought to feel jealous about this church. I ought to have a godly jealousy about this church, you know, seeking for this church to be a chaste virgin unto Christ as it were, pure, undefiled, okay. That would be righteous, I don't want to defile this church, I want this church to be a righteous church that God can look upon and say, wow, what a pure church for me, you know. And again, because I have the authority in this church, this church in a sense, you know, belongs to me, right, but of course that's come from God, that responsibility, that authority, he keeps going, he says, but I fear lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For he that cometh, preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit, which you have not received, or another gospel, which you have not accepted, you might well bear with him. Why was Paul so jealous for this church? He knew there were going to be people creeping in with another Jesus, another gospel, another spirit. He made sure the church remained clean from the corruption of the false teachers. So you can see in the Bible, all the way around, look up the word jealousy in the Bible, always positive, okay. So the lesson for you guys is basically, when you read your Bible, have the right context, positive or negative, number one, but number two, maybe change your, the way you speak. Maybe change the way you speak, okay. You know, start using the words jealous or envy, the way the Bible uses, not the way our world uses it. So please go back to Genesis 30 verse three now, Genesis 30 verse three. We saw that envy creates confusion and is the source of every wicked or evil work it said there in James, but Genesis chapter 30 verse three now. And she said, this is Rachel, behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her that she may bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her. And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife and Jacob went in unto her. This is what envy does, right. She has her handmaid, she says, look, you know, sleep with her, be intimate with her, have children through her and that will be my children. That's how I would be able to have children. What a mess, you know, what a mess. I mean, he's already married to two women and now he's married to three, okay. He takes her as his wife. And if you guys remember, this was a few weeks ago when I was talking about what a concubine is and we said, you know, I basically, you know, I just confirmed that being a concubine is you're still married to that woman, that's still your wife, okay. Now I'm not saying this is ever right, I'm just saying in the Bible this is how they did it, right. But that she's a servant, that she doesn't have the same level of a standard wife, right. And the same thing here, you see when Bilhah is given as a wife to Jacob, you can turn there if you want, go to Genesis 35, look at this, Genesis 35 verse 22, Genesis 35 verse 22, just quickly, just to confirm this. It says, Genesis 35 verse 22, and it came to pass when Israel dwelt in that land that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, so that's the same woman, his father's concubine, okay. So that's all, go back to Genesis 30. So we can see that even though Bilhah is given as a wife, the Bible confirms for us that would make her a concubine because she was a servant of Rachel, okay. She didn't have the same status as a full wife, but she was a wife. Anyway, that's not so important now, but it just confirms again the consistency of the Bible and what we've seen in previous chapters with Abraham. Verse number five, and Bilhah conceived and bared Jacob a son, and Rachel said, God have judged me and have also heard my voice and have given me a son, therefore called she his name Dan. Now some people would read that, right, God have judged me, I would say, yeah, she's right, God did judge her, right, and then has also heard my voice and have given me a son. So as you read that, you might say, well, see, it was God's plan for Bilhah to have this children. Look, you've got to understand the differences between what people say in the Bible and what the Bible commands, right, you've got to have that. The kings had made so many mistakes, they took on multiple wives. Solomon had seven, was it 700 wives, 300 concubines, I get those numbers confused sometimes. He was 700 wives, 300 concubines. That wasn't God's will for him, right? He took advantage of his power, of his position, and he fulfilled the lust of the flesh, if you want to see it that way, right? That's wrong. And so, you know, I sometimes get phone calls, not even from people from my church, but even people that are not from our church, and they ask me these questions. How is it that, you know, Abraham married his sister, or how is it that, you know, these things, right, you know, or things, and they can't understand, well, you've got to understand, just because someone did something in the Bible doesn't mean it's right, that God approves of that, okay, or something they say. You know, we've got many things that prophets of God have said in the Bible, and we're actually wrong, okay? And so we need to make sure we differentiate commandments of God, and the commandment of God when it came to marriage was, they twain shall be one flesh, okay? Marriage was two become one, one flesh. That's what marriage is, not three wives, okay? But it gets worse as we keep going, right? It gets worse. Verse number seven, and Bilhah, Rachel's maid, conceived again in Beth Jacob a second son, and Rachel said, with great wrestlings, look at this, with great wrestlings, have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed, and she called his name, Naphtali. Do you see her attitude? Was she really happy that she had children? Was she looking forward to having children? That was giving her joy? No. I beat my sister now. She's wrestling with her sister, it's the envy that's driving her to do this, right? I mean, I don't read about Leah wrestling with Rachel here, but it's the other way around, right? Verse number nine, and Leah saw, and this is where Leah gets involved, right? Verse number nine. So Leah sees what Rachel is doing, and Leah saw that she had left bearing, Leah had four sons already, she hasn't had any further at this point in time. She took Zilpah, her maid, and gave her Jacob to wife, and Zilpah, Leah's maid, bare Jacob a son, and Leah said, a troop cometh, and she called his name Gad. So Leah, she sees this competitiveness of her sister, and goes, whoa, my sister can do it, I can do this, I can play this game too, all right? So it's just causing, like I said, confusion, and evil work, as James chapter three explained to us, and, you know, this is what happened, this is just a story there, right? And he says here, and, what was that, up to verse number 13? 12. And Zilpah, Leah's maid, bare Jacob a second son, and Leah said, happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed, and she called his name Asher. Verse number 14, by the way, before I keep going, verse number 13, for the daughters will call me blessed, like, you know, the other women, oh, you're blessed, competition, right? It's not about the kids anymore, right? It's about the competition, what are people going to say about how many kids I have, right? And that's not why I have 10 kids, all right, I don't have 10 kids, for you to go, wow, you know, and try to get, you know, high, you know, to impress people, no, it's just, that's what we want, kids are a blessing, we love it, it's been great, you know, it's the best time of my life, really, you know, having all these bunch of kids, anyway, you see, it's just a wrong attitude that they've got here, and verse number 14, and Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, so Reuben is the first son, and he's gotten older now, and found main drakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah, then Rachel said to Leah, give me, I pray thee, of thy son's man drakes. So very quickly, Reuben goes out to the field, finds this plant, and the man drakes, I had just looked this up, were primarily, they could be used, we don't even know what they were used for, but they could, they could, or they have been used for herbal medicine, okay, and in particular, not so much the plant, but the roots of the man drake, okay, so it's possible they're using it for some reason, Rachel looks at this though, and thinks that's why, that's how Leah's gotten pregnant, right, this must be the secret, you know, if I can get my hands on these man drakes, I'll fall pregnant too, thinks Rachel, right, and look at verse number 15, and she said, and that's Rachel said unto her, said unto Leah, is it a small matter, oh sorry, then Rachel said unto Leah, give me, I pray thee, of thy son's man drakes, verse number 14, and then 15, and she said unto her, is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband, and wouldest thou take away my son's man drakes also? And Rachel said, therefore, he shall lie with thee tonight for thy son's man drakes. So they make a deal, I'll let Jacob come and be intimate with you tonight as long as I can have these man drakes, okay, and so she agrees, verse number 16, and Jacob came out of the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him and said, thou must come in unto me, for surely I have hired thee with my son's man drakes, and he lay with her that night. Man, for surely I have hired thee. The way this is going, it's just like I said, a complete mess, verse number 17, and God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bared Jacob the fifth son, and Leah said, God have given me my hire, because I have given my maiden to my husband, and she called his name Issachar, and Leah conceived again and bared Jacob the sixth son, and Leah said, God have endured me with a good dowry, now will my husband dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons, and she called his name Zebulun. One thing that we'll notice here in verse number 20, you know, Leah's like, now I've had six sons, now will my husband dwell with me. So you can see that these sisters were dwelling in different places, maybe different tents, and Jacob just wasn't spending, still wasn't really spending time with Leah, like was mainly with Rachel, and she's like, surely now he's going to stay, spend time with me, right? Verse number 21, and afterwards she bare a daughter, and called her name Dinah, and Dinah's mentioned here because she becomes an important character later on. Verse number 22, and God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb. So I just want you to notice, these sisters have been competitive, they've been given their handmaids as wives, concubines to her husband, and in all of this, God was still going to give Rachel children, alright? Rachel did not have to take this into her own hands, you know, God was going to provide it, and you can see here, he finally does, and God remembered Rachel, right? And God hearkened to her, so what has she been doing to God? She's been praying to God, she listened to Jacob, Jacob says, what can I do? It's God's business whether he opens the womb, right? So you can see that she's been going to God, God has hearkened to her, he's been hearing her prayers, and opened her womb. Verse 23, and she conceived and bare a son, and said God have taken away my reproach, and she called his name Joseph, and said the Lord shall add to me another son. So Joseph, obviously, a very famous character in the Bible, but these children that we've been reading about, you know, the Bible gives us a lot of information here, it's because they are the children of Jacob. Jacob would later have his name changed to Israel, and so these children, as we know it in the Bible, are going to be called the children of Israel. And the descendants of the children of Israel will be known as the Israelites, okay, as the Israelites. So quick summary, the 12 tribes of Israel are made up of the following. Leah the first wife gave birth to Reuben, then Simeon, the third was Levi, and Levi is very, we know of Levi, you know, because we know of the Leviticus tribe, you know, the tribe of Levi, which Moses came from, which Aaron came from, and which were the only tribe that were permitted to serve in the tabernacle or in the temple. Of course, the only tribe which would be able to have a priesthood that would follow from the family that would come out of Aaron. So that's what, you know, Levi is sort of famous for. The fourth son that Leah had was Judah, and why do we know Judah? It's because it's the tribe by which Jesus Christ would be born into the world, okay, the tribe of Judah. Then Rachel gave Bilhah her handmaid, and Bilhah had two sons, Dan and Neftali, so that's up to six now. Then Leah gets into the same game, and she gives Zilpah her handmaid to Jacob, and Zilpah gives birth to two sons, Gad and Asher, okay. Asher probably sounds familiar, if you know your New Testament, when Jesus Christ would be born in the Bible, at the temple there was Anna the prophetess, remember Anna the prophetess in the Bible, New Testament? She came from the tribe of Asher. Then Leah would have further children. She had Issachar and Zebulun. So Leah, in total, had six of the children of Israel, okay. Then Rachel gave birth herself. That was Joseph that we read about, and Joseph, the two tribes, we don't hear about the tribe of Joseph in the Bible, we more hear about the house of Joseph, and it's because the tribe of Joseph had two sons that was Ephraim and Manasseh, and these would be known as the tribes, as it were, these two sons that Joseph had, and of course Benjamin later on would be born from Rachel. So those make up the 12 sons of Israel, the 12 tribes of Israel, if you want to look at it that way, or the children of Israel, the Israelites, alright. Let's go back to Genesis 30 verse 25. We get to an interesting story here, and it sounds confusing, and I don't think it's as confusing as people make it out to be, okay. Verse 25, and it came to pass when Rachel had born Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, send me a way that I may go unto mine own place, and to my country. So maybe, it could be that his seven years, extra seven years of work is over now, this could be the timing of that, and now he's seeking to go back to his own country. Verse number 26, give me my wives and my children for whom I have served thee, and let me go, for thou knowest my service which I have done thee. And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I have found favor in thine eyes, tarry, for I have learned by experience that the Lord have blessed me for thy sake. And Laban says, I want you to hang around, please, hang around here, you know, because I can see the Lord is with you, and as the Lord's been working with you, I've been blessed. Now the truth that I want to take out of this, is that we have, as children of God, we have been blessed by God. We have God's presence in our lives, in fact his Holy Ghost indwells the believer. And Jacob, he's just going about his business, he's doing his work hard, he's doing what's core of him, right? And Laban is able to say, I've been blessed just by being around you, I've profited, you know, my cattle have grown, I've gotten richer, you know, I've been more successful, because you've been around, and I want you to hang around. My question to you then, brethren, is this. If you've been blessed by God, and you have been blessed by God, you continue receiving the blessings of God, can the people around you, whether they are believers or unbelievers, can the people around you say, I've been blessed by having this person as my friend, I've been blessed by having this person as my employee, I've been blessed by having this person as my brother or my sister, you know, I've been blessed because I have this person as my son. Do the people, other people around you bless because of your presence? I don't know. Think about it, you know? If people aren't being blessed because of you, if this church is not being blessed because of you, something's wrong. I'm not saying you're not saved, I'm just saying there's something wrong, okay? You're not walking then according to God's ways, because if you were doing that, others around you would be blessed simply by having you in their presence, okay? And so we should strive to be people regardless of who we're dealing with, regardless if they're our clients, our customers, our employees, our family, friends, extended people, colleagues, acquaintances, that if they spend time with you, they should feel blessed, you know? They should see you as someone of good character and say, man, it's worthwhile having you around. They might not like your religious beliefs. They might not like the positions you stand on, okay? I'm not talking about that, I'm just saying, just you being a blessing to other people through what God has blessed you with, that should be you as your character, that should be your nature to other people. And that's what Jacob was like. Verse number, sorry guys, I keep losing my spot there. What verse am I up to? 28. Oh yeah, 28. And he said, appoint me thy wages and I will give it. So again, he says, look, what do you want me to pay you? Again. 29. And he said unto him, thou knowest how I have served thee, and how thy cattle was with me. For it was little which thou hast before I came, and it is now increased unto a multitude. And the Lord have blessed thee since my coming, and now when shall I provide for mine own house also? So he says, look, when I came, you only had a little cattle. Now look at it all. You have been blessed by God since I've come, since I've come here and worked for you. Verse 31. And he said, what shall I give thee? And Jacob said, thou shall not give me anything if thou wilt do this for me, I will again feed and keep thy flock. So what's this agreement that Jacob's about to do? He says in verse 32, I will pass through thy flock today, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spottled and speckled among the goats, and of such shall be my hire. So he says to Laban, look, I'll continue working for you, as long as if I keep profiting you, then I'm going to take all the cattle that have spots and speckled. Usually they're the ones that people don't want. Usually you know, when it comes to sheep and goats, you want the pure ones, the ones that look great, right? He says, look, I'll take the ones that are spotted and speckled. That would be my wages, okay? So as you increase, so I will increase also, because you know, there'll be produced things that are unspeckled and cattle that are speckled. So they can both benefit from the work there, okay? And then he says, verse number 33, so shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come, when it shall come for my hire before thy face, everyone that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and brown among the sheep, that shall be counted stolen with me. And Laban said, behold, I would it might be according to thy word. Because I agree. All right, this sounds good. You know, that this will be our agreement, this will be your wages, you'll take all the cattle that are speckled or goats, the sheep that are brown, okay? Verse number 35, and he removed that day, this is Laban, now look how tricky, look how sneaky Laban is. And he removed that day the he goats that were ring-straked and spotted, and all the she goats that were speckled and spotted, and everyone that had some white in it, and all the brown among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons. And he said, three days journey betwixt himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks. So Jacob's looking after Laban's sheep, right, the cattle, the goats and all that. Laban takes all the speckled stuff, all the speckled ones, and takes them three days journey away, all right? So sneaky, because he knows if these animals are breeding, there's going to be a mix of speckled and there's going to be some that are pure, right? And he wants maximum profit. So he takes away all the speckled, so that way, you know, the white cattle, that breed would produce the majority, white cattle, and he knows that God is with Jacob, so as Jacob works, he's going to get rich, and Jacob's just going to be left with whatever he started with. He's not going to have any increase with what he started with. So you can see how sneaky Laban was here, right? And you can't mock God, right? God is with Jacob. He knows God is with Jacob, right? So it's not going to work out well for you, Laban, all right? It's going to work out well for Jacob, and that should be a given, right? And then it says here, verse number 37, and Jacob took him rods of green, poplar, and the hazel, the chestnut tree, and piled white, appealed white strikes in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods. And he set the rods which he had piled, or peeled, so I'm not sure how to pronounce that, before the flocks and the gutters, in the water in troves, and the flocks came to drink that they should conceive when they came to drink. Now I don't fully understand the rods, like why these specific rods in particular, but I understand what is happening, like, you know, what he's aiming to do. So he puts these rods, okay, that would lead the cattle, it's like a fence if it were, that would lead the cattle to drink, okay? And so they wouldn't be scattered everywhere. The cattle would be in close proximity, okay? So as, I guess, the females went to drink, the males wouldn't be too far away, and they would breed, okay, they would breed. And so he's trying to get the maximum out of these cattle, so they could, you know, not far apart, but close together, so they would, you know, just breed, and he would have a great increase in the cattle. And it says here, verse number 39, and the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle, ringed straight, speckled, and spotted. So he's only working with white creatures, right? But as these animals give birth, they're coming out speckled and spotted and brown, right? Now, if you're trying to breed a certain type of dog, right, you want a pure breed of a dog, you're not going to, you're only going to use those pure breeds, you know, both male and female, to have that same breed of dog, right? You don't want to introduce some other dog, because then you'll produce a mutt, like a mix of an animal. So scientifically, yes, you know, if you're going to, if you want to breed a pure type of animal, you've got to use that same pure type of animal, that's what's, that's going to happen. But you know what? Somewhere in that gene pool of those animals, other genes, other characteristics of DNA, yes, they might not be as strong, but they're there, okay? This is why parents can have children that have total different hair colour, skin colour, total different, I saw Georgia look at Lily there, yeah, Lily's got this bright red colour, you know? I mean, I don't see that in Jason and Erin, right, but somewhere in the gene pool, somewhere in the family line, there's red hair, there's DNA there, right? So and again, the speckled creatures, they didn't come from nowhere, obviously they came from a mix of the animals, okay? We all have, you know, my twins, Matthias and Christian, and Christian has straight spiky hair, Matthias has wavy hair, when he was a baby, when he was young, he had like curls, and like, he would grow like a mini afro, as it were, right? I mean, totally different, because it's in your gene pool somewhere, all these things are in your gene pool, yes, you know, if you have children, yes, they're going to look like mum and dad, but they could look totally different from time to time, right? This is what's happening, I don't think it's anything too complicated here, is that somewhere in the gene pool of these white creatures, they've got the speckled, they've got all that stuff in them, alright? Because they're part of the same sheep and cattle that were from the other ones, right? It's in there. Now, you would think the majority would be white, you'd think the vast majority would be that way, but they weren't, they were all coming out speckled and spotted, and this is where the hand of God is involved, okay? Look at verse number 41, sorry, I lost my spot again, the guy's there, sorry, 40, 40. And Jacob did separate the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ring-stocked, and all the brown in the flock of Laban, and he put his own flocks by themselves, and put them not unto Laban's cattle. And it came to pass, whether so ever the stronger cattle did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods. And when the cattle were feeble, he put them not in, so the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's. So as these white sheep and white goats were giving birth to these speckled sheep and goats, he would take those that were the best, and set them aside for himself, and the ones that were weakest, he would put them for Laban, alright? So he's been very smart about this, right? That's how you breed strong animals as well, you make sure you breed the stronger ones, rather than the weaker ones that have, you know, genetic defects or whatever like that. Verse number 43, and the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants, and servants, and camels, and asses. So what we just read there about the breeding, this is something that is used against the Bible, this is something used against Christianity, and say this doesn't work. Because the way they read this is as though the rods that Jacob used, I don't know if you've looked into this or not, but people mock the Bible and they say, they think the Bible is sane, because they don't have the spirit of God in them, they think the Bible is sane, that the sheep and the goats would look at the rods, and because they looked at the rods, they gave birth to spotted animals. And obviously, we would say that's stupid, right? That's not what's happening, if you read it carefully, that's not what's happening, okay? In fact, we don't need to just use chapter 30, chapter 31 actually gives us the answer to this question. Let's look at chapter 31 quickly, Genesis chapter 31 verse 10, look at this. Why did Jacob do what he did? Genesis chapter 31 verse 10, Jacob explains what happened, he says here, and it came to pass at the time when the cattle conceived, that I lifted up mine eyes and saw in a dream. See, Jacob was given a dream by God, look at this, and behold, the rams which leaped upon the cattle were ring-straked, speckled, and grizzled. And the angel of God spake unto me in a dream, saying, Jacob, and I said, here am I, and he said, lift up now thine eyes and see, all the rams which leaped upon the cattle are ring-straked, speckled, and grizzled, for I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee. So this is what's happening, Jacob has seen the male sheep and goats, you know, going for the females, right? And what he can see on the outside are just white animals, but then he's given a dream, he's given a vision, and what he's now seeing in this dream is that those animals, those males, they're not actually white, they're actually speckled, okay? What God is showing him, these are the ones with the spots, with the speckles, with the brown, these are the creatures that have this in their DNA. If these cattle breed, you know what's going to come out of that? The brown, the speckled, and all that stuff, okay? So yes, you know, scientifically, yes, there's a scientific answer, it's in their DNA, but number two, God's hand is involved there, God's making sure that which comes out of those creatures are the speckled and the spotted, okay? So that's the answer to that, it's not some complicated, weird, unusual thing that can't be answered in the Bible, it's scientific, and God also made sure that things went according to his way, you know, instead of the majority being white, he calls it that the majority would be speckled, but it would come from the DNA that were already in the creature. And when I think about this, I immediately think about the fact that, as men, I don't know your hearts, you know, I don't know what's really inside of you, I see you on the outside, I see you come to church, and many of you know, I'm dressed up nice, you don't really know what's in my heart, you don't know the wickedness that's in me, right? You don't know what kind of character I am. In 1 Samuel 16, 6, you don't need to turn there, it says here, and it came to pass when they were come. He, that he looked unto Eliab, and said, Surely the Lord's anointed is before me. This is Samuel, okay, he's choosing the next king. But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature, because I have refused him, for the, and these are great words, for the Lord seeth not as man seeth, for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. See, all Jacob could see were white animals, but the Lord could see which ones had the right DNA, the speckled, the spots in him, okay? And this is why, you know, we need to be careful, and I'm always careful as a pastor when I come here and preach, it's easy for me to tell you to reform the outside, to look nice on the outside. That's very tempting, a lot of pastors do that, a lot of preachers do that. I don't want a church full of Pharisees though. The Pharisees were good on the outside, but they were wicked on the inside. They were ungodly. In fact, they were not even saved. I mean, that would be the worst thing, have a church full of unsaved people, right? I mean, great on the outside, you know, a Baptist, you know, I put on my suit, my tie, and I look wonderful on the outside, you know, I can flatter you on the outside, but on the inside, you know? And what did Jesus say of the Pharisees in Matthew 23-25, he says, woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you may clean the outside of the cup of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Does God care for the outside? Yes, he does. But he first wants you to clean that which is on the inside, and you can't always see what's inside of you. The heart of man is desperately wicked, who can know it, right? I don't know what's inside of you, I don't know what wicked sins are breeding in your hearts. But the Lord knows, the Lord can see those sins, the Lord knows those temptations, and so you need to take them to the Lord, he's the one that can help you, he's the one that can cleanse you on the inside. If you're not saved, he can get you saved, right, through the gospel message of Jesus Christ. Once you are saved, you're going to be continually battling this sinful flesh, the Lord can help you cleanse yourself on the inside as well, and as you cleanse yourself on the inside, that will produce something on the outside, okay? But again, too many people try to cleanse the outside without fixing the inside, and that's just, you're no better than a Pharisee when you're doing that, okay? So those are the lessons that I have for you today guys, the fruit of the womb. The Lord seeks to bless marriages with children, okay? And make sure you're seeking to have children for the right purposes. It's not for competition, okay? It's to have joy, to receive the reward of the Lord, it's not for competition. Number two, you can see how God's hand can be involved in making Jacob rich, right? He had his hand there in the wombs of these creatures, alright? And Jacob simply obeyed what the Lord said, he saw the vision, he saw the dream, made sure the right cattle were breeding, and by his obedience, by doing what is right, the Lord blessed him further, and at the end of the day he became very rich, became very wealthy, he had a lot of possessions. So I'm hoping that the Lord will seek to bless you, you know, whether that's children, great, whether that's through other possessions, but you've got to do things God's way in order for you to attain the full blessing. Let's pray.