“Behold I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.” God says, “I’m going to be with you, Jacob. And I’m going to bring you back into this land.” But the vision that He gave him in that dream was of a ladder that reached up to heaven. Well, that ladder is Christ. And God, from the top of the ladder in heaven—a voice out of heaven said, “This is My beloved Son in whom I’m well pleased.” And God is speaking to man through Christ today. You can’t come to God directly. We have access through Christ; through the grace that we have in Christ.

“Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the Lord blessed him.” God’s with him, you see, and that is the blessing that God promised to these people from the day He called Abraham. It was an earthly blessing. Well, later on when He put them in that land, He says, “I’ll bless you in your basket.” And God made that good when they were walking in fellowship with Him. Now He’s not promised us that; He’s promised us spiritual blessings. We’re told we are blessed with all spiritual blessings, and that is our portion today. And on the same terms, if you’ll walk with God, He wants to bless you abundantly spiritually.

“He sold his birthright unto Jacob. And Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.” That’s the important thing to see at this juncture. This man just sits down, eats a bowl of soup. And for that bowl of soup, he surrendered his birthright. It had no spiritual value to him whatsoever because nothing that was spiritual meant anything to him. Unfortunately, I’m afraid we have church members that are like that; who have no spiritual capacity whatsoever. And that I think is the mark of a Christian today is that one that the Spirit of God can teach and lead and guide.

He today is still calling—the Holy Spirit, the one that’s taken again the servant’s place. You see the Father and the Spirit sent the Son into the world to die for the world. And now the Son said when He went back, He’d send the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. And He’s come now into the world. And He’s calling out a bride, and He’s saying, “Will you go? Here is the one who died for you. He’ll save you. You have to be redeemed first.” Will you accept the invitation? Will you trust Christ as your Savior? Now you don’t beat around the bush about this. You either do or you don’t do. My, I love a clean-cut decision like that. That’s the way He wants you, friends. Will you accept the invitation?

“And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God ….” How does He know? By action; by works. Before it was by faith. Now God sees your heart. He knows whether you’re genuine or not. But your neighbor doesn’t know; your friends don’t know. They can only know by works. And that’s the reason James can say that “faith without works is dead.” It has to produce something. Any person that God calls, any person God saves, any person that God uses is going to be tested. He tests you and me today, and these are tests that are given to us to strengthen our faith and to establish it, and make us serviceable for Him.

“For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it (that is, his faith) was counted to him for righteousness. (For that’s what it was not, but that’s what God counted it.) Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.” Now if you can work for your salvation, then God owes it to you. But, my friend, God never saves by any other means except grace. He’s never had any other method of saving. And if you ever get saved, it will be because you believed God. You accept Christ as your Savior. You believe that God has provided this salvation for you.

“Abram he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, and there he built an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord.” Two things that he did now. He pitched his tent. That’s what he lived in. Then he built an altar; that’s his testimony to God. And everywhere Abraham went, he left a testimony to God. What kind of testimony do you have? You don’t have to put a tract out in front of your house. And you don’t have to write on the backend of your car, “Jesus Saves,” and then drive like a maniac down the freeway; and there are some that do that. My friend, that’s no testimony at all. May I say to you this man quietly worshiped God.

I don’t know your town, I don’t know where you live, but in your town if you’re like the other towns and the town I came from, the Methodists and the Baptists and the Presbyterians, they just didn’t get along. And sometimes in the church today there are these internal fights, and the unsaved man on the outside, he knows about it. He says, “If that’s Christianity, I don’t want any of it. The Lord Jesus says to the church today, “By this shall all men know that you are My disciples if you’re fundamental and you organize a church.” Oh, no. He said, “By this shall all men know that you’re My disciples if you have love one for another.”

“Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted means God with us.” May I say this is without doubt one of the most wonderful things that you have in the entire Word of God. How this One came down to this earth! We see Jesus, who is “made a little lower than the angels, because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” And how can Jesus be a Savior? Because He’s Emmanuel—God with us. I couldn’t die for the sins of the world; couldn’t even die for my own. But He can.

You see, Christianity is not a religion; it’s a relationship. It’s a personal relationship to Jesus Christ, and it means to come to grips with Him personally. The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. How do you get a gift? You get it by taking it. Simple faith in Him. Have you received this morning the greatest Christmas gift God has to date? And that’s His Son. If you haven’t, He wants you to have Him. I’m wondering if you’re here today and you’d like just at this Christmas season to receive a real gift, the gift of God’s Son, simply by trusting Him.