Let's all stand together and
sing hymn number 205. 205. Free from the low, happy
condition. Jesus hath bled and there is
remission. Cursed by the low and dead by
the full, grace hath redeemed us once for all. Once for all, O sinner, receive
Once for all, O brother, believe it. Cling to the cross, the burden
move on. Christ hath redeemed us once
for all. Now are we free, there's no condemnation. Jesus provides a perfect salvation. Come unto me, O pure and sweet
goal. Come and He saves us once for
all. Once for all, O sinner, receive
it. Watch for all, O brother, believe
it. Cling to the cross, the burden
will fall. Christ hath redeemed us, watch
for all. Children of God, O glorious calling,
surely His grace will keep us from falling. Passing from death
to life at His call, blessed salvation wants for all. Once for all, O sinner, receive
it. Once for all, O brother, believe
it. Cling to the cross, the burden
will fall. Christ has redeemed us once for
all. Be seated. We'll sing hymn number
40. Hymn number 40. Great is thy faithfulness, O
God my Father. of turning with Thee. Thou changest not, Thy compassions
they fail not. As Thou hast been, Thou forever
wilt be. Great is Thy faithfulness, Great
is Thy faithfulness, Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed Thy hand hath
provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord,
unto me. Summer and winter and springtime
and harvest, sun, moon, and stars in their courses above, joined
with all nature in manifold witness. to thy great faithfulness, mercy
and love. Great is thy faithfulness, great
is thy faithfulness, morning by morning All I have needed Thy hand hath
provided, Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. Pardon for sin and a peace that
endureth Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide, strength
for today and bright hope for tomorrow. Blessings all mine, with ten
thousand beside. Great is thy faithfulness, great
is thy faithfulness, morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed Thy hand hath
provided, Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. Good evening. For our scripture
this evening, I'd like to go to Psalm 143. Psalm 143. Hear my prayer, O Lord, give
ear to my supplications, and in thy faithfulness answer me,
and in thy righteousness and enter not into judgment with
thy servant. For in thy sight shall no man living be justified. For the enemy hath persecuted
my soul. He hath smitten my life down
to the ground. He hath made me to dwell in darkness as though
that have been long dead. Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed
within me. My heart within me is desolate.
I remember the days of old. I meditate on all thy works.
I muse on the work of thy hands. I stretch forth my hands unto
thee, my soul thirsteth after thee as a thirsty land. Hear
me speedily, O Lord, for my spirit faileth. Hide not thy face from
me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit. Cause
me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning, for in thee do
I trust. Cause me to know the way wherein
I should walk, for I lift up my soul unto thee. Deliver me,
O Lord, from mine enemies. I flee unto thee to hide me.
Teach me to do thy will, for thou art my God. Thy spirit is
good. Lead me into the land of uprightness.
Quicken me, O Lord, for thy name's sake. For the righteousness'
sake, bring my soul out of trouble. And of thy mercy, cut off mine
enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my soul, for I am
thy servant. Our merciful heavenly Father,
we come together and gather in the name of thy blessed Son,
the Lord Jesus. We approach thy throne through
his blood. We ask thee to send thy spirit among us this evening.
Give us ears to hear and hearts to understand. Bless brother
Cody as he stands to proclaim Christ once more. May he be exemplified
and lifted up. Glory go to his name. We ask
thee to bless the downtrodden and the sick of the congregation.
Touch them with thy will, and heal them, Lord. We ask these
things in Christ's name, amen. Piano number 299. 299. Day by day, and with each passing
moment, Strength I find to meet my trials here. Trusting in my Father's wise
bestowment, I have cause for worry or for fear. He whose heart is kind beyond
all measure, Gives unto each day what he deems best. Lovingly it's part of pain and
pleasure, Mingling tall with peace and rest. Every day the Lord himself is
near me, With a special mercy for each hour. All my garrison would bear and
cheer me, His counselor and power. The protection of His child and
treasure, Is the charge that on Himself He laid. As Thy ways, Thy strength shall
be in measure, Is the pledge to me He made. Help me then in every tribulation,
So to trust Thy promises, O Lord, That I lose not faith's sweet
consolation, Given me within Thy holy Word. Help me, Lord, when toil and
trouble meeting, Ere to take us from a Father's hand. One by one, the days, the moments
fleeting, Till I reach the promised land. Brother Kettering, come on. Good evening. I invite your attention
tonight to Genesis chapter 42. Genesis 42. You recall, this is the chapter
Houston said he was going to read this morning. I told him,
well, that's the chapter I hope to preach from tonight. So, trust
our Lord that this and chapter 40 is just where we were meant
to be today. Now, I'm skipping over chapter 41, and I don't
know if your memory is like mine or not, but At your conference
a few months ago, I preached three messages from chapter 41.
Now I'll, I'll bring us up to speed real quick, quick summary,
if I can be quick. All right. So this morning we
looked at chapter 40, right? We saw what was going on there.
Well, now two years have gone by since, since Joseph was forgotten. Okay. Remember he asked that
butler to remember him. Two years have passed and now
Pharaoh has a dream. Well, when Pharaoh has this dream, he's
just running left and right trying to find somebody to interpret
his dream, and nobody can. And then the butler says, well,
hey, now I remember somebody. That's when he remembered Joseph.
And we're not even told that he remembered his name, but nonetheless,
he told Pharaoh about this man, and Pharaoh sought him out, and
he came out of that dungeon quickly, all right? And Pharaoh sure was
impressed with him, and he caused Joseph to rise to power, okay?
Joseph very quickly rose to power, and now he's interpreted Pharaoh's
dream, and now it's coming to pass. The seven years of plenty
have come and gone. Now they're in the famine. And
now everybody's coming to Joseph for corn, okay? Now, in chapter
42, I'm just going to look at something towards the end of
the chapter, but again, just to pick us up. At the very beginning
of chapter 42, Jacob tells his sons, go to Egypt. I've heard
there's corn in Egypt. Get you down to Egypt. And so
they go. All of Joseph's brothers go except for one, Benjamin. That's very important. That has
a lot to do with our message tonight. The fact that he did
not send Benjamin, okay? Now, when Joseph's brothers show
up, they have no idea that they're looking at their brother whom
they sold, whom they hated, wanted nothing to do with, sought to
kill. He knows exactly who they are. It's really a wonderful
chapter. Something on my heart in particular
is what I want to look at at the end of the chapter. But when
they show up, they don't know what's in. And Joseph deals a
little roughly with them. He's harshly to them. He accuses
them of being spies three times. They say, no, no, no, we're true.
We're true. Let me tell you something. God
is true. We're all liars. They weren't true. They were
not true men. And Joseph tried them. He accused
them time and time again. And then he tells them, he gets
them to admit they have another brother. And that ends up being a big
problem because he tells them, he says, I'm going to keep one
of you here in prison and the rest of you are going to go home
to your father and your brother. And when you come back, you better
bring your younger brother. Don't you come back without him. Now, look with me here, verse
19, Genesis 42, 19. If ye be true men, let one of
your brethren be bound in the house of your prison. Go ye,
carry corn for the famine of your houses, but bring your youngest
brother unto me. So shall your words be verified,
and ye shall not die. And they did so. But look at
verse 21. And they said one to another, we are verily guilty
concerning our brother. in that we saw the anguish of
his soul when he besought us, and we would not hear. Therefore
is this distress come upon us." Again, we see God's purpose in
Joseph dealing harshly with them because they had to be brought
to this place of feeling their guilt. God's gonna begin a work
in us. That's where it's gonna begin.
He's gonna cause us to feel our guilt. They don't even know that's
Joseph, that he's making it so that they remember what they
did to him. Verse 28, they've headed home. Verse 28,
one of the brothers found some money in his bag and he said
unto his brethren, my money is restored and lo it is even in
my sack and their heart failed them. And they were afraid saying
one to another, what is this that God hath done unto us? He gave them their money back.
Something I pointed out at the conference was at the end of
chapter 41, all these people come to Egypt. Pharaoh said,
go to Joseph. They're all coming to Joseph
buying corn. Jacob sent his sons to go to
Egypt to buy corn. But Joseph wouldn't let him buy
it. Because this is a picture of salvation for Israel. God's
elect. It can't be bought. Free gift.
So he gave their money back. But he had just accused them
of being spies. He kept them all in prison for
a very short time and then decided just to keep Simeon and let him
go on their way. Gave him that stipulation to
come back with Benjamin. Right. But he gave their money
back. And when they find their money
in their bags, you imagine how terrified they must have been.
Oh, now we're definitely not going to be found to be true
men. We stole our money back. Fear to death. When God begins
a work in a sinner's heart, it leads to a troubled heart, doesn't
it? When we learn who God is and we see who we are, here's
the glorious thing about this, and it's gonna be exactly this
way for his brothers and Jacob when it's all said and done.
It starts with a troubled heart and it ends with let not your
heart be troubled. It's about to be so well for
them. It's about to be so good and pleasant for them. It's going
to take some time. Now they go home and they they
start telling their father about everything that happened. Look
at verse 33. And the man, speaking of Joseph, the lord of the country,
said unto us, Hereby shall I know that you're true men. Leave one
of your brethren here with me and take food for the famine
of your households and be gone and bring your youngest brother
unto me. Then shall I know that ye are no spies, but that ye
are true men. So will I deliver you, your brother,
and you shall traffic in the land.' And it came to pass, as
they emptied their sacks, that, behold, every man's bundle of
money was in his sack. And when both they and their
father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid. And Jacob their
father said unto them, Me have ye bereaved of my children. Joseph
is not, Simeon is not, and you will take Benjamin away. All
these things are against me. All these things are against
me. Are they? Are they? Title of my message is, Are All
These Things Against Me? Now, let me just stop and just
say quickly, The past month and two months have been the most
difficult months of my life. I keep having flashbacks of me
being up here saying things like, I know I've not experienced any
real trials yet. You've heard me say it. I don't want to say
it. Then just in the past several months, my mom's diagnosed with
terminal cancer. Then my middle son's diagnosed with epilepsy,
and he's been having some awful flare-ups, and just in and out
of the hospital, and just scared to death. Me and Rachel both. What we would call being at our
wits end. Just what do we do? Helpless.
Feeling hopeless. It feels like all these things
are against us. You know, I look at what Jacob
said here and I think, oh, come on now, Jacob, you know that's
just not so. And that's true. It wasn't so. But I tell you
what was so. He felt that. We can feel that,
too. Why'd he say it? He said, Joseph is not. It's
been some 20 years or so since he sent Joseph, his beloved son,
he said, you go check on your brothers, see that it'd be well
with them. He didn't come home. Instead, his other sons come
home, with that coat torn to pieces, and he had no idea what
they'd done. He really thought his beloved
son was gone. The Valerie. But he wasn't. Joseph is not. He just didn't
know, did he? He didn't know. He didn't know what God was doing. He just heard what his sons told
him about this man who dealt roughly with him. He didn't know
it was Joseph. I thought of what our Lord told
his disciples in John 13. He said, what I do thou knowest
not now. How true is that? He went on
to say, but thou shalt know hereafter. You'll know. We see through a
glass darkly, dimly now, don't we? One day we're going to see
clearly. When the calamities are passed, the time's coming. The time's
coming. We just don't know now. He had
no clue, oh, the goodness that God was working and preparing
for him, just for him and his sons, through Joseph, who's alive
and well. No idea. He went on to say, Simeon
is not. He just assumed he was as good
as gone to never gonna see him again. But he was fine, wasn't he? Jacob
just didn't know. He just didn't know. You know,
how often when we don't know, we just assume the worst. You
know, the past few weeks, it has been hard for us not to just
assume the worst. Ah, well, he'll outgrow them.
Well, we don't know. Maybe he will, maybe he won't. You know, we do well to not assume
the worst. What I have found myself needing
more than anything lately is faith. You know, the disciples prayed,
Lord, increase our faith and face the gift of God, not just
initially, Say the Lord gave you faith 20 years ago. Do you
not need it just as much now, more now than you did then? That's
becoming my experience. Lord, give me faith. Those verses in Proverbs 3 where
it says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart. You know, it's
so easy. Oh, I've read that before. Trust in the Lord with all your
heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge
Him. Who sent the trial? He did. Well, okay. He shall direct thy path. Who's
directing your path? He is. Stop trusting in the things
that we're looking at. Trust in Him. When we lean on our own understanding,
oh my soul, how miserable we become. Again, I'm telling you
from my experience the past few weeks. There's no hope there. None at all. Joseph's not. Simeon is not. And now you're
taking Benjamin away. He couldn't take anything else.
This was the breaking point for him. All right. You're not taking
him. You're not. And I'll tell you,
we're not going to read into Chapter 43, but oh, he bucks
against it hard till someone promises to be surety for him.
Look here, verse 37, Genesis 42, 37. And I'll tell you this,
right here when we read this, you think about this and then
think about Judah being surety for him. Verse 37, And Reuben
spake unto his father, saying, Slay my two sons, if I bring
him not to thee. Deliver him into my hand, and
I'll bring him to thee again. Can you imagine? How awful was
that? If I don't bring him back, you
just go and kill your two grandchildren here. What a horrible proposal. No wonder he responded the way
he did. Verse 38, and he said, My son shall not go down with
you. No, no. Only when Judah promised to be
surety for him did he send him. He said, My son shall not go
down with you. For his brother's dead and he's left alone. If
mischief befall him by the way in the which you go, then shall
you bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. Here's the thing. All those brothers that had just
been confronted with Joseph, they know, one, we have to go
back because there ain't no food anywhere else. And if we don't
show up with Benjamin, we're going to die. And if we don't
go, we're going to die. We don't have any food. We're in a bind, aren't we? Point
is, Benjamin's got to go. And it grieved Jacob so badly. You know, sometimes we'll say
things, but we don't really mean them. He meant exactly what he
said. We have felt exactly the way we felt. You who've gone
through or going through horrible, just grievous trials, you feel
the way you feel. And I know it's real. Something else here, Jacob, I
don't know how long it's been, but he'd already lost his wife,
Rachel. That was his love. Remember,
he was going to work seven years for, and then Laban tricked him
into working seven more, and it was nothing to him. It was
nothing to him. He loved her so much. And her
womb was closed. Then the Lord finally opened
her womb, and who'd she bear? Joseph, his beloved son. Who else did
she bear? Benjamin. The two boys pulling
at his heartstrings, and he's about to be without both of them,
and he believes forever. And he lost his wife. It's no
wonder he felt so miserable. Now, what exactly is he saying
when he said, all these things are against me? He told his sons
the beginning of verse 36, Me have ye bereaved of my children. Again, he doesn't even know what
they had done to Joseph. He doesn't know. But he blames
them for it. Well, he's the one that sent
them to check on him. He's the one that sent them to go to Egypt. It's sad when we can't have any
peace unless we start blaming others, isn't it? But here's
the thing. It seems like he's blaming his
sons, but who's he really blaming? We know the answer, don't we? Blaming God, isn't it? It's just
like in the garden when the Lord came calling for Adam. Where
are you? What'd you do? The woman. Who
was he blaming when he said, the woman, you gave me. Who's he blaming? Blaming God,
isn't it? You know, trying to, again, in
our circumstance right now, trying to get to the bottom of it. And
all our questions just can't be answered. It's frustrating,
isn't it? Do we need to go find some blame
here? Or do we just need to pray for faith and to bow to God's
will in the matter? That's what Jacob needed, and
that's exactly what I need. Who's in the heavens doing whatsoever
he's pleased? God is. By whom do all things
consist? Who upholds this world and everything
that happens in it by the word of His power? God does. Are there mistakes
with God? God forbid. Accidents? Coincidence?
Chance? Luck? You know, somebody at work
said, man, you're unlucky. I said, no, not so. If all these things are against
him, then here's my conclusion. Well, God must be against him.
Was God against Jacob? You know anything about Jacob?
We're going to read a bunch of verses tonight about Jacob and God's
dealings with that man. He wasn't against him. Go ahead,
turn to Romans chapter 9 with me. I'm going to quote a verse
in Romans 8. I'm sure most of you, if not all of you, know
it by heart. We know that all things work together for good
to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to His purpose. Romans 8.28. Did that apply to Jacob? Well,
let's see. Look at Romans 9.11. Romans 9.11. For the children
being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of Him that calleth. It was said unto her, the elder
shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated. Is God working all things together
for Jacob's good? Well, he said, Jacob have I loved. It's not too hard to piece together,
is it? If God loves us, is he gonna Is He going to ultimately
let something happen to us and take us away? Is God against
us if He loves us? Oh no. You know, again, that's
where religion goes wrong, supposing God's love for everybody when,
if God loves us, listen, it's well with us. If God loves us,
God is for us. It's for us. The purpose of God according
to election chose Jacob, called Jacob to Himself. To himself
and just a couple of things in his life, God saw to it that
he received a birthright that didn't belong to him. It did
belong to him, didn't it? In spite of all his sin and evil, God came down and he wrestled
with Jacob and enabled Jacob to prevail as a prince that has
power with God, gave him a new name, Israel. when Jacob was fearing for his
life from his brother Esau. And all his men, his great army,
read the account. I think it's either Genesis 31
or 32. You know what Jacob displayed
when he was faced with that cowardice? He split his group up into two
groups and he hid in the back. Sounds like something I would
do. And yet in spite of him and his wicked ways, God was merciful
to him in that too, in all things. Blessed him with the woman of
his dreams. And if I counted right, 12 sons and a daughter,
God was good to him. Now, I want us to see quite a
few verses here. I'm going to turn in order if
I didn't mess this up. And I just want to show you,
and I want to see, just how good God was and is to Jacob and all
those who can relate to him, all right? We're gonna start
back here in Psalm 135, if you turn with me there. Psalm 135. I guess I should say, get your
turning thumbs ready. Psalm 135, verse four. Psalm 135 verse 4, For the Lord
hath chosen Jacob unto himself and Israel for his peculiar treasure. God was not against Jacob. He
chose Jacob for himself, for his peculiar treasure. Look over
at Psalm 146. Psalm 146, verse 5. Happy is he that hath the God
of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God. Who is God? The God of Jacob. Isn't that amazing that God would
identify himself in that way? The God of Jacob, sinner, the
God of sinners. And here's the thing too, He
makes His people happy. Happy is He. If you have the
God of Jacob for your help, happy. But I feel so in despair. Yeah, the nights I was sleeping
in the hospital, I felt in despair. But I have a confession to make.
I'm happy. I'm happy. Happy within. happy in my soul because the
God of Jacob is my help. He's my refuge. He's my hope. Turn to the book of Isaiah, Isaiah
14. Isaiah 14, verse 1. Isaiah 14, 1. For the Lord will
have mercy on Jacob and will yet choose Israel. You say, oh,
well, he chose a long time ago. That's true. But he will yet
choose Israel. He still chooses Israel. He'll
always choose Israel. Not that nation overseas, his
people. Jacob, surnamed Israel. The Lord will have mercy on Jacob
and will yet choose Israel and set them in their own land and
the strangers shall be joined with them and they shall cleave
to the house of Jacob. The Lord has mercy for Jacob.
I will have mercy on who? Jacob. All these things are against
me. No, no. No, it's not. Turn to Isaiah
41. You know, naturally, we don't
like to be wrong, do we? I'm telling you, when I see myself
relating to Jacob here, saying all of this is against me, and
then I'm just seeing time and time again, wrong, I'm wrong,
I'm so glad. I've never been so glad to be
so wrong. Look here, Isaiah 41, verse 14. Fear not thou worm, Jacob, and
ye men of Israel, I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy
Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Fear not. We don't have to fear. Though we're worms, though our
sin so easily besets us, we don't have to fear. You know why we
don't have to fear? Our Lord, our Redeemer, the Holy One of
Israel. Psalm 22 verse 6 tells us that
He became a worm for us. I have no words to add to that,
but I know that because of that, we don't have anything to fear.
We have nothing to fear. Nothing to fear. Turn over a
page or two to chapter 43. This has long been one of my
favorite verses. Isaiah 43, verse 1. But now thus saith the Lord that
created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear
not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name,
thou art He said, I've created thee, I've
formed thee, I've redeemed thee, I've called thee by thy name,
and if all that isn't good enough, thou art mine. If you find out I'm in a binding,
please text me that. Please send me that. Oh, that's
so comforting to me. What all have you done for me,
Lord? All these things are against
me. Sure don't sound like it, does it? And here's the thing, Jacob knew
this. I know it too. You know it? But we need to be
reminded, don't we? Why do we keep coming back? Tell
me the Yolo story for I forget so soon. We do, don't we? We
do. Oh, we need to be reminded. And
listen, this book is full of gracious reminders. Chapter 44,
verse 21. Isaiah 44, 21. Remember these, O Jacob and Israel,
for thou art my servant. I have formed thee. Thou art
my servant. O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten
of me. I'm not going to forget you.
I blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a
cloud thy sins, return unto me, for I have redeemed thee. Sing,
O ye heavens, for the Lord hath done it. Shout, ye lower parts
of the earth. Break forth into singing, ye
mountains, O forests, and every tree therein, for the Lord hath
redeemed Jacob and glorified himself in Israel." Oh, may we
remember these things when we're I'm feeling down, Cass. He has
blotted out all our sins. It doesn't get any better than
that. We keep reading the same things that He's done for us
over and over again. I formed you. I redeemed you.
I've called you. We belong to Him. He's going to be glorified
in us and in the trials that He sends our way. He's going
to. He's going to. Turn to Jeremiah
now. Jeremiah chapter 30. Jeremiah 30. Verse 10. Jeremiah 30 verse 10. I'm telling you, it only gets
better. Jeremiah 30 verse 10, Therefore,
fear thou not, O my servant Jacob? Sayeth the Lord, Neither be dismayed,
O Israel, for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed
from the land of their captivity. And Jacob shall return, and shall
be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid. Why? For I am with thee. He's not against us. He's not
against you, Jacob. He's for you. I am with thee,
saith the Lord, to save thee. Turn to Malachi chapter one. It's the end of the Old Testament.
Malachi chapter one. Malachi 1 verse 1. If you're
not there, just listen. I gotta hurry. The burden of
the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. I have loved you,
saith the Lord, yet ye say, wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau
Jacob's brother, saith the Lord? Yet I love Jacob, and I hated
Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the
dragons of the wilderness. Was not Esau your brother? Yet
I loved you. Is our name not Sinner through
and through? Yet I've loved you with an everlasting
love that you'll never be separated
from. Look at chapter 3 right here,
verse 6. For I am the Lord, I change not,
and therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." You know,
if God did change, we would be consumed. But He sees to it that He can't
change, and we can never be consumed. No weapon formed against us is
going to prosper. It can't. God won't let it. It's like with
Job. How miserable was Job? His own
family was gone, and then the family that was left is why I've
turned on him. Just curse God and die. He had nothing, did
he? He had a Redeemer that liveth,
didn't he? Boy, he got in a hard place.
He had to be reminded of some things. We're no different. No different. But I love thinking
about him how when... If you don't know that the devil
is God's devil, look at the story of Job. God's the one that said,
have you considered my servant Job? Go ahead. Afflict him. But you can't touch
his life. Can't take his life. The devil
knew God had a hedge about him. You know God has a hedge about
you? If you're in Christ, a hedge. We get in our car, and we worry,
and we go to the beach, wonder if something's going to happen.
I get my kids near water, I worry. They're little. God has a hedge about His people.
Trust Him. Trust Him. Turn to Luke chapter
1. It's the last one. Luke 1 verse
31. Luke 1 31. And behold, thou shalt conceive
in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name
Jesus. He shall be great, and shall
be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God shall give unto
him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over
the house of Jacob. Forever. And of His kingdom there
shall be no end. Christ our Lord shall reign over
us forever and ever. He's made us to be a part of
His kingdom. We're going to dwell in the house of our Lord forever.
There shall be no end. Does that not bless your soul
just to think about? Can we not see God's goodness
to Jacob? All these things are against
me. No. And here's the thing, again, I love the story of Joseph
so much. Very soon, he's going to find
out. In chapter 45 of Genesis, when Joseph just can't take it
anymore, he makes himself known to his brothers, and how beautiful
that is. And he says, go tell my father. You know, it was one of the,
maybe the hardest day of Jacob's life when he had to send Benjamin.
But you imagine the joy that struck him when they came home
and they said, you're never going to believe this. Never going to believe who we
ran into. You know, Gabe told us the other day, I know it's
so hard to understand, but I believe it. He said, one day you're going
to look, he told me and Rachel, one day you're going to look
back on this trial and you're going to say it's the best thing
that ever happened to you. I cannot. My weak, sinful, puny
mind cannot begin to process that. But the little grain of
mustard seed of faith that God has given me fully believes that. If only we knew the end from
the beginning. We don't have to. He does. That's good enough
for me. That's good enough for me. I
want to read you one more thing. I lied. I got one more. Turn
to Ezekiel 39, and I'll let you go. We just read the house of Jacob. Can we relate to Jacob's sinner?
Sinner, all right? That's what Jacob was. Jacob
was a sinner. Deceitful, selfish, greedy, tricky sinner. And he represents all God's people.
referred to as the house of Jacob, the house of Israel. Look here
in Ezekiel 39 verse 25 with me. Ezekiel 39 verse 25, Therefore
thus saith the Lord God, Now will I bring again the captivity
of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and
will be jealous for my holy name. After that they have borne their
shame and all their trespasses, whereby they have trespassed
against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made
them afraid. When I have brought them again from the people, and
gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and am sanctified in them
in the sight of many nations, then shall they know that I am
the Lord their God, which caused them to be led into captivity
among the heathen. But I have gathered them unto
their own land, and have left none of them any more there.
Neither will I hide my face any more from them, for I have poured
out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God."
Who sends our trials? Did it not just tell us? God
does. He said, I'm not going to leave
them there. I've poured out my spirit upon them. What he's saying
is, I'm with them. And they're with me. One. One. You know, a verse in 2 Corinthians
4, I believe, where it says, our light affliction, which is
but for a moment, worketh for us, not against us. Not against
us. No matter how troubled we may
feel, no matter how dark the night may seem, seems like the
trial's never gonna end, no light at the end of the tunnel. If
we're in Christ, if we can relate to Jacob, brother Jacob, then
God is for us, brethren. And if God be for us, who can
be against us? Who can be against us? Amen. Let's have a word of prayer. Our most high and heavenly Father,
Lord God Almighty, we bow before you with thankful hearts coming
to you through your blessed Son, Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we thank you. Thank you
for the blessed message of hope we just heard. Father, thank you for choosing a multitude of Jacobs. Lord, pray that you'd be with
Brother Cody and his family as they go home. Be with them through their great
trial. Be their strength in their stay,
Lord. Give them grace and comfort. Lord, you've promised mercies
new each day, and we thank you for them. Lord, we thank you for thy word,
for the men who stand in proclaim it. Lord, we ask that you would
bless the word to your sheep, wherever they may be. And we
ask that thy will be done in all things for Christ's sake.
Amen. Number 23 in our course book, we'll sing the first and
the third. The first and third verse. 23 in the course book. In Jesus I found a sweet rest,
From sorrow, from toil, and from care. In Him I am happy and blessed,
For He all my burdens doth bear. Happy am I with my Savior so
nigh. I have found a sweet rest on
Jesus my Savior's dear breast. Though many the troubles I meet,
He'll keep me and carry me along. I'll sit at His glorified feet,
For He's my joy and my song. Oh, how happy am I With my Savior
so nigh! I have found a sweet rest Our
Jesus, my Savior's dear Christ.