Now if you would open your Bibles
with me to Genesis chapter 48. Genesis 48, we get the opportunity
to sit in and listen tonight to a very intimate conversation
of one of God's saints on his deathbed to his darling sons. I think it'll be a blessing to
us. Verse one, Genesis 48. And it came to pass after these
things that one told Joseph, behold, thy father is sick. And
he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. And one
told Jacob and said, behold, thy son, Joseph cometh unto thee.
And Israel strengthened himself and sat upon the bed. And Jacob
said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Laz in the
land of Canaan and blessed me. And said unto me, Behold, I will
make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and will make of thee a
multitude of people, and will give this land to thy seed after
thee for an everlasting possession. And now thy two sons, Ephraim
and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt,
before I came unto thee into Egypt, they're mine. As Reuben
and Simeon, they shall be mine. And thy issue, which thou begottest
after them, shall be thine. and should be called after the
name of their brethren and their inheritance. And as for me, when
I came from Padan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan,
in the way, when yet there is but a little way to come unto
Ephrathah. And I buried her there in the way of Ephrathah, the
same as Bethlehem. And Israel beheld Joseph's sons
and said, who are these? And Joseph said unto his father,
these are my sons, whom God hath given me in this place. And he
said, bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them.
Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not
see. And he brought them near unto
him, and he kissed them and embraced them. And Israel said unto Joseph,
I had not thought to see thy face, and, lo, God hath showed
me also thy seed. And Joseph brought them out from
between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the
earth, And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward
Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's
right hand, and brought them near unto him. And Israel stretched
out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was
the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding
his hands wittingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn. And he blessed
Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac
did walk, and God which fed me all my life long unto this day,
the angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads, and
let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers, Abraham
and Isaac, and let them grow into a multitude in the midst
of the earth. And when Joseph saw that his father laid his
right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him, and he held
up his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's
And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father, for this is
my firstborn. Put thy right hand upon his head.
And his father refused and said, I know it, my son, I know it. He also shall become a people,
and he also shall be great. But truly his younger brother
shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude
of nations. And he blessed them that day,
saying, In thee shall Israel bless. saying, God make thee
as Ephraim and Manasseh. And he said, Ephraim before Manasseh.
And Israel said unto Joseph, behold, I die, but God shall
be with you and bring you again unto the land of your fathers.
Moreover, I've given to thee one portion above thy brethren,
which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword
and with my bow. Thank God for his word. Let's
bow before him together. Our Father, we come before you
a thankful people. Oh, how thankful we are that
there is forgiveness of sin, redemption from our sin in the
blood of your darling son. Father, how we thank you for
your love that you set upon your people, that you had put us in
Christ, that you would see us in Christ, that you would see
us only in your son. as perfect and righteous and
holy as he is, and that you would accept us in the beloved, that
you would hear our prayer for Christ's sake, that you enable
us to come into your presence with confidence and bow before
you and worship you and be accepted. Father, how we thank you. How
we thank you for this gospel of your son that you've given
to us to preach and to believe and to hear. Father, how we thank
you. How we thank you for the good
news of full and free redemption in Christ our Savior. And Father,
I pray that you'd cause your gospel to run well, that it would
go forth in the power of thy spirit tonight to, first of all,
bring glory to your name. And Father, second of all, to
cause your people to hear, to hear with the ear of faith and
look to Christ, find rest and peace and comfort for our souls
by looking to him, trusting him and him alone. Father, bless
us, we pray, for thy great namesake. We thank you for this opportunity
to meet together and worship, to have your word open to us,
and I pray that you would not allow us to let it go by in vain. Father, we thank you for the
many blessings of this life. how you blessed us. We thank
you for the good report that we got today and our sister Lorelei.
Father, we thank you, you answer prayers. Fathers, for others
who continue to need you and need your hand of healing and
comfort and direction upon them, we pray you'd be with them in
a special way. Father, again, bless us as we
look into your work. Enable us to see, by faith, our
Lord Jesus Christ. In his blessed name, for his
sake we pray. Amen. All right, now I've titled
the lesson this evening, Joint Heirs with Christ. In this chapter
that we just read, Joseph or Jacob adopts the two sons of
Joseph and makes those two young men, they're not boys, they're
at least 17 years old. Jacob has been in Egypt 17 years,
they were born before he got there. So these are pretty much
full grown men. He makes those young men to be
his children. That's what he says in verse
five. And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born
unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into
Egypt, they're mine. As Reuben and Simeon, they shall
be mine. Now Jacob adopted Ephraim and
Manasseh. Now Ephraim and Manasseh are
not Jacob's grandsons. They're sons. He adopted them. They're his sons, and as his
sons, they have an inheritance from their father Jacob. Now
here's the picture. In his mercy and grace, Almighty
God adopted a people to be his children. Now they're natural
born sons and daughters of Adam. They're natural born rebels,
naturally born, they're worth nothing. But Almighty God adopted
them and made them to be his children. And since God's elect
are his children, they're heirs of God. They're joint heirs with
God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what we read to open the
service in Romans 8, verse 17. And tonight, I wanna look at
four points. It centers like you and me, being made joint
heirs with Christ. It's one of the most amazing
stories you could tell. someone like us could be joint
heirs with God's son. Now, the first thing I see here
is this. The only way you and me can be joint heirs with Christ
is by the purpose and promise of God. Look back in verse one. It came to pass after these things
that one told Joseph, behold, thy father is sick. And he took
with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. And one told Jacob
and said, behold, thy son, Joseph cometh unto thee. And Israel
strengthened himself and sat upon the bed. And Jacob said
unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of
Canaan and blessed me. And said unto me, behold, I will
make thee fruitful and multiply thee. And I will make of thee
a multitude of people and will give this land to thy seed after
thee for an everlasting possession. Now this is a touching scene.
I mean, this really happened to real people living real lives
just like us. Someone tells Joseph, I mean,
Joseph's busy running the country and feeding the world, but somebody
comes and tells Joseph, your daddy's dying. Joseph took his
two boys. He went to see his father on
his deathbed. And Jacob hears they're coming.
This man's on his deathbed, but he hears Joseph's coming. And
that kind of rouses him up, you know, gives him a little burst
of energy. He sits up on the bed so he can visit with them
a while when they get there. And Jacob's going to bless his
sons before he dies. But you know, Jacob wouldn't
have anything to bless his sons with unless the Lord had first
met Jacob and given him a promise of grace. The only reason Jacob
has anything to pass on to his children is because of God's
covenant of grace, that covenant that he confirmed with Jacob. God condescended to confirm that
covenant to Jacob, just like he did his father, Isaac, and
his grandfather, Abraham. And that's what Jacob is telling
us about here. He's telling his son, his grandsons, now his sons,
that he's dying in hope because he believes the promise of God.
He's dying looking forward to what is to come. And he knows
what is coming because he believed what God promised him. Now, I
know it doesn't look like it right now, but a multitude of
people are going to descend from Jacob. A multitude. There's going
to be so many of them, you can't count them. Now, only 70 of them
came into Egypt. I mean, pretty small band, you
know, all things considered. I mean, they're a vast, vast,
vast, vast minority in Egypt. But when they leave that place,
over three million of them are coming out, a multitude of people. Now, Jacob didn't know how that
was gonna happen exactly. He just knew it would, because
God promised him. And that's what he's telling
his sons here. That multitude that's gonna descend from Jacob
is gonna inhabit the land of Canaan. Now, right now, Israel
lives in Egypt, and a strong, mighty people live in Canaan.
I mean, they're well-established there. They got big cities and
walls and big standing armies. Canaan's their home, and they're
not gonna give it up easily. But Jacob knew this. His descendants
are gonna inhabit every square inch of that land. Now he has
no idea how that's gonna happen. He just knows they will because
this was God's promise to him. He believed God and this is what
he's passing on to his sons. Far more important than possessions
and sheep and money and all those things, this is what he's passing
on to his sons. He's telling them, I'm dying
believing God. Now you believe him too, that's
what he's telling them. Now that is a good inheritance to pass
on to your children, isn't it? Now he's recounting this story.
And you can just imagine Joseph and Ephraim and Manasseh, can't
you? They'd heard this story before. I know they did. I know they did because I know
this about human nature. Old men tell the same stories
over and over and over again. They'd heard this story before. This story of God meeting Jacob. and giving him this promise,
the promise of his grace. This story's a family heirloom,
and Jacob's passing it on to his sons. Now, this story's not
exactly part of the blessing that Jacob's gonna give, but
this is a blessing, that he's got this to pass on to his sons
and to his grandsons, telling them about the promise of God,
telling them to believe it. And a big part of what Jacob
is telling them here is this, Don't you forget God's promise
to me and to your father, to your grandfather, to your great-grandfather.
Don't ever forget this. Egypt is not your permanent home.
He tells them down there in verse 21, he said unto Joseph, behold,
I die, but God shall be with you and bring you again out of
this land, under the land of your fathers. He's telling them,
don't forget. Now, this is not your permanent
home. Egypt isn't. That's why in the last chapter,
we looked at last week, Jacob made Joseph promise, you're not
gonna bury me here. Don't you bury me in Egypt, you
take me back to Canaan and bury me there. That's the land of
promise. And you're not staying here,
we're leaving this place someday. He's telling them, I know this
is good right now. God's blessing us with all kinds
of physical and material blessings right now, but don't you get
so caught up in Egypt. and all the material blessings
and the wealth of this country, that you forget your home's in
Canaan. Now you're not staying here.
I know it's not, God's blessing us here right now, but we're
not staying here forever. We're leaving. This place, we're
going to Canaan eventually. He's telling them, keep your
heart set on Canaan. Not on the things of this, this
country because Canaan is where God's promised to bless you.
Now here's how that applies to you and me. Canaan is a picture
of the land of promise. It's the land of rest. It's a
picture of heaven with Christ. And we can say like the same
thing Jacob said, God's blessed us. Now God has blessed us in
this place. I mean, this world is not, you
know, a very pleasant place to live most of the time, but now
God's blessed us. God has blessed us in this place. He blessed
us with physical and material blessings. I mean, they're just
without number. I mean, we're rich. Rich, blessed
people. But don't ever forget, this world
is not your home. Now, most of you got to get up
and go to work in the morning, so you keep earning the money to
be able to have all these blessings, right? You know, your home and
your food and your cars and all these things. Get up and go to
work in the morning, doing what you're supposed to do, and do
with all you got, remembering this, don't set your heart on
this place. Now, if you're God's, we're leaving this place. Sooner
or later, we're leaving this place and we're going to Canaan. We're
going to the place that God promised us. Remember what Paul said in
2 Corinthians 4, verse 18. Look not, don't set your heart
on these things. Look not on the things which
are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things
which are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen
are eternal. Now look on those things. Set
your heart on those things. You know, believers today are
called sons of Jacob. I think believers are called
sons of Jacob almost, maybe more than any other thing believers
are called in scripture. We're sons of Jacob. Because
we're just like Jacob, aren't we? Our nature's the same as
Jacob. We're saved. The same way Jacob
was saved for the same reasons Jacob was saved is because of
God's covenant of grace. Now if we're sons of Jacob, we
can listen to what he's saying here. He's saying this to his
sons. He's given us a blessing if we'll take heed to it and
hang on to it and remember it. Hold on to this world loosely
and hang on to God's promises for all your worth. Now that
instruction is a sweet inheritance. It's a valuable inheritance,
and it's a sweet inheritance, if we'll take it to heart, isn't
it? All right, number two, this is the second thing I see. God's
adoption makes his people to be his actual sons. Now, I know
while we're in this flesh, we tend to think, as I am right
now, I'm not really truly a son or daughter of God. I'm not really
righteous. I'm not really holy. I'm not
really blameless and sinless before God. I know I will be
someday. Now in heaven, I know I will
be there, but not really, not right now, because all I am is
sin. Well, that's true of my old man. That's all my old man is, is
sin. That's all he ever will be. That's why he's got to die.
But that new man, born of God in the new birth, he's righteous. He's holy, he's unblameable,
he's unreprovable in God's sight. He can not sin, he cannot. I know that's true, because that's
what God said. God said they're holy, unblameable, unapprovable
in my sight. Now, if God doesn't see any sin
in me, I don't have any sin, because God sees things the way
they really are. So if God has adopted me by his
grace and calls me his son, That's what I really am, his son. There's
a picture of that here in verse five. Jacob says, and now thy
two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in
the land of Egypt, before I came unto thee into Egypt, they're
mine. As Reuben and Simeon, they're
mine. And thy issue which thou begettest after them, they'll
be thine and should be called after the name of their brethren
and their inheritance. Now Jacob adopted those two sons
of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh. He said, Joseph, they're not
your sons anymore. They're mine. They're mine. They're my children.
These two are mine just as truly as Reuben and Simeon are mine.
Now Reuben and Simeon were the first two sons born to Jacob.
This is what Jacob's saying. These last two, they're just
as much my sons as the first two, that they're really my sons. You see, this adoption is more
than a sweet act by a dying old man trying to show his grandsons
how much he really loves them. It is a sweet act, but it's much
more than just a sweet act of love by a feeble old man. This
adoption makes Ephraim and Manasseh joint heirs with those other
11 sons. They're joint heirs. This adoption
gives them a legal standing, makes it right for them to receive
an inheritance from Jacob just as much as Reuben and Simeon
and the other nine. It makes them right. It makes
it right for them to be joint heirs. Now in our day, adoption, it's
a beautiful thing. I mean, this adoption is beautiful,
but you think about adoption in our day. My son-in-law used
to be an assistant district attorney over these matters in a county
about children and custody and all these kinds of things. And
the horror stories that he tells just utterly break your heart. The situations in houses that
children have to live in. And adoption is a beautiful thing. It's beautiful. You think someone seeing an unwanted,
unloved, uncared for child and taking them in and giving them
a family that loves them. Not just provides for them. Yes,
they're going to provide for them much more than families
in these other horrible situations that you read about. They're
going to give them good food and good clothes. They're going
to give them a nice bedroom, a nice bed, and all those things.
but they're going to love them. They're going to give them what
that child needs as much as anything. Love. Stability. And that child is going to grow
up in a home that's stable, where they're loved, where they're
supported, where they can go out in the world and be successful.
That's a beautiful thing. It's just beautiful, isn't it? Well, now magnify that more times
than we can count. That's what God's done for his
children when he adopted them into his family. He took an unwanted,
unloved, abused child, malnourished, naked, and dirty, and filthy,
and he adopted that child into his family. And that child's
given everything they need. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
redemption. The eternal, infinite, The love
of God that you can't measure the length or the breadth or
the depth or the height of it is theirs. God loves them with
that love. And those children are real children
of God. They're not half children, they're
not pretend children, they're full children. As much a son
of God in this manner as Christ himself. What did Christ tell
Mary after he rose from the tomb? Go tell my disciples, I go to
my father and your father. He's your father. If he's adopted
you into his family, he's your father. And you are fully loved,
fully taken care of, fully protected by the might of God Almighty,
because you're his child. And since you're his child, it's
not wrong of you to expect an inheritance from your father. Now that is beautiful, isn't
it? Beautiful. But you know, God's
adoption is so much better than man's adoption. When God adopts
a child into his family, he also has the power to birth that child
in his family. He takes that adopted child and
gives them his nature in the new birth, a nature born from
his seed. They're his children. And God's
adopted children. They have so many benefits and
privileges. You just can't overstate how
glorious it is to be a child of God. I want you to turn over
to Galatians chapter 4. The apostle here talks to us
about adoption. Galatians chapter 4. Galatians 4 verse 1. Now I say that the heir, as long
as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be
lord of all. But he's under tutors and governors until the time
appointed of the father. And if you go back up in chapter
three, here's what Paul is talking about, about the child differing
nothing from a servant. Verse 23 of chapter three. But
before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up under
the faith, which should afterward be revealed. Wherefore, the law
was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might
be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we're
no longer under a schoolmaster, for you're all children of God
by faith in Christ Jesus. Now, you and I were born under
the law, and God's law is like that old schoolmaster. In those
days, this is what they did, a rich man who had great wealth
and great businesses, great possessions. His son's gonna be the heir of
all this, all this business, all this lands, all this stuff
that he's running. And the rich man puts his son,
the heir of it all, under a tutor, under a school teacher. He's
gotta teach him, he's gotta educate him so that someday he's able
to run his father's business. And that child, he had to do
what the teacher said. And if the schoolmaster told
him something to do something, he did it wrong, schoolmaster's
whack him more. I mean, just whack him. If he got the two
plus two wrong, he'd whack him. If he didn't do his homework
right, he'd whack him. This one on test, he'd whack
him. Just all the time busting his knuckles, whopping him upside
the head. And the schoolmaster would keep whopping that kid
until that kid finally learned all the lessons. And he matured
enough. Now he's educated. Now he's ready
to take over his father's estate. He's treated like the heir. The
schoolmaster can't whop him one no more. Well, the law is our
schoolmaster. And the schoolmaster did his
job. He raised that, taught that son to step up and be able to
run his father's business. Well, the law is our schoolmaster,
isn't it? And the law, God's law tells
us, do this and live. Don't do this and obey me and
live. And that law just keeps whacking
us. Whacking us and whacking us just keeps whacking us upside
the head because we never learn We don't have the ability to
obey God's law Now the phrase Paul uses here is the law brings
us to Christ what? The law doesn't really bring
us to Christ The law doesn't know anything about grace. The
law doesn't know anything about faith. Paul says you were justified
by faith. Well, the law doesn't know anything
about faith The only thing the law knows is obedience or disobedience
Black and white, life or death, that's all the law knows. But
here's what the law does do. It shuts us up to Christ. The
law just keeps whacking us every time that we disobey. The law
makes us see I don't have any hope of eternal life by obeying
the law because I can't do it. The law makes me see that Christ
is my only hope of being justified. The only way that I can keep
the law is by being in Christ. That's what the law shows us.
Now, verse three, chapter four. This is what Paul is saying.
Even so, when we were children, we're in bondage under the elements
of the world. But when the fullness of time
was come, God sent forth his son made of a woman, made under
the law to redeem them that were under the law, that we might
receive the adoption of sons. And because you're sons, now
once you're adopted, now you're a son. And because you're sons,
God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts,
crying, Abba, father. Wherefore, thou art no more a
servant, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of
God through Christ. See that rich man's son, he was
always a son. He was always the heir. It was
always intended for him to take over his father's business. But
while he was learning, While he was being taught, he was treated
like the lowest servant. But when he matured, and he learned,
and he learned everything he was supposed to learn, then he
was treated like the son, like the heir of it all. Well, that's
the believer. Before God gave us faith in Christ,
the law just beat us like a common criminal, and that's what we
deserve. But once faith in Christ came,
now we have no more relationship to the law. Once faith in Christ
came, now the law can't touch us anymore. Now we're treated
as sons. Now we're treated as the heirs
of it all. And just like our first point
tonight, we're heirs according to God's promise, according to
God's grace. It's not our merit, it's God's
promise of grace in Christ Jesus. You're heirs through Christ,
through what Christ has accomplished for you. So God's adopted children,
now they have a right to an inheritance from their father. But look back
at Romans chapter eight. God's children also have a sweet,
loving relationship, a relationship of dependence on their father. Romans eight, verse 14. For as
many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of
God. For you have not received the
spirit of bondage again to fear, but you receive the spirit of
adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." Now God's children have
received the spirit of adoption. And this is not just a legal
matter, legally adopted. Paul says here, you've received
the spirit of it. The spirit of adoption. Whereby,
by that spirit, we cry, Abba, Father. Now you can read a whole
lot about this word, Abba, But the long and the short of it
is this. This is an intimate way for a child to address their
father, Abba. Jan and I watched a show one
time with a bunch of Jewish people, and that's what the girls always
called their daddy, Abba, Abba. It's like us saying daddy or
papa. It's an affectionate term. It's a term that shows love and
affection. Well, here's what Paul is telling
us here. God's children have the right to refer to God the
Father in intimate, loving terms. Abba. Now that is as amazing as it
is comforting that somebody like us can call the Father Abba. Papa. Daddy. and count on him
to love you back. And count on him to love you
back. The only reason we love him is
because he first loved us, right? Hold your place there, Romans
8. I'm gonna show you what I'm talking about. Look at John chapter
14. We cry, Abba, Father, this loving
way of a child referring to his father, and we can count on him
to love us back. John 14, verse 15. If you love me, keep my commandments.
And you know that commandment, it's not to obey the laws, it's
to obey his commandment to believe him, to trust Christ, not trust
anything you do, trust Christ alone. And I'll pray the father,
he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever. Even the spirit of truth, whom
the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth
him, but you know him, for he dwelleth with you and shall be
in you. I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. You know what that word comfortless
literally translated is? Orphans. I will not leave you orphans.
I've adopted you into my family. You're my child. I love you and
you can count on me. I will not leave you orphans. You're not gonna be comfortless
without love, the love of the father, without the provision
of the father, without the protection of the father, without the leadership
of the father, I will not leave you orphans. That's a loving
relationship, isn't it? All right, now back to Romans
chapter eight. So these children, God's adopted children, they're
real children. I know they are because the spirit
of God says they are. Verse 16, the spirit himself
beareth witness with our spirit. that we are the children of God. And if we're children, then heirs,
heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. God's adopted children
are the right, true heirs of God. And we're joint heirs with
Christ, joint heirs with Christ. See, we're heirs, not by our
merit, are we? No, we're heirs by Christ's merit,
joint heirs with Christ, and if you're a joint heir, you know
what that means? We receive everything, we inherit everything that Christ
receives, that Christ the son receives. Well, what's the son
gonna receive? Everything. The father's already
put everything into his hands. Then all things are for your
sake. They're all yours, too. See, the testator has already
died. That's what gives us the right to the inheritance, isn't
it? Now, that's a blessing that you can take with you as you
finish out this journey here below. You take this and hang
on to this promise. You have a right to expect that
inheritance because God's made you his son and his daughter.
Isn't that rich? And here's the third thing. I
kind of hinted at this a minute ago. If we're joint heirs with
Christ, it's by his merit, not ours. God's adoption is always
for the undeserving. The undeserving are just always
shocked at God's provision for them, at God's grace for them.
Look back at Genesis 48, verse eight. And Israel beheld Joseph's son,
and said, who are these? And Joseph said unto his father,
they're my sons, whom God hath given me in this place. And he
said, bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I'll bless them.
Now the eyes of Israel were dimmed for age, so that he could not
see, and he brought them near unto him, and he kissed them
and embraced them. And Israel said unto Joseph,
I had not thought to see thy face, and, lo, God hath showed
me also thy seed. Jacob said, Joseph, I didn't
think I'd ever see you again. I thought you were dead, and
I thought I'd never see you again. I dared not even ask for the
blessing to ever see you again, because I thought you were dead. And God's been so good to me.
He's not only let me see your face, He's let me see your son's
too. 20 years ago, Jacob couldn't
have dreamed up something like this. God's blessings are always
so much greater than we can even imagine, aren't they? And they're
always a surprise. It's just a surprise how good
God is to his people. Well, verse 12, Joseph brought
them out from between his knees and he bowed himself with his
face to the earth. And Joseph took them both, Ephraim
in his right hand toward Israel's left hand and Manasseh in his
left hand toward Israel's right hand and brought them near unto
him. Now Joseph took the older son Manasseh in his left hand
so he'd come up towards Jacob's right hand. And Ephraim, the
younger son, in his right hand, bring him up towards Jacob's
left hand. And Joseph did that because the
older son, he's supposed to receive the greater blessing. That's
what comes from the right hand. So that's what Joseph did. But,
verse 14, Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it upon
Ephraim's head. He was the younger. and his left
hand on Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly. For Manasseh
was the firstborn. Jacob crossed his hands. He put
his hands the opposite way that Joseph had intended, so that
his right hand was on the head of the younger, on Ephraim. And
Jacob knew exactly what he was doing. It says here he guided
his hands wittingly. You see, Jacob blessed these
two boys by faith. Hebrews 11 verse 21 says that
by faith, Jacob blessed both the sons of Joseph as he was
dying. He did this, he crossed his hands
like that by faith. Jacob knew that God's gonna bless
Ephraim. He's gonna bless Ephraim's tribe more than he is Manasseh's.
Now Manasseh's gonna be a great tribe too, but Ephraim is gonna
be blessed more. Now I looked into that. I looked
a lot about that. And I just don't know everything
I know about that. But here's what I do know. Joshua, that
great type of Christ who led Israel across the Jordan River
into the promised land. He was from the tribe of Ephraim,
that great tribe of Christ. Maybe that was part of the blessing,
I don't know. But verse 15, Jacob goes on, he blessed Joseph and
said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, God,
which fed me all my life long until this day. The angel which
redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads." Oh, let God almighty
bless the lad. Let the angel, that's the son
of God. Let him bless the lads. Let my name be named on them.
And the name of my father is Abraham and Isaac. And let them
grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. And when
Joseph saw his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim,
he displeased him. And he held up his father's hand
to remove it from Ephraim's head, out of Manasseh's head. And Joseph
said unto his father, Not so, my father, for this is my firstborn. Put thy right hand on his head.
And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it.
He also should become a people, and he also should be great.
But surely this younger brother should be greater than he, and
his seed should become a multitude of nations. And he blessed them
that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make
thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh. And he said Ephraim before Manasseh. Now, does that story sound at
all familiar to you? Jacob blessed the younger son
instead of the older one, the exact same way his father did
him, blessed Jacob with a greater blessing instead of Esau. You
would think Esau deserved it, right? As the oldest son, but
not so. God blessed the younger. Here,
God blessed the younger again. Now that's not man's way. That's just surprising that Jacob
would do that, but that's the way God's blessings always are.
They're always surprising because they come to the most undeserving. Now I have to tell you, if you
think, that you deserve some blessing from God because of
something that you've done. You're not going to get it. God's
blessings are always by grace. They're never by our merit. They're
always by his grace. But I've got good news for the
undeserving. If you just can't think of one
reason why God would bless you, you can't think of one reason
why would God save me? Why would God bless me? Why would
God let me see? Why would God give me faith?
There's not one reason God would bless me. God just ought to cast
me to hell and wipe his hands and be done with me. If that's
the way you think about yourself, let me tell you, God will bless
you. For Christ's sake. Not for your sake, for Christ's
sake. God's blessings always come on
the most undeserving. I'm sure every person who really
believes God will save this. Of all the people that I know
that God has saved, I tell you the one that surprises me the
most is me. It's just always surprising,
isn't it? All right, here's the last thing. God's adoption gives
his people a rich inheritance. Verse 22, Moreover, I have given
to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of
the hand of the Amorite with my sword or with my bow. Now
by adopting, Joseph is the favorite son. You'd think naturally Jacob
would want to always give him more, right? But how can he do
that and be right? How can he be right? Otherwise
it's like he's doing the wrong thing. Well, by adopting Ephraim
and Manasseh and giving them an equal inheritance with those
other 11 brothers, In effect, he gave Jacob twice as much,
didn't he? Because he gave it to his sons, see that? Jacob
gave Joseph a double portion. And this land he's talking about
here that he took with his sword and his bow, you know what ended
up being on that land? Jacob's well, where our Lord
sat waiting for a Samaritan woman to come give him a drink of water.
That's where that land was. That's given to Ephraim and to
Manasseh. And he says, I'm giving you a
double portion. Now quickly look at Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah
chapter 40. Let's look at this double portion
for just a second. Isaiah 40 verse one. Comfort
ye. Comfort ye my people, saith your
God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that
her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned.
For she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all of
her sins. Now what does that double mean?
Well, I know it probably means so many things I don't completely
know, but I do know one thing I'm sure it means. It means justification
and sanctification. Sinners need both, if we would
be sane. Justification is being made without sin. To have no
sin is to have my sin put away. If I'm gonna stand before God,
I've got to be justified, don't I? Somebody's got to put my sin
away. Well, that's what Christ did with his blood. He justified
his people. He made it so they'd have no
sin. But if God pays for my sin and
then leaves me alone, leaves me to my own devices, I'm gonna
sin some more. And then I'm gonna be damned
because there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin. So I need to be justified,
but I also need to be made holy. I need to be given a holy nature
so that I won't sin again. That's what sanctification is.
God causes his people to be born again with a holy, righteous
nature that won't sin again, that can never mar Christ's sacrifice
for them. That's the double blessing, justification
and sanctification. everything we need in Christ
by his sacrifice. I'm also sure of this, that double
blessing, it just means everything. It's everything God has for a
sinner. It's inheriting everything that
Christ earned for us. It's having God's love. God's
love with you every step of the way. having His presence with
you so that He'll never leave you nor forsake you. It's having
His protection, protecting you from things that you know about
and protecting you from things you don't know about. It's having
His provision to give me this day my daily bread. Give us what
I need. It's having Him shepherd us all
the days of His life. That's what Jacob talked about
earlier, the God who shepherded me. It's having Him shepherd
us. lead us and guide us all the
way, and if he wasn't shepherding us, we'd fall off a cliff, wouldn't
we? But he keeps us from doing that. Now, that's an inheritance. There's nothing you can receive,
earthly speaking, physically, materially, that's as valuable
as that inheritance. So take care of the business
that God's given you to take care of, your home, your family,
your job, those things. but set your heart on those things
which are not seen. Those are eternal, and that's
our blessing. That's our inheritance. All right,
let's bow together. Our Father, what a blessing. We've just looked at this and
seen this. What a blessing to be able to call you our Father. It's only by your adopting grace. Father, we're so thankful. How
we thank you for the blessings that you've so freely given your
people because we're joint heirs with Christ. All because of who
he is and what he's accomplished for us. All because of your purpose
and your promise. Father, we're so thankful. Father,
I pray that you take your word as it's being preached tonight.
Father, use it to show your people your glory. the amazing glory
of your love, your grace, your pity, your saving power for your
weak, undeserving people. Cause it to thrill her hearts.
Cause us to, to our hearts, our souls, to find rest and peace
and comfort in God, our Father. Father, it's in the precious
name of Christ, our Savior, that we pray. Amen. All right, Sean.