Let's open our Bibles now to
Genesis chapter 30. We'll begin our reading in verse
seven, Genesis chapter 30. And Billa, Rachel's maid, conceived
again, and bare Jacob a second son. And Rachel said, with great
wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister. that I've prevailed.
And she called his name Naphtali. Then Leah saw that she had left
bearing. She took Zilpah, her maid, and gave her Jacob to wife. And Zilpah, Leah's maid, bared
Jacob a son. And Leah said, a troop cometh,
and she calleth his name Gad. And Zilpah, Leah's maid, bared
Jacob a second son. And Leah said, happy am I, for
the daughters will call me blessed. And she called his name Asher.
Then Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest and found mandrakes
in the field and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel
said to Leah, give me, I pray thee, of thy son's mandrakes.
And she said unto her, is it a small matter that thou hast
taken my husband? And wouldst thou take away my
son's mandrakes also? And Rachel said, therefore he
shall lie with thee tonight for thy son's mandrakes. 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 mandrakes. And he lay with her that night
and God hearkened unto Leah and she conceived and bear 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
bear Jacob the sixth son. And Leah said, God hath endued
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. And afterwards she bared a daughter
and called her name Dinah. And God remembered Rachel and
hearkened to her and opened her womb. And she conceived and bared
a son and said, God hath taken away my reproach. And she called
his name Joseph and said, the Lord shall add to me another
son. We'll end our reading there.
Let's bow before our Lord together in prayer. Our Father, we bow before you
this evening, a hungry, a thirsty, a needy people. Father, we've
gathered here together this evening out of the dry and barren world
in which we live, seeking a word from thee. seeking a refreshment
from your word. And Father, I pray this evening
that you would give us a refreshing, enable us to one more time hear
of our Lord Jesus Christ, to be enabled by thy spirit to trust
him, to love him, to rest in him, refresh the souls of your
people with the water of thy word, and enable us to worship. Father, don't let us just go
through the motions of religion, but enable us to truly worship
Thee from the heart. Father, we also bow before you,
thankful people. Oh, how thankful we are for your
mercy and your grace that you have so abundantly shed upon
this congregation. You've been so merciful. Father, we're thankful. As much
as the human tongue can thank you, we do thank you. and pray
that you would not leave us alone now, but that you continue to
bless your word, that you continue to get glory to your name through
the preaching of your gospel, that you continue to feed and
instruct and comfort your sheep, that you continue to call out
your sheep by the preaching of the gospel. And Father, we pray
for those that you brought into the time of trouble and trial.
You've blessed us beyond measure, but we are still in this flesh
a poor, and a needy people. We pray that you'd meet the needs
of your people, that you'd heal, that you'd comfort, that you'd
rather undertake on behalf of your people. We pray for those
who are going through tests and waiting surgery and need you
especially. We pray for Joyce. We pray for
Janie. We pray for Julie. She's recovering. Be with her, be with Charlie.
We pray for our brother Dee Parks, his family, that you be with
him in a mighty way. Others, Father, you know every
need. We pray that you meet the needs
of your people richly. We also pray for little Grayson,
that you give him a safe delivery, him and his mama, that you cause
him to grow well and strong, we pray. All these things we
ask in that name, which is above every name, the name of Christ
our Savior. I've titled our message this
evening, Loved in Christ Part Two. We looked at part one last
night, or last Wednesday. Now you'll remember how Laban,
he deceived Jacob, the deceiver, into marrying both of his daughters,
Leah and Rachel. Leah was the fair-eyed sister,
means she was not as attractive as her sister Rachel. She is the most beautiful girl
in the whole county. And Jacob married them both, but scripture
tells us that He loved Rachel, Jacob loved Rachel more than
he loved Leah. Now you know how bad that made
Leah feel. All her life long, she was jealous
of her sister. And for the rest of their lives,
these two sisters competed with each other for Jacob's love.
And the main way they tried to win Jacob's love was by giving
him sons. They figured Jacob's gonna love
the one most who's giving him the most sons and they're just
in such competition here. And I tell you, this is one of
the saddest family situations that I can think of. I mean,
it's just shameful that Jacob allowed his family to be run
this way. But this is just yet another
picture, the Lord brings our salvation out of our shame, doesn't
he? He's gonna first reveal our shame,
the shame of our sin and rebellion against him. Before he saves
us, there's gonna be salvation out of our shame. Only the Lord
can bring good out of evil, like he does in this case. And even
though this family situation is just, it's horrible, the Lord
does give us a beautiful picture of Christ in this story, in the
birth of these sons. These 12 sons of Jacob become
heads of the 12 tribes of Israel. All of Israel is in these 12
boys, these 12 sons. And these boys are a picture
of all of God's people. They're a picture of spiritual
Israel and how spiritual Israel Every last one of them is in
Christ. In Christ. Now remember the competition
for these two sisters. They're competing for Jacob's
love, aren't they? When the birth of these boys and the names of
these boys, we see how all of God's people are loved. They're
loved equally. They're loved eternally. They're
loved perfectly. And it's in Christ. It's all
in Christ. God loves his people in Christ
because of who Christ is. and what Christ has done for
all of his people. Now, last Wednesday, we looked
at the first five sons. Tonight, I wanna look at the
other seven. Jacob's sixth son, his name is Naphtali, and it
means my wrestling. Verse seven, and Billa, Rachel's
maid, conceived again, and bare Jacob a second son. And Rachel
said, with great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and
I've prevailed. And she called his name Naphtali,
my wrestling. Isn't this a shameful attitude
Rachel had about her sister? I'm beating my sister in this
wrestling match now. I mean, I've got her pinned down
to the, I'm gonna beat my sister now. Now Jacob's gonna love me
the most. I think it's just shameful. But now here's the picture. If
there's anybody here this evening that wants to be saved, tell
you what, you better be prepared to wrestle with God. You be prepared
to wrestle with God the same way Jacob wrestled with God.
Remember that night at Peniel when he wrestled all night with
that pre-incarnate appearance of our Lord? Jacob wrestled with
God. Scripture says he prevailed.
Now the way we wrestle with God and prevail, it's not by somehow
overpowering God. It's not by tricking God and
getting some secret wrestling move and pinning God to the mat.
You know that's never gonna happen. Here's how you wrestle with God
and prevail. It's by prayer and begging. Prayer
and begging. Hosea, in Hosea chapter 12, he
talked about that night Jacob wrestled with the Lord at Peniel.
And Hosea said that Jacob prevailed in wrestling by weeping and supplication,
by tears and prayer. Jacob prevailed with the Lord
by crying and begging for mercy. It wasn't his physical strength,
he prevailed with the Lord by begging the Lord to have mercy
upon him. And when we wrestle with God, this is the way we
do it, by begging God for mercy, by crying out to him in prayer
and begging him for mercy, and then keep begging him for mercy,
and keep begging him for mercy, and keep begging him for mercy.
That's the way to prevail with God. That Syrophoenician woman,
remember she came to the Lord and asked him to heal her daughter? She had to wrestle with the Lord,
didn't she? First, the disciples tried to
send her away. Then the Lord wouldn't even answer. I mean,
you just think. She asked him for mercy. The
man didn't even answer her. And then when he did answer,
he said, it's not right for me to show mercy to you. You're
a dog. She kept begging and she kept
begging. And the Lord said, that's great
faith. That's great faith. She prevailed. because she didn't
run off when the Lord called her a dog. If you would prevail
with the Lord, I tell you what, keep begging him for mercy. Always
beg him for mercy. Never marry. Mercy. If you would wrestle with the
Lord, don't plead your goodness. Plead his goodness. His goodness
to sinners. If you would wrestle with the
Lord, plead the promises of God's grace that are found in his word.
Just plead with, Lord, you promised you would save sinners. You promised
you would never cast anybody out that came to you begging
for mercy. Lord, here I am begging. Lord, I'm a sinner. You promised
you'd save sinners. I'm a sinner. Would you save
me? And then just wait on the Lord. Wait on the Lord to show
mercy and keep begging. Don't go anywhere else. That's
wrestling with the Lord. And I can promise you this. That
kind of pleading with the Lord for mercy will prevail with the
Lord every time, every time. You know why? This is what he
said about himself. I delight to show mercy to sinners.
Keep begging it, you'll prevail. If you beg for mercy, you'll
prevail. The gospel that we preach and
believe tells us you can prevail with the Lord, not in your strength,
in your weakness. You know, if I was up here telling
you that now, you got to get strong. You got to get strong in the
faith. You got to get strong and live in a holy, good life. You
got to, you know, you'd feel defeated before you left, wouldn't
you? If I can tell you from the Word
of God, here's how you prevail with the Lord, by begging your
weakness and your inability. That gives you hope, doesn't
it? Our gospel gives hope to real, helpless, weak sinners. Are you the seventh son? His
name is Gad, and it means a troop, verse nine. And Leah saw that
she had left bearing, and she took Zilpah her maid and gave
her Jacob to wife. And Zilpah, Leah's maid, bared
Jacob a son, and Leah said, a troop cometh, and she called his name
Gad, a troop. I know Leah must have felt sure,
now I'm gonna win Jacob's love. Now he's going to love me. I've
given him a whole troop of sons. I've given him a whole basketball
team, plus a couple of sons. Surely he's going to love me
now. And it still didn't work. Now
here's the picture. When the Lord first gives us
a sight of our sin, and then repeatedly over the course of
a believer's life, the Lord gives us at least a glimpse of our
sin. And we look at our sin, we think there's no hope for
me. The troop of my sin is too great. There's too many of them. We think there's no way a holy
God could love me with this troop of my sin. But then the gospel
tells us, oh, we're sin abounded. Grace did much more abound. Yes, our sin is great. It's far
greater than we realize. Far greater than we realize,
but God's grace is greater yet. Our sin is so great, but the
blood of Christ is greater. Far greater. You think of the
troop of your sin, and this is what scripture says about that
troop. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, cleanses us from all
sin. How much sin? All sin. Original sin in Adam. Sin of
my own commission. Sin that I planned to do and
did. Sin that I didn't mean to do
but did. Sin that I wanted to do and the Lord prevented me
from doing it. Sin that I just thought about. Just all the mean
evil thoughts. All sin is cleansed white as
snow in the blood of Christ. Your sin is never gonna be so
great it'll keep you from being saved. Never. Never. Now your goodness will. Your
goodness will keep you from coming to Christ, won't it? Your righteousness
will keep you from trusting Christ. But your sin, no matter how great
you think it is, will never prevent you from being saved. Never. Because Christ came to save sinners. Your sin will not even keep God
from loving you. That's exactly right. God sent
his son to put away the sin of spiritual Israel. Because he loves them. Bob, God
didn't send his son to die for you so God could love you. That's
not so. God sent his son to die for you
to put away your sin because he already loved you. Oh my. Now that's about me. Oh, I know
I don't need to tell you, hate your sin. Just do everything
you can not to sin. But our sin's a great troop,
isn't it? Isn't it comforting to know we've got this troop
of sin? There's more for us than against
us. There's more for us than against us. I'm telling you,
that will let us rest in Christ. That'll just give our hearts
rest and peace if the Holy Spirit would just open our eyes. and
let us see Christ. That troop won't be any problem
whatsoever, will it? Then Jacob's eighth son, his
name is Asher, which means happy. Verse 12. And Zilpah, Leah's
maid, bared Jacob a second son. And Leah said, happy am I, for
the daughters will call me blessed. And she called his name Asher,
that is happy. Leah said, oh, I'm happy now. And I'm glad for her to be happy,
but you know why she was happy? I've beaten my sister. I mean,
this is just shameful. Jacob's gonna love me the most
now. I've beaten my sister. I've given him so many sons.
And bless her heart, it still didn't work. It still didn't
work. You gotta remember, Leah's a
picture of the law. A holy God can never love you
and me because of our works of the law, never. But the picture
is this, God Almighty is happy with his people in Christ. He's happy with them. The obedience
of Christ to God's law and the sacrifice of Christ for the sin
of God's elect has taken away every reason that would make
God frail. When Christ took the sin of his
people away, he took away every reason God would be angry with
his people. And all that's left is a smiling
face. He's happy with his people. You
know, sometimes I'm afraid we talk about God accepting us,
and we somehow get the impression, or we start thinking, well, God
is just grudgingly accepting us. Yes, he loves his son, but
he still knows I'm so sinful, and he still sees all of my sin,
and he just grudgingly accepts me. And that just makes us come
to our God like this, just like waiting for him to whack us on
top of the head, doesn't it? Brethren, that's not the way
the father looks at his children. He accepts his people, and he's
happy to do it. Because their sin is gone. And
you know what? The believer's happy too. Aren't
you happy in Christ? If you trust Christ, you're happy.
Now, your body's falling apart. Your world may be falling apart.
Your job is just an utter torture. The things that you do in the
day are just not pleasant whatsoever. But you're happy, aren't you?
You're happy in Christ. You're happy to have Him as your
Savior. You're happy to have Him as your provider. You're
happy to have him as your shepherd, aren't you? David said in Psalm
146, verse five, happy is he who has the God of Jacob for
his help. Happy is he whose hope is in the Lord his God. If your
hope of eternal life, your hope of the forgiveness of sin, remember,
in scripture, hope means an expectation. If your expectation of eternal
life and forgiveness of sins, if your hope is in the Lord,
you're happy. Happy, because you've got a good
hope. Oh, how happy we are to have Christ as our Savior. Now,
verse 14, something that may be kind of confusing to some
folks. And Reuben went in in the days
of wheat harvest and found mandrakes in the field and brought them
unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, give
me, I pray thee, of thy son's mandrakes. And she said unto
her, is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband? And
willest thou take away my son's mandrakes also? And Rachel said,
therefore, he shall lie with thee tonight for thy son's mandrakes. Now, I know this sounds, well,
look at verse 16. Jacob, when he came out of the
field that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, thou
must come in unto me, for surely I have hired thee. with my son's
mandrakes, and he lay with her that night. Now this sounds like
a very, very, very, very strange thing. Until you find out what
a mandrake is, or what they thought a mandrake was, they thought
mandrakes were a treatment for infertility. That's what they
thought this was, this mandrake. And I saw pictures of them, and
they had big old long roots, and they'd cut them up and make
some tea out of them or something. They thought this was a treatment
for infertility. And Rachel thought, now if I
get these mandrakes, for my sister, I'll have a treatment for infertility,
and I'm gonna beat her. And her sister just wouldn't
give this treatment for infertility to her out of love, you know,
had to make this trade. I mean, it's just, it's so perverted,
but anyway, out of that came Jacob's ninth son, Issachar,
which means in hire. Verse 17, and God hearkened unto
Leah, and she conceived and bared Jacob the fifth son. And Leah
said, God hath given me my hire, because I have given my maiden
to my husband, and she called his name Issachar, and hire. And Issachar's name also means
wages, or a reward. Now remember, Leah's a picture
of the law. She keeps trying to earn her
husband's love by giving him son, by what she can do. Issachar
is Leah's fifth son, plus the two, or however many ever from
the handmaiden, And Jacob still doesn't love her. I mean, the
woman finally is going to realize it doesn't matter how many sons
she gives the man, he's just not going to love her. Isn't
that a picture of the law? Our best attempts. This is what
we try to do by nature. Our best attempts to keep the
law. We think, oh, God will be happy
with me if I do my best to keep the law. If I just keep this
law and this law and this law and I don't do this and I don't
do this and I do this and I give up this pleasure, you know, God
will be happy with me. Our very best attempts at keeping
the law, what we say is our righteousness, God calls them filthy rags. Something
that's offensive to God. Our works of the law are all
sin. It's not some sin and some goodness,
they're all sin. The higher that we earn from
God, our works of the law, it's not love from God. It's not a
blessing from God. The higher we earn is death.
The wages of sin is death. That's what scripture says. The
only thing we can ever expect to earn from God by our deeds
is condemnation. Well, is there a hope that we
might be found in God's love? Is there a hope? Well, our hope
of salvation, our hope of life, our hope of God's love is not
on what we do, It's in what Christ has already done, what Christ
has earned for his people. The Lord Jesus Christ came, he's
a son of God, equal with God, but he humbled himself to come
to earth as a servant, a servant to his father. He came to do
his father's will, and he did it. The father sent his son and
said, son, now you'll be made flesh, you'll be made under the
law, and you do all the work that I require. to establish
righteousness for my people. You obey the law for them. You
take their sin and you put their sin away by your sacrifice for
them." And the son said, I'll do it. And that's what he did. He came and he kept the law perfectly. He sacrificed his perfect self,
himself. He made himself, his soul an
offering for sin. and he did what the father sent
him to do. And God's elect received the reward. We receive the hire
of Christ's work for us. We receive righteousness because
Christ gives it to us. We receive the forgiveness of
sin because he shed his blood for us. We receive eternal life
because Christ died for us. See, it's the hire of what Christ
has accomplished. Now one of the meanings of Issachar's
name is reward. Isn't that the story of a believer?
Our Savior freely gives His people the reward of grace. He earned
it all, didn't He? He earned it under the law. He
earned it under His Father's wrath and justice. And He gives
it to His people freely. That's the reward of grace. The
forgiveness of our sin. That's the reward of grace. Not
the troop of sin that we have. It's all forgiven in Christ.
That's the reward of grace. We've sold ourselves under the
law. We've sold ourselves in bondage to sin, but Christ has
redeemed us from the law. He paid the price and set us
free. That's a reward of grace. Sinners like you and me are actually
righteous. Holy. Not in what we've done,
but in what Christ has done for us and what he's done in us.
That's the reward of grace. Spiritual life. That's the reward
of grace. Christ died in your place so
you could live. Now that's a reward of grace,
isn't it? And I tell you, the reward of
grace, that's the only reward I'm interested in. Aren't you?
I don't ever want God to reward me for anything that I've done.
I don't want him to see anything I've done. See me in Christ.
See me in him. The only reward I'm interested
in is the reward of grace. What Christ has earned for me.
Well, then Jacob's 10th son is Zebulun, which means dwelling,
verse 19. And Leah conceived again and
bare Jacob the sixth son. And Leah said, God hath endued
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. Now Leah thought, I'm going to
have to keep fighting my sister over this anymore. I'm not going
to have to go trade Reuben's mandrakes to get Jacob to spend
an extra night with me. He's going to always want to
dwell with me. He's always going to want to live with me. And
not my sister. I've given him six sons. Plus
two from the hand. I've given him eight sons. And it still didn't work. It
didn't work. Jacob would not abide with Leah
because he just didn't love her. That's all there is to it. And
as sad as that is for Leah, Seeing this over and over and over again,
this woman's life, it just breaks my heart every time. It's just
so sad. But it's a picture of the law.
Almighty God will never abide with you and me in peace because
of our works of the law. He'll never love us because we've
kept his law. He'll never bless us because
we've kept his law. And it's utterly absurd to ever
think we can do it. That's just absurd to think that
sinners like you and me could Please God by how well we've
kept the law. The only hope sinners like you
and me have is to dwell in Christ. To dwell in Christ. I tell us
this all the time. Now you look to Christ. You run
to Christ. You get in Christ. And brother,
stay there. Don't go to Christ and then think
you can add to it. Don't go to Christ and think
you can do something to make it better. Don't go to Christ and think you're
gonna go in and out. Go to Christ and then stay there. Stay right
there and don't go anywhere else. Dwell in Him. Abide in Him. John talked about that in 1 John
2 verse 28. He said, little children, abide
in Him. Dwell there, abide in Him. That
when He shall appear, we may have confidence. and we won't
be ashamed of his coming. You're not gonna be ashamed if
you're hiding in Christ, are you? Abide in him. And you know,
this dwelling in Christ is a two-way street. The believer dwells in
Christ. We hide in Christ, he's our shelter,
he's our rock, we hide in him. But Christ also dwells in the
believer. John 15, verse four, the Savior said, abide in me. He's saying, you come to me,
you get in me, and you stay in me. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit
of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can you, except
you abide in me. Abide in me like the branch abides
in the trunk, gets its life from the trunk. If we're in Christ,
and Christ is in us, we can never die. We can never die because
we're joined to Christ who is our life. And you think what
a blessing it is. Almighty God calls his people
and says, you abide in me. And he also comes and abides
in thee. Mm-mm-mm. And that includes the whole Godhead,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. John 14 verse 16. The Savior
says, I'll pray the father and he should give you another comforter
that he may abide with you forever. Now, if you're in Christ, you
believe Christ, you're one of God's, the Holy Spirit is going
to abide in you forever. He's not going to leave you.
In John 14 verse 23, Jesus answered and said unto him, if a man loved
me, he'll keep my words and my father will love him and we will
come unto him. we and make our abode in him. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
come and dwell in the hearts of God's people. Now, if that's
so, scripture says it is, you can never perish. All right, now comes along the
favorite son. Joseph, he's the 11th son. His name means adding.
Verse 22, and God remembered Rachel. And God hearkened to
her and opened her womb. And she conceived and bear a
son. And said, God has taken away my reproach. And she called
his name Joseph. And said, the Lord shall add
to me another son. And Rachel said, the Lord's taken
away my reproach. They considered that such a reproach
for a woman to be barren at that time. Because they all wanted
to be the one, remember, to be the mother of the Messiah. To
bear the Messiah, the seed of woman. And if a woman couldn't
have a child, she considered it to be a reproach on her. And
now Rachel said, Lord's taken away my reproach. And he's added
this blessing to me by giving me a son. Well, here's a spiritual
picture. There is a reproach of sin on
God's elect. That God has come and taken away
the reproach in his people. And taking away the reproach
of our sin, tell you where it began. It began in eternity for
God created anything. And even though we weren't created
yet, God remembered us. Rachel had a son, says here,
because God remembered her. God has taken away the reproach
of his people. And that began by him remembering
us before we were ever born, before we were ever created.
Isn't that the plea of the thief on the cross? And it's our plea
too, if we see the Savior. Lord, remember me. When you come
into your kingdom, Lord, remember me. That was his plea. Aaron,
that very day, he was in paradise. The Lord remembers his people.
Look at Psalm 136. When I thought about the Lord
remembering us, I thought about this verse, Psalm 136. Verse 23. Who remembered us in our lowest
state, for His mercy endureth forever. I don't care how low
down you think you are. You're not so far low down The
arm of God's Christ can't reach it. He remembered us in our lowest
state. That's where the taking away
of our reproach began. And then the fullness of time
though, the Savior had to come and he had to take away the reproach
of sin from his people. Justice had to be satisfied.
Now this thing was done in the mind and purpose of God, but
it had to take place in time. Christ had to come and suffer
and die for the sin of his people to satisfy God's justice for
them. And this wasn't just a legal transaction that happened between
the father and the son. Christ, our savior, took the
sin of his people, and he took it away from them, and he made
it his. He was made sin for his people,
and he bore the reproach of sin. Why would he cry, my God, my
God, why has thou forsaken me? Notice he didn't call him his
father at that time, did he? He was being judged under the
wrath of God, the holiness of God. You know why he cried that?
He was bearing the reproach of sin. Father turned his back on
him. But what did he cry just a little
bit later? It is finished. The price was paid. Sin has been
put away. It's gone. And where there is
no sin, there can be no reproach. The reproach is gone. You see,
Christ took it away from his people. And this makes it so
much more precious to those that know him and love him. It's not
just a legal transaction. He didn't just take out his wallet
and pay the price. When Christ took the sin of his
people away from them, he took the curse of sin. He took the
curse of sin and he took it away from his people by being made
a curse for them. I mean the personal price that
he paid, body and soul, to put sin away from his people. He
bore the reproach of sin, he bore the curse of sin, and he
bore the shame of sin. Look at Psalm 40. Christ took
the sin of his people. He was made sin for them. He
took the shame of sin away from his people. But in order to take
that shame away, He had to suffer it. He suffered the shame of
sin. Psalm 40, verse 12. This is the Savior speaking.
He says, for innumerable evils have compassed me about. Mine
iniquities, not the iniquity of my people, not the sin of
my people, mine iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I
am not able to look up. They are more than the hairs
of mine head. They're a troop, more than the hairs of my head.
Therefore, my heart failed me. My heart fails me, it melts within
me, and I'm not able to look up. Why wasn't he able to look
up to his father? Shame. Shame. The shame of sin. Christ bore everything that sin
is, with the exception of the commission, and he suffered it
all. He suffered everything it deserved.
He suffered the shame of it, the curse of it, the guilt of
it. He suffered the penalty of it. He died. to satisfy God's
law that there must be death for sin. Now sin's gone. The Lord has taken away the reproach
of sin from his people. But our God is so gracious. He's
so wonderful. He's so loving and kind and generous. He's already taken away the reproach
of the sin of his people. What more do you want? Yet what
does he do? He continues to heap blessing
upon blessing upon blessing. He keeps adding blessings to
his people. That's what Joseph's name means, adding. He just keeps
adding blessings to his people so that we say, my cup runs over. Just try someday to count up
all God's blessings to you. David says we can't reckon them
up in order. You can't count. Because by the
time you, if you could, you know, suppose you could get kind of
towards the end of it. God just keeps adding them, doesn't
he? He just keeps adding them faster than you can count them.
Oh, he adds blessing upon blessing upon blessing to his people.
All right, now here's the 12th son. Look at Genesis chapter
35. Jacob's 12th son, his name is
Benjamin, which means the son of the right hand. Genesis 35. Verse 16. And they journeyed
from Bethel, and there was but a little way to come to Ephrata.
And Rachel travailed, and she had hard labor. And it came to
pass when she was in hard labor that the midwife said unto her,
fear not, thou shalt have this son also. And it came to pass
as her soul was in departing, for she died, that she called
his name Benoni, but his father called him Benjamin. Rachel named
this last son Ben-Oni which means the son of my sorrow. She had
sorrow in childbirth just like the Lord promised Eve. She had
sorrow in childbirth. So much so that she died in childbirth,
Ben-Oni. But Jacob looked at that baby
boy, this is his last son. Joseph, you know the story, he
was Jacob's favorite son. Benjamin had to be the most precious
son, I reckon. And he looked at that baby, he
said, I can't go through this kid's life calling him the son
of my sorrow. And Jacob changed his name to
Benjamin, the son of the right hand. And that son ended up bringing
his father so much joy. And this name change, that's
the picture of the life of every believer. Every believer, has
in them two natures, the son of my sorrow and the son of the
right hand. Every believer has those two
natures. First, we experience sorrow. Sorrow for our sin, sorrow
that we see we deserve condemnation for our sin. But it's more than
just sorrow that I'm gonna get punished for my sin. It's sorrow. I've sinned against God. I've
sinned against God. I've separated myself from God.
I've been a rebel against God. That's the sorrow of sin. But then the Lord gives us joy.
He gives his people joy by showing us the Lord Jesus Christ, who's
the son of his right hand, the son of God's right hand. And
oh, then we have joy, don't we? We see how Christ has taken away
the sin of his people. And he was successful in doing
it. You know, I know he's the son of the right hand. That's
where he's at right now. Oh, he suffered and he died.
How did he get to the father's right hand? He rose again because
the sin of his people is gone. Death could not hold him any
longer. He did everything the father sent him to do. The father
exalted his son back to glory. He said, now you sit right here.
Sit on my right hand. Sit on the throne of glory of
my right hand. Waiting time make your enemies
your footstool. Like I said a minute ago, Joseph,
everybody knows this is Jacob's favorite son. We know that. Like
I said, I think Benjamin had to be the most precious to him.
Remember when those boys came back and said, the man's not
going to give us food down there in Egypt unless we take Benjamin
with us. He said, why don't you even tell him you had another
brother? I'm not sending Benjamin with you boys. Every time I send
one of my sons with you, I lose one. Not Benjamin. I'll lose
any of you, but not him. No, no, no. His most precious
son. Isn't that Christ the believer? unto you therefore which believe.
He is precious. I wouldn't risk losing him for
anything. Now, I'm thankful it's not in
my hand to hold him or to lose him, but I wouldn't risk losing
him for anything. You know, we began this service this evening.
I began praying that the Lord enable us to worship. I mean
worship. I just go through the motions
of religion. I'm afraid we do far too often. Trying to think of the right
way to say this. If the Holy Spirit will make
Christ precious to us. Not our doctrinal stance, not
our All the religious mumbo-jumbo that would let that go. If the Lord will make Christ
precious to us, we're worshiping, we're seeking, and we found him. Oh, I hope Christ be precious,
precious to you and me, don't you? Oh, I hope he will. Let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank you
your precious gospel that's revealed in the names of these sons of
Jacob. How easily we see ourselves in all these failings and shortcomings
and sin. But Father, we pray that you
would see us in Christ, that you would see us only and always
in Christ, that we'd be loved for his sake, that we'd be accepted
in him. that you would see us as righteous
because of what he's done for us. Father, I pray you give us
faith. Give each one of us here tonight
faith in Christ, that our heart's desire would be to be found in
him. And Father, by your grace, you'd
make it so. It's in the precious name of
Christ our Savior, for his sake and his glory, we pray. Amen. All right, Isaac.