That's good to see you all out
this evening. Any word on Perry? I haven't talked to him today.
How's he doing? 14th, I think it is, isn't it?
That's for the best for the operation, right? Did he talk to you about
the results of any of those biopsies? They didn't? Okay. No, they took
biopsies. Okay. Melvin's not doing much
better. He's in and out. He's having...
Yesterday he was doing pretty good when I went to see him,
but then in the afternoon he got sick on his stomach again and not
eating well. He's got a bad place on his toe that just got infected,
so they're going to be looking at that. So remember him in your
prayers. Seek the Lord's help for him.
And remember the others who requested treatment, too. Pat Forekiller
and Pat Swaney. How's your sister doing with
the operation? Okay, good. His sister had surgery
today. And Debbie, what's her last name?
Debbie Lindsey. Going down fast, huh? Okay, remember
her in your prayers too. She's one tough gal. She's been
fighting that brain cancer for 20 years. That's hard to believe.
Remember her in your prayers. Let's begin our worship service
with Victory in Jesus, hymn number 496, 496. ? I heard an old, old
story ? How a savior came from glory How he gave his life on Calvary
to save a wretch like me. I heard about his groaning, of
his precious blood's atoning. Then I repented of my sins and
won the victory. ? Oh, victory in Jesus, my Savior
forever ? He sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood ?
He loved me ere I knew Him and all my love He plunged me to victory beneath
the cleansing flood. I heard about his healing, of
his cleansing power revealing. How he made the lame to walk
again, and caused the blind to see. Come and heal my broken spirit. And somehow Jesus came and brought
to me the victory. Oh, victory in Jesus, my Savior
forever. He sought me and bought me. His redeeming blood He loved
me ere I knew Him And all my love is to Him He plunged me
to victory Beneath the cleansing blood ? About a mansion he has built
for me in glory ? And I heard about the streets of gold ? Beyond
the crystal sea ? About the angels singing ? And the old redemption
story ? And some sweet day I'll sing up there the song of victory
? Oh victory in Jesus my savior forever ? He sought me and bought
me with his redeeming blood ? And all my love is due him ?
He plunged me to victory ? Beneath the crimson flood Hymn number
17, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. 17. ? Come Thou Fount
of Every Blessing ? Tune my heart to sing thy grace
? Screams of mercy never ceasing ? Call for songs of loudest praise
? Teach me some melodious sonnet ? Sung by flaming tongues above
Praise the mount, I'm pitched upon it, mount of thy redeeming
love. Here I raise mine Ebenezer, hither
by thy help I'm come, and I hope by ? Safely to arrive at home ? Jesus
saw me when a stranger ? Wandering from the fold of God ? He to
rescue me from danger interposed Oh, to grace how great a debtor
daily I'm constrained to be. Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel
it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, oh, take and
seal it. Seal it for thy courts above. If you have your Bibles, turn
with me to Genesis 49. I'm going to read one verse of
Scripture tonight. Verse 18. The title of my message tonight is,
Taking a Breath. Jacob says, I have waited for
thy salvation, O Lord. Let us pray. Our Father, how many times in our own hearts
have we made this statement in one form or another, waiting for you to deliver us from our
trials and troubles and tribulations, waiting to be delivered from
this evil present world. We are thankful that you never
have failed your people and have never given them more than they
can stand, but have always shown them the way of escape that they
might bear up under the trial and the tribulation. We are thankful
for your word. It is a blessing to our hearts.
Instruct in informing our mind to the things that we could never
understand as we are born in this world, but only through
the gift of your spirit. Through God-given faith, we are
enabled to understand the scriptures and what they mean and who they
speak of. We are eternally grateful that
you did not leave us to ourselves, but interfered in our career,
stopped us in our path, and showed us the Savior. Father, we pray
for those who are sick, those who are awaiting operations. Pray for Perry as he's preparing
for this operation on the 14th. Pray he'll be with the doctors,
give them great skill, and be our desire that he be healed
from his cancer. Thou knowest every situation. We can say as
Martha said to the Lord Jesus, he whom thou lovest is sick.
and we pray you'd heal it. Father, we pray also for Melvin
as he's facing this situation with the diabetes and pancreatitis,
ketoacidosis, and now this infection in his foot. We ask Lord you'd
be with him. May those doctors give them great skill and understanding. Father, we pray for those of
our company who are shut in ask Lord you'd be with them especially
brother Wayne, sister Ethel, Peggy Lambert, ask you to be
with them. Pray also for the others who
requested prayer. We're thankful for the good news
on Fred's sister that she came through the operation alright.
Pray you'd heal her quickly, bring her back to a good measure
of health. help us tonight fathers we gather here that you might
be pleased by the presence of your spirit to open our hearts
to understand and appreciate your gospel we're weak and frail
in constant need of your presence we pray father that you will
be with us strengthen us and help us and cause us in our hearts
to desire to be with you we pray in Christ's name Now this verse seems to be a
break in the conversation that Jacob's having of the prophecy
of his sons. After he's talked about Dan and
getting ready to talk about Gad, he breaks in the conversation
and says, I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord. Now we know
many times in Scripture that those who are assigned to writing
the scriptures under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, break out
in joy and joyful song, as it were. Paul was subject to do
that many times. He would almost get beside himself
with the praise of the Lord as he set forth some great and wondrous
truth. Generally speaking, as we look
at this passage of scripture, every commentator that I read
on this verse said that this was a break in the prophecies
of Jacob's son, and it was a kind of a sigh, if you will, a longing
utterance for relief. And that may be attributed to
the advanced age of the old patriarch. We know that he was tired and
weary of life. and desiring at last to leave
this world for the joys of heaven." He's made that kind of comment
before. Every saint, to some degree, garners these thoughts
if the Lord suffers him to live for a number of years. It's also
suggested that Jacob, in speaking of the future of the tribes that
have come from his loins, considers that for a great part their future
was less than stellar. It doesn't look that good for
the boys headed down the pike. just a brief perusal of Jacob's
words had we not the revelation of the covenant of grace would
leave anyone with a grim outlook as to what awaits these tribes
that will become numerically a very great nation. Maybe the
record given of Jacob as it were taking a breath here is an inward
desire verbally expressed not be around when all these troubles
befall his family and God will graciously take him home and
he will not be around when all the troubles that face this family
come to fruition. Now I wondered as I read this
uttered sigh I have waited for thy salvation
Oh Lord, capital Lord, it's Jehovah, oh Jehovah Savior, I have waited
without salvation. Now I wonder as I read this,
what it might be like to be a father of these men, knowing what I
know about them, having looked at their lives throughout the
Old Testament, what it might be like to have an understanding
of what awaited them. What if in this moment, as a
father, I was allowed to truly view the tale that was yet to
be told about this group? What if I could see past the
present joy of the reunification with Joseph and the years of
plenty and peaceful occupancy of Goshen? What would I feel
if I could see my family brought into abject slavery and hellitary
at the hands of kings who knew not Joseph? What might I cry
when I see Moses standing against the might of the known world
and witness the deliverance by the blood of the Lamb only to
see this great family to turn into rebels and rebel and wander
forty years in the wilderness? What horror might fill my mind
when I saw the earth open its maw and swallow up her of 3,000
of these people in my family who had worshipped the golden
calf and cared not to cross the line to be on the side of Moses. What sorrow might have entered
my bosom if the Lord suffered me to see every one of my family
above 20 years old when they were delivered from Egypt become
rotting carcasses in the wilderness because of unbelief. What angst
might grip my soul if I saw the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half
a tribe of Manasseh beg not to enter into the promised land,
but rather opt for the wealth that was to be made in the foreign
land and stay outside the promised land? What will become of the joy upon
viewing Joshua's deliverance of the family, and then to observe
the wickedness of my family during the time of the judges? And finally,
after numerous kings, both good and evil, to hear the Lord's
words in a decree of divorce from my family after he had been
a husband to them. Not much joy awaits this outfit. I might cry with Jacob if I could
see all that. I have waited for thy salvation,
O Lord. Considering this I see this interruption
in the prophecies of his son, not only a sigh and a break in
his thoughts, but I see it as a conclusion of a true and wondrous
fact. The conclusion is that sons of
Adam, chosen of God naturally, given a covenant by which obedience
would bring great blessing and benefit, fed food from heaven,
water to slake their thirst, given land which they did not
buy, crops that they did not cultivate, homes that they did
not build, herds and flocks that they did not breed, a religion
complete with ceremony and priesthood and sacrifices and the presence
of God in His kind of glory. How can it be that this didn't
seem to make one bit of difference to their souls? It didn't do
anything for them. Even with divine instruction,
man as he's born will not learn and cannot learn. God has not
left himself without a witness. He has left this Word, but he's
also left his providence and his creation for men to see.
And according to Romans chapter 1, men do see it. They have known
God in creation. They have known Him that way,
but they refuse to glorify Him as He is, and rather than worship
God, they make their own gods like themselves, or creeping
things, or four-footed beasts, and worship them, corrupting
their minds, because they're conceited, it says, conceited
in their minds. But no matter how hard men try
in religion, they're like those who tried to build the Tower
of Babel, they're never going to reach Heaven. And the fact
is, no matter how far they go in religion, how much they study
this book. They'll never understand one letter of this book truly
until God makes them alive in Jesus Christ. For the natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit, they are foolishness
to them. Neither can he know them nor discern them, because
they are spiritually discerned. Man is unable, even when endowed
with great privilege, like this nation was, of all the nations
in the world, however many there was. Of all the nations in the
world, God only dealt with one. And it was a ragtag bunch. Bunch
of shepherds, back biters, wicked men. He told them who he was,
told them how to worship him, with sacrifices and ceremonies.
gave them a priesthood, gave them privilege, gave them the
oracles of God, gave them the word of God. All those things,
these privileges they had and it didn't do anything for them.
It didn't do anything for them. Even when endowed with great
privilege, natural man wants more and believes he is entitled
to it. Solomon said in the Proverbs
they're like the horse leeches daughters. All they do is cry
give, give, give. One rock and roll song about
a whore who stood in a doorway with her hand outstretched crying
more, more, more. This is what men want and what
they believe they are entitled to and this was a picture of
what it is when men don't understand the truth about sovereign election
unto salvation. They apply it to how Israel was
an elect nation, but that was a natural election, not a spiritual
election. And the reason or the result
of men understanding a natural election is they begin to feel
they're entitled to it. I'm something special. God has
chosen me, Israel said. Read some of the context of how
they dealt with people. We're God's people, you know.
We're God's people. But true election, the election
of the salvation, doesn't make a man feel entitled. It makes
him feel thankful and privileged in the sense that
had God not done something for him, nothing could have been
done for him. Even with the promise of blessing upon obedience, man
cannot and will not alter his behavior. They had a covenant.
God said, If you will obey me, I will bless you. But if you
will not, I will curse you. I put before you life and death,
choose life. This was the covenant that he
made. If my people which are called by my name shall humble
themselves and pray, I will heal their land. That's a conditional
thing. If you'll do this, God said,
I'll do that under that old covenant. And they all failed. They all
ended up in a ditch. Man cannot and will not alter
his behavior. Jeremiah 13, 23 says, Can the
leopard change his spots or the Ethiopian change the color of
his skin? Neither can ye who are accustomed
or who practice evil. Neither can you do good. You
can do evil, but you can't do good because a leopard can't
change his spots and an Ethiopian can't change the color of his
skin. Isaiah chapter 1 and verses 2 through 6 is a description
of this family that Jacob is talking about their future here
in Genesis 49. Isaiah chapter 1 and verses 2
through 6 tells us a description of this family, how far they
have fallen. In fact, all the prophets deal
with it. Malachi especially, the last
book of the Bible, shows them that all their religion has come
to naught. But in Isaiah chapter 1 and verses 2 through 6 it says,
Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the LORD hath spoken,
and here's what he said, I have nourished and brought up children,
and they have rebelled against me. The ox, the dumb cow, knows
his owner, and the ass, knows his master's crib, but Israel
does not know. My people doth not consider. Ah, sinful nation, a people laden
with iniquity, seed of evildoers, children that are corruptors,
They have forsaken the Lord, and that's Jehovah. They have
provoked the Holy One of Israel into anger. They are all going
away backward. Why should you be stricken anymore?
You'll just revolt more and more. The whole head is sick. The whole
heart is faint. From the sole of the foot even
to the head there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores. They have not been clothed, neither
bound up, neither mollified with ointment." That's the condition.
These boys that he's talking about here, this is their family
centuries later. This is where they've come to.
This is the description. Jacob's family, after many centuries
of operating under the Old Covenant, the Conditional Covenant of Works,
have not been affected by it. They rebelled against it. Man
cannot change and cannot improve. It's that simple. Adam will never
get better. Religion spends its time trying
to dress up Adam, trying to reform Adam, trying to give Adam a different
way of living, trying to give Adam some self-help books, all
those things. But Adam's not going to get any
better. Adam will never get better. He'll only wax worse and worse.
This is a fact of mankind. This is where humanity is. And
the only thing that will make a difference between one man
and another has nothing to do with either man. It has to do
solely with the grace of Almighty God. Our Lord looked down from
heaven upon the sons of men. He says in Psalm 14, the fool
has said in his heart, there is no God. And what he's actually
saying in the original is, no God for me. You can have your
God, but I don't want one. I don't want any God. No God
for me. And here's how God describes them. They are corrupt. They've
done abominable works. There is none that doeth good.
The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see
if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone
aside. They are all together become
filthy, and the word there is stinking. And there is none that
doeth good, no, not one. That's the description of mankind. since Adam fell in the Garden
of Eden. Considering this, man is painted
in such a BAD LIGHT in Scripture, an INCAPABLE LIGHT, an IMPOTENT
LIGHT, a WRECKED LIGHT, a MUTATED and RUINED LIGHT, all of those
things, considering what SINGULAR CONCLUSION could be reached concerning
what can we do for man? what can be done for man? I think
Jacob was looking at his sons and seeing their future and though
some will do well and some of those in the line of like Judah
will do well and Dan in the example of Samson will do well but by
and large if you look at it the nation itself which was formed
from the loins of this man Jacob all together, gone. There are
Jews in the world today. There is a nation called Israel
over yonder in the east, and they talk about being God's people
yet today. They still talk about it, but
they're not God's people. You're God's people. You are
what Paul calls in Galatian, God's Israel. true Israel what
make a person an Israelite he is a Jew which is not one inwardly
but one outwardly but one inwardly whose circumcision is of the
heart and not of the flesh whose praise is of God and not of men
that's what Paul says in Romans 2 28 and 29 Paul says in Romans
chapter 9 all that is of Israel is not Israel not Israel remember Abraham had
two sons One of them ain't of Israel at all. One of them ain't
of God at all. One of them was. He said, And
Isaac shall thy seed be called. And he says later in Galatians
chapter 4, As Isaac was, so are we. We're the children of promise. We're the children of promise.
But what conclusion can be reached? If I considered all of these
things about humanity, and yet it was my family, my kinsmen
according to the flesh, people I meet every day, what would
I want for them? What could I say? I know I can't
help them. I know they can't help themselves.
What can be said? I have waited for thy salvation,
O Lord. That's what can be said. Waited
for thy salvation. You're going to have to do something,
God, because I can't do anything. This alone will do, you see.
It was as if Jacob pre-parrots the words of John on Patalmus,
as if he was saying, Even so come, Lord Jesus. Even so come,
Lord Jesus. My family, the human family,
can do nothing, will do nothing, desires to do nothing. I wait
for thy salvation. I wait for the Messiah, thy salvation. He will do what we cannot do,
what no man could ever do. Scripture says when Messiah comes
in Daniel chapter 9 and verse 24, He said when Messiah comes,
He will finish the transgression. He will make an end of sins. He will make reconciliation for
iniquity. He will bring in everlasting
righteousness. and seal up the vision and prophecy
and to anoint the Most Holy. Anoint, be anointed, that's Christ.
In Psalm 40 and verse 6, David said this, Verse 16, excuse me. Let all
those that seek thee rejoice, and be glad in thee. Let such
as love thy salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified. Jacob,
considering the future of his sons, came to this conclusion,
I have waited for the salvation of the Lord. Father, bless us
to understand and pray in Christ's name. Amen.