Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Genesis chapter 49, the chapter
that we read in reading for our text, verse 19. Jacob's blessing to Gad. Gad, a troop, shall overcome
him, but he shall overcome at the last. Genesis 49 and verse
19. Jacob had 12 sons, and here,
coming to the end of his life, he has called them together and
he is blessing them. The blessings that he blesses
them with really are prophecies. In some cases we can see very
clearly that they are based upon things that already have happened. With Ruben it is specifically
told why, because he went up to his father's bed and he filed
it, so that which is prophesied and spoken of him is because
of that, that he shall not excel Then we have the case of Simeon
and Levi and the very cruel behaviour that they dealt with because
of Dinah, their sister, and of those at Shechem. And of course,
we know later on in the history of Israel, they were divided
and Levi was to be over all of the sacrifices and all of the
killing and slaying and the bloodshedding for those sacrifices. that were
to be a type of Christ and his sacrifice, blood sacrifice, that
was to be instituted when they came up out of Egypt and formed
into the nation of Israel. Judah, the blessing of Judah
is pointed, it shall be that tribe, and it has been that tribe,
that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ came from. David was to be the king over
all Israel, but it is David's line, David of Judah, that our
Lord came through. We have with our text Gad the
way that he was actually named, that when Leah bore him. She said, a troop cometh, and
she called his name Gad. And the meaning in the margin
in the Bibles is that is a troop or company. And Jacob, he takes
that, the meaning of his name, to speak this of him. Really, these 12, these 12 tribes
of Israel, they're representing the people
of God and God's blessing to be upon them. And there's many
aspects of these prophecies and these words to these tribes that
apply not just to Jacob's sons and to where they were to be
established in Canaan, but also to the living people of God and
their experience as the children of God, as strangers and as pilgrims,
as God's chosen people, those that are redeemed by the Lord
Jesus Christ and are brought to be, we might say, with Gad,
all by nature. We are all overcome by sin. We are all bound by sin. But
everyone whom God has loved with an everlasting love and chosen
in Christ before the foundation of the world, they shall overcome
at last, they shall be called by irresistible grace, they shall
be saved. But I believe it's not that aspect
that is spoken of here to be looked for, but the actual experience
of a believer, of a child of God, that walks this out, Gad,
a true, shall overcome him, but he shall overcome at the last. When the children of Israel were
dispersed in Canaan, or around Canaan, it was the lot of Reuben
and Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh to have their lot on
the side Jordan that was nearest to Egypt. They went over to help
their brethren to overcome the land of Canaan and then came
back to enjoy their own inheritance. They had much cattle and on that
side they had provision for the cattle. But because of that they
were very near the Ammonites and Moab And they often had wars
with them. Often there was troops, companies
of those that were attacking and entering into their lot and
overcoming them for a time. We read of those times that they
were wonderfully delivered and it is said that they were delivered
because they trusted in the Lord and they called upon him and
they cried unto him in their time of trouble. It's recorded
in 1 Chronicles chapter 5, how the Lord was entreated for them
and helped them and overcome them. And so, in a very literal
way, when the children of Israel were established in their lots,
this, to this tribe of Gad, did come to pass. In one sense, it
happened to the other tribes as well. For many times that
they were overcome, the Philistines invaded the land, They had the
rule over them, as did other nations. And then the Lord sent
and raised up judges and delivered them out of their hands. And
this was a pattern that many of the tribes knew. But here
it is described in the tribe of Gad, Gad, a troop shall overcome
him, but he shall overcome at the last. And so with the Lord's
help, I want to look at this blessing and that which is spoken
as applying to one of God's children as one of the spiritual Israel,
those that have been called by God's grace. And I want to look
firstly at Gad overcome and then secondly, God overcoming at the
last. But maybe remind ourselves first
of what a child of God is. And that is they are a blood-bought
child, one that has been chosen by God from the foundation of
the world in Christ Jesus. They have been loved with an
everlasting love and therefore with loving kindness has the
Lord drawn them. And they have been then quickened
into life when they were dead in trespasses and sins. God has
passed by them when they're in their blood and bid them live.
He has used means in these gospel days. He predominantly uses the
preaching of the gospel brings men, women under the sound of
the truth and blesses that truth to them, open their ears to the
warnings that are in it and opens their ears to the gospel of the
good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. He uses many means
to bring his people to hear the word of God. And the Lord is
not limited in that. But in the end, they shall be
brought not to view God just in the creation. God is seen
in creation. In fact, men shall be without
excuse, we are told in Romans, because they may know of God
by what he has made, and especially our own bodies, so fearfully
and wonderfully made. It testifies that there is one
greater, wiser, than what we are. Indeed, man was made in
the image of God. But the creation itself, however
wonderful it is, it cannot reveal unto us the Lord Jesus Christ. It cannot reveal unto us the
way of salvation. It does not reveal unto us that
plan that God has of saving his people through the sacrificial
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so it is vital that where
faith is given to believe and to be saved, and it is by grace
that we are saved through faith and that not of ourselves, it
is the gift of God that the Lord is pleased to use the word. Faith
cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And so, God's dear children,
what they are as believers did not just happen in a moment,
that which brings them to a believer has been planned and purposed
by God from eternity, and it is shown in time, God bringing
it about. And we have that beautiful word,
he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto the
day of Jesus Christ. Nothing that we may say tonight
should lead to the suggestion that there is a possibility that
God's children shall not be saved. They are given by God eternal
life, and the Lord says they shall never perish, neither shall
any man pluck them out of my hand. not only believe in irresistible
grace, but we believe in the final perseverance of the saints. And really the verse here, it
reaffirms this, it strengthens this, but it strengthens it against
a picture of those that are God's children having times in their
lives when a troop overcomes them, is seemingly that someone,
something has had the mastery over them. We must say in this
that God is in control. God is in control. We are not
with a picture of God choosing and calling and making a believer
and then God is not in control in what happens in their lives. We're told very clearly in the
case of Job that Satan needed permission from God to do all
that he did to Job in his life. The things that he took away
of his possessions, including his children, was all done by
the permission of God. Satan was the instrument of doing
it, it was his malice, his hatred. God is not the author of evil,
but God was in control, not Satan. And so we read that the latter
end of Job was better than his beginning. Satan did not destroy
Job. Job, though he had a long period
Certainly in great trial, at first he stood very well, the
Lord hath, the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away, blessed
be the name of the Lord. But later on, he sought to justify
himself rather than God. And the Lord used Elihu and then
himself speaking to Job, so that Job at last was humbled and he
said, that I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but
now mine eye seeth thee, wherefore I abhor myself and repent in
dust and ashes." And so the things that happened to Job, his falling
down, his great trial, his being overcome, as it were, by self-justification,
his not seeing God, but then afterwards seeing Him and lifted
up, and to be truly blessed again. That is all of God, in God's
hand, in God's control, not in Satan's. We have it also with
dear David when David sinned in the matter of Bathsheba and
Uriah, slaying Uriah, And in adultery, it was David's sin,
it was David's iniquity. And David fell under that when
Nathan brought the word, I have sinned. David was a believer. He was one of God's children. But for a time there under the
workings of sin and lust and evil, he was brought down into
a very sad and low place. I often think when I read about
how he dealt with those at Rabbah, the great cruelty that he was
not under, the grace and sweetness that characterized him at other
times. And it was at that time that
he was far off from the Lord. But the Lord brought him back
and brought him to repentance and brought him humble before
Him. and all his days he was reminded of it, though his sin
was put away, the sword would not depart from his house. But the wonderful blessings the
Lord blessed through, when we think that the two lines of our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the line down from Mary through
to Nathan and from Joseph down to Solomon, both of those children
of David came through Bathsheba was their mother, and the Lord
overruling that for good. We should never sin that grace
might abound, but always be encouraged that when we may fall, when we
may be like Gad and overcome, that it is the Lord's glory and
the Lord's honour to appear for his people and overruling for
good. We have the same that happened
at the end of David's life when he numbered Israel. And even
though Joab warned him and said, why, why do you need to number
Israel? Yet David pressed the point and
numbered Israel. It was through the pride of his
heart. And in doing it as well, he did
not, we don't read of it, pay into the treasury or into the
temple. that which was required if there
was a numbering of the people, five shekels or shekel for each
one that was numbered. And when David numbered them,
afterwards he fell before the Lord, he said, I have sinned.
And again, the Lord sent his prophet to him, the prophet Gad,
and he offered him those three choices. as to what the Lord
would do. And we're told in those accounts,
one account says that it was the Lord that stood up against
Israel, the other it was that Satan stood against Israel to
provoke David to sin. And so you put the two accounts
together and you have a similar account to Joab, you find the
malice and hatred of Satan, the Lord overruling that and using
it, as a rod for Israel, but using it for another purpose
as well. But David, he doesn't blame the
Lord, nor does he blame Satan. He says, I have sinned. And that's
always the safe and right way for a child of God, never to
blame either the Lord or Satan, but to fall before the Lord and
say, I have sinned. Well, the Lord overruled it.
Yes, there were 70,000 that died of that plague in three days. It makes our current pandemic
seem very small, doesn't it? Over a long period, we have lost
50 or so thousand, but they, in Israel alone, lost 70,000
died of that plague. But then the Lord stayed the
plague and was entreated of in the threshing floor of Arona
the Jebusite, and when the Lord appeared there and he answered
with fire from heaven, the sacrifice that David offered there, it
wasn't kindled in a normal manner, it was kindled with fire from
heaven, the same as later on, when the temple was built on
that very spot. And that's what God used that
time for, to show David where the temple should be built. When
the temple was built there and he was dedicated and the sacrifice
made, the fire again fell from heaven on that spot, the same
spot as which Abraham offered up Isaac his son. But in that
time, Abraham brought the fire. Remember that Isaac said, my
father, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt
offering? The fire was there, but there
was no lamb seen, but God provided. And Abraham said, my son, God
will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. That top of
Mount Moriah was a very sacred, special spot. But it was a place
there with David numbering Israel that David was overcome, as it
were, by pride, overcome by that which he wanted to do, contrary
to advice, and yes, resulted in much chastening for Israel,
or dealing with them for their sin. May we be very clear on
that, it wasn't just a destruction for nothing, it was a chastening,
heavy chastening for the sins of his own people. God has always
said that he will chasten and correct his people. He won't
cast them off as his people, but he will correct and he will
chasten them. And so in that sense as well,
Gad, a true, shall overcome him, but he shall overcome at last. And we see it in the history
of the children of Israel in God's dealings with men. But in each time, God is in control,
not Satan, not man. And that is in the case, in your
soul's case, believer, in my case, it is God in control and
not man. And yet the Lord has so ordained
that his dear people, when they are blessed with saving faith
in him, are not changed to be out of this world, they're not
changed so that they are not sinners, they are not out of
a body of death, they still have a body of death, they're still
encompassed by the world, Satan is still in this world. And so there are those times
that God has decreed it so, as in this prophecy, Gad a troop
shall overcome him. Now what are those things that
overcome a child of God. Well, the first one I'd mention
is sin. The only people that really know
what sin is on this earth are the people of God. Those that
are dead in trespasses and sins, they may know something about
sin. They may know something of the
fruits of reaping it, the rewards of it. Those that maybe get caught with the laws
of the land and then locked up and dealt with. Many of them
would not even trace it to actually be sin as against God. But it is God's children that
really know what sin is. And David in Psalm 51, we mentioned
about his adultery and murder and the case with Uriah. And when he was brought to repentance,
you can read that in Psalm 51, he already was forgiven and pardoned. But he there pours out his heart
in great sorrow and grief. He says, against thee, thee only
have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. We might say, David,
but didn't you sin against Bathsheba? Didn't you sin? against Uriah
her husband, didn't you sin against Israel? No, against thee, thee
only have I sinned. And it's not just thee as well
as these others, but thee only. It was God's law that he had
broken. Sin, we are told in John's epistles,
is the transgression of the law of God. And it is when we are
brought then to realise and to know our sins against God, that
we are brought to truly know what sin is. And really it is
seen in its greatest extent at Calvary, when we see the Lord
Jesus Christ made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. But sin, though in
a believer, it is completely put away in the Lord Jesus Christ. If your sin and mine is put away,
it is put away at Calvary. When the Lord died 2,000 over
years ago, that is where the sins of all his people were put
away, were blotted out, were forgiven, and total, complete
satisfaction was given for them. The full payment paid then, not
before, in all the tides and the shadows, not afterwards,
in any supposed re-sacrifices, in the observance of the Lord's
Supper in the way that is done by the Roman Catholics as a mass,
as a sacrifice. The Lord's Supper is not a sacrifice. It is an ordinance of God to
show forth the Lord's death till he come, and he looks back to
Christ's death, and he's showing forth it now until he comes in
the future. There is only one place where
sin was put away, Adam's sin, Abel's sin, and the sin of the
last person that shall be called by grace. But when we are blessed
with the pardon and forgiveness of our sins, it doesn't mean
that then we will not sin from that time to the time that we
die. We will. And we feel it. But we are to know that those
sins are put away. But we are not to sin that grace
might abound. We're not to say, well, because
our sins are forgiven, we're at liberty to do what we like.
We can sin. We can enjoy the pleasures of
sin, the pleasures of this life, and just go on as we like. If that is how we feel, then
our sins haven't been forgiven and pardoned. because it is said
in the Lord Jesus Christ that he is exalted to give repentance
and remission of sins unto Israel. And as we said this morning,
those two things will always go together. The Lord said to
the woman that was taken in adultery, neither do I condemn thee, go
and sin no more. And wherever there is the forgiveness
of sin, then they'll value that written in 1 John 1, if we confess
our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and
to cleanse us from all iniquity. So though we are pardoned and
forgiven, yet we do still fall by reason of sin, not running
into sin, reveling in it, delighting in it, but fall as David did,
overcome by a troop that sin has its way with us. We have
a beautiful promise. Sin shall not have dominion over
you, for you are not under the law, but ye are under grace. And it's a beautiful promise,
really the same way as this. A troop shall overcome him. Sin may overcome him, but he
shall overcome. at the last. It will be the plague
of the people of God that they still have a body of sin, a body
of death. They still, and they, as we said
before, are those that know what sin is and mourn over it and
wrestle against it. And yet those times, and may
this word be, an encouragement to help for some that the Lord
knows and is foretold and known that his dear people at times
are overcome by sin. And sin seems to have the mastery
over them. It rages. It goes on in the thoughts
and affections and in the mind. Though they may be kept from
outward sin, they know that sin is inward, and sin is in the
thoughts and in the affections, and there is no man that doeth
good and sinneth not, that all our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags. And we are to know that the precious
blood of Christ shed at Calvary is sufficient to save unto the
uttermost, though it is purpose by God that As he prays in John
17, I pray not that thou hast take them out of the world, but
that thou hast keep them from the evil. But there will be times
that they are overcome by sin. Other times they will be overcome
by unbelief. It's a blessed thing to be a
believer, but sometimes that unbelief is very, very strong.
We limit the Holy One of Israel. We doubt His word. We doubt His
promises and reel to and fro in that way. Other times it is
through Satan's temptations, suitably laying his baits to
trip up the people of God and to lead them astray and to draw
them away. And they can be overcome for
a while in that way under a particular temptation. than it is by the
world as well. The world loves to entrap, it
is all around us, it speaks to us. We have in Hebrews that if
they were mindful they have opportunity to return. The world beckons
in every way and sometimes indeed it overcomes and taken up with
the things of this time state instead of being a Stranger in
a pilgrim, they become more and more as if this world was their
rest. A troop overcome them. Sometimes
it is by the fear of man. God's people are to be salt and
light in this world. They show forth the praises of
him who hath called them out of nature's darkness and into
his marvellous light. But through fear of man, Like
dear Peter, they deny the Lord. They can't bring themselves to
testify of him and endure the mocking and the deriding of those
that do not believe. So dear Peter fell in that way,
overcome for a time. Gad, a troop shall overcome him. I believe this word shall be
a comfort, a help to all the dear children of God that know
those times that they are overcome and their heart is far from the
Lord. Hard and cold and prayer is the
task. Believing is no longer sweet
and joyous and the Lord is not seen. Dear Job in his great trial,
O that I knew where I might find him. We have in Psalm 107 a picture
illustrating the words of our text. In Psalm 107 you find again
and again the people of God come into different situations where
they fall down and there is none to help. And then we read, then
they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saveth them out
of their distresses. He sent his word and he healed
them. Now if you want an illustration
of Gad, a troop shall overcome him, but he shall overcome at
last. You find it in Psalm 107, not just picture it, overcome
once and then overcome at the last at death, but falling down
many times and raised up many times throughout their lifetime. You might say, why does the Lord
do this? It's a constant reminder of what
we are in ourselves. Dear Peter, he said, though all
men forsake thee, yet will not I. But one that is brought into
Satan's sieve, as Peter was, will soon learn the foolishness
of such a thought. And so we are reminded, be able
to say like dear Joseph did and Daniel did, it is not in me,
it is not in me, or like the Apostle Paul did, what I am,
I am by the grace of God. The people of God are kept by
the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed
at the last time. No man can keep alive his own
soul, It is by God's keeping. And these falls, these overcomings,
these times of weakness, the child of God is brought to see
what they are in themselves. Maybe it's brought as an answer
to prayer. Those who are brought up under
the sound of the truth think, how can I really know I'm a child
of God? Can I really know the Lord has
brought a change in my heart, that I have the life of God in
my soul? So the Lord then permits them
to be overcome for a time, and it seems to their own souls'
feelings as if they lose all their spiritual life, their prayers
are all gone, their faith is all gone, they're hard, they're
cold, they're far off, they have nothing at all. And then the
Lord appears for them again. The hymn writer says, my heart
will move at thy command. And he revives in them every
grace and every favour and every blessing. And then they're taught
afresh their interest in Christ. They're taught afresh that it
is not in them, but it is in the Lord and that their saviour
does live. And he that brought them out
of the depths of the fall in the beginning, is able to and
does quicken them again and again throughout their lives. May this
be a real encouragement whenever we may be overcome, whenever
we may feel the workings of sin or temptation and realize how
far we've fallen, how far of cold we are, how far off we are,
that we think of this, Gad, a troop shall overcome him, he shall
overcome at the last. Now on to look then, secondly,
at the overcoming at the last. Now, whether it be at the last,
that is, at death, it is a beautiful promise, I believe at that, we
shall persevere unto the end, and we shall sing of victory
through the Lord Jesus Christ, but the timing of it, the timing
of it, along the way and the timing of it at the end, when
we read, he shall overcome at the last, the Lord is in control
of that timing. There is a set time to favour
Zion. There's times of trial, and then
there's times of relief. There's times when the tempter's
power is proved, and then there's a time to prove the Saviour's
love. The hymn writer speaks of it
in hymn 64. And that time, our times, are
in the Lord's hand. And may we think of that when
we think of this blessing of Gad. May we also remember that
the Lord has said, it's a beautiful passage in Ezekiel 36, that he
will be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them.
If Job can cry out and say, O that I knew where I might find him,
may we join him when we're in Job's ditch as well. If the psalmist
can cry out and say to his own soul, why art thou cast down,
O my soul? Why art thou disquieted within
me? Hope thou in God, for I shall
yet praise him who is the health of my countenance. And my God,
may we join with the psalmist and speak the same language in
that way. May we join also with one that
said, all the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change
come. Dear Job, again, that was his
language. The people of God, when they
feel and know that they are overcome, It brings much exercise and cries
and groans while they feel at the same time their real lifelessness. If ever there's such times of
feeling the poverty of prayer, but we read in Romans 8, the
spirit maketh intercession with groanings which cannot be uttered. We're not good judges of prayers. And if we could ever say, well,
We were like God, we were overcome, but I overcome at last. You think
of the wonderful prayers I made. I really besought the Lord and
he heard me and this is how I prayed. And wouldn't it be pride rising
up? But the Lord will not suffer
his people to her pride in that way. The Hymn writer says, the
heart uplifts with God's own gifts and makes even grace a
snare. And except by the mercy of God,
that would be the case. We take even God's blessings.
You know, when the Lord first began with me, I remember kneeling
down in a chair in my home, my own home, and trying to pray. And I couldn't think. I didn't
know what to pray. I didn't pray anything. And as
I knelt there, then all manner of evil thoughts came into my
head. And I thought, this is how terrible
thing this is. I'm in the attitude of prayer.
And all of these evil thoughts within, and I cried to the Lord
to deliver me from those evil thoughts. And I prayed unto the
Lord to save me and deliver me from them. And then when I'd
finished praying that, then it'd come into my head. What a wonderful
prayer that was. That was a nice prayer, wasn't
it? And then I thought, just a moment ago, you had no prayer
at all. And then you had all this manner
of evil thoughts. And now you're proud of the prayer
that God gave you when you had nothing. So again, I'm on my
knees and I pray that Lord would deliver me from pride and forgive
the pride of my heart. And you know, it is prayer, those
things we actually feel and walk through, not what we should,
yes, in a public way, sometimes it is good to really remember
those we would and should pray for. But in the closet before
the Lord, It is that which is on the heart, that's which the
Lord has brought us into. That is what we lay before the
Lord and don't cover and disguise the real state of our heart. The Lord knows it anyway. Lay
it before Him and tell Him and confess it and let Him know that
we agree by it. Let Him know we want to be set
free and delivered from it. What a beautiful promise though.
Gad, a troop shall overcome him, but he shall overcome at last.
What, by his own strength, by his own might? No, by the grace
of God, by the power of God, through faith. And sometimes
the Lord is pleased to use one word, sometimes dropped into
the heart, remembrance all that word was spoken, by a pastor,
by a minister, the last Lord's Day, or in a prayer meeting,
or perhaps a line of a hymn, and it just recalls to our mind,
comes to our mind, or perhaps it's that given out at the prayer
meeting. The Lord knows how to just use
one small thing, and it grows, and it is used to give a blessed
reviving, Strength again to that soul. He sent his word and healed
them. I believe there are those of
us here that have some of those words throughout the scriptures
God's used to bring us to be overcomers and to lift us out
of our ditch and out of our pit and to be brought to praise the
Lord again. Well, may the Lord have all the
honour and all the glory. We read in the Revelation 12,
they overcame him. by the blood of the Lamb. And
it is through the Lord Jesus Christ alone that we shall overcome
and be conquerors at last. Gad, a troop, shall overcome
him, but he shall overcome at the last. May the Lord at his
blessing. Amen.