I'm going to ask you to take your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Genesis chapter 48. Genesis 48. The last time we considered this precious book, we looked at verses 1 through 4. And I'd like to just read those four verses just bring our hearts and minds back to where we were.

Scripture says, Genesis 48, when 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 will make of thee a multitude of people and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession.

Now, just coming back to where we were when we looked at that before we look at verses five and six for this evening. Is it not a wonderful thing to be reminded, and it came to pass? It has a sound to me of sovereignty, power, assurance. It came to pass. That which the Lord has said, beloved, we can trust word. We can trust him. Trust what he says. We can trust that which he has eternally decreed.

Joseph had heard of his father's soon departure out of this world and he took according to the Lord's guidance and direction led by the spirit of God he took his two boys with him Manasseh and and Ephraim to go see his dad that was dying. I don't doubt for one second Joseph had been elevated to a very high position in Egypt. He was second only to Pharaoh in that position that he held. But he did that which was right and needful. There was nothing more important at this time than that he takes his two boys and he goes to see his dad that he'd been told was sick, obviously sick unto death. He was getting close.

It's a good thing for us to see and make our children to see the reality of dying. His dad was sick, he was dying. And Joseph took his two boys and he went to see his dad, going to go see his dad, talk to his dad. And our children, our family, need to know and to behold that this life is fleeting. We need to know that. We need to be told that. We need to be reminded of that. They need to behold that this physical life is not the end.

I know when we're older, uh, younger, we all think this way. I like, I don't, you know, I don't know about everybody else, but I'm, I'm not leaving. I'm sure I'll die one of these days, you know, but it's not going to be today. But we need to be reminded this life is fleeting. It's so quickly passing away. These for all of us, these could be the last words that we hear. This could be the last time we ever meet together. We're going to spend eternity somewhere. We need to be told that over and over and over again because we're so forgetful. We don't think about it. We don't think about it.

But this life right here, this life is a prelude, preparation. It's just a preparation for eternity. And when we leave this world, the way we leave this world is going to be the way we spend eternity. That's the way it's going to be. You leave this world. with that Christ, and I can't even put any kind of understanding upon the word forever. You try to grab hold of that word. Forever. Forever. When you think you've gotten to the end of it, it's forever. And so Joseph is going to bring his two boys, and he's going to see his dad. It's dying. It was needful. It was so needful for Jacob to say to his son some things.

Jacob wanted to say something to Joseph. The daddy wanted to tell the son something. I want to tell you something. I don't have long. I was reading this again today, and I thought, if I knew, if I knew that today, this is the last day that I'm gonna be here, this is it, what would I say? Well, the Spirit of God was pleased to move upon this man, Jacob, to say something to his boy, But I'm telling you, the next chapter or so, Jacob is going to die. He's going to die. But he's right at that point. And he's coming to this point.

Now, just parents, all of us, young people, unmarried, wherever you are in this state of your life, there are some things that we need to be reminded of. And I was, I wanted to go over and I wanted to read verses 3 and 4 to hear, I want to hear what the Spirit of God moved Jacob to say.

It's so easy just to read these verses, just pass over them and just, you know, they just, so quickly read them, you know. And this is what he said. Verse 3, and Jacob said unto Joseph, and he started off, with these two words, God Almighty. Boy, isn't that a wonderful way to start a conversation? God Almighty.

God Almighty said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me. Now, that's, that's, That's a marvelous revelation. God Almighty appeared unto me in Luz, and that is, I told you before, that's the way it's pronounced, in Luz. He appeared unto me in Luz, and the three-in-one, the mighty God, He said, this is what He did. He blessed me.

God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me. I had to stop a moment and I had to look that word up again. If there's anything that you ever remember about what I said, it's this. Try to remember this. Look up the words. and find out what they mean. See what it's saying.

And here's what he did. He blessed me. I looked it up, and this is what it meant. To kneel and adore him. And here's what, here's what, here's what Jacob, the daddy, said to Joseph. God Almighty blessed me. He gave me a heart. to adore him and to kneel before him. He gave me a heart to worship him. He gave me a heart to bow before him who is God almighty. The one who rules in heaven and earth. The one who's ordering all things after the counsel of his own will.

Jacob told his son, he said, this is what God did for me. He gave me a heart to bow before him. You think, what a blessing coming to the end of your life and to be able to say, God has blessed me to worship him. How many people come to the end of their life and they don't know God, and it's not God's fault. They wouldn't come. God's gonna have to give them a new heart if he's pleased to not do that. Fred, that's what you just read. It's not God's fault. It's ours. If we come to him, it's by God's good pleasure.

Jacob told Joseph, he said, God gave me a heart to bow for before him, to honor him. God is no puppet to a man. He's God Almighty. And obviously, Jacob knew as he's talking to Joseph, his son, he knows that Joseph has been elevated to the position in Egypt. Jacob the daddy knew that Joseph, his son, had been elevated to be second only to Pharaoh. He knew that. He knew that his boy held a high position in Egypt. And obviously, he knew what went with that position. Temptation. Temptation. to forsake God. Temptation to leave the God. We sing that song that says, tempted to leave the God I love. What's that song, Gary? How's that song go? Somebody's gonna think of it in just a minute. I think it's number 17. But anyway, there's a line in there and it just escaped me. What is it? Come thy fount. Yeah, prone to leave the God I love. Come thy fount of every blessing. Tune my heart to sing thy grace. Prone to wander. Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Somebody said, oh, I'd never do that. You that know him, yeah, you know that. Yeah.

And obviously here, Jacob knew the position that Joseph had been elevated into. And so he knew that in his heart, he would be tempted, tempted to leave this worship of God. And so he's telling him in verse three and four, he said, God bless me. And this is what he said in verse four. And he said unto me, behold, I will make thee fruitful and multiply thee. I will make thee of thee a multitude of people and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession. This is what God promised. But let me tell you something. Is that not a promise that the Lord has given all of God's sheep? give them a possession. We have a possession that has been promised of God. But while we're in this earth, while we're in this world, Satan is going to try to entangle God's people with all of the allurements of this world that he might draw them away. Now, he never will. He won't do it because we're kept by the power of God through faith. But surely, He's going to ever try to draw us away from our love for Christ. He's going to try to again, he won't do it. But those that know him, they know, they know the temptations of this world.

And here's what Jacob has said. Jacob said to Joseph, verse three, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me. And he said unto me, behold, I will make thee fruitful and multiply thee. I will make of thee a multitude of people and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession.

Jacob reminded Joseph, of God's promise. And I, according to these scriptures, that's what I want to do for God's people. The Lord has called pastors after his heart. And he said, I'm going to give you understanding. I'm going to teach you. I'm going to instruct you.

Peter, lovest thou me more than these? You feed my sheep. Not only feed them with the word, which we're called to do, But feed them by example. Walk as an example before. Lead them. And you teach them. It's a grave responsibility that any man called of God feels so inadequate to perform. Who am I? Who am I? But just the very walk of a pastor is weighty.

Waity, told you what Bob Coffey told me one time. He said, Marvin, I know you're a sinner just like everybody else, but you remember this one thing, buddy. You're in a fishbowl, and you are held to a higher standard no matter what. Yeah, you call it what you will. Yeah, well, I'm just a sinner. Okay. I'll go along with you on that one. But I'm going to tell you something, and you that know the Lord know this. you expect more. Out of one who has been called of God, you expect more out of a believer. And that believer knows what he is by nature.

And here's Jacob, and he's telling Joseph, I want to tell you what God did. God promised me these things, and we're going to have them. All of these Trivial things. He's talking to Joseph now, who is second in command. Joseph, you know, only second to Pharaoh. Joseph could distribute wheat, corn. He could do what he will, Ed. But his daddy reminded him of something. I'm going to tell you something. God bless me. We have an eternal possession.

5 and 6, and now Jacob is still talking. He said, Now thy two sons Ephraim and Manasseh which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt are mine. Now this is what the Lord has moved this this object of his mercy to hear from his daddy. He said, now this is the Lord's word. Joseph had two boys. They were his sons. They were natural sons. They were born to this man, Joseph, and their names were Ephraim and Manasseh. They were born unto Joseph. Now what would that make these two boys to be as far as Jacob was concerned? Jacob would be their uncle. Manasseh and Ephraim had an uncle. His name was Jacob. And so Joseph is being told, now these two boys according to God's word. Now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee, they're mine. That's what, now Jacob is saying something. Jacob now, under the inspiration of God's spirit, is saying something to his son. He said, these boys are not merely, only, my nephews. These two boys of yours, Joseph, those two boys that are yours, my natural nephews, these are my sons. These are my sons. He's telling Joseph, your two boys belong to me. They belong to my family. They belong to me.

Humanly speaking, the natural mind would say, As Jacob is speaking here and he's telling Joseph these last words, the Lord appeared to me and he blessed me. That's what he said. And he said, now, another thing, and obviously you realize he's speaking under the inspiration of God's spirit, but he says, these two boys are not my nephews. Humanly, yes, they are his nephews, but spiritually, And in reality, true, because it was. They became part of the inheritors of the 12 tribes. His two nephews, Jacob, born of Jacob, born by Joseph, I mean, they are going to be true heirs of all that would belong to Jacob. Jacob it was Abraham Isaac Jacob and all the other patriarchs And then Jacob says to his son Joseph Your two boys not just my they're not my nephews anymore They're my sons. I'm making them. I'm speaking to you, and I'm telling you these boys are going to be my sons There are going to be inheritors of of all that I have, just like my natural sons."

Now listen to what he's saying. Now, thy two sons, verse 5 and 6, thy two sons Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee, are mine, as Reuben and Simeon. They shall be mine. And thy issue, which thou begettest after them, shall be thine, and shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance. Everything is going to stay the same as far as the inheritance, everything, except Ephraim and Manasseh are not going to be, when all is divvied up, they're not going to be just your boys subject to whatever would belong to just you. No, they're going to be mine. That's what Jacob said, they're mine. And everything that I have, they're going to be the recipients of everything that belongs to me. Now, you talk about a gracious statement, a generous statement, that of the fathers, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all that, that Manasseh and Ephraim would be included in everything that belonged to Jacob, spiritually speaking.

But let me ask you this. Just seeing what he said, let's just, for a moment, before I close, let's just consider the spiritual aspect of this. What happened back years ago Naturally speaking, okay, it's over, that's done. But look at these scriptures spiritually and listen to what Jacob is saying to his son, Joseph. He's saying, I have adopted your boys. Those boys are mine. You're two sons. They're my sons. They're my sons. I am taking them into my family with a covenant agreement that everything that is mine is going to be theirs. Now, I don't have to say much more before you that know and began to see the picture here. We see the blessed event of Jacob adopting these two nephews into his actual family, making them to be rightful sons, glorious, truthfully pictures of us who have been, by the grace of God, placed in his family. that Almighty God would be pleased to make us, because it pleased Him, to be His sons, God's sons.

Turn with me, hold your place and turn with me to 1 John 3, 1 John, 1 John chapter 3. Mitch, you were born into this world, and your daddy, who we all love and truly was thankful for, he was a Richardson, and you were born into the Richardson family by natural generation. But by the grace of God, God has been pleased to give unto you a new inheritance. Everything that belonged to your dad, that part of it came to you. It was divvied up whatever your dad said, the way your dad said it. Now this is what the scripture says concerning God's family. I have chosen my sons. I've chosen those to be my sons. And everything that belongs to me, everything that is mine by right, by creation, by purchase, everything that is the Lord's in Christ is given to God's people.

1 John 3, 1 and 2, behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us. Now, I've told you this before. I know, I know just a little bit about the depth of the depravity of me. I know what goes through my mind right now. I know, remember what things that I've done in my past. The rebellion, the filthiness. Awful. Awful. I know me. There's something about me. Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be. But we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

That is an amazing truth. That God Almighty, and this is the heart, this is the spirit of what Jacob, the daddy, is telling Joseph, his son. God blessed me. God appeared to me. God taught me something. Who I am, who is, and gave me a heart to bow to him. And he taught Joseph something concerning God's adopting grace. What was it about Manasseh and Ephraim that deserved for Jacob to adopt them? There's nothing said about these boys. They weren't anything, Nothing is said about him, but it was that Jacob, under the inspiration of God's spirit, informed Joseph, I'm adopting your two boys. Those are my boys. And all that I have is theirs. I'm giving it to them.

Ephesians 1, 3 and 6. Ephesians 1, 3 to 6. Oh, the blessedness. We talk about adoption so much, it's so easy, I say this to my own shame, to consider the wonder of being adopted into the family of God. Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man. that which God has prepared for those that love Him. We don't know. I'm reading something right here. I had planned to go quite a few more verses, but I decided, no, I just think I'll just stay with five and six.

Ephesians 1, 3 to 6, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ, According as he has chosen us in him for the foundation of the world. That we should be holy. And without blame before him in love. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according. To the good pleasure. Of his will. To the praise of the glory of his grace. Where he has made us. Accepted. in the beloved.

Someone will ask somebody else, what made you worthy to be eternally living in heaven? What did you ever do? I never did anything. I never did anything. All I ever did was rebel against God. That's all I ever did. And that's all I still do right now in my flesh, old wretched man that I am. But God, who is rich in mercy, was pleased to take this worthless pile of dung and make him a son of God and crown him, crowned him in Christ to robe him with the righteousness of Christ.

Beloved, I want us to remember that the realm of God's universe belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. It belongs to Him. And as heir of all things, Christ Jesus, as heir of all things, Everything is His. And Almighty God, according to His good pleasure, has been pleased to take that which belongs only to Christ, the only true man without sin, and give unto the objects of His mercy and grace, everything in Christ, to allow us to know him in this world, while we're in this world, to know him, that he blessed us to be able to come together tonight and sit here and just hear about it one more time.

Boy, this truth never gets old. This is the truth of God's grace and mercy. And just like Jacob said to Joseph, your boys are mine, the father has said, unto the objects of His mercy. You're mine. You belong to me. And I've been pleased to give you everything in my Son. Almighty God has made us to be kings and priests in Christ. Kings and priests unto God in His kingdom. And He's been pleased to permit His church A place that has been procured by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. By adopting us. True sons, true sons before God. There's nothing pretend in this. Ain't closing.

Whenever the Lord Jesus Christ was praying that high priestly prayer. to his father. He was soon to go back to the father. He was praying for his people. He's praying for the church. He's praying for the bride. He's praying for the objects of God's mercy. John 17, 22, 23. And the glory, this is it, the glory which thou gavest me. The glory, the honor, respect, everything that ever come with the glory of God. The glory that thou gavest me, I have given them, that they may be one even as we are one. I in them, thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved

Someone might say, you're telling me that God Almighty, who chose to show mercy to an elect people, He chose them in Christ that they should be holy and without blame before Him in love, and that they might be holy You're saying that Christ has robed them in his righteousness, and that they might be without blame. Christ has borne all of their debt and has paid for it, and that now there is therefore now no condemnation to them that be in Christ Jesus. You're telling me that God has made you in the Lord Jesus Christ one of his sons and that you will sit with Christ, seated with him in the heavenlies.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Beloved, these marvelous things, how can they be but for God's grace? Now this is good news, and I pray the Lord bless it to us for Christ's sake. Amen.