Well, it's good to see everyone
this morning once again. How thankful we are for the blessing
to be able to meet together. I'm gonna ask you to take your
Bibles and turn with me to the book of Genesis chapter 46. Genesis
46. I'd like to pick up where we've
left off in Genesis 46. Almighty God had spoken, and
I'm going to be looking, actually beginning in verse three, four,
kind of pick up a little, going over that which we'd considered
before. He'd spoken unto Israel, Israel,
his spiritual Israel, Jacob, Israel. The scripture says in
visions of the night, And he said unto him, this is in verse
three, Jacob, Jacob. Scripture says, and he said,
here am I. And the Lord was pleased to reveal
something that not only Jacob, Israel, but you and me need to
hear again. He said, I am the God of thy
father. Now here we behold the Lord is
the God of covenant mercy, covenant grace, reveals himself to be
the God of a particular people, a chosen, everlastingly loved
people of his particular God is a particular God to a particular
people. Then, for Jacob's assurance and
for his comfort, the Lord said unto him, he said, fear not to
go down into Egypt, for I will make of thee a great nation. How wonderful. to know that our
Lord, our God, sees. He knows. He knows our frailty. I had entitled this message,
Fear Not, because of the times that the Lord continued to tell
Jacob, Israel, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid, fear not. How
wonderful to know he knows our frailty. He knows that we are
dust. We have an old man. As long as
we're in this world, that old man is gonna be present and doubt
and fear. Constantly being harassed. So
our Lord says unto us, he said this to Jacob, he said this to
Israel, but he's saying it to us. Don't be afraid, don't be
afraid. Let me ask you something, you
that know him. Do we not need to hear that again? Don't be
afraid. From the fall in the garden, from the fall in the garden,
here was Adam. And he ate of that which God
had forbidden. Lord came to him and asked him,
did you eat of that which I forbid? Why were you hiding? Why did
I have to call to you? What did Adam say? I was afraid. I was afraid. So here we see
this man, this frail creature of dust. I was afraid, I fear. And the
Lord tells him again, don't be afraid. That blessed exhortation
that was originally given unto Abraham concerning this fear,
fear, the scripture declares to Genesis 22, Listen to this. It was an exhortation that was
given according to the word of the Lord, the authority of his
gracious mercy to the family, the spiritual family of this
man, Abraham. Genesis 22, 17, 18, that in blessing,
I will bless thee. And in multiplying, I will multiply
thy seed as the stars of the heaven And as the sand which
is upon the seashore, in thy seed shall possess the gate of
thy enemies, and in thy seed shall all the nations of the
earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice. That seed
that he talked about, in thy seed, here's the particular loving
God of all grace, calling out this man in thy seed. What? In all of the people that
would come out of the, you know, regular generation, out of Abraham's,
all of that. No, no, no, no, no, no. Out of
your seed, out of the spiritual seed that would come through
this man, Abraham, through Abraham's seed. The Lord Jesus Christ,
the blessing of all the earth, this earth, has been blessed
that the Redeemer, the Messiah has come into this world. I want
you to hold your place there and turn with me to Galatians
chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3. Galatians 3, I'd like to read
verse 16. I'm sorry, Galatians 3 verse 13 to 16. In your seed Galatians 3.13, Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is
everyone that hangeth on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham. Now let me ask you this, that
blessing of Abraham, that blessing that was bestowed upon Abraham,
the blessing of Abraham, God's mercy and grace to the blessing
of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ,
that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Brethren, I speak after the manner of men, though it be but a man's
covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth or addeth
thereto. Now to Abraham and his seed were
the promises made. He saith not to seeds as many,
but as to one. to thy seed, which is Christ."
So here we find the Lord is speaking to Jacob. He's speaking to this
man, beloved, and he's got a promise that he's going to make to this
man. Abraham, I'm going to give you a blessing, and it's gonna
come through my blessed son, through your seed, natural seed,
but it's gonna be the Messiah himself. So the Lord says to
Jacob, back in Genesis 46, fear not, don't be afraid, for I will
make of thee a great nation. Jacob needed some hope. He needed some comfort. He needed
some peace. He needed some assurance. He
is leaving his house. He's been told by the Lord, you're
gonna go down into Egypt. You're gonna go down into a place
and everything that you've known seems to be evaporating before
your eyes. Left his home, now he's traveling
to a land that he's not familiar with. Don't be afraid. Don't
be afraid. Oh, I tell you what, there's
one thing that I have always had a problem with and it's change,
change. The older I get, the more I want
to just stay the same, just stay the same. If you throw something
in there that's different, I'm not familiar with it, you know? I don't want to learn new things
on a computer. I don't want to. They confuse
me. I mean, you that can associate with somebody my age. You know
what I'm talking about? I don't. Don't be afraid. Fear
not. The Lord will provide that which
Jacob needed. But he needed to hear the assurance
of the Lord. Fear not. Then he says, back
in Genesis 46, look at that verse four. Now listen to this promise.
Now here's a promise. I will go down with thee into
Egypt. Fear not. I will go down with
thee into Egypt. What did Moses say? After the
Lord had told him concerning which direction for him. I'll
just read this for you. It's in Exodus 33. I'm gonna
read verses one to three if you want to turn there, but I've
got it written out. I'm gonna read this. Listen to
this. The Lord is getting ready to give this servant, Moses,
some instruction on a travel that he's gonna make, on a journey
that he's gonna have to take. Now, you listen to the words
of the Lord. And the Lord said unto Moses, Depart, and go up
hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the
land of Egypt unto the land which I swear unto Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it. They had the
word of the Lord. I'm going to send you. I'm going
to send you. I will send an angel before thee.
I will drive out the Canaanite and the Amorite, the Hittite,
the Perizzite, the Jebusite unto the land flowing with milk and
honey. For I will not go up in the midst
of thee, for thou art a stiff-necked people, lest I consume thee in
the way. And you know, those last words
I'm going to send you. I'm gonna drive out to Amorite,
Hittite, Perizzite, Hivite, but I'm gonna send an angel before
you to go with you. I'm not going. I'm not going. What did Moses say? Moses heard
those words, Exodus 33, 15, and here's what he said. If thy presence
go not with me, carry us not up hence. Lord, if you don't go, don't
send us. Lord, if you're not with us,
let me ask you this. Think of where we are. Just here
we are in a congregation right here. If the Lord were to relate
to us somehow, Katie, I'll have you meet, and
I'll drive out your enemies, but I won't be with you. You're
thinking, I know what you're thinking right now. You're thinking
just exactly what Moses said. Lord, if you're not there, why are we meeting? If you're
not here, what do we have? I think Oh, we've got a group
of people. We've got a building, got some
lights, got a heater. But Lord, if you're not here, if you're not in our presence, what are we going to do? Lord,
if you don't meet with us, we have nothing. You that know the Lord. Would
you want to go somewhere and sit in a service where the gospel
of God's free grace was not preached? Where the Lord Jesus Christ in
all of His honor and glory and praise is set forth by a man
that God's called to preach the gospel? It doesn't matter how
splendid the building is. It doesn't matter how beautiful
the organ sounds. It doesn't matter. Lord, if you're
not there, don't send us. Oh, how highly
the Lord's presence is esteemed by His people. If He's not there, how worthless,
how insignificant is anything else? It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Oh, the respect,
the respect that is due unto Him. How silly, how silly we are when
we fail to remember the honor, the honor that is due unto Him. Lord keep us, Lord help us. For the word of the Lord came
to Jacob, go down into Egypt. This promise of his presence,
that's what he said back in Genesis 46. Verse four, I will go down
with thee into Egypt. I'll go with you. Doesn't that
just thrill your heart? You that know the Lord. Doesn't
that thrill your heart? I'll go with you. And listen
to this. And I will also surely bring
thee up again. Joseph shall put his hand upon
thine eyes. I'll go with you. I'll be with
you. I won't leave you. I won't forsake
you. I promise. Oh Lord, I hold on to that promise. How many times have we considered
our frailty and our inability. To hear those words again, I'll
never leave you. I'll never forsake you. Lord,
please, thank you. Thank you. Tell me that again.
Tell me one more time. Lord, by your Holy Spirit, whisper
that in my heart. Let me hear it. I will surely bring you up again. He's talking, he's talking to
Jacob. And though that, that fulfillment, I'm going to send
you down into Egypt and I'll bring you back. That fulfillment,
as far as Jacob was concerned, was not fully accomplished until
his bones were brought back, buried in Canaan. God's promise
was fulfilled. He told him he would. Jacob,
I want you to hold your place right there. Just turn over a
few pages. Genesis 49. Genesis 49, I'll skip ahead here. Lord willing, we'll go over it.
But Genesis 49, Jacob died. And he was embalmed. And the scripture said, well, okay,
Genesis 49, And verse 33, and we'll just
go right on in the next couple of verses. Genesis chapter 49
and verse 33, and when Jacob had made an end of commanding
his sons, he gathered up his feet unto the bed and yielded
up the ghost and was gathered unto his people. He died, he
died. He died there in Egypt. And verse 1 and 2 of chapter
50, and Joseph fell upon his father's face and wept upon him
and kissed him. Joseph commanded his servants,
the physicians, to embalm his father. And the physicians embalmed
Israel. And then he looked in verse 50,
12 and 13, chapter 50, 12 and 13, And his sons did unto him according
as he commanded them. For his sons carried him into
the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field
of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession
for a burying place of Ephron the Hittite before Mamre. The Lord promised him. He said,
you go down into Egypt. I'll go with you. And I'll raise
you up again. I'll bring you back. I'll bring
you back. He did. He did. The Lord made good on
his promise. He brought him back. But he brought
him back by having his sons bring him. He died. They embalmed him. Brought him back and buried him
where the Lord had purposed. But let me ask you this. Can
we not see this promise given unto Jacob He told him, he said,
you're going to go into Egypt. And he said, your son Joseph
is going to put his hands on your eyes. He's going to close
your eyes when you physically die. He said, but that dying
in peace, he said, I'll have you brought back. I'll restore
you back to where you're from. And he did. Do we not see that
promise given unto Jacob? of dying in peace. You're going
to die in peace. Your sons will be with you. Do we see that promise of dying
and being brought up again the same as the spiritual promise
that we have given unto us by the Lord? Have we not been promised
concerning that promise of the sting of death, fear of the grave. Has that not been removed from
all God's people by the words of the Lord? I will go down with
thee into Egypt. Egypt there being a type, a picture
of death, Egypt. Egypt is a picture of death,
a picture of bondage, a picture But the Lord said, I'll be with
you. I'll be with you. I won't leave
you. I will surely bring thee up again. We know this. We know that unless
the Lord returns, we're going to die. We're going to die naturally. We're going to die naturally.
This body, it's appointed unto man wants to die. but I'll raise you up again.
I will raise you up again. That's a promise that we hold
on to. Lord, the psalmist said, yea, though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why? You know why. For thou art with
me. You're with me. I'll go with
you. I will go with you. Oh, did the Lord turn over, and
I began to wrap this up. Turn over with me to 1 Corinthians
15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. We know we're gonna pass from
this life. 1 Corinthians 15, look at 54
to 58. So when this corruptible shall
have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on
immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and
the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be unto God, which
giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore,
my beloved brethren, be you steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in
the work of the Lord, for as much as you know that your labor
is not in vain in the Lord. He told Jacob, Go down into Egypt. I'll go with
you. I'll raise you up again. I'll
bring you back. Beloved, this blessed promise
that we have, that the Lord would promise I'll never leave you,
I'll never forsake you, that promise is woven. It's woven
into the word of the Holy Scripture. Wherever you read that, you read
the promise of Almighty God to His people. Wherever you are,
Genesis, Revelation, wherever. I'm not going to leave you. I'm
not going to forsake you. Scripture says, here's a promise
given to God's people. Romans chapter 14, I'll read
this for you. Romans 14, verse 7 to 9. For
none of us This is talking to God's people.
You know that. These scriptures are written
to God's people. For none of us liveth to himself,
and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live
unto the Lord. Whether we die, we die unto the
Lord. Whether we live, therefore, or
die, we're the Lord's, for this end. Christ both died and rose
again and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the
dead and the living. In closing, turn back to Genesis
chapter 46 and I just want to read verses 5 to 7 and make a
comment or two and we'll close. Genesis 46, verse 5, and Jacob
rose up, the Lord spoken to him. And Jacob rose up from Beersheba,
and the sons of Israel carried Jacob, their father, and their
little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had
sent him. And they took their cattle, their
goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came
into Egypt. all his seed with him, his sons,
his sons' sons with him, his daughters, his sons' daughters,
all his seed brought he with him into the land. Did you notice again, in closing,
that verse 5, when the Lord was referring to his servant there? And Jacob rose up from Beersheba,
and the sons of Israel carried Jacob, their father, and their
little ones. Did you know, do you see how,
as long as we're in this world, we're gonna be tied to this old
nature. And here we are, believers, as
God's people, His Israel, His beloved, His regenerated people,
and we still recognize ourselves as being a Jacob. I see in me,
the Apostle Paul said, I see in me, that is in my flesh, there
dwelleth no good thing. Beloved, our Lord has promised we're going to go through this
world and we're gonna go through this world struggling. But here's
one thing that we have that we can hold on to. We have his word,
fear not. I will go with thee. Lord, remind me of that. Bring that to my memory. Lord,
keep me by your grace. Keep me by your power. Teach
me afresh. I forget, I forget, I forget. Lord, thank you. For Christ's
sake, amen.