It's good to see all of you. I wish I could. Enter in. To the depth. Of the blessed. Privilege that
we have to be here today. I know that it is by the grace
of God that we're here. Had the Lord not been pleased
to sustain this little flock. I was reading this past week
where the Lord made mention of a little flock. And I thought,
Lord, thank you. Thank you for your kindness,
your mercy, grace. It is good to be here with you.
I'm gonna ask you to take your Bibles and I want you to turn
with me to the book of Genesis chapter 46. Genesis chapter 46. I'd like to look at one verse
of scripture, verse one. Genesis 46, verse one. Family of Israel, Jacob. getting ready to take a journey. And it says in Genesis 46 verse
1 in Israel, took his journey with all that he had and came
to Beersheba and offered sacrifices unto the God of his father, Isaac. We've been leading up, coming
up to this journey. that's getting ready to be taken. And everything for the journey
of Jacob and his family. Jacob, again, being a beautiful
picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and his journey, the journey
of God's people. We all have a journey. that's gonna be taken. And Jacob,
Israel, is getting ready to take this journey. That's what it
says. But I wanna just take this passage of scripture just for
a few minutes, just stop, and just let's just easily look at
this passage of scripture. One verse of scripture. But oh,
as I read this passage of scripture, I thought, Lord, would you speak
to us today? And would you give us a heart
for what you have set for one verse of scripture that just
holds the fullness of God's mercy and grace. The scripture says,
there in that first verse, and Israel, and Israel. Now, are we not reminded afresh
of the mercy of God toward a people of his choosing. Turn with me
to Genesis, hold your place there. Turn to Genesis 32, Genesis chapter
32. Are we not reminded, and Israel,
those just those two words of God's kindness, mercy, and grace. Now here's, it's talking about
a man that was born in Adam, and Israel, the scripture says. Man born in sin, it's like all
of us, sinners, sinners by birth, sinners by choice, but a sinner
toward whom Almighty God had been pleased to show mercy. You remember how he got that
name? It says, and Israel, and Israel. How'd he get that name? Turn to Genesis 32. Let's look
at verses 24, 28. Genesis 32, verse 24. And Jacob was left alone, and
there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.
And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the
hollow of his thigh, hollow of the thigh of Jacob. Jacob's thigh
was out of joint. as he wrestled with him. And
he said, let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will
not let thee go, except thou bless me. He said unto him, what
is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, thy name shall be
called no more Jacob, but Israel. For as a prince hast thou power
with God and with men, and has prevailed. The scripture declares
that this man right here, Israel, that's what the Lord called him,
and Israel, he asked, Jacob was his name given, you know, from
birth, what's your name? He said, my name's Israel. He
said, not anymore, not anymore. Your name is gonna be called
Israel. The Lord was pleased to show
mercy to this sinner, a man whose name from birth meant heel catcher,
supplanter. But it was changed to what the
Lord said your name's gonna be. God prevails. God prevails. So here, Israel, back in Genesis
46, it says, Now look what it says here. Israel
took his journey with all that he had. Now, do we not again
behold the hand of Almighty God, the work of the Lord, and the
lives of his people? This scripture declares that
there was a journey that was going to be taken. And whose
journey was it? Well, the scripture says, and
Israel took His journey. I noticed he didn't take, he
didn't say he took a journey. He did. He did take a journey.
But the scripture was specific. This is Israel's journey. Israel. I just stopped for a moment there
and just looked at that for a little bit and I realized, you know
what? All of God's people have got a journey. We've all got
a journey to be taken, a course that must be finished, a race
that must be run. The Apostle Paul declared, for
I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure
is at hand. I fought a good fight, I finished
my course, I've kept the faith, henceforth there's laid up for
me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
judge, shall give me in that day, and not to me only. to all of them that love his
appearing. I just thought, you know what,
here's a course. Up until this time, I realized
that Israel, the name God gave him, he had been feeling that
his son was gone, that Joseph was no more, but now he's found
out he's alive and he's going to go and meet him. And the scripture
declares, and Israel took his journey with all that he had, what did he have? He had what
the Lord gave him. He had what the Lord gave him.
It doesn't mean that he took everything that he had back in
Canaan and was gonna take it all and take all of it with him,
but the Lord had sent a message to this family of what they were
going to take. You're going to take whatever
I provide. Pharaoh was used, you know. Pharaoh had told them, don't
regard your stuff. But the Lord said that. The Lord provided
what was needed. But he took all that he had,
all that Almighty God would provide for the journey. Beloved, we're
here this morning. We're here all hearing the word
of God. We're all taking a journey. It's
the journey of God's choosing. Cheryl, I didn't go the way you
went. We went different ways, but we're
all going to him. How we get there is of the Lord's
choosing. Here's his journey. He took all
that he had, all that the Lord had provided. Oh, but how wonderful
to know that every child of God He's taking his journey. The Lord's way. The Lord's choosing. He's going toward that great
marvelous day of God's. Choosing and provision. We all
have this promise Philippians 419. But my God. Shall supply all your need. According
to his riches in glory. By Christ Jesus. So here comes
his family, the head of it being Israel, Jacob, but Israel. God's man, God's choosing. The scripture says that he took
his journey with all that he had, and listen to what it says,
and he came to Beersheba and offered sacrifices. unto
the God of his father Isaac. Now again, we'd do well to just
look at what the Spirit of God has written and take to heart
what he's setting forth for us today. Israel is gonna take his
journey with all he had and he came to this place called Beersheba,
Beersheba. You know, I've often thought
about scriptures, declare of the scriptures, all scriptures
given by inspiration of God. And it's profitable. It's profitable
for correction, instruction, righteousness. Beersheba, it wasn't just a place. It was a place of God's choosing,
a place where God Almighty had chosen to show mercy and compassion
to the people of his good pleasure. God chose his place. He didn't
just come here. The Lord led him here, Beersheba. This was a place of God's blessing
for this family. It was a place where at one time
there was a covenant that was made The scripture declares between
Abraham and a king named Abimelech. We studied this. And what it
was, there was a place where a covenant. There'd been a squabble
over some water. There'd been some wells dug and
the people that were from there said, that's our water. And there
was a squabble and a king named Abimelech had He told Abraham,
you know, listen, after the Lord revealed to Abimelech about a
mistake that he was getting ready to make, he was getting ready
to take Abraham's wife. Of course, he was ignorant of
it, but the Lord revealed to him, this is what you're getting
ready to do, and I'm gonna show mercy to you. I'm gonna keep
you from me killing you. And almighty God, taught this
man something. And there was an oath that was
made between Abimelech and a man named Abraham over that water. It had been violently, the scripture
said, taken away. Turn to Genesis 21. Genesis 21,
verse 31. Genesis 21, 31. Therefore, after that squabble
that started and God stopped it, they made an agreement. Genesis
verse 31, therefore he called that place Beersheba, because
there they swear, both of them. They made a covenant at Beersheba. And then Abimelech rose, Phicol,
the chief captain of his host, they returned to the land of
the Philistines. There was an agreement that was
made, and it was made in a place called Beersheba, Beersheba. That was with Abraham. But then
the scripture says that in Beersheba, this is in Genesis 26, Genesis
26, turn it over there. Beersheba was a place where Isaac, Abraham's son, Genesis 26, verse
23. Scripture says, and he went up
from Thense to Beersheba, and the Lord appeared unto him the
same night and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father. Fear
not, for I am with thee. I will bless thee and multiply
thy seed for my servant, Abraham's sake. So here was a place where
God met with Abraham. And then God met with Isaac. And then after God met with Abraham
and Isaac, look at Genesis 28, Genesis chapter 28, verse 10. Then the Lord met with Abraham's
grandson, Isaac's son, Genesis chapter 28. The scripture says
that there was a meeting that took place, Jacob's pass, it
was Abraham and Isaac and here's Jacob. The scripture says in
Genesis 28 verse 10, and Jacob went out from Beersheba and went
toward Haran and he lighted upon a certain place and tarried there
all night because the sun was set and he took the stones of
that place and put them for his pillows and laid down at that
place to sleep and he dreamed and behold a ladder set up on
the earth and at the top of it reached to heaven and behold
the angels of God ascending and descending and behold The Lord
stood above it and said, I am the Lord thy God. I'm sorry. And behold, the Lord stood above
it and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father. And the
God of Isaac, the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give
it, to thee, to thy seed. And the seed shall be as the
dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, to
the east, to the north, to the south. And in thy seed shall
all the families of the earth be blessed. And so here's a meeting
that takes place. Also, God met with Abraham, and
he met with Isaac, and now he's met with Jacob. What a special
place Beersheba was. Not because of any other reason,
but this was where God was pleased to meet with his And Abraham's
family was greatly blessed at this particular place. And so back in our scripture,
back in Genesis 46, Israel now has come. Israel took his journey
with all that he had, and he came to Beersheba, and he offered
sacrifices unto the God of his father, Isaac. Here's what happened
when he came. Here's Israel. This is Jacob. This is Jacob. Name has been
changed to Israel, and Israel has come to Beersheba. And he
offered sacrifices unto the God of his father. You know, when
we read of sacrifices, sacrifices being offered, the thing that
we've got to remember is that And I looked up this offered,
slaughtered. He offered sacrifices, he slaughtered
to be reminded of what was being done in this place. This family
had been touched so many times, the sacrifices that were made
had to be slaughtered, slaughtered. Israel did was he took an animal
and sacrificed that animal by shedding its blood. Not that
the blood of bulls and goats could put away sin, but the blood
that was signified by those sacrifices. The blood, the precious blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. For without the shedding of blood,
his blood, there is no remission of sin. But I want you to also
notice one other thing about this right here. It said that
when Israel came to Beersheba, he offered, and I notice this
word, sacrifices. He offered sacrifices. Now, I don't want to go beyond
what the scripture has revealed. The scripture reveals that he
offered sacrifices. Obviously, there was more than
one. Because it's plural. It's plural. And not to go again
beyond what is being revealed, but I could not help but think
of the multiple sacrifices which were offered by the priest in
the Old Testament after the Lord gave Moses instruction. And here
again, I'm going no farther than what the scripture revealed.
He offered sacrifices. But I do know some of the sacrifices
that were offered in the Old Testament. And I just wanted
to mention them. We've looked at them before.
There was a sacrifice, an offering called the meat offering. The meat offering. It was a bloodless
offering, a fine flour, and it did this one thing. It set forth
the purity of the character of our Lord Jesus Christ. The meat,
it's called a meat offering, but it was a bloodless offering. Fine flour, fine flour. Speaking
of his purity. purity. Then there was a burnt
offering. A burnt offering and what that
offering set forth. It was for the Lord only. It was to be offered and it was
setting forth the willingness of the Lord Jesus Christ to lay
down His life. I lay down my life. He did this
willingly. No man takes my life from me.
I lay it down. So there was a meat offering. There was a burnt offering and
then also there was a a sin offering which was offered for what we
are by nature. This is what we are. It was a
sin offering that was offered. Then there was a trespass offering
which was offered for what we do. We do what we do because
of what we are. Then there was a peace offering.
that was offered that set forth that which the Lord Jesus Christ
had wrought before God on behalf of his people. So here set forth,
this is what I know concerning this scripture. And Israel took
his journey with all that he had, and he came to Beersheba
and offered sacrifices unto the God of his father, Isaac, multiple
sacrifices that were offered unto the God of his father, Isaac,
the covenant God, the covenant God, the God of his father, Isaac. I'm going to have mercy on whom
I'll have mercy, the God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, God
Almighty. But these sacrifices were offered
beautifully, setting forth the one sacrifice for sin, whereby
Almighty God might be gloriously magnified by the people of His
choosing. That one sacrifice the Lord Jesus
Christ. The scripture says here, for
every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices which can never take away sins. But this man, oh,
but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice
for sins, all of them, all of them. This man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins, sat down on the right hand of God, henceforth
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one
offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Oh, the fullness of God's Word,
to take the Word of God. And I'll just admit, how often,
and I'm sure you'll agree with me, how often do we just take
God's Word and just read it and we're just so fast, just so quick. But if the Lord would just stop
us for just a minute, and just speak to our hearts and let us
glean from the fullness. I'm just going to read that one
verse and then I'm going to stop. And Israel took his journey with all that
he had and came to Beersheba and offered sacrifices unto the
God of his father Isaac. I pray that the Lord take these
words, these few words, and bless our hearts to just behold him
who is altogether worthy for his glory and for our good. Amen.