Brethren, I invite you to turn
to Genesis chapter 46. Genesis 46. Before we read our text, let's
go to the Lord in prayer. Our gracious Heavenly Father,
we come before You in the name of our Lord and our Savior, Your
Son, We ask You, Father, that You
would open the Scriptures up to us, that You would truly speak
in power, make us to fall down before You in our hearts, contrite. Constrain us, Lord, by Your love
and by Your grace. We pray especially, Father, that
you would bless and comfort our brethren who are suffering trials. Show them how that you have and
shall continue to preserve each of your people. Lord, we pray, really ask you
that you would meet with us today. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Alright, let's read these four
verses. Genesis 46, 1-4. And Israel took his journey with
all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices
unto the God of his father Isaac. And Jacob spake unto Israel in
the visions of the night. And he said, Jacob, Jacob, And
he said, Here am I. And he said, I am God, the God
of thy father. Fear not to go down into Egypt,
for I will there make of thee a great nation. I will go down
with thee into Egypt, and I will also surely bring thee up again. And Joseph shall put his hand
upon thine eyes. A few weeks ago, it was the first
Sunday of 2016, and I was given a very pleasant surprise. Abigail Lutter expressed her desire to confess
Christ in baptism. And we're thankful for that,
thankful for the Lord's grace to give her a heart to see her
need of Christ. And as I talked to Abby, I told
her that when you are baptized, you're confessing that from here
on, you're walking in newness of life, consecrated to the Lord
Jesus Christ. And I warned her, though, that that's when your warfare has
really just begun. That's when sin will begin to
really be troublesome. And it gets worse and worse as
you go. You think surely, you know, when
the Lord calls one of His children to Himself that there wouldn't
be any more trials. That there wouldn't be any more
slips into sin. But that's not the case. David
was a man, God says, a man after my own heart. God used him greatly. And David fell into grievous
sin. And he confessed to the Lord
and he said, I acknowledge my sins. And he said, my sin is
ever before me. Can you say that? It's so with
me. And it's so with all His people.
Our sins are ever before us. Ever before us. Why has God put us in these bodies?
and left us in these bodies of death. Well, God has seen fit
to leave His child in this body of death, let us fall, let us
fall on our face to teach us that from the very first hour
all the way through every step, even through the grave, we need
Christ constantly. Constantly. The Lord said, these
things I've spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. That's the only place we're going
to have peace, is in Him. He said, in the world you shall
have tribulation. But be of good cheer, I have
overcome the world. I've titled this message, Christ's
Hand Upon Our Eyes. Jacob's 130 years old, and yet
God sent this old believer another trial. Last time we saw God strengthened
him in faith. And so he strikes out full of
vigor. He's headed down to Egypt. He's
going to go see his son Joseph. His son Joseph is alive. And
16 miles later, these slow moving wagons come to Beersheba. And
Israel has once again turned into Jacob. Fearful, doubting,
troubled, Jacob. And he stops this wagon train
at Beersheba, at the well of the oath. And he begins to draw
near to God. That's the wisest thing a believer
can do. That's the first thing we see
here. He came to Beersheba and he offered
sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac. It doesn't matter
what new beginning you're facing. It could be the beginning of
faith. It could be some new beginning facing some new trial. It could
be something as momentous as facing death. Or it could be
something as common as waking up to a new day. Whatever the
case may be, our Lord has told us Christ must have the preeminence. Seek ye first the Kingdom of
God and His righteousness. Seek Him first in all things.
This was wisdom for Joseph to draw near. And we don't ever
stop drawing near. Peter said, to whom coming. That's
not without stop. To whom coming, as unto a living
stone. Disallowed indeed of men, but
chosen of God and precious. We don't ever stop coming to
Christ. Never. It took time. You think about,
here he has all his family and all these wagons and all this
livestock and he stops everything. And it took time to offer these
sacrifices. But this wasn't a delay in the
trip, in the journey. This was Jacob drawing near to
the only one that could carry them through that journey. What
do you think he He did when He got there. What were these sacrifices? These offerings? He's approaching
God through faith in Christ. We have to come to God in Christ,
our altar. Christ is the one who makes all
our feeble, sinful offerings come up to God perfect. Washed
in His blood. Christ Jesus is our Lamb. He's
the one sacrifice that God's well pleased with. because he
satisfied justice for his people. He upheld God's law and honored
it. And Christ is the high priest
of his people. He's the one who is there in
that holiest of holies, our advocate with the Father, so that God
hears our petitions. This man, scripture says, This
man, there's a God-man in glory. This man, because he continueth
forever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. It never changes. An unchangeable priesthood, wherefore
he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come to
God by him, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them. What do you think Jacob prayed
as he drew near to God? What do you think he prayed?
Well, I know that he surely thanked God that his son was alive. Thanked
God that He gave him all these provisions through Joseph. We
come to God and we thank Him that He's provided His darling
son and given us full provision of grace to bring us into His
presence fully accepted in the Beloved. And I'm sure that Jacob
When he drew near to God, I'm sure that he confessed his sins.
I'm sure he was asking forgiveness from God. God has forgiven his
people. Christ purged our sins before
he ever sat down on Calvary's tree. That's what Hebrews 1.3
tells us. But even though he's purged us,
washed us in regeneration, God says, I will be inquired of to
forgive you of your sins. We need to always be remembering
and confessing to God our need of His forgiveness. He told Israel,
He said, in that day when I shall have cleansed you from all your
sin, after I've cleansed you, He said, I'm going to cause you
to dwell in the cities and the waste places shall be built in.
And He said, thus saith the Lord God, I will yet be inquired of
thee to do this for you. And I'm sure Jacob asked God's
will. I'm sure he asked God to be their
protector and their provider and their guide in this journey. Now, whatever you're facing,
brethren, is it something new to you? We often come into new trials
and new troubles and Things that are new to us, uncharted territory
to us. Well, do what Jacob did. Draw near to God. Come to God
in Christ and don't ever stop doing it. We have not a high
priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
He was in every way tempted like as we are, yet without sin. And
so he's able. When you draw near to him, he's
able to comfort you in a way that nobody else can comfort
you. That's what he can do. All right now, he says we can
find grace to help in time of need. So let's see now how God
answers our petitions and gives us grace to help in time of need.
Well, first we see here that our gracious Heavenly Father
is faithful to answer. When you call on Him, He's faithful
to answer. Look here at verse 2, And God
spake unto Israel. It's easy to read over something
like that and just skip over it, but that's... Jacob drew
near, approached Him, and God spake unto Him. The Lord said
this, It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer.
And while they're yet speaking, I will hear. When you pray, believer,
do you believe God hears you? Do you believe God answers you? Well, this thing right here is
true of Christ, and because it's true of Christ, it's true of
all His people that come to God in Him. He said in Psalm 91,
14, Because He hath set His love upon me, therefore will I deliver
Him. I will set Him on high, because
He hath known my name. He shall call upon me and I will
answer him. I will be with him in trouble.
I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy
him and show him my salvation. It's true. It's really true that
when you call upon God, He hears His people. He answers His people. Our Father answers us according
to our need. He answers us according to our
need. He knows our need sometimes when we don't know our need.
And He answers us according to our need. Look here in verse
2. God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and He
said, Jacob, Jacob. Something happened, didn't it?
He started on this journey being called Israel. Now God addresses
him as Jacob. Israel was the name that fit
his inward holy nature created by God, that new spirit given
him by the Spirit of God. This was that name that Christ
gave him when Christ wrestled him and put him out of joy and
made him to prosper with the Lord. Jacob is that name of his
old sinful nature. See, this fits where Jacob is. He's troubled right now. He's
in his sinful, troubled flesh right now. And God addresses
him as such, because that was his need. And look at this. Jacob
owned it. Jacob owned that he was helpless.
He said, here am I. Here am I. He didn't say, oh
no, don't call me Jacob, call me Israel. No, he said, yes,
that's me, Jacob. When your child is hurting, you've
got a child that's hurt. They don't have any strength.
They're full of sorrow. You know what you do? You have
compassion on them. You have compassion on them because
you love them. That's your child. How much more God our Father,
toward you that are His children, Like as a father pitieth his
children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth
our frame, he remembereth that we're dust. Jacob, Jacob, I remember
what you are. I must strengthen you. See, if
you come to God and own your absolute, total helplessness,
It's the only way you can come to God. You really cannot approach
God unless you approach God as an absolute sovereign God and
yourself is totally helpless to save yourself. That's the
only way we can approach God. That's what faith is. That's
what faith is. When you approach Him that way,
and I can promise you, God will answer you exactly according
to your need. And He's got a word for His child
exactly according to what we need. What word is that? My grace
is sufficient for thee, because my strength is made perfect in
weakness. Where are you going to see God's
strength manifest perfectly? When you're utterly incapable
of doing anything for yourself. That's when you'll see God's
strength is the only strength there is. Christ our strength,
Christ the power and wisdom of God. So He answers us according
to our need. And look at this, God answers
us reminding us who He is. Verse 3, He said, I am God. That's how He started, I am God.
I am God. Jacob, you're Jacob. You're helpless. You're the sinner. But I'm God. He's the great God. He's the
all-powerful God of heaven and earth. He's the Lord of hosts. That means everything in heaven
and in earth, everything is at His disposal to use and to direct
and to move to accomplish His sovereign will. Everything. And
it means He does not change. God is the constant, unchanging,
unchangeable God whose love for His people is from everlasting
to everlasting. I am God, He said. And then look,
He reminds us of His everlasting covenant grace. Verse 3, I am
the God of thy father. Now you remember this, believer.
That's a word to you and me too. Because Isaac is our spiritual
father, just like Abraham is our spiritual father. All Abraham's
spiritual seed are those that God's going to bring to believe
on Christ. They're his true Israel. And all Isaac's spiritual seed
are God's elect. So this is the Word to us. He
says, I am the God of thy father. Now what does that mean? What's
God saying by that? Well, God promised in Isaac,
shall thy seed be called. In Isaac, all your brethren,
all your children are going to be called. That's why He called
you who believe. Not according to our works, but
according to His grace. The election of grace. That's
why He called us. And so we can rest assured, He's
going to call out all His people. He's going to call all His people.
He's coveted with Himself to do so. God promised this. He said, I promise that through
Isaac, thy father, the Messiah, shall come into this world, and
he shall save his people from our sins. To Abraham and to his
seed were the promises made. And Paul said, and he didn't
say unto thine, to seeds as of many, he said, to thy seed, which
is Christ. Well, God did it, didn't He?
Christ came into the world at the appointed time, and Christ
finished the work, saved His people from our sins. So that
gives us full assurance, brethren, that now, because holy justice
is satisfied, God's own holy justice is the best friend you
and I have now. Whereas before, God's law condemned
us. Now God's law says, I demand
that that child must be brought home to glory. Why? Because God's
holy and justice is satisfied and He won't charge us again
because He's charged His Son already. That's what He's telling
us, brethren. So He answers us and He commands
us, don't fear. Don't fear, because God has and
shall make good on His promise. Look here at verse 3. The next
word is, fear not to go down into Egypt, for I will there
make of thee a great nation. Jacob was an old man. Jacob's
130 years old. And Jacob knows if it's left
up to my strength just to even make this journey. My dad turned
69 yesterday. And we're trying to get him to
come up here at the end of the month to stay with the kids while
Melinda and I take a trip. And he don't want to do that.
He had cancer last year. I don't blame him. He doesn't
feel like it. And I thought of him when I was
Saul Jacob here, 130 years old, and he's fixing to leave Canaan,
pick up, he's not just going for a visit, he's pulling up
all his roots. And he's leaving that land of
promise, and he's going down there to Egypt. He's going to
that land that God told his father not to go to. And he knows if
it depends on my strength to make it through this wasteland
wilderness, to get down there, I'll never make it. I'll never
make it. Don't you know that about yourself?
If it depends on our strength to get through this wilderness,
to get to glory, we'll never make it. But thankfully, it don't
depend on our strength. Christ is our strength. So He
tells you, don't fear. Don't fear. You know when they
left here, this chapter tells us later on, that when they left
here, they had 70 people. 70 people. And they got down there to Egypt,
and after this Pharaoh died, another Pharaoh arose, and he
was mean, and he afflicted them and made them slaves, but the
more he afflicted them, the more God made them to increase. And
when God brought them out of Israel, there were 600,000 men
plus women and children. from 70 people. God said, I'm
going to make of you a great nation. Well, Christ came into
this world and when He began in this gospel age, He called
out 12 men. When He gets done, there's going
to be a number no man can number. And He's not going to lose one
of them. Not one of them. If you can rest, fear not, He's
going to keep you through this wilderness. And then God answers
this. He answers His child assuring
us of His abiding presence. Look here in verse 4. I will
go down with thee into Egypt, and I will also surely bring
thee up again. He said, I will go down with
thee. God's all present. He's omnipresent. He's with His
people all the time. Each individual child of God,
He's with us all the time. And His presence is how we're
preserved. His presence is how we're kept
separated from this ungodly world. Surely I don't think I'm keeping
myself separated. He keeps me. Well, John said
he, this boy of God, keeps himself. Well, we're commanded to keep
ourselves, but what God commands you, God brings to pass. That's the only reason we're
kept by the power of God. Listen to Moses. Moses prayed
in Exodus 33, 16. Moses was on his way back on
that journey. Remember? Here's Jacob. He's on his way to Egypt. Well, when Moses was leading
the people headed back to Canaan, Moses prayed to God. And I suspect
this is what Jacob was praying. It's why God answered him like
He did right here. I'll go with you. When Moses
prayed, he said, Wherein shall it be known? How is it going
to be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy
sight? How is it going to be known that
we found grace in God's sight? Is it not in that thou goest
with us? God's presence. So shall we be
separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are
upon the face of the earth. God keeps us. God separates us.
God went down there into Egypt with them. Just like He said
He would. That's why they made it there.
And then at the time appointed, God gave them a lamb. And you
know what He did? Brought them out of Egypt. Delivered
them out. And you know, before God did
that, God raised up Pharaoh. He raised up... There was all
these obstacles, barriers preventing them from coming out of Egypt.
God raised up all those barriers. He said that over in Romans 9.
He said, I raised Pharaoh up for one purpose. To show my power. Show my power. And so then he
provided a lamb. He brought all those children
out. And he carried them. He was with
them. He carried them. Christ was the rock that led
them. He's the pillar of fire that
led them by night. He's the cloud that led them
by day. Before, in front of them, and behind them. He said, I'll
go before you and I'll be your rear guard. And He carried them
all the way back through that wilderness and brought them right
back into the land of Canaan. That's what He's doing for us,
brethren. You can rest assured of that. And looky here, God
answers us. Telling us Christ shall keep
us till the day we put off this sinful flesh. He's going to keep
us looking to Him till the day we put off this sinful flesh. Verse 4, And Joseph shall put
his hand upon thine eyes. Strange statement, isn't it?
Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes. How would that be
comfort to Jacob? What does that mean? Well, Joseph
actually knows a picture of Christ. You know how you come to see
Christ in the very beginning? You remember what Christ did
to that blind man? He took him away from the crowd.
Separated him. That's what we just saw. My presence
is going to separate you from the rest of the people of this
earth. He separates you out. He put his hand upon that man's
eyes. Put mud in his eyes. Spit upon his eyes. The man said,
now I see men walking as trees. He put his hand upon his eyes,
he made them see. That's how we're made to see.
He puts his hand upon our eyes. And you know what we do as we're
going through this journey, we come into these trials and these
troubles and all these things, and we start looking at the waves. We start looking at the trial.
We start looking at the trouble. We start looking at one another.
We start looking in the wrong direction. How in the world are
we going to be turned back to look at Christ? He puts His hand
upon our eyes, turns us back to behold Him. Don't put your
heart on things of this world, put your heart on me, He said.
Because you're dead. Your life is at God's right hand
right now. And when He comes, you'll be
with Him in glory. But this right here that He told
Jacob, this has a special reference to to something that took place
when a man died. This was a privilege given to
his nearest kin. When a man dies, his eyes stay
open. And this privilege was given
to the nearest kin to close his eyes. Joseph will put his hand
upon your eyes and close your eyes when you die. That meant,
brethren, that God was going to be with him the whole way
the entire way, even to the point, not only when he went down into
Egypt, but when he got time to go down into that Egypt we call
the grave. God said, Christ is going to
be the one to close our eyes at that appointed hour. And just
like it has been the whole time, He's the one who closes our eyes
to things we shouldn't see now, so that He can open our eyes
and make us see Him. And he's gonna, we face death.
You think every trial you face is so difficult. Well, you're
coming to the ultimate trial. We're gonna face death. And we're
gonna have just as much strength to get through that trial as
you got to get through this one right now. Absolutely zero. And so if you start looking at
that death, and just like you're looking at that trial right now,
you're gonna be extremely troubled. You know how the one way you're
gonna stop looking at it? He's going to close your eyes
to it. Bring you through the grave, and just like He told
Joseph here, I'm going to be with you, I'm going to go with
you down into Egypt, and I'm going to bring you up again.
And He'll bring you, He'll close your eyes in death, and He'll
be the one to open them to behold Him in glory. Only Christ can
do that. Only Christ can do that. So lastly
now, let me just read this. Is His grace sufficient? Is His
strength capable of keeping us and bringing us into that land
that God has promised in glory? Look at verse 5. Jacob rose up
from Beersheba. Oh, he's strengthened now. And
he 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 to carry them." We're being carried
in the wagons God has sent to carry us. And they took their
cattle and their goods which they had gotten in the land of
Canaan, and they came into Egypt. They came there. Who came there?
Jacob and all his seed with him. His sons and His sons' sons with
Him, His daughters and His sons' daughters, and all His seed brought
He with Him into Egypt. And God lists every one of them
there by name to show us He didn't leave one of them behind. Not
a hair fell from one of them's head that wasn't ordained by
God until He brought them into Egypt. And that's what's going
to be the case with us. Look down now at verse Verse
28, And he sent Judah before him unto Joseph to direct his
face unto Goshen. Christ our surety goes before
us to direct our face to Goshen. Goshen means drawing near. Drawing
near. He goes before us to make us
draw near. to make us draw near. And they
came into the land of Goshen, and Joseph made ready his chariot,
and he went up to meet Israel his father to Goshen. And he
presented himself unto him, and he fell on his neck, and wept
on his neck a good while." Don't you know they hadn't seen each other I think it's something like 20
years. Jacob thought Joseph was dead.
Now here he is, reunited with his son. Don't you know that
was a sweet reunion? They wept a good while. Brethren, God's going to make
good on this promise to us. I know that. I'm sure of that. I'm full of doubts too. But I
know this, God's going to make good on His promise. The promises
of God are yes and amen in Christ. There's no maybes, there's no
what-ifs, it's just all yes and amen. All the promises of God. He makes us to be able to say,
God's made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things
and sure, and this is all my desire and all my salvation.
He's going to make good on His promises. And Christ is going
to lead us every step of this journey. He's going to lead us
right to the grave, right through the grave, and right into glory
with Him. And in that day, brethren, there will be a difference, so
there won't be any tears. That's what He said, no tears
in glory. But we'll be rejoicing. And we're
going to rejoice a good while. It's going to all be good. And
it's going to be a good while eternally. Oh, brethren, if it's trouble
you're facing, come to God. Come to Him continually. He's
answering your petition. Is He answering it right now?
You've been praying to God. You know, you pray to God and
you think, well, is He going to answer me? Every time we hear
the gospel preached, He answers us. Is He answering you now? You can be sure God can't lie. He's going to fulfill His promise.
Isn't that a blessing? Isn't that a comfort? Makes our
troubles seem like very small right now, doesn't it? They are
in light of the glory He's going to give us. I pray He'll bless
that. Let's stand together, brethren.
Take a short break and we'll return for the next service. Father, we thank You for this
Word. We pray now You bless it to our hearts and truly make
us to enter into these great precious promises. For Christ's
sake, forgive us, Lord, of our doubting. Forgive us our doubting
You. Oh, what grievous sin. Lord,
make us stand by Your grace in Christ. We ask it for His glory
and honor. In His name, Amen.