But in verse 18 of Genesis 49,
right in the middle of this prophecy concerning the 12 tribes or the
12 sons, it seems that Jacob has just overcome with emotion. He just blurts out these eight
simple words and he says, I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord. Now we have to remember that
Jacob is a dying man. He knows that his time is short.
You know, we're all dying men and women. We may not know when
we're going to die, but we know that we are. For life is like
a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away,
is what James said. And you know, I am so glad that
the Lord makes his people aware of their impotence. their helplessness
and their vulnerability. We'd never, I'm convinced, we'd
never seek mercy and grace in Christ if these things hadn't
been revealed to us. We think that we're bulletproof.
Some of the young folks, they'd live life as though it's never
gonna end. And yet none of us are promised
tomorrow. But the child of God has been
enlightened and he prays, Lord, make me to know mine end and
the measure of my days. What it is that I may know how
frail I am. And if God enlightens a sinner,
they'll be made to see how frail they are. I can't help but to
chuckle because I guess my frailties never been more obvious to me
than right now. I'm in great pain as I speak
to you. I know that I am a frail man,
frail. I know that I'm helpless and
I don't have any ability and that I need God every minute
of every day. Lord, thank you for letting me
know that. Salvation, what a wonderful word. Jacob said, I've waited for thy
salvation. Webster defines salvation as
a deliverance from the power and effects of sin and its consequences. And then they went on to add,
believed by Christians to be brought about by faith in Christ. And that wasn't a bad definition,
but salvation is not brought about by the faith of the sinner.
It's brought about by the love, mercy, Grace and election of
God in Christ. We're saved by grace through
faith, and that's not of ourselves. That faith is not of ourselves.
It's the gift of God, and we know that. We talk about that
all the time. Is there any wonder why so many
folks put great emphasis on their faith as a means of salvation,
when faith is really the result of salvation? Salvation actually
precedes faith, for one who is dead cannot believe. cannot believe
until God gives them life, which comes first. Life comes first,
and then faith. A dead man can't believe. And
when there's a prominence put on man's faith, most of the time,
sinners wind up trusting in their faith instead of Christ. Faith
is not the object of salvation. Christ is the object of salvation. Christ is faith's object that's
saved, not faith itself. And there are a lot of people
that have faith in their faith. You know them and so do I. But
they don't have faith in Christ. May God give us faith in Him.
May we see our helplessness, our need, and may God enable
us to trust Him for everything that we need. Now here is also
an interesting note. This is the first time that the
word salvation is mentioned in the Bible. The Holy Spirit lets
us know immediately that this is a personal matter for every
sinner. Our Lord asks every sinner, what
think ye of Christ? What do you think of Christ?
And it doesn't matter what someone else thinks. That doesn't help
me in the least. It matters what I think. Jacob
said, I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord. Salvation has to do with
the sinner and his God, and it's an individual, personal matter. Paul said, if thou shalt confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, and shalt believe in
thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt
be saved. You see how personal it is? Our
Lord said, you be perfect even as God in heaven is perfect.
God requires perfection, we know that. That's another thing that
we mention all the time. How are we made perfect? Well,
I know that it's not by a work that I do in the flesh. Paul
wrote to the foolish Galatians and he said, are you so foolish
having begun in the spirit? Are you now made perfect by the
flesh? No, no, no. To the Hebrews he
wrote, for the law made nothing perfect but the bringing in of
a better hope. Do you know who that better hope
is? The Lord Jesus Christ. but the bringing in of a better
hope did, by the which we draw nigh unto God. How do we draw
nigh unto God? Through Christ. Through Christ. Our Lord told us how we're made
perfect. He said, I am them, and thou
in me, that they may be perfect in one. All being in Christ is
what makes us perfect. How are we made perfect? By being
in Him. We looked at that Sunday. There
is therefore now no condemnation, Right now, no condemnation to
them that are in Christ Jesus. We cannot be made perfect by
the keeping of the law. God has brought in a better hope
than that. And Christ is our only hope of
redemption. When we didn't have Christ, we
were without hope. That's what Paul told the Ephesians. He said that at that time you
were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel
and strangers from the covenants of promise. I'm so glad that
I'm not a stranger from God's promises and His covenant. That's
the only hope that I have. He said having no hope and being
without God in this world. You remember what He said to
the Colossians? He said, the riches of God's
glory is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Do you see who our
hope is in? What did He tell the Corinthians?
He said, in this life only, we have hope in Christ. Over and
over again. What did He tell Timothy? He
said, I'm an apostle of Jesus Christ, which is our hope. Do
you have hope? What did Paul tell Titus looking
for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great
God and our Savior Jesus Christ? Jacob said, I will wait for thy
salvation, O Lord. Well, what is God's salvation? Well, we've already said that
it's deliverance. over sin and death and it's being
reconciled to God. From where does it come? Well,
it comes from God. It's God's salvation. Isn't that
what Jacob said? He said, I will wait for thy
salvation, O Lord. This is God's salvation. It comes
from God. It's His salvation to give to
whom He wills. And he does just that. Salvation
originated with God. He chose certain sinners according
to his will and his purpose before the foundation of the world. Jacob certainly knew something
about that. Now remember, he's at the end
of his life here. We've spent a lot of time studying
Jacob's life. Jacob was a weak, Pathetic, sinful,
dishonest, conniving man who was up and down most all of his
life. His own profession to Pharaoh
was few and evil have the days of the years of my life been.
I can say the same thing. Jacob was singled out by the
sovereign and distinguishing grace of God. And our studies
in Genesis have proven that Esau was much more generous, forgiving,
repentant, and yet he was denied the blessing even though he sought
it with tears. while the worm Jacob received
the blessing and was fashioned into a vessel of honor. Now I
know that we shouldn't discriminate against others, but I'm telling
you, God does. We better hope that God discriminates. If he didn't, you and I wouldn't
be saved. And for that matter, none would
be saved. And it's not shocking. that God
hated Esau. Not to a child of God, it's not.
It may be to the world, but how could God hate anybody? Because
he's holy. And he hates sin. It's shocking
that God loved Jacob. And after studying his life,
it's even more so. It's shocking that God would
love me. It's shocking that God would love anyone. Brother Todd
Nybert recently told me that someone recently asked him what
Romans 9.13 meant. Romans 9.13 is, Jacob have I
loved, and Esau have I hated. And Todd said, it means that
God discriminates. And that's what it means, friends.
God has mercy on whom he will. And on whom he will, he hardens. and non-concharging with unrighteousness. All sin is against Him. Forgiveness
is His to give. Salvation is His to give. None
of us deserve it. He's not being unjust when He
discriminates. And God didn't look ahead in
time and base His decision to save upon what the sinner would
do. God loved Jacob and hated Esau before either was born,
before either had done any good or evil. Do you wanna know why?
He tells us that the purpose of God, according to election
might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. Folks may
not like that, but that's just the way it is. That's who God
is. He does what he wills with his own. That's God's salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. Well, how is this salvation obtained? Well, not by merit, not by works
of righteousness that we've done, but by believing, by waiting,
by hoping in and on the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. The Lord takes pleasure
in them that fear Him and those that hope in His mercy. Do you hope in His mercy? It is good that a man should
both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. Lamentations
3.26. All salvation's by grace. I love
the thought of it. I love to say it. I don't want
justice. No, sir. Do you? I don't want
justice. Not in the matter of my offense
against God. I want grace. I want grace. You see, justice demands the
impartial enforcement of God's law without exception. Justice
requires that each offender receive their legitimate due. Nothing
more, nothing less. Justice bestows no favors, and
it's no respecter of persons. Don't matter who you are, how
much you have, no respecter of persons. Divine grace is never
exercised at the expense of God's justice. Grace reigns through
righteousness. And I was thinking about that
verse in Romans 5, 21, but grace reigns through righteousness.
And if grace reigns, then it has to be sovereign grace. Someone
asked me years ago, do you believe in sovereign grace? I said, what
other kind of grace is there? Right? There's no other kind
of grace. It's sovereign grace. And if
grace is unmerited, then none can claim it as a right. And
if grace is unearned and undeserved, none can declare it to be a right. If grace is a gift, then none
can demand it. Can you imagine a child demanding
a gift from their parents? We can't demand this gift. If
grace is a free gift, then God bestows it on whom He wills.
And we all give gifts to who we want to. Does God not have
the right to do that? And since salvation is by grace,
boasting is excluded, and God gets all the glory. And Jacob
said, I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord. Now, that word waited
means a confident expectation and hope. A confident expectation. Why do you wait on something?
Because you expect it. Now it's no surprise to anyone
that I've been called the Jared of Madisonville. I didn't mind
that before he got into some trouble, but I like to eat at
Subway. But when I go through the drive-through
at Subway, I don't order my sandwich and then drive past the window
and head on home. No, sir, I pull up and wait for
my sandwich. Why? Because I expect to get
my sandwich. Brother Maurice used to always
say that we lived in a day of microwave religion. Do you remember
that? That's so true, isn't it? We
want everything right now. Let's throw it in the microwave
and stick it on 30 seconds. and pop us up some popcorn. People
by nature do not want to patiently wait in faith for God to deal
with matters sovereignly and providentially. It just goes
against our grain by nature. Kind of like that old joke where
the young fellow prayed, Lord, I need patience, and I need it
right now. That's how we are. That's how
we are. It takes faith to wait on God.
Doesn't it? It takes faith to wait on God,
especially in times of trouble. It takes faith to wait for God's
full salvation. He that shall endure until the
end shall be saved. It takes grace and mercy to trust
Christ until the end. Oh, I encourage you. Oh, I love
you. I encourage you. Keep your eyes
on Christ. Trust Him until the end. Turn with me over to Psalm 62.
You can let your place go here. It's a short enough verse. We
can remember it. Look at Psalm 62. David says in verse one, truly
my soul waiteth. And if you have a marginal Bible,
mine says silently wait, silently or silent. Truly my soul silently
waits upon God. From him cometh my salvation. I'm gonna wait on the Lord. I'm
going to remain silent. Why? Because from Him comes my
salvation. Now that's me talking. I expect
my salvation to come from Him. That's what I've been told in
His Word. That's what I've been taught by His Spirit. And look
at verse 2. He only is my rock and my salvation. He's my defense. I shall not
be greatly moved. Now listen, when trouble comes,
oh how I wish that I would not be greatly moved. But boy, I
most of the time am. Moved up, down, sideways and
back. I wish that I could wait in silence. You know, silence evidences faith
in God. Lord, help me not to run my mouth
in disbelief every time trouble comes my way. Lord, help me not
to fret and say, well, what am I going to do? How am I going
to get out of this? What am I going to do to rectify
this? Silence. Let our souls be silenced, confident,
as we wait on our God to deal with this trial and trouble in
our lives. To wait on the Lord is to expect
something from Him. That's what I want you to see.
It's a confident expectation. To wait on the Lord is to expect
something from Him. Not in a presumptuous way, but
in a way of quiet resting. Quiet resting. Look down at verse
5 here in Psalm 62. My soul. Have you ever talked
to your soul? It's okay to do that. My soul,
wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not
be moved. In God is my salvation and my
glory. The rock of my strength and my
refuge is in God. God is my refuge. Trust in Him
at all times. People, pour out your heart before
Him. God is a refuge for us. Pour out your heart unto God.
Look down at verse 11. God hath spoken once, twice have
I heard this, that power, strength, belongeth unto God. Now let me ask you the question
that Paul asked. If God be for you, Who can be
against you? Let me give you a wonderful illustration
from scripture. I've used it many times. I'll
use it again. Encamped by the Red Sea, the
Israelites could feel and hear the rumbling of Pharaoh's horses
and chariots. You ever been close to a train
when it comes down a track? You not only can hear it, you
can feel it. Those folks felt those horses and chariots as
they pursued after them. And I'm telling you, they were
terrified, and so would have you and I been. Pharaoh's coming
for one reason, and that's to slay them all. They cried out
unto the Lord, and do you remember what Moses said? I just love
to think about that. He said, fear ye not, and stand
still. Stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord. That's what we need to do. We
need to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Moses
said, which he shall show you today. For the Egyptians whom
you have seen today, you shall see them again no more forever. The Lord shall fight for you.
Isn't that a glorious thought? The next time trouble comes your
way, button your lip and stand still and watch the Lord fight
for you. You might be amazed. No, you
will be. Oh, friends, the Lord shall fight
for you and you shall hold your peace. That's what Moses said. Oh, that we might learn to hold
our peace. If we really believe that God
is who his word declares him to be, then in every trial we'll
stand still. We'll see the salvation, the
deliverance of the Lord. Why should we concern ourselves
if it's God who fights for us? It just doesn't make sense, does
it? It doesn't make sense. Moses said, hold your peace,
be quiet, don't say a word. See the salvation of the Lord.
God has said it once, twice have I heard it, again and again. It's been spoken. Power belongs
to God. Waiting on the Lord. It involves
being at rest in the Lord. Psalm 23 provides a real lesson
concerning being still, doesn't it? The Lord is my shepherd.
I shall not want. You know, sheep will not be at
peace near rushing water. But they will contently lie by
still waters. And that's where the Good Shepherd
leads us. The words in that psalm that
say, He makes me to lie down in green pastures, you know that
could be just as correctly interpreted. He causes me to rest. He causes
me to rest. God is causing me to rest. When we like sheep are still,
we're resting in the Lord and we're trusting in our shepherd. Lord, help me to be still and
help me to rest. Being still means we've ceased
from our own agenda. We have ceased from our own ingenuity. We've stopped trusting in our
own strength, in our own power. That's what resting means. That's
what it means to be still. When we don't choose to wait
on the Lord, we solicit trouble for ourselves. You ask Abraham
and Sarah if that's not so. They didn't want to wait on the
Lord for their child to promise. Rather, Sarah offered her maid
Hagar to Abraham in order to have a child through her. And
that account in Genesis 16 and 18 shows us that their impatience
led to no end of trouble that's still going on today. Anytime
we fail to wait on the Lord, now listen to me, anytime we
fail to wait on the Lord and take matters in our own hands,
it leads to problems. It just does. Let's don't do
that. Let's don't do that. Let's wait
on the Lord. And that involves the confident
expectation of a positive result in which we place a great hope.
And this expectation must be based on knowledge, and trust
or we simply won't wait. Now, what do you mean? Those
that don't know the Lord can't trust him. You cannot trust somebody
you don't know. Or you might think you can. I
know many of you and I can trust you because I know you. Oh, we must be confident of who
God is and what he's capable of doing. Let me give you an
illustration of that in the Bible. Turn with me to Luke chapter
two, and I'm about done. Luke chapter two, look at verse
25. I'd much rather just read this than quote it to you. Verse 25 of
Luke chapter two. Verse 25, and behold, there was
a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and the same man
was just and default waiting. You see that? He was waiting
for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Ghost was upon him.
In other words, he was waiting for God's salvation. That's exactly
what that means. He was waiting for the Lord's
Messiah. Verse 26, and it was revealed
unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before
he had seen the Lord's Christ. And you know, I picture this
man probably way up in years. He wakes up every morning, the
sun comes up, and somebody says, Simmon, this could be your last
day. He said, I don't think so, not unless I see the Lord. Not
unless I put my hands on He who's gonna save His people from their
sin. You see, the Lord told me I should
not see death before I had seen the Lord's Christ. Verse 27,
and He came by the Spirit into the temple. This day, the Spirit
of God led Him into the temple. And I tell you, don't ever think
that that it's by accident that you're somewhere at a certain
time. God's ordained it all. You're right where you're supposed
to be all the time. And he came by the Spirit into
the temple. And when the parents brought
in the child Jesus to do for him after the custom of the law,
then he took him, Christ, up in his arms. And he blessed God. And he said, Lord, now let us
thy servant depart in peace according to thy words. For mine eyes have
seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face
of all people. A light to lighten the Gentiles,
and the glory of thy people Israel. You know, that's what God's people
are waiting for. Waiting on the Lord's salvation.
Waiting for a body that will never sin. Waiting for a city
that will never end. Waiting for the one that there's
hope within. Waiting to see our Lord Jesus
Christ face to face. Friend, salvation is of the Lord
because it's the Lord's salvation. He gives it to whom He will.
Jacob said, I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord. This is
God's salvation. And when I say God, I mean God
the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. What would have
happened if God had not chosen us? Huh? You ever think about
that? We would have died in our sins.
What would we be without the electing grace of God? Without
God, without Christ, and without hope in this world, that's what
we'd be. Where would we be without Christ
dying for our sin? Well, we'd have to die for our
own sin, and that debt would have never been paid, never. What would be, where would we
be, or what would we be without the regenerating grace of the
Holy Spirit? The same place we were when He
came and regenerated us, dead in sin, condemned in the flesh,
waiting for the wrath of God to fall upon us. That's where
we'd be. Salvations of the Lord, that's
more than just words. More than just words. For he
that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of
God abideth on him. And how many times have we said
this? The believer was saved, saved in Christ before the foundation
of the world. The believer is saved right now. There is no condemnation to them
who are in Christ Jesus. And we're being saved, trusting
Christ until the end. Because, having loved His own
that were in the world, He loved them to the end. That's the only
way we endure, isn't it? Because He loved us to the end.
If He ever takes His hand off of us, we're doomed. We're condemned. And that... I can't help but to think about
the fellow that asked Brother Mayhem one time, do you believe
once saved, always saved? He said, if God saves you, I
do. He won't take His hand off of you, child of God. He loves you with an everlasting
love, never-ending love. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. And as we wait upon the salvation
of the Lord, may we remember the patience and longsuffering
of God toward us. Will we despise the riches of
His goodness and forbearance and long-suffering when not knowing
that it's the goodness of God that leads us to repentance?
He was patient when the first man and woman sinned. Oh, how
patient was God with Adam and his wife. Well, they hid themselves
from Him. And he called for them. And he
saw that they had clothed themselves with fig leaves. No, that won't
do. That won't do. What about his patience in the
days of Noah? The heart of men and women were
on evil continually. But he was patient in those days. And for 120 years, Noah, a preacher
of righteousness, preached Christ to them. He was patient with
Abraham and Sarah. He was patient with Lot. Oh,
you remember Lot? My goodness! That boy was bound
and determined to condemn himself. He was patient with Israel in
the wilderness, the stiff-necked, rebellious people that they were.
And God's people go, That includes me. And certainly Jacob knew
something about God's patience. Now Jacob at the end of his life,
and here he's prophesying. He's being used as God's prophet. Who would have thunk it? And
he cannot contain himself any longer. And right in the midst
of this prophecy, he says, I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord. And you know what? He obtained
it. Turn with me to Isaiah 30. I
want to show you this passage. I don't know that I'd ever read
this before, but I thought it was so appropriate for this study tonight.
Look at verse 18 of Isaiah 30 and I'll close. Isaiah chapter 30 verse 18. It's just amazing when you think
about it. Think about this as we read it
together. Got it? And therefore will the Lord wait. And I put, next to my Bible,
why? Why did the Lord wait? that He
may be gracious unto you. And therefore will He be exalted,
that He may have mercy upon you. For the Lord is a God of judgment.
And then I wrote, but He's patient and He's long-suffering to His
elect, not willing that any of them should perish. Blessed are
all they that wait for Him. I'm going to keep waiting. I'm
going to keep trusting. I'm going to keep believing.
I'm going to keep repenting. Sometimes when the men pray,
they say, Lord, forgive us of our sins. Well, He's forgiven
us of all our sins, past, present, and future. It doesn't matter.
I'm going to keep asking for it. Lord, forgive me. Forgive me daily. My sins are
ever before me. I'm going to keep repenting.
I'm going to keep on trusting in His righteousness. I'm going
to get up every day and put that righteousness on. Oh Lord, this
is Your righteousness, not mine. I don't want to be found in my
own righteousness. I'm going to keep looking to
Him as my substitute for sin, my sacrifice for sin, my surety
for redemption. How about you? That's the best thing that we
can do. And when Christ comes for you and me, we can with confidence
say, Lord, I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord. And I'm
confident. You see, I have a confident expectation
that He'll say, well done, thy good and faithful servant, enter
thou into the joy of thy Lord. What a wonderful little verse
right there in the middle of that chapter. I read over it
several times. Hope that was an encouragement
to you. Sure was to this center. All
righty, well, I'll ask Paul if he'll dismiss us.