Again, Genesis chapter 48. Look
at verse 1 with me. And 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. I want you to get the picture
here. Jacob is dying. Someone went to Joseph and they
told him that his father was sick. No doubt he was sick unto
death. So Joseph takes his two sons
here, Manasseh and Ephraim, Manasseh being the oldest and Ephraim
being the second born to see Jacob for more than likely the
last time. It seems pretty obvious here
from verse two, read it with me. And one told Jacob and said,
behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto thee and Israel strengthened
himself and set upon the bed. It seems pretty obvious here
that more than likely Jacob is bedridden. I remember when my
father was bedridden for seven weeks. It's a tough thing. I know you see a lot of that.
Larry, being in the nursing home business, saw a lot of that.
It's a tough thing if it goes on for a while. It's been 22
years. It's hard to believe now, but
it seems like just yesterday when my dad was dying and he
was pretty much helpless. to do anything for himself, couldn't
walk, couldn't get out of bed, couldn't go to the restroom.
You know, it's a humiliating thing in and of itself, being
totally dependent on someone else for everything. You get
sores from laying in the same position, miserable condition. That's where Jacob was here,
just to give you a little insight, I think, as to where he was.
But did you notice here in verse two that when he heard that Joseph
was coming, Israel, Jacob, it says strengthened himself and
he set up on the bed. You know, to Jacob, any news
about Joseph was good news. He had been without him so many
years and now he's lived 17 years in the land of Goshen and saw
his son regular, but it's still great news. to hear anything
about Joseph. Jacob hears that Joseph's coming
and it seems to give him strength. And I was thinking about, again,
how Joseph here so well pictures the Lord Jesus. Any news about
Christ, our Redeemer is good news to the believer, isn't it?
Every single time I hear and am reminded that Christ is coming
again. I'm strengthened. I'm strengthened
within. Every time I consider the words
that the Lord said in John chapter 14, he said, I go to prepare
a place for you. And if I go prepare a place for
you, I'll come again. Oh, that just strengthens me,
that gives me such hope and confidence. And he said, and I come again,
I'll come again and I'll receive you into myself for where I am
there, you may be also. Oh, doesn't that strengthen you?
Oh, I tell you, if and when the time comes that the Lord may
see to it that we're on our deathbeds, may that comforting thought of
our Joseph coming to us, may that strengthen us and get us
through. Oh, what an encouragement that is. Joseph's visit no doubt
gave Jacob great pleasure. But Joseph was his beloved son. He was the beloved son. And Joseph
was great and he was honorable and he had done everything for
Jacob and his family. And again, what a picture. He
continues to be of Christ, who is God's beloved son, who's great
and honorable in every way. I want you to notice carefully
here what the dying words of Jacob are. That's what I want
to concentrate on tonight. I don't know how far we'll get.
What is Jacob's testimony at this hour of death? Verse three. And Jacob said unto Joseph, God
Almighty. First words out of his mouth,
God Almighty. God Almighty appeared unto me
at Luz in the land of Canaan, and he blessed me. First words
out of Jacob's mouth has to do with God. And he says, God Almighty
appeared unto me. You know, if God ever does anything
for a man or a woman, it'll be because He initiates it. God
appeared unto me. He initiates it. He interferes. You know, most of us by nature
don't like folks interfering in our business, do we? But when
it comes to salvation, when it comes to redemption, oh, how
blessed it is that God interferes. He divinely interferes and intervenes
in the sinner's life. And you know, there are many
today who think that they seek and find God. That couldn't be
further from the truth. First, God's not lost. He never
has been. Now he may hide himself from
some, but he's not lost. Job said, behold, I go forward
and he's not there and backward, but I cannot perceive him. He
said on the left hand where he does work, but I cannot behold
him. He hideth himself on the right
hand, but I cannot see him. But then Job said this, he said,
but he knoweth the way that I take. And when he hath tried me, I
shall come forth as gold." God's not lost, friends, never has
been. Secondly, man does not seek after
God. And I can prove that with a very
short verse of scripture. Paul said, there's none that
seeketh after God. That settles that, doesn't it?
None of us seek God. God does the seeking and the
saving. That's the third thing. For the Son of Man has come to
seek and to save that which was lost. You and I were lost without
hope, without God in this world, but He came to seek and to save
His elect. In the matter of salvation and
redemption, God does the seeking and God does the saving. What
did we do? We did the sinning. We did the sinning. The scripture's
so clear about these things. No man, no woman, no one can
come to me, Christ said, except unless the Father would send
me draw him. Oh, isn't that so plain and so
simple? None of us would come to Christ.
None of us would seek him. None of us would come to him
if he didn't draw us by his love, mercy, and grace, with his cords
of love. He said, I'll raise him up on
the last day. And a few verses later, our Lord
said, therefore said I unto you that no man can come to me except
unless it's been given, unless it's been granted unto him of
my father. In Acts chapter 13, we read,
and when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified
the word of the Lord. And as many as were ordained
to eternal life believed. Those that believe are those
whom God ordains to eternal life. While He chose them in Christ
before the foundation of the world, in time, at the appointed time
of love, He called them by His grace. He drew them to Himself. Salvation's of the Lord, it's
all of Him. We don't have anything that we
can boast or brag in, do we? For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that's not of yourself, it's the gift of God. A certain
woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira,
which worshiped God, heard us, whose heart the Lord opened. Oh, if your heart is open tonight
to the things of Christ, it's because the Lord opened them.
The Lord opened them. She attended unto the things
which were spoken of Paul. Scripture tells us being competent
at this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you
will perform it. until the day of Jesus Christ.
God always finishes what He starts. Not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us. Oh,
aren't these such comforting words from our Lord and Savior? According to His mercy, He saved
us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. Looking unto Jesus, the author
the initiator, the beginner, and finisher, the completer of
our faith. Oh, if we believe it's because
God gave us the faith and he keeps us in his love and his
mercy and we continue believing, why? Because he won't let us
go. No man can pluck us out of his hand. Don't you find such
comfort in this sovereign God? My, my, who for the joy that
was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame. And
he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. And I might
add that he's making intercession for his people. The Lord Jesus
said, you've not chosen me. but I've chosen you and I've
ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit and
that your fruit should remain. God chose us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. That proves we had nothing to
do with our salvation, doesn't it? I don't know how folks can
talk about what they do for God or how they made a decision or
how they let God have his way in their life. when God made
that decision to choose a sinner before time ever was. God predetermined
and ordained us to be fruitful. God predetermined and ordained
that that fruit to remain. God saves us. He's the author
of our faith. God keeps us. We're kept by the
power of God. God causes us to endure till
the end because He's the finisher. He's the completer of our believing. And you know, I can prove this
with five words from the Bible. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation's of the Lord. It's
not by enticing words of man's wisdom that we believe these
things. It's by the mercy and the grace and the power of God.
Jacob said here in verse three, this is what I want us to think
about. He said, God Almighty has appeared unto me. Two times
God appeared unto Jacob and revealed himself as God Almighty, El Shaddai,
the all-sufficient God. And very likely Jacob is referring
here to both times when God appeared to him, because both times God
made him the same promise. I think sometimes folks just
flippantly say God Almighty, Or they refer to God as the Almighty
God and never give really any consideration to His true omnipotence. And what I mean is there are
many who refer to God as Almighty, even Sovereign. You know, Sovereign
was a word that you didn't hear much 30 years ago. You just didn't. People call God almighty, yet
they deny His power. They deny His sovereignty, His
omnipotence, and how they portray and describe and preach Him to
others. And if God is truly almighty,
and He is, then I can assure you that He's not trying, He's
not wanting to do anything. David said it all, didn't he?
He said, our God's in the heavens, and He's done whatsoever. Everything
that he pleases, everything that he pleases God does. Any man
that says God wants to do something or that God is trying to do something
simply doesn't know God. How do men and women skate around
passages like we find in the Bible in Isaiah 14, 24? That verse says, the Lord of
hosts has sworn, saying, surely as I have thought, so shall it
come to pass. There's no ifs, ands, and buts
about it. If God thought it, it's gonna
come to pass. Surely as I thought it, so shall
it come to pass. And as I have purposed it, so
shall it stand. Oh, I love the certainty of that.
The certainty. of a almighty God, a sovereign
God. Can the sovereign God who claims
I've made the earth and created man upon it, I, even my hands
have stretched out the heavens and all their hosts have I commanded,
can that God be subject to the will and the decisions of a mere
mortal and sinful man? No, no, no. You know, when I was young and
lost and I wish I had a dollar for every time someone in church
told me that I needed to let God have his way in my life. So many times adults would tell
me, won't you give Jesus your heart? Like it's up to me. Jeff, Kavanaugh called me yesterday
and he said, I just saw a church sign I wanted to tell you about.
I always love when folks call me and tell me what they read
on church signs. He said that this sign said,
friends don't let friends go to hell. And Jeff said, like
we got anything to do with it. And I thought, that's right.
We don't have anything to do. We don't have any power. Why,
if I had that power, I wouldn't let anyone go to hell. I want
to be totally honest with you. I grew up thinking that the Lord
was a beggar. I really did. He was pleading
for someone to love him and trust him. But Jacob said, God Almighty
appeared unto me and blessed me. Isn't that a comfort? Aren't you glad you know that?
Boy, there's so many folks that don't. All of us have friends
and family that don't know these things. That don't know who God
is and that He's almighty and that He's omnipotent. That He's
in control and He rules and He reigns and all things happen
according to His will and purpose. What a comfort that is because
that same God is my Heavenly Father. And He's blessed me. He's blessed me with all heavenly
spiritual blessings in heavenly places. He didn't want to bless
me. He blessed me. He didn't try
to bless me. He blessed me. I want you to
be encouraged by that. God Almighty can do anything
and everything. If God Almighty blesses you,
you will be blessed. He cannot lie. He cannot fail,
therefore we can hold fast our profession of faith in Him without
wavering. Why? Because He's faithful at
promise. Do you remember when God told
Abraham that he and Sarah were gonna have a child in their old
age? Seems like just yesterday we studied that. That's been
almost three years ago. And when he did, Genesis chapter
18 verse 12 says, therefore Sarah laughed within herself. And if
I may paraphrase for a moment, she said, well, I'm an old woman.
I'm waxed old. And she goes, my husband's older
than I am. That's so ridiculous that it's
funny. And the Lord said to Abraham,
wherefore did Sarah laugh? Does she not know who I am? Does
she not know what I can do? Is there anything too hard for
the Lord? No. How can a man who's 100,
whose body is dead, and a woman who's 90 or better, whose womb
is dead, how can they have a child? Because there's nothing too hard
for the Lord. Nothing. Is anything too hard
for the Lord? No, no, no, no. At the time appointed,
he said, I will return unto thee according to the time of life,
and Sarah shall have a son. When God promises something,
it's for certain. You know what? Sarah had a son,
and they called his name Isaac. You remember what Sarah did?
She does what we always do. You remember what she said? She
said, I didn't laugh. Well, she may not have outwardly, but she
did inwardly. And God knows and hears all things.
Why? Because he's God Almighty. And
God said, no, but you did laugh. Do you ever laugh within at the
promises of God? Do you ever doubt the omnipotence,
the power of God? To some degree, we all do. We
shouldn't, but we do. God doesn't hold it against us. He forgives us and He enables
us to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Danny and I were talking before
services, this gospel that we believe, it's so plain, it's
so simple, but yet it's impossible to believe unless God gives us
that grace to believe it. We're so unbelieving by nature,
aren't we? But God's patient with us, He's
long-suffering with us. He enables us to grow in the
grace and in the knowledge of Him. And here I am, 62 years
old, been trying to believe all these years, and I believe I'm
beginning to believe. Aren't you beginning to believe?
Oh, what mercy, what grace. Don't ever doubt the omnipotence,
the power of God. You know, the omnipotence, the
power of God is particularly seen in three ways. And I know
you know this, but it's worth talking about. It's seen in God's
creation. In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth. That's speaking of the almighty
God. For only an almighty God can speak nothing into existence. The earth was without form, the
earth was void, the earth was dark. Sounds like my formless
void and dark soul by nature. And God Almighty said, let there
be light. And how does creation show us
that God is almighty? By the words that follow, and
there was light. Only an almighty God can make
something out of nothing. Only an almighty God can make
something out of nothing by only speaking a word. And he spoke
to my dead cold heart and said, let there be light. And there
was light. Oh, friends, we trust in omnipotent
God. He's almighty. He can do everything. For the invisible things of Him
from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood
by the things that are made, even His eternal power in Godhead,
so that they are without excuse. Romans 1 20. The creation of
God is clearly seen. All men and women understand
something about the power of God by the things that God made
and created. We understand something about
God's eternal power in Godhead when we look out at the stars
at night and see the vast display of those beautiful things that
hang in the sky. God's spirit bears witness with
ours that only a powerful God could stretch out the heavens
as they are. In the heat of the day, every
sinner experiences something of God's power and glory in Christ
when they see and feel the sun and the warmth of it upon their
faces. Christ, who being the brightness
of God's glory and the express image of His person upholding
all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself
purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty
on high. The same God that threw those
stars out into heaven, stretched out the heavens, is the same
God who by Himself purged our sins. He's God Almighty. Don't
doubt His salvation. Don't do it. Have confidence
that you're saved if God saves you. We all have some degree
of understanding the Spirit of God when we hear and we feel
the wind blow. That's what the Lord Jesus told
Nicodemus. The wind blows where it wills.
You hear the sound thereof, but you can't tell where it came.
You can't tell where it came from and you can't tell where
it's going. So it is with the Spirit of God. Both the wind
and the Spirit of God are sovereign in their activity. They're both
mysterious in their operations. The wind blows where it wills.
The wind blows where it pleases. So does the Spirit of God. The
wind's not responsible to anyone but God. The wind is sovereign
in all its actions. The wind is beyond man's control. The wind doesn't consult man.
It can't be regulated. It can't be controlled by man's
devices. So is the Spirit of God. It goes
where it pleases. It reveals Christ to whom it
pleases God. It goes when it wills, at the
appointed time, at the time of love. It breathes life upon the
elect of God. These things we see in the creation. The wind's irresistible. It determines
to blow on whom it will. So it is with God's Spirit. It
saves whom it wills, and none can resist its power. Oh, don't we see the power and
the omnipotence of God in creation, so much so that if a man or a
woman never even hears the gospel, They're still without excuse.
You can't blame not hearing the gospel on condemnation. You can't blame condemnation
on not hearing. You're without excuse. You look
at the vast creation of God, and a man or woman's without
excuse. Why? Because when they knew that
God existed by the things that He had made, they glorified Him
not as God. Neither were thankful, but became
vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and they changed
the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made to corruptible
man and the birds and the four-footed beast and creeping thing. Man
has made idols out of everything. And they still do. The Samaritans
made an idol out of a dove and out of a hawk. The Egyptians
made idols out of all kinds of four-footed beast and insects,
beetles and serpents and scorpions, you name it. In the wilderness,
God's own people, the Israelites, made a golden calf and they worshipped
it and they attributed their deliverance out of Egypt to that
golden calf. This would be the gods that delivered
us out of Egypt. Oh, I'm telling you, if not for
the mercy and grace of God, we would all perish. The power, sovereignty, and omnipotence
of God is clearly seen, secondly, in God's providence. You know,
providence is simply everything that happens in time. And it's
called the providence of God, or God's providence, because
God's the first cause of all things. I talked to a man a few
months back who Dear brother in Christ, and he had worked
for a company for over 30 years, a good company, IBM, matter of
fact. And what happens to a lot of
folks our age, the company, he's making too much money. They could
hire two or three people for what they were paying him, and
they let him go. And I told him, I said, I'm so sorry. He said,
it's just a second cause. It's just a second cause. God's
the first cause. Natural men and women like to
cast lots. They like to think that things
happen according to luck and to chance, good fortune. The wise man Solomon said, the
lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is
of the Lord. Natural men and women like to
believe that God rewards them according to something good they
do, or they're not doing something that's bad. In other words, God
rewards men according to their so-called works of righteousness. But that's why folks scratch
their heads and ask silly questions like, why do bad things happen
to good people? Well, that's ridiculous. What
a foolish question. I can easily answer it. You want
to know why? First of all, there's no good
people. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. Period. Are there good maggots
and bad maggots? No, they're all disgusting. Secondly, all things, whether
we consider them good or bad, they come about by the determinate
counsel of God Almighty. Paul said, that's why some men
and women are saved. In whom? In Christ. Some have
obtained an inheritance. Why? How? Being predestinated
according to the purpose of Him. Who? God Almighty. Who worketh
all things, all things after the counsel of His own will. Now you either believe that or
you don't. No middle ground here. If He's in control of all things,
He's either in control of all things or He's in control of
no things, nothing. Which is it? Can't be both. If God is in control of nothing,
then He's not God. If God is in control of some
things, then He's not God. But if God is in control of all
things, then He's almighty and He's God. And if God's not in
control of all things, then He cannot work all things together
for the good of them that love Him. And I'm telling you, that
is one of the most comforting assurances that I have in this
life. How about you? Whatever happens
to me, whatever happens to me, as one who believes and trusts
in Christ alone, He's working it all together for my good and
for His glory. That's what Romans 8.28 says.
And then thirdly, and most importantly, God is omnipotent, he's sovereign,
he's all powerful in the salvation of the sinner. And I suppose
I rejoice in that the most. When that rich young ruler came
to Christ, he was a fine specimen of whom the majority of this
world would think worthy to be saved. He came to the Lord Jesus
saying, good master. Oh, he had respect for the Lord
Jesus. He was all about being good.
He was a moral man. He was an honorable man. He was
a respected man and he was a respectful man. He was an obedient son. But you just can't be good. You
got to be perfect. And if a good man like this young
ruler could not be saved, then how could anyone be saved? And
that's what the apostles, the disciples said. They heard the
Lord say to this young man, if thou will be perfect, go and
sell what you have and give to the poor. And the young man went
away sorrowful. Why? Because he had great possessions. He loved what he had more than
who gave it to him. You know, reconciliation with
God has nothing to do with being good, but it's got everything
to do with being perfect. And if a man has to be perfect
in order to be saved, and he does, that's why the disciples
asked, who then can be saved? Who can be perfect? Who can provide
to God what God requires in and of themselves? Nobody. How can
anyone be saved? You and I ask the same question.
And the Lord Jesus Christ said this, with men, this is impossible. And it is. But with God, all
things are possible. And they are. Why? Because He's
God Almighty. He works all things after the
counsel of His only. Paul told Timothy, he said, without
controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. There's only one
way for sinners to be saved. It's by the determinant counsel,
will, and purpose of God. And he went on to say, God was
manifest in the flesh. This is how men and women are
saved. God was manifest in the flesh. Christ was justified in
the Spirit. He was seen of angels. He was
preached unto the Gentiles. He was believed on in the world.
There's some in the world that believed on Him. And He was received
up into glory. You see, only the power of God
can cause a sinner to believe such a great mystery. You'll
never believe it if God doesn't enable you to believe it. With
men, impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. What about what Paul wrote in
Ephesians? And he said, and you hath he
quickened. You hath he made alive. Who were
what? Dead. Dead in trespasses and
sin. Dead. You know, most people today,
when it comes to the sin that's found in a sinner, knows very
little about what it means to be dead. By nature, we just don't know
how dead we are. And we wonder why those whom
we love don't see the glorious things in the Word of God that
we see. And we wonder how those that
we love, how they cannot love the Christ of the gospel that
we love. I'll tell you why. They're dead. Dead, dead, dead. Dead in trespasses
and sin. And most of us have seen a corpse.
Life has left the body. It's cold. It's lifeless. Has
no color left in it. The heart stopped beating. The
lungs have stopped breathing. There's no blood throwing through
the veins. All the organs have shut down.
There's no mistaking a dead person from one that's alive. You can
tell by looking. I seen both my mom and dad right
after they died. There's no doubt in my mind they
weren't gone. They were dead. Life had left
that body. And I don't suppose any of us
have seen the physically dead come back to life. Now I know
that there are instances when people's hearts have stopped
on the operating table and they were quickly revived. I don't
doubt that. But I'm talking about someone
like Lazarus, who'd been dead for four days, stinking dead. Just imagine what it would be
like to see life come back into one like Lazarus, who'd been
dead for four days. The heart begins to beat again.
The blood begins to flow. Color begins to return. Lungs
begin to breathe. Movement begins to happen. The
senses are revived. Eyes begin to see. Ears begin
to hear. Understandings returned. Mouth
begins to speak. Is that impossible? Not with
God. Not with God. With God, all things
are possible. Why? Because He's God Almighty. He can do anything and everything.
And I tell you, if you can apply that same thinking to a spiritually
dead sinner, that's what God does for one whom He quickens.
Makes them alive. You hath He quickened who were
dead and trespasses in. It takes the power of God to
make it happen. The same power that it took to
create the world. Jacob said, God Almighty appeared
unto me and blessed me. Oh, will that be my dying words?
Oh, I pray it. I pray they are. God appeared
unto me. Oh, may I be able to tell my
children and my grandchildren that. God appeared unto me and
he blessed me. That's exactly what God does
for His people. He intervened. He divinely interrupted. He appeared to me when I wasn't
looking for Him. I've been thinking a great deal
about that impotent man at the Pool of Bethesda that we've been
studying about on Sunday mornings. Was that poor crippled man at
that Pool of Bethesda, was he seeking and looking for Christ?
Huh? No, no. He was crippled. He had more than likely been
laying in that same spot for 38 years. Now he may, over time,
have moved a little closer to the water as others had died
and been carried away. Maybe he was able to scoot himself
or talk someone into dragging him a little closer to the water.
He may have advanced a little. to a little better position to
be closer to the water so to give him a better shot of someone
helping him in quicker if the angel stirred the water. But
that hadn't worked for 38 years. This man had laid there at the
edge of that pool since before Christ had been born. The Lord
Jesus at this point is probably 30 to 32 years old and this man
had laid that way for 38 years. But before the foundation of
the world, Christ had determined that this day, that man was gonna
walk. And until this day, Bethesda,
which is the house of mercy, hadn't been much of a house of
mercy for him. But on this day, what day? This day, the time appointed,
time of love. The Lord set his eyes, his heart,
his attention, his compassion on this man, and he took up his
bed and he walked. That's my story. That's my story. That's your story, if you know
him. Well, I wanted to get into Jacob's
blessing of Joseph's two sons tonight, but that'd be a good
study for next time, Lord willing. But let me say this. Believer,
be sure to thank God every day for saving your soul. You know
why? Because He didn't have to. He could have left you to yourself. He could have let you have your
own way. Because He's almighty. He does
what He wills. None can stay His hand or question
what He does. If He passes by you, He's still
God, He's still holy, He's still just, and He's still right. But He's a God of mercy, and
He delights to show mercy. He's plenteous in mercy. And
is there still mercy reserved for me? Oh, there's plenty to
go around. But God who is rich in mercy,
he's rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even
when we were dead in sins, he hath quickened us together with
Christ. Paul said, by grace you're saved. Thank God Almighty for his mercy
and his grace. My, my.