you Good morning. Merry Christmas
to you. I saw some people hitchhiking
down the hill on the way to church this morning. I just assumed
we'd have a packed house. There's plenty of extra bulletins.
Take some home with you. I could burn out more. Merry
Christmas to you. If you notice on them bulletins,
I encourage you to get one. And I've scattered some pins
throughout. the seats, today I bought some pens and spread
them out. And it would, if you were, if God so inclined you
to take notes, I hope I can teach something today. And I saw how
I've neglected this over the years, and I ought not be ashamed
to, but next hour, I hope I can teach something, and I hope you
can write it down and then go learn. If we've sojourned and
studied and read the scriptures day in, day out, and all these
commentaries for 20 years, we ought to learn something, shouldn't
we? And so I hope I can teach you something. God taught me
to a faithful man. But for this hour, no notes.
Just listen. Okay. I want to teach you something
this hour too, I pray. I want to say hi to from brother
Britt Worthen down in Winston, Georgia. I got to preach with
him at Paul Mahan's conference. I love that man. We got a couple
things in common. He was an army, I was an army.
He was a scout, I was a scout. He's a firefighter, I was a firefighter.
He's married to a nice looking lady named Kim. I one-upped him,
I married to a Kimberly. Faithful preacher of the gospel,
has been and is, and I trust the Lord will keep him faithful.
And I hope they can come visit us at some point, but anyway. Genesis 48, Genesis 48. Hopefully we can labor together
a little bit on this. I want to not have you turn anywhere
for time's sake. And if you, if you would like
the notes, I'll be more than happy to email them to you. And
you can go back and listen and read along again. And there's
so much in messages. I've listened to messages from
my pastor from a long ago. And as I read his notes and I
listened to the message. There's things that's in those
notes he didn't say, and there's things that he said that ain't
in the notes. And so you get a double portion
there. It's a wealth, it's a blessing. So if you want those, I'll send
them to you. But you turn to Genesis 48, Jacob's gonna bless
his sons. And we read in Hebrews 11 about
Jacob, and he said, by faith, Jacob, this is where he's mentioning
Hebrews 11, this was faith when he was dying. He blessed both
the sons of Joseph. It took faith for him to bless.
And it says, by faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed both
the sons of Joseph and worshipped. And worshipped. leaning on his
staff. It takes faith to do that, to
bless the young people, and to worship, and to lean on your
staff. In our text, we're going to see
that Joseph was sitting on his bed. And I thought, well, is
there a contradiction there? Armchair theologians will just
crack their stiff necks trying to explain these things. Why
are they still looking for Christ? I thought of Psalm 23, because
he's laying on his bed in our text. He said, the Lord's my
shepherd, David writes, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie
down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil, for thou art
with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me. Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil,
my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever. Now it's talking about the faith
of Jacob. We're sons of Jacob. We ought to pay attention. When
we lie down, when we are led, when we seem to be destroyed
and we need to be restored, and we are being restored, when we
walk, when we eat, when the enemies are all around us. Psalm 23,
right? All the days of our life, the
child of God worships, leaning on, crossed our rock, crossed
our green pasture, crossed our way, crossed our defense, crossed
our restorer, crossed our preserver. So was he leaning on his staff
or was he sitting on his bed? Yes. Yes, he was. And so, it's a blessing to those
around us when the Lord saves somebody. If it ain't a spiritual
blessing to be around the Lord's people, I'll tell you right now,
it's a carnal blessing. They make good neighbors. They
do. They ain't as mean as they used
to be. They ain't as critical as they used to be. They ain't
as hen-pecking as they used to be. God softens their hearts.
and they're a blessing to those around him. Now, Jacob's gonna
bless his grandchildren and his son, Joseph. Look here in Genesis
48, verse one. And it came to pass after these
things, remember that, what happened last chapter, that the one told
Joseph, behold, thy father's sick. And he took with him his
two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. And one told Jacob and said,
behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto thee. And Israel strengthened
himself, and he sat upon the bed." That's the same place he
was back in chapter 47, verse 31. When that covenant was established,
he said, you swear unto me. And he's swearing to him, and
Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head. Why is he in a bed? That's just in a, he's in complete
inability of body at 147 years old, but he's bowing. That word's
obeisance. That's where God's people are
gathered to make obeisance, to worship, isn't it? John's article
there in the bulletin, it says there that all those things are
important. Private prayer is important,
private devotion is important, but the gathering of God's people
is far more important. Why? Because it's more important
to God. It says, the Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all
the dwellings of Jacob. And he says, let us love what
our Lord loves more than everything else. Do you want to love what
God loves? If you love Him, you want to
love what He loves, don't you? He says, I love when my people
gather together, because I brought them there. I want to know that. I want to be on that bed of worship
and obeisance. He said in verse 31. I already
read that to you. Verse 3, I'm sorry. Chapter 48,
verse 3. Look at how this aged believer speaks. This is what
I want to drive home today. On the top and bottom of every
note, I have remembered the example to the children. You get a meal
ready and nobody's there to eat it. Someone's watching. And that's to you old folks,
the young people's watching you. And you young folks, the old
people's watching you. Somebody's watching somebody.
Y'all watching me. We're watching each other, ain't
we? And I want to be example for you, I'm charged to, to be
a good example. And I want to be a good example
for my children, and if I have them someday, grandchildren.
just like Joseph is. Look how he speaks. I want us
to get that. Listen to the words. Watch how
this believer speaks. I want to speak this way. Do you? Do
you want to talk like a son of Jacob? If you're a son of Jacob
and you're not consumed because the Lord changes not, you will.
He's going to teach you how to talk. I'm going to teach you
how to talk today. Is that all right? Verse three. And Jacob said unto
Joseph, God Almighty, What's the first word out of Jacob's
mouth to his sons and his grandsons? The very first thing, God Almighty. God Almighty. Remember, they're
watching. They're listening. Was it aches and pains? Was it
his bad back? Was it his eyesight going bad?
He said, God Almighty. Why? In the beginning, God. That's
a good place to start. That's a good place to start
a conversation. That ought to set the tone for the conversation.
It says in verse three, And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty
appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and he blessed
me, and he said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and
multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people,
and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting
possession. Them youngins are listening.
Your youngins are listening to you. Your grandchildren are listening.
We ought to learn how to talk around them instead of saying
nonsense. God Almighty, the One that was, that is, and always
shall be, the Almighty One, the self-existing One, He came to
me, and He blessed me, and He made a covenant with me. And
then He told me about it. He told me about it. This is
how the children of God speak. That's how we've learned to talk.
So Jacob was taught to talk from his father, Abraham. You think
Isaac went up that mountain, he laid there willingly, didn't
he? He said, father, there's a wood and there's a fire, where's
the land? He knew how to worship God. His
father taught him. That's why the Lord gave us the
Passover, so you can teach your children and your grandchildren
when they ask questions. Why are you so committed to going
down there every Wednesday and Sunday? Worship God. Jacob taught Joseph, hadn't he? We learn how to talk. Jacob is
faithful in teaching his household how to speak. There's a lot of
failures he had, but he does that by speaking how he was taught
to speak. This is day in and day out. We're
going to reserve time for Bible study now. No, it ain't. It's
on a Tuesday when you're pumping gas and somebody cuts in front
of you. That's when they're watching. It's the tenor of our life. Paul
did that. It's what he said. It's the same
thing that I hear believers say today. God came to me. I didn't
figure it out and go to him. He came to me. He said, when
it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and
called me by his grace to, he's going to do something with it,
reveal his son in me. And he said, he blessed me. He
blessed, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who have blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ. according as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him in love. God did that, and
he came and he told us about it. David said the Lord made
a covenant with him, not the other way around. I hear a lot
of people say, well, I made my peace with God. No, you did not.
You ain't in a position to make peace. You're the guilty party,
not him. And when your loved ones say that, pray for them,
because they're going to die in their sins if they keep believing
it. Now that's so, I'm here to help
you. I wanna tell you these things. David said, although my house
be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered, and all things are sure, not haphazard. And this is all
my salvation, this is all my desire. I don't want anything
else. This is how he saved me and I don't wanna mess with it.
I like it just the way he did it. You see how that's opposite
to what you hear so often? People talk about their journey
of faith, and they talk about what their life has been like,
and I've done this, and I've done that. That's contrary to
God. That's contrary to grace. That
works. Hear me. Lord, give us ears to
hear. Well, that's just, you're splitting
hairs. No, I am not. The word's not. God did it, or
we'll perish. Look at verse five. These boys
are listening. They're watching. They ain't
talking. Their mouth's shut. That's something we ought to
learn. And their ears are open. And they're not criticizing.
And like, you know what? Well, I think this. They hushed and
were seen and not heard. They should be seen and not heard,
right? House ain't built around the children. They just have
to be visiting until they're grown. And now, verse five, thy
two sons Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in
the land of Egypt before I came unto thee in Egypt, are mine.
The two boys you got, Joseph, they're mine. They're mine. I've
heard a lot of good sermons on this, this adoption of the boys.
Stick with me, I think God gave me some light on this. As Reuben
and Simeon, they shall be mine. They're gonna be just the same
as you are, Joseph. Them boys you had, they're my
boys. I'm laying hold of them, I'm laying charge of them. I
want you to see why and how. And thy issue, which thou begast
after them, shall be thine, and shall be called after the name
of their brethren in their inheritance. Now I'm gonna talk to your boys.
These two boys are mine. Any other children you have,
that's your children. I'm gonna talk to these two, I'm gonna
bless them in their mind. What's he mean by that? Well, it's the
adoption of the, yeah, we can apply a theological dissertation
to this. He goes, I'm gonna tell these
little two about the Lord and what he's done. He's gonna preach
to them. He's gonna pray for them. And
then I'm gonna die. And Joseph, whoever you go preach
this gospel to, and the Lord saves those children and he blesses
those children, truly blesses them, not gives them a good paycheck,
not gives them a job in another state where there's no gospel.
When he truly blesses them, that's your little ones. That's the
ones you have to give an account for. We ought to learn how to talk.
What if we tell things on God the night so in his word? God
says, my preachers are accountable. You wanna be accountable for
that? You want that blood on your hands? That's a heavy weight, isn't it? And
Jacob says, willingly, these are mine, I'm gonna preach to
them. Anybody you preach to, that's yours. Call them after
the name of their inheritance. That's what John said. He was
old at this time, but even whenever he was young, I bet Timothy said
that in his youth. He looked at them old people
he preached to and said, you're my children. I'm gonna try to raise you best
I can, and teach you how to talk, and teach you how to walk, and
teach you how to die, and train you the best I can, and tell
you when to take notes, and when to listen. John said, my little
children, these things I write unto you that you sin not, and
if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
the righteous, and he's the propitiation for our sins. That's a good thing
to teach children, look to Christ. and not for ours only, but also
for the sins of the whole world." Throughout time, throughout nationalities,
Gentiles and Jews and male and female, rich and poor, it don't
matter. If the Lord saved us, He's the same. And you know what?
We got a lot in common, too. We're the same, too. We're sons
of Jacob. This God Almighty, he's the God of what we would
call good things and bad things, right? People say, I hear that
all the time. God wouldn't do such a thing.
You better be careful speaking on behalf of God, what he'd do, what he
won't do. You better watch it. Well, this bad, this is terrible.
Oh no, hits cancer or hits a tsunami or hits, I don't know, pick something
you don't like. Look at what the economy's doing. I think
I put that in the bulletin, too. Don't look at what this world's
come to, look at who come to this world. Old Brother Maurice
hit that one on the head, didn't he? If it ain't in there, I'll
send it to you. But we see that if there's evil
done in a city, the Lord's done that, too, because He's God Almighty.
He's on His throne, unless we just talk about sovereignty.
But if we believe him, he did it, and we bow, don't we? We
bow. Look here what Jacob talks about,
verse seven. And as for me, he's gonna do
some reminiscing. Telling them grandsons, telling
Joseph, everybody's around. As for me, when I came from Paddan,
Rachel, remember that one, he lived four, seven years, and
then served another seven years? Oh, we loved her. Remember Rachel?
She died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, whenever she
was given childbirth. when yet there was but a little
way to come unto Ephra." Almost there, and I buried her there
in the way of Ephra, the same as Bethlehem. Bethlehem, Ephrathah. That's where Rachel was buried.
What's Jacob saying here to his grandsons and his son? That very
God Almighty, that very one that loves me and gave his son for
me, he killed my wife. That's strong. God has to teach
that language to us, to put a heart in us that says that way. Job
said that, the Lord gave, the Lord take away, blessed be the
name of the Lord. He's done all this. You can say
it's whirlwinds, you can say it's bands of robbers, I don't
care what you think it was, God did it. You're going through
a trial, God sent it. Bow to him. It's good. It's for our good. God killed
my beloved wife during childbirth, and she was with me, and I thank
the Lord for that. I got to be with her when he
took her. And we almost made it to Ephrathah, but that wasn't
to be so. The Lord stopped us. The Holy
Spirit stopped us if he was preaching. We'll get to that another day.
The very child that killed her that she called Benoni, which
means the son of my sorrow, I called him Benjamin, the son of my right
hand. Boys, now listen to me. Papa's
talking to you. You talk to your grandchildren
that way? About the things that God sends in our lives? I hope
we do. I want to. This was a precious thing the
Lord did to me. Took me 20 years to see it, but I see it now,
boys. God killed my wife, your grandmother. He let me stay with
her. He did all things right. He really
does, he does all things well. Verse eight, and Israel beheld
Joseph's son and said, who are these? He was blessing them,
telling them to behold your God before he ever got to know them.
I'll leave the comments at that. As old brother Hawker says, this
is so evident I only need to comment on it. Verse nine, and
Joseph said unto his father, speaking to Jacob, these are
my sons whom God hath given me in this place. He said, bring
them, I pray them to me and I'll bless them. How did Joseph learn
to talk like that? These are my sons whom God hath
given me. You know, that ain't fancy words.
I'll get to plainness here in a second, but that ain't fancy.
God gave me him children. That's how sons of Jacob talk.
The Lord did it. See how plain that is? That ain't old English.
You see, God did it. Let's learn these things. It's
truth, isn't it? It's not a pre-canned response.
But it gives God the glory for what only God can do. He gave
life. He knows that, don't he? Verse 10. Now the eyes of Israel
were dim for his age, so that he could not see. And he brought
them near unto him, and he kissed them and embraced them. Why was
his eyes dim? I'm starting to get dim in this
eye, and it's happening real fast. I mean, within like a month,
I'm left-eye dominant now. And so I couldn't imagine. He's
147 years old. He's 104 years older than me. How come he couldn't see a lick? His eyes were dimmed because
of age, but his eyes weren't gone. Jacob's eyes are gone maybe
physically, but he sees Christ better now than he ever has.
That's a blessing. His hearing, normally when your
eyes go, your hearing goes. Children make fun of me last
night because I can't hear nothing. I'm going to get hearing aids and everybody's
in trouble. Every time I walk up, people stop talking. I don't
know why. I know exactly why they do that. I walk up, people,
and they're talking, and they quit talking. I thought they'd
just try not to be rude because I can't hear nothing. When your
eyes go, your ears go, don't you? But he can hear the gospel
better than he's ever heard it in his life. You want to get
better at hearing the gospel? We won't take naps. His body,
it couldn't get out of bed, this flesh, but he was walking with
the Lord, wasn't he? His voice may have been weak,
them vocal cords, 147 years old, can't hardly talk anymore, but
the testimony of God and what he has done His person and his
work, it came out more clear than it ever has, because it
got simpler. Remember that blind man and John who got plainer
and plainer and plainer and plainer? I want to get plainer. God did
it. He's on the throne. What's that mean? Sit down for
four hours, I'll tell you about it. He's on his throne. I want to grow old in the Lord.
It's a great comfort to me being so young. There's a church wanting me to
come preach for them. They got a bunch of young people. And they thought
I might be a better fit because I'm young. And I laughed at them.
And I said, I got a lot of gray hair. To those folks, to them,
I'm old. You old folks, I'm young. But
it's a blessing to see the Lord age somebody and them give God,
God give them the faith in him. And Bob, whenever I see you age
and I hear what comes out of your mouth, that encourages me.
You are a blessing to me because I see that God is faithful in
you. And I think if he lets me live till I'm 80, maybe he'll
keep me faithful too. That encourages me. That's a
blessing. Well, I can't do nothing but lay in bed all day. You can
praise God in it. Maybe we ought to praise God. That'd be good,
wouldn't it? Verse 11, and Israel said unto
Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face, and lo, God hath
showed me also thy seed. I thought I'd never see you again,
and I got to see you again. And what's a surprise blessing?
I get to see my grandchildren. This is wonderful. Who did that
again? Jacob said, God hath. God hath. It was dear thing to
me to see you again, Joseph. And now I get to see these grandsons.
A surprise blessings. All blessings are precious. If
the Lord reveals himself to us, we see what he's done in Providence
and it calms us and comforts us. That's a blessing. But a
lot of times there's things you don't even expect coming. You
get a surprise and that's special, isn't it? This was a surprise
blessing. Verse 12. And Joseph brought
them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his
face to the earth. Joseph came to Jacob, his father.
How come him grandsons respected Jacob? Because Joseph showed
him how. Come on, boys. We're going to
honor grandpa. Sit down. That's why I told y'all that
before. You know why? My father died when I was 18, and I don't
think I'm wounded by it. I had an excuse for me to not
work hard in this life, be lazy, or woe is me. Y'all did it. But I honor him, and I think
so highly of him. You know why? Because my mom
told me to. Let that soak in. How's children
gonna grow up and respect their pastor? Because the people in
that congregation are gonna tell them children to. How are they
gonna respect that woman back there? Somebody's gotta tell
them to. Tell them why. God sent this as a gift. Just
like Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. He said, I sent you Miriam. Did
he say that? That's what his word says. God said so, son. Here's what we're gonna do. You
be thankful for them people. These boys are watching. It's
on the header and the footer. I finally learned how to do that.
Somebody's watching. And Joseph brought them out between
his knees, and he bowed himself to his face to the earth. And
Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand towards Israel's
left hand, my right, your left, and Manasseh in his left hand
towards Israel's right hand. He's lining them up where they
ought to be, and brought them near to him so he could bless
them. And Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it upon
Ephraim on his head, who was the younger, and his left hand
out upon Manasseh's. head, guiding his hands wittingly. He did this on purpose. He crossed
his arms. Joseph did everything right, got them right where they
ought to be, made it easy on Jacob, and Jacob crossed his
arms. Guiding his hands wittingly for Manasseh was the firstborn.
He's going to put his right hand on the younger. He crossed his
arms. on what we would call the wrong
ones. What tradition of our fathers
would call the wrong ones. His right hand on Ephraim and
his left hand on Manasseh. A lot of good sermons on that
too. Here in a bit, Joseph's going to ensure that this was
no mistake. He's looking out for his father, respecting him.
But before he can speak, before Joseph can say anything about
this, Jacob speaks again. Verse 15, and he blessed Joseph. and said, God, he began speaking
of God again, but it says he blessed Joseph. Why didn't he
just bring him boys up there to bless the boys? I thought
he was going to bless these boys. He is. But what a blessing this
is to Joseph. What a picture. If God was to
bless your children. Would that be good to you? I'm
in no way, shape, form, or fashion supporting the doctrine of family
covenant where dad saved, everybody else in the whole house is saved.
That's hogwash and it ain't according to the scriptures. But the Lord
says he honors those that honor him. You command your house as
God gives you, I mean, a hundred verses on all through the Proverbs
and Abraham and everything else. You command your house and you
make them, and God will bless that. And that might just bless
it in your heart, but I'm not saying he's gonna save them,
but he'll honor those that honor him. I'm no way saying that if
we command our house, God will save our children, though we
are clearly commanded to lead our family in the things of God
and the worship of God. God gave you that responsibility. Some
day might give it to you, so hate it. But what a blessing
it would be for our children to be saved. The best thing Lord
can do for a sinner is to save that sinner, reveal Christ in
them. The next best thing is to save the ones we love the
most. Our parents and our siblings and our children that don't know
God and need saved, not from a false gospel, from the true
gospel, nothing else. You talk about surprise blessing.
Where's it going to do that on the football field? From a lie,
he won't do it. Do it where he gathers his people,
won't he? How was Joseph and these boys who were watching
and who were listening? They're paying attention to you. My children watch you all. You get that? Sometimes I have
questions, comments, concerns when I get home. My children
watch you all and say, hey, is this right? Is that wrong? I
saw this and I thought that. They hear what you say. These
children are hearing what the grandpa said. How were they blessed
by the prayer of Joseph? This is a prayer, look here in
verse 15. And he blessed Joseph, saying, and he said, God, before
whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me
all my life long unto this day, the angel which redeemed me from
all evil, bless the lads, bless these boys, and let my name be
named on them, and the name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac,
and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of this earth. Lord,
bless them mightily. This is the God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob he's speaking with. They walk before God. This is
the true God. And Jacob says, God, whom my
fathers did walk, God which fed me all my life long until this
day. Did God provide food and substance
and water for Jacob? Of course he did. Did he provide
for this flesh? Yeah, he did. But Jacob, speaking
about Christ the living bread, before I ever knew him, the Lord
was providing for me. God provided bread. He fed me
spiritually, bodily, yeah, that's nothing to him. He fed my spirit
my whole life long. This whole new creation that's
in me that's born again. That's what our Lord said. He
said, take, eat. Is that complicated? Is that
simple words? Take, eat. This is my body, which
is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me.
He taught us how to pray. He taught us, the Lord teaches
us how to pray. He said, okay, do it like this,
after this manner. And then part of that was give
us this day our daily bread. Well, I need to eat today. Hey,
the Lord knows that. He feeds the sparrows. We'll
ask him anyway. Sometimes you get kind of close
on that budget at the end of the month. Lord, I'm gonna need some beans
and rice. Give us Christ our bread, our
living bread daily. What's Jacob saying? God's fed
me my whole life. He's telling them grandsons,
God's faithful. I wouldn't. I'm prone to wonder. God's faithful. People need to
hear that. Not that they're faithful, that
God's faithful. Paul wrote about that. He said,
now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above
all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in
us unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all
ages, world without end. Amen. Remember the example to
the children. Joseph said, God fed me. Somebody's
watching. This got taught. Jacob was taught this. Abraham
was taught it. Isaac was taught it. Jacob was
taught it. Joseph was taught it. And these boys are getting taught
right now, ain't they? Throughout all ages, everyone that is born
of God is taught of God. Because that creation in them
is of Him. I thought that death man healed
in Mark 7. It says, straightway his ears were opened, and the
strings of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plainly. He spake
plainly. Jacob spoke plainly. He said,
God fed me my whole life. That bread's Christ. He said,
he fed me. He didn't have super fluidity of speech to be seen
of men. He didn't say the nutrients of
the manna did not nourish the flesh born of Adam. Make this
a blessing to the nourishments of our bodies. No, he didn't.
He said, God fed me. Thank you, Lord. And children's
watching. They're going to talk how we
talk. They're going to pray how we pray. They're going to worship how we worship.
They're going to be as committed as we're committed. I pray God put that in us for
them. He will. He's faithful. He's faithful. And I attest to it, up to this
day, it ain't me doing it, it's him doing it. I don't think that
testimony is going to change in another 40 years, will it?
God fed my body and my soul, boys. Paul told the church at
Corinth, he said, seeing that we have such a hope, You have
that hope God feeding you? Has he fed you? Has he made you
hungry? Has he made you thirsty? Seeing
we have such a hope, we use great plainness of speech. That's what it says, isn't it?
That's 2 Corinthians 3.12. Our master did. Our master did. He didn't have these crazy outlandish
illustrations. He talked about fishing. He looked
at the farmers and talked to them about farming. You got seed? Well, it's got to go in the ground
and die. If it stays in your hand, it ain't gonna go nowhere. You know that. He looked at little people, young
people, watched him. He said, I'm a door. Is that
complicated? That's great plainness of speech.
I want to have great plainness of speech. I want to cut to the
chase. I want to throw the dynamite right where the dynamite needs
to lay in and get out of the way. Pray God teaches us something. Jacob and the sons of Jacob,
they speak plainly. And Jacob was talking in front
of his grandchildren. And he says, God came to me.
He's a self-existing one. He does what he wants as God.
And he saved me and he provided all things for me. And he told
me I was his own. And all of that is legitimate.
And it's right and holy and good because he bought me. There was
a price paid for this, boys. Blood had to be shed. Look at
verse 16. The Angel which redeemed me from all evil. Capital T,
capital A. The Angel. Who's that? Isaiah 47 says, As for our Redeemer,
that one that redeemed us, the Lord of hosts is his name, the
Holy One of Israel. The angel, capital T, capital
A, that's the one that redeemed us. In Isaiah 63 it says, for
he said, surely they are my people, children that will not lie. They're
gonna speak plain, they're gonna speak the truth. So he was their
savior. In all their affliction, he was
afflicted. The angel of his presence saved
them. How'd he do that? In love and
in his pity, he redeemed them. And he bare them and carried
them all the days of old. Boys, that's what God did for
us. That's what he did for me. That prayer continues, verse
16. The angel which redeemed me from all evil, he has to,
I can't, bless the lads. God bless these children. And
let my name be named on them in the name of my fathers, Abraham
and Isaac, and let them grow into a multitude in the midst
of the earth. Let them grow in grace, Lord. Bless them, save
them, let them grow in knowledge and understanding. Make them
grow in faith to lean on you more, and let the same name be
on them. Jacob, that's gonna have to come
first. break them, teach them they're sinners and they have
a need, and then give them the same name you gave me, the Lord
our righteousness, Christ our righteousness. Remember how he
switched the hands and he blessed Joseph and Joseph's giving him
some clarity, make sure everything's okay, verse 17. And when Joseph
saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim,
it displeased him and he held up his father's hand to remove
it from Ephraim's head into Manasseh's head. And Joseph said of his
father, Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn. Put thy
hand upon his head. This was good intentions of Joseph. Dad's old, he can't see nothing.
Come here, I'll help you. And his father refused him, verse
19, and said, I know, my son, I know. Oh, did he. This happened
before in Joseph's house, wouldn't it? Wouldn't an elder brother
supposed to be getting a blessing, but the younger brother got it?
Maybe God, that was before God came to him. He was playing religion
back then and the Lord taught him what truth was when he made
a pillow out of a pillar, out of stones. He said, I know son,
I know. He shall become a people and
he also shall be great, but truly his younger brother shall be
greater than he. The blessing is going to be better for this
younger one it seems. And his seed shall be a multitude of
nations. He was remembering when he received his blessing, when
he smelled like his older brother, and he felt like his older brother,
and he brought the meat, the sacrifice of his older brother,
and he went by his older brother's name. That's important. What's he showing these boys?
Somebody's watching. Substitution. Substitution. For us to be blessed, the elder
must serve the younger. That was a lesson Jacob taught.
Is that the lesson you taught? Christ our elder brother must
do everything for us. That's the only way we're going
to be blessed. Paul wrote too, he said, we know that all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did pre-nestinate, to be conformed to the image of his
Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. The master said, he is the greatest
among you shall be your servant. He ain't talking about just qualified
preachers, he's talking about himself. And whosoever shall
exalt himself be abased and he that shall humble himself shall
be exalted. He humbled himself more than anybody ever had. Verse
20, and he blessed them that day saying, in these shall Israel
bless. Saying, God, make thee as Ephraim
in Manasseh. And he said, Ephraim before Manasseh.
And Israel said unto Joseph, behold, I die, but God shall
be with you. What an encouraging thing. I'm
going to leave this world. God's faithful. You just keep
looking to him. Do you want to die that way? Or do you want
to die screaming and worrying if you did enough to satisfy
God you offended? I want to die saying, he's been
faithful to me. I hope he's faithful to you. You keep looking to him.
Ain't nothing changed. and bring you again to the land of your
fathers. Moreover, I've given to thee one portion above thy
brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with
my sword and my bow." How do we bless? I can't bless nobody.
God has to. And that's what he told Moses
with all that Arianic benediction, as they call it. He's teaching
Moses how to pray. He said, here's how you bless
the children of Israel. And he's speaking to Aaron and his sons
and saying, on this wise shall you bless the children of Israel
saying unto them, The Lord bless thee, he's got to do it, and
keep thee. The Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gracious
unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give
thee peace. And they shall put my name upon
the children of Israel and I'll bless them. You tell them about
me and I'll bless them, I'll bless them. It's a privilege
to grow old as a child of God. And then the Lord uses us on
our deathbed and in all of our infirmities of the body to prove
to the younger ones that he's faithful. What an honor that
is. I don't want to lean on remedies
and snake oil. I knew somebody that all I talked
about had cancer. They're just talking about the
remedies. Oh, I had these remedies and I took this remedy and I took this supplement
and I did that. And you know what happened? God
saved them. And she said, the Lord took care of this cancer.
I don't want to lean on snake oil, I want to lean on the great
physician. I don't want to lean on my doing, I want to lean on
what he's finished. I don't want to lean on my faith,
I want to lean on the faith of the Son of God, His faith. And
I want that for my children. And I want that for your children.
I want them to see it, and I want them to believe it. I want that
for my loved ones. I want them to see it, and I
want them to believe it. And God help us, if he's with
us, somebody's watching. They just might believe what
we have to say about it. I pray to make that effect so
I can't be too long. Let's pray and we'll meet back together
about 1035. Father, teach us. You promised
your children will all be taught of you. Oh, teach us of Christ. Teach us how to walk in this
world. Teach us how to die in this world, how to speak, how
to thank, Lord, instruct us, make us faithful children. We
want to be profitable servants. Thank you for this word, Lord.
Thank you for our great redeemer, the angel that redeemed us. He's
the only one that can bless, and what a blessing it is to
know him, and what an abundant blessing when we're pleased to
reveal Christ to our loved ones and our children. We pray that
so, Lord, and we know that you do all things right. Forgive
us for what we are and be with us this day. It's because of
Christ we ask it, amen. All right, we'll meet back about
10.35.