Bro Genesis 47 we'd updated the Contact sheet. I can't keep calling
alert roster. That's just all it's ever been
in my life. Uh, I guess if I'm, if I'm calling down the list
and you have to call one another, we got some troubles. We have
some calamities coming, don't we? But a contact list, it's
got the birthday addresses and emails and phone numbers. I printed
out about 10 copies. They're front and back. They're
on the back table. If anybody would like hard copy, you're welcome to it or
I can email them later. Uh, Genesis 47. We have several not here today. Brother Bob's ill, and he said
he tested negative for COVID, but he's just in bad shape, wasn't
able to make it. Brother Matt's been unable to work for a while,
and Deanne's laid up sick. They came, they had to turn around
and leave right again. Audrina's real ill, vomiting pretty heavy, and others, people with troubles. They might die today. There's an appointed time for
everybody. Everybody's going to die. There's young people
that die, and there's old people that die, and there's sick people
that die, and there's healthy people that just die. Awake people
and asleep people. All will die. There can be arguments
made and split hairs over the ones that transcended and those
that were not. Enoch and those that went up
into the heavens. Someday, there's going to be
a final day. And what's going on now is going
to stop and we're going to meet the Lord. That's going to happen. A Hebrew writer said, it's appointed
unto men once to die, but after this, the judgment, the argument
can be made. It was appointed a man to die
in the garden for those that were transcended. We're all dead
and trespasses and sins. That's how we come into this
world, born of Adam. But there'll be judgment. We're in judgment
right now. We're sinning against God. That's
why this body decays. That's why this world's so wicked.
That's why I've got to kick people out of this parking lot doing
drugs on Sunday mornings before services start and everything
else in between. That's why there's other churches
lying to people because of judgment. It's God's judgment. It took
His hand off people. But, after that manner, that it's appointed
us to die once, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins
of many. I wanna be interested in that. I want Him to be my
concern. One of two things is gonna happen.
Either we will be dead to sin, or we will die in our sins. But
death's coming. Death's coming. How much better
to die to self, to be dead to sin, to die to this world, to
die to family, to die to friends, to die to jobs, to die to whatever
it is now, and our life be Christ. And then when we physically die,
then for me to live is Christ, for me to die is gain. That's
what scriptures say, right? How much better that than to
die in our sin? What we have here in Genesis
47 is not a story of an old father saying goodbye and giving his
last will and testimony to his favorite son. We do not have
a father that's speaking what his wishes are to the executor
of his estate. He had one. Lord bless him mightily. That's not it. Oh no. That's
not it. This is both how sinners are
saved while we are living here in this Egypt. We're in Moab
right now. You can say the economy's booming.
You can say the economy ain't booming or whatever. But right
now, this is where we are on this earth. We're in Egypt. And either this is how the Lord
saves sinners while we're here. It's a good picture of that.
But this is also a picture of when he has saved one and us
leaving this world. This is a good way to die. That's
the title of my message, a good way to die. It's the best way
to die. Best way. I'm not in the business.
My sole purpose, Paul said, Lord didn't send me to baptize. Did
Paul baptize folks? Of course he did. But that ain't
his goal. That ain't his purpose, his motivation. And I'm gonna see how many people
I can baptize. That's not what, now did he do it? Yeah, of course
he did. It's not my business to teach
people how to live. Is this what this scripture says?
Do I want to live and bring honor to my God or do I want to bring
reproach to him? That ought to be common sense. That ought to
come with faith is good common sense. And there's a lot here
and I know what this word says. I know what I'm convicted on.
I'll tell you what it means as we go through and expound the
scriptures through expositional preaching. and experiential preaching,
and hopefully that's evangelical. People see their sin and come
to Christ like those chickens to the legs, right? But that
ain't my job to teach people how to live. I can't teach nobody
nothing. It's my job to teach you how
to die. That's my business, because you're
going to die. And the Lord sent me to help
you if you let me. I want to help San Diego County
best I can to die. I pray they die now and not in
their sins. This has to happen for us that
are His. Look at verse 29, Genesis 47,
verse 29. Genesis 47, 29. And the time drew nigh that Israel must die. This is needed. Like David crying
out for mercy, we must die now, right now. Today's the day of
salvation, right now. It don't matter what happened.
I don't care about 13 years ago. I don't care what happened to
me when I was 16. Those things don't matter. Don't
matter what happened last week. Don't matter that conference
we attended and got warm and fuzzy. I'm alive right now. I'm in this
body right now, and I need to die right now to sin, to self,
to the law, Everything has to be dead to me, and he has to
be everything to me, or I'm gonna perish in my sins. I need him
right now. For Israel, it says, the time
do not that Israel must die. Israel, what's that? Princes
with God. Jacobs, right? Us Jacobs, we must die. This body's gonna die, that time's
appointed. But if you're a true Israel, we will die. in this body and be born again
while we're here. How will that happen? Or what's
going to take place if the Lord calls us that to happen? If the
Lord comes and slays us and sin revived and I died, is that what
scripture say? If what if our sin revives today
and I die, what's going to take place? Verse 29 says that the
time drew nigh that Israel must die and he called his son Joseph. Call on the sun. Call on the
sun. How? How? That's not prevalent
in our culture to respect our elders. That's going away swiftly,
but in some other cultures that's still pretty prevalent, but this
was huge then. Children are to be seen and not
heard. Speak when spoken to. This is
normal. You're around adults. Hush. I
saw five-year-olds correct 35-year-olds. Look, that's not how you do it.
I don't think it's that way. Who are you? You're this tall. You don't know
what taxes are. Get out of here. Hush. Don't
know nothing. This should be seen and not heard.
This is prevalent for 6,000 years, and for some reason in the last
couple decades, we've lost our mind. That's why we had to enter
into that. It has to be said or we can't
understand the scriptures. When our Lord spoke in Matthew
22, the Pharisees were gathered together and he asked them, Christ
asked them, and he said, what think ye of Christ? Whose son
is he? Is this a technical question?
This is God Almighty teaching something. We ought to listen.
And they said to him, he's the son of David. And he said, how
then doth David in the spirit call him Lord? He gave them an
answer. How is he in the spirit? Call him, Lord, saying, Thee,
Lord, said unto my Lord, Set thou on my right hand, till I
make thine enemies thy footstool. If David then called him Lord,
how is he his son? It could not enter into the brain
of those people. Like, well, it's my great-grandson,
my great-great-grandson, or my son, or whatever. That's my descendant.
I'm the elder. This is impossible. This is impossible. And no man was able to answer
him a word, neither does any man ask him from that day forth
anymore questions. This just blows our mind. How could David give up his seniority
and his rights as somebody that was older to bow to God? Well,
easy. He was in the spirit. He had
a new one. The Lord gave him a new heart. I think that played
out in our day. Old Brother Henry couldn't preach
no more. And so he filled in some as he could physically,
his body gave out, and he moved and sat underneath his son, Paul.
And now Henry had been preaching for 50 some years, right? Probably
preached a long time, but Henry was, he was the senior man. And,
and Henry would get up and fill in sometimes, and you know what
he would in wisdom and in tenderness tell those people? Now y'all
remember our pastor told us this. How could he call him his pastor?
He's the one that preached to him when the Lord saved him.
How is that possible? I get it, do you? This man, God
sent him and he was thankful. What's that got to do about me
and my pride and my position and my intelligence and my rights
and my rightfulness? It's about him. That's dying
of self, bound to the Lord. We are to call on the Son. Genesis
47, 29, and the time drew nigh that Israel must die. And he
called his son Joseph, who's been a picture of Christ we've
been looking at for a long time, and said unto him, if now I have
found grace in thy sight. You get that? You see how precious
that is? If. Does it say if in your Bible?
If. Jacob, speaking to his favorite
son Joseph, was humbled enough to ask correctly. Did he come
in and say, I heard Grace is getting handed out here today,
I want mine. I got it coming to me. He said, yeah. He didn't
have an attitude of, do you remember all the things I've done for
you, son? Let me preface this, even sweet, right? Being sweet
and tender and kind in his old age and be like, I fathered you.
Raised you I changed your diapers You you're you're my favorite
You know that you do you remember that that coat? I made you in
many colors. That was just for you That wasn't for anybody else
and and whenever I they told me you died they lied I whipped
them good because it was their fault, but but I wept for you
Whenever they told me that my son wasn't alive no more that
thing I And I blame them. I did. I knew it wasn't your
fault. I knew better. Did he say anything? He says,
if. If. If I found grace in thy sight. Like we looked at that sovereign
mercy, there's sovereign grace. The Lord will be gracious to
whom he will be gracious. Did we come in and say, we figured
this out, and now I found somebody that's preaching the way that
I figured it out in the Bible? No. God sends gospel to us, we bow
to it, and if he's pleased, he'll be gracious to me. Or if you
will. And now what we pray, thy will
be done. Did he teach us that? If I found grace in thy sight,
you see the picture of coming to Christ. We don't come demanding
him to do something for us because we earned it. We come pleading.
That's the spirit. That's the spirit that David
said the Lord said to my pleading. If he's so pleased, if it's his
will, that's what will happen. And we need him to be gracious
in mercy, don't we? It says, in the time drew nigh
that Israel must die, and he called his son Joseph and said
unto him, if now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray
thee, thy hand under my thigh. What's that mean? Well, we go
to a commentary and they say, that's a sign of a covenant back
in them days. And we go, okay, and we keep going. Oh, that's terrible, isn't it?
This was foreshadowed. Look back in a few pages, Genesis
24. Genesis 24, Abraham needed a
bride for his son. Oh, Eliezer was there, boy, what
a servant. That was the one that get the
letter to Garcia. Picture of Christ too, but a picture of
his, the Lord's servants, and he's gonna send him out to get
that bride, to go fetch the bride and bring the bride to the son.
What a task, huh? Genesis 24, verse one. And Abraham
was old and well stricken in age, and the Lord had blessed
Abraham in all things. Genesis 24, verse one, verse
two. And Abraham said unto his eldest
servant of his house that ruled over all that he had, put, I
pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and I will make thee swear
by the Lord, the God of heaven. and the God of earth, that thou
shalt not take a wife unto my son, for the daughters of the
Canaanites among who I dwell, but thou shalt go into my country,
and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac. That's a picture
of that covenant. They put that hand underneath
the thigh, and what that meant in those days is this is beyond
pinky swearing, okay? This is the covenant. But you
know, I dwelled on that a long time, and I thought of something
else had to do with the thigh. Would you turn over to Genesis
32? This here's the very one Jacob. He learned this from his
father, but it wasn't just a good time bed story. This was an experience.
Genesis 32 verse 24. This is when the Lord came to
Jacob and remember he made his pillow. a rock, and then that
pillow became a pillar. Worship God. What he laid his
head on and rest is what he ended up worshiping, wasn't it? Genesis
32, the Lord came to him and wrestled him. Verse 24, and Jacob
was left alone. Genesis 32, 24. Jacob was left
alone, and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of
day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he
touched the hollow of his thigh. And the hollow of Jacob's thigh
was out of joint as he wrestled with him. What pain that would
be. Did this locate your hip? Well, that's where, I know it's
pretty well pleased because we're taught from age, oh, I love you
from the heart. And that's where this thing that
goes thump, thump, thump, thump in our chest is, right? Right there's
where everything hinges. If you sneeze and your hip's
out of socket, you're going to know it. If you wiggle your pinky
toe and your hip's out of socket, you're going to know it. You
got him right in the thigh. That's where all the arteries
run through. Right in the middle, isn't it? He touched the hollow
of Jacob's thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint,
and he wrestled with him. Verse 26, and he said, let me go for
the daybreaker. And he said, I will not let thee
go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, what's
thy name? This is a blessing. It's a blessing to be taught
your name's Jacob. The heel, heel catcher, sub planter. You
know, that's what they call them, professional wrestling. I'll
say it right. In wrestling, if they're a person
that plays the bad guy, they're called the heel. I don't know
if they got that from this. Maybe a child of God. Paul was
into wrestling, wasn't he? He liked boxing and running and
sports. It's a blessing. What's your
name? And he said, Jacob. Where'd all that take place?
It took place right when that thigh would pop out of joint,
right when weakness came in, right when inability came in.
Wasn't it? Back in our text, Genesis 47,
verse 29. And the time drew nigh that Israel
must die, and he called his son Joseph and said unto him, if
now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy
hand under my thigh. Put your hand under my thigh.
You, this is a picture of a child of God coming to Christ, you
support my brokenness, because I'm broke. You support my inability,
I have no ability. And by doing that, you promise
to carry me I'm gonna come to you if it pleases you. If you'll be gracious, you carry
me. I can't walk. You carried me before. You've
sent witnesses in wagons. I'm 147. I'm not doing jumping
jacks. I'm old. I was 130 when he did
that. You got to pack up everything. You all move across the country
because that's where Christ is. I can't do that. If Lord's willing,
you will. He'll put his hand under your
thigh and take you and carry you. That's why he said, take my inability,
take, and you promise to carry me. He said, if I found grace
in thy side, I pray thee, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my
thigh and deal kindly and truly with me. Couldn't he just said,
deal kindly with me? Couldn't he just said, deal truly
with me? He said both. And God's preserved this for
a long time. Deal kindly with me. That word is loving kindness. Deal with me first. If I found
grace in your sight, I'm broken, I've come to you, and if you're
pleased, you deal with me in loving kindness. Specifically
loving kindness, David uses 21 times in the Psalms. That's a
lot. He said in Psalm 36, how excellent is thy loving kindness,
O God. Therefore the children of men put their trust under
the shadow of thy wings. Remember last hour? If he deals
with us in loving kindness, he'll give us enough sense to run to
his feet. He'll give us that instinct, that nature that clings
to him. Like Jacob clung to him when
he popped his thigh at us. You see how it's all tied together?
Shadow of the wing, the light, because he gave us knowledge. He got me in the thigh, right
where I bend. Can't do nothing. That's loving kindness. He said
in Psalm 138, he said, I will praise thee with my whole heart
before the gods, lowercase g, while I sing praises of thee.
I don't care who's around. I will worship toward thy holy temple
and praise thy name for thy loving kindness and for thy truth. You
deal with me in loving kindness. The Lord, you know what he said
he'd do to Gomer? He said, I will betroth thee
unto me forever. We're gonna get married, Gomer.
Yeah, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness. I'll betroth
thee unto me in judgment, in loving kindness, and in mercies. You talk about it, I wish I'd
have proposed that way. You're gonna be mine in loving kindness
and mercies, tenderness. I will even betroth thee unto
me in faithfulness. and thou shalt know the Lord.
And the time do nigh that Israel must die, verse 29. And he called
his son Joseph and said unto him, if now I have found grace
in thy sight, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh and deal
kindly and loving kindness and truly with me. I want you to
be tender and that mercy's tender, isn't it? I want you to deal
with me kindly. I want you to deal with me in loving kindness. I'm broken. You don't have to carry me, but
I want you to deal kindly and I want you to deal truly. I want
you to deal with the truth. I want you to deal in justice,
justly with me. That's a hard ask. You gotta
have some understanding to ask that. You give me what I got
coming to me. Don't you dare give me what I
got coming to me. If you know what you got coming
to you. How could somebody, how could a new spirit that David
had in him say, you're doing me injustice. You're doing me
truly, truly on the level. I want everything square. Turn over to Psalm 51. Psalm 51. Verse one. Have mercy upon me, O God. He asked that a lot, didn't he? Do you ask that a lot? Do I? Do I ask for mercy a lot? Or am I doing okay? Have mercy
upon me, O God, according to, in direct proportion, this is
what I need. This is how much mercy I need.
According to thy loving kindness. According unto the multitude
of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions, wash me throughly
from mine iniquities, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge
my transgression. My sin is ever before me. Here's the truth. We want truth,
start telling the truth. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. We may have seen it. That's what
that prodigal son came saying, wasn't it? You've sinned against
me, I've sinned against you, we've sinned against God. We
got bigger fish to fry than my feelings. I've sinned against
him. Somebody was late one time and
told me they apologized for being late, so don't apologize to me,
it's the Lord's house. I got a job to do, I'm gonna do it
whether you show up on time or not. It's God you was late to. It's true. Against thee and thee only, verse
four, have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. That
is telling the truth. Thou mightest be justified when
thou speakest and clear when thou judgest. We'll get it all
on the table, Lord. I'm the sinner, you're the Savior.
That's God-given knowledge right there. That's a God-given understanding.
It's not facts like, oh, well, look up a dictionary. This is
what this says. No, I'm the sinner, you're the Savior. And you came
to save sinners. I want this done in truth. You
want this done in pretend? You want this done as if? Romans 3, look over there. Paul
got this. Romans 3. I need that love and kindness
if, if he chooses to be gracious. I can't do it myself. Your hands
want to be underneath my thigh and carry me. And I need you
to deal kindly and love and kindness. And I need you to deal truly.
and justice and truth on the level. Romans 3, verse 23. David had said in Psalm 51, I'm
the sinner. Paul reiterates, for all have
sinned. Romans 3, 23, for all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by
his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith, in His blood to
declare His righteousness for the remissions of sins that are
passed through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say, at
this time, His righteousness. Do you have your own righteousness?
He's the Lord my righteousness. I don't want one of them, but
He is. I want that to be my last name. Is that what you want to be your
last name? That's whereby she shall be called the Lord our
righteousness? That He might be just. and the justifier of
him which believeth in Jesus. How did you believe in him? I
figured him out, I sorted him, I found him. He wasn't lost.
He gave you a new spirit like David had and everybody else
has had that he saved to believe on him. Somebody preached to
you and you heard because you had a new heart in you that understood
and you came to him. Where's boasting then? Verse
27, it's excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay, but
the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a
man's justified, it's right, by faith without the deeds of
the law. When the Lord saves somebody. If He's gracious and He carries
us because we're unable and He's dealt with us in loving kindness,
it's in truth, it's just, and He has justified us. It's true,
it's perfectly, this is really hard for me to say, it's perfectly
right and acceptable. The Lord, the triune God made
a covenant among themselves and the Holy Spirit abounded to me
in loving kindness and made me aware of it in truth in Christ,
and it's absolutely right. for me to walk in the glory and
the presence of God. That's true, it's right, it's
just. I don't have the, it's right
for me to go to my parents' house when they was alive. I didn't
kick the door open and say, I'm here. I still respected their home, didn't
I? But it's right. Absolutely right. Scripture says
it all. Back in our text, there's something else we pray. Verse
29. Genesis 47, 29. David had said that on his deathbed,
didn't he? Because of that covenant. He said, although my house be
not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things and sure Four, there's a colon there. I'll memorize that colon too.
For this is all my salvation. And this is all my desire. I
want you to deal kindly with me. I want you to deal truly
with me. I want this legitimate. Don't leave me to myself. Don't
leave me here in Egypt, where I'm a stranger. This isn't my
home. I fared well. I remember Maurice said he was
in Okinawa. He got along just fine. That
wasn't his home. I've been to other parts of the
world. Got along fine. I worked hard. My bosses were kind to
me. But I didn't live. That wasn't my home. This earth
ain't my home. This Egypt ain't my home. We
got the best land. We got Goshen right now, first
season. However long the Lord's pleased,
we can come hear his word. We have green pastures to lie
down in. We have rivers of steel water. That's deep. Deep waters are
steel. Shallow waters are... I ain't got no depth to it. He
makes slides next to them deep waters and he feeds us. We got
Goshen right now, but this ain't my home. I want to go home. And
I don't want to be left to myself. I know people that they say that
they believe Christ and that there he is and they love him
and they're alone. And I've hit my heart breaks
for me if they are. At best case, they're sick. They're
sick. Sheep, sheep are herd animals.
I don't want to be left alone. I'll be left here in Egypt. Verse
29, and the time drew nigh that Israel must die. It's going to
happen to all of Israel. He called his son Joseph and
said unto him, for now, or if now, I have found grace in thy
sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal
kindly and truly with me. Bury me not, I pray thee, in
Egypt. Don't leave me here. Do we really think that? Do we
love it here? Why have I been here so long?
I have so much stuff. We've only been here four years.
Karen was cleaning out closets. You know how much stuff we got? Well, Joseph, tell Jacob, here's
your wagons. Leave all your stuff. I don't
want to live here. We have an old nature that loves
Egypt. It's the best thing since sliced
bread. And that old man has a world in his heart, just like everybody
else has a world in their heart. But we have a new spirit. We
have a new mind. We have a new creation in us. Doesn't want
to be here. Bury me not, I pray thee, in
Egypt, verse 30. But I will lie with my fathers,
and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying
place. Bury me. What's that a sign of?
They are laid to rest, is what we say, right? I'm gonna be buried. My Lord was buried. Had me a
plot picked out. Like Abraham buried his wife. That was like $135,000 or something
modern. Back, that was a couple years
ago. $250,000 in today's money. That's an expensive burial plot,
wasn't it? My Lord was buried. I want to be buried. What is
that? It's a picture of rest. A picture of dying to this earth, to not
be in it. To dwell there, because that's where a body stays. It
don't get up and walk out that died. Bury me. Let me rest. Let me dwell where my fathers
rest and where they dwell. Not just physically. Did they
take his bones and go? Yeah, they did. But where are
our forefathers? Abraham's called the believer's
fathers. Did you know that? They came to the Lord there in
John 8 and they said, Abraham's our father. And these are physical
Israelites, physical descendants of Abraham. And Jesus said, and
then if they didn't come to him saying, if you'd let us, if you'd
be gracious, we'd be Abraham's children. The Lord said, if you
were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham.
If he was your daddy, you'd be like your daddy. Our father Abraham,
isn't it? Paul cleared that up, some Romans
9. He said, they're not all Israel, which are of Israel. The whole
world's in a calamity right now. That's their calamity of what's
going on over in a physical place we set up back after World War
II. Paul, God's word says, Israel
ain't what you think it is. They're not all Israel that are
of Israel. There's something here. Neither because they're a seed
of Abraham. The physical seed, the offspring, are they children,
but in Isaac shall thy seed be called. I lie down in green pastures,
the exact same green pastures by the same hand that commanded
me to lie down as Abraham did. Do you? I'm underneath the wings
and the shadow of that same shadow by the same feet that them other
hands or chicks were brought underneath that hand. Are you?
I want to lie down where they lie down. I want to rest where
they rest. I want to dwell where they dwell. Not that it would
be nice to meet them, or know them. I don't know how that's
going to work. But there's Abraham. We're going to be with our Lord. Verse 30. But I will lie with
my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt. I can't do it
myself. And bury me in their burying places. And he said,
Joseph said, I will do as thou hast said. I'll do it. Save, Lord. Save. I'll do it. Glorify your name. I'll do it. Receive all the glory
for this. Better believe it. He said, I
will do as thou hast said. What a promise, isn't it? What
if God would make it effectual to us and give us ears to hear?
And he says, I'm the doer thereof. I'm going to do it. Wouldn't
that be something? But you know what would happen?
We're weak in the flesh. Is that enough for you? Jacob's
already said that one day, but that day passed. And he said
it's enough. This is enough. I want to hear it one more time. I've heard enough. I'm good to
go. Or do you want to hear it one more time? Being it being
that the only whorehouse that was staying in Jericho after
they stormed around it Can you imagine there's a red light over
top this place at night? I got her I was here late last night here
early this morning and I thought how appropriate That's good you think they said
how many times they say to let that cord down what color is
it right shade? At crimson, it's hot. It's not
good. I have I He said at the end of
verse 30, I will do as thou hast said. I want to hear it again.
Verse 31. And he said, Jacob said, swear
unto me, swear unto me. And he swear unto me again and
again. Turn to Hebrews six, Hebrews
six. Verse 13, For when God made promise to
Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself,
saying, Surely, blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I
will multiply thee. And so after he had patiently
endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the greater,
and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.
I give you my word. I'll be there tomorrow at 7 a.m.
I might be, I might not be, but that'll calm you down until it
doesn't happen. Thank God, verse 17, wherein
God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise
the immutability of his counsel, he confirmed it by an oath. that
by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to
lie, we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge, the
shadow of his wings, to lay hold upon the hope set before us,
which hope we have as an anchor of the soul. both shore and steadfast,
and which entereth into that within the veil. I don't know
why I want to touch on this, but the anchor, I've been looking
at a lot of boats over my years. I can tell you what a Mantis
25 looks like, but if you see the anchor, it ain't doing its
job. It's in the boat. If an anchor's doing its job
and it's shore and steadfast, you don't see it. You can feel
that it's keeping you steady, but you don't really see everything
it's doing, do we? Verse 20, whether the forerunner is for
us entered, Jesus, made an high priest forever after the order
of Melchizedek. Swear it to me. He said, I'll
swear it double to you. This is my counsel and my word
and my oath. It's done. We have a forerunner.
We have an empty tomb. Like I said, this is how a sinner,
the Lord brings us to Him. The things He shows us, the things
we experience, what we cry out for, what He promises, doubly.
This is a good way to die too. I've seen some people on their
deathbeds, I've seen them close their eyes and that last breath
exhale from their lungs. I want to die looking to Him.
I want to die remembering His promises. What's going to happen
back in our text? What will happen if the Lord
shows us our end? Ecclesiastes says the living
will lay it to heart. It's better to be in the house
of mourning than in the house of feasting, isn't it? What if the Lord shows
us our end and we come to the Son and we find grace in His
sight? and he makes a covenant with
us, and he carries us, because we're unable, and he deals with
us in loving kindness, and he deals with us in truth, and this
isn't pretend, it's not as if, this is so, and he carries us,
and he promises to us, and then we have unbelief, and he swears
it to us again. What's somebody gonna do if he
does that for me? Has he done that for me? Has he done that
for you? Has he done that for us? What's
gonna happen if he does that? There's an outcome. There's only two sides to a fence.
I like to get ahold of them fences and just shake them. You're gonna
land on one side or the other. And you'll be like, well, that
was interesting. I have a lot to ponder at home. That's a side
of the fence. If God does this, there's a reaction. Look here,
there's a response to his ability. There's a reaction to his action,
isn't there? Verse 31, Genesis 47, 31. And he said, swear unto
me. And he swear unto him. And Israel,
that's us Jacobs, given a new name by God. Israel bowed himself
upon the bed's head. He bowed himself. Look that word
up. I don't know if he just bent
over because he was sitting on the bed and his hip was all messed
up. You know, you start thinking things through. Not that it's
a set thing, right? But we ponder God's word throughout
the day. And I was like, well, you know,
we didn't get a ruler out and measure it and get algorithms to figure out if he
hit his head or not. He bowed. What's that word mean? That means
prostrate. Another translation's obeisance. Remember? I want to be a remembrant,
sir. Look back at Genesis 37. I'll
close. I'll quit. Genesis 37, verse nine. Joseph had dreamed a dream and
told his brothers, y'all gonna bow down to me, yeshives, this
is what I saw. And they said, what? Ended up
throwing him in a pit because of it, but something else, he
had another dream. Verse nine, Genesis 37, he dreamed yet another
dream and told his brethren and said, behold, I have dreamed
a dream more. And behold, the sun and the moon and the 11 stars
made obeisance to me, they bowed down their heads. And he told
it to his father. and to his brethren. And his
father rebuked him and said unto him, What is this
dream that thou hast dreamed? That's our old nature is to rebuke
everybody else instead of being rebuked, isn't it? Shall I and
thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to
thee, to the earth? You mean I'm gonna make obeisance
to you? Remember what I said about how
can the father call the son? How could David call him Lord?
That spirit wasn't there yet, and that relationship wasn't.
You mean to tell me I'm gonna submit to a man that's my son,
that's younger than me, that I've changed diapers? Are you
crazy? What happened years later? He come, he said, if I could
find grace at your side, you carry me in love and kindness,
truly, in truth and justice, make us right. I know you said
it and I swear it to me. And then he said, I swear, and
he bowed down his head and made obeisance. You know what that
tells me? What's it tell you? If the Lord
said it, it's gonna come pass. As my dad said, hide and watch
it. You can take it to the bank.
If he says it, it's gonna come to pass. He's promised it to
his people. And they worship him because
of it. Wouldn't that be a good way to
die? Worshipping the Lord. making
obeisance. Wouldn't that be a good way to
die to self today and bow to him? That'd be a good thing,
wouldn't it? I'd like, I pray it for everybody
here that we bow to his feet before he takes us home, before
he comes. He makes us dead to self and alive unto God in him. Amen. Let's pray together. Father, glorify your son. We ask your will be done, that
you do what you promised you will do. Make us grateful for
those things. Make us see the loving kindness
in your word, your tender mercies, and that this is true. This is
just. It's right. and it's finished. This is done, Lord. Let us rest
in the doer of the thing. Let us rest in Christ. Be with
our brethren that are sick, suffering the trials that you've sent them,
as you promised you will be, and give us a word of comfort
for them. Lord, help us through our calamities. Make us bow,
be merciful to us. as we go through the trials that
you've seen. Make us grateful. It's because of Christ we ask
it. Amen.