talk about Jacob's passing. The Lord called Jacob home in
this passage of scripture. You remember that he gathered
all of his sons around, made Joseph promise to take him back
up to Cain. When I'm gone, he said, you take
me up here and bury me in such and such a place. Well, this
is the day that the Lord takes him home and of all the deaths
recorded in God's Word and there's lots of deaths lots of deaths
especially you start in Genesis chapter 5 and it says Adam lived
so long and died and so and so lived so long and died but when
it comes to the Lord's people Abraham Sarah, Isaac, and Rebecca. All these folks had a wonderful
passing. But of the deaths recorded in
God's Word, there is as few as beautiful and simple as Jacob's. He left this earth in a quiet,
peaceful, God-honoring way. And he left behind a life that
is more a beacon than it is a pattern and these things are written
for our time for our learning that we through patience and
comfort of scriptures might have hope and this man Jacob as we
studied his life we have the worst and the best we have the
flesh and the spirit We see what grace did for this man who was
a conniver, who was a supplant. God's grace made a very weak
man strong. Grace made the worm Jacob into
the prince of Israel and made him the father of a nation. And in this we can see his faith. considering the end of his conversation
or the end of his life. Let's look at Jacob's last words.
Let's look at his last words. Starting here in verse 28, Genesis
49. Here's Jacob's last words. And all these are the twelve
tribes of Israel and this is it that their father spake unto
them and blessed them. Every one according to his blessing
he blessed them. Wouldn't you love to have all
your children around you? If you had, whether it's one
or two or five or six or eight, wouldn't you love to, when you
get ready to leave this world, know it's your day, that you
call them all around you, and you say something to every single
one of them, and tell them about their life, and tell them about
what God's gonna do and what God has done, and tell them about
what a blessed hope you have. Wouldn't it be a wonderful thing
to be able to have his family gathered around you and do like
Jacob did? And he blessed them. Every one
of them he blessed them. Left not off one of them. Left
not off one of them. He gave his sons his final blessing.
His life is closing. And he did not overlook not one
of his sons. He gave a blessing to all of
them. And then he goes on down there in verse 29 and he charged
them and that word charged them means is he commanded them And
said of them I am to be gathered unto my people what a statement
I'm gonna be gathered unto my people Bury me with my father My fathers,
Abraham and Isaac, in the cave that's in the field of Ephron
the Hittite, in the cave that's in the field of Machpelah, which
is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought. You remember Abraham bought a
field. Sarah died and he went and bought a field. The man wanted
to give it to him. Ephron the Hittite said, I'll
just give it to you. No, no, no, no. I'll buy it.
I'll buy this field. And that's where he put Sarah.
That's where he put himself. That's where Isaac went. That's
where Rebecca went. And he said, I want to go back
to that place that my father, my grandfather bought. And I
want to go there. And when you, when I'm dead,
you take me over there and bury me there. You bury me there. And oh, and he goes on to say
this. He bought it for a possession. And this is what, this is what
he said, a possession. of a buried place. You know,
I've already got my name, where I'm going to be buried. Got it
on the tombstone. Got it on the tombstone. Got
my name. I don't bother. I go out there
and look at it. Now I got to get one for Shirley,
you know, put it on the other side, put her name on it. After
Herman was gone, I went up there and said, listen, I want you
to go out there and put his Everything was on there, everything was
on there, but the day passed. Had a fellow go out there and
ride on there the day he passed. Those are things that we did,
and that's what Jacob's doing here. He's dealing. We've all
prepared to live, but we also need to prepare to leave. And that's where he said, that's
where they buried Abraham and Sarah, his wife. There they buried
Isaac and Rebekah, his wife. And he said, listen to this.
And there I buried Leah, my wife. And the purchase of the field
and the cave there is was from the children of Aaron. So his
last words are, take me and carry. He spoke faithful to each one
about their character. He spoke about their sin and
he talked about the temporal sense of it. And then look what
he did, he gave them a solemn charge now, gave them a solemn
charge. Oh listen, bury me in Canaan,
bury me in the promised land, bury me in the field, the family
plot. And what he's saying is, Egypt
is no place for me. This is not my home, Egypt is
not my home. Egypt I don't want to die here.
I'm going to die here, but I don't want to be buried here I want
to go to the land of promise. I want to go where everything's
already made ready for me And all listen look at his closing
scene look here in verse 33 And when Jacob had made an end
of commanding his sons He gathered up his feet up in
his bed and he yielded up the ghost and
was gathered unto his people. He just got in bed, curled up
and died. He wasn't afraid of this. He
was such a peaceful and he made all of them with all of his children,
all of his sons, all of his grandchildren, blessed his grandsons and he
is like Simon, Lord I have seen thy salvation, let me now depart
in peace and all my gathered under his people. He's going
to be reunited with his people. And I tell you what, when he
says he's gathered under his people, he's looking beyond the
grave here. When he says, I'll be gathered
under my people, look beyond the grave. I'm going to tell
you something I've thought of quite a bit, and I don't know
how to explain it other than this. When people go to glory, you
know, Ethel was the first one to go. Mary was the second one
to go. And then her daddy. That's a
whole family gone. And this is the way I see this.
When they're gathered under your people. Now when we're on this
earth, we have earthly relationships. But when we go to glory, those
earthly relationships cease to be. But it says in 1 Corinthians,
there we are known even as we've known. They'll know us even as
we've known. Now, I think this is right. I wouldn't make it up. But I
think that when Ethel was there, when Mary got there, they knew
one another. They knew one another. But they didn't know one another
after the flesh. She wasn't Mary's mother anymore. And Mary wasn't her daughter
anymore. They were just worshippers of Christ. And they were very... and I'm sure when she got there
she understood that this... I know this is the person...
they got here the same way I did. And then when Herman got there,
I'm sure they all seen one another because when the scripture said
we're going to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And
he says, I'll be gathered unto my people. But the relationship
has no flesh whatsoever in it. That's what our Lord said. He
said, if a woman's married seven times, who's she going to be
married to in glory? And our Lord Jesus says this, there's
no marriage in heaven and earth. There's no marriage there. We'll be saints, be no sin, be
no flesh, there'll be nothing earthly. Somebody, who asked
us the other day? Your sister asked the other day.
Her husband just had some surgery on his throat with cancer, a
lot of cancer. And now he's got it in his lungs
and they're trying to deal with it. And she said, do you think
that when people go to heaven, that they look down on us here,
concerned about us here? And Shirley said, absolutely
not. What would be heaven if you saw what was going on here?
But when I get there, I'll know Mary, and I'll know Aaron, and
I'll know Ethel, and I'll know Albert Blalock, and I'll know
all the saints that's gone before me. I'll know these blessed saints.
I'll know James and Elmore. I'll know these blessed... I'll
know Bill. And when I get there, I'll know that's who they are.
But it won't be nothing like what I knew them down here. It'll
be without any sin, without any earth, without any flesh, without
any emotion whatsoever. And yet we'll be able to have
a relationship there based on strictly a spiritual relationship,
a sinless relationship, perfect relationship, and nothing at
all will never ever hinder it. When we get there, we're going
to know lots of people. We'll know Abraham when we see
him. Never laid eyes on him, don't
have a clue what he looks like, but we'll know him. We don't
know what our Savior looks like, but when we see him, we'll know
him. Oh, we got something to look
forward to. Oh, my. All right. But it says he gathered up in
bed, got up in bed, laid up in bed. Talked to all of his boys
and all of his grandsons. Closed his eyes. Went to his
people. Oh, but now look here. Look at
a son's love. Look at a son's love. Back starting
in verse 1 of chapter 50 here. A son's love. Oh, listen. Joseph fell upon his father's
face. They were standing around him.
gathered around with him all the boys were there Jacob and
Ephraim and Manasseh and all twelve sons and Joseph fell upon
his father's face and wept upon him and just kissed him and kissed
him and kissed him His daddy, he just got down on his father's
face and got his father's face in his hands and he just covered
him with his tears and hold his face and just kissed him and
kissed him and kissed him and kissed him. Oh, he expressed his grief here
in such a way that he had never expressed such emotions. And
then, oh, he loved his father and he just fell on his father's
face and wept upon him and kissed him. And Joseph commanded his servants,
the physicians, to embalm his father. And the physicians embalmed
him. He had his father embalmed and
look what it says here now. He mourned for him and 40 days
were fulfilled for him. For so are fulfilled the days
of those which are embalmed in the Egypt." Now listen to this.
And the Egyptians mourned for him 70 days. 70 days. Two months. Over two
months they mourned for him. And if you've ever lost somebody
you really love, I'm telling you what, there's some mourning
that goes on that nobody else knows anything about except the
people that love them. And I tell you that's what Joseph
was doing. The Egyptians done it. All of his sons done it.
They mourned for 70 days. They didn't do anything. But
remember Jacob. And mourned over Jacob. And oh
my. And I tell you what. And sometimes
even after years, the mourning still comes back occasionally.
But oh my, he said, oh, and then look what he said. In verse four,
and when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spake unto
the house of Pharaoh, and if now I have found grace in your
eyes, I pray you in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, my father
made me swear. Lo, I die. In my grave, which I dig for
me in the land of Canaan, thou shalt thou bury me. Therefore
now let me go up and bury my father and I'll come again. Oh
my. And Pharaoh said, go up. You
know, when somebody gives you the last things that they want
you to do for them, you do that to the best of your ability.
And his father made him swear. Remember over in Genesis 47,
he made Joseph swear. Now Joseph, swear to me. Swear
to me that you will take me back to my home and bury me in a hole. I want you to swear to me that
you'll do that. What else could Joseph do? And Joseph did just
that. He swore to his father And he
said, my father made me swear. He said, I'm going to die. And
when I die, I don't want to stay down here. Please carry me up
out of here. Carry me up out of here. Don't
leave me down here. And you talk about a funeral.
Look at this funeral. They had a funeral for him. And look at these verses here. Verse 7. And Joseph went up to
bury his father. And with him went up all the
servants of Pharaoh, And listen, the elders of his house, and
all the elders of the land of Egypt, and all the house of Joseph,
and his brethren, and his father's house, and only their little
ones and flocks and their herds they left in the land of Goshen.
Now listen, I mean you talk about a procession. And there went
up with him both chariots and horsemen, and it was a very great
company. Boy, I tell you what, we see
funeral processions sometimes and they just keep coming and
coming and coming and coming and coming. Car after car after
car. People just flock. I've been to funerals where people
were standing around the walls because they had such love and
respect for the person that the Lord had taken. I've seen people
leave from stage and go to great expense to come and pay last
respects. And of course they admired and
loved somebody so much. Well, that's what they done here
with Jacob. Oh, they loved him. They had
such reverence for him and such respect for him and they followed
him. Great funeral. Great funeral. And oh, Joseph
fulfilled his oath. Joseph fulfilled his oath and
then they had another great morning and down in verse 10 They came
up to the threshing floor of Aden which is beyond Jordan.
They got across the river. They're over in Canaan now And
there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation I mean
boy, they was making some noise. I mean lamenting and he made
a mourning for his father seven days and and the inhabitants
of the land, the Canaanites, saw this morning in the floor
of Aded, and they said this, this is a grievous morning to
the Egyptians, wherefore the name of it was called Abel Mizoram,
which means the morning of the Egyptians. And his sons did unto
him according as he commanded them. Now I want to say three
things about Jacob. Three blessings we have here
in Jacob's passing. First, we have the power of faith.
The power of faith. The scripture says, and I read
it tonight, that Joseph blessed the sons of Joseph by faith. The blessings that he bestowed
upon his sons showed us that he was concerned with more than
just their temporal blessings and what they would have in this
life. He was concerned with their souls. He was concerned with
God and what God was going to do for them. God was reality
to this old man. And he died in peace believing
that God would do what he said with his sons. And here's the
second thing I see. The glory of love. Oh, the blessedness
and glory of God. There have been many conflicts,
many difficulties, many sorrows in Jacob's life and the relationship
that he had with his sons. Oh, difficult relationship. He
had some trouble. His son, first son Jacob, Reuben,
the things that he did was awful. When Judah and his sons, all
of them, done what they did to Joseph, and oh, they had trouble.
Benjamin and Simeon went in and slaughtered a bunch of men when
they deceived him. But oh, he had lots of... And I don't know of anybody that
haven't had conflicts with their children. With their children. If you've never had, bless God
for it. but it all when it come was said
and done they all gathered around their father and he loved them
and they all loved him everything was reconciled all the enmity
was gone all the feelings were gone and all he looked at Reuben
looked at Joseph looked at Benjamin looked at Simeon and he blessed
them And he loved them. And they gathered around him.
And I tell you what, love prevails. Love prevails. Love don't die
when someone does. Love don't die. And those men
loved their father though he was gone. Love don't die. It
just don't die. And then look at his blessed
expectation. It says now that he was gathered
unto his people. And what he is saying here is
he believed he would be reunited with his loved ones. He would
be reunited with his wife, with his mother, with his father,
with his grandfather, with his grandmother. And he believed
he would recognize them. He said, I'll be gathered unto
my people. He said, my people. And that's
what we talk about, my people, the Lord's people. Christ called
us his people. I'll be their God, they should
be my people. And Jacob on his deathbed not
only looked up to a present God of grace and power, but he looked forward when the
promises of God to his father would be fulfilled. He told Abraham,
said, Abraham, you're going to be the father of many nations.
And that covenant went to Isaac and went right on down to Jacob.
And Jacob understood that there's salvation in our seed. And oh my, he said, I know that
this promise is not fulfilled now, but it will be. And that's
why he wanted to be buried with them. Like his father before
him, he was looking for a city that has foundations. And the
builder and maker is God. This world, he said, we here,
we have no continuing city. But Abraham went out, and you
know what it says? He was looking for a city. Who built this city? God built
this city. Who laid the foundation of this
city? God laid the foundation of this city. Who made this city? God did. And I'm going to find
it one of these days. We're going to get there one
of these days. He was looking forward to the
resurrection. They start talking about Abraham
Isaac and Jacob and about death and our Lord Jesus said to him
God's a God of the living He's not a God of the dead Abraham's
not dead, Isaac's not dead, Jacob's not dead They're living! And Paul said, he said this,
he said for For me to live as Christ And what a statement,
and to die is gain. Gain. And beloved, when God calls
us, and He will, He will, how blessed will we be. We have the
same faith, we have the same love, we have the same hope,
We have the same expectation and these all died seeing the
promises of our all. We have the promises fulfilled
in our very presence and we have possessed them right now. And
oh my, you can go home tonight and go to sleep and if you don't
wake up You just be gathered unto your
people. Oh my, just be gathered unto
your people. Oh Lord. Our blessed Savior, thank you
for the day. Thank you for your word. Thank
you for such encouraging, comforting, blessing things that you teach
us and instruct us in. Oh, the blessed, blessed hope
you've given us. And Lord, we live in expectation
of your call to us and your call to others. And Lord, when we'll
all be gathered together your people unto our people. Bless you and praise you and
thank you in Christ's name. Amen. Let's turn to 3.18 and
say this and then you'll be at liberty to go. 3.18 Let's stand together I need Thee
every hour Most gracious Lord No tender voice like Oh, I need Thee. Every hour I need Thee. Oh, bless me now, my Savior. I come to Thee. I need Thee every hour. Stay thou nearby. Temptations lose their power
when thou art nigh. I need thee, oh, I need thee. Every hour I need thee. Oh, bless thee now, my Savior. Enjoy your pain Come quickly
and abide Or life is vain Oh, bless me now, my Savior,
I come to Thee. I need Thee every hour of my
life. Now bless His Son. I need Thee,
oh I need Thee. Every hour I need Thee. Oh bless me now, my Savior, I
come to Thee. We got nowhere else to go, do
we? Lord bless you. See you Wednesday. God will it.