Turn with me in your Bibles,
please, to the Gospel of John, chapter 16. In chapter 12, the
Lord has told His disciples He's going away, that He's going to
be rejected of men and crucified. They were devastated. Wouldn't
you have been? Three years you've been with
Him. You've heard him. You've walked with him. You've
spent nights with him. You've seen miracle after miracle
after miracle. You've heard the teaching of
the truth. You know that He is the Son of
the Living God? You know that He has the words
of life? And He says, I'm going away. Oh, the sorrow. Oh, the trouble. So from chapter 13 through chapter
17, He comforts His disciples. He comforts His sheep. One of
the greatest comforts He gave them was the comforter. the Holy
Spirit. The greatest comfort comes from
chapter 17. Our high priest intercedes and
prays for us. But let's read chapter 16, and
we're going to read about that great comforter, the Holy Spirit. Our Lord says, These things have
I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. They shall put
you out of the synagogues. Yea, the time cometh that whosoever
killeth you will think that he doeth God's service. And these
things will they do unto you, because they have not known the
Father nor me. But these things have I told
you, that when the times shall come, ye may remember that I
told you of them. And these things I said not unto
you at the beginning, because I was with you. But now I go
my way to him that sent me, and none of you asketh, Whither goest
thou? But because I have said these
things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. Nevertheless,
I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away. For if
I go not away, The Comforter will not come unto you, but if
I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he
will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment,
of sin because you believe not on me. of righteousness, because
I go to my Father, and ye see me no more, of judgment, because
the prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say
unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit, when he, the
Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth,
for he shall not speak of himself, But whatsoever he shall hear,
that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come. He shall
glorify me, for he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto
you. All things that the Father hath
are mine. Therefore said I that he shall
take of mine and shall show it unto you a little while, and
ye shall not see me. And again a little while ye shall
see me, because I go to the Father. Then said some of his disciples
among themselves, What is this that he saith unto us? A little
while, and ye shall not see me. Again, in a little while, ye
shall see me, because I go to my father. They said, therefore,
what is this that he saith? A little while. We cannot tell
what he saith. Now Jesus knew that they were
desirous to ask him, and said unto them, Do ye inquire among
yourselves of that I said? A little while, and ye shall
not see me, and again a little while, and ye shall see me. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament. But
the world shall rejoice, and ye shall be sorrowful, but your
sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman, when she is in travail,
hath sorrow, because her hour is come. But as soon as she is
delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish for the joy
that a man has borne in the world. And ye now therefore have sorrow,
but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and
your joy no man taketh from you. And in that day ye shall ask
me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing
in my name. Ask, and ye shall receive, that
your joy may be full. These things have I spoken unto
you in Proverbs. But the time cometh when I shall
no more speak unto you in Proverbs, but I will show you plainly of
the Father. At that day you shall ask in
my name, and I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for
you. For the Father himself loveth
you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came
out from God. I came forth from the Father,
and am coming to the world. Again, I leave the world and
go to the Father. His disciples said unto him,
Lo, thou speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. Now
we are sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that
any man should ask thee. By this we believe that thou
camest forth from God. Jesus answered them, Do ye now
believe? Behold, the hour cometh, yea,
is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own,
and shall leave me alone. And yet I am not alone, because
the Father is with me. These things have I spoken unto
you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall
have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. ...Bibles this evening, if you
will, to Genesis 29. And let me mention a couple of
things that some of you here know Tom Wooten. Him and Gene
Rutledge used to come down here every year. The Lord called Gene
home a few years ago, and he called Tom home this morning.
Tom was a big old tall fella. We went to Todd's for years and
years and years. And I've enjoyed his fellowship
for years, and so has Joe, and so has Shirley. And then Denny
Ayers' mother passed away, and they left to go up to her funeral. And then Kathleen told me this
morning her son's mother-in-law Gertrude, I think's her name,
is it? No, Glee, was it Glee? Who? Glee, Glee Baby, yeah. She worked out Tansy at the POA,
yeah. She had a massive heart attack
Tuesday. She was over there eating with them last Sunday, and she
had a massive heart attack. And so three, three dances this
week, and all of them will be missed. I told you before, every
time I, I listen to obituary, and every time I see a hearse,
on its way to a funeral with the flags on it, I automatically
think somebody is hurting and somebody's going to miss that
soul. I always think of that. I always think of that. And we
live in a place where people respect that and pull over to
the side of the road, men take their hats off, show respect,
and That's a wonderful thing that we do those things. But
oh my, he's not in the world where there's tribulation anymore.
Tom ain't, that's the one I know for sure. All right, tonight
I wanna talk about Jacob's sons. He had 12 sons. And you know,
we saw last week, he went to, he's on his way to Paddanuram,
down to his mother's brother's house, his uncle. because his
brother had said he's gonna kill him. And so he was there and
he stopped at the place and saw this ladder, had this vision,
saw this ladder, typical of our Lord Jesus Christ in his humanity
that reached all the way to heaven and all the way to earth. When
God's up there, man's down here. God come from there down to here
in the person of Christ. And he gave him a great blessing.
and God blesses us only in the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, he got
down there. Now you remember that Jacob's
nature is a black background for the glorious grace of God. They struggled in the womb, typical
of our struggle in the flesh. He grabbed to hold the heel of
his brother. He wanted out. And then he bought the birthright.
He bargained for the birthright and got the birthright from Esau.
And then him and his mother devised a scheme whereby he could actually
get the blessing of the firstborn from his father. And then after
God promised to bless him at Bethel, and he called that the
gate of heaven in Bethel, there's the house of God. After God gave
him all these blessings, he started to turn around and started bargaining
with God. You all remember those things.
But where sin abounded, but grace did much more abound. Now Laban,
since Jacob was such a deceiver, such a supplanter, such a schemer,
that he met a man that was slicker than he was. He met a man named
Laban. And Laban, his father-in-law,
really got him, you know, put him between a rock and a hard
place. And what it was thus, he, Jacob said, you know, he
said, stay with me a month. And now since you get here, what
will you do for wages? You know, I don't want you to
just stay here. You know, you're gonna have to work for your living.
Now, what wages will you charge me if you stay here? He said,
well, I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll serve you for seven
years for your daughter, Rachel. She is beautiful. She is well-favored. Old Aban said, that'll work.
I'll do that. I'll do that. He labored seven
years. He gave him his daughter Leah.
She had eye problems. He went in unto her, didn't see
her, went into the tent to her and came out and he says, well,
the first thing he said, Jacob said, Laban, well, you deceived
me. He said, it's not right. It's not right to give the youngest
daughter first. Said, you know, so he gave her
Leah. And then he said seven, he labored
seven more years for Rachel. And all these women, he had children. He had children by them. Now
polygamy, it started and God said, this is not what's to happen. One man, one woman, that's what
he said in Genesis. But because of the hardness of
men's hearts and because of the depravity of the flesh, men started
taking more than one wife. And then their wives started
giving them their servants. And it's never ever worked out
good. You cannot find any place in
the Bible where it worked out good. The first instance you
find of it when Sarah gave Hagar to have a child by. How'd that
work out? He had to leave. Flesh and the
spirit ain't gonna live in the same house. They can't do it.
The child of promise and the child of flesh can't live in
the same house. And wherever you find polygamy,
wherever you find two wives, you find trouble. And that's
the way it is and that's the way it's gonna be and the way
it'll be until the end of time. God meant for us to have one
at a time. And so look what happens here
back up in verse 30 and 31 of chapter 29. Let me show you this. And Laban gave to Rachel his
daughter, Let's see, no, I'm in the wrong place. And he went
also in unto Rachel, Genesis 29, 30. He went also unto Rachel,
and he loved Rachel, now listen to this, more than Leah, and
served with him yet seven other years. And when the Lord saw
that Leah, listen to this, was hated, she opened her womb, but
Rachel was barren. Loved one? God said that she
was hated. One was loved, one was hated.
Now look down in verse one of chapter 30. And Rachel saw that
she bare Jacob no children. Now listen, here's another instance
of this polygamy don't work. Rachel envied her sister, because
she's done had four children, four sons, that's for Jacob.
And Rachel envied her sister, said unto Jacob, give me children,
or else I die. And Jacob's anger was kindled
against Rachel, and he said, am I in God's stead, who hath
withheld thee from the fruit of the womb? And she said, behold,
my maid, Billa, go in unto her, and she shall bear upon my knees,
that I may so have children by her. So okay, now you see here
now that polygamy's not good. Loved, hated. One envies her
sister, one can have children, one can't. One holds it against
the other, one doesn't. But I want to look at the birth
and the names given to Jacob's 12 sons by his different wives
and by their handmaids. And all 12 of these sons are
given names, and we're told why they were given these names.
And these who ended up being the 12 tribes of Israel would
be named after. And their names, I'm telling
you, we'll see this, that their names is also the history of
a soul's conversion. Every one of their names is a
point in our conversion, in a soul's conversion. Every one of them
has something to do, it speaks to us, of Christ and our salvation
in Christ by every name that they have. Now the first name
we see is up here in verse 32. And Leah conceived and bare a
son, Genesis 29, 32. Leah conceived and bare a son,
she called his name Reuben, Reuben, Reuben. And then down later says
she also, in verse 33, she bare a son and called his name Simon,
or Simeon. And she conceived again and said,
now my husband's gonna be joined to me and therefore called his
name Levi. That's the tribe where all the
priests came from. And she conceived again in verse
35 and said, now I'm gonna praise the Lord. So she called his name
Judah, Judah. And then you go down through
there and you find all their different sons' names. And I'm
not gonna read all of them to you, but I'm gonna tell you what
their names are. Now, Rachel only had two sons.
She had Joseph and she had Benjamin. And those are the two that Jacob
loved more than anybody else. Jacob and Joseph, Joseph and
Benjamin. Remember that? And you know what
Reuben's name means? You look there in the margin,
it says, see a son, see a son. That's first what his name means. Reuben means see a son. And is
this not what we're told in the gospel? John said, this man comes
after me who's shoelashed, I'm not worthy to bear. And unloose,
who's mightier than I, he was before me. And he says, behold,
look, there's the Lamb of God. And God himself said, this is
my beloved son. hear him, and in John 6, 40,
I ain't preached from this in years and years, but it says
this, this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which,
what? Seeth the Son. See the Son? He that seeth the Son and believeth
on him hath everlasting life. And that's what she said, see
the Son? And that's what God says to us, see the Son? The
sun shall rise with healing in his wings. And you know what? We sang that old song, life in
a look. Life in a look. Look, look, look,
life in a look. God said, look unto me and be
you saved all the ends of the earth. I'm a just God and I'm
a savior. And it's when God looks on us
and God sees us and then we turn around and we see the sun and
that's what we do. Looking, looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith. And the first names see
the sun. That's where our salvation starts,
seeing the sun. What's God's will? What's God's
will? That everyone, everyone which
sees the sun and believes on him hath everlasting life. And then Simeon was the second
one. He was the second one. And you
know what his name means? Hearing, hearing. We're told
to see the Son. Well, then how in the world do
we see the Son? He read it tonight. Our Lord
said, I go away. And yet, you won't see me. And
again, in a little while, you'll see me. And how did he mean that
I'm going away? And then a little while, you'll
see me. We see him by faith. But here's the second thing,
seeing the Son. But do you know how in the world
we see the Son and how we come to know anything about the Son?
By hearing. Faith cometh by hearing. hearing
by the word of God. And that's how we, first one's
see the son, second one's hearing. We receive the gospel by faith,
by hearing. Hear and your soul shall live.
Look what God said in Isaiah 53. This is what the Lord said
in Isaiah 53. Daniel, I mean, Simeon means
hearing. Oh, God heard me. Well, God hears
us when we cry. Christ hears us when we cry.
In Isaiah 55 three, you know how I tell you what? We got to
hear, and that's why it's so imperative, so imperative that
we preach the Lord Jesus Christ. Look what God said in verse three
of Isaiah 55. Now listen to this. Incline your
ear. and come unto me, hear, hear,
and your soul shall live, and I'll make an everlasting covenant
with you, even the sure mercies of David. And so we see the Son,
we hear, we listen, and that's why we come, to hear the Gospel,
to listen, to listen, to hear what God has to say, to hear
what He has to say about His Son. And you know how long faith
would last if we didn't hear the Gospel? And if we didn't
see the Son, that's why we come here, to hear about Christ, to
hear about who He is and what He done. Paul said it like this. How whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. Well, how then shall they
call on Him in whom they have not heard? And how shall they
believe in Him of whom they have not believed and heard? And how
shall they hear without a preacher? So then faith comes, and how
does it come? It comes by hearing. And that's
what he said. He said, oh, see, I see I've
got a son. God said, see, my son? He told
us before he ever come, behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear
a son. And you know what you're gonna
call him? Jesus. Why? Because he shall save his
people from their sin. And then, oh, listen, God heard
me. He brings us the gospel and we're here. And then third son
she had was called Levi. Down in verse 34, he's called
Levi. You know what Levi means? That
means joined. That means joined. And I tell
you what, after we see the Son, we hear the gospel, then we're
joined to the Lord Jesus Christ. This tells us of our union with
the Lord Jesus Christ. being joined to him. What did
Ephesians say? They were bone of his bone and
flesh of his flesh. Our Lord said, I'm the vine.
The true vine, you're the branches. And he that's joined to me, I'm
the vine and all the branches joined to me, they live by me.
And we're joined to Christ and we have our life from Christ.
And I'll tell you what, not joined to him, there's no life. We're
so joined to him that when Christ, everything he did, we did. When
he lived in this world, we lived in him. When he died in this
world, we died in him. When he was buried, we was buried
in him. When he was raised again, we
were raised in him. When he sat down in glory, we
sat down with him. That's how close we are joined
to him. He's the head, we're the body.
He's the vine, we're the branches. And you know what he said? Without
me, you can't do nothing. You know what nothing is? That's nothing, just a white
sheet of paper. Ain't nothing on it. And that's
what we are without him. That's what we are. And then
the fourth son she had was named Judah. And you know what Judah
means down there in verse 35? That's praise. After we see the
son, after we hear the gospel, he said, here, come here and
listen to what I gotta say. Then we're joined to the Lord
and then we begin to praise him. Judah means praise. After seeing
the son of his love, after hearing the gospel, and being joined
to the Lord Jesus Christ, we bless him and we praise him.
Blessed be the Lord. Praise be unto God. And we offer
the sacrifice of praises in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what
Paul said. He said, brethren, we're bound
always to thank God for you. because he has from the beginning
chosen you unto salvation that's in Christ Jesus. And he by the
Spirit of God has joined you and sanctified you and joined
you and called you to the Lord Jesus Christ, gave you life in
Christ before the world ever began. And I'll tell you what,
you're talking about reason to praise. Has nobody got greater
reason to praise the Lord than I do. I don't know of anybody
that God's blessed more than me in this world. I don't know,
I've never yet met the person that God's blessed more than
me in this world right here. And oh, we praise Him, we bless
Him, we thank Him. And I tell you what, there's
times when you think about Him and you're contemplating Him
and you're considering Him and what He's done for you when you're
sometimes by yourself. And when you do that, your heart
melts inside you. And you get so full of joy and
thankfulness that you feel like you're gonna explode. You just
feel like, oh, you're just gonna explode. You just can't praise
him enough and thank him. How many times have you sat on
your porch? How many times have you looked
out your window? How many times have you been in your car and
you started thinking about all the things you'll see around
you and the things that you're blessed to see, the things you're
blessed to enjoy, and your heart just lifts up and say, Lord,
thank you for what I can see right now and what I enjoy right
this minute. So I tell you what, we see the
Son, we hear, we're joined to Christ, then we praise Him. And
then look down here, and let's look at the next one. Let's see,
where's it at? The next one is Dan, I believe. Yep, in verse six, Dan. Oh my, Rachel's handmaid conceived
and bore Dan. You know what Dan means? It means
judging, judging. or judgment. Dan, he's the fifth
son, judgment. And I tell you what, God has
passed judgment on us and bless his name, he judged us in his
blessed son. That's where the judgment's already
failed. You know, God says the soul that
sinneth this shall die and we got to die. God will not let
us die Not let us live and without judging us for our sin the judge
of all earth must do right and he passed judgment on us and
he passed judgment on us in his son and I've told you this and
this is one of the most blessed points of the gospel that they
are to me is That God's not let me or any of his children get
by with one sin He's judged every single one of them. They've been
judged and And so God being a just God, He cannot come and judge
us for sins ever again. How did He judge for our sin?
He judged His Son. And when He found sin on His
Son, He crucified His Son. He put on His Son on a cross.
And there is where sin was judged and sin was put away and God
cannot come and judge us ever again. That's why we're not afraid
to face God in judgment. That's why we look forward to
leaving this world. That's why we're not afraid to
leave this world. You say, well, listen, you're
gonna fall in the hands of a just God. I already have. I've then fell into the hands
of a just God. And you know what I come out
of? Justified, righteous, no sin. That's shouting ground,
I'm telling you. That's shouting ground. And not
only does God judge us, but he enables us to pass judgment upon
ourselves. We pass judgment upon ourselves.
What do you say about yourself? Oh, nothing. What good you got
to say for yourself? Nothing. We pass the sentence
of death upon ourselves. We, you know, the Lord says,
you know, that we judge ourselves so that we won't be judged with
the world. We absolutely, absolutely judge ourselves. And you know
what we say about ourselves? No good thing. That is, I know
in me and in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Well, I'm gonna
do something good this week. That's a lie you told. Don't do something good, I mean,
for one another. But don't say you're gonna do it for God, because
that don't work. Oh my. And there's another judgment
we make. We judge, and God's told us,
that we died unto sin once in our Savior. And then here's the
next one, down here in verse eight. Had another child. And Rachel said in verse eight,
with great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister and have prevailed.
And she called his name Naphtali. That means my wrestling. It's
my wrestling. And you know, we don't have any
wrestlings, no wrestlings until after our conversion. We have
no struggle, no wrestlings, no war going on in us until after
we convert. And we're like Jacob and Esau
in the womb. There's a great struggle in the
womb. And in our flesh, there's a great struggle. And you never
have a struggle until you're converted. One way you know you're
converted is because you struggle with the flesh. You wrestle with
the flesh. Oh, we have a great struggle
between our old nature and our new nature. And I tell you, sometimes
it gets pretty hairy sometimes. I don't know about you, but it
gets pretty tough sometimes. You know, I tell you what, I
know a couple of men who do not believe a believer has two natures.
I know some preachers, some grace preachers. that do not believe
that a believer has two natures. Now, if you don't have two natures,
that means you got one nature, and that has to be the nature
you was born with. And what kind of nature is that?
That's a fallen nature. And I'm going to tell you something.
Our old nature does never, ever, ever get any better. Never gets
any better. No, no, no. That's why we don't
preach progressive sanctification. That's why we don't tell you
to start living holier, just get holier and holier and holier.
Because it's a futile battle. The flesh lusts wars against
the Spirit. And the Spirit, the Spirit of
Christ in us, wars against the flesh. And you cannot do the
things that Paul said, I see a war in my members. What members? My mind, my heart, my flesh,
my spirit. With the flesh here, I serve
the law, the principle of sin. But with my mind, my heart, I
serve the righteousness of God. If I could take my mind and take
it out and put in an absolute perfect spiritual mind, I'd do
that. Wouldn't you, wouldn't you like
take that brain out of there and take that heart out of there
and put in one that's just perfect with no sin in it? And never
think an evil thought, never think a vain thought, never throw
any pride, never show any self-righteous, wouldn't you like to do that?
We'd all like to do it now, but we're gonna have to wait till
Christ makes us new. We're gonna have to wait. We're
gonna have to wait, but oh my, that's what we want. Oh, we want
it so much. And that's why Paul says we grow
earnestly, grow earnestly to be clothed with that house, not
made with hands, that's eternal in the heavens. Some of y'all
remember living in some pretty, pretty rough houses when you
grew up. People down here was poor and they had houses, you
know, and when I first come down here, I went to eat some breakfast
with some folks one time. We was eating rabbits and fried
taters and eggs. And it's so cold in that house
that when they put it on the plate, the lard in it turned
white. You know, and the wind blow in
them, you know, and where Mary's grandmother lived, I mean, is
that old house, and the wind would blow through that thing.
Oh, the water bucket would be froze in the winter. Well, that's
the kind of house we live in right now. An old sorry house. The water freezes every once
in a while in the winter. These old hearts get cold and
they freeze. The wind blows through it, and the fruit jars bust every
once in a while, and the corn and beans bust every once in
a while. Now, who in the world wouldn't want a better house
to live in? Well, God's gonna give us a better house to live
in. All right, wrestle. And not only
do we wrestle, but sometimes we wrestle in prayer. And then
let me show you another one here in verse nine, or verse 11. And
Leah said, a troop cometh, and she called his name Gad. This
is the seventh son, Gad. And you know what she called
him? He said, it's a troop. A troop or a company. She said,
that's why she called him a troop or a company. And ain't that
what we're joined to? We're joined to a troop, we're
in a company. We're joined to the company of
God's people. We're joined together as a body
of believers. We're joined to the Lord's people.
We're members one of another. And oh my, and that's what he
said, a troop's coming, a company's coming, and we're joined to a
company. And I'm gonna tell y'all, and
I've said this and I'm mentioning it today, the two most things
I enjoy in this world things that I enjoy more in this world
than anything else. And I hope you don't think I'm
being pious. But I enjoy the Gospel and preparing
for the Gospel. I enjoy the Gospel. I don't care
who's preaching it. I don't care when it's being preached. I enjoy
the Gospel. Got to have it. Got to have it.
And the second thing that I enjoy more than anything else is being
with the Lord's people. Just like we went out for lunch
today, we were sat and killing hours just talking and visiting
and enjoying. I enjoy that more than any two
things in this world. and being with the Lord's people.
Whether I'm in their house, sitting, drinking a cup of coffee, or
wherever that's at, I enjoy that, whether we're working with them
or what, that's the most, you cannot get, they have these commercials
that don't get no better than that. Well, it don't get no better
than hearing the gospel and being fellowship with the Lord's people.
It just don't get no better than that, does it? Don't for me. I love it, I just love it. And here's the eighth son, down
in verse 13. And Leah said, happy am I, for
the daughters will call me blessed. And she called his name Asher.
You know what that means in the margin? Happy. Happy. That's what we are. We're happy
people. We're joyful people. Delightful people. The gospel makes us happy. The
gospel in Christ makes us happy. See in Christ and praise in the
Lord. This is the effect of our fellowship
with the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the effect of our relationship
with these people. The effects of the gospel. It
causes us to be happy. That's why he said, Happy, happy
is the people who has the God of Jacob. Jacob, for their God. And I tell you what, Asher means
happy. And I tell you what, I get happy sometimes. I mean, I hope
I'm pretty much up a lot, but if I'm down, I hope nobody sees
it and knows it but the Lord. And maybe surely. But I like
to keep my down things to myself, don't you? When I'm out in the
world among people, I've got everything. When I'm alone with
the Lord, I don't have nothing. But oh, the gospel makes us happy.
The fellowship with the saint makes us happy. Our fellowship
with Christ makes us a happy people, a happy people. And then
here's the night, son. Here's the night, son. I don't
even know where that one's at. Oh my, let's see. Well, anyway. His name is called Issachar,
Issachar. Oh, it's down here in verse 17.
And 18, 18, 18. Leah said, God hath given me
my hire, because I have given my maid to my husband, and she
called his name Issachar. That means for hire. That means
a reward, a man for a reward. And this speaks of our service,
our relationship with Christ, being obedient children. God
gives us Christ. God gives us his blessed son.
Our Lord Jesus Christ gives us life. And because of that, we
willingly, willingly become bond slaves. We do what our master
said, like I said this morning about those men, they went out
and did just exactly what their master said. Our faith works,
but how does it work? It works by love, works by love. And so ishachar, reward, And
oh my, Christ is our reward. And we're willing bond slaves
and our faith works, it works by love. Look down verse 20,
let me give you the 10th one. Verse 20. And Leah said, God hath endued
me with a good dowry. Now will my husband dwell with
me because I have borne him six sons and she called his name
Zebulon. You know what Zebulon means?
Dwelling. Dwelling. This is a dwelling. He's going to dwell with me now
because I bore him six sons. Dwelling. You know where our
dwelling place is? Christ. Our hiding place is in
Christ. Our dwelling place is in Christ.
Our Christ is our refuge. Christ is our dwelling place.
And we abide in him. We live in him. We live by him. And I tell you not only that,
but he said that he would come and take up his abode with us.
We dwell in him and he dwells in us. And that's why we're one
with him. And guess what? He said, I go
to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place
for you, I'll come again. Because in my Father's house
are many mansions. And in the margin it says dwelling
places. And in my Father's house are
many mansions, dwelling places. And beloved, God's got us a dwelling
place. A dwelling place. And this place
is in glory. Yesterday was Herman's birthday. April the 7th. Always had something
special for him on his birthday. Now he passed, the Lord called
him home last September the 2nd. But listen, he's never have another
birthday. He's not even 90 something up
there. He's not even in his nineties.
The scripture says a man of a hundred years old shall be as an infant
of days. Be a hundred here and go up there,
be an infant of days. I ain't gonna be gray-headed
and old and wear glasses when I get there. I'm not gonna be
that way. You know why? Because I dwell
in Christ and Christ in me and he's prepared us a dwelling place. And oh my, look down verse 24. This is Rachel's only, she had
only two children from her own womb. And here in verse 24, look
what it says. And she conceived and bear a
son in verse 23 and said, God has taken away my reproach. And
she called his name Joseph and said, the Lord shall add to me
another son. Joseph means adding, adding. You know how you get in the church?
We say we're going to church, but you know the church is people.
And you know how you get in the church? God adds you to the church. He adds to the church every single
day, them who should be added. And I tell you, there's lots
of people being added all over this world. May not be none being
added right here right now. But I tell you what, there will
be some added here. I believe that with all my heart.
I believe we got too many people here, we got too many young people,
we got too many young folks, and I believe that God shall
add them to his church. I believe that. And I'll tell
you what, adds to the church. And I'll tell you something else,
when it says Joseph adds, you know what God adds? He adds all
of Christ and his doing and his dying, he adds that to our account
as if we done it ourselves. You're obedient, put Christ's
obedience to your account. Love, I'm gonna put Christ's
love to your account. Righteousness, I'm gonna put
Christ's love to your account. God adds everything that Christ
is to our account. God don't add like we do, ain't
you grateful that he doesn't? And then last of all, over here
in chapter 35, let me show you this one. This is the last one,
the Benjamin the 12th son. He's the 12th son. Chapter 35
and verse 15 through 18, let's look at this. Jacob is going
home now, going back where he come from. He's at Bethel. And
Jacob called the name of the place where God spake unto him,
Bethel. And they journeyed from Bethel, and there was but a little
way to Ephrath. And Rachel travailed, and she
had hard labor. And it came to pass, she was
in hard labor, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not, thou
shalt have this son also. And it came to pass, as her soul
was in departing, for she died, that she called his name Benoni. that is the son of my sorrow.
But his father called him Benjamin, the son of my right hand. We started out seeing the son,
and end up right where we started, seeing the son, and now we rest
and rejoice in the son of God's right hand, set at God's right
hand, with the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the first and he's the last.
Started out seeing the Son, hearing, joined to him, dwelling in him,
company of the saints, praising him. And now we end up where
we started, looking to the Son of God. My bit, sit here, my
son, till I make you enemy, she puts to him. After he by himself
purged our sins, he sat down. We're at on the right hand of
the throne of God. You know what right hand means?
First of all, It's the position of privilege. Privilege. Everybody
don't get to be on the right hand. Secondly, it's the position
of power and authority. God vested everything in that
man, his right hand. Huh? Seeing the sun and end up
seeing the sun and end up with looking to the sun of his right
hand. Told you that's how souls converted. Seeing the sun and
all the things that happened and then you end up Looking at
the sun, sitting at the right hand of God. Oh, I tell you,
names mean something, don't it? Y'all wanna know what my name
means? I'm not gonna tell you, I'd be
embarrassed. But I love you, we've had a good
day, and I appreciate you very much. Our Father, in the precious,
holy, glorious name of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, how we
bow our hearts before you, to praise you. Oh, Lord, we do praise
you. You're so gracious to us, so
bless us so abundantly together. And Lord, it's delightful. Oh,
how delightful it is to come in the company of the saints
of God. Oh, what a blessing. God bless and strengthen and
encourage the dear saints here. Ever home, ever heart. Those
who are not with us through sickness, I pray your great blessings upon
them. And Lord, as you people leave and leave tonight, see
them safely home, see them safely to their jobs and safely home.
Enable us to come and worship again. We ask these things in
Christ our Lord's name. Amen. Amen.