If you wish to follow along in
your Bibles turn to Genesis chapter 48 Genesis chapter 48 What I will deal with is Jacob's
last words It's the last things that Jacob spoke before he gathered
up his feet into his bed, shut his eyes, and died. I'd like
to be able to do that myself, but I don't know whether I'll
be allowed to do that or not. But I'm not gonna read all of
his words. I will just concentrate on three main verses. Genesis chapter 48, verse 15. This is speaking of Jacob. And
notice, although I'm not gonna deal with this, he's blessing
Joseph's sons. He is ready to give the blessings
to Joseph's sons, but it says, and he blessed Joseph. Let me
tell you something, when God Almighty blesses your children,
that's a blessing to you. I just like that. And he blessed
Joseph and said, am I hearing, what am I hearing? And he blessed Joseph and 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 lands. and let my name be named on them,
and the name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, and let them grow
unto a multitude in the midst of the earth. And then the account
continues on and Jacob calls in the rest of his sons. And
hear what he says concerning one son, Genesis 49 and verse
10. The scepter shall not depart
from Judah. Now think about this statement.
Here is a man who lived hundreds of years before God gave the
law to Moses on Sinai. But this man was not ignorant.
This was not some rash heathen anymore, at least. The scepter
shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver. Jacob understood
God had his law. The scepter shall not depart
from Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh
come. And Shiloh is not a condition
nor is Shiloh a place. Although Shiloh can be a condition
and a place. but here he's not dealing with
condition and place, per se. Until Shiloh come, and unto him,
that is Shiloh, and unto him shall the gathering of the people
be. As I've already said, my text
is a part of Jacob's last words. Now we know, in general, when
someone is dying, We like to hear what they have to say in
their dying days. But how much more so with a man
like this? How much more so with a believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ? Consider, in his dying hour,
and this is going to be my subject and my title, in his dying hour,
Jacob worshiped God the Messiah. Do you hear what I said? In his
dying hour, Jacob worshiped God the Messiah. Concerning worship, there is
no doubt, because this is not my take on it. You go back to
Hebrews chapter 11, verse 21, and read the inspired account
yourself. It says, Jacob, when he was blessing
the sons of Joseph, leaned upon his staff, worshiping. So this is not Walter's take.
This is what God says. You see, Jacob's words prove
his worship was God the Messiah. We know he was worshiping, but
the question is, the pertinent thing is, who was he worshiping? Now think about it. Just as a
brief example, Cain and Abel both worshiped God. Both were worshiping the correct
God. But both were not worshiping
God correctly. So if you got the wrong God,
you're in trouble. If you got the wrong kind of
worship, you're in trouble. And that's just the way it is.
We are not, now I'm not gonna be able to say it, Joe, ecumenical. We don't wish for all of humanity
without exception to get along because we know God hadn't ordained
it so. And two, just two, let alone
three, four, on up to hundreds of thousands. Two cannot. This is God's take on it, not
mine. Two cannot walk together. Oh, we can put on a facade. And
I say that of myself. We can put on a facade, but two
cannot walk together except they be agreed. And I like what Henry
Mahan said. The first person you better be
agreeing with is God. Because if you and I agree with
one another, but we disagree with God, we're both in trouble.
We're both in trouble. But let me just give you four
proofs that Jacob worshiped God the Messiah. Number one, Jacob
worshiped. We know that's true, but Jacob
worshiped. But notice how Jacob begins. He said, I worship God, I worship
a particular God, and this particular God is my redeeming angel. Isn't
that what he said? And he blessed Joseph and said,
before God, okay? Before God, but not just any
God. Now this may seem to us and some
others so simple, so such a default, but in our day and age, most
people think as long as you worship a God, a supreme being, a creator,
that that somehow makes you a believer or a Christian or a believer
in the Bible, and it's just not so. before God, before whom my
fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk. He's saying that God. That God. Somebody says, people
like you are too picky. No, I'm not the picky one, God's
the picky one. I'm just declaring what God says
about himself. and he blessed Joseph and said,
God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which
fed me all my life long and to this day, even when I was in
rebellion against him. He was feeding me. He was feeding
me. And when he converted me, he
still fed me. And when I, although he doesn't say I walked before
God, ever notice that? He talks about his father and
grandfather walking before God, but he walked before God, but
he wasn't gonna talk about himself walking before God. Ever notice
that? Kind of like James, he said, I'll show you my faith
by my works. And James is right, but did he? Did he point to one
of his works? No, sir, he pointed to somebody
else's works, rather than bringing himself into the spotlight. And
that's the way God's people know we ought to conduct ourselves. We blessed him, fed me all my
life long unto this day, my dying day. But look, the angel, it
didn't say and the angel, the angel, this is the still mason,
the same God. The same God. The angel which
redeemed me, and that's a beautiful word. The angel which redeemed
me from all evil, Let that be the God that blesses these boys.
Now that's saying something right there. It's saying something
right there. You see, God had revealed himself
to Jacob as Jacob's redeeming angel. In other words, this is what
the Words meant, if he was speaking Hebrew, whatever the language
was he was speaking, this is what the word means, so he knew
what he was saying. This is one thing I'm trying
to point out. Jacob was not just a worshiper of God on spurts
and well, he's up there somewhere and I don't know much about him.
This man knew God. He knew more about God than most
folks who claim to know God know today. Sadly to say, sad to say. Listen to this, here's what he's
saying. My next of kin who was dispatched to ransom me. That's
what those two words mean. Angel and redeemed. The angel
which redeemed me. My next of kin, I can see him
remembering his daddy Isaac. Maybe his grandpa Abraham. talking
about things that their fathers had passed on to them. There
is a coming seed of the woman. A male child. Because it calls
him he. The one who would crush, and
that's the real meaning, crush the serpent's head. And I can
see that's the one I know. That's the one I know. You see,
he's saying, this is what he said, my next of kin who was
dispatched, that's what the angel, the word angel there means, to
be deputized to ransom me. What is that? To redeem from
all evil, all evil. Outward assaults, no doubt about
it. I mean, his daddy-in-law just drug him on and drug him
on. And he drug him on because he
felt like Jacob was his lucky rabbit's foot. And in all practical
purposes from the human standpoint, he was Laban's lucky rabbit's
foot. But God was in this deal not
for Laban's benefit per se, though he did benefit Laban, but for
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. All outward
evil, yes, but inward corruption also You see If God redeems me
from all outward trouble out here and doesn't redeem me from
the trouble the evil that's in here That out here redemption
is but temporary Thousands of people think they're okay in
God's sight because he saves them out of calamities and God
saves men and women out of calamities all the time. Now others He does
not save out of calamity, but that's not the point. Even if
all the outward calamities seem to prevail me, if God's delivered
me from the evil corruption that's down in here, I'm okay. That's what it's all about. If
God forgives me of my sin, I'm okay. I'm okay. If I lose everything tomorrow,
and I gather up my feet in my bed as a pauper. If God's forgiven
me of my sin, Jack Meadows, I'm okay. And that's
really all I need. And do you hear what I'm saying?
I don't always feel this way, but I know this way is the truth.
If that's all I have is forgiveness of sin, deliverance, redemption
from my inner corruption, that's all I need. But I've got to have
this. That's what Lot thought. And
God gave it to him. And look where we read of Lot.
Look where we read of Lot. Frightening. You know, men brag
about man's choices, and we make choices. You see, we don't believe
in free will, but we're not saying man doesn't have a will. We're
just saying man's will is corrupt. It's motivated by his evil, wicked,
corrupt heart. And sometimes that evil, wicked,
corrupt heart can transform itself in outward things and look very
moral and upstanding, but inside it's filled with me, me, me,
me. And that's what Lot was thinking
about when he seen them well-watered plains. Now that's Sodom down
there, and that's Gomorrah, but God's with me. And was God with
him? Yes, God was with him. And God
delivered him from his poor choices. And what did he do? He still
made more poor choices. I wanna be a lot, but I don't
wanna be a lot. Have you ever been there? You
ever been there? Because the New Testament calls
him a righteous man who had a righteous soul. I asked some men about
that the other day. They were mentioning Lot to me.
And I said, you know what that book says about Lot, don't you?
And they were talking about his last end in that cave. I said,
you know what the New Testament says about him, don't you? He
was a righteous man with a righteous soul. I said, now I understand
that. Y'all go figure what that means. All of them left but one. He said, Mr. Pendleton, what's
that mean? Who knows? So I told him what it meant.
Think about it. My next of kin. He's talking
about God. Isn't that something? He's talking
about the God of his father Abraham and Isaac. The God who created
the universe. My next of kin dispatched to
ransom me from all evil. How does he do this? First of
all, by vital union, my next of kin. You see, this is not
about making some profession, walking some aisle, praying some
prayer. This is about coming into a living,
vital union with Jesus Christ by a God-given faith to where
he is realized as my next of kin. This kind of worship produces
something, and here's my second point. This kind of worship produces
something. Jacob's particular conduct. Now you heard what I said, didn't
you? I said Jacob's particular conduct. He talked about when
he worshiped God. Remember, he's worshiping God.
And he's worshiping God who is his redeeming angel, right? But he talks about walking before
this God. Now he never uses himself as
the example. Remember that, I've already mentioned
that. He never uses himself as the example, but Jacob knows
when you know this God, your walk is changed. Haven't you
experienced that? God touched his hip. I know something
a little bit about that. My hip can give out in a heartbeat
and I think I'm going down. It says that basically after
he met God, or more appropriately, after God met him. God touched
the hollow of his thigh and he wasn't the same after that. Every time he walked, he walked
with a limp. Which was a reminder of that
time when God Almighty crossed his path. I'm saying, folks, you don't
just wake up one morning and believe in Jesus Christ. God
Almighty will cross your path. And he'll cross your path with
the preaching of the gospel, and the preaching of that gospel
will conquer your heart, mind, and soul, or you don't know God
yet, I don't care how much you believe in Jesus Christ. The
devils believe, and James doesn't say it this way, but they believe
in Jesus Christ. They know who he is. and they
tremble. I'm saying when God Almighty
saves a man or saves a woman, he does it a particular way.
And you're gonna hear the word of God proclaimed. It may not
be by a preacher standing behind some podium, but you're gonna
hear the word of God. You're gonna hear Christ declared,
and that message is gonna conquer your heart, and you'll walk with
a limp the rest of your life. Look at it. Jacob's worship wrought,
number one, grateful. contentment, and I put it that
way for a reason. I just was blessed when David
was praying and talked about, help us to be grateful. Grateful,
look at it. The God which fed me all my life
long, even when I was in rebellion, he was feeding me and taking
care of me when I had his name in my teeth and my fist in his
face, still feeding me. Still feeding me. Great, but
it's grateful contentment. He gave me food. Now I first
read that, I thought well maybe Jacob's worried about his belly.
We could say that. We would be wrong in this case.
Many people have a faked contentment because God gives them plenty
to eat. Clothes on their back, roof over their head. And they
give out lip service to God until those things begin to fade away.
Until those things begin to fade away. But here is Jacob in his
dying hours. He said, God fed me all my life
right up till now. And he knows I don't need another
morsel of bread. I'm heading out of here. But
God did it. Grateful contentment now remember
Christ's words. What is true grateful contentment?
If you got food in your belly and clothes on your back be content
with that But things are better over there, maybe maybe not Maybe
maybe not Paul put it this way godliness is You know what that
is? It's worshiping Christ. That's
what true godliness is. It's worshiping Christ. It's
honoring Christ for who he is. It's telling the truth about
Jesus Christ in spite of your failures and faults. It's about
him being the message and not you. That's real godliness. Most
people think godliness is I don't smoke cigarettes. Now don't they? or a lot of folks, I should say.
Most folks think godliness is I don't go to anything higher
than an R-rated movie show. Well, nowadays, the G-rates are
R for me in my day. You understand? That has nothing
to do with godliness. That's a human morality, maybe.
But human morality is like water. It always seeks its own level.
Morality changes from generation to generation. There are things
that today are considered completely moral. In my day and age, you
didn't even mention it. I mean, we know that changed.
We're not talking about morality. Now, you wanna talk about righteousness?
God's law is righteousness. Look at that. But here, grateful
contentment. He's had to move out of the Promised
Land down into Egypt. But bless God, look what he's
got in Egypt. Goshen. Joseph. Manasseh and Ephraim. He never thought he'd see that,
Joe. Huh? He never thought he'd see that,
did he? As far as he knew, Joseph is gone! And here he is, and
he's got two boys. He's got all of his other sons
around him. And he's able to even gather a man to give him
his last words. Oh, to be able to preach your
own funeral. Pretty good funeral he preached
for himself, wasn't it? Pretty good funeral preaching. But think
about this. Here's Jacob's particular kind
of worship, this particular kind of conduct, it wasn't sporadic.
Now I know, sometimes we feel like our worship is sporadic
because we still have unbelief in us. But think about it. Remember,
our unbelief never worships God. And our belief never doesn't
worship God. So I am both worshiping God and
not worshiping God all the time at the same time. Yes or no? Yes or no? If you know God, you
know that's the truth. Somebody said, well, you're just
giving men out. They don't need an out. You're
giving men license to sin. You don't have to give them a
license to sin. We drink up iniquity like water. It's that easy. Look,
that's how easy it is for us. Faith always worships Christ.
Always does. Unbelief never, ever, ever does. The problem is sometimes we think
our unbeliefs are faith and sometimes we think our faiths are unbelief.
That's what it sometimes boils down to. It wasn't sporadic,
it wasn't ethereal. A lot of people's worship of
God is ethereal. It doesn't affect them in here,
it's all out there in the ether. Let me tell you, bless God, if
it don't change the way you think and the way you live, then you
never met God. It's just, you don't meet this
God, and it not change your life. If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature. Now I know some people blow that
way out of proportion, but it's still true. I am everything I
used to be before God saved me. But bless God, when he did save
me, there's something there that was not there before. And it
believes God and worships God. It wasn't sporadic, it wasn't
ethereal, and it wasn't just their mere dogma. Okay, we believe,
daddy believed this, mommy believed this, I believe this. Some of you been there. So and
so believed this, I was raised, I believe this! But that's not
what it's about. He said my daddy and my granddaddy
walked, walked. That's talking about a way of
life. It wasn't sporadic or ethereal or just a dogma. They walked
before this God. When they went to sleep, it was
still before God. Still before God. You see, faith
and walk go hand in hand. God doesn't justify anybody nor
reconcile anybody, no man or woman, by their walk. but bless
God when he does justify you in your experience by faith.
Through the gospel preaching and the power of the spirit of
God, bless God you will start to walk differently. I wish I could say the words,
but there was an individual, more than one individual, but
Piddy and I were talking to him and went to visit them at their
home. And the one lady was talking about someone she'd worked with
years before. He was spouting on and on about free willism.
And she was then telling us about what she told him, and she got
very angry. And I guess she was letting us
know this is the way she was when she talked to this fella.
And she began to spout off a list, Joe, of curse words. I don't
believe that blankety blankety blank, and that's what I told
him. And I'm thinking, that is not worshiping Christ. This is a sovereign grace person. Really? Our Lord didn't even
respond that way to the Pharisees. That's nothing but pride of knowledge
puffed up. That's not limping. Oh God, show
him mercy. Listen, don't be angry that this
friend of yours, this acquaintance of yours over here believes in
free will. So did you one day. You walked in it. You walk as
though you're God even if you didn't know the phrase free will.
Free will is nothing more than self will disguised in philosophical
language. What we have is will but it is
self. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man boast. But let me tell you, when God
Almighty creates you in Christ Jesus, you're gonna start walking
in good works. And somebody says, well, it says
we should. No, that's an old English should. It says before
ordained that we should. Well, God gives us the privilege
of walking in good works. We don't have to work them up.
He's already ordained them for him. Somebody says, what are
they? Don't worry about it, they'll come. Now remember, the people, when
the great horde stands before Christ on that last day, sheep
and goats, right and left, who is it that brags about what they
did? The goats. The sheep said, we don't remember
doing any of that. Christ said, you did all this. They said,
we don't remember doing that. So don't try to figure out what
the good works are, just believe God. And if you truly believe
God, bless God, they'll come when they're supposed to come.
One old preacher said one time, there's only one thing actually
called a good work. Jesus Christ called a person's
effort good work. You know what that was? All the
money she'd made from laying on her back with men. She had
bought this alabaster box of ointment, very precious. She
earned it on her back, folks. She brought that into Christ
one day. and she broke that thing open and anointed him, and then
got down and wept upon his feet with her tears. And he said,
some of the disciples said, what a waste. He said, you let her
alone. Now I'm paraphrasing, you let
her alone. This woman hath performed a good work, and here's up on
me. Up on me. Here's an old whore. and the whore went down to her
house justified. Do you hear me? And I guarantee
you her life was different after that day. I guarantee it was
different. I guarantee you that the whoring
took on a new light. Don't you think so? You say,
well, it didn't for me. Well, then you don't know what
you're talking about. Because Abraham and Isaac and Jacob,
although Jacob wouldn't mention of himself, they walked. They
walked. before God. God's word, even
before there was God's word given to man, was in their heart and
mind, was it not? They had the Bible in here, Joe,
before it was ever inspired to be written and paged and passed
out out here. I got to move along. Number three,
Jacob's worship acknowledged the lawgiver and his answer to
the law. Even before the law even came
along. How's that so? We know how so, God Almighty
has written the law in the heart of every man and woman ever born
upon the face of this earth. We may not know the particulars
of this is right, this is wrong, but we know there is right and
there is wrong. As I've given the illustration,
some people may like it, some may not. But bless God, even
if you're a cannibal, you don't eat grandma when you get hungry.
You eat your enemies. You don't just decide I'm gonna
eat my husband tonight for supper, because I feel a little grumble
in my gut. You understand that in every
human being, God has placed his law within them, and then here's
what they do in their unregenerate state. They either accuse or
eschews one another. In your regenerate state, you
know what you do? You accuse yourself. You accuse yourself. Look at Jacob's worship. Chapter
49, verse 10, the scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his
feet until tranquility comes. In tranquility, Jacob says, is
a person. Tranquility is a person, now
think about it. Tranquility would not truly be tranquility had
you not known turmoil first. If tranquility were the default,
I'm gonna start using that word a lot more because when I use
that word, people say, oh, I know what you're talking about. Computers
and all, anyway, don't matter. Not too many people got that
one, did they? You see, tranquility's not the default. Turmoil's the
default. Ask Jacob. Look at your own life. You don't have to even look at
me. Look at me if you want, but look at your own life. Turmoil! Turmoil! Even the best times,
Joe, still got turmoil. You're wondering if it's gonna
last. You're wondering if it's even real. Turmoil. Think about it. Jacob perceived
the fact of the law before the law was ever given. Did he not? You see, the law didn't begin
to exist on Sinai. That's just when God gave it
through Moses. The law has existed as long as
God has existed because the law come from God. He's the law giver. Oh, but here's a good thing for
a sinner. My judge is also my next of kin. You hear me? The judge of all
the earth, he's my next of kin. And he's on my side. Somebody
else, I don't like that. That's tough. I'm saying that's
tough. Well, that's just the way it
is. The judge that sits on the bench, he my daddy. Somebody says again, I don't
like that. That's just tough, that's the truth. Jacob perceived
the fact of the law before the law was even given. Jacob also
perceived that the law demands, demand the necessity of tranquility
coming. Even before he knew the particulars
of what the law was. He knew his life was turmoil,
sin, guilt, shame, And he looks at his boys and
he says, I passed that right down to him. Didn't he? Especially
now, when he sees what all's taking place. Turmoil! Disaster! Oh, but bless God,
tranquility is coming. And he's got a name. You see,
Jacob knew Jesus of Nazareth. Did you know that? Yeah, Jacob
knew Jesus of Nazareth. Now he may not have knew him
by the name Jesus of Nazareth, but bless God, he knew Jesus
of Nazareth. Now think about it. In time,
in his condescension, Jesus Christ was Jesus of Nazareth before
he was the lamb killed on that cross, slain on that tree, was
he not? In time. But the book tells me
he's the lamb and as far as the mind and purpose of God, he's
the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. So Joe, that means
he was Jesus of Nazareth back then. Was he not? You don't think God already knew
exactly who he was? This is my son, this day have
I begotten thee in an eternal begetting. There's Jesus of Nazareth
right there. And what do we do? We turn around
like the ones that, can you think a good thing come out of Nazareth?
Oh yeah, one good thing. And his name is Shiloh, Shiloh. You see, the law is this. And
any man that God's ever opened, woman, that God's opened your
eyes and your hearing, your understanding, you know that the law, when you
read about the law, when you say, when you read God's law
and it says thou shalt not, you know I have. The law is not my standard of
life. The law cries out to me, dead,
dead, dead. That's all you got is dead. The law is a glorious, this is
the book, a glorious condemnation of death. The law is not your
standard. The law judges you and says you're
condemned. But remember, If your daddy's the judge, and your daddy's God, he knows
how to satisfy his holy law. He'll still deliver you from
your condemnation. Does he not? Anita, how's through? Shallow. him who died in our
stead. He honored the law in both its
positive and negative aspects. He did what it said you ought
to do. He didn't do what it says you ought not do. Completely. And then he died under its curse.
To suffer the judgment that's due his kinfolk. That's the gospel. That's the gospel, and if that
don't grip your heart and change the way you live and think and
breathe in this world, then you ain't really still heard it. Oh, but there's a glory here.
Jacob's God is both the lawgiver and the law satisfier and the
tranquility all wrapped up in one. Hmm. Joe read it so I don't even have
to. I thought he was gonna preach half my message. Jesus Christ
came into this world and made peace. Made peace, Ephesians
2, 11 through 18, Joe read almost all of it. He made peace between
Jew and Gentile, between Jew and Gentile and God. And he reconciled
both, that's Jew and Gentile, that he brought in and made one
new man, making peace. And he reconciled them to God.
And then he preached peace. Now folks, that's the way the
gospel's preached. It's not Jesus tried to do something. Now if
you'll do this, it'll work. No, he accomplished something.
He made peace. Now we are proclaiming, peace
is made. Do you believe him? Do you believe
him? You know what believing is? It's
submitting to him. Isn't that what Paul says in
Romans 10? He says, my kids, but I love them. My prayer to
God is for Israel, they might be saved. I ain't got a zeal.
But that zeal's misguided. Way misguided. They've not what? Submitted themselves unto the
righteousness of God. Well, that means they haven't
kept the law. Of course they hadn't kept the
law. That ain't what it meant. He said, you know what? Christ
is the end of the law for us. He is God. Submitting to God
is to believe God. To believe God is to submit to
God. God said, no, I built a boat. Flood's coming. I believe you,
God, but let me just, I wanna go fishing first down at the
pond. See, that's not the way faith operates. You see, true
faith. Look at Hebrews 11. By faith,
so and so, all what? Did something. Now I know what's
really good staunch Calvinist not supposed to talk about doing.
Well I guess I'm not a good staunch Calvinist. I believe the gospel
of Jesus Christ. Bless God, if he gives you faith
to believe him, then you're gonna not just believe in him, you're
going to believe him. If he says walk this way, you're
gonna start trying to walk that way. Now you'll limp. And you'll fall. But if you're
in him, you will not be utterly cast down because when you fall,
all that walking, you're walking in his hand. And when you fall,
you don't fall out, you fall right there. That's what Psalm
says. You fall right in his hand. Yeah,
you fall! It's a real fall. But bless God, you only fall
in his hand. And he's still holding you, Mason. He's still holding
you. Number four. I want you to hear
the pinnacle of it now. Here's the hallmark of true God,
Messiah, God, Christ worship. And unto him. You see it? And unto him shall the gathering
of the people be. Quickly, unto him. God's people
gather unto Christ, not social issues. Although we may be concerned
about many social issues, but worshiping God is not getting
involved in social issues. It is gathering to Christ. It's not about moral issues.
Yes, abortion is wrong, but we say it and declare it from God's
word and then pass on and say Christ is the only hope for that. Now let me just give you a twist,
because I'm that kind of preacher. I like to throw hairs in the
soup when somebody's really just eaten down. Oh, I like that.
Most people believe that babies who die in infancy go to heaven,
don't they? Yes or no? Yes, they do. So then what's so wrong with
abortion? At least from the baby's standpoint. Now just sit and gnaw on that
for a while. Pick that hair out of your teeth. People don't want to deal with
reality. We got our talking points. We're really moral. I do this,
I don't do that. But let me tell you, we're not
saying that these things are okay. You hear what I'm saying? I'm saying Christ is the only
answer. And since he's the only answer, then he's the thing I
need to be preaching. The one I need to be preaching all the
time, all the time, all the time. Because you can go from a drunk
to the most sober person that ever walked and still die under
the judgment of God Almighty. And I'm not encouraging you to
become a drunk by any means, but that's just a fact. There
gonna be many sober people in hell and many people who were
drunks gonna be in glory. unto him, not human altars, not
creeds. We've had people come here, and
that I've looked at some of their worship, it's always about creed.
They love this creed, they love that creed. They like this reformer,
they like this reformer. Christ is the message. Unto Shiloh
shall the gathering of the people be. You see it? Not denominations,
not denominations. See, if you miss him, you missed
it all, no matter how much Bible you know. and can quote, and
adhere to, and walk according to. People can be at unity and be
dead wrong unified together. But here's another thing, shall
the gathering of the people be? Two things, quickly. Gathering,
the way this is worded, by Jacob. Jacob knew what he was saying.
Jacob was an old, good, solid, free grace man. I know he was. That was his only hope. He did
not say, and unto him shall the people gather. Now they shall,
but that's not the way he said it, is it? And unto him shall
the gathering of the people be. Jacob knew this is God's work.
If God don't do this for you, it won't get done. I like that. Old Jacob knew what he was talking
about, didn't he? But here's why he knew what he
was talking about. Because he knew who he was talking about.
That's why. Here's the second thing. Gathering
reveals this. If you're being gathered, then that means you're
leaving something else. Yes or no? That's a default, folks. If you're
being gathered, he's gathering you away from something else. That's a default. I'm here to
declare this, Christ competes with nothing or no one. I've
preached this before. All God's men keep preaching
this over, nothing competes with Christ. And if you turn back
sometime and read, I'm not gonna do it this morning. I've went
on pretty long already. Matthew 10, verses 28 through
42. Christ basically says this. If your daddy means more to you
than me, you don't know me. If your wife means more to you
than I do, you don't know me. If you deny me before men, I'll
deny you before my father. Now that's what he said. That
ain't Walter trying to push works into it. That's what Christ said. I'm here to preach what he said.
I'll let God make it all fit together. He said if you love yourself
more than me, You're not worthy of me. And that worthy, you know
what it means to be worthy of Christ? God, here's my problem. God, be merciful
to me, the sinner. I'm not worried about everybody
else. I'm not even gonna criticize that Pharisee who's sitting there
criticizing me. He could have said, well, at least I ain't
like the Pharisee. He would have been a Pharisee in his own right.
Yes or no? be merciful to me, the sinner. When I look at Joseph, my question
I ask myself is, is that me? Is that me? I pray God it is. Jack, I pray God I'm just, I
said Joseph, Jacob I think. I say Joseph, I pray God I'm
just like Jacob. All these warts and faults and
failures, yes. But you'll never get away from
those in this life. is shallow, is him who is tranquility the
interest of your life? Is that gonna mean so much to
you in all of your life? That when you come down to die,
that's how much interest you still have in it. Father, we thank you for the
food that's been prepared, we thank you for this day, for our
gathering together and hearing of the gospel preached. Lord,
bless us as we sing one more song to your praise and honor,
and then may we fellowship and socialize together in Christ's
name, amen. Let's stand and sing number 180,
and then we will, God willing, we will eat.