All right, now we'll be coming
back to the book of Genesis quite a bit this morning. Genesis 48
and around there, so if you want to keep your finger there and
keep it open so you'll have to hunt for it. But my text is in
Hebrews 11. One verse in this listing of
of sinners saved by grace in the Old Testament, believers.
And that text is verse 21 of Hebrews chapter 11, if you want
to turn there with me. And it says here in verse 21,
by faith, Jacob, when he was a dying, this is Jacob's death,
blessed both the sons of Joseph, and worshipped, leaning upon
the top of his staff." Now, we've been going through the book of
Hebrews, chapter 11, and I've made a point to emphasize that
this word faith here is a reference to the very promise of God. Mainly as the promises of God,
the promise of God is connected with the promise of Christ. The promise of salvation by his
grace through Christ. So that whatever specific promise
can be referred to here, it's only relevant to the book of
Hebrews here and us today as it is fulfilled in Christ. So
we know that faith has a foundation, and that's the Word of God. When
it says here, by faith Jacob, that is based upon God making
a promise to Jacob. Just like with Abel, God made
a promise to Abel. It's the gospel promise, salvation
conditioned on Christ to come. who would fulfill all righteousness
for Abel. And you go right on down. Abel,
Enoch, Noah, Abraham. He mentioned Isaac back in verse
20. By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob
and Esau concerning things to come. Jacob, the things to come,
had to do with the coming of Christ. Now there were other
things you can talk about, but that's the main issue. So faith
has a foundation. The Word of God. Faith is not
just wishful thinking. Faith is not just hoping something
against hope. You see, the hope of the gospel
is the certain expectation of something that God has promised. Because God is faithful to his
promises. And it's always based on a just
ground. So we have to see this too. Faith has a proper object. And the object here in the context
of Hebrews 11 is Christ. Let me show you that. Look at
Hebrews 12, in verse 1. He says, for this reason, that's
what wherefore means, seeing we also are compassed, surrounded
by a great, so great cloud of witnesses. That's all these that
he mentioned in Hebrews 11. Let us lay aside every weight,
every burden, and the sin which doth so easily beset us. Now
what is that sin? It's doubt, unbelief. That's
what it is. So I've heard preachers preach
on this and they'll talk about now, is there a specific sin
in your life that you really have to get rid of, you know,
all that. Keep it in the context, folks. He's talking about unbelief.
My former pastor used to say that a believer is not in a state
of unbelief, but there's still unbelief there within him because
of the sins of the flesh. So lay aside the sin which does
so easily beset us, let us run with patience, that's endurance,
the race that is set before us. And how do we run? How did Abel
run? How did Enoch run? How did Noah
and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob run? Look at verse two, looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. who for the joy
that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame,
and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God, our
intercessor, the one who accomplished my redemption, the one who fulfilled
all righteousness in which I stand before God, his righteousness
imputed, I'm justified in Christ, and the one who called me into
the kingdom by the power of the Spirit, And now who stands for
me, seated at the right hand of the Father, ever living to
make intercession for me? I look to him. That's faith's
object. Now faith means nothing without
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Isn't
that right? I mean, you can have faith in your faith, you can
have faith in your church, you can have faith in your preacher,
nothing. It's all no good. Only faith
in Christ. And then faith has evidences,
and we've talked about that in each one. Now the title of this
message is Bearing the Name of Jacob. That's the title of it.
Bearing the Name of Jacob. Did you know that one of the
most common ways that God refers to himself in the Old Testament
is the God of Jacob? He's the God of Jacob. Oh yeah,
he says he's the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But sometimes
just the God of Jacob. His people are often identified
as sons of Jacob. One of my favorite verses is
Malachi chapter 3 and verse 6, where the Lord says, I am the
Lord, I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Do you know if you're a believer,
you're a son of Jacob? If you're a believer, you're
a child of Abraham and Isaac, the promise. But mainly, what
does that mean? It means you're a child of God.
Sinner saved by grace. Now, I love the name Jacob. But if there's any Jacobs here,
don't get offended. In the Hebrew, the name means
supplanter. That's what it means. That's
the name of his depravity, isn't it? That's the name of his state
as a fallen son or daughter of Adam. And so his name is Jacob. But
the Bible says, we read in Psalm 77 and verse 15, thou hast with
thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob. And then there
in that verse, he mentions the sons of Joseph too. That's what
we're dealing with here. In other words, by God's grace
in the Lord Jesus Christ, he saves Jacobs like me. I started to name, you know,
Mark said that sometimes they call him Jacob, sometimes Israel.
What's his name? It's both. You know what my name
is? Jacob Israel. You know what Israel means, don't
you? It means one who has prevailed
with God. How does a Jacob, a sinner like
me, prevail with God? How do we, you know, people talk
today, we got to get the victory. What are they talking about?
Well, you got to quit smoking, quit drinking, quit... That'll
give you no victory with God. Well, preacher, you say we're
not supposed to... Listen, stop smoking, stop drinking, all that
stuff, alright. But that's not how you gain the
victory with God. That's not how you prevail with God. You
know how you prevail with God? You plead, you come to God as
a sinner seeking mercy, pleading Christ. That's how you prevail
with God. That's why Jacob's name was changed
to Israel. Remember that was in what, Genesis
32, I think it is, when he wrestled with the angel, which was a pre-incarnate
appearance of Christ. Therefore, you sons of Jacob.
The Bible says in Psalm 135 in verse 4 that God hath chosen
Jacob unto himself and Israel for his peculiar treasure, his
special treasure. That's what he calls his people,
his elect. His special treasure. Now, we
certainly don't think of ourselves as a treasure when we look at
ourselves and take inventory, do we? But you know why they're
a special treasure of God? Because their salvation glorifies
God. Their salvation sets God apart
like no other. There's no God like our God.
Well, we could go on and on and on talking about the scriptures
that talk about Jacob. But let me tell you something
about the God of Jacob. Look at Romans chapter 9. This
is something you're very familiar with. Romans chapter 9. Now think
about the God of Jacob. Let me give you these three things
and then I want to go back to this passage one more time in
Hebrews 11. First of all, the God of Jacob
is the God of unconditional electing love to his people. That's what
the Bible teaches. Romans 9 and verse 13, look at
it. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. Now we've explained that. That's God's unconditional electing
love. When I was driving up to Kentucky
last week, I got to searching around on the radio, and I come
to this program called Bible Answers. I thought, well, I'll
listen in for a little bit. A lady called in and asked this
preacher, I don't know his name, somewhere up in North Georgia.
She said, I've got a question about Romans 9. He said, well,
what is it? She said, it's this God-loving
Jacob and hating Esau thing. He said, she said, what does
that mean? And I probably could tell you what she had in mind.
You know, most people, they go to that verse, they say, well,
that doesn't seem fair. How could God hate Esau? Well,
that's not the issue, folks. We should readily be able to
understand how God could hate Esau. Because he's a sinner. Here's the issue, how could God
love Jacob? And of course, when you go back
and read their biographies in the Old Testament, Genesis, Esau
comes out smelling a lot better than Jacob. You daddies, Esau was the son
you'd love to have. Jacob was the mama's boy. That's
right. He was the conniver, the supplanter.
He was a fox, like that. So understand that. But that's
what she asked. She said, well, here's the Bible
answer, man. He said, well, you've got to
go back to the Old Testament and the book of Malachi. That's
quoted from Malachi. And what Malachi the prophet
is doing, he's pronouncing judgment against the Edomites, the E-D-O-M-ites. Now, the Edomites were descendants
of Esau. And he said the reason, this
Bible Answer Man says, he said the reason that God was pronouncing
God's judgment and wrath upon the Edomites is because of their
sin. Well, that's right. But he said,
but God professed his love to Israel, to the Jacobs, because
of their obedience. Well, first of all, in here in
Romans 9, it says this in verse 11, look at it. For the children
being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God, according to election, might stand not of
works, but of him that calleth." In other words, it had nothing
to do with them doing good or evil. In fact, it goes on, the
point of the whole thing is this. He says in verse 16, so then
it's not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy. Salvation is totally pure, sovereign,
electing love and mercy. No other reason. Nothing in the
objects of God's love to deserve it. But you remember the guy
said, well, you've got to go back to the book of Malachi,
and God's pronouncing his love upon Israel because of their
obedience. And here's the first question I'd love to have been
there to ask him. Have you ever read the book of Malachi? If you go back and read the book
of Malachi, there is nothing in that book about Israel's obedience. But there's a lot about Israel's
unbelief, idolatry, and rebellion. Remember the passage where he
talks about how they were bringing sacrifices, but instead of bringing
the spotless lambs, they were bringing lame and blind? That's
unbelief. They were a rebellious people.
There's nothing in the book of Malachi said about the nation
Israel to deserve God's love. And all that lady had to do was
just go read the book of Malachi. But you see, people are so proud
and self-righteous, all of us by nature, that we just have
to believe that if God loves me, it's because I deserve it,
either just in some kind of innate humanity that God created me
so or I've done something, but it's not the case. The God of
Jacob is a God, the only God, of unconditional, unmerited,
unearned, electing love. Herein is love. And now his love
has a just ground. Herein is love. Not that we love
God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation
for the sin-bearing sacrifice who satisfied justice. God's
love is a just love. Secondly, the God of Jacob is
the God who saves sinners by free, sovereign, powerful grace
through the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, verse 16 of Romans 9,
it's not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy. Jacob's an example of that. That's
why if we're saved, we're saved the same way. That's why we're
Jacob's in our character, in our nature. Salvation is not conditioned
on sinners. If it were, we'd all be damned.
That's what the Bible teaches. Simple as that. You put it on
us, whether it's faith, or faith plus repentance, or faith plus
repentance plus perseverance, or faith plus repentance plus
perseverance plus obedience, dedication, you put it on us,
we'll be damned. That's what the scripture says.
When the Holy Spirit brings a sinner to know and understand and believe
that, that's called conviction, where that sinner takes sides
with God against himself. Lord, Lord, David wrote. If thou, Lord, shouldest mark
iniquities, who would stand? Do you know something? That doesn't
just refer to my past. That refers to me right now.
If God would charge me with sin, and I have sin, still sin, if
God were to impute it to me, I'd be damned. Blessed is the
man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. But I'm a sinner
who stands before God righteous. How? By the imputed righteousness
of Christ, charged to my camp. Thirdly, the God of Jacob is
the God who preserves his people unto glory. You see, old Jacob, on this earth
he was nothing more than a sinner saved, kept by grace. And that's
what we are. Well, look back at Hebrews 11
and verse 1, or verse 21. First of all, what you have here
is a great example of dying grace. Dying grace. It says here, by
faith Jacob, when he was a dying. Dying grace. How do you know
he had dying grace? Well, two things. Number one,
he blessed both the sons of Joseph. What is that? That was an expression
of faith in Christ. Now I'm going to show you that
in just a moment. But secondly, it says here he worshipped leaning
upon the top of his staff. What does that mean? What does
the staff represent? Well, the staff back in the Old
Testament represents the power and the authority of God. Mainly
in the hands of Christ. Back over in First Corinthians
123, Paul wrote, we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling
block under the Greeks foolishness but unto them which are called
both Jews and Greeks Christ the what? The power of God. Christ the wisdom of God. The
Bible says the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to
everyone that believeth. The staff is the same as the
rod. The rod, remember in Isaiah 11.1
it talks about a rod coming out of the stem of Jesse, a branch
grow out of his roots, that's Christ. The rod and the staff, like the
scepter of the king. Jacob when he was blessing his
sons back in Genesis 49, when he came to Judah, remember he
said the scepter, the king's rod, the king's staff, the scepter
shall not depart from Judah till Shiloh come, that's Christ. The shepherds rod and staff,
thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me, Psalm 23. Christ is our shepherd,
Christ is our king. Here's Jacob dying. The Bible
says these all died in faith. What does it mean to die in faith?
It means to die in the Lord. That's right. Only two ways to
die. You're either going to die in your sins, which means eternal
death, Or you're going to die in Christ, which means eternal
glory. Isn't that right? So that's dying
grace right here. But secondly, this is an example
of God-given faith. Now, this evidence, Jacob's,
the grace of God to Jacob, and it says that he blessed both
the sons of Joseph. Well, turn back to Genesis 41. Now let's go back to Genesis
just for a few minutes. Look at Genesis 41. And look at verse 50. Genesis
41, 50. These two sons of Joseph. It says in verse 50 of Genesis
41, unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine
came, which Asenath, the daughter of Potiphar, or Potiphara rather,
priest of On, bare unto him. Now, Jacob married an Egyptian
woman, a Gentile, imagine that. Here's another Gentile that really
is in the human line of Christ. She's not mentioned in Matthew
chapter 1 like Rahab is and like Bathsheba is, but she's there. Verse 51, Joseph called the name
of the firstborn Manasseh. What does Manasseh mean? For
God said, he hath made me forget all my toil and all my father's
have. Forgetting. God used him to cause Jacob to
forget all of his works and the sins of his family. What does
God do when he brings a sinner to Christ by the power of the
Holy Spirit? He brings him literally to forget,
in other words, to repent of all his works and his connection
with Adam. That's my family. If you want
to know about your family, They've got these DNA things going around.
I saw on TV the other day some woman come on there and she said,
I found out I'm related to George Washington. Well, I thought we
all were. He's the father of our country,
they said. But you know what I really said when she said,
I'm related to George Washington? I said, big deal. Take her all the way back to
Adam. We fell in Adam, ruined by the fall. That's the sins
of my family. fell in Adam, ruined by the fall,
born dead in trespasses and sin, by nature, children of wrath,
even as others, an enemy of God, even in my religious moments,
an enemy of God. And then forget all my works,
all those things that I thought used to make me righteous before
God, or recommend me to God, or earn favor with God, or my
rewards, all of that, forget it. That's a good name, Manasseh.
And then look at verse 52. It says in verse 52, the name
of the second called he Ephraim. What does Ephraim mean? For God
hath called me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.
There he is, fruitful. God used this boy to show, to
emphasize to Jacob God's power to save sinners, to bless them
and make them fruitful in spite of our affliction, our sins. The afflictions of this body,
the afflictions of the flesh. This fruitfulness is our connection
with Christ, isn't it? We're not fruitful without Him.
He said in John 15, I'm the vine. You're the branches. The power,
the goodness, the righteousness is in Christ, not in us. And then look over at Genesis
48 now. This is the passage of Brother
Mark Red. I'm not going to go over this whole passage, but
you know the story. Here's Joseph. Jacob was dying. He's blind. Isn't it kind of
interesting that Jacob's in the same shape that his father was
in when he deceived his father? Isaac was blind. He came in and
Isaac blessed him instead of Esau. Now here's Jacob. He's
blind. That's why he asked the question.
When Joseph came in with the two boys, he said, who are these?
He couldn't see them. Then Joseph told him, these are
my two sons. Manasseh was the oldest. He was to receive the
blessing of the firstborn. Ephraim was the youngest. So
here he comes, and Joseph places these boys where the law says
to place them. Manasseh being the firstborn,
he's to receive the right hand of the one, and Ephraim being
the lastborn, he's to receive the left hand. Both receive a
blessing now. The younger was not going to be slighted, but
the blessing of the firstborn, you know, is a gospel blessing
in type and picture. That's the spiritual headship
of the family. That's what Esau despised. He
didn't care about spiritual things. He was a man of the world, a
man of the earth. So these things about religion,
these things about the gospel, these things about the promised
Messiah didn't mean anything to Esau. But here comes Joseph, and he
brings these two boys, he places them right. But Jacob determined
to give a portion of the inheritance to the grandsons of Joseph, and
he determined to give the blessing, the main blessing, the firstborn
blessing, not to the elder, but to the younger. Now remember
Romans 9, what God said about Jacob and Esau, the elder is
going to serve the younger. Same here. What's he teaching? Well, there's
a lesson in type here. What does Manasseh represent?
What does his name mean? Forgetting my works. Forgetting
the sins of my family. What does Ephraim mean? Fruitfulness.
That's Christ. Divine. Christ is called the firstborn
among many brethren. That means all of our salvation
is wrapped up in Him. Conditioned on Him. But I want
you to look at verse 15. of Genesis 48. Here's what this
thing is all about. He says he blessed Joseph and
said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk. See,
this is covenant language. The covenant God made with Abraham,
which the main promise is fulfilled in who? In Christ. He says, did
walk, and God, which fed me all my lifelong day. Verse 16. Now
listen to this. Here's the blessing that he's
talking about in Hebrews 11. The angel, the messenger, which
redeemed me from all evil. Now there's no angelic being
who redeems a sinner from all evil. This is not the work of
angelic being. This is the work of the angel
of the covenant, the messenger of the covenant. This is the
work of Christ that Jacob's referring to. And notice he says it in past
tense. Did you notice that? You can
parse this verb any way you want to. It comes out past either
way. Wait a minute. How can you talk in the past
tense, Jacob? Christ, it was a lot of years
before he would come. Thousands of years before he
would come. You know why Jacob could talk about it as in the
past? Because he did it by faith. God
made a promise. God never goes back on a promise.
It's a done deal. 1 Corinthians 1, God speaks of
things that are not as though they were because when God says
it, it's a sure thing. Old Jacob was justified based
upon the imputed righteousness of Christ right then and there,
even before that, because my friend, it was so sure and certain
that Christ would come and establish righteousness. And it says here,
he blessed the lads, verse 16, now here's the blessing, let
my name be named on them, bearing the name of Jacob. the name of
my fathers Abraham and Isaac and let them grow into a multitude
in the midst of the earth." And they did. Ephraim, the tribe
of Ephraim was double the tribe of Manasseh. But let me tell
you something. Look at verse 19. His father
refused and said, I know it my son, I know it. He also shall
become a people, talking about Manasseh. Joseph said, now you
got to bless Manasseh with the right hand. He said, I know.
He shall be appealed, and he shall also be great. But truly,
his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed
shall become a multitude of nations. How's that promise fulfilled?
Go take it back to Abraham. In thee shall all nations be.
That's through Christ. It's through Christ. Christ,
in his human nature, he came through Ephraim. Down through. You see that? And he said, they bear my name. Didn't the others bear his name?
Yes, but not in the same way. He said, put my name upon them. Do you recall in the book of
Jeremiah, two passages of scripture? One refers to the Lord Jesus
Christ, as the representative and substitute and surety of
his people, Jeremiah 23, 5 and verse 6, when it talks about
the work of the Messiah. And it says, and his name shall
be called Jehovah Sid Canu, the Lord our righteousness. That's
the name of Christ. One of the many names. If you
turn over to Jeremiah 33 verses 15 and 16, it says the same thing
except there's a change when it says, and she shall be called
Jehovah Sidkanu, the Lord our righteousness. Who's the she
there? That's his people. That's our oneness with Christ.
The bride takes the name of the bridegroom. We bear the name
of Christ, just like we bear the name of Jacob. Israel. What
is Israel today? Spiritual Israel. It's the true
believers in Christ. It's his church. We bear the
name of Jacob. We bear the name of Israel. We
bear the name of Christ. He is our husband. He is our
savior. He is the Lord, our righteousness. Let me just reference this in
closing. I've got a few more things I can say on that. In
the book of Numbers chapter 23 and verse 21, this verse is given and it's
a prophecy. And God is teaching the gospel
lesson to the nation Israel, showing them how sins are taken
care of, how righteousness is established, and here's what
God says. And I think he says it there
through Balaam, if I'm not mistaken. But we'll look at this maybe
next week. Numbers 23-21, listen to this. It says, He hath not
beheld iniquity in Jacob. God does not behold iniquity
in Jacob. Neither hath he seen perverseness
in Israel. The Lord his God is with him,
and the shout of a king is among them. Now if you go back and read about
Israel in Numbers, there was a lot of iniquity. But here's
the point. When it says he hath not beheld
iniquity in Jacob, it's not talking about God's omniscience there.
He's well aware of our iniquity, folks. He knows our hearts, doesn't
he? He knows our thoughts. It's talking about God's justice. And the fact that God does not
impute sin to Jacob. Jacob being a type of the church. God does not charge. I'm a sinner. God knows it. God sees it. He
sees more than I see. But He does not charge me with
sin. He charges me with righteousness. That's why I don't mind bearing
the name Jacob Israel. Call me Jacob. Call me Israel. I'm one with Christ. And in Him, God will not charge
me or remember or record my sins unto damnation. He looks at me
through the blood of His Son. Bearing the name of Jacob.