Turn back to Genesis chapter
46. We are just about to get through
this study in Genesis here shortly. I've enjoyed it. I've enjoyed
studying it. I titled this message, An Old
Saint Tried Again, or Fear Removed. is 130 years old at this time. He's been in the land of Canaan
now for a while. God has blessed him. He's accumulated
some wealth, some cattle, some servants, and his family's grown. But now has come time for him
to go to Egypt. He's got to pull up stakes and
leave the Promised Land. at the 130 years of age. But this has been a blessing
to me just to study these past few days. In the close of chapter
45, we see in verse 27, And they
told him all the words of Joseph which he had said unto them.
And when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him,
the spirit of Jacob their father revived. He was faint at the
news that Joseph was alive. It says he was faint. But when
he saw the wagons and all that was sent by Joseph to him, it
says his spirit was revived. And he said, it is enough. My
son Joseph is alive. I will go and see him before
I die." You can only imagine how excited the old man was. All these years he was led to
believe that Joseph had been torn by a beast and killed. And now he hears that his son
Joseph, the one whom he loved the most, is yet alive. And so they loaded up the wagons.
And they headed for Egypt. Now, wagons moved slowly. And
it gave Jacob time to think. As he pondered his steps, he
began to fear. He began to be afraid. Israel,
you notice here it says, and Israel took his journey with
all that he had. Well, Israel turns into Jacob.
Israel, the prince of God, turns back into Jacob and becomes afraid. And how I know this is in verse
3, God tells Jacob to fear not. To fear not. God, Almighty God,
sees the heart. He sees the turmoil that's going
on in Jacob's heart. He's got his whole family with
him. All of his grandchildren, his
children, wives, they're all with him. And they're headed
down to Egypt. And Egypt is not a good place.
Egypt is one of the most idolatrous places on earth at that time. And he begins to fear. So on
his way to Egypt, Jacob stops. He pauses for a little while
at Beersheba. Now Beersheba is the border town
of Canaan. You see, he's in this wagon,
and you know, wagons go slow, and he's got time to think. And
he comes to Beersheba. And Beersheba is the border town
here of Canaan. When you leave Beersheba, that's
the last stop before you leave the Promised Land. So before
he leaves the Promised Land, the land that God had told him
to go back to and stay there, and He would bless him and raise
up his seed. So when he comes to Beersheba,
he stops there. And he stops there for this purpose,
to worship God, to offer the sacrifice, and to seek the Lord's
will. He wants to seek His will. It
is a place that was dear to him. I want you to turn over to, let
me see here, I think it's over in Genesis chapter 21. His grandfather, see Beersheba
means the place of the oath. Chapter, let me look over here. I've got that written down somewhere.
Chapter 21. Look in verse 33. And Abraham
planted a grove in Beersheba. This is after he made an oath
with Abimelech. And that's why he named it Beersheba.
It's the well of the oath. And Abraham planted a grove in
Beersheba and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting
God. And then in chapter 22, he goes
up to offer Isaac. You see, this is where the Lord
told him when he was in Beersheba to go offer Isaac up. And so
he does this. And then in verse 19 of chapter
22, So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose
up and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham dwelt at Beersheba. It's a place where he knows that
God is worshipped. It's a special place to him.
Isaac lived in Beersheba. So Jacob grew up there. So it's a special place to him. It also appears here to me that
he made the decision to go in haste. He heard that Joseph was
alive. He said, listen, I'm going to
go see him before I die. And now he gets to the border
of Beersheba there, he gets to the border before leaving the
promised land, and he realizes, I need to seek the Lord in this
matter. We need to seek the Lord in any matter we Any matter that
confronts us, we need to seek the Lord. We need to make it
a real matter of prayer. A real matter of seeking His
face. And so Jacob goes up to this place and he realizes, I
need to stop here for a minute. My family's with me. He's the
leader of this family. And he realizes, I need to stop
here and seek the Lord. I need to seek Him. But you know
one of the things here, and I want to point this out before I go
on, One of the things that just really jumped out at me in these
first two or three verses here, it says, Israel took his journey
with all that he had and came to Beersheba, and he offered
sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac. God spake unto
Israel in the visions of the night and said, Jacob, Jacob.
Jacob, Jacob. See, he could see the heart of
Jacob. He saw that fear. Here's what jumped out at me.
The two natures of a believer. He's Israel. He's Israel. Israel means prince with God.
You remember the angel that he wrestled with? Changed his name. He said, for as a prince has
thou power with God. Everyone that's born of God is
a prince of God and has power with God. You know that? You
who believe the gospel, you are a prince of God and you have
power with God. That's every one of God's children.
That describes them. And the word of God says that
Christ has made us kings and priests unto God. I'm looking,
I'm truly looking at some kings and priests. Because the scripture says he
has made us kings and priests. But when God speaks to Jacob,
when He speaks to him at this point in time, because He sees
his heart, He sees his fear, He sees his doubts. When He speaks
to him, He says, Jacob, Jacob. Now, this is the name his father
Isaac gave to him. This is his name of weakness. Jacob means supplanter. The Lord
reminded him at that point right there who he is. Jacob, Jacob. That name also means heel. Now, a heel is the lowest part
of your body, isn't it? It's what you walk on. Jacob,
Jacob. Oh, that's his name of weakness.
We still have that old Adamic nature that we were born with. often causes us to fear when
we ought not to fear. What do we have to fear? If God
be for us, who can be against us? But Jacob was afraid. The Scripture says the spirit
is willing, but the flesh is weak. However, though, the Lord
is merciful. He's merciful to Jacob. He's
merciful to all his children. I am the Lord, I change not.
That's the reason why you sons of Jacob, you sons of election,
are not consumed. Because I don't change. I'm a
God of mercy. Listen to this. In Psalm 103,
verse 14. For he knoweth our frame, he
remembereth that we are dust. So we are dust. It's what we're
made of. Dust. It's body. It's going to
go back to the dust. In Psalm 78, listen to this.
For their heart was not right with him, neither were they steadfast
in his covenant. But he, being full of compassion,
forgave their iniquity and destroyed them not. Yea, many a time turned
he his anger away and did not stir up all his wrath. For he
remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passeth away and
comes not again. John said, My little children,
These things write unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an
advocate with the Father. When any man sin, we sin. But
he says we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous. And he is a propitiation for
our sins. Not priors only, but also for
the sins of the world. So Jacob is Jacob. And he's also Israel, Prince
of God. And yet he's still Jacob. Worries,
fretful, fearful, and yet God's merciful to him. Now, what's
he going to do? What's he to do? Well, he's going
to stop in Beersheba. As I told you, Beersheba is a
place of significance. It's the Well of the Oath. It's
where Abraham was told to offer Isaac. And it's where Isaac lived
and Jacob grew up. And so he says here in verse
1, And Israel took his journey with all that he had, and he
came to Beersheba, and he offered sacrifices unto the God of his
father Isaac. He stops at Beersheba to worship
God. He doesn't know what he's about
to face. He does not know what he's about to run into. It is
totally unknown to him what's going to happen at this time.
And he truly wants the Lord's mind in this matter. He wants
to know the Lord's will in this matter of going to Egypt. And
the first thing he does is this. He offers sacrifices. Sacrifices unto the God of his
father Isaac. The covenant God. The covenant
God. The God of all grace. He offers
sacrifices to him. God can only be worshipped through
a sacrifice. He can only be sought through
a sacrifice. And you and I know that that
sacrifice is the Lord Jesus Christ. What Jacob offered was a type.
It was a picture. But he looked beyond that sacrifice
he offered. Jacob looked beyond that to the
Lord Jesus Christ. I'm confident of that. He looked
beyond that. But if we are to worship God
here today, if we are to worship Him, if we are to seek His will,
His direction, it will be through His Son. Frank prayed back here. Wayne
prayed here. And at the end of the prayer,
in Christ's name we pray, in the name of Your Son, In the
name of that great sacrifice, we pray. We seek Thy will. If God is pleased to speak to
us personally, I'm not talking about
an audible voice, but I'm talking about out of His Word, by His
Spirit, it will be through His Son who was sacrificed for us. You see, Jacob offered the sacrifices.
It's his sacrifices. He offered, no doubt, the sacrifice
of Thanksgiving. In his sacrifice, he honored
God. In his sacrifice, there was blood,
satisfaction, atonement. In his sacrifice, he sought the
Lord's will. This is what he did when he stopped
in Beersheba to worship God before he went any further. Well, what
an example. What an example to his family.
What an example to us. What an example. And then God,
and God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and
He said, Jacob, Jacob. And He said, here am I. You know, when God called Adam,
Adam said, He said, where are you, Adam? He said, I was afraid. I was afraid. But Jacob, Jacob had been taught of God.
Jacob offers his sacrifice. And then God speaks after the
sacrifices are offered. And when God speaks to Jacob
and he says, Jacob, Jacob, he doesn't say, what? He doesn't
say that he was afraid. He says, Here am I, ready to
do your will. This is what he's saying. That's
what Isaiah said, Here am I, send me. Now Jacob is seeking
the Lord's will in this matter. And I tell you, if you're going
to seek the Lord's will in the matter, you better be willing
to do it. And when the Lord says, Jacob, Jacob, he's saying, Here
am I, Lord, speak. What would you have me to do?
Would you have me to go forward or go back? He's ready to do
the Lord's will in this matter. Ready to do it. But he said,
Jacob, Jacob. I think this is a term of endearment. I think it is. I think it's a
term. No doubt when he said Jacob, Jacob, Jacob knows what he is. He knows it. It's humbling. But it's also a term of endearment. How blessed it is when God speaks
to our hearts personally. I mean, to truly speak to our
hearts. You know, I've sat in the services
many, many times, Henry preaching. And I mean, go home blessed.
Just fed. And you know what that is? That's the Lord speaking to your
heart personally. That's God blessing you personally. That's what he did here. Jacob,
Jacob. And Jacob says, here am I, ready
to do thy will, listening to the Lord, listening to the Lord,
finding out His will in this matter. That's what he's doing. Jacob was afraid of what lay
ahead. He was going to go down to Egypt,
and the key word here is down to. He knew he was going down. To go to Egypt is to go down. And he's going to take his family
with him. I can just imagine the burden
that was on his shoulders at 130 years of age to leave the
promised land and go down to a place of idolatry where God
is not worshipped. What if you were taking your
family to Iraq? Or Iran. What if you had to do
that right now? What if you had to pack your
family up and move them to that place? Now you know how Jacob
felt. You know how Jacob felt. He was
afraid. So God speaks to Jacob. And he
said, I am God. That's the first thing he said. I am God. Almighty God. God All-Sufficient. The God of
thy father, Isaac, same God, fear not to go down into Egypt,
for I will there make of thee a great nation. I am God. Who is your God? Who is your God? This will determine,
now listen, this will determine whether or not your fears can
be removed. I am God. Before he says, I am
the God of your father, the first thing he says, I am God. I am
that I am. I am the Almighty. Over in the book of Daniel, the
king came and he said, Is thy God able to deliver thee? Well, it depends on who your
God is. If it is the God of heaven and earth, the sovereign God
of heaven and earth, if He's your God, if it is the Lord Jesus
Christ who is God, if He's your God, yes, He's able to deliver
you. And yes, He's able to remove your fears. He's able to do it. I am God. I'm God. The God of
thy father, the covenant God, the immutable God, the same God
who guided and kept your father Isaac, the same God your father
worshipped. I am God. In Deuteronomy 7, 9,
listen, Know therefore that the Lord thy God, He is God. The faithful God, which keepeth
covenant and mercy with them that love Him, and keep His commandments
to a thousand generations. This is the God speaking to Jacob. I am God. I am the God of thy
father. Therefore, listen, fear not. Fear not. He could reflect back
on the life of his father Isaac and Abraham, and he knows how
God took care of them. He knows how God guided and took
care of his family. He knows that. So fear not. If God be for us, who can be
against us? Fear not. Even in a strange land,
fear not. Fear not. For us to be successful
in the work of the Lord, fear not. Fear not. Fear has to be removed. But it's
removed by Him, not positive thinking. But it's removed by
Him. He says, fear not. You remember
we looked at that building over in Arrington? Remember we looked
at that? Henry said to me, he called me
over there at his house and he said, if you think that's the
thing to do, he said, if you think that's the thing to do,
if you think that's the building, if you think that's what you
ought to buy, that's where you ought to be, he said, you do
it and don't you look back. Don't look back. I remember Paul
Thacker told me one time, running the business. He was a partner
of mine. He said, you cannot run a business successfully being
afraid. He said, you cannot be fearful
and run a business. He said, you've got to do it
and just go with it. And that's why he said, Jacob,
fear not to go down to Egypt. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. And look at the promise. Here's
the reason not to be afraid. For I will there make of thee
a great nation. No harm is going to come to you,
Jacob. I'm going to fulfill my promise. For I will there make of thee
a great nation. Listen, in the furnace of affliction,
and that's what it became, in the furnace of affliction, I
will make of thee a great nation." Listen, is that not what God
is doing now? Is that not what He's doing now?
Making a great nation of believers through His Son in this furnace
of affliction. And I'm telling you what, the
longer I live, the more I realize that's exactly what this is.
It's a furnace of affliction. But He says, I'm going to make
a great nation out of you. And that's exactly what's going
to come out of this life through the Lord Jesus Christ. They're
going to be a great nation, a great nation that God's going to make
through His Son. But we're going to have to go
through this furnace of affliction. And here's another reason not to
fear. I will go down with thee into
Egypt. Now, could he be in better company? He doesn't say, Jacob, I will
not let them hurt you. And that would be fine. I'll
protect you with angels and that would be fine. But Jacob, I will go down. I will go down
with thee into Egypt. I'll be right there with you.
All along the way. There is no place that a child
of God will go that he will send his children and he will not
go with them. And I will also surely bring
thee up again, and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes.
Jacob, I will go down with thee into Egypt." God is not confined
to the borders of the promised land. God is not in a box. He's not
in a circle. He can't get out of it. His dominion is from one end to the other. There's
no end to it. No end to it. He goes where his
people go. The Lord said, I am with thee
always, even to the end of the world. I'm with thee. Listen
to this, Isaiah 43. When thou passest through the
waters, I will be with thee. He didn't say, I'll be waiting
on the other side. I'll be with thee. And through
the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. They might feel like it.
David said, all the waters have come in unto my soul. But God sees where the full mark
is. He knows where it is. They shall
not overflow thee when thou walkest through the fire. And you know
what he's saying here? First of all, you are going to
go through the water. And you are going to walk through the
fire. He said this is going to happen. That's what he's telling
them. But when that happens, Thou shalt not be burned, just
like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Standing in that furnace, not
a hair on their head was seen. They didn't even smell like smoke. Neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. And I will also surely bring
thee up again, and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes.
This is nothing but the resurrection. I will surely bring thee up again."
I'll raise you up again. The Lord will surely raise us
up again from the grave. And listen, Joseph shall put
his hands upon thine eyes. Just change that to Jesus. The
Lord Jesus Christ shall put his hands upon thine eyes and you
will die in peace. That's what he's saying. He's
going to put his hand upon your eyes. Jacob, you're going to
die in peace. You're going to see your son.
You're going to see Joseph. And you're going to see his children. And Joseph's going to put his
hands upon your eyes in those last days and you're going to
die in peace. And I'm going to bring you up
again. Just as the Lord Jesus Christ He's going to put his hand on
our eyes and we're going to die in peace. Have you ever rocked,
well you have, I know you have, rocked a baby to sleep. Have
you ever just rocked them to sleep and you just kind of put
your hand there and they go to sleep? That's the sense of it. Jacob, it's going to be all right.
Your end is going to be good. It's going to be good. And Jacob rose up from Beersheba.
See, a part of worship, a true part of worship, you know what
it is? Probably one of the truest parts of it. Obedience. Obedience. Jacob rose up from Beersheba
after he had offered his sacrifices, and God spoke to him. He rose
up from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel carried Jacob, their
father, and their little ones, and their wives, and the wagons
which Pharaoh had sent to carry him, and they headed for Egypt.
I bet he was revived again. I bet his old heart was revived
again. Joyful. Now he's ready to go.
He's ready to go because he has the mind of the Lord in the matter.
You know, when the Lord, I think, opens the door and reveals His
will and makes His mind known, go! Just go. And they took their cattle and
their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came
into Egypt, Jacob and all his seed with him. He took all that
he had and followed the Lord. That's what he did. He just packed
it all up and followed the Lord. Along with his sons and his sons'
sons, his grandsons with him, his daughters and his sons' daughters,
and all his seed brought he with him. into Egypt. And you know what this did? This
fulfilled the Word of God. Turn over to Genesis chapter
15. In verse 13, And he that is God sent unto
Abram know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a
land that is not theirs, and shall serve them, and they shall
afflict them four hundred years. And also that nation whom they
shall serve will I judge, and afterwards shall they come out
with great substance." So God sends a famine. First He did
all this with Joseph. We've looked at all what happened
to Joseph. Sent Joseph to Egypt. Now Joseph is the ruler in Egypt.
Sends the famine. Sends Jacob down into Egypt. All this is providential. But
it was foretold back there in chapter 15 to Abraham. He said,
your seed is going to go into a strange land. They're going
to inflict them 400 years. And I'm going to bring them out.
And they're going to have a great substance. In closing, Trials in this life
never end. They never end. Here Jacob is
130 years old. And he's had a tough life. Look
over in chapter 47. Pharaoh in verse 8. And Pharaoh said unto Jacob,
How old art thou? And Jacob said unto Pharaoh,
The days of the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years,
few and evil have the days of the years of my life been. And
he said, My life's been full of trouble. That's what he's
saying to Pharaoh. He said, My life has just been
fraught with trouble. And I'm a hundred and thirty
years old and the trouble keeps on coming. They never end. And here's why. The husbandman
is always pruning the branches, no matter how old they are, to
keep them producing that fruit, that love and joy, peace, long-suffering,
faith. The husbandman never leaves his
branches alone, no matter what age they are. But he says this,
but fear not. Fear not. I will be with thee
and bring thee up again, but this time to glory. Oh, I tell you, when he brings
us up again from the grave, it'll be to glory. Okay, Mike.