We have at home two Bible studies every week. We have one on Wednesday evening where we've been going through
the book of Genesis. And I've decided to keep it as
an Old Testament study. I don't think I'll ever change
that. I feel guided of the Lord to do that Old Testament study. And then on Sunday morning, I
devote that time to teaching verse by verse through various
places in the New Testament. We just finished our study in
John, and now we've moved to the epistle of Ephesians. The Lord told His disciples,
you might want to look at this verse over in Matthew 13. Matthew
13. And if you look down to verse 52, He tells us that every scribe,
now what does he mean by that? He is not talking about those
condemned scribes and Pharisees, but he is talking here about
a teacher. A scribe is one who is familiar with the Word of
God and who is enabled of God to teach the Scriptures. And
he tells them that every scribe which is instructed unto the
kingdom of heaven, is like unto a man that is a householder which
bringeth forth out of his treasure things old, things new and old."
He is going to tell you things new. He is going to tell you
those things which are established of God in Christ. He is going
to show you the fulfillment of those things. That is what Christ
was telling them. I am the fulfillment. I am the
Christ. I am the promised one. I'm the
one who come here to fulfill that old law and to fulfill those
old ceremonies and manifest these things. But he takes them back
and bases everything that he tells them on the Old Testament
Scriptures. Everything he did, everywhere
he went, everything he said, everything he taught, he went
back and based it on the Old Testament Scriptures. Now, we don't have two Bibles.
We've just got one Bible telling one story, the old and the new. And I just can't tell you how
profitable it's been to our folks and to many others that write
me on the Internet and sometimes buy old-fashioned letters, how
much these things has helped them to understand. These are
pictures. When Christ talked to the people,
and I think we make a We make it a problem to communicate
a lot of times because we want to do it in a mechanical manner. Henry used to just constantly
talk to us preachers about that. There is a mechanics involved.
There is a mechanics. There is doctrine to be learned
and doctrine to be established. But it has to be seen. It has
to be received. And it's so beneficial to be
received. In these pictures, that's why they were given. Actually,
if you want to get right down to it, all these relationships
on earth, none of them are going to be carried over into heaven.
There is no marrying. You remember they tried to trap
the Lord, the Sadducees did, talking about the resurrection
because they didn't believe in it, and they started talking
about whose wife, this one who had been married to the three
brothers, whose wife is she going to be in the resurrection? He
said, you do err not knowing the Scriptures. There is no marrying
and giving in marriage in heaven. These things here are to make
you to understand that relationship between Christ and His church.
That's what Paul said when he got through talking about the
husband and the wife. And if we're not careful, we
miss that. We're over here jiggle-joggling around about authority and all
these other things. You just miss the whole thing. He said, I'm talking about Christ
and the church. He said, I'm not talking about
men and women. I'm talking about Christ and
His church. So that's the benefit of it. And you go back and you
see these pictures, and boy, once you get them, you'll light
up like a light bulb. You see it, and boom, there it
is. And those pictures can communicate more than all the words in the
English dictionary. If I can get, somehow get, or
God will give me a picture in the Old Testament, and I can
get it presented right to you, You'll just, boy, the minute
you get the picture, pow, there it is. I get it. I get it. And it's my intention this morning to show in the Old Testament
Scriptures that blessed treasure of Christ as He was set forth
in symbol and picture and time. It's very beneficial. Very beneficial. Now the story that was read to
us here just a little bit ago out of Genesis 48 is the account
of Joseph bringing his two sons. He heard that Jacob was dying. His father was dying. He was
in the bed, couldn't get up. He's on his last legs. They sent
him word, you better go down and sing. You got something you
need to say, something you need to do, you need to go down there
because he ain't going to live much longer. And so Joseph brings
his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, to his father, Joseph, to be
blessed. He wants to bring these two sons
to his father to be blessed. Now, if you'll hold your place
there in Genesis, just stick a marker there or something,
and turn with me to Hebrews 11. I want to read you something
over here that I believe will help you to see the connection
between the old and the new. I want to try to draw a line
this morning from what I'm reading to you way back here in the book
of beginnings, in the book of Genesis. And I'm going to go
all the way over here now into the New Testament and show you
how these things are connected. Look here in Hebrews 11, verse
21. By faith, Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed
both the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top
of his staff. Now, Hebrews 11 is the faith
chapter of the Bible, and in particular, I want you to notice
this, in particular it deals with the faith of the Old Testament
patriarchs. All these examples, read down
through Hebrews chapter 11. They are all Old Testament believers. And Paul begins in this chapter
with the definition of faith. He said, faith is the substance
of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. The substance
is the basis. It's the body. It's the foundation
of our hope. And the evidence is how our part
is known or connected to that. Now, having defined faith, Paul
moves on to illustrate this New Testament faith in his Old Testament
saints. He's going to illustrate to us
what this faith is. He begins with Abel, and he tells
us that basically his faith laid hold of a more excellent sacrifice
than Cain, by which he obtained witness of God that he was righteous.
Enoch's faith enabled him to walk with God and please God
pleased the God with whom he walked. Noah's faith moved him
with fear, caused him, enabled him to prepare this ark to the
saving of his house. Abraham's faith moved him to
leave his father's house without knowing where he was going. Sarah's
faith gave her the ability, contrary to all natural reason and logic,
to produce the promised son. Isaac's faith enabled him to
bless Jacob and Esau with an eye to things yet to come. Are
you with me so far? Talking about faith. Now let's
see what the Holy Ghost says about Jacob's faith. By faith,
when he was a dying, Jacob blessed both the sons of Joseph. Now this blessing of Manasseh
and Ephraim was not just an affectionate son patronizing the old man who's
now senile. That's not what this is about.
He wasn't sitting up there and saying, Dad's dying. I need to get these two boys
down there and let them see him. That's not what's going on here.
Not what's going on here at all. This blessing had in it the substance
of things hopeful. See that? By faith. By faith. It had in it the substance of
things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. It had in
it the consideration of a more excellent sacrifice. You see
how Paul has already built this thing from Abel to Jacob. And it had in it the consideration
of a more excellent sacrifice, speaking, Jacob, you read it
a few minutes ago, speaking of the angel that redeemed him.
It had in it the consideration of a walk that was pleasing to
God. It had in it the fear of God
and a sense of his presence to move him to bless these two children
the way he did. It had in it an eye to the promise
of God to bless all nations through his seed, same as he gave to
Abraham. It had in it the consideration
of the divine power to establish the blessing. He wouldn't have
blessed him if he didn't think God was going to establish the
blessing. And it had in it like precious faith to his father
Isaac and looked as his father did when he blessed him to things
not done yet. It had an eye, the same eye that
Isaac blessed him. That same eye that looked forward
to those things that were not yet done. His eye did the same. Had like precious faith. And
this whole business of blessing was an act of faith which begat
faith. And still is. Still is. Still begats faith and like Abel
of old, he being dead yet speaketh. Ain't that what the Lord said?
able in this sacrifice that he made by faith. He is dead now,
but he yet speaks. David is dead, but he still spoke
of the resurrection, and he still is. And these Old Testament saints,
in this blessing, it is still a blessing, it still begets faith. Now, when Paul had finished,
now just keep following my reasoning here. When Paul had finished
with this great roll call of faith, He described them in verse
12 as a great cloud of witnesses to encourage us to run as they
did, this race of faith with patience, looking as they did
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Now, I could go
on and on here, but for the sake of time and my limited ability,
let me just say it before you three things. that I believe
we must understand in order to be blessed with these two sons. And that's my aim. I want to
be a blessing to you this morning. I want you to come and to view
these things, and when you read these things, to be blessed by
them. That's what they're there for.
That's what these pictures are there for. Now, here's the first
thing. And this is the first thing that
you have to understand. You have to, at least to some
degree of understanding, be able to understand the source of the
blessings. It's not in Jacob. Jacob could
have raised his hands from now on. He couldn't do anything.
What could he do? He was constant. I identify greatly
with Jacob because he's always in trouble, always in trouble,
his whole life long. I want us to see the source.
And the source of these blessings is God. Listen to this. In Genesis 48, verse 3, as soon
as he heard that Joseph was coming, this old man who was now weak
and dying, struggled to get himself up on the side of the bed. And
Joseph walked in and he said, let me tell you something. He
said, God Almighty appeared to me at Luz. Why is that significant? That's
where Jacob laid his head down on them stones, and God revealed
that ladder that reached from earth all the way into heaven.
And He showed him Christ in that ladder. He showed him how God
could come down to men, and that His ministers would carry from
men those prayers and those things that meant all, and make that
way for those things to come up to Him. He showed him the
way. Now, Henry told me this 30 some
years ago along with nine other things that I was showing Caleb
before we met today. But it concerns the things that
I preached. And here's what he told me. He
said, if the message don't bless you, it ain't going to bless
them. And so I'm going to tell you this morning how this thing
blessed me. And I know this is so. You have to be blessed to
bless. And that's the first thing Here's these two boys and his
son coming down with these two boys to be blessed of his father.
And old Jacob looks at him and he said, God bless me. He blessed
me. And he blessed me at Luz. He
gave me, he said this place is not going to be called Luz anymore
after he got the vision. He said this place is going to
be called Bethel. House of God. God's here. God's presence is
here. God bless me. It's the place
of worship. And every time Jacob wanted to
worship God, he was in a mess, he went to Bethel. He went to
Bethel. You have to be blessed to bless,
and the only one who has the ability and character and willingness
to bless is God. Back in Romans chapter 9, when
Paul began to tell us who Israel was, he said his prayer to God
for Israel is that they might be saved. And he begins to tell
you who Israel is, and he said, ìTheyíre the ones who had the
covenants, and these are the ones to whom God spoke, and they
are the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ
came.î Well, whoís that? What did he say? He said, ìGod
over all, blessed, blessed forever.î Blessed. God the Father, he tells
us in Ephesians chapter 1, blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ. You see what he's telling us,
son? God Almighty blessed me at love. He blessed me at love. Paul said evil men changed the
truth of God into a lie and worshipped and served the creature more
than the Creator who is blessed forever. And then he tells Timothy that
the message he preached is the gospel of the blessed God. And
tells us that Christ is the blessed and only potentate. You can't find Paul talking about
Christ without that word blessed. David, when he prayed, I was
looking there, I think it's in Psalm 103, he said, Bless the
Lord, O my soul. Bless the Lord. Only God can bless, but write
it down, all those blessed of Him are become such are as enabled
them to bless. Every one of them. And what Jacob
is talking about in this appearing here is a sense of God's presence
to him and in him. And it's the presence that sanctify
the circumstance. Now just stay with me here. Hearing
is just hearing until God becomes present at the hearing. It's
just hearing. It's just, you can count ceiling
tile and you can be trying to figure out the menu for Sunday
afternoon or what. It's just hearing until God's
presence. When God's presence is made known
to you, it sanctifies the circumstance. I don't care what the circumstance
is. The Word of God is His words till God's presence accompanies
the words. Paul said, I know your election
of God because when the Gospel came to you, it came not in word
only, but it came in power and demonstration of the Spirit.
Every word when His presence is made known is carefully considered
and weighed. And it's how a thing is relevant
to God that determines whether or not it's a blessing. You know, there's lots of things
can happen to you to cause you pain that are a blessing. It's how a thing is relevant
to God that makes it a blessing. He chastises, but he only chastises
children. It's a comfort to the chastised
to know that he's been chastised of God because that means he's
a son. He doesn't chastise bastards. So it's how a thing is relevant
to God that determines whether or not it's a blessing. And it's
as they are seen in connection with Him that they become serious,
desperate, immediate, and effectual. If God's not in it, what's the
rush? What's the desperation? There's
no desperation in men who, when God doesn't make His presence
known to a man who comes to listen, I can't do anything with it. Now, you might tell me what,
having heard me this morning even, you might tell me what
they told Paula on Mars Hill. They said, well, we'll hear you
again some convenient season. We have to go fishing this afternoon,
whatever it was. We'll hear you again. But you won't tell God that,
huh? When His presence is main, no,
they don't, no, they'll hear. They'll hear. And this is what
I believe the Old Testament saints called the fear of God, God fearing
men. And brethren, this was Joseph. This was Zaphnath Paeonea. He's the Lord of all Egypt. You know, he didn't, he wasn't
one of these ragtag sojourners, he was the Lord of all Egypt. This was Zathnath-Paeonea. And
he comes down before his weak old man, and it says in Genesis
48-12, look at that, he bowed himself with his face in the
earth. Isn't that something? That big golden chain around
his neck. Those royal robes come riding
in on that big chariot, took those two sons there, had his
head bowed and pushed those two sons out before this old man
who now was barely able to stand. In fact, in Hebrews, it said
he was leaning on top of his staff. He couldn't even stand
up. But here he was, and he's leaning on top of his staff,
worshiping God with true saving faith. And here's his son. Now his son had already been
blessed by him when he was a child. He heard the truth. God brought
him to faith. Repentance. And now here's his
two sons. And he knowing God and knowing
who this man was, he's a prophet. This wasn't just a senile old
man. This was the only man on God's
earth at that time who could bless. And Joseph pushes up two
boards. And he puts his face in the dirt.
God is the source of the blessing. God was in Christ reconciling. God hath made him to be unto
us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. God is the source.
Now, secondly, I want you to see this. I want you to see the
association of the blessing. Now, what in the world is a 3,000-year-old
son bringing his father's grandchildren to them got to do with me and
you. Where's the association? It's not too much. There's not
much association there if you just look at this as a history
of a man. Not much there. But as I pointed
out to you at the beginning, this blessing was an act of faith.
And it's important to me, by association, knowing that all
God's people are one. You see, if God blesses Abraham, me and Abraham are one in this
thing of faith. So whatever He blessed him with,
He's blessed me with. Whatever He's given to him, He's
given to me. We're all one. We're all one. It says, "...he blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as
he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world."
And it's the inheritance alike of Old and New Testament saints,
Jews and Gentiles, male and female, bond and free. What he blesses
to the one is blessed to all. Paul tells us there's one body.
Isn't that what he tells us? There's one body, one spirit,
even as you're called and one hope of your calling, one Lord,
one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above
all and through all and in you all. There's just one. If he
blesses... When I go back here, if I'm a
believer, if I have faith in Christ, I go back here and I
don't care what the blessing is. I don't care what the blessing
is. It's like reading God's will, His will and testament. You read
about these blessings and you know they're yours. They're all
yours in Christ. What He blessed to the one, He
blesses to all. Now, in order to be blessed of
God, I must find out how I'm connected to this one body. Now, turn with me to Galatians
chapter 3. Galatians 3. I want to show you
several verses here, but let me begin with verse 8. Galatians 3, verse 8. And the
Scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen, that
Gentile, idol-worshiping heathen, through faith. preached before
the gospel to Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be
blessed. What am I going to carry out
of all this? Well, here it is. So then, they
which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. That's
pretty simple, isn't it? Skip down to verse 26. For ye are all the children of
God by faith in Christ Jesus, for as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ have put on Christ, whether it's neither
Jew nor Greek, bond or free, male or female, but all one in
Christ. Listen now, verse 29, And if
ye be Christ, then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the
promise. Now go back to Genesis 48, let
me show you that in Genesis 48. We'll go back down here to verse
3. God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan
and blessed me. And said unto me, Behold, I make
thee fruitful and multiply thee, and I'll make of thee a multitude
of people, and I'll give this land to thy seed after thee for
an everlasting possession. Now listen to what he says here.
So unusual. And now thy two sons, Ephraim
and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt
before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine." Isn't that
a strange statement? They're mine. As Reuben and Simeon,
they should be mine. Look at verse 16. The God who
had fed him all his life long, the angel that redeemed me from
all evil, blessed the lads, and let my name be named on them
in the name of my father Abraham and Isaac." Jacob was dying. Jacob could barely lean on top
of his staff. He was not talking about raising
these two boys or taking these two boys away from Joseph. His
heart's desire was to show the blessing of Christ to his son
in his children's association to his name of faith. That's
what he's trying to show me. But faith is what connected the
blessing to himself. That's what he's telling him,
God bless me. And what he blessed me with is
what I intend to bless these two boys with. If God will, will. That's what I intend to bless
him with. It was his spiritual name that he sought to convey,
not his earthly name. Jacob was beloved of God. Jacob
have I loved. Let him be named like me. Jacob was the elect of God. Before
these two ever did any good or evil, that the purpose of God
according to election might stand, it was said unto her, the elder
is going to serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, Esau have I hated. This is God's elect. Now let
my name be named on him. Jacob was called of God Israel,
a prince with God. Let my name be named on him.
You see what he's saying? Now, beloved, I'm not over here
to make proselytes like myself. And that wasn't what this was
all about. He wasn't going to take these
two boys and now you're going to have my name. And I'm not
here to promote myself or anything like that. I'm here hoping that
God will do for you what he done for me. That's what preaching
is. It's just one beggar telling
another beggar where he got his bread. Jacob was blessed. He was blessed just like his
father Abraham. He would have been an idol-worshiping
heathen. He'd been just like Esau, a vain
man. Sell his birthright for a bowl
of pottage. But no, no, he's a prince with
God, and God loved him. All right, now here's the third
thing. The direction of the blessing. The Holy Spirit here in this
whole account in Genesis chapter 48 goes into great detail to
set before us how Joseph situated these two children before his
father. You read that? Well, it's kind of confusing
to read, isn't it? Takes this one in his left hand before his
right hand, this one in his right hand before his left hand, and
he situates that firstborn. If you just draw it out on a
piece of paper, you'll see the firstborn, Manasseh, was sitting
so if Jacob just reached out his right hand out in front of
him and laid his hand down on him, it'd be on the right head.
It'd be on Manasseh, the firstborn. His left hand, when he reached
it out, it'd be on the head of Ephraim. And Ephraim the younger stood
before Jacob in that way, and so did Manasseh. And Jacob crossed
his arms, and he put the right hand on Ephraim, and he put the
left hand on Manasseh. And it upset Joseph. And he said,
Wait a minute. I know you can't see too good,
but this ain't right. This is the first. He said, I
know. Now, I know there's reasons why
this was done. Natural Israel, the elder, would
serve the Gentile church, the younger, and they would represent
true Israel to the world. I know that's why this was done.
That's why it was done to Jacob. And it also has a prison application
to them as far as the inheritance. He mentions that down at the
end, they were to get a double portion. But here's what I want
you to take away from this crossing of the hand. Look here in Genesis
48. Let me show you something back
here. Look down here at verse 9. Joseph said unto his father,
These are my sons whom God hath given me in this place. And he
said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I bless them. Now
listen to this. The eyes of Israel were dim from
age, so that he could not see. He's blind as a bat. So are mine when it comes to
the children of God. I don't know who they are. So
are mine when it comes to knowing when and where to bless. I don't
know. So are mine when it comes to
judging one from another. Blind as a bat. And so I do what
I believe old Jacob did. I believe he closed his eyes
and asked God to direct his hand, direct the blessing. And he did. And he laid it on old blind Jacob
to cross his arm and bless the younger above the elder. And this man before whom Joseph,
the Lord of all Egypt, bowed his face to the ground, and before
whom he set these two children, was the prophet of God. And he
was at that time the only preacher, and he was dying. He was dying. And I'm not telling you this
morning that I'm the only preacher in the land like Jacob. But I
will tell you this, they don't grow on trees. There are not
many. But I'm the only one you have
here today, and I'm dying every day. I'm dying. I wonder, I often
wonder when I stand to preach to the church over there, and
especially as I'm winding up the message the way I am here
this morning, is this going to be the last time? Joseph was a man of faith. He
had two unconverted children, two children who had no faith.
There was only one man called of God, set apart of God, called
to be a prophet, and that was his dying father. And he was
on his deathbed. And he came down there and put
his face in the dust and pushed those two children forward. And
both he and the one who blessed him both waited on God to guide
the hand of blessing. And he was a little upset because
it crossed It crossed what we think. And we get upset like
that, don't we? The very one that you think is
really going to do something, he's the troublemaker. He's the
one who walks out late. It's the one you least expect.
That's the one God saves. That's the one God blesses. And
so it always has been. Let me ask you something. How many
unblessed children do you have? Oh, I think about mine this morning.
I don't know God. I don't know God. I have no concern,
no sense of God's presence. How many friends and loved ones
do you have who know nothing about being blessed of God? Well, He was the only blesser
that day. Only one. And He sent those two children
forth. And that's the way it is. That's the way it always
is. That's the way of God in this gospel age all the way through
to the end of time. It's through the preaching. It
pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. And I don't know that... I think
every time I get up, that's impacted me. I get it. No, I don't. No, I don't. Not the way I ought
to. Not the way I ought to. But here's what boils down to,
and here's what's needed here, more than a big cathedral. If somehow we had the ability
to build a big cathedral over here this morning, it wouldn't
do near as much good as this would. If God would send His
presence, if He'd send His presence and disturb men and women, Do
you know where John the Baptist preached in the wilderness? Huh? Totally contrary. He had
a message totally contrary to everything that was being preached
in his day. He was the only one preaching these things. And he
was out in the middle of nowhere and he wore camel's hair and
ate honey from the honeycomb and locusts, and here he was
out here preaching a message contrary, but God's presence
come and stirred up the hearts of the people, and it said all
Judea and all the surrounding areas, they all went out to hear
John. Now, that's the way it is. And
whether it's one or it's five It takes the presence of God
going before that man and disturbing the hearts of those people and
giving them the unrest and concern that they need. And when they
do, they're going to come down to the only one they know that
God is going to use to bless them, and they're going to bring
whoever it is that they want blessed, they're going to bring
them with them. I say, here it is, here it is. Will God bless
them? He did these two. He did these
two. And if He'll do them, He'll do
others. That's what we need to pray right
there. God send His presence. Father, we thank You for the
message. Pray that You'll use it. Bless our hearts with it. Oh, what a blessing that God
will bless. That His whole purpose of grace
is to bless. That the death of Christ was
to bless. The preachers and the Spirit of the living God being
poured out on the churches to bless, oh, cause our hearts to take
comfort, be encouraged. Bring those out or at least attempt
to bring them out and pray for your blessings on them to disturb
them, to move them, get them in trouble where they need to
hear. We ask it for Christ's sake.