than wrought in us by the grace
of God. Nothing can be compared to it.
Rich indeed is that immortal soul who by the grace of God
believes God. This is not your work. It's not
the work of a man. This is the gift of God wrought
in you by his saving grace. The hymn writer put it this way,
O gift of gifts, O grace of faith, my God, how can it be that thou
who hast discerning love shouldst give that gift to me? Ah, grace,
in two unlikeliest hearts it is thy boast to come, the glory
of thy light to find in darkest spots of home. Oh, God of goodness, I lovingly
adore. Oh, give me grace to keep thy
grace and grace to long for more. All who have it realize that
faith is indeed a precious gift, a precious gift. We find it precious
in life. The scripture tells us over and
over and over again, the just shall live by faith. And living
by faith, we find faith to be the precious gift of our God.
In trials and temptations, in heartache and sorrow, in trouble
and in tribulation, in the fiery furnace and in the raging sea,
faith proves itself blessed. I'm not talking about faith Like
everybody else talks about faith, you know that. Faith in Christ. Faith in God. Oh, how blessed. How blessed. I look at things
people endure, look at things around us, and I think I don't
see how on this earth anybody outside Christ maintains any
sanity at all. But faith. to fall back on the
arms of the Son of God, faith in Christ. What a blessed gift. But never is faith so precious as it shall be when the cold
sweat of death is on our brow and we're about to leave this
world to meet God. You see, faith's greatest work
is its last work. Faith's greatest work is that
whereby we are enabled as believers to finish well, to die in the
Lord and die to the Lord for the glory of our God with patience,
hope, and joy. We'll be able to leave this world
behind and leave it behind gladly and comfortably. That is a blessed,
blessed, blessed privilege. How greatly God is glorified,
someone said. when his people leave this world
with their flag flying at full staff." Oh, how it honors God. In Hebrews
chapter 11, verses 20, 21, and 22, we're given three marvelous
examples of faith. Faith exercised in the final
crisis and conflict of life, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. what great examples they are.
By giving us these examples, God the Holy Spirit gives assurance
to trembling, doubting believers that he who has begun a good
work in you will perform it unto the last day, when Jesus Christ
at last brings us home to glory. God who has enabled his people
to believe, God who has given us faith, God who has enabled
us throughout the days of our lives to exercise faith. Someone says, well, faith is
not something we do. Oh, I beg your pardon. Faith is God's gift
in us, but it is a gift of God we exercise. It is that which
God works in us, but it is that by which we live. And God who
has given us grace to exercise faith in the vigor of health
and life. will not withdraw the power of
his grace in the weakness of death. Not only is it true that
the just live by faith, but all the just die in faith. We'll
read in Hebrews 11, 13, that these all died in faith. Now,
I'm not a morbid fellow. I hope folks don't misunderstand
what I'm saying. I try every day to think deliberately
about dying. I have for some time. I try every
day, deliberately, to think about dying. I realize that we don't
much like to talk about it naturally. We shy away from thoughts about
death, much less conversation about death than we're talking
about somebody else. We don't much like to think about our
own death. But we must prepare to meet God. And as believers,
we need instruction from the book of God to enable us to somehow
be made to be in preparation for this hour when we shall leave
this world with comfort, with comfort. And I want you, my brothers
and sisters, when the time comes to leave this world, leave comfortably. Oh, what a blessing that is to
leave here comfortably. Now, don't expect it now. Somebody
caught King Mr. Spurgeon one time, a young lady
who'd been converted for a while. She was struggling very serious.
She said, she was just broken up. She said, Pastor, I don't
believe I have dying grace. He said, are you dying? She said, well, I don't think
so. He said, well, where do you need it? God doesn't give anything
until you need it. But we do need instruction that
in that day we may have something upon which to lean and find comfort
by which God may give us that grace. A God-given, God-sustained
faith is not only sufficient to enable us, even the feeblest
of saints, to overcome the weakness, difficulties of the flesh, the
attractions of the world, the temptations of Satan, but it's
sufficient to enable us to die in peace. Hold your hands here
in Hebrews chapter 11, and I want you to turn back to Exodus 15. Brother Bobby reads this song
of Moses to us frequently, and he says it's one of his favorites.
It's one of my favorites, too. I never get tired of it. And
I think perhaps that part of it that comes to my mind most
frequently It's found in verses 16, 17, and 18, where in this
great song of triumph, Moses speaks to God about the easy
passage of believing men and women through the river of woe,
through the deep, deep waters, across to our desired haven in
heavenly glory. And that's clearly what's pictured
here. He says in verse 16, fear and dread shall fall on them.
On who? These enemies who pursue us. By the greatness of thine arm
they shall be as still as a stone. That roaring lion is as quiet
as a mouse. They shall be as still as a stone
till thy people pass over. O Lord, till the people pass
over, which thou hast purchased. Thou shalt bring them in, and
plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place,
O Lord, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the
sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established. The Lord
shall reign forever and ever. It is written, Psalm 116 if you
want to read it later. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of his saints. Precious. Balaam said, let me
die the death of the righteous. Let my last end be like his.
The believer, you see, has his best experience in this world
when he has his last experience in this world. no matter how
it comes. The path of the just is as a
shining light, the wise man said, that shines more and more unto
the perfect day. Well, pastor, how can you say
that in the light of what you've observed? I've seen men dying
in great pain and difficulty. The fact is this body, very well
made in God's wise and good providence, convulsed with pain, I may in that last time be brought
to a state of physical unconsciousness. Yet my soul, once it is freed
from this body of flesh and sin, once it is set free from this
prison, will be blessed with a sight
and sense and knowledge of my Redeemer, I have never yet known
and cannot know till then. Our last act be the best. When we leave here, we have begun
to live. No wonder our Lord said, he that
liveth and believeth on me shall never die. The body, yes, but
not me. Have a picture of this. In those
last words of Acts chapter 7, where Stephen is being stoned
to death, the scripture says, he, being full of the Holy Ghost,
looked up steadfastly to heaven and saw the glory of God and
Jesus standing on the right hand of God. standing on the right hand of
God. Only two times in the New Testament after the resurrection
do you see the Lord Jesus standing. I'll give you a picture of him
standing. One is in Revelation 10, the angel holding the book
with one foot on the earth and one on the sea fulfilling God's
decrees. And the other is him standing
to receive his own as they enter into glory. And Stephen saw the
glory of God as he saw that man standing on the right hand of
God. The psalmist said, mark the perfect man, behold the upright
for the end of that man is peace. I don't mean to suggest that
those who do not die with confidence and assurance die with perfect
peace. I do not know God, not at all.
Matter of fact, I read one time years ago, there was one of Mr.
Spurgeon's loyal, faithful members, and he was a starward believer,
dependable man, had been for years. He had several sons, not
one of them believed God, not one of them. And when he was
about to die, and he knew his time had come, He wanted his
sons to be there, so he sent word for them and they came.
And this man who was so confident, so strong, just a pillar of faith, died trembling, fearful, with
no confidence, no assurance, no peace. He wanted to show his
sons how a believer dies, hoping maybe that would have proper
effect on them. And he died exactly opposite of what he hoped. Exactly
opposite. And it had the proper effect
on him. The boy sat down after the funeral and the older son
called his brothers to the table and he said, after some conversation,
he said, if it was so hard for our father to die, how will it
be for us? And God was pleased to have mercy
on some of them. Spurgeon baptized him. And commenting
on this verse, Spurgeon said, with believers, it may rain in
the morning and thunder at midday and pour torrents in the afternoon,
but it must clear up ere the sun go down. And so it is written,
the end of that man is peace. Now, clearly, this is the case
with Jacob. I want us to look at him tonight.
Our text will be Hebrews 11, 21. As I prepared this message, my
heart kept crying out to God, Lord, let me die like this. Let me die like this. I want to show you three things
from this text. First, Jacob was a believer.
It's a pity we have to be reminded of that, but he was. Second,
Jacob left his sons A rich, rich heritage. And third, Jacob is
a great comfort to me. All right, look at the text.
By faith, Jacob. Tricky, cunning, unstable, fickle
Jacob. Sinful Jacob. By faith, Jacob
is real, the prince with God. When he was dying, blessed both
the sons of Joseph and worshiped, leaning on his staff. All right,
first understand this, Jacob was a believer, a man of true
faith. He had his weaknesses, he had
his faults, some of them great. He had his failures, some of
them great. And yet he was a man who believed
God. He is described in this book
as a prince with God, chosen of God in eternal love, redeemed
by Christ, washed in his blood, the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world, a man made righteous by the grace of God, born of
the Spirit, called by grace. Jacob was one of us. He is often
used in the scriptures. His name is used as that which
represents all who believe God. Above all the other patriarchs,
more than any of the others, Jacob's life was marked with
trials continually. Temptations continually. All
the patriarchs had their trials. All of them had their temptations.
But Jacob seems to have all the days of his life struggled with
trials and temptations, one on top of the other. And therefore
he furnishes us with many illustrious examples of faith. You see, the
life of faith is not as most people think of it. It is not
a sailing on a calm sea with a cool breeze and no storms and
everything's fine. It is not sitting back drinking
lemonade under the shade in a beautiful bright sunny day. Not what it
is. The life of faith is a difficulty. It's a difficulty. You experience
trials because you believe God, you'd never experience if you
didn't. You experience heartaches because you believe God, you'd
never experience if you didn't. You experience battles and oppositions
because you believe God, you'd never experience if you didn't.
Jacob walked by faith, but in the exercise of his faith, he
encountered struggle after struggle. It seems as you read his life
story given to us in Genesis, from the beginning, his was an
uphill battle, and it didn't seem to make much progress. In
spite of all his faults and failings, this man Jacob dearly prized
the Lord Jesus Christ. He prized him. We look at him
and think, well, it wasn't much to him. But, oh, there was something
to it. This man prized Christ. He prized
him above everything. He loved him above everything.
Like Peter, sometimes he didn't look like it, but he loved him.
He truly loved him. We are all full of error, like
Jacob is. But I would to God we were as
faithful as Jacob in most things. We are all like Jacob, if we
are born of God, a people with two warring natures, flesh and
spirit. The flesh lusting against the
spirit, the spirit against the flesh, so we cannot do the things
we would. But that which is most prominent
about this man, that which just stands out about this man, if
you read the scripture account, if you read things as they are
revealed in the book, not just pull this out, pull that out.
The one thing that characterized this man throughout his life
He believed God from the time God made himself known to him
to the time he left this world. Up and down, weaknesses and strengths,
pluses and minuses, Jacob believed God. He valued the birthright. Sometimes I know God has deliberately
written histories of these men so that it's absolutely impossible
for me to put my finger on it. And said, right there, that's
where he began believing God. You're not going to find it.
You're not going to find it. Before the Lord ever wrestled
with him and made him confess his name, Jacob prized that birthright
his brother despised. He prized it. He coveted God's
promises of free grace, covenant mercy, which had been given to
his father Abraham and his father Isaac. Jacob desired for God
to be his God. He said, the Lord shall be my
God. The Lord shall be my God. This is my determination. I will
not be moved from this. Despite all you see and all you
think, this God shall be my God. I'll not be moved from him. He
who is the Lord. Yes, Jacob was terrified at his
brother Esau. But terrified or no, he sought
the Lord, pleaded his promises, and got the answer of peace.
In the midst of his terror, the Lord said, I will surely bless
you, and I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. And Jacob
went on. Though he changed, he cringed
at the feet of Esau, He prevailed as a prince with God. And like
his fathers, Abraham and Isaac, the scripture tells us in verse
nine of Hebrews 11, that Jacob sojourned in the land of promise
as in a strange country, dwelling in tents. You see, Abraham, we're
told there in verse nine, with his sons sojourned as a stranger,
dwelling in tents, worshiping God. In other words, Jacob, like
his fathers, was a soldier. Like his father, walked before
God in this world, knowing himself to be a pilgrim here. During
the closing days of his life, oh, how brightly Jacob's faith
shined then. When he was an old man, he gave
permission, finally, in the midst of difficulties, he He cried,
all these things are against me, but finally, in the midst
of all that, all that's said and done, he finally gave his
son Benjamin into the hands of his brothers to take him down
to Egypt. And this is what he said, God
almighty, God all sufficient, that's what
the word means, give you mercy before that man. He rested his
soul on his God as he turned everything over to him. God in
his providence had brought the old man at last to utter emptiness,
utter helplessness, utter despair in himself, utter despair in
his sons, utter despair in any creature comfort. And it's either
give up Benjamin or die right here. And he said, take him. And God all sufficient bless
you. You see, faith generally is exercised
when God fixes it. So we can't do anything but trust
him. So sad and so amazing. We believe God. I mean we flat
learn to believe God when he fixes it so we can't do anything
else. The difference between that and
the desperate cry of the rebel, the desperate cry of the unbeliever
is the unbeliever says, God help! The believer says, God will help. The believer says, God will,
God will. Jacob, when he was brought before
Pharaoh at last, oh, how he honored God in faith. In Genesis 47,
here's this man Jacob, this old man, this man with nothing. I mean, his family starving to
death, him and all his sons and daughters and in-laws, grandchildren,
all of them, they're starving to death so they finally come
down to Egypt in desperation, come down there so that they
can live. And he comes before that man,
Pharaoh, who is the greatest ruler of the greatest empire
the world has ever known. That mighty, mighty king, that
king who could just do like that. Somebody come take his head off.
And old Jacob, bowed himself before God, not before Pharaoh. And he worshipped God, not Pharaoh. And he acted like a man who was
a prince with God before Pharaoh. Instead of groveling before him,
Jacob walked into the king's court and blessed Pharaoh. The Lord bless you. I'm his. He's going to bless you because
of what you've done this day. The Lord bless you. He didn't
grovel at all. He acted like one who was, he
wasn't arrogant, but he was a prince with God. He spoke to Pharaoh
as one who was the child of the king of kings, the ambassador
for the Most High God. All right, now, turn back to
Genesis 48. I want you to see this second thing. When he was dying, this old man, blessed his sons, leaving them
a rich, rich, rich heritage by faith. I'm reminded of Martin Luther.
He actually wrote this in his will. I can't give you the exact
quote, but it's very close. He said, Lord, I have neither
land nor money, to leave my children, so I leave my children to you." Oh, what a rich heritage. What a rich heritage. Jacob here
leaves his sons, Joseph and his sons, in the hands of God. His benediction upon his sons
which David read and we read with him just a little bit ago,
was a great act of faith. Let me show you three things
about it. First is realization. He knew he was dying. Not only
did he know he was dying, but he knew what God had promised,
what God had said, what God would do. Jacob exercised faith in
his old age. And then the immediate prospect
of death. Look at verse 21, Genesis 48. Israel said unto Joseph, behold,
I die. And as much as to say, don't
fret about that because God's work, God's goodness, God's promise,
God's kingdom doesn't in any way depend on me. Look at the
next word. But God shall be with you. I'm fixing to leave here,
but God's purpose is going on. I'm fixing to leave here, but
God's kingdom is going on. I'm fixing to leave here, but
God's truth is going on. I'm fixing to leave here, but
God's church is going on. God shall be with you, and God
shall bring you into the land of your fathers. In spite of
all his trials and conflicts, weaknesses and discomfort of
old age, this old man was firm in faith and vigorous. in the exercise of it. His natural
decay didn't cause any abandonment or any abatement with regard
to faith. In blessing Joseph and his sons,
Jacob solemnly recognized and pleaded God's covenant as the
basis for all good. He said in verse 50, He blessed
Joseph and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac
did walk. That is to say, God, my covenant
God. God, the God of the covenant. God, the God of Abraham and Isaac,
our fathers. That faithful and true God. Now
listen to me. Here's the core of comfort. Faith lays hold of Christ. and God's covenant grace in him
and gives it peace. Although my house be not so with
God, yet the Lord hath made with me
an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure. And this
is all my salvation and it's all I want. It's all my desire,
all of it. God will fulfill his covenant. You see, the covenant is the
foundation of all blessedness. It's the charter of our heavenly
inheritance. It's the guarantee of our everlasting
glory. Faith draws strength from the
covenant. God's doing good. All things
are yours. For you're Christ and Christ
is God's. There shall no evil happen to the just. God made
a covenant for you. He said, I'll make a covenant
with you, even with the beast of the field. A dog's not going
to bark against you. No, sir. No evil shall happen
to you. It shall be well with the righteous.
Faith walks in the light of God's covenant. The Lord God has promised
he'd do me good. Now look back yonder. Go back and read the days of
your diary. If you have one or read the days
of your diary, if you can just think of things in your mind,
go back and read those days. Oh yeah, he did me good. Now,
looking this way, I can't see it. Looking here, I can, but
looking back here, he's done me good. He's doing me good. He shall do me good. He who keeps
God's covenant in view lives in peace and he'll die
in peace. In verse 15, Jacob declared that
all temple as well as spiritual blessings were his by virtue
of God's covenant. He says, the God which said me,
look at this now, all my life long unto this day. If he fed me with ashes, he still
fed me. If he fed me with delight and
happiness, he fed me. If he fed me with tears, he fed
me. If he fed me with bitterness,
he fed me. If he fed me with pain, he fed
me. If he fed me with joy and happiness,
he fed me. But he fed me every day all my
life long. Oh, God, give me grace now. And
when I'm leaving this world to leave you just like this. Look
at verse 60. Jacob remembered He said, the
angel which redeemed me from all evil. As an old man, he still
remembered what God had done for him. He speaks of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the angel of the covenant. He redeemed me from
all evil. He did it in his purpose, yes.
He's done it by his blood sacrifice, yes, typified in these sacrifices
by which I've been worshiping God all my life. He's done it
by his effectual saving grace, delivering me from myself. He's
done it in his daily providence. And he's sure enough fixing to
deliver me, buddy. I'm fixing to leave here. He
delivered me from all evil. And one of these days, he's going
to raise this body up from the grave and deliver me from all
the consequences of it. Amen. Look at verses 16, 17,
and 18. I won't read them to you, but
you can look at them. Jacob not only realized he was
dying, not only did he remember what God had done for him, Jacob
had divine revelation, special insight given him when he was
dying. His eyes were dim. The old age,
he couldn't see anything much. And when Joseph brought his sons,
he set Ephraim and Manasseh before him, and he was determined how
his father was going to bless them. He said, I know how this
thing works. So he set Manasseh on Jacob's
right side, Ephraim over on his left side. And Jacob saw more
than his young son did. He saw a whole lot more than
Joseph did. He crossed his hands. had blessed those boys. Joseph
said, don't do that! Jacob said, son, I know what I'm doing. I
know what I'm doing. This is God's purpose. This is
what God's going to do. And this is how he's going to
do it. You see, in his old age, this man who seemed to have confused
so much, had clear insight, understanding the purpose of God, and determined
to submit to it. He desired the blessings of God's
grace in Christ for his sons more than all the wealth of Egypt.
He spoke about leaving that land. He said, oh, it's a rich land.
Good things here. There's something better. Oh,
mothers and fathers and grandma and grandpa, learn to teach your
sons and daughters. There's something preferable
to this. something preferable to, something
more important than this. Set your heart yonder, not here. And even in his dying hour, let me pause. Understand now,
Joseph was from the beginning, the apple of his daddy's eye.
The only thing The only thing in this world that compared with
Jacob's love for Joseph was Rachel. Oh, he loved that woman, but
she's gone. And now Joseph, he got Joseph back. Oh, he loved
Joseph. He loved Joseph. But when he knew the will of
God was contrary to the will of that which was the object
of his greatest favor in this world, he was resolved. He said, no son, this is the
way it's going to be. This is God's will. This is God's
purpose. And taught his son in his old
age, obedience to his God. Now, let me give you one more
thing. is a great source of comfort
and encouragement to me. If I had been given the task
of picking out an example of faith, Don, search the scriptures and
find an example, a prime example of faith, something that will
teach my people about my grace and encourage my people to believe
me, encourage my people to go on in faith. I suspect there's
only one fellow identified as a believer in this book that
I would have put down on the ladder below Jacob, maybe a lot. But God's indescribably, infinitely
wiser than I am. He's waving up my ways. They're
higher, infinitely higher than mine. And I'm thankful God chose
Jacob for the example. Jacob was a man a whole lot like
me. He was a believer, but he was often very unbelieving.
He was a righteous man, but a lot of times he didn't
act much like it. He loved God. But frequently he said and did
things, made it look like he loved himself more. He was faithful, a faithful man. But if we read his life, Larry,
he appears to be as thick as water. Jacob was a man who was one of
the patriarchs. That means he's one of the pillars. He's one of the pillars on which
stands the kingdom of God. But he seemed to be as weak as
shifting sand. He was a saint, washed in the
blood of Christ, robed in the righteousness of Christ, born
of God, given the holiness of Christ. But he was a horribly sinful
man. You say, well, Pastor, how on earth does that Encourage
you. He's been in glory with Christ without spot or wrinkle
for thousands of years. He's one of those great cloud
of witnesses set before us to encourage us to run with faith,
with patience, the race that's set before us. By faith, Jacob,
when he was dying, blessed both his sons. He's now with Christ because
God chose him. Christ redeemed him. The Spirit
called him. God gave him faith. And God kept
him. And God said, I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore, you
sons of Jacob are not consumed. Next, I can identify with Jacob.
And that encourages me. Encourages me. And the last word
about this fellow? Oh, he worshipped. When he was leaving this world,
he worshipped. He worshipped. Leaning on his staff. Notice how the scripture emphasizes
that? Leaning on his staff. You can picture this old man
sitting on the edge of his bed, bedpost by him. His eyes are
dim, he's too feeble to get up, and he's got his staff there. Perhaps it means he's leaning
on his bedpost or bedpost about arm high. Perhaps it means he
had a staff under his arm. Kind of popped himself up as
he leans out to bless those boys. And he put all the weight of
his body on his staff, worshiping God. Oh, God, give me grace to
leave here, worshiping you, believing you, leaning on my staff, Christ
crucified. And I'll die in peace. Amen.