Good evening. That's what they
had old brother Barnard come to town and he was my age. He
was in his early 40s when that happened. It's a pleasure to
be here with you and I want to send the greetings from the brethren
there in San Diego and in California. Many of them told me to tell
you hello and send their love to you and it's a privilege to
be here with you and it's a privilege to, the Lord lets me preach.
He talked about it earlier, I said I like preaching. I do, I read
some things. Parts of the week I don't, if
I'm looking for a message. But if I think the Lord's gave
me something, I'm excited to tell somebody else. I hope this
is good for you tonight. If you will, let's turn to Genesis
46. Genesis 46, we've been going
through Genesis there in California, and I know you all have here,
just finished up this summer. Been looking at Joseph for a
long time, has a picture of Christ. And Jacob, as the Lord calls
him, Israel as he's named, that's us. I'll give you a little background
that Jacob had been cast into prison and were sold off and
then cast into prison and now he's running Egypt. And his brothers
came, they were hungry, two years into this famine. And he changed
his tone with him. It seemed like he was dealing
sternly with him and rough, but he was dealing with him in love.
It seemed harsh at the time. And he said, you go get your
father. Second time they went back. He said, go get your father.
I'm gonna send wagons. You're gonna tell him everything
I've told you. And you're gonna take these wagons
from Pharaoh and you're gonna bring him back. I'm gonna send
witnesses and wagons. I'm gonna tell you about it and
I'm gonna provide the provision for you to return to me. So he
did. He sent those to him and the
brethren talked to, his brethren talked to their father Jacob
and they said, he's alive and he sent for you and we're wrong. And they told everything that
Joseph told, word for word. And Jacob, he heard that and
he saw the wagons and he said, this is enough. This is enough. This is good. It's everything
I've needed. This is all my salvation. This
is all my desire. And he's 130 years old. And they
said, you're gonna get in this wagon and you're gonna make a
very long, hard journey all the way to your son, Joseph. You're
gonna go see him. And he said, let's go. Now here
in Genesis 46, it begins in verse one. And Israel took his journey
with all that he had and came to Beersheba and offered sacrifices
unto God the God of his father Isaac. And God spake unto Israel
in the vision of the night. He said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, here am I. And he
said, I am God, the God of thy father. Fear not to go down into
Egypt, for I will there make of thee a great nation. I will
go down with thee into Egypt, and I will also surely bring
thee up. And Joseph shall put his hand
upon thine eyes. And Jacob rose up from Beersheba.
And the sons of Israel carried Jacob, their father, and their
little ones, and their wives in the wagons which Pharaoh had
sent to carry him. And they went to Joseph. The
Lord talked to Jacob. And there's a picture of us.
And he said, you're going to go down to Egypt. Don't you be
afraid to go where I'm going to send you. And Joseph's there,
that's a picture of Christ. And Pharaoh, picture that God
the Father sent these chariots to take you, these wagons to
take you. And he said, and Joseph's gonna put his hand on your eyes.
I've heard that preached several ways and it's good. Just as the
Lord healed the blind man, Christ is gonna come to his family. He's gonna touch our eyes and
give us sight. And that's true, but Jacob's gonna die one day.
Jacob's gonna have to die. There's gonna come a day that
I'm not gonna be here anymore. There's a lot of questions I
have. We understand things in part. We see through a glass
dimly. Some people ask me real hard questions. I say, give me
about 60 years and I'll be able to tell you all about it. Sometime
in the next 60 years, I'll know as I am now. But right now, I
see through a glass dimly. Jacob's gonna have to die, he
must. We must die. Turn over to Genesis 47. Genesis 47 verse 27. This will
be our text. Jacob had made it to Egypt and
Joseph had had him settle in the land of Goshen, the finest
land, and they just multiplied. And that famine had been for
two years and they showed up and he said, you got five years
left. It's going to be rough, but the Lord will provide for
you. And here in Genesis 47, 27, and Israel dwelt in the land
of Egypt in the country of Goshen. And they had possessions therein
and grew and multiplied exceedingly. And Jacob lived in the land of
Egypt 17 years. So the whole age of Jacob was
147 years. And the time drew nigh that Israel
must die. And he called his son Joseph.
and said unto him, if now I have found grace in thy sight, put,
I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly
with me. Bury me not, I pray thee, in
Egypt. But I will love my fathers, and
thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying
place. And he said, Joseph speaking,
I will do as thou hast said. And Jacob said, swear unto me. And he swear unto him. And Israel
bowed himself upon the bed's head. It was time that he must
die. All will die. The scriptures
say it's appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.
So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. And seminaries
can argue it till the cows come home of, well, there was those
that were translated and he not was not, he walked with God.
The church came down for Elijah and that's fine, but sometime
this is going to stop and everybody's going to meet the Lord. We understand
that. How much better it is that if
the Lord in this Egypt that we live in, he has us to die to
self now in this world. and live to Christ, and then
dying is gain. That's salvation. If we think
we're so alive, our biggest hindrance is we breathe oxygen in our heartbeats.
We think we're alive spiritually because we're physically alive.
But if he makes us die to self, he slays us. That law comes and
I died. And he's my only hope. Then when
this world's over, for me to live to Christ to die is gain.
To go home is a good thing, isn't it? We don't have here a story
of an old father saying goodbye to his son, or giving his last
will and testament to a favorite son, and establishing the executor
of his estate. That's not what we hear here.
This is how sinners are saved while we're living here in Egypt.
This is precious, the Lord shows to us. And how we are to leave
this world. How I want to leave this world.
It's not my business to teach people how to live. The scriptures
have instruction for us, and I know what they mean. As we
work through a book, these things are obvious. But I hope I'm able
to help people to die. You're going to meet your maker
one day. We looked it up before. I think
it's 150,000 people a day die. That breaks my heart. I want
to preach to them. I want this gospel to go forth
to them, don't you? Sometimes we have loved ones
go. There's a lot to learn in these scriptures, but we're gonna
meet him. A time must come. Verse 29, Genesis
47, 29, it says, in the time drew nigh that Israel must die. We must die now. We have that
need and most don't know it. We must die to sin, we must be
dead to ourselves, we must be dead to the law, or we will perish
forever. And for Israel, that's the prince
with God, That's us Jacobs here. It says we must die. That's good
news. You get that for God's chosen
people. Those that represent the ones that Christ died for.
This is gonna happen. God says so. You're gonna die. He's gonna find every one of
his elect. He's gonna send somebody to preach the gospel to them.
And they're gonna say, I can't live on my own. I have to have
him. He's gonna have to close my eyes and heal me and be my
redeemer. Israel, the time come that Israel
must die. How's that gonna take place?
What's gonna happen for the Lord to cause this to happen? It says,
in the time drew nigh that Israel must die and he called his son
Joseph. How's this gonna happen? Call
on the son. Call on the son. How are we gonna
be dead to this world and dead to sin and death and the law
and live in Christ. We're going to have to call on
the Son. That's what the Lord asked those Pharisees. They gathered
together and he asked them, he said, what think ye of Christ?
Whose son is he? And they said to him, he's the
son of David. He said, how then doth David in spirit call him
Lord? Saying, the Lord said to my Lord, set thou on my right
hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool. If David then
called him Lord, how is he his son? He posed this question. And in that culture at the time,
and until recently, elders were respected. And it would be just
preposterous for a father to respect a son or a grandson or
something like that. They couldn't understand it because
it was just physical deep. They were Egypt deep. I thought of Brother Henry going
down and sitting underneath his son, Paul. And whenever he'd
get in front of him, he'd say, our pastor told us. Now, how
could he do that? He was his pastor, wasn't he?
Well, that was a man's sin of God. That's what it was. How
could David call this offspring of his that's in his house, Lord? Well, he might physically be
my offspring. That's the eternal one. That's
the self. He's God. That's who he is. And
he revealed himself to him and he bowed to him, didn't he? We
are to call the son. It says, in the time drew nigh,
that Israel must die. And he called his son Joseph,
and he said unto him, if now I have found grace in thy sight. I love that word, if. You know
what that says? The whole tone of this event. This is the attitude, and this
is the spirit that Jacob, the father, was speaking to his son.
So it physically happened. He said, if. Jacob was humbled
to ask correctly. He didn't go in and demand grace. He didn't go in and say, well,
there's a whole shelf full of grace and this is my cup, I'm
taking it. Whoever else wants it, go get it. He had a good
answer. He said, if I found grace. He
did not have the attitude saying, son, I raised you. I fathered you. Do you remember
all the things I did for you? I changed your diapers. Remember
that coat I made you? That coat of many colors? I know
it made the other ones jealous, but look at all the good things
I've done for you. He said, I found grace, and I
sought. If I found grace, and I sought. Not well, your brethren
come back. They did something wrong, and
I was mad at them for the whole time you've been down here in
Egypt. And I really missed you, and I cried a lot of tears because
of you, because I just really liked you. He said, if. If I found grace in thy sight. You see this picture of coming
to Christ. We come to the son and we don't demand things to
him. We plead for mercy. We plead for grace. Now was that
me because I'm so good and I did that? He put that heart in him. It was his will and his purpose
and his wagons that sent for me and brought me there and spoke
that grace in my heart to ask him for mercy. If. Verse 29, and the time drew nigh
that Israel must die. This is gonna happen. And he
called his son, Joseph, and said unto him, if now I have found
grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh. What's that? Well, the commentators
have a lot to say. It's a sign of a covenant in
those days. This was something that would take place when a
covenant was established That may help them, does that help
you? This is good, we need a covenant. Turn back a little bit to Genesis
24. This is foreshadowed there with Abraham. Abraham had a servant,
Eleazar, that was just, I wanna be a servant like Eleazar was.
He didn't complain and worship the Lord as his master taught
him. But he was gonna send his servant out to go get a bride
for his son. You see a picture there? Genesis
24 verse 1. And Abraham was old and well stricken
in age, and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. And Abraham
said unto his eldest servant of the house that ruled over
all that he had, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh,
and I will make thee swear by the Lord, the God of heaven,
and the God of earth that thou shalt not take a wife unto my
son of the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I dwell, but thou
shalt go into my country and to my kindred and take a wife
unto my son Isaac. He said, you put your hand under
my thigh. This is this covenant we're gonna
swear here. And you're gonna swear to me
by the God of heaven and earth, you're gonna go get a bride I've
decided. The bride I've chosen from the
place I've chosen for my son. That's a covenant. There's a
true sign. But it's explaining the covenant.
This is what the act was, but this explains the true covenant
that we have. Turn over there to Genesis 32.
I thought of this. Genesis 32 verse 24. Genesis 32, 24. And Jacob was
left alone, and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking
of day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him,
he touched the hollow of his thigh. And the hollow of Jacob's
thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him. And he said,
let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee
go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, here's
the blessing, what's your name? He said, Jacob, supplanter, cheat,
deceiver. If the Lord makes somebody see
their sin, that's a blessing, isn't it? And what did he do? He got us, we always think our
hearts. Well, if I know my heart, that means we think we know our
hearts, don't we? It's deceitful and wicked above all things.
But there's an organ in here that pumps and does something.
You ever had your hip hurt or your lower back go out? That's
real common nowadays, right in the middle of you. You can't
sneeze, you can't wiggle your toes. It just hurts all over,
don't it? Right where we're hinged in the
middle. And the Lord's come to Jacob
and he touched him in the hollow of his thigh. Broke him, made
him submit. And he said, what's your name?
He said, I'm called by what I am. I'm sin. You got that vulnerable joint,
he got touched there. Now back in Genesis 47, he said,
you got to put your hand on my thigh. That's what happened to
him in Genesis 32. Genesis 47, verse 29. And the time drew nigh
that Israel must die. And he called his son, Joseph,
and said unto him, if now I have found grace in thy sight, put,
I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh. Well, that's where the
Lord broke him, wasn't it? And he said, you support my brokenness. You show me I'm broken, you gonna
have to do everything. You put it under my thigh. That's
my inability right there. And you put your hand on it,
underneath it, and you promise to carry me. I can't. Put your hand under my thigh
and carry me. You have to, I'm unable. I know
that, your wagon's brought me here. I'm 147 years old, I can't
do it. I'm unable. He says, if I've
now found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under
my thigh and deal kindly and truly with me. Deal kindly with
me. That word is loving kindness. Deal with me in loving kindness. In the Psalms alone, David uses
that specific word 21 times, no less than 21 times. He says
in Psalm 36, that how excellent is thy loving kindness, O God. That's how Jacob wanted to be
dealt with. That's how I want to be dealt with by the Lord.
And loving kindness, deal with me tenderly. And he says, therefore,
the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy
wings. Because you've dealt with me that way, I trust you, Lord.
So kind to me. He's not an austere man. He's
not harsh. That's tender. That's kind. He
showed me what I was. He showed me my brokenness. He
put his hand under me and he's gonna carry me. Deal with me
in loving kindness. David said in Psalm 138, I will
praise thee with my whole heart before the gods will I sing praise
unto thee. I will worship toward thy holy
temple and praise thy name for thy loving kindness. and thy
truth. Because of that kindness, that
loving kindness, and because of your truth, I'm gonna worship
towards your holy temple. Lord said what he would do for
Gomer, didn't he? He said, I'll betroth thee unto
me forever. Yea, I will betroth thee unto
me in righteousness and in judgment and in loving kindness. And it
doesn't stop there. He said, I'll betroth you to
me in mercies. I'll even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness.
and thou shalt know the Lord. I want to be made faithful. Old
Darwin said that a couple of years ago, and it's just so simple,
but so true. A man either preaches the gospel or he don't. You either
sin of God to preach or you don't. And the only requirement of a
steward is not to be good or to do it for a long time, it's
to be faithful. He's about to make me faithful, and that's
awful loving and kind, I think. I want to be made faithful. There
in verse 29 again. He called his son Joseph and
said unto him, if now I have found grace in thy sight, put,
I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh and deal kindly and truly
with me. Deal with me in loving kindness
and it's gotta be true. I don't want you to say it, I
want you to do it. I don't want it to be as if you
love me, I want you to, this has to be just. This has to be
legitimate. Above par, pick a phrase that
means good and holy and right. It's gotta be true. Turn to Psalm 51. Psalm 51, verse one. David says, have mercy upon me,
oh God. This was after he found out he
needed mercy, wasn't it? This is after Nathan come to
him and he said, you're the man. And David, there ain't nobody
else on earth, it's me, I'm guilty. And he needed mercy, so he cried
for mercy. Have mercy upon me, oh God, according to, this is
in direct proportion, according to thy loving kindness. according
unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions,
wash me thoroughly from mine iniquities, and cleanse me from
my sin, for I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is
ever before me, against thee, and thee only have I sinned and
done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified
when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Lord, I've
sinned against you, and you need to be just, and I need you to
justify me. And this has to be clear when
thou judges, this has to be true and holy when you do it. Turn
over to Romans three, our brother read that earlier. Be good to look at it again.
Romans three, verse 23. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath
set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood to
declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are
past through the forbearance of God To declare, I say at this
time, his righteousness, that he might be just, that's true,
he might be true, and the justifier, that's kind, that's love, of
him which believeth in Jesus. How'd we get there? Those wagons
brought us and that providence brought us and his word and command
brought us. He supplied everything. Where's
boasting then? As Jacob's like, well, I was
leaning out the side of that wagon, I was pushing that wheel,
son, if, that's the attitude, if I found grace in his side.
Where's boasting then? It's excluded by what law? Of works, nay, but
by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a
man's justified by faith without the deeds of the law. And that's
just, that's true, that's right. Because of Christ, because of
his shed blood, because he became me. and bore me and I made him. The righteousness of God in him.
Because of that, it is perfectly right, it's true, it's acceptable
that I enter into the presence of a holy triune God that I offended,
that I was at war with. It's right. It's hard for me
to say that. It's just right. It's right for
me to enter, when my mother was alive, to enter her home. I have
every right to be there. I didn't go kick the door in
and knock tables over. I was respectful, but it's right for
me to be there. It's right. David said, although
my house be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting
covenant. He's the one that hurt my thigh,
and he's the one that put his hand under my thigh, and he's
carried me out, and he's revealed that now. What do you think is
going to happen when this life's over? He's promised these things. That's exactly what's going to
happen. He's going to see it through, isn't he? It's ordered in all
things and it's sure. And this is all my salvation
and it's all my desire. Do you want it any other way?
I don't. This is wonderful. Although he
make it not to grow, it doesn't seem in this world like it's
getting any better, does it? Them brethren were there in Egypt,
and there was two years of famine into it, and they had five years
left, and it's bad, it's probably gonna get worse, and this body's
gonna break down more, and we're gonna see our sin more, and that's
just, oh, it's horrible. Doesn't seem like it's growing,
but to be absent from the body, to be present with the Lord,
in the twinkling of an eye. We'll be conformed to His image,
and worship Him as He deserves to be worshiped, and honor Him,
and speak to Him, and He's gonna serve us at a supper. and teach us things. What a thought,
isn't it? Back in our text, Lord, don't
leave me to myself. Don't leave me here in Egypt.
Don't just tell me this good news and then make it go away
and I gotta tread water until this life's over. Don't leave
me here in Egypt where I'm a stranger. This isn't my home. Remember
Todd read that about Jacob that spoke a strange tongue in Egypt.
And I thought of Joseph. There's nothing Joseph's done
wrong. I've looked through his scriptures a lot, and we've been
in it about a year or so. And he was wrongfully done by
his brethren, and then he got falsely accused and cast into
prison. They changed his name. They made him learn a new language.
And he didn't complain not once. I think I've got to complain
if I've got to stop at a stoplight. There's some things I'd be mad
about in that. Not once. Not once. He just took it, didn't
he? But don't leave me here, Jacob
says, verse 29. In the time do now that Israel must die, and
he called his son Joseph, and said of him, if now I have found
grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh,
and deal kindly and truly with me. Bury me not, I pray thee,
in Egypt. But I will lie with my fathers,
and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying
places. Bury me. We say that we laid
somebody to rest, don't we? It's a resting place, they dwell
there. And Jacob said, you let me dwell
and rest where my father's rest. And the Lord told him, he said,
I'm the God of your father. I wanna rest where my father's
rested. I wanna rest, same place, the same green pastures that
our father Abraham laid down next to, that same shepherd he
had, that's what I want. I want no different. Don't you
leave me here. I'll be with my brethren and
glory with you. Not physically, that wasn't what
he's talking about. I mean, that's what they happened,
but what a picture. The Lord said, they come to him
and they said, Abraham's our father. And he said, if Abraham,
if you were his children, you would do the works of Abraham.
He would, he wouldn't be where I was, not cast me out. Paul
said, they're not all Israel, which are of Israel, neither
are they the seed of Abraham because they are children, but
in Isaac shall thou seed be called. I want to lie down in the green
pastures, the same ones Abraham did, and every one of our family
members. I want to rest in the person
and the work of Christ and nothing else. He said in verse 30, but
I will lie with my fathers And thou shalt carry me out of Egypt,
and bear me in their bearing places. That's cradle to beyond,
to glory. Lord, keep me. Do it. Save. Save, Lord. And here's Joseph a picture.
And he said, Joseph said, I will do as thou hast said. What a
promise. Mercy. Done. You be everything,
Lord. Be my all in all. Done. I'll
do it. But I'm weak. Are you weak? I
thought of Rahab, that only building left standing in Jericho, and
that brothel. And they said, well, no, we put
this scarlet line out the window, and this building's going to
stand. Got the whole family in there. You thought the parents
were disappointed in all these things, and now they're sitting in there.
Tell me one more time. I know you said what the messenger
said. Tell me what those messengers said one more time. I've heard
it, now tell me again. Tell me that old, old story one
more time. He said, I will do as thou hast
said. In verse 31, and he said, Jacob
says, swear unto me. He just did, didn't he? Those
Pharisees came to the Lord and they said, we require a sign.
He said, you're the wicked and adulterous generation, apart
from me. And then Thomas said, Lord, I ain't gonna believe unless
I touch your side. He said, come here, son, put your head right there.
That's sonship, isn't it? For the one that's our Lordship.
And Jacob says, swear unto me. And he's swearing to me. He swears. And again, and I wanna hear his
word. It says it right there. How long
has that been there? You ever done that? Has it always said
that? I wanna hear it again and again
and again and again. What will happen if the Lord
shows us our end? That's what Ecclesiastes says. It's better to be in the house
of mourning than in the house of feasting. And the living will
lay that to heart. If the Lord shows us our end
and he shows us what's gonna happen, we're gonna come to the
sun. We're gonna call on him and we're gonna find grace in
his sight. He ain't gonna find grace in
our sight. We're gonna find grace in his sight. And he's made a
covenant with us. We weren't even there then. He's
gonna reveal that covenant to us. And he's gonna deal with
us lovingly, in loving kindness. And he's gonna deal with us in
truth. This is not gonna be pretend. It's not gonna be as if or in
truth. and he's gonna carry us, and
he's gonna promise it to us, and he's gonna swear it to us
again. And then I'm gonna get weak next week, and I'm gonna
worry, and he's gonna swear it to us again. What's gonna happen
if the Lord does this in somebody? There's gonna be a response to
his ability. Look here at verse 31. He said,
swear unto me, and he's swearing to him. And Israel bowed himself
upon the bed's head. He bowed himself. That means
he was prostrate, obeisance, he worshiped. He worshiped. If the Lord does these things,
you're going to worship. You're going to worship. And
I thought too, back in Genesis 37, you can read it another time.
Joseph had this dream about his brothers, and they said, are
you serious? And that's what spurred up, they wanted to throw him
in a pit, get rid of him. But he had another dream, and he
said, even the stars and the moons won't make obeisance to
me. And he told Jacob that, and Jacob said, hold on, that's fine
if your brothers are bowing. You mean me and your mother's
gonna bow to you? You better stop that, that ain't gonna happen,
because we will not make obeisance to you. And then you know what,
what'd it say? He bowed himself upon the bed's head. Jacob made
obeisance. If the Lord declares something's
gonna happen, as Dad said, you can take it to the bank. It's
done. His word says so, don't it? If
the Lord said it, it'll come to pass. And Jacob laid his hand
on his eyes. Or Joseph laid his hands on Jacob's
eyes. And I thought, that's, he closed his eyes in death.
The Lord tells us in his word, I'll be with you always. till
the end of the world. I'll close your eyes. Be right
there with you. Carry the whole way and close
your eyes at the end and you'll be with me forever. That's a good
way to die, isn't it? That's a good way to leave this
sin-cursed earth, worshiping the sun, making obeisance. I
pray he'd let me do that. That'd be a good way, wouldn't
it? All right, Brother Todd. Thank you.