Would you turn back to Genesis
49? Extreme sin and extreme grace. By extreme, I mean reaching the
highest degree. Now, I got this title by Jacob's
description of his second and third sons, Simeon and Levi. And he had no illusions concerning
them. We see that by what he said about
his own two sons. Look with me once again in verse
five. Simeon and Levi are brethren.
And they were biological brethren. They had the same mom and dad,
Jacob and Leah. But I believe he means more than
that. I believe he means they're just alike. Simeon and Levi are
just alike. Instruments of cruelty are in
their habitations. Oh, my soul. Come not thou into
their secret, their secret council. Unto their assembly, mine honor,
be not thou united. For in their anger, they slew
a man. And in their self-will, they dig down a wall. He speaks
of their anger and their self-will, and he's referring to what took
place in Genesis chapter 34. I'll refresh your memory on that
in just a moment. Cursed be their anger, for it
was fierce in their wrath, for it was cruel. I will divide them
in Jacob and scatter them in Israel. Extreme sin. But notice what verse six says,
oh my soul, and remember this is Jacob speaking. Jacob, the
man who said few and evil have been the days of the pilgrimage
of my life. This is the same man who said,
I am not worthy of the least of thy mercies or the truth that
thou has shown unto me. Jacob was aware of the fact that
he was a deceitful man. He was aware of the fact that
he was a sinful man. He had no illusions with regard
to himself any more than he did his sons. But look what he says
in verse six. O my soul, come not thou into
their secret, unto their assembly mine honor. And that's Jacob
speaking. And he speaks of mine honor.
What honor, Jacob? You know, that's the same word
translated glory. The glory of God. Jacob says, my glory. And that's what I would call
extreme grace. And I hope you and I will understand
that by the end of this message. Extreme sin, exemplified in Simeon
and Levi. Extreme grace, exemplified in
Jacob. Now, like I said, Jacob knew
he was a bad person, a deceitful man who did unjust things to
get what belonged to others. And in spite of all that, he
could be a very hearty, self-righteous man. Yet he speaks of my glory. Now glory is the weight of excellency, the weight of
dignity that can only describe God himself. Do you believe you're
glorious? Of course you're not. Yet, he
speaks of my glory. And what he says with regard
to himself, every believer in this room can say with regard
to themselves. That glory that Jacob spoke of,
you possess. That's extreme grace, isn't it? Simeon and Levi, verse 5, are
brethren. They're just alike. Instruments of cruelty are in
their habitations. And he's referring to what took
place in Genesis 34. Let me remind you what took place.
The men of Shechem. In Genesis chapter 34, Saul,
Dinah, and there was a particular man, Dinah was their only sister,
and some men raped Dinah. And this man also wanted Dinah
to be his bride. And he comes and asks for permission
to marry her after this took place. Now somehow, Simeon and
Levi knew about this, and they came up with a plan. Here's what
we're going to do. They came to them and said, may
we have her to wife? They said, on one condition.
Every one of you need to circumcise yourselves. We can't mix with
you unless you're all physically circumcised. And once you're
physically circumcised, this entire city, then you can have
Dinah as your husband. We couldn't give her to somebody
that was uncircumcised. You can have Don as your wife,
and we'll mix with you." And they agreed. He loved this woman
so much, they agreed. And after they circumcised themselves,
three days later, when they were in much pain over what had taken
place, Simeon and Levi come in and kill everybody in the city
when they weren't able to defend themselves. They meted out what
they considered vengeance. Although only one man did this,
they destroyed an entire city out of vengeance. And then they
took their wives and their children and all their spoils and went
away with it. Now, what does he say with regard
to these people? Now, what the men of Shechem
did was wrong, but what they did was wronger. I wouldn't in
any way say that, I mean, the men of Shechem were evil in what
they did, or that man in Shechem, but what they did, they decided
to be vigilante and they decided to kill everybody. And that's
what they did. They wiped out that city. These are the two sons of Jacob.
And so he says, instruments of cruelty. Verse 5, Simeon and
Levi are brethren, instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. Oh my soul, come not thou into
their secret, their secret council. What really makes them tick is
what he's saying. I don't want to even be close to them. That's
how he felt about these boys. I don't want to be close to them.
I don't want to have anything to do with them. And in saying that, he
was saying, if I get around them, I'd be infected by them. Now
I think, Jacob, you ought to have enough understanding of
yourself, but that's what he says. If I even come close to
these people, these two boys, I'll be infected by them. Come
not thou near unto their secret and to their assembly, their
religious gathering. Mine honor be not thou united.
Don't join their church. For in their anger they slew
a man, and in their self-will they dig down a wall. Now there's
two words he gives to describe these two boys, anger and self-will. Anytime there's anger, ultimately
it's anger at God. You get angry, you get angry,
don't you? You get angry over injustices,
you get angry over things that take place, sure you do. But
the bottom line is, anytime we get angry, we're getting angry
at the first cause. He is in control of everything. And whatever happens is His will
being done. Now, are you saying God is the
author of evil? I'm saying this, he's completely
sovereign over the free and uncoerced actions of men, and he's the
first cause behind everything. That doesn't get men off the
hook. If I do something sinful, I can't blame God and say, well,
God purposed that. I can't say that. It's my fault. All of it's my fault. But it's
also true that God exercises complete sovereign control over
everybody and everything. The lot is cast in the lap. And
in our modern vernacular, that would be the roll of the dice.
But the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. But they were
angry. They were angry at what took
place. So what did they do in their
anger? Well, they dig down a wall, they broke down the wall of that
city, and they came in and murdered everybody there. They did this
in their self-will. You know, the principal part
of our sinfulness is seen in our will. The will is chained to an evil
nature. There's no such thing as free
will. God doesn't have free will. His will is controlled by His
nature. He can't sin. He can't do that which is unjust. And our will is controlled by
our nature. The very thought of free will
is actually ludicrous. But he says in their self-will,
this is what they wanted to do. They wanted to dig down a wall
and they wanted to kill everybody. And that's exactly what they
did in their anger. Anger and self-will. He said,
curse would be their anger. The fierceness of their anger
and the cruelty of their wrath. He says, they'll be divided and
scattered and never attain to any strength. Now that's what
he says about his two boys. But in the midst of this exposition
of their extreme sin, we have this statement of extreme grace. And this statement is true of
every single believer without exception. He said in verse six,
mine honor, mine honor. Now, like I said, that's the
word that is generally translated glory. When Jacob is speaking
of mine honor, he's speaking of my glory. And what does he mean by that? As I've already said, this is
the same word Moses used when he said, I beseech thee, show
me thy glory. This is what Moses said to God.
Now remember, he'd already seen the 10 plagues. He'd already
seen the parting of the Red Sea. He'd already seen manna come
down and feed the children of Israel from heaven. He'd already
seen water gushing out of a rock. after it was smitten. He had
already seen the giving of the law. He had already seen the
10 commandments. He'd seen these things, and yet
he says, I beseech you, I've not seen your glory yet. Show
me your glory. Have you and I made that request? If not, why? I beseech you, show
me thy glory. Now, turn with me to that passage
in Exodus chapter 33. Verse 18, this is Moses speaking to God. And he said, I beseech thee.
Show me thy glory. That's the same word that Jacob
used with regard to himself. Show me thy glory. And he said,
God answers him. And I have to say, it's only
a partial answer. He said, you can't see my face.
If you saw my face, it'd kill you. I'll let you see my back
parts. God's glory is so glorious. Look
what he says. And he said, I'll make all my
goodness pass before thee. God's glory is his goodness. He's good all the time. There's never a time when he's
not good. How could a good God allow that
to happen? Because He's good. Everything
He does is good. When the Lord was thanking His
Father for hiding these things from the wise and prudent and
revealing them unto babes, He gives this as the reason, even
so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. You know why I know everything
God does is good, whether I understand it or not? Because of his character.
I don't have to know why I did something. I don't need to know
what his reason behind it is, but he's good. So whatever he
does is good. You believe that? Whatever he
does is good. Well, how about, it's good. And
you and I can't see his end. He's got a good end. He always
brings good out of evil. You meant it for evil, but God
meant it for good. And that's true with regard to
everything. He's good. Whatever he does is
good. If he saves one and passes by
another, it's good because he's good. Whatever he does is good. However he does it is good. His
goodness, the Lord, is good all the time, and his salvation is
good. I say this. I hope with fear
his damnation is good. Because he's good. Whatever he
does is good. I'll make all my goodness pass
before thee. And then he says, I will proclaim
the name of the Lord before thee. Now his name is his attributes. It's his sovereignty. It's his
holiness. It's his justice. It's the person
behind the name. And he goes on to make that known
in chapter 34. We're going to read that in just
a moment. But he says, I'll proclaim my name before you. You're going
to find out who I am. His glory is who he is. I'll
proclaim my glorious attributes before you. And here's the third
thing he says, and I'll be gracious. to whom I will be gracious, and
will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. Now, you remember
what Moses prayed in Genesis 32? He said, if you don't save
them all, blot me out of the book. What a glorious, you know,
the Lord said that with regard to his people. Blot me out of
the book. And that's what happened on the
cross. The Lord says to Moses, you don't
tell me what to do. I'll be gracious to whom I will
be gracious. And I'll have mercy on whom I
will have mercy. This is called sovereign mercy. I'll be gracious to whom I will
be gracious. I'll show mercy on whom I will show mercy. What
was said of Pharaoh? Even for this same purpose have
I raised thee up. that I might show my power in
thee and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth."
This is his sovereign grace. I'll be gracious to him. I will
be gracious. Verse 20, and he said, thou canst not see my face.
Like I said, this was a partial revelation of his glory. Thou
cannot see my face for there shall no man see me and live.
And the Lord said, behold, there's a place by me. And thou shalt
stand upon a rock, and it shall come to pass when my glory passeth
by, my glory passeth by, that I'll put thee in a cliff to the
rock, rock of ages, cleft for me. Let me hide myself in thee. I'll put you in a cliff to the
rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by and I'll
take away mine hand and thou should see my back parts. What's
God's back parts, his works, his work of salvation. We can't
look on his face. He said, I'll let you see my
back parts. But my face shall not be seen.
And the Lord said unto Moses, You thee too stone, two tables
of stone, like unto the first, and I'll write them, these tables,
the words that were in the first table, which thou breakest, and
be ready in the morning and come up in the morning unto Mount
Sinai and present thyself to me in the top of the Mount. And
no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout
all the Mount, neither let the flocks nor the herds feed before
the Mount. And he ewed two tables of stone like unto the first.
And Moses rose up early in the morning and went up under the
Mount Sinai as the Lord had commanded him. And he took in his hand
the two tables and the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him
there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. Just like he said
he would. And look what he says. And the
Lord passed by before him and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord
God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and
truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression
and sin, and it will by no means clear the guilty." Now how can
that be? How can you keep mercy for thousands,
forgiving iniquity and transgressions and sin, and yet say by no means,
under no circumstances will I ever clear someone that's guilty?
Because God has found a way to be just and justify the guilty. That's the gospel. That's the
power of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. He makes me, he
makes everybody he died for. not guilty. God's not clearing
the guilty. He's justifying the righteous
when he saves a sinner because of the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Verse eight, Moses bowed his
head toward the earth. He made haste and he bowed his
head toward the earth and worshiped and said, if now I have found
grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee go among
us for it's a stiff necked people. and pardon our iniquity and our
sin and take us for thine inheritance. The glory of God. I love that passage in 2 Corinthians
4, 6 where Paul said, for God who commanded the light to shine
out of the darkness has shined in our hearts to give the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God. in the face of Jesus
Christ, the God of glory, the glory of God. Now, what in the
world is Jacob talking about when he talks about my glory? You know, this language is actually
frequently used in the Psalms. Let me read you some Psalms.
But thou, Lord, art a shield for me, my glory, the lifter
up of my head. To the end that my glory would
sing praise to thee. Awake my glory. Awake, psaltery
and heart. Oh God, my heart is fixed. I
will sing and give praise even with my glory. This is something
that every believer possesses. The same glory that Jacob possesses. Now, what is it? Well, I know Paul called it in
2 Corinthians 4, 17, an exceeding and eternal weight of glory. And remember, this is called
extreme grace. This is extreme grace that every
son of Jacob, that's every believer, everybody that he loved would
have this Glory. Now, this is all we can say about
this glory. It's the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who is
called the brightness of his glory and the express image of
his person, Jesus Christ, the son of God is altogether glorious. Amen. All together. He's glorious in his character. He's glorious as the creator.
He's glorious as the word. He's glorious as the mediator
of the better covenant. He's glorious as a surety. He's
glorious as the savior. He's glorious in all of his offices
as prophet, priest, and king. What a prophet he is. He's like
no other prophet. Not one time did he ever say,
thus saith the Lord. He said, I say it. He didn't
bring the blood of an animal. He brought his own blood, which
the father must accept. His kingship is not a borrowed
kingship that God gave him. He is the king of glory, the
scripture says. The king of glory. The one who gets the glory is
the one who gets the credit. the honor and the praise. Hebrews 1, 3 says, He by Himself
purged our sins. I mean, you didn't have anything
to do with this. He by Himself purged our sins. He gets all the glory. Now, there
is His intrinsic, inherent glory that He had before the world
was. He spoke of it, he said, Father, glorify thou me with
the glory which I had with thee before the world was. That's something to think about, the
glory that existed between the Father and the Son. But you know
that there's some glory that he achieved that he wouldn't
have had had he not gone to the cross. What glory he achieved by going
to the cross. He said, Father, glorify thy
name. The hour has come for me to go
to the cross. Father, glorify thy name, that
thy son also might glorify thee. Now when he went to the cross,
he glorified the whole, the glory of the cross of Jesus Christ.
Every attribute of God is manifest. His holiness, his justice, his
wisdom, his power, His independence, His immutability, everything
God is that He's been pleased to make known is manifest in
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. What glory, what glory He got
as our Savior. Turn with me now to John chapter
17. This will clinch this. Well, what is the glory we have? John 17. This is the Lord's great
high priestly prayer for his people. And he says in verse
22, look at this, and the glory which thou gavest
me. I have given them, that they may be one, even as
we are one. We have, every believer, the glory of Jesus Christ. I wouldn't say that if he didn't
say this. I wouldn't dare say anything
like that. But the Lord tells us when he's praying to his father,
the glory thou gavest me, I have given them. Now, this was the
glory the psalmist spoke of, and this is the glory of every
single saint. Now, I say with Nicodemus, how? How can these things be? Did I have the glory of Jesus
Christ? How can these things be? And
that's not blaspheming. That's simply speaking what God
says in His Word. We wouldn't dare make a statement
like this had we not Scripture for it. But this is what He says. Now, how can this be? Well, first
of all, by union with Himself. Let's go on reading. Look in
verse 22. John chapter 17. I in them, and thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one, that the world may know that
thou has sent me and has loved them as thou has loved me. Hold your finger there and turn
to 1 John chapter four. Is this extreme grace? Verse 17. Herein is our love made perfect,
that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. Here's how. Because as he is, so are we in this world. Is he glorious? Is he altogether
lovely to the Father? Is he altogether righteous? Is
he beautiful in holiness? So are we, in this world, right
now, present, Tim's. Now that's extreme grace. His righteousness is my personal
righteousness. Second Corinthians 521 says,
For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that
we might be made, listen, the righteousness of God. Every believer is the righteousness
of God, because the righteousness of Christ is given to them so
that they stand before God as the righteousness of God. Now, how can you say something like
that? Because the Bible does. That's the only answer. Because
the Bible does. were made the righteousness of
God in Him. Wow! 2 Peter 1 verse 4 says we're
made partakers of the divine nature. A new nature that was not there
before. A holy nature. That's what the psalmist was
speaking of when he says the King's daughter is all glorious
within. within. You saying you're glorious within?
No, I'm not saying it. Christ says it. The King's daughter
is all glorious within. This is what every believer possesses,
and that's what Jacob is talking about when he talks about my
glory. He's talking about the glory the Lord Jesus Christ gave him.
He said, The glory thou gavest me, I have given them. Now, let me tell you what all
people who have this glory have in common. This is what we're
going to close with. Turn to 1 Corinthians 1. I want
you to turn to these scriptures. I've got three scriptures I want
to read. Having not many wise men after
the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God
has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the
wise. And God has chosen the weak things
of the world to confound the things which are mighty in the
base things of the world and the things which are despised
have God chosen. Yay. And things which are not
nothing. to bring to nothing things that
are for this reason, that no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him, of God, are you in
Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us? wisdom, and righteousness,
and sanctification, and redemption, that according as it's written,
he that glorieth, you're gonna glory in something. You will
glory in something. He that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. Galatians chapter six. Verse 12. As many as desire to make a fair
show in the flesh. Wouldn't you say that's a pretty
accurate description of man's religion? A fair show in the
flesh. I want to show you how good I
look. I want to show you how righteous I am. I want to make
a show in the flesh. They constrain you to be circumcised.
They say, here's what you need to do. You need to be circumcised.
That'll make you more holy. Only lest they should suffer
persecution for the cross of Christ. That's why they're doing
this. For those folks who tell you to be circumcised, they don't
keep the law. They tell you you need to, but
they don't. It's all words. That they may glory in your flesh.
They want to say, look how I've influenced this person for good.
Look how I've won this person to Christ. I've taught this person. I'm being used of God. Oh, I'm
being used of God. Look at me, I'm being used of
God. But, this is Paul speaking. This is Paul speaking. The man
God used more than anyone else to expound the gospel. This is
Paul speaking. God used this man to write scripture. I can't imagine what I would
be if there was an epistle of Todd. This is the Apostle Paul. He
says, God forbid that I should glory. Saved in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. That's all I glory in. That's
all I have confidence in. I don't have confidence in me.
I don't have confidence in the way God has used me. I can't
say, well, I must be saved because God's done this with me and God's
done that with me. And he used me in this manner
and I've been, no. God forbid that I should glory,
saving the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. All my confidence
is in what he accomplished. I don't have any confidence in
anything else. I don't glory in anything else. One last scripture, Psalm 29. Verse seven, the voice of the
Lord divideth the flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shaketh
the wilderness. The Lord shaketh the wilderness
of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord maketh
the hinds to calve. He gives birth and discovers
the forest. And in his temple does everyone
speak. of His glory. That's what folks
in His temple speak of. His glory. Extreme sin. Simeon and Levi. Yeah. Me and you are just as
bad. You believe that? Me and you
are just as bad. We don't have anything up on
them. But what extreme grace that Jacob, through the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, could speak of my glory. Let's pray. Lord, as we prepare to by your grace act in obedience
to you, in taking the bread and wine in remembrance of thy son.
Lord, enable us to do this in remembrance of him, of his broken
body, and his shed blood. Lord, keep us always aware of
our need of his broken body. and his shed blood to make us
perfect and acceptable in your sight. Bless this time together
for Christ's sake. In his name we pray. Amen.