Before I begin looking at our
text, I want to remind you that the Bible is the word of God.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God. Every word, every detail is given
by inspiration of God. And if we don't have that, as
I've said so many times before, all we have is my opinion and
your opinion. And put them together and they're
worthless. Thank God for the scripture. The name God uses with regard
to himself more than any other name is the God of Jacob. That's the man we're reading
about right now. The God of Jacob. Happy is he who hath the God
of Jacob for his refuge. And believers are called sons
of Jacob. I am the Lord, I change not,
therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. So this man, Jacob,
should be very near and very dear to every believer. Now there are so many things
that could be said about this man. Among them was he was a
very negative thinking man. You ever been around somebody
like that? Perhaps you're one of them. a very negative thinking
man. Let me give you some examples.
He said to his mother when she told him to go into his father
Isaac and get the blessing. He said, my father shall peradventure
feel me and I shall seem to him as a deceiver and will bring
a curse upon me rather than a blessing. That's all he could hear. Perhaps you remember how after
the Lord promised him protection, after the Lord promised him protection,
when he goes back to his brother Esau after 20 some years in Paddan
Aram, He says, here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna divide
up the two groups. The ones he slays, the other
ones will get away. God promised him he'd protect
him, but he felt sure that Esau would kill at least half his
family. That's why he divided them, so the one half that he
killed, the other half would be able to get away. When Simeon
and Levi did their murderous deed and plundered the men of
Shechem, In spite of God's promise of protection, here's what Jacob
said. You have troubled me to make
me stink among the inhabitants of the land, and I being few
in number, they shall go gather themselves together against me
and slay me, and I shall be destroyed and my house. When his sons brought the coat
of many colors with the blood on it. They made no comment other
than, is this your son's coat? And I realized they were being
deceitful, but here's Joseph's word. I mean, Jacob's word, an
evil beast hath devoured Joseph. And no doubt, he is rent in pieces. You see how he looks at everything
from a maybe realistic, but totally negative point of view. Here's
the kicker. When his sons told him they needed to bring Benjamin
to Egypt to get food, He said, Joseph is not, and Simeon is
not, and now will you take Benjamin away also? All these things are
against me. That's Jacob speaking. All these things are against
me. Jacob. They just simply speak
of Jacob's negativity. He's always opposed, or always
appears to look at the worst case scenario. But here in verse
11, he says to Joseph, and Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought
to see thy face. He thought he was dead for years,
ripped up by an evil beast. I never dreamed I'd see your
face. And lo, the element of surprise is here. Lo, God hath showed me also thy
seed, his sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. Now this event that
we're going to be considering tonight was selected by the writer
to the Hebrews to demonstrate his act of faith. Turn with me
to Hebrews chapter 11. Hold your finger there. This
is when he blessed the sons of Jacob. And if you remember what
took place, Joseph wanted him to bless Manasseh first. And so he put him on where his
right hand would hit him. And he put Ephraim on his left
hand so he would get the secondary blessing. Jacob crossed his hands
and put the left hand on Manasseh, who should have got the chief
blessing. And he put his right hand on Ephraim, who should have
got the lesser blessing. And look what the writer to the
Hebrews calls this in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 21, by faith,
Jacob, when he was dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph and worshiped
Leaning upon his staff. Now, I think it's interesting
when you look in the New Testament accounts of the Old Testament
saints, nothing's brought up about Jacob's negativity. It
says by faith, Jacob. He believed what God told him,
and nothing's brought up. But you look throughout Hebrews
chapter 11, the Old Testament brings so many character flaws,
so many sins of these men, and they're not even brought up in
the New Testament. I think the most powerful example is Lot.
If you would read the history of Lot and not have the New Testament
account, you'd probably say the guy couldn't have been saved.
That's what we would have thought about Lot. But what does God
say in the New Testament with regard to Lot? Just Lot, that
righteous man whose righteous soul is vexed from day to day. You see, the Old Testament gives
our fleshly account. The New Testament gives the account
of who we are in Christ Jesus. And this is the New Testament
account of this man, Jacob. Now I love the way God describes
this as an act of faith in worship. What's it take to worship? Faith. There is no worship without faith.
Where there is faith, there is the true worship of God. And
that's the writer to the Hebrews example of this. By faith, he
did this. Now turn back to Genesis 48 for
a moment. We're gonna look at the whole
story in a minute, but I want us to see some reasons as to
why this is called an act of faith. Verse 14. And Israel stretched
out his right hand and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was
the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding
his hands wittingly. For Manasseh was the firstborn.
He knew exactly what he was doing. Joseph would end up objecting.
He said, no, this is what we're doing. And how did he know to
do this? God told him. That's how he knew. God instructed him to put his
right hand on Ephraim's head and his left hand, he knew of
the blessing that God had determined. Faith is believing what God said.
Look in verse 19. And his father refused. This
is when Joseph said, don't do this. This is not right. He was
displeased with this. Not so my father, for this is
my firstborn. Put thy right hand upon his head.
And his father refused and said, I know my son, I know he shall
become a people and he shall also be great, but truly his
younger brother shall be greater than he. And his seed shall become
a multitude of nations. How did. He know all this, God
made it known and he believed God. Look in verse 21, and Israel
said unto Joseph, behold, I die, but God shall be with you and
bring you again unto the land of your fathers. And what happened
400 years later? During the Exodus, they took
Joseph's bones, exactly as he prophesied they would, and brought
them back to Israel. Jacob knew this. How come? The
Lord made him know. And Jacob believed God. What I would want said about
myself, if anything, which nothing really, I shouldn't have wanted,
but if I did have something, I want to be somebody like this,
he believed God. He believed what God said. Now let's look at the story.
Verse eight. And Israel. Now, if you'll remember
from last week, um, Jacob said, uh, Ephraim asked for mine, I'm
adopted him, but you know what? He was blind. He didn't really
know what they looked like. He knew there were sons, but
now they're brought into his presence. Verse eight. And Israel
beheld Joseph's sons and said, who are these? And Joseph said
unto his father, they are my sons whom God hath given me in
this place. And he said, bring them, I pray
thee unto me and I will bless them. Now the eyes of Israel
were dim for age so that he could not see. And he brought them
near unto him and he kissed them and embraced them. I'd like to
picture that taking place. He couldn't see him, but he knew
who they were. And he already called them his adopted sons.
And you know, that's what the Lord does with all of his people.
He kisses them. He embraces them. Verse 12, and
Joseph brought them out from between his knees and he bowed
himself with his face to the earth. I love thinking about
how, uh, Joseph is the most powerful man in the world. And yet when
he comes into his father's presence, he bows himself. He shows such
respect and he shows such reverence. Verse 13, and Joseph took them
both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand and
Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand and brought
them near unto him. Now remember who these two boys
were. They were born of an Egyptian mother. And Joseph, I think because
of that, he, he prefigures the Lord saving the Gentiles. These
two boys are born of a heathen mother and they were born to
Joseph, not in Canaan, but in the land of Egypt. And now Jacob
is going to bless these boys. Now, Manasseh was born first.
Ephraim was born second. The right of the firstborn, he
gets the most of the secondborn gets what's ever left. Now let's
go and read. And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right
hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand
toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near unto him. Joseph
had this worked out, didn't he? He took pains to make sure what
he wanted to get done, got done. He put this in position to where
Manasseh would get the chief blessing and Ephraim would not. Verse 14, and Israel stretched
out his right hand and laid it upon Ephraim's head, the second
board, who was the younger and his left hand upon Manasseh's
head. guiding his hands wittingly,
knowing exactly what he was doing, for Manasseh was the first born. Now, Jacob blessing these two
boys. Let me say a couple of things
about Jacob first, before we look at the way he blessed these
boys. Jacob had all that he had by grace. Remember God's people
called sons of Jacob? Listen to this scripture. This
is found in Romans chapter 9, verse 11, speaking of Jacob and
his brother Esau. They were twins. It says in Romans
9, 11, for the twins, Jacob and Esau, being not yet born, neither
having done any good or evil, They had no good works to recommend
them. They had no evil works to disqualify
them. Now get that, that's pointed
out to the children being not yet born, neither having done
any good or evil that the purpose of God according to election
might stand. Not of works, but of him that calleth. Now
understand this, God is opposed to salvation by works. Faith
and works are enemies. Grace and salvation by works
are enemies. They can't dwell together. Jacob
has what he has by the grace of God. And all of a sudden. He sees Joseph and he said, I'd
not thought to see thy face and lo, God hath showed me thy seat. Now he's surprised. This is unexpected
grace. He never dreamed of this. And
you know, with regard to the grace of God, we ought to expect it in a sense
because he's gracious. But if our expectations of grace
is because of any entitlement or merit on our part, we won't
have any. But still, our God is gracious. He delights in grace. Do you
hear that? He delights in showing mercy. He is more willing to give you
grace than you are to receive it. That is our God. I might be preaching to somebody
who says, I don't want his grace. Well, if he wants you to have
it, you'll have it. And he's more willing to give it to you
than you are to receive it. That's how glorious he is. He's
the God of all grace. And here he gets this thing he
never expected. You know, if he's giving you
grace, get ready for more surprises. Get ready for more expectations
of grace. They will be coming. God delights
in this grace. Now, what I love seeing also
in this story is the sovereignty of His grace. And we see that,
and that's, the only kind of grace there is is sovereign grace.
If it's not sovereign grace, it's not grace, period. Now,
here we have these two boys. Manasseh, the firstborn. He's
the one who you'd think would get the chief blessing. Ephraim
was the younger, he didn't have the right coming to him. And that's what Joseph thought.
And Joseph tried to line it up exactly the way he wanted it
to take place. Manasseh would get the blessing
of the firstborn and Ephraim would get the lesser blessing. But that's not the way it works. God is sovereign. And His grace is sovereign grace. And He gives it to whom He will,
when He will, as He will. And if someone thinks that is
not right, that He would give His grace to one and withhold
it from somebody else or that he would give his grace to the
one who really didn't deserve it and kind of withheld and gave
a secondary blessing to the one who should have had it coming
to him. If I think something like that, there are three things
that are true of me. Deep down, I think I've got something
coming. He should have given it to the
other person. That means you think they merited it in some
way. Deep down, That would mean that
I have a sense of entitlement that I think I've got God's grace
coming. The second problem I see so clearly
in that is that really when we say something is wrong on God's
part or it's not fair, we're denying his goodness. God's good
all the time. Whatever he does is good. And
if you were sitting there saying, how could God do that? God's
good. You're not. You believe that God's good and
you're not. We believe God's good and whatever
he does, I believe this. Whatever he does is good. I don't
have to understand it. I just got to know who it is
that's doing it. God is good. And if he chooses to bless the
one over the other, it's because he's good. God is good all the
time. And whenever I look at what God
does and think, well, I don't agree with that. Why did he do
it? All of a sudden, I become God's judge. Now that's a place
I have no business trying to become God's judge. I agree with
that. I don't agree with that. Wait a minute. Shall not the
judge of the earth do right? Whatever he does is right. And you and I don't have any
room to question what he does. Now if somebody says, well, I
don't like that. I do. I do. God's God. I'm not. God is glorious. God is who he is and whatever
he does is right. So may the Lord deliver us from
sitting on judgment on God. Well, how, how can he do that?
No, we see the sovereignty of his blessing and notice there
is an order to his blessing. God is a God of order, and there's
a reason. This was not just some arbitrary
choice as to why the right hand was placed on Ephraim, the hand
of blessing, and the left hand was placed upon Manasseh. Now turn back to Genesis 41 for
a moment. This is about the birth of these
boys. Verse 50. And unto Joseph were born two
sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath, the daughter
of Potiphar, the priest of Onan barren to him. And Joseph called
the name of the firstborn Manasseh. For, said he, he hath made me
forget all my toil and all my father's house. Jacob says when
he gets his boy, I've forgotten all the misfortune that's happened
to me. I've just forgotten it, everything's
great, I'm fine. Verse 52, and the name of the
second called he Ephraim, for God hath caused me to be fruitful
in the land of my affliction. Now here's the two boys' names,
Forgetting and Fruitful. Now Forgetting, That has something
to do with the forgiveness of sins. That's scriptural. Their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more. Forgetting. And then fruitfulness. Do you remember when the Lord
said, accept a corn of wheat, fall into the ground and die? It abides alone. But if it die,
it bears and brings forth much fruit. Now let's consider the
order. Forgetting never comes first. The fruit of Christ's death comes
first. God's not going to forget your
sins and then, no, you must be justified first. That is the
fruit of Christ's death. Ephraim, fruitfulness, the fruit
of his death. What's the fruit of his death?
Justification. In order for you to be seen by
God as not guilty, there's one qualification. You gotta be not
guilty. That's it. You gotta be not guilty. God's
not gonna look at you as guilty and say, well, I'm gonna change
that. No. What about a judge? What about
a judge who would see, let's say somebody committed some kind
of horrible crime against one of your children, and the judge
said, well, I'm just gonna forget it. I'm a merciful judge, I'm
just gonna forget it. What would we do with a judge
like that? We'd put him out of business, wouldn't we? He would
be an unjust judge. For God to say, well, I'm just
gonna forget your sins, why, that would make him unjust. Who
comes first? Ephraim. The fruit of Christ's
death, justification, perfection before God. What comes after
that? I'll forget your sins. God is a God of order. Justice
first. He's called a just God and a
Savior. Justice first. In order for God
to forgive me of my sins, I must first be without guilt. He said,
I'll by no means clear the guilty. I must first be without guilt. And that is what Christ accomplished.
You see, He gave everybody He died for a new history. A history of having never sinned. Now you think about all the bad
stuff that you have done, have thought, that you don't even
remember. Do you know if you're a believer, that's not your history. Your history is one of absolute
perfection. And that's why you can come with
boldness into God's presence, because Christ has put away your
sins. That's the fruit of his death.
Except a corn of ground fall on the wheat and die. If it doesn't
die, it'll be alone. But if it dies, it'll bring forth
much fruit, the fruit of Christ's death. There is the one who comes
first. After that, we get the forgetting. God is a God of order. Now, if
I thought God just forgot my sins and I didn't have any understanding
about justification, I'd think, well, if he remembers them again.
But there's nothing there for him to remember. And that is
the believer's hope. So there is an order to this
cross-handed blessing, as it were. Verse 15. Now look at the blessing. Verse 15. And he, Jacob, blessed Joseph
and said, this is Genesis 48 verse 15. And he blessed Joseph
and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did
walk. He knew the covenant of God.
He knew the covenant of God. He knew his fathers walked before
him. Every believer has a walk before
God. Without exception. If I don't
walk before God, I don't know him. Like Enoch, we walk with
God. Enoch walked with God. Now that walk is by faith. We
know that. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God for he that cometh to God must believe that he is.
This walk is by faith, but this is our life. If this is not your
life, you don't know him. This is our life walking with
the living God. And he said, my fathers, Abraham
and Isaac walked did walk, and then he says, look at the next
statement, the God which fed me all my life long and to this
day. Now, in the past, when I thought
about that, I thought, well, the God who gave me my meals.
I mean, the reason I have meals to eat is because God gave me
that food. Well, that's true. But this word
is the same word shepherd. God which shepherded me. The Lord is my shepherd. You're not just talking about
breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Turn with me to Psalm 23 for
just a moment. Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd. The one who feeds me, and that's
not just talking about mealtimes, that's the one who acts as a
shepherd to me. Remember this about sheep, they're
dumb. They need a shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want, I shall not lack anything. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures, I'm not gonna lack Rest. I rest in Christ. Isn't it wonderful
to rest? Nothing to do. Rest. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. My marginal reading says waters
of quietness. I'll not like peace. He is my
peace. Having been justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. He restores
my soul. I won't lack restoration. Sheep wander off, he brings them
back in. I'll never lack restoration. He leadeth me in the paths of
righteousness for his name's sake. I'm not gonna lack righteousness. And I'm not gonna lack a reason
for me having it, his namesake. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil. I won't lack
protection, for thou art with me. I won't lack his companionship. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me. I'm not gonna lack comfort in
the gospel. Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people. How comfortable
is the gospel? Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of mine enemies. I won't lack his provision. Thou
anointest my head with oil. I'm not going to lack the Holy
Spirit continually being anointed by him. My cup runneth over. I'm not going to lack joy. Surely
goodness and mercy, God's watchdog, shall follow me all the days
of my life. I won't lack perseverance. And
I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. I won't lack
a home to live in forever. You see, he fed me. He's my shepherd,
is what that means. Back to our text. And he blessed Joseph and said,
God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which
fed me all my life long unto this day the angel which redeemed
me from all evil." Now He's my covenant God, He's my Shepherd,
and He's my Redeemer. Job said, I know, and Job evidently
was written before this book. This has always been the truth.
I know my Redeemer liveth. He hath redeemed me from all
evil. Now, what this is talking about,
listen to me real carefully. Jesus Christ is an effectual
Redeemer. Everybody he died for must be
saved. He redeemed them from all evil. Now that teaching that says that
Jesus Christ made salvation possible, if you do your part, is a false
gospel. He redeemed me from how much
evil? All evil. What a blessing. to have him as my covenant God,
to cause me to walk before him, to have him as my shepherd, to
have him as my redeemer. The angel which redeemed me from
all evil, bless the lads, oh, his power to bless, and let my
name be named upon them. And the name of my fathers, Abraham
and Isaac, and let them grow into a multitude in the midst
of the earth. Let my name be upon them. The
same name my fathers had. This is the name wherewith she
shall be called. The Lord Our Righteousness. That's my personal name. What's
your name? Now if somebody comes up and
says, what's your name? I'm going to say I'm Todd. I'm
not going to say, you know, Jehovah's Seeking You. But that's my real
name. This is the name where she shall be called. Jehovah's
Seeking You. The Lord Our Righteousness. And this is the reason there
will be growth. Look what he says. I'll let them
grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth." You know,
because growth in grace is grace, there will be growth in every
believer. Growth in grace. Grow in grace
and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And
when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the
head of Ephraim, it displeased him. He held up his father's
hand, tried to stop him, to remove it from Ephraim's head and Manasseh's
head. And Joseph said unto his father,
Not so, my father, for this is my firstborn. Put thy right hand
upon his head. And his father refused and said,
I know it, my son. I know he also shall become a
people. He shall also be great, but truly
his younger brother shall be greater than he and his seed
shall become a multitude of nations. And he blessed them that day
saying, in thee shall Israel bless saying, God make thee as
Ephraim and as Manasseh, as fruitful and as forgetting. And he said
Ephraim before Manasseh. And Israel said unto Joseph,
behold, I die. And here he speaks prophetically,
but God shall be with you and bring you again unto the land
of your fathers. Now he speaks of something that
we don't have any record of. Moreover, I have given to thee
one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand
of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow. Now, in the
past, I've kind of presented him as mama's boy. You know,
he wanted to stick around with his mother and didn't want to
go out in the field. And well, here he took that bow, took his
bow and sword and took this from the Amorite. And he gives this
extra blessing to Joseph. Moreover, I've given to thee
one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand
of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow. You know, Joseph
remained Jacob's favorite son. And the Lord Jesus Christ remains
the favorite son of the Father. We love it that way, and our
desire is to be found in Him. Let's pray. Lord, once again, we thank you
for your word. We thank you for everything you
do. We thank you for your divine
order. We thank you for the fruit of your son's death, the justification
of your people. We thank you for the forgetfulness
of sin, that you'd remember our sin no more. Lord, we ask that
we might be taught your gospel. Be thou our teacher according
to your will bless us as we Look forward to this coming week.
We pray that we might be able to walk with you. We pray that
we might be enabled to preach your gospel. Lord, we would especially
remember the Vacation Bible School, that you would be pleased to
bless this to our children, that you would reveal Christ to them.
In Christ's name we pray, amen.