I pray what he just sang about
takes place tonight. Genesis 33. Now, if you are a
believer, I will be stating your personal testimony tonight. This will be the personal testimony
from the heart of every single child of God. Verse nine, Esau said, I have
enough, my brother. I have plenty. I don't need any more. Your blessings
and gifts, I appreciate the thought, but I don't need them. I have
enough. And Jacob said, nay, I pray thee,
if now I found grace in thy sight, then receive my president by
hand, But therefore I have seen thy face, as though I had seen
the face of God. And thou wast pleased with me.
Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee, because
God hath dealt graciously with me." Is that not the confession of
every believer? God hath dealt graciously with
me. And because I have enough. But the word here is a completely
different word than the word Esau used when he said, I have
enough. Jacob is saying, I have all. I have all. There is nothing
I do not have. I have all. And he urged him,
and he took it. Now, when Esau says, I have enough, You will rarely hear this coming
from any son of Adam. Most men want more. I can't remember which one of
these multi-millionaires this was said to. They said, when
do you have enough? What's enough? He said, a little
more. And that is the way the natural man views things. And so Esau actually is admirable
at this time. I have enough, my brother. He
was satisfied materially. Jacob was fearful of Esau because
years before, he said he was going to kill him after Jacob
had stolen through deception, his birthright. You read Genesis
chapter 27, what he did in order to swindle his brother out of
his birthright. And his brother announced in
Genesis 27, I'll read this to you. Verse 41, and Esau hated Jacob
because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him. And Esau
said in his heart, the days are mourning for my father at hand.
They thought Isaac would soon die. Now he's not gonna die for
a long time, but they thought he would. And when that's over,
when my father dies, then will I slay my brother, Jacob. His full intention was to kill
him. And you might've felt the same way he did. As far as the
way you felt, I hope you wouldn't have done it, but you would have
felt that way if you were swindled the way Esau was swindled. Now, 20 years pass and Jacob
is returning with great fear. Look in chapter 32, verse six. And the messengers returned to
Jacob saying, we came to thy brother Esau and also he cometh
to meet thee with 400 men with him. Then Jacob was greatly afraid
and distressed and he divided the people that was with him
and the flocks and the herds and the camels into two bands. He was sure that Esau was coming
with these 400 men to kill him. Now, do you remember, as we go
on reading in Genesis, how Joseph's brothers were jealous of him? I think this is where it begins.
Look in chapter 33, verse 1. And Jacob lifted up his eyes
and looked, and behold, Esau came, and with him 400 men. And he divided the children unto
Leah and to Rachel and to the two handmaids. And he put the
handmaids and their children foremost. And Leah and her children
after, and Rachel and Joseph, the last. Billa, Rachel's maid, and her
two sons, Dan and Naphtali, and Zilpah, Leah's maid and her two
sons, Gad and Asher, were put up front. Here's the reason. If anybody
gets killed, I'd prefer it to be them. Now, can you imagine
how these boys would have issues? And then Leah and her six sons,
Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, he put them
coming next and said, well, they're expendable. They're expendable. And last, he sends Rachel and
Joseph. And he thought, well, they have
the best chance of survival. How do you think the brothers
felt about Joseph at this time? And how do you think of how they
felt about the difference that Jacob made with them and Joseph? I can see why they had got to
the point where they hated him. And when we read about that in
Genesis chapter 37, but I think maybe the jealousy began here. Verse three, and he passed over
before them and bowed himself to the ground seven times until
he came near to his brother, in humility. He didn't know what
his brother was gonna do. And Esau ran to meet him. And I bet that Jacob was thinking
what's gonna happen when he saw his brother running at him. He
didn't know if he's running at him to smite him. Was he in for
a surprise? Esau ran to meet him and embraced
him. and fell on his neck and kissed
him. Esau had forgiven him. I don't
know what all happened in Esau's mind during this 20 year period. He had a lot to think about and
a lot of time to think about it. And by the time Jacob returns,
Esau's glad to see him. He runs to him, falls on his
neck and kisses him because he had forgiven him and was genuinely
happy to see him. Now, Esau was a man to be emulated,
wasn't he? He was content materially. He wasn't grasping for other
things. He was satisfied with what he
had and he was a forgiving man. Would to God that that would
describe you and I. Content and forgiving. Can you imagine this touching
scene? Jacob is surprised. Jacob had been having this rollover
in his mind for 20 years, in fear about what was gonna take
place. And lo and behold, all of his
fears were ill-grounded. And his brother loved him, accepted
him, and embraced him. Isn't that a beautiful story?
Don't you admire the beauty of this forgiveness in this story?
Now I love Jacob's answer in verse five. And he, Esau lifted up his eyes
and saw the women and the children. And he said, who are these with
thee? And he said, the children, which
God hath graciously given thy servant. Everything has been grace. Now, Jacob went through a lot
of difficulties, and yet here's the summary of everything that
had taken place up to this point. God has dealt very graciously
with thy servant. You see, everything has been
part of Romans 8, 28. He was scared to death, horrible
things were going to happen to him, and it ended up being not
as he thought. God has dealt graciously with
me. Verse six, then the handmaidens came near,
they and their children, and they bowed themselves. We love
the humility. And Leah also with her children
came near and bowed themselves. And after that, Joseph came near
and Rachel, and they bowed themselves. And he said, Esau speaking, what
meanest thou by all this drove which I met? Now look back in
chapter 32, beginning in verse 13, you'll remember this. And
he lodged there that same night. before he had seen Esau, and
he figured out how to handle this. He lodged there that night
and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau's
brother, 200 she goats, 20 he goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams, 30
milk camels with their colts, 40 kine, 10 bulls, 20 she asses,
and 10 foals. Now that was a fabulous amount
of wealth he was sending his way. and he delivered them unto
the hands of his servants, every grove by themselves. I mean,
they're going to have one grove of camels, one of cattle, one
of goats, one of sheep, all these different groves. They're going
to come and Esau's going to say, what's this for? These are a
present from Jacob. These are a present from Jacob.
These are a present from Jacob. And he delivered them, verse
16, into the hands of his servants, every drove by themselves, and
said to his servants, Passover before me, and put me a space
betwixt the drove and drove. And he commanded the foremost,
saying, When Esau, my brother, meets thee, and ask thee, saying,
Whose are thou? And whither goest thou? And whose
are these before thee? Then shalt thou say, They be
thy servant Jacob's, it's a present, sent unto my lord Esau. And behold,
also he's behind us. And so commanded he, the second,
the third, and all that followed the droves, saying, on this manner
shall you speak unto Esau when you find him. And so now Esau
speaks of these droves, verse eight, and he said, what meanest
thou by all this drove which I met? And he said, these are
to find grace in the sight of my Lord. I sent these to get
your favor. And Esau said, verse nine, I
have enough, my brother. You don't need to buy my favor. You're completely forgiven. That's so beautiful. You're completely
forgiven. I don't need anything from you. Now, we know that Esau was not
a believer. But he is to be highly commended
for his conduct at this time. He was a content man. I've got
enough. I don't need anything else. And
he was a forgiving man. And if somebody holds an unforgiving
spirit, oh, how you hurt yourself, how I hurt myself. And if I refuse
to forgive somebody, remember what the Lord said, if you forgive
not men their trespasses, neither will your heavenly father forgive
you your trespasses. That is the word of the Lord.
So I admire Esau at this time, this forgiving spirit. I mean,
Jacob did him as wrong as he could be done. And what did he
do? He forgave him and he Embraced
him. He said I have plenty my brother.
Keep what you have. I don't need you to buy my favor. All is forgiven Verse 10 and
Jacob said nay I pray thee If now I found grace in thy sight
then receive my present at my hand take it For therefore I
have seen thy face as though I've seen the face of God and
that was pleased with me now. I I don't know what to do with
that. I'm sure it's a gospel type,
and maybe some of you see it, and I'm sure it is, but I don't
have any light on it, so I'm just gonna leave it right there.
He says, I've seen your face as if it were the face of God,
and thou was pleased with me. And I can see that being a type
of Christ, but I'm not gonna make a lot of comments on it,
because I don't really have a lot of light on it. But look what
he says. Take, I pray thee, my blessing that's brought to thee,
Now here is every believer's testimony. God hath dealt graciously with
me. Now from the very depth of your
heart and my heart, if we're believers, that is our testimony. God hath dealt graciously with
me And because I have all. Not simply I have plenty. Not
I have enough. I have all. I have all. Now, Jacob wasn't always like
this in the way he thought. I think this is important to
point out because me and you aren't always like this in the
top of our consciousness. Look in Genesis chapter 42. This
is the same Jacob. And Jacob, verse 36, Genesis
42, verse 36, and Jacob their father, this is some years later
and more experience in the grace of God, Jacob their father said
unto them, me have ye bereaved of my children. Joseph is not,
and Simeon is not, and you'll take Benjamin away? All these
things are against me. That was his deduction. So when a believer speaks like
an unbeliever, and they will, be gracious and know that you
have said the same thing and have had the same experiences.
Jacob has seemingly no faith at this time. All of these things
are against me. No, Jacob, they're all for you. But you're saying they're all
against me. No, they're not. So Jacob and
you and I can quite often say things that are just contrary.
And when you hear your brother or sister say something contrary,
don't be too hard on them. I say that to me, don't be too
hard on them because you'll say things worse than they will.
But back to our text. Here is the testimony of every
believer. God hath dealt graciously with
me, and I have all. Now, I want to speak on this
from, I hope, a very personal level. God hath dealt very graciously
with me. And I know if you're a believer,
you'll be saying the same thing, but I'm going to talk about me. God hath dealt graciously with
me. Now think of the one who has
dealt graciously with me, God. the one who has such power to
bless. When Moses said, show me your
glory, he said, I'll make all my goodness pass before thee.
God's so good. Everything he does is good. Whatever
it is is good. Oh, don't be saying, how could
a good God let that take place? God's good. Everybody else is
bad. God's good. Whatever he does
is good. And if I don't understand it,
the problem's with me, not with God. God is good. What goodness to save somebody
like me or you. Oh, how good God is. I'll make
all my goodness pass before thee. I'll proclaim the name of the
Lord before thee and all of who God is is proclaimed in the cross.
Every attribute fully displayed. and I will be gracious. That's the word. I will be gracious. Now I have heard preachers say,
God may be gracious, but he must be just. No, he must be gracious
because that's who he is. Merciful and gracious. He delights
in saving sinners. Now he says, I will be gracious
to whom I will be gracious. His grace is sovereignly bestowed
to whom he will. That's what the Bible teaches. It was almost hilarious. Hilarious
is not the right word. But there was a call on the recorder
today about the TV message. And I said something about elections. She said, don't send that foolish
mess of whatever to anybody. She just really was very strongly
opposed to what she heard. And I think, maybe she'll believe.
I'm really more concerned when somebody reacts like that than,
oh, that was great. Didn't hear that. But the point
is, God's grace is sovereign grace. He says, I'll be gracious
to whom I will be gracious. If you come up to me and tell
me you have to forgive me, it's going to be hard. You should
forgive me. It's your duty to forgive me.
It's your responsibility to forgive me. I thought you were a Christian.
You're not asking for forgiveness when you do that. wicked to come and expect something
like that. And when someone says, God should
be gracious to me, it's not right for him to, he should be gracious.
Better watch out. He said, I'll be gracious to
whom I will be gracious. And I'll show mercy to whom I
will show mercy. You see, nobody deserves this
grace. If he gives us justice, he'll send us all to hell right
now. But thank God he said, I will be gracious. And he delights
in mercy. God has dealt graciously with
me. And I was trying to think of
how graciously he's dealt with me. First of all, in my temporal
circumstances, where I was raised, how I was raised. You know, there
are many difficult things about my raising. There were difficult
things about your raising as well. Things maybe that you felt
like weren't right, but you know what? It was all good. It was all good. It was all from
God. You see, all things work together
for good. to them that love God, to them who are called according
to your purpose. The way you were raised, the
home you were raised in, it's all according to God's good providence
and God's good purpose. I was raised in such a privileged
way of being raised up in a church with a man who preached the gospel
of God's grace as clearly as I've ever heard it preached.
What a blessing. How much of the world's population
never even hears the gospel? And I was privileged to be raised
up as a young person hearing the gospel. What grace. God has dealt very graciously
with me. I've been so blessed in my family,
my wife, my daughter. What a blessing. the Lord has
given me. And whatever your family circumstance
is, it's grace. I don't care what's happened.
It's exactly what you needed in every respect. It's all grace. God has dealt very graciously
with me. What a blessing to be a part
of this church. and to have such dear friends
whom I love. What a blessing. What a blessing. God hath dealt very graciously
with me. But the spiritual blessings. Now God's blessings. I remember
hearing someone say, would you rather have material blessings
or spiritual blessings? Because most people, if they
were honest, they would say material blessings. Material blessings
are not necessarily blessings, they may be curse. He may bless
you materially where you don't even seek him, everything's fine,
everything's dandy. The true blessings are spiritual
blessings. He loved me with an everlasting
love that began, it didn't begin, I'm using the wrong language.
Behold, I've loved you with an everlasting love. There was never a time when the
God of glory did not love me and see me as beautiful in his
son and cause me to be accepted in the beloved. He chose me in
Christ before time began. Listen to this scripture. 2 Timothy
1.9, he saved us. and called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to his own purpose
and grace which were given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began. Everything I have now, justification,
redemption, whatever it might be, The new nature was given
me in Christ Jesus before the world began. He gave me to his
son and he became flesh for me. He kept the law for me. He knew my name then and everything
he did He did for me just as if I was the only one He was
doing it for. And that's true of every single believer. There's nothing generic about
this. He did this for you just as if you were the only one He
was doing it for. He took my sins. He kept the
law for me. He took my sins in His own body
on the tree and He died for me. as my substitute, putting away
all my sins. He loved me and gave himself
for me. When he was raised from the dead,
it was for my justification. When he ascended back to the
Father, I was with him. The Lord hath been gracious. The Lord hath dealt graciously
with me. He paid for my sins. He's forgiven
all my sins. He's justified me. He's revealed
the gospel to me. He's made me a new creature in
Christ Jesus. He gave me life when I've been
dead in sins. He continues to reveal himself
to me. He keeps me. He preserves me
even right now. The hand of His grace is upon
me. He's made me accepted. He's made
me holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight. Now, beloved, if
I'm holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight, things
are okay. Things are just fine. The Lord's my shepherd. I shall not want. Why? Because the Lord is my shepherd. He has promised he will never
leave me, nor forsake me, and he won't let me leave him. That's
why I don't. He won't let me. When he said, I go and prepare
a place for you, that was me he was talking about. And every
believer can say that. The Lord has dealt graciously
with me. He's working everything for my
good and his glory, and he's made it so I will spend eternity
with him, beholding his glory, perfectly conformed to his image. The Lord hath dealt graciously
with me. Every believer says amen to that. And then he says, I have all. Remember, this is a different
word than the word Esau used. I have plenty, brother. Don't
give me your stuff. I don't need it. I've got a whole
lot. He doesn't say that. He says, I have all. Now, what does that mean? I have
all. I love it in Hebrews chapter
13 when the writer says, Let your conversation be without
covetousness and be content. Be satisfied. Don't be looking
for anything else. Be content with such things as
you have. Let me assure you. He's not talking
about being content with material things, although we ought to
be content with where we are materially. I don't see anybody
here suffering much. Maybe you are materially, but
I think we all live like kings. But he's not talking about content
with material things. Turn to Colossians chapter three. Lie not, verse nine, lie not
one to another, seeing that you've put off the
old man with his deeds and have put on the new man, which is
renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him,
where there is neither Greek nor Jew. These distinctions are
taken away. There's no ethnic distinctions. Circumcision nor uncircumcision. No religious distinctions. Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor
free. But Christ is all. Let me repeat that. Christ is Christ is all that God is. Do you believe that? Jesus Christ
is all that God is. Jesus Christ is all that God
requires. If I have Christ, I have all
that God requires. Period. I'm satisfied to have nothing
but Christ. Because if I have nothing but
Christ, I have all. I do not want anything else. I do not need anything else.
I'm perfectly satisfied to have nothing but Christ. Because only
when I have nothing but Christ do I have all. Jesus Christ is all in all. He's all to God. He's all in
this book. He's all to me. Do you know,
the only thing that I need for motivation is Christ is all.
Law doesn't motivate anybody to anything but hatefulness.
Oh, but Christ is all, makes everyone who believes it want
to be obedient children. I want to honor him. How come? Christ is all. I need no other
motivation. If you tell me that if I'm not
like this, I'll prove I'm not saved. If I don't do this, I'm
gonna lose a reward. All that stuff, all it does is
stir up sin. That's all it does. The strength of sin is the law.
But you tell me Christ is all. Love so amazing, so divine, demands
my soul, my life, my all. Christ is all in my experience.
You know, I love being saved by his faithfulness, don't you?
I love being saved by his faith, my faith. Sometimes I say it, sometimes
I don't. But I'm saved by his faith, the faith of Christ Jesus. There's always a level of insincerity
in everything I do, all the time. There's always a level of phoniness.
and hypocrisy in everything I do. Somebody says, well, I'm not
like that. You just don't know you're like that if that's the
case, but you are like that. Here's my hope, his sincerity. My sorrow is never sorrowful
enough. Oh, I grieve over my sin, but
I forget it. But oh, he is the one who said,
I'll be sorry for my sin. He took my sin and he's the one
who gave sufficient sorrow for it. My sorrow's not enough. My
confession's not enough. His confession is, I'll confess
my iniquities. That's what the Lord said when
he took my sin and my sorrow became his. Even in my experience,
he's all. I mean, Jacob said, I have all. He's all I have, he's all I want,
he's all I need. Now let me remind you of that
scripture I just quoted out of Hebrews chapter 13. Let your
conversation be without covetousness. How? The only way you can not covet
something is to have everything. There's nothing to covet. In Christ, I have all. Content with beholding his face,
my all to his pleasure resigned. No changes of season or place
would make any change in my mind. When blessed with a sense of
his love, a palace, a toy would appear. And prisons would palaces
prove. if Jesus would dwell with me
there. Now this is the personal testimony
of every single child of God without exception. God has dealt
graciously with me and I have all. Let's pray. Lord, we cry with the hymn writer,
oh, to grace, how great a debtor. Daily, I'm constrained to be. Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee. Lord, we cry, draw us and we
will run after thee. Bless this message for your glory. Cause every one of us to say
with Jacob that you've dealt graciously with us and we have
all in your son. As we. Look forward to this coming
week. We ask that we would be given
grace to walk in fellowship with our son. We pray for open doors
to preach your gospel to others. Bless us in Christ. And cause us to know that you
dealt graciously and we have all. In his name we pray, amen.