Savior is Jesus my Lord. A wonderful Savior is Jesus my
Lord, A wonderful Savior to me. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock, Where rivers of pleasure I see. He hires my soul in the flat
of the rock. The shadows, the trifers he lands. He puts my life in the depths
of his love, And covers me there with his hand. And covers me then with His hand. How wonderful Savior is Jesus
my Lord! He taketh my burden away. He holdeth me up, and I shall
not be burdened. He giveth me strength in the
day. He sideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock. That shadows a dry, thirsty land. He guideth my life in the depths
of His love, And covers me there with His hand. And covers me
there with His hand. For less blessings each moment
He crowns, And filled with His fullness He binds. I sing in my rapture, O glory
to God, For such a Redeemer as mine. Divideth my soul in the clefts
of the rock, That shadows the striped, thirsty land. Divideth my life In the chest
of His love, And covers me there with His hand. And covers me there with His
hand. When told with His brightness
transformed should I rise To meet Him in clouds of the sky Take salvation, his wonderful
love, Thou shalt with the millions on high. He died at my soul, in the cleft
of the rock, That shadows a dry, thirsty land He hideth my life
in the depths of His love And covers me there with His hand
And covers me there with His hand Let's turn to 232. Let's stand
and sing When I See the Blue. 232. Christ our Redeemer died on the
cross, died for the sinner, paid all his dues. Sprinkle my soul
with the blood of the Lamb, and I will pass, will pass over you. When I see the blood, when I
see the blood, when I see the blood, I will pass, I will pass
over you. Cheapest of sinners too All He
has promised that He will do Wash in the fountain, repent
for sin And I will pass, will pass over you When I see the
flood When I see the flood When I see the flood Judgment is coming,
all will be there Each one receiving justly his due I am the saving,
displacing flood, and I will pass, will pass over you. When I see the flood, when I
see the flood, when I see the flood, I will pass, I will pass
over you. O great compassion, O boundless
love, O loving-kindness, faithful and true. Find peace and shelter
under the blood, And I will pass, will pass over you when I die. When I see the blood, when I
see the blood, I will pass, I will pass over you. Good evening. Let's turn to Revelations
chapter 21. Revelations 21, we'll read down
through verse seven, read the first seven verses. And I saw a new heaven and a
new earth. For the first heaven and the
first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. And
I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God
out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And
I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle
of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall
be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their
God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and
there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither
shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed
away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all
things new. And he said unto me, Write, for
these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end. I will give unto him that is
a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that
overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will be his God,
and he shall be my son. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we approach
thee this evening in the name of our precious Savior and our
precious intercessor, the Lord. Jesus Christ and. Or give us
grace to. Feel free and bold to approach
you through him. Ever give us the desire to. Come to you with all things,
no matter how great, no matter how small. Or we seem to. Want to try and handle everything
by our own power, own will, our own might, Lord. Give us grace
to turn to you in all things. Give us grace to seek your wisdom,
your way, your word. And Lord, we would ask that you
would speak with us here this evening through our pastor. Lord,
that you would fill us with your spirit and give us this new heart
and this spirit that would Rejoice in this one that has completed
the work, the one that has said it is done. And Lord, we ask
for grace to rest in him and to know that it is done and to
rejoice in that fact and to walk with that on our minds through
the week and at all times looking to him. Lord, we ask for eyes
of faith to rest in our Savior at all times. We ask this in
his name. Amen. I see the blessed Savior uplifted
on the tree. The law holds Him, it's captive,
that sinners might go free. His blood poured out in mercy
It does for sin atone I hear Him cry, it's finished The work
is fully done I see the mighty victor Arising from the grave
Death, Hell, and Satan vanquished, this mighty God can save. Christ took His place in Heaven
upon the throne above. To Him all power is given to
save the ones He loves. I hear Him interceding, He spreads
His wounded hands. For sinners He is pleading, More
numerous than the sand. He asks for those He purchased,
His blood is all He pleads. The Father can't refuse Him,
He'll have His ransom seen. I trust You, Jesus, Savior, I
bow before Your throne. By sovereign mercy save me and
take me for your own. Your blood's my only cleansing,
your righteousness my robe. You are my only refuge, I have
no other home. Your blood's my only cleansing,
Your righteousness my robe. You are my only refuge, I have
no other home. Would you turn with me to Genesis
chapter 49? Now, we're going to look at the very last words
of Jacob. As a matter of fact, immediately
after these words, he dies. These are his last words. I want
us to consider the death of Jacob. Beginning in verse 29, And he charged them and said
unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people. Bury me with
my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,
in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before
Mamre in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the
field of Ephraim, the Hittite, were a possession of a burying
place. There they buried Abraham and Sarai, his wife. There they
buried Isaac and Rebekah, his wife. And there I buried Leah. The purchase of the field and
of the cave which is therein was from the children of Heth. And when Jacob had made an end
of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the and yielded
up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people." Now, Jacob
knows that he is going to die after this conversation. What
if you knew you were going to die tonight? You may. You know that. I don't have to
convince anybody of that. You may. But what if you knew
that you were going to die after this service? Well, Jacob knew
he was going to shortly die. And Jacob expresses some assurance
regarding where he's going. He says in verse twenty nine,
I am to be gathered unto my people. He knew where he was going. I
am to be gathered to my people. Now, you know as well as I do
that Jacob's life had many turns, many falls, many failures, he
was a weak individual by his own confession. Turn with me
for a moment to Genesis 47. Let's look at his own summary
of his own life. Look in verse nine. And Jacob
said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are
in hundred and thirty years. Now, here's his summary of his
own life, and he's being honest. Few and evil have the days of
the years of my life been, and I have not attained unto the
days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of
their pilgrimage. He says, I have not been like
Abraham. I've not been like Isaac. I haven't attained to them my
own summary of my life. Few days full of evil. Now that was Jacob's testimony
concerning his life, yet he speaks of his death without fear and
with assurance. I'm going to be gathered to my
people. Now there are three words used
in the Bible to describe the death of the believer. Can you
think of what they are? I bet you can think of some of
them. One is blessed. Revelation 14, 13 says, Blessed
are the dead that die in the Lord. What a blessing to die
in the Lord. That person has been blessed
by God. We generally think of death not
as a blessing, do we? But if I'm a believer, what a
blessing. You see, it's part of those spiritual
blessings that every believer has. Blessed are the dead that
die in the Lord. And here's one that's hard for
me to get hold of. Psalm 116, 15. Precious. Precious. In the sight of the
Lord is the death of his saints. Now, can you get a hold of that?
That's just. You mean to tell me that when I die, it's going
to be precious to the God of glory? Isn't that amazing? That's hard
to get hold of, isn't it? That it would be precious, but
because of union with Christ. This is, you know, we can only
understand everything in light of union with Christ. Is Christ
precious to the Father? Well, you know He is. So am I. Just as precious to the Father
as Christ is, because I'm united to Him. When I die, it's going
to be precious. Precious to the Lord. That verse
of scripture I just read in Philippians 121, I love this, for me to live
as Christ and to die is what? Gain. Gain. It's not a loss. It's a gain. There's three words that describe
the death of the believer. Blessed. Precious. And gain. And Jacob knows he's
going to be gathered to his people, the children of God. And here's
something else that was sweet to me to think about. You know,
God's people are my people. God's people are my people. And I want to spend eternity
with God's people. Isn't that a blessing? We have
fellowship here, but it's not going to be like it will be there
when we're done with sin. But God's people are my people. And that's real. I love. God's people, I really do. He says I'm going to be gathered
to my people and Jacob doesn't fear death and no believer has
a reason to fear death. Now we do. We do. There's not
one person in here that doesn't have some fear of death to some
extent, not one of us. But we don't have a reason to
fear death. And let me give you three reasons why no believer
should fear death. And here's the first reason.
Because the Lord has gone before us in death. He's died. And he's risen again, and he's
already gone before us into death. And he now tells us we will live
eternally. with him. I remember one time
I, the only time I went kayaking, I've gone rafting a few times,
but once I went kayaking and we had to have a half a day classes,
worth of classes as to how to operate that kayak and everything.
It was, I had a hard time with it, but I remember a half a day
spent in Desmond. Here we come to the first raft
and he said, who wants to go first? My hand didn't go up. I wouldn't wait to see if somebody
else made it through. And once they made it through, and I saw
them on the other side, maybe I'd feel a little bit better.
Well, our Lord has gone before us into death. He actually died,
and He's been raised from the dead, and He's telling us there
is no reason for a believer to fear death. It's gain. It's precious. It's blessing. And here's the second reason
why we have no reason to fear death. He's taking away the reason
to fear death. Now, what is it? What is the
one thing about you that makes you fear death more than anything
else? Sin. Sin. If you didn't have any sin
at all, you wouldn't be afraid, would you? Oh, there'd be certain
parts of the unknowing, I guess, is always going to... Hit us
a little bit, but if you knew you didn't have any sin at all,
if you knew you were exactly like the Lord Jesus Christ, would
you fear death? Well, my friend, you are. You are. You don't have any sin. The strength
of death is sin. The strength of sin is the law.
The sting of death is sin. He's taken it away. You do not,
if you're a believer, if you're somebody that Christ died for,
you just do not have any sin. Therefore, you have no reason
to fear. You are perfect in God's sight. And the third reason that we
have no reason to fear death, if we're believers, is that the
Lord has changed the character of death for a believer. How
does God describe The death of the believer. What is the word
Paul always used to the epistles? Sleep. Sleep. He never said the believer
dies. He says the believer goes to
sleep. You go to sleep. It's a good thing to go to sleep.
And when you wake up, you will wake up to it. I don't even know
how to describe it. No way I can describe heaven.
But you will wake up perfectly conformed to the image of Christ. Now, is that something to dread,
going to sleep and waking up to be just like the Lord Jesus
Christ? Now, Jacob knows he is dying
and he's doing so with assurance. He's a sinful man, just like
you are, just like I am. But our assurance is Christ. Every believer ought to have
assurance, and if you don't have assurance regarding death, it's because
you're not looking to Christ, you're looking somewhere else. You look
to Christ, you'll have the same assurance Jacob did. Now, I think
it's interesting that Jacob gives us some very specific instructions
regarding his burial. Verse 29, Genesis 49, he charged
them and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people.
Bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of
Ephraim the Hittite, in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah,
which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham
bought with the field of Ephraim the Hittite for possession of
a burying place." Now there they buried Abraham and Sarah's wife,
there they buried Isaac and Rebekah, his wife, and there I buried
Leah. The purchase of the field and the cave that is therein
from the children of head. That's the place I want to be
buried. Now, why does Jacob give such
specific instructions regarding where he wanted to be buried?
Well, let's go back to Genesis 23 to see what he's talking about.
This is where Sarah was buried, where Sarah died and where Sarah
was buried. I want to read this entire chapter
because all those words come from this chapter. Genesis 23, and Sarah was 107
and 20 years old, and these were the years of the life of Sarah.
And Sarah died in Kerjetharba, the same as Hebron, in the land
of Canaan. And Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for
her. And Abraham stood up from before
his dead and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying, I am a stranger
and a sojourner with you. Give me a possession of a burying
place with you. that I may bury my dead out of
my sight, he's asking them for a grave, a sepulcher. And the children of Heth answered
Abraham, saying unto him, and look at the respect they had
for Abraham, Hear us, my lord, thou art a mighty prince among
us. In the choice of our sepulchers, bury thy dead. None of us shall
withhold from thee his sepulcher, but that thou mayest bury thy
dead. You take anyone you want. It's yours for free. We wouldn't
withhold anything from you. Verse seven, And Abraham stood
up and bowed himself to the people of the land, even to the children
of heaven. I want you to notice how humble
he was before these people. He bowed himself. He wasn't some
kind of cocky, arrogant individual. I'm a mighty prince. He bowed
before these people. That's the way he conducted himself
around these people. Verse 8, And he communed with
them, saying, If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out
of my sight, hear me, and entreat for me to Ephraim the son of
Zohar, that he may give me the cave of Machpelah. That's what
we just read about it in Genesis 49. Which he hath which is in
the end of the steel. For as much money as it's worth,
he'll give it me for possession of a burying place amongst you.
And Abram dwelt among the children of Heth. And Abram, the Hittite,
answered Abraham in the audience of the children of Heth, even
of all that were at the gate of the city, saying, Nay, my
lord, hear me. The field, give I thee. I'm not going to take money from
you. And the cave that's therein, I give it thee. In the presence
of the sons of my people, give I it to thee. Bury thy dead. bowed down himself before the
people of the land." Once again, look at his humility. This is
the way we are to conduct ourselves before unbelievers. Look at his
humility. And he's speaking to Ephraim in the audience of the
people of the land, saying, but if thou will give it, I pray
thee, hear me, I'll give thee money for the field, take it
of me, and I'll bury my dead there. He didn't say, do you
give discounts to churches? He didn't say, will you give
me an extra good price because I'm... No, he said, I'm going
to pay the whole price. I'm not looking for a break.
That's significant, isn't it? Verse 14, And Ephraim answered
Abraham, saying unto him, My lord, hearken unto me, the land's
worth four hundred shekels of silver, and what is that betwixt
me and thee? Bury therefore thy dead. And
Abraham hearkened unto Ephraim, and Abraham weighed to Ephraim
the silver which he had named in the audience of the sons of
the hep four hundred shekels of silver, current money with
the merchant. He gave him the full price. He would not Take it until the
full price was paid. And the field of Ephraim, verse
17, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field and
the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in the
field that were in all the borders round about, were made sure.
They were made sure by a full payment being made unto Abraham
for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth before
all that went in the gate of the city. And after this, Abraham
buried Sarah, his wife, in the cave of the field of Machpelah.
This is where Jacob wants to be buried before Mamre, the son
of Hebron, the land of Canaan, and the field and the cave that
is therein were made sure unto Abraham for possession of a burying
place by the sons of Heth. Now Abraham paid the full price
before he buried the dead. Abraham is going to make sure
the full price is paid before his death would be buried. Abraham
is not going to accept anything less than full payment. And when
the grave is made sure the resting place of his beloved one is made
sure, then he lays her down. Now, this is the cave that Jacob
wants to be buried in. Go back to Genesis 49. Now, Jacob gives specific instructions
regarding the place of his burial. He says in verse 29, he charged
them, I am to be gathered unto my people, bury me with my fathers. I want to be where all of God's
people are. A couple of things that come
to my mind. You know, people. Religious people,
particularly, I mean, you've heard this, they think about
different rewards in heaven, different positions in glory.
If you're so obedient to this position, if you're more obedient,
you'll get a better position. If you're kind of a carnal Christian,
you'll end up getting some kind of shack in heaven. Do you want to be exalted above
your brothers? Do you want to hire a physician than me? Do
I want to hire? I just want to be I want to be
with my father. I just want to be one of the
people the cross died for, nothing more. I want to be buried with
my fathers. I want to be with his people. He says, bury me with my fathers.
And he says, bury me in the land of Canaan, the promised land.
Canaan is the land God gave to Abraham and his descendants by
promise. Now, he's there in Egypt. Egypt
represents false religion. You can see that in Exodus. He
says, I don't want to be buried here. I want to be brought back
to Canaan, that land that God promised my fathers. If the inheritance
be of the law, Galatians 3.18 says, it's no more by promise,
but God gave it to Abraham by promise. I want to be buried
in the promised grace of God. That's where I want to be buried.
Oh, I just simply want to be buried in that promised grace
of God. Not something I've earned, but
the promised grace of God. Now, he says in verse 30. In the cave that's in the field
of Machpelah, which is before Mamre in the land of Canaan.
which Abraham brought, he wants to be brought into the the name
of the place was Mamre. And that place, that name means
strength and vigor. That's a that's an odd name for
a place to a burial place, isn't it? It's called strength and
vigor. And the only way I can understand
that is dying in Christ. That's a place of strength and
vigor. You know, his death, when he describes his own death, he
spake of the decease which he should accomplish. It's a place
of strength. and vigor, and then he says there's
a cave there in a field called Machpula. Machpula means double,
folded over and doubled. And let me show you how else
this word is used. Turn to Isaiah, chapter 40. Isaiah, chapter 40. Verse 1, Comfort ye, my people,
sayeth your God, speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her
that her warfare is accomplished. It's already over. The victory's
already been won. Her iniquity is pardoned. For
she hath received of the Lord's hand double. Mack, for all of her sins. Now, on the cross, not only were my sins punished,
but a complete satisfaction was made. Now, can you lay down in
that grave? Not only on the cross was I forgiven,
I was justified. Nothing to be forgiven for. Not
guilty. Yes, I was forgiven, but I was
also justified. I received double. Can you lay
down in that grave? Not only were my debts paid and
all my debts paid on the cross, I was also given infinite wealth,
infinite righteousness. I received double for all my
sins. Can you lay down in that grave? Not only on the cross was I saved
from hell, I was made just like Christ. Can you lay down in that
grave? Not only do I have comfort in
this life, I have comfort in the life to come. Not only do
I have justification, I have sanctification. Now, I can lay
down in this grave, this double. I can see why he wanted him this
grave. Now, let's look at how Jacob described this sepulcher
again. Look in Genesis 49. Verse 30. I want to be buried in that cave
that's in the field of Mactala, which is before Mamre, the place
of strength and vigor in the land of Canaan, the land of God's
promise, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephraim Hittite
for a possession of a burying place. He describes this grave
as a possession. Now this word possession means
something seized. Something won in victory. Something
won in a mighty battle. Now my place of resting is something
that Christ seized for me. He won it for me on the cross.
And this is why I can actually look forward to death. I can
just Just the way he is. Now, I want to live. Don't get
me wrong. I love life. But I want to die. Christ Jesus has purchased my
resting place, my likeness to him. And he seized it for me
on the cross. He won a mighty battle to get this for me. But
not only is it something seized, it's something bought, it's something
purchased. Look at verse 30 again. In this
case, it's in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre in the
land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephraim
the Hittite for possession of a burying place. He bought it. He purchased it. The price was
paid. I'll be gathered to my people
because the price has been paid. I was redeemed. with the precious
blood of Christ. His blood made a payment. I've
been redeemed. Now, I think of this passage
of scripture in light of Romans chapter eight, verse thirty three,
where it says, Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's
elect? It's God who justifies it. Who is he that can condemn? It's Christ that died. Does anything else need to be
said? Not another word. If Christ died,
oh, I, I need no other argument. I need no other plea. It is enough
that Jesus died and that he died for me. Now let's go on reading
verse 33. And when Jacob had made an end
of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet in the bed. He yielded
up the ghost and was gathered unto his people. He died. And
Joseph fell upon his father's face, and wept upon him, and
kissed him. And Joseph commanded his servants,
the physicians, to embalm his father. And the physicians embalmed
Israel. And forty days were fulfilled
for him. For so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed. And the Egyptians mourned for
him threescore and ten days, seventy days. And when the days
of his mourning were passed, Joseph spake unto the house of
Pharaoh, saying, If now I found grace in your eyes, Speak, I
pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, My father made me swear."
Now here's something else Jacob said that's not found in these
verses we just read, but this is very important. My father
made me swear, saying, Lo, I die! My grave, which I have digged
for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Notice Jacob says, the grave
that I dig. I dig it myself. Do you know when this grave was
purchased, he wasn't even born? He wasn't around when Abraham
bought this grave. He wasn't around at all. Yet
he says, I have You see, when Abraham digged
it, I dug it. Because I was in the loins of
my father Abraham, when he dug it. Is that the way you say it? Dug? I don't even know if I'm
using the right language for it. But when Abraham digged the
grave, Jacob could say, I did it. I did it. This place that
I'm getting ready to lie down in and die in, I digged this
place. And you know where I'm going
with this. When Jesus Christ kept God's
holy law, I did too. I really did. I'm united to Him.
And this is where my boldness comes from. Somebody was praying,
may we have boldness to come into your presence. May we have
boldness to Call on your name and no words. If you hear where
boldness comes from, you'll have boldness if you believe this.
I'm united to Christ, what He did, I did. As I'm united to
Him, I'm one with Him. When Abraham drug that grave,
Jacob said, I dug that out. Now, Jacob wasn't even born when
this took place. Now, I wasn't even born when
Christ kept the law, but I kept the law. It's not as if I kept
it, I kept the law. In the person of my. Redeemer
that I'm united to and this grave that I'm getting into, it's something
that. I dug out because when Christ
did it, I did, this is where our confidence comes from. Now,
do you remember in Genesis chapter 23, after Abraham paid the debt
for that grave, he said this grave has been made sure now. If the Lord Jesus seized this
resting place for me, this burial place, if he seized it. If he
bought it and purchased it, paying for my sins, paying all my debts,
and he purchased this place. If I'm united to him, then this
burial place, this grave, this resting place has been made sure. It's made I'm totally sure. I've heard people say, I'm as
sure for heaven as if I'm already there. Beloved, it's better than
that. I'm already there. That's how
sure this is. In the person of my substitute,
in the person of my Redeemer, in the person of my Lord and
Savior, I am already there. And it is sure. Place of sureness. We read the second segment, 23-5,
when David is giving his last words. He says, although my house
be not so with God, yet have he made with me an everlasting
covenant. Ordered in all things and sure. And David said, this is all my
salvation. And it's all my desire, though
he maketh it not to grow. Let's read the end of this, verse
7. And Joseph went up to bury his
father, and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh,
the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of
Egypt, and all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father's
house, only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds
they left in the land of Goshen. And there went up with him both
chariots and horsemen, and it was a very great company. And
they came to the threshing floor of Ahtad, which is beyond Jordan. And there they mourned with a
great, very sore lamentation. And he made a mourning for his
father seven days. And when the inhabitants of the
land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Ahtad,
they said, this is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians. Wherefore,
the name of that place was called Abel Miserium, which is beyond
Jordan. And his sons did unto him according
as he commanded them. For his sons carried him into
the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field
of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for possession
of a burying place of Ephraim the Hittite before Mamre." Now,
if I'm a believer and I die, I hope some mourning will be
going on. I hope people won't be saying,
well, I'm glad to get rid of him. You know, I'd like for somebody
to be sad about it. But also, if I'm a believer,
there should be a whole lot more rejoicing than mourning. Isn't that wonderful to have
that prospect of death? There's to be a whole lot more rejoicing
than mourning, because I am in the very presence of Jesus Christ
with His people. And that is where I want to be. Okay, let's pray together.