I'm going to read verses 13 through
27 of Genesis chapter 49, and I'd like
to make some introductory statements before I read this passage of
Scripture. As you know, Genesis 49 is Jacob's
prophecy regarding his twelve sons, and I've entitled this
message The Sons of Jacob. And that's another name for believers.
You remember there in Malachi chapter 3, verse 6, where the
Lord said, I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore, ye sons of Jacob
are not consumed. These are the sons of Jacob.
Now, we've already brought a few, looked at a couple of things
on this passage of scripture. You'll remember the first three sons
mentioned, Reuben, Simeon and Levi. There's nothing good said
about them. Not a thing. The first three
sons. Now, three in the scripture is
the number of completion. It's not the number of perfection.
Seven is the number of perfection, but it's the number of completion.
And in these three sons of Jacob, Reuben, Simeon and Levi were
given a complete view of man by nature. There's nothing good
about him. And then, as we considered last
time, Judah. What tribe did the Lord come
out of? Judah. In the history of Judah, we have
the gospel. And then, now these final eight
sons are commended. And in these boys, these men,
we actually have what a believer is. Now, let's read this passage
of Scripture with that in mind, beginning in verse 13. shall dwell at the haven of the
sea, and he shall be for an haven of ships, and his border shall
be unto Zidon. Issachar is a strong ass couching
between two burdens, and he saw that rest was good, and the land
that it was pleasant, and he bowed his shoulder to bear and
became a servant unto tribute. Dan shall judge his people as
one of the tribes of Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder
in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider
shall fall backward. I have waited for thy salvation,
O Lord." Gad, a troop, shall overcome
him, but he shall overcome them at the last. Out of Asher his
bread shall be fat. and he shall yield royal dainties. Naphtali is a hind or a deer
let loose. He giveth goodly words. Joseph
is a fruitful bow, even a fruitful bow by well, and branches run
over the wall. Skip down to verse 27. Benjamin
shall raven as a wolf in the morning, He shall devour the
prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil." Now, in these descriptions
of the sons of Jacob, we're actually given a description of what a
believer actually is. Now, when God saves somebody,
He justifies them. That means he clears them of
all guilt. They're not guilty. You know,
how many times, I suppose that just about every time I preach,
I make some kind of reference to justification. I don't apologize. I love the truth that I am just
before God by what Christ did for me. When God saves somebody,
He justifies them. That's yours, believer. Hold
on to it. Believe it. Rejoice in it. Not
only does He justify them, He gives them life. He gives them
spiritual life. They're by nature, just like
Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, worthless, sinful, dead in sins, unable
to do anything to save themselves. But when He saves them, He gives
them spiritual life. It's called in Scripture, a birth.
What happens at a birth? Life is there. Spiritual life. Now, life is not always apparent. Spiritual life is not always
apparent. It can be there, and you might
not be able to see it. And what I think of is trees
in the winter. All of our trees that seem so
full of life, they're losing their leaves now. And give them
another month, they're going to look dead. They're going to
look barren. And you don't even know for sure
whether or not they're alive when you look at them. As a matter
of fact, the only way you can tell if they're alive is come
springtime when it's time for the leaves to come out once again.
If they're alive, those leaves will come out. But if they're
dead, they will stay there. And life is not always apparent. But if there is life there, the
leaves will eventually appear. Now, in these eight sons of Jacob,
we have the leaves of life. And if we have spiritual life,
all of these descriptions will describe us. Now, I realize sometimes
you can't see life like a leafless tree, but if you never see these
things, it's because life is not there. God's grace never
fails. If he gives you life, You will
bear these leaves that are spoken of in these eight sons of Jacob. His grace is irresistible. It's invincible, it's almighty,
and it never fails. Now, first, let's look at Zebulun.
Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea, and he shall be for
an haven of ships. and his border shall be under
Zidon." Zebulun is a haven. Zebulun is a place of safety
and security. And if I'm a believer, I'm going
to be a haven to others. I'm going to be a place of safety.
I'm going to be a place of security. If I'm a believer, listen to
me. If I am a believer, you're not going to have to watch your
back around me. I'm a place of safety. I'm a place of security. I'm somebody you can trust. I'm
somebody who's your friend. If I'm a believer, somebody that
God has saved, they are going to be a blessing to others. That's the point. You look at
your brothers and sisters in Christ. How many of your brothers
and sisters in Christ have truly been a blessing to you? A friend
indeed. Someone who's blessed you. The
Lord's used them to bless you. Now, if the Lord's given me spiritual
life, I am going to be a blessing to others. Now, sometimes it's
not apparent. If you're around me enough, you'll love that.
But by God's grace, it will be apparent in God's time. I will
be a haven, a place of security, not somebody that's attacking
somebody and you're having to watch your back around, but I'll
be a blessing, a haven, a place of safety. OK, verse 14. Issachar is a strong ass couching
down between two burdens, and he saw that rest was good and
the land that was pleasant. and he bowed his shoulder to
bear and became a servant unto tribute. Issachar, a strong-ass catching
between two burdens. Now, if you're a believer, if
you have spiritual life, you know something about burdens. I mean heavy burdens. And the two burdens that are
spoken of. He's a strong ass, made strong
by the grace of God, catching between these two burdens. I
know what two burdens he's talking about. Two burdens that we always
deal with. The burden of bondage. The flesh that is always in bondage,
always in bondage. The burden of salvation by works
that the flesh just doesn't get rid of. It's a bondage. That's
a burden, and oh what a burden that is, and the burden of sin. My sin is ever before me. And what a burden that is, the
burden of my sinful nature, the burden of bondage. Now, Issachar,
though by God's grace, is a strong ass couching between these two
burdens. He's made to be able to bear
them up. And look what it says about him
in verse 15. He saw that rest was good. Now,
the only way that you can understand anything about rest and rejoice
and rest is if you know something about burdens. Now, the burdens
he's speaking of makes rest sweet and wonderful and a blessing. Now, think of the Lord's words
in Matthew 11, verse 28. He said, Come unto me, all ye
that labor. There's that first burden, laboring,
never done enough, laboring and laboring, but never done enough. That's a burden. All ye that
labor and are heavy laden. heavy laden over your sin, your
sin, your sinful nature, your sinful acts, your sinful thoughts.
It's a burden to you. He said, come unto Me and I'll
give you rest. Now, what is this rest? Well,
they which have believed do enter into a rest. Sabbath of arrest. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
4. Hold your finger there in Genesis and turn to Hebrews chapter
4. Verse 9, There remaineth therefore
a rest to the people of God, for he that is entered into his
rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did Now
this is what this rest is. You cease from your own works. Cease! Nothing to do. Nothing to do but rest in what
he did. Now that's the rest of the believer.
I actually rest in what he did. And what a glorious, joyous rest
this is. The rest of the believer. And look what he says in verse
11. Let us labor therefore. to enter into that rest. You
know, it's hard to rest, isn't it? It's hard to do nothing. It takes
a tremendous amount of effort in some respects to just do nothing.
He says, let us labor to enter into that rest, to rest completely
in Him. Now, back to our text in Genesis
49. He saw that rest was good and
the land that it was pleasant And this rest that is spoken
of is not the rest of just a complete inactivity. He bowed his shoulder
to bear and became a servant unto tribute. When you rest in
Christ, you want to serve him and you bow your shoulder to
bear. Now, verse 16, Dan. Here's the third leaf of life,
Dan shall judge his people. as one of the tribes of Israel.
Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path that
bite at the horse heels so that his riders shall fall backwards.
Now here's the third leaf of life. You are a judge. Dan shall judge his people. Now, what's he mean by that?
When he's talking about Dan being a judge, you know he doesn't
mean what The Lord in it when he said, judge not that you be
not judged. He's not saying to judge people and judge their
motives and judge what's behind what they're doing. He's not
saying that at all. The word judge means literally an umpire. An umpire. Now, what's an umpire?
Well, World Series is going on right now. What's the umpire
do? He doesn't show favoritism if he's a good umpire to either
team, does he? He calls them as he sees them. He tells the
truth. He makes the decisions not based
upon favoritism for one person or the other. He does it exactly
as it's true. And that's what a true believer
does. He has some discernment. He has some understanding. He's
not going to show favoritism. He's going to battle what God
says. That's his judgment. He judges according to the Word
of God. Our Lord said, judge righteous
judgment. Not biased judgment, but righteous
judgment. The judgment of the Scriptures.
He tests and proves all things by the Word of God. And he's
given some discernment. Dan shall judge his people as
one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be as a serpent by
the way, an adder in the path, a bite at the horse heel, so
that his riders shall fall backward. That doesn't sound very good
in a way, does it? But what that's telling us is
the horse and rider are not going to escape this judgment. They
may try, but Dan is always going to be consistent in judgment.
He's always going to bow to what God says and say what God says. That's the way his judgment works.
Now, in verse 18, I'm going to save this verse for another message
where Jacob, just in the middle of this, he says, I've waited
for thy salvation, O Lord. That's going to be another message,
but look at Gad. Here's the fourth leaf of life. Gad, a troop, shall
overcome him. But he shall overcome at last. A troop shall overcome and defeat
him, but he'll win in the end. Now, here's something to do with
life. If you have life, How many times
have you been knocked down and defeated? Defeated by your sin. You're knocked down. And it seems
like you're losing. It seems like you've lost. And yet, what is going to happen
with Gad? A troop shall overcome him, but
he shall overcome at the last. Now, there really is Hold your
finger there and turn to Galatians chapter 5. There really is a
battle going on in a believer's heart every day, every, all the
time. Look at verse 17. For the flesh
lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh,
and these are contrary. The one to the other, they're
at odds so that you cannot do the things that you would. Now,
he speaks of a battle going on, and this is this is what God
experienced. He gets knocked down. He can't
do the things that he would. I would. I would never sin again. Would you? I would. How does it work out? I would never, you know, my intention
right now while I'm talking to you is to not sin anymore. And even as soon as I say that,
there'll be a million sins go through my mind. I get knocked down. The flesh lusts against the spirit. The spirit lusts against the
flesh. Now, you would. And you know this, I can say
this to life, you would, you know you're hard enough to know
that you would be an absolute monster in iniquity. How many
times have you thought you're going to go a
certain direction? I'm just, that's what I'm going to do.
And God prevented it. He didn't allow it to happen. Fight, going back and forth.
It's the fight between the new man and the old man. The holy
nature and the sinful nature. A believer has two natures. A
holy nature that cannot sin. We're called holy brethren, aren't
we? Can holiness sin? No. We have a holy nature and
we have a completely evil, sinful nature. And these two are at
odds. And I tell you what, you can
feel like you've been defeated. Paul said, O wretched man that I am,
who shall deliver me from this body of death? That's a fight
that's going on, I believe. And he feels like he's overcome.
But he's going to win at last. Now, listen to these words of
our Lord. He said in John 16, verse 31, He says, These things
have I spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. Now,
in the world, you'll have tribulation, you'll have trial, but be of
good cheer. I have overcome the world. Turn to Romans 7. Romans 7. Paul says in verse 18, That in me that is in my flesh
dwelleth no good thing. Do you know that? You know, it's
true regarding you. For to will is present with me. I really want to be holy. That's
that's my desire. That's my will. That's my wish.
But how to perform that which is good. Notice he doesn't say sometimes
I mess up. He says I just flat out don't find it. For the good
that I would. I do not. But the evil which I would not. That I do you know my mind is
brought to the first time I read this passage of Scripture. I
never will. I can remember that the first I thought that's me.
I. I didn't know what all it meant,
but I know it sure seemed to make sense to me. Let's go on reading.
Now, if I do that I would not. It's no more I that do it. But
sin that dwelleth in me. I find in a law that when I would
do good, evil is present with me, for I delight in the law
of God after the inward man. But I see another law in my members. warring against the law of my
mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in
my members, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from
this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ,
our Lord. So then with my mind, I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. Now,
he gets knocked down. But he's going to win in the
end. Listen to this scripture. 2 Corinthians 2, I believe it's
verse 17. Might be verse 14, but I'm just
quoting it to you. It came to my mind. Now, thanks be unto
God, who always causes us to triumph. Every time. In Christ. Dad, he's going to
be knocked down. He's going to lose a battle.
But he's going to win the war. every time. Okay, let's look
at verse 20 of our text, Genesis 49. Out of Asher his bread shall
be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties. Now, you work to make
this bread. This is not talking about fruit
right now. This is talking about something you do in order to
make this bread. And he says, Asher's bread is
always going to be fat. It's always going to be productive.
Always something good is going to come out of it. He'll yield
royal dainties. Everything that Asher does is
going to prosper. When he fails, he prospers. It's good for him. When he succeeds,
He prospers. It's good for him. Everything
he does is for his good. It's a prosperous thing. And
the reason it prospers is because we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are called
according to his purpose. So I don't care what all I should
do. It always ends up being successful. He yields royal dainties out
of everything he does. It always ends up being for his
good and the glory of God, because God is in control of it. What
a blessing to be an Asher. Verse 21. Naphtali is a hind let loose. He giveth goodly words. Now, Naphtali is a deer set free. And what this is, is a reference
to Christian liberty. How we love Christian liberty. Stand fast in the liberty, the
freedom, where with Christ it made us free. And don't you be
entangled again in that yoke of bondage. Now, the Lord is
that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there's liberty,
there's freedom, not to lie. He's been set free, and this
is the believer's experience. This is another leaf of grace.
Now, what is involved in this thing of being free? What is
involved in Christian liberty? A lot of folks, when they think
of liberty, they think, well, it's your liberty to do this
or do that that maybe somebody disagrees with, but you can do
it anyway because you've got Christian liberty. That has nothing to
do with what Christian liberty is. Christian liberty. Well, two
things are involved in liberty. First, if you're truly liberated,
you don't owe anything. You're not under obligation of
debt. And secondly, when you're truly liberated, you do what
you want to do. You're not doing what you have
to do, what you feel guilty about, what you're afraid of, something
bad will happen to you if you don't do it. You're actually
doing what you want to do. That's what Christian liberty
is. Now, Christ Jesus has made me free. I do not owe anything. All my sins have been paid for.
I have a perfect righteousness before God's holy law, before
God right now. He sees me as without sin. I
don't owe anything. Isn't that liberating? I don't
owe anything. And not only do I owe nothing,
and what a wonderful Liberation, that is, to be free of debt.
I don't owe anything. I'm doing what I want to do.
Do you know serving the Lord is what I want to do? That's my want to. That's my
desire. Not to lie is a hind let loose. He's a hind set free. And what are the goodly words
he gives the Gospel? Isn't the Gospel wonderful? I
don't know anything, and now I get to do what I want to do.
You know, most people's religion is such an unhappy thing. It's
such a sad thing. They're doing stuff they really
don't want to do. That's not the liberty of the gospel. We
do what we want to do. And our want to is to be just
like Christ. It's to follow him. Verse 22. Joseph. is a fruitful bow. I keep, is that bow or bow? Can
somebody tell me? Which one is it? Is it bow? Okay,
what's he doing mispronouncing that? I don't know. I always
get confused on that one. He's a fruitful bow. Okay, I
said it right this time. He's a fruitful bow. I'm not
going to go over the rest of those verses with regard to Joseph,
because, Lord willing, next week I just want to bring an entire
message on this passage of Scripture regarding Joseph being this fruitful
bough. But what this is a reference
to is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. He's a fruitful bough. And look
what happens in this fruitful bough. Joseph is a fruitful bough,
even a fruitful bough by a well. Oh, that's the well of God's
Spirit, the well of God's grace. Feeding this fruit, he's a fruitful
bough by well, whose branches run over the wall. I love the
picture of this, but this is a reference to the fruit of God,
the Holy Spirit, that he bears. Turn with me for a moment to
Galatians chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5. Verse 22. But the fruit of the Spirit,
and this is what every believer has. When I have life, I have
the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love. You know, I do love the Lord
Jesus Christ. I love God as He's revealed in
the Scriptures. I love every one of His attributes. I love His holiness. I love His
justice. I love His sovereignty. I love His control. I love His
wisdom. I love His power. Everything
about Him I love, and I love His people. I love those who
love the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, every believer bears the
fruit of love, and some people seem to think that this is the
fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love,
and it's manifest in these other ways, and that might be the case.
You know, like joy, peace, and so on. But whether or not the
fruit of the Spirit is love, the fruit of the Spirit, he says,
is joy. I have joy right now. And it's not necessarily happiness.
You can be miserable and still have joy. Happiness is based
upon circumstances. I'm not necessarily happy. As
a matter of fact, there's always something bringing me down. And
you're the same way. I mean, there's always some circumstance
that makes us sad. But I always have joy. The joy
of knowing that Christ is my salvation and that everything
that God requires of me, He looks to His Son for. I get such joy
from that. Right now, I'm perfect in God's
sight. I have no sin. Joy. The fruit of the Spirit is peace. Do you derive peace of heart
from knowing that salvation is all of grace. Peace of heart from knowing that
Jesus Christ is your righteousness before God. Peace of heart from
knowing God's on the throne. And He really is controlling
every event. I love that song we sung, that, Lord, I would
clasp thy hand in mine, nor never murmur or repine. Now, that's
my desire. I end up murmuring and repining.
I realize that. ought not, we have peace from knowing he's
in control, that he is the God of glory. Look what he says next.
The fruit of the Spirit is long-suffering, patience. God's in control. The fruit of the Spirit is gentleness. That's a kindness. Goodness is
a merciful attitude, faith or faithfulness, meekness that submits
to whatever God brings my way is best, temperance controlled
from within by His grace. And I love what Paul says next,
against such there is no law. You don't have to. You know,
if somebody has proved the spirit, they don't need any laws, do
they? The law is made for the lawless. A law is made for an
unrighteous man, for an evil. If men weren't evil, you wouldn't
have to have locks on doors. You wouldn't have to have laws,
would you? A law is made for an innocent, the fruit of the
Spirit. There is no law at all. Okay, back to our text in
Genesis 49. Verse 27. Benjamin shall raven as a wolf. Now, the picture is a hungry
wolf eating the prey. In the morning he shall devour
the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil. Now, Benjamin
speaks of an appetite for the Word of God. This is what this
is about. Benjamin shows us something of
an appetite for the Word of God. He devours the Word. He's hungry and he eats. He's got to eat. Now, where there's
no appetite for the Word, there is no life. Benjamin has a ravenous
appetite, a hunger to hear the Gospel. Peter said in 1 Peter
2, desire. crave the sincere or the pure
milk of the word that you may grow thereby. Benjamin has an
appetite for the word. Now, that's what we're doing
right now. We're meeting together to hear the word of God, to hear
the gospel preached. And if I'm a believer, I have
an appetite for this word. And I'm thinking about a physical
appetite. If I miss a meal, I heard for
it. I feel a serious loss. I know I need what I missed out
on. You don't just miss a meal and
say, well, you make up for it, don't you? You've got to eat.
This is talking about a believer's appetite for the gospel, for
the word of God. And if I lose my appetite, it's
either because I'm very sick Or I don't have any life at all.
Life has an appetite for the Word. And when I lose my appetite
for the Word, that's a bad sign. Benjamin is a ravenous wolf. He eats up the prey. There's an appetite for the Word.
And don't you want the Word of God? That's what I want. I'm
not just talking about going to hear the preacher preach,
I'm talking about wanting to hear from the Lord, wanting to hear from
His Word, wanting to hear from Him. And there's an appetite
for that, a desire for that. Oh, I've got to have something
to eat. Benjamin ravens as a wolf, and in the morning he shall devour
the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil. Now, somebody
who devours the prey will always share the spoil. People who hunger
for the word will always end up being a blessing to others.
And that's actually where we began, remember, with the first
fellow Zebulun being a haven. And here's the sons of Jacob.
Like Zebulun, they are a haven. They are a blessing to others. Issachar, they love rest. They know something about burden,
and they love rest. Like Dan, they are judges. Like Asher, they get knocked
down, but they always overcome by the blood of the Lamb. They
always win. They're always victorious. Like
Asher, everything they do prospers by grace because the Lord is
in control. Like Naphtali, they are truly
liberated. Like Joseph, they bear fruit.
And like Benjamin, they have an appetite for the Word of God. Now, they would be nothing more
than a Reuben, a Sibion, or a Levi. That's what they are by nature.
But because of their Judah, The Lord Jesus Christ, they bear
this fruit of life. Now, here are things that a believer
are. This describes a believer, and
it's also true that we need to be taught, we need to be instructed
and we need to be reminded of this. Yes, the fruit of the Spirit
comes to us naturally, and we also need to be taught exactly
what the fruit of the Spirit is and how we're to conduct ourselves.
You know, somebody says, well, it seems like if a believer had the fruit
of the Spirit, he wouldn't need to be instructed. Well, yes and
no. No, I mean, if God's going to
teach you, He's going to teach you. But yes, you do need to
be instructed, and I need to be instructed. That's what our
food is right now. hearing the gospel. What a blessing
to be a son of Jacob, and may God give us grace to manifest
these leaves of life. Let's pray together.