Weak Men Create Hard Times

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Weak Men Create Hard Times

Genesis 38

May 28, 2023 • Jan Vezikov • Genesis 38

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Heavenly Father, we thank you for giving us your holy scriptures, and we thank you that all of the counsel of God is given to us as revelation, and all of it is profitable. Lord, we thank you that some texts that we come across are encouraging, and some are edifying, and some come as a warning that there is judgment, there is corruption that we will reap if we sow folly, if we sow to the flesh. But when we sow to the Spirit, when we sow repentance and humility, when we sow desperation, when we stand under the Word of God with trepidation and contrition of heart, Lord, you speak to us and you meet us right where we are.

Lord, if there's anyone caught in the thick of sin today, if anyone is not yet a Christian, or is not living a victorious life as a conqueror, I pray today, Lord, give us the power and give us the grace to repent, leave our sins, turn from them, turn to you, and give us power to fight the good fight by the power of the Spirit. Holy Spirit, we love you, we welcome you. Help us understand this text, illuminate it for us, and lighten our minds and hearts, and also help us see your incredible love and grace toward us. Jesus, we thank you that you died on the cross for our sins. We deserve that death, we deserve that condemnation. We thank you that you rose for our forgiveness, and we thank you that you do give us grace. We pray all this in Christ's holy name. Amen.

Amen.

We're continuing our sermon series through Genesis 37 through 50. We're entitling it Graduate Level Grace: A Study in the Life of Joseph. We will never graduate from needing grace, but there are some seasons where we need an extra level, extra dose, measure of grace, grownup grace for grownup situations. That's what the series is about. Today, we are in Genesis 38. The title is Weak Men Create Hard Times. In Genesis 37, we see that Joseph has been sold into slavery by his brothers. The story of Joseph ends at the end of 37, we come back to him at the beginning of 39.

But here we get chapter 38, and at first reading it seems like just an excursus. It sounds like some sort of sordid regression, digression. It's weird, it's lurid. I actually came across a wonderful commentary, just brilliant in its analysis of the Hebrew, all the hermeneutic, exegetical stuff, and at the end of the commentary, the chapter, he gives homiletical tips, homiletical purposes. And then he has one sentence and he said, "This chapter has no homiletical purposes. Do not preach this chapter. Under any circumstances, do not even touch this chapter."

We believe all scripture's God-breathed and profitable. If the text is here, it's here for a reason. John Calvin, in the Institutes, commenting on the doctrine of election, but that comment applies here as well about difficult texts and difficult doctrines. He says the following, "Lest we seem to scarf at the Holy Spirit for publishing what we ought to suppress." He said, be careful looking at these texts and shunning them, because in doing so, you are suppressing the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit decided to include precisely this chapter, precisely here. Why?

Well, it will only become clear later, but when it does, we'll see that chapter 38 is fundamental to understanding the entire redemptive arc of Jacob's family. To truly understand the climax of the story, where Joseph forgives his brothers, welcomes them into his presence, to truly understand that moment, to truly see how amazing God's grace was on this family of sinners, we must work our way through this most sordid chapter in the Bible, as one commentator put it. This is God's Word, it's part of the counsel of God, and we love scripture, even when it's messy. And I commend you, Mosaic, that you are a church that welcomes even the difficult text; that you do not bristle against difficult texts, because we believe it's God's Word.

At first glance, it appears that this chapter has nothing to do with the story of Joseph. It's almost as if the text shows us that God had to get Joseph away from his family and the corrupting influence of his older brothers and Canaan. But the story of Joseph is a story of his family, the whole family, and the redemption of Joseph begins with the redemption of his family, and this was God's plan for redeeming humanity. If you remember in Genesis 12, God's plan to redeem humanity was started with Him choosing Abraham, and saying, "I'm going to bless you with a family, and through your family, I'm going to provide a means of blessing for all the families."

This is Genesis 12:1-2. "Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you, I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."" God said, "I'm going to bless you, and through your family is going to come the Messiah, who's going to bless all of the families from whom blessing can be found." So we learn here in the beginning as we look at this family, and it's very messy, it's very dysfunctional, very broken. We say, "Where's the blessing?" It doesn't look like a blessed family. And what we learn is that having a blessed family is a lot of work. It takes a lot of grace, it takes a lot of graduate level grace.

In this chapter, we take a break from Joseph to learn about his older brother, Judah. In many ways, a wicked man we're about to see. But here I do want to offer a glimpse of good news, because as we're making our way through the chapter, you're like, "Oh, I can't believe, this is terrible, this is so discouraging." Let me just show you. There is encouragement that comes, and it comes in the fact that Judah is redeemed at the end of the story. So much so, that it will be from Judah that will come the seed of the woman who will crush the head of the serpent. It's from Judah that we get the Messiah, through whom all the nations of the world will be blessed. Judah's story ends with such honor, distinction, blessing.

But here in this chapter, he's despicable, thoroughly disreputable, utterly blind to his own sin, treating others with contempt and cruelty. He's a member of the chosen family of God, covenant family, but that means nothing to him. And the God of his family means nothing to him either. He forgets Yahweh and his familial identity. He's a man living as he pleases, driven by his lust, not led by his faith. We see him as a hard-hearted man, a callous man getting worse by the year. He sells his brother into slavery, makes his way down to the idol-worshiping Canaanites, raises sons who are so evil that God has to execute them while they're relatively young. He arranges marriages for his sons with pagan women, and he lies to his daughter-in-law, and then ends up lying with her.

However, Judah ends up as the patriarch of the family, replacing Jacob, not Joseph. Judah is the one who's chosen to lead this family, but here he's revealed to be weak in faith, and therefore responsible for much of the pain in the lives of those closest to him. It's only when he realizes his sin, his wickedness, when sin becomes sin to him, when God orchestrates the public exposure of his sin, that we see that Judah does repent, and there is a turning, and there is the beginning of a change. Before we see how suffering strengthened Joseph's faith and forged his character, we see how Judah's weak faith corrupted his character and caused suffering to his family. Before God redeems this family, He reveals their moral corruption, and before He saves them from famine, He saves them from their sin.

To frame up our time, I'm going to use Galatians 6:8-7. There's a timeless principle here, implacable. It says, "Do not be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life." So four points to frame up our time as we walk through the text together. First, Judah sows to his own flesh. Second, Judah reaps corruption. Third, Judah sows to the Spirit. And fourth, Judah reaps eternal life, even Judah.

So here first, Judah sows to his own flesh. This is Genesis 38:1. "It happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah." So, here the language is indicative of spiritual disintegration, spiraling down, turning aside from the straight and narrow. Perhaps it's because after selling Joseph into slavery, Judah could not bear to live in the presence of his father, who's still mourning. And his father Jacob thought that Joseph was truly dead, and he was still in mourning. How could a man live like that, knowing that his father believed this lie? He couldn't be around his brothers. So we see the covenant family is disintegrating. There's no transcendent value of holding the family together. And the time that passes in Genesis 38 is probably around 22 years. And the events of this chapter span the time that Joseph is in Egypt. So Joseph is sold into Egypt, he's in captivity in prison for about 13 years, and then he's promoted, and then's seven years of plenty, and then two years of famine. And then that's when the family goes to meet Joseph.

So Genesis 38:2... Oh, a word about this guy, Hirah the Adullamite. We're not told much about him, we just know that he is not a worshiper of Yahweh. And later on, we do see that Judah, with Hirah, they go and they partake of sin. So what happens is Judah leaves his family that potentially held him accountable to the faith, and now he goes and he just hangs out with this pagan. This is his party friend, so to speak, Hirah. So this is what he's doing, walking away from the Lord.

And then verse two, "There Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua. He took her and he went into her." Evidently, the text shows us it's lust at first sight. They have a union that's based on physical chemistry, not principle. Certainly there wasn't a mutual faith in God, or a shared vision for life, reality, meaning, purpose, children, how to raise children, et cetera. The language here describes the relationship, and the language is very minimalist, it's abrupt. And we see the combination of "he saw" and "he took". Same language that's used in Genesis 3, where Eve sees and she takes the fruit of the forbidden tree. Same language here. Judah approaches sexuality and he approaches family in the same way that Esau did; with God completely out of the equation.

Genesis 26:34, "When Esau was 40 years old, he took Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite to be his wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah." And then in Genesis 27:46, "Then Rebekah said to Isaac, "I loathe my life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women like these, one of the women of the land, what good will my life be to me?"" We know that trouble is in store the minute that Judah goes out to find a woman of the land, as the text says, a woman of the world, a Canaanite, a woman that wasn't raised in the faith and has nothing to do with Yahweh, doesn't think of Yahweh. Yahweh's not precious to her.

Samson did the same thing in Judges 14:1-3, "Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines. Then he came up and told his father and mother, "I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife." But his father and mother said to him, "Is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?" But Samson said to his father, "Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes."" Driven just by superficial, just by the physical, and just by lust.

Our passage in Genesis 38 doesn't even give us the woman's name, she's just described as Shua's daughter. All Jacob's sons had long known, from Abraham, from Isaac, they all knew that they should not, and that they're forbidden of marrying pagan women. Abraham had solemnly charged his servant, Eliezer, in Genesis 24:3, it says, "that I may make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven, the God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell." When Isaac sent Jacob off to Mesopotamia, he called Jacob and he blessed him. This is Genesis 28:1, "Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and directed him, "You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women."" So Judah, and Judah by the way, is Jacob's fourth-born son, but he now occupies the place of birthright, because his three older brothers sinned so egregiously against their father... Judah should have known better, that he is not to marry a woman who is not a worshiper of Yahweh.

And the same principle applies to us today. The apostle Paul in the New Testament sets forth in the plainest language possible. 2 Corinthians 6:14-15, "Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?" This is a biblical principle from the very beginning to the Book of Revelation, all throughout scripture, over and over, we see warnings that believers are not to marry unbelievers. Why? Because there's no yoke that is more of a yoke than that of marriage. He sows folly to the flesh, and story continues. Verse three. "And she conceived in bore a son, and he called his name Er. She conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name Onan. Yet again she bore a son, and she called his name Shelah. Judah was in Chezib when she bore him."

All this should be cause for celebration, but Judah's weak faith is transferred to his wife, and he's out of the picture. She does the naming of the sons, not him. And then their weak faith is transferred to their sons. Lesson here is obvious, first of all, don't marry unbelievers. Second of all, when it comes to children, fathers, you are the faith thermostat in your household. Fathers, you set the faith thermostat in your household. And faith is to be taught to our children. We are to disciple them in the faith, that is commanded. We don't let our children choose the faith. No, we give them the worldview, teach them the scriptures. But faith is not just taught and must be caught. And usually, faith is caught from the father.

And the children see, "Dad, you're teaching me this, but do you really believe it? Dad, you say I am to love God, but do you love God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind?" Are you interested in the things of God? Are you passionate about God? Are you excited about God? Is God a priority to you? Do you build your life around God? Children see all of that. What do men get passionate about nowadays? Men get passionate about sports. I haven't mentioned sports in a while, because I've been bored. I've been bored with the sports team in Boston, but last night, come on in. I heard it was good. I didn't watch. I work on Sunday mornings. But ESPN tells me that we won in 104 to 103. I don't care how you care, I don't. It doesn't matter if you care about the Cs, the Celtics. Man, the passion, the passion that you see for a leather ball going into a basket. The passion that you see for something that's absolutely meaningless, it's fun, but it's meaningless. And I'm not knocking the passion, like it's fun.

But can we, men of God, fathers, we have that same passion, even a modicum of that passion, when it comes to sharing our faith with our loved ones? Judah did not have that passion for God, and a lack of a passion of God, for God, faith for God, it was transferred to his sons, unfortunately. So Judah does reap corruption. We see this in verse six. "And Judah took a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. But Er, Judah's firstborn was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord put him to death." Er, the name Er, is evil spelled backwards in Hebrew. So, here we see that Judah probably didn't play a part in naming his son. If he didn't name his son, probably didn't care for his son.

There's a play on words here, of course, and one commentator seeks to bring it out in the English by translating the text as "Er erred." He made an error. The Lord does kill people sometimes, even believers. He takes their life. There is a sin unto death, even in our age. Remember, in 1 Corinthians 11, where it says that some have fallen asleep in Corinth because they have profaned the Lord's supper. They were just going through the motions, and taking communion, and they weren't thinking of the suffering of Christ. So here, God does take the life of Er.

In verse eight, "Then Judah said to Onan, "Go in to your brother's wife and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother."" So this is a custom called a levirate marriage from the Latin word levir, L-E-V-I-R, which means brother-in-law. This was later incorporated into the Mosaic Law, showing it has approbation of God, and it was a fixed custom already in this culture.

That's why the phrase, "perform your duty as a brother-in-law" is a single verb in the Hebrew. And the system was designed to preserve the name of the brother and also his inheritance. So by this custom, Tamar's first child, though sired by Onan, or supposed to be sired by Owen, would legally be born to Er, and heirs were bear his name and receive his property. So the son would not be Onan's son, and he would not get the firstborn privileges. This was a sacred obligation, that's the word. The word duty is used, and it was to protect the widow as much as it was to make sure that the man's name wasn't blotted out of Israel.

Now, Onan married Tamar, but he refused his duty, his responsibility, because he wanted the right of the firstborn for himself. So he's driven by greed and he's driven by selfishness. He doesn't care of the things of God, of the law of God, he doesn't care what his father tells him to do. Onan, in many respects, is very much like his father, Judah. So Genesis 38:9. "But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his. So whenever he went into his brother's wife, he would waste the semen on the ground, so as not to give offspring to his brother. And what he did was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and He put him to death also." The word "whenever" is used, so he committed the sin unto death through his persistence, he just kept sinning, and it's a serious thing to sin persistently against the Lord God.

So, first two sons are dead, and there's no mention of Judah's grief over the death of his sons, which, if you contrast that with Jacob, was inconsolable in his grief over what he thought was the death of his son Joseph. So here, this man is unfeeling. He's presented as callous and heartless. It's the same man that at the end of the chapter, he would call for his daughter-in-law to be burned for the sin that he also partook in. This is the same man, of course, whose idea it was to sell Joseph into slavery to make some money.

Genesis 38:11, the text continues, "Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, "Remain a widow in your father's house, till Shelah my son grows up." For he feared that he would die, like his brothers. So Tamar went and remained in her father's house." So, Judah doesn't believe in Yahweh, but still, you got to believe in something. So here, he's superstitious. Instead of realizing, "Oh, my God has judged my sons." Instead of taking that responsibility upon himself, that, "I did not raise these boys well." No, he blames everything on Tamar. He thinks that she's cursed, hexed, he thinks that she's the problem. So he sends her off to her father's house for protection, until, he says, my third son grows up and then you guys will get married. So he puts her off.

Now, in the backdrop of this tale, we see, and this is next chapter, in Genesis 39, we see that Joseph's character is contrasted, his priorities stand out strikingly against the description of Judah and his sons. Especially if you think about Joseph being tempted by Potiphar's wife, that's next week. And then he flees from that sexual temptation. Here, his older brother goes head first into it. And what we see in this text is that every single one of the people that we meet are working their own angle, they've got their own agenda. Judah's got his own, Tamar's got her own, Onan has his own, whereas Joseph's priorities are to honor his God.

So, Genesis 38:12. "In the course of time the wife of Judah, Shua's daughter, died. When Judah was comforted, he went up to Timnah to his sheep shearers, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. And when Tamar was told, "Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep." She took off her widow's garments, covered herself with a veil, wrapping herself up, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she had not been given to him in marriage." So, the whole section of verses 12-26, this whole section and the plot here, revolves around Tamar's rights to be the mother of Judah's heir. She was the wife of his firstborn, and she had the right to be the mother of the heir to Judah.

So she sees a window of opportunity, it comes when her father-in-law, Judah himself, becomes a widower, and she knows his character. She discerned that he is a man who does frequent prostitutes. He would consort with a prostitute. And she knew that after he was comforted over the death of his wife, he would seek female comfort elsewhere. Tamar also knew that he would be sheep shearing, and she knew that he was friends with Hirah, and she knew what kind of character Hirah had. And Tamar, as a Canaanite, also knew that cultic prostitutes would be out selling their services as fertility magic, to ensure the growth of fields and herds. And in a flash, she disguises herself as a prostitute and seizes the opportunity to produce a child for her departed husband.

What do you think the text is telling us here? What do you think Moses is telling the people of God through this text? Well, Moses is giving you his clear judgment on the morality of this passage. And by sandwiching this passage between Genesis 37 and 39, he's showing us the incredible character of Joseph and his morality. Incredible contrast. What happened to Judah? And this is what Moses wants the people of God to know and wrestle with. What happened to this guy? He grew up in a household of Jacob, and Jacob probably shared all the stories of God's work and his life, God's miracles. He knew about Yahweh, what happened to him? Well, it's not that Judah just lost his faith, it's that he was sucked into a culture that was absolutely opposed to God. It was the Canaanite culture. He was sucked into their value system, their lifestyle. The practices of the Canaanites became his practices, because he married into them. It was his own choice.

And I do want to say to the young people who have not yet chosen a mate, you're looking for a mate, praying for a mate. I just want to say that there's nothing more important than that you choose a mate who shares your faith. Not acquiescence to your faith, not will respect or honor your faith, not will go to church with you once in a while. No. You want to marry a person whose heart beats for Christ as strongly as yours does.

In Genesis 38:15, "When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. He turned to her at the roadside and said, "Come, let me come in to you," for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, "What will you give me, that you may come in to me?"" While sex with a prostitute was sinful, sex with his daughter-in-law was a crime punishable by death. Verse 17, "He answered, "I will send you a young goat from the flock." And she said, "If you give me a pledge, until you send it." He said, "What pledge shall I give you?" She replied, "Your signet and your cord and your staff that is in your hand." So he gave them to her and went in to her, and she conceived by him. Then she arose and went away, and taking off her veil, she put on the garments of her widowhood."

Judah didn't want to wait to satisfy his appetites, though he was quite willing for Tamar to wait for years to receive what was rightfully hers. Tamar drives a hard bargain here; she sees his lust, and it results in him giving her a very serious pledge. One commentator says it's as if he gave her all of his credit cards, his license, and his passport. These things would have unmistakably belonged to Judah, clear evidence that he had given them to her.

Genesis 38:20, "When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite to take back the pledge from the woman's hand, he did not find her. He asked the men of the place, "Where is the cult prostitute who was at Enaim at the roadside?" And they said, "No cult prostitute has been here."" You will remember that in some of the religions of the ancient East, it was accustomed for prostitution to be associated with worship, and there were temple prostitutes, and that's how Tamar disguises herself. And since the gods were gods of fertility, the act of fornication with a temple prostitute was regarded as a worship act.

Well, you say, how does a culture get to that, where this becomes their worship? Well, they didn't believe in God. They don't believe in a God that's transcendent over everything, they don't believe in a God that is creator of everything. A God that commands us to live a certain way, a God that is God over sexuality. Once you get rid of God, this is the way human beings are wired. We still long for the transcendent and the closest that we get is sexuality. That's why they worshiped sex. They didn't just worship with sex, they worshiped sex, and it became a cult. And everyone in that society, you just assume these are the cultural values that matter, it's normal, therefore you think it's normative, or it's how things should be.

And I like that it's called a cult. And we live in a culture where, yes, we have gotten rid of God en masse, and as a society, we do not worship. In God we trust, that's only on our money. We, as a society, do not trust God. If you get rid of God, what happens? We start worshiping sex. It does become a cult, and seems like everyone is in this cult. And you see Judah, Judah, you should have known better and he's immersed in it.

Genesis 38:22, "So he returned to Judah and said, "I've not found her. Also, the men of the place said, "No cult prostitute has been here."" And Judah replied, "Let her keep the things as her own, or we shall be laughed at. You see, I sent this young goat, and you did not find her." About three months later, Judah was told, "Tamar, your daughter-in-law, has been immoral. Moreover, she's pregnant by immorality." And Judah said, "Bring her out, and let her be burned."" Incredible hypocrisy. He goes for the extremist penalty, worse than any forms of execution that the law allowed. Tamar's sin would've been adultery, because she was still betrothed to the youngest son, Shelah, even though Judah had no plans of giving her to him. But this is the ultimate double standard. Under Old Testament law, if Tamar is guilty, so is her partner. And the Old Testament explicitly forbids a different moral standard for men than for women.

So what happens now? Judah, you are exposed. What happens now? Well, this is our point three, Judah sows to the Spirit. And, "As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, "By the man to whom these belong, I am pregnant." And she said, "Please identify whose these are, the signet and the cord and the staff."" You can imagine Judah is crestfallen. And the language used here is parallel to the language used in Genesis 37:32, where they sent the robe of Joseph, the brothers did, to their father Jacob, and it says, "They sent the robe of many colors and brought it to their father, and said, "This we have found, please identify whether it is your son's robe or not.""

Judah was deceived, as he had deceived his father Jacob regarding Joseph. And Jacob, in the same way that Jacob had deceived his father, Isaac, if you noticed. On all three occasions, a goat was involved, and a piece of clothing was involved in the deceit. It's a subtle indication that God knows everything, that there is no hidden sin that will not be exposed, and God will bring judgment down on every single sin. Judah deceived, but will succeed no more than his father before him.

Genesis 38:26, "Then Judah identified them and said, "She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son, Shelah." And he did not know her again." He says, "She's more righteous than I. She is more in the right than I am." And the confession is actually even stronger in the original than it is here or sounds here in the ESV, than the English Standard Version. The two principle Hebrew grammarians and the best commentators agree that the Hebrew should not be read as a simple comparison, but what's called a comparison of exclusion, in which the subject alone possesses the quality of the adjective. The subject, she, the adjective is righteous, so it should be read. "She is righteous, not I." She is righteous, not I. He's publicly exposed for his sin and his hypocrisy, and at this moment, he has a choice to make; is he going to continue down the path of running from God and things of God? Or is he going to stop, and turn?

We have the evidence of the first beginnings of a turn in which he does own his sin. It's a turn that, when complete, will make Judah one of the most righteous sons of Jacob. For the first time, we see Judah in the way of God's mercy. For the first time, he's acknowledging his sin honestly and openly. And then when he renounces his sin, we see that he does everything possible to live in a manner worthy of that repentance. The Lord is clearly at work in his heart, his conscience has been awakened, his behavior has finally troubled him for the first time. He condemns himself, he stood, self-condemned, on account of what he had done. He couldn't live on like this anymore. Sin had become sin to him.

Judah becomes a changed man, used powerfully by God. He does return to his family of origin and to the ways of Yahweh. He, later on in the text, becomes a spokesperson for his brothers. When he stands before Joseph, he doesn't know it's his brother. He's the one speaking. And then when Joseph, to test his brothers, asks for Benjamin to be brought, his youngest brother and Jacob's youngest son, and then he wants to keep Benjamin, what does Judah do? He gets on his face and he beg, he pleads with Joseph, "No. No, my father has been through too much. Take me. Take me into captivity, not him." What is that? That's a man who's been converted. That's a man who's been regenerated by the grace of God.

As Blaise Pascal wrote, "There are only two kinds of men; the righteous who believe themselves sinners, and the rest, sinners who believe themselves righteous." Friends, that's the only thing that separates a Christian from a non-Christian. A Christian just reckons, "Lord, I am a sinner. I am a sinner, Lord, forgive me, I repent my sin." And you become righteous because Christ's righteousness is imputed to you. The great turning point is reached in the life of every single man, woman, boy, or girl when they recognize their desperation. "Lord, I need forgiveness." God may have to do a great many things in the life of a person to bring them even to ruins where they finally recognize that and they turn. But turning is all that God requires. Turning from sin and turn to Him for forgiveness.

What can possibly come of a story of like this, of lives like these, of a history like this, of cruelty like this, infidelity, hardness of heart, sexual promiscuity, incest, moral stupidity? What can come of the most sordid chapter in the Bible? Well, this chapt teaches us that when sin abounds, and we turn to God, grace abounds all the more. That Jesus Christ Himself, in His physical line through Joseph and Mary, descends from this disgusting act of incest. Well, that's one of the grandest pictures of God's grace overcoming sin in all the scripture.

And of point four, is Judah does reap eternal life. In Genesis 38:27, "When the time of her labor came, there were twins in her womb. And when she was in labor, one put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, "This one came out first." But as he drew back his hand, behold, his brother came out. And she said, "What a breach you have made for yourself!" Therefore, his name was called Perez. Afterward, his brother came out with a scarlet thread on his hand, and his name was called Zerah." Here, the chapter ends with a prenatal struggle between Perez and Zerah, similar to that of Jacob and Esau. And we see that Perez is chosen as the firstborn, despite the judgment of the midwife. And Perez is the grandfather of Jesus Christ. He is the progenitor of Jesus Christ, the ancestor of Jesus Christ.

Remember Matthew 1, the chapter that everyone skips, you open a New Testament and you're like, "Ah, lots of names I can't pronounce. I'm skipping it." And we want to get to Jesus. But before you get to Jesus, you got to figure how did Jesus get here? Well, in Matthew 1:1-6, we see, "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king."

Tamar, the same one from our story, becomes one of the only women listed in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Perez becomes the grandfather, a grandfather of Christ, the Messiah of Israel, the savior of the... Jesus had the blood of Canaanites coursing through His veins. And what does this tell? Why does this happen? Because God, we worship a God that loves to turn evil, even the worst evil, to His own purposes, and bring blessing from curse, redeem that which deserves destruction. When we think of Genesis 38, by the way, don't just be so quick to judge Judah. As I was writing this, I'm like, imagine if the Lord included one of us in the Book of Genesis? Imagine if the Lord—a chapter on us— the worst of the worst that we've ever done. We are at rock bottom, a whole chapter. So that years will go by, and commentators will study that chapter, and they, at the bottom of their commentary, will say, "There's no homiletical value. Stay away from this chapter."

Each of us deserves this. We all deserve, this is what the text is showing, we all deserve this condemnation. We are all sinners, just like Judah is. And if there's hope for Judah, that guy, there's even hope for us. And I want to show you just how incredible this story of redemption is. If you think of

Genesis 38 and then read Revelation 21, you gain just incredible sense of how astonishing the world of divine grace is. In that text, we see a glimpse of the new Jerusalem. It's a vision of heaven.

Revelation 21:9-12, "Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, "Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb." And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall, with 12 gates, and at the gates 12 angels, and on the gates, the names of the 12 tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed."

In other words, the name of Judah is inscribed at the gate of heaven, the city of God. This guy, Judah, ugly in many ways, a cruel, hateful... He becomes a sign of God's grace. A man who was loved by God so much, that God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, who came from Judah, to die for the sins of Judah, to redeem the story of Judah. And also, do you remember the marriage of Ruth and Boaz? Ruth was also from a pagan family, as Tamar was, but she cared about God. She cared about God's covenant and she joined herself to God's people, and she marries Boaz. And then the elders pray for Boaz a prayer of blessing.

This is Ruth 4:11-12. "Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, "We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman, who is coming to your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem, and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the Lord will give you by this young woman."" So what we read, and we're like, "What? This incestuous relationship, the names of Judah and Tamar?" They become a blessing. Like, "May your house be as blessed as the house of Judah and Tamar and Perez." Incredible. This is a picture of God's grace and what God can do with His grace in our lives. Whatever our sins, however hidden, however polite, all of our sins will be exposed one day. What we'll do with... Well, we are to reckon with them now before they're exposed. And if we do reckon with them, we are forgiven, and we are restored.

There's a doctrine in Christian spiritual theology that one rarely hears about, perhaps... If misunderstood, it's dangerous, but it goes by the Latin name, O, felix culpa. O, happy guilt. And it's the recognition of this chapter and of scripture, and part of the doctrine, perhaps the main part, is that if there had been no sin, if there had been no fall, then there would've been no need for atonement, there would've been no need for the cross, and we would've never known the love of Christ. As Augustine once wrote, "God judged it better to bring good out of evil than to suffer no evil to exist."

George Fox was so bold as to say that he thanked God more for his sins than for his good work. John Bunyan said the same thing, "The guilt of sin did help me much." Samuel Rutherford reminded one of his correspondents by saying the following, "Christ has a use for all of your corruptions." Well, isn't that encouraging? Isn't that true with you? Isn't that true with me? I know personally, it's my sin that has taught me to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ through thick and thin. It's my sin that, again and again, has humbled me and made my pride seem as ridiculous as it is. It's my sin more than anything that keeps me at work on my salvation. Work out your own salvation with fear and troubling, the Word tells us, through watching, praying, reading, obeying. It's the forgiveness of my sins, experienced time and again, that keeps the greatness of the love of Christ and the power of the cross alive in my heart.

Would not David say the same thing? Would not Peter say the same thing? Lord, thank you that you exposed my sin. You brought me to a place where I couldn't but repent. That's all I could do. Well, friend, may God help you see your guilt and help you see your condemnation. That, apart from Jesus Christ, your condemnation's still on you. Apart from Jesus Christ, you will reap the wrath of God that you deserve for the sins that you have sowed. But thanks be to God that God didn't leave us in our sins, He sent His Son Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ, whom you know sin became sin. He became our sin on the cross, so that if we repent of our sin, we are forgiven, and His righteousness becomes ours.

I love grace, because grace is God's unmerited favor. You can do nothing to earn God's grace. It doesn't come to you by joining a church, although you should join a church. This church in particular, you get more grace, graduate grace. But that's not how you're saved. It's not through joining a church. It's not just through praying a prayer. It's not through doing good works or religious works. No, we're saved of our sin the very second that we see our desperation, we repent, we turn from the sin, and we turn to Christ. So if you are not yet a Christian, come to Christ today. Put your trust in Him. Find deliverance and the forgiveness of sins. And if you are a believer, where are you sowing in your life to the flesh? And just know that, just know God is not mocked. He will not be mocked. You will reap the corruption. No, no. Do not sow that. Sow to the Spirit and you will reap eternal life. Amen. Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for this tremendous text. We thank you for this reminder that despite our greatest wickedness, your grace is powerful, to take it and redeem us, and to take the curse that we deserve and turn it even into a blessing. Jesus, we thank you that on the cross, when you hanged on that tree, you became our curse. And Lord, you went through all that to extend to us a blessing. And Lord, we pray that as we enjoy the blessings of grace, that you give us opportunities to share our grace with those around us, and the message of grace that's found only in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, and in whose name we pray, amen.

Forgive from the Heart

August 20, 2023 • Jan Vezikov • Genesis 50

Audio Transcript: This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston, or donate to this ministry, please visit http://mosaicboston.com Heavenly Father, we thank you for your holy scriptures. We thank you for the Book of Genesis, the book of beginnings, we come to the end of it today. A book that begins with a garden and perfect peace, with Adam and Eve walking with you in the cool of the day. It ends with two deaths. It ends with two coffins. And we pray that today you remind us that because of our sin, because of our rebellion, we are sinners by nature and by choice. Death is in the world and death will come to each one of us if the Lord should tarry. And Lord, I pray you make us the people that meditate upon death. As hard as it is, it is an important spiritual discipline to think about. How do we want to be remembered? What kind of legacy do we want to leave? And Lord, we thank you for the gospel of Jesus Christ. We thank you that your son lived the perfect life, walked with you perfectly, never sinned, fulfilled the law of God from the heart. You loved God, and you love neighbor, Jesus, so much so that you offered yourself up on the cross in order to redeem us. And we thank you Jesus that you did not stay dead and we thank you that through your resurrection, you have conquered Satan, sin, and death. And in your death, we see the death of death itself. And make us a people who trust in your word and recognizing that when we believe in you, repent of sin, we are granted eternal life. It's eternal life that begins now and continues through all of eternity. And Lord, we thank you for the lessons that we have learned from the life of Joseph, from the life of Jacob, as we remember their faith and their faithfulness, we also recognize that there were times when they were faithless. And still because they were yours, because they were your elect, you remain faithful to them. And Lord remain faithful to us. We trust in that promise and give us grace. Grace to have our sins forgiven and grace to then extend forgiveness to others when they sin against us. We thank you for the reminder of how important unity is in the church of God and I pray that you unite us, recognizing that the blood of Jesus Christ and the unity that he gives us triumphs over anything that could potentially divide us. We pray that you bless our time, the Holy Scriptures, Holy Spirit, we love you, we welcome you, and we pray that you deepen our love for you as we meditate upon your word. And we pray all this in Christ's holy name. Amen. We're continuing our sermon series called Graduate Level Grace, actually ending it today. A study in the life of Joseph. Today we're in Genesis 50. Next Sunday is our annual vision sermon. So if you are looking for a church, if you are church shopping, definitely come back next week and we, by the power of God, hopefully will show you of the importance of a gospel proclaiming church, a faithful church in a place like Boston. And then after that, we will start a brand new sermon series through the Gospel of Mark. We're calling it Kingdom Come: The Gospel of Mark and the secret of God's kingdom in which we'll meditate. And what it means is that Jesus is king and what it means that we are part of his kingdom, that we have been transferred from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of his beloved son, and what it means to be kingdom minded. Today the title of the sermon is Forgive from the Heart. The Book of Genesis, the book of beginnings, begins with life. God creates life and he creates humanity and everything is perfect and shalom. And then the Book of Genesis ends with death, two deaths actually, the death of Jacob and the death of Joseph. And you say, what happened? It started in such a promising way and such a promising note and it ends with death. And the answer is sin. The answer is, rebellion and rejection of God's reign and rule ushered in death. And Jacob here we're told is buried in the Promised Land as a testimony to the promises God has made in the past. And Joseph's body is put in a coffin in Egypt as a testimony to the fact that he believed that God would bring his promises to pass in the future via the Exodus. And both these godly men die in the Lord, which is a great blessing. Revelation 14:13 says, "And I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Write this. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Blessed indeed," says the spirit, "that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them." Blessed is to die in the Lord. To die as a believer. Blessed is to die well and to have your funeral be a celebration of your life. Blessed it is to live in such a way where people do want to come to your funeral, and people do have many a good thing, a blessed thing to say about your life. My wife and I, we took a vacation, a trip last summer to Vail, Colorado. And my goodness, it was incredible. Vail is so beautiful. And we're sitting on the porch outside of the hotel room and we have this incredible mountain view and everything's perfect, the food was perfect, the views were perfect, everything's perfect. And when everything's perfect, the Slavic in us, we come from a Slavic background, the Slavic in us wants to be reminded that there is pain in the world. And we decided it would be wise to partake in one of the most painful exercises you could possibly partake. And my wife asked me, she said, "And when I die, what will you say at my funeral?" And then I was like, hold on, I got to think about it. And then as I'm thinking about it, I'm like, okay, what would I say? Many a good thing. I'm going to save it till her funeral. And then I said, "What are you going to say about me at my funeral?" And it was so beautiful and so heart-wrenching, heartwarming, we're just weeping. We're just sitting here and beautiful, weeping. But it was a wonderful reminder of the fact that we will die. And then if you reverse engineer how you want to live in order to be remembered in a positive way, well, how should you live? And I've done many a funeral and I will tell you it's a world of difference when the person that dies dies in the Lord, than a person that had nothing to do with God or there was no evidence of faith in God. People kind of say the same stuff, but you know it comes from a different place when the person was truly a believer secure in the hands of God. What do people say at funerals? Well, the person is now in a better place. If you're a believer or not, everyone says the same thing, even at an unbeliever's funeral. No one wants to say, "Yeah, this person was a pagan and wicked had nothing to do with God." No, they say, "They're in better place." Well, we are to prepare in life for death in order for those words to be true. In the Book of Numbers, Balaam was hired by Balak to curse Israel, but he ends up blessing them, and this is what he says in Numbers 23:10, "Who can count the dust of Jacob or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the upright, and let my end be like his." Let me die the death of the upright. In chapter 48, we saw Jacob's greatest act of faith, as singled out in the Hall of Faith Hebrews 11, when he blessed the sons of Joseph, when he crossed his hands, which is an incredible example and actually prophecy of the cross of Jesus Christ. But in Hebrews 11:22 in the Hall of Faith, it says that what Joseph does in this chapter was Joseph's greatest act of faith. Hebrews 11:22 says, "By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones." Joseph, on his deathbed, spoke of the exodus, of the promises of God concerning the exodus, and he demanded to be buried back in the land of Canaan, although he realized it's going to be centuries before the people of God are led out of Egypt. From all appearances, Joseph had at this time by the end of his life, already been an Egyptian through and through. He was an Egyptian from the day of his captivity when he was 17 to when he was elevated to prominence in the Egyptian court at age 30 and he married an Egyptian woman, followed Egyptian laws, carried an Egyptian name. But his dying words show that he had been a stranger in the midst of it all. His citizenship was not in Egypt, it was in heaven. Though he ruled in Egypt, Egypt did not rule in him. He was in the world, but he was not of the world. No worldly influence or power or authority or success distracted him from his faith in God. And as truly as his fathers who would dwell in tents, he too felt like he had no continuing city here. He continued to believe in God and his promises, and he continued to look by faith into the future. Before we look at Genesis 50, just one verse right before to set the context. Jacob on his deathbed blessed his sons, and then Genesis 48:33, it says, "When Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed and breathed his last and he was gathered to his people." Jacob's body was still in the room, but his soul was gathered to the people of God and he was reunited with his fathers. As Jesus said, "Before Abraham was, I am." And then the Pharisees were like, what are you talking about? That's blasphemy. And he said, "Have you not read? God says I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God is not the God of the dead but of the living." Three points to frame up our time as we walk through the text, a father celebrated, a family reconciled, and a promise believed. So first of Father celebrated. Genesis 50 verse one. "Then Joseph fell on his father's face and wept over him and kissed him. And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel. Forty days were required for it, for that is how many are required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him for seventy days" Before Jacob took the trek to Egypt with all of his family, he asked God, "God, are you going with me?" And God met him and said, "Fear not. I will go with you and I will bless you. And your son Joseph is going to close your eyes in death." The other brothers were certainly present at the deathbed of Jacob and they too grieved the death of his father. But Joseph's grief is highlighted here. His love for his father is highlighted here. His affection for his father. He's weeping over him. Why? Because first of all, he stood closer to his father than the other brothers. And also he is experiencing a pain accentuated by the fact that he had lost years of relationship with his father. There's grief, but then there's restrained, godly grief. Joseph is weeping, and after he is done weeping, he then goes into action. Why? Because his grief is like that of a believer. We grieve but not like those without hope. Joseph knows that he too will go to be with his father in the presence of God, just like Jacob did. Joseph here is 56 years of age when his father Jacob died. If you remember, he was 17 when he was sold into captivity by his brothers. And then he was 30 when he rose to prominence in power and in Pharaoh's Court. And then there were seven years of plenty and then two years of famine. And at age 39, his family moved to Goshen. And then Jacob spent 17 years, the last 17 years of his life, with Joseph, just like Joseph had spent the first 17 years of his life with his father. It says that the Egyptians wept for Jacob for 70 days. And this is really important because the Egyptians wept for Pharaoh. When a pharaoh would die, the king of Israel, the Egyptians would weep 72 days. So here we have a feeble shepherd who was revered almost as highly as royalty. Why? Because of his son. Because his son saved the people. And the people recognize that apart from Joseph and his wisdom that God gave him, they would've ended up dead. And sometimes fathers provide for their children early on and sometimes children ended up providing for their parents. I tell my girls this, I have four daughters. I remember when my oldest for the very first time, she was like nine, she washed my car. And I was so pumped and I was like finally, a little ROI. A little return on investment. But we do. We pour into our kids and as we raise the children and recognize the children by God's grace will care for us in our old age. There is no burial recorded in scripture quite as honorable as this with such a wealth of detail. And Joseph commands the physicians, it says, to embalm his father. Not the mortuary priests. His wife was part of the priest cast in Egypt, but it's not the priest that come in and do the embalming. No, it's the doctors, the physicians. Why does Joseph do this? First of all, he wants everyone to know we're not doing this for religious purposes. There's a practical purpose here. The practical purpose in embalming Jacob is to transport his body into Canaan, the Promised Land, just like Jacob had commanded Joseph and the son. So the pagan embalming procedure is used by the Lord God here. So Jacob and Joseph are the only two Israelites of whom the scriptures tell that they were embalmed, not for religious value, but strictly for feasible transportation. Genesis 50 verse 4, "And when the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, "My father made me swear, saying, "I'm about to die: in my tomb that I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan, there shall you bury me." Now therefore, let me please go up and bury my father. Then I will return. And Pharaoh answered, Go up, and bury your father, as he made you swear." Joseph being the wise administrator that he is, he understands how the political court works. Although he's second in command to Pharaoh, he understands authority. He understands he's in authority, and he understands he's under authority. So he doesn't want to pull rank. And he understands that Pharaoh would be apprehensive about letting such a trusted official go with his whole tribe, his whole family back to the land of Canaan. Especially given that Joseph knew sensitive information about Egypt and the inner workings, and such clandestine information would be very valuable to the enemies of Egypt. So Joseph understands he needs Pharaoh's clearance, so he asks. Joseph is given his request to go back, and on top of that, he's given a large entourage to escort Jacob for the internment. It's a massive funeral entourage. Hundreds of people made up the retinue. In verse 7 it says, "So Joseph went up to bury his father. With him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, as well as all the household of Joseph, his brothers, and his father's household. Only their children, their flocks, and their herds were left in the land of Goshen. And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen. It was a very great company. The text emphasizes that the children, the livestock, were left in Goshen, to emphasize the fact that they felt so secure in leaving the children, the little ones in Goshen. That's how much God had blessed the people of Israel. He'd given them security, he'd given them land. And we see the entourage led by Joseph, and it's almost a mini rehearsal for the ultimate homecoming of the children of Israel out of Egypt via the exodus. And actually the route they took was the same exact one as Israel would take centuries later after the Exodus. In verse 10, "When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they lamented there with a great and grievous lamentation, and he made a mourning for his father seven days." The Egyptian custom of those days were where when you get to the place of burial, the point of burial, you take another seven days of lamentation. So we're up to 77 days that people lamented the death of Jacob. And this is important. I think this is important for us because we live in a society that idolizes youth and we don't respect people in their older age and we don't think about honoring them and their death. We don't think about honoring them after their death. And this morning my dad, he sent me a text message, iMessage from Estonia, he's in Estonia right now, my country of origin, and he's there with my mom. And he takes a pilgrimage almost every single year. And every time he goes to Estonia, he goes to the cemetery where his mom is buried and where his grandparents are buried. And they take care of their little plot of land, put flowers there. And I remember when I was younger, I was like, that's kind of silly because they're in heaven, right? We believe that they're in heaven, their souls are in heaven. But he's doing it as a way to honor them. Honor their remembrance, and honor their sacrifice for him and for us. And this is important, I think it's important for us to really celebrate those who came before us and to honor them and their death and honor them after their death and the memory of them. And this is what the Lord Jesus told us in the celebration of the last supper. He said, "Do this for what purpose? Do this in remembrance of me." Every time we take the cup and the bread, we're remembering the death of our Lord Jesus Christ and his sacrifice and resurrection. Verse 11 of chapter 50, when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning on the threshing floor of Atad, they said, "This is a grievous mourning by the Egyptians," and therefore the place was named Abel-mizraim. Abel-mizraim means mourning of Egypt. Verse 12, "Thus his sons did for him as he had commanded them, for his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah to the east of Mamre, which Abraham bought with the field from Efron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father." So Jacob's sons take over here in the very final and most intimate part of the service. They are the ones that bury their father. They are the ones that lay him in his final resting place for his body. And the emphasis in the text is his sons, all his sons are unified in that. They obey the commandment of their father. Perhaps for the first time, all 12 of them are unified in obedience of their father. We see them as submissive, dutiful, faithful. They're truly changed men. And then that whole family goes back to Egypt, goes back to Goshen. And now the question is, well, how then will they live? Now that Jacob's influence as the patriarch, as the loving father on all 12 sons. Are they going to live in unity and reconciliation? And the text says yes. Point two is the family reconciled. Verse 15, "When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, "It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him." So they sent a message to Joseph saying, "Your father gave this command before he died: Say to Joseph, please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you." And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father." Joseph wept when they spoke to him. So the brother is realizing their father is dead, understandably they're worried. And they're wondering, was he nice to us just because of dad? He's been benevolent to us, but is the benevolence just a mask for malevolent intent? Was he really just harboring resentment and biding his time? So they sent a message to Joseph. They don't go personally just yet. First they want to test the waters. Who do they send? Most likely they sent the youngest son Benjamin because he was loved by both sides of the family. And when Joseph hears this message, he weeps. Why does he weep? Because if these words are true, that Jacob said this, then he's weeping over the fact that his father Jacob did not trust him, did not trust his intentions, did not trust his words. If it's not true, if Jacob did not say this, then Joseph is weeping over the fact that his brothers still don't trust him. And there was no ground for mistrust. Joseph's forgiveness had been without condition. To have his sincere motives questioned was painful, especially after 17 years of care and provision. And you got to stop and you got to wonder, why would they question Joseph after 17 years of his love toward them and word indeed? Well, most likely they're projecting their own guilt on him. Most likely they haven't dealt completely with their guilt and their sin. And most likely they're thinking, okay, if we were sold into captivity by Joseph, and if we were in power over him, and now that dad's not here to protect him, what would we do? And in their sinfulness, they think, you know what? We would probably make him pay for his sins. And that's why it's so important in this message. They say, "Please forgive the transgression." They use the word transgression. They use the word sin, and they use the word evil. They recognize that they've transgressed, not just against God, but against his brother. They've sinned, not just against God, but against their brother. They've committed evil, not against just God, but his and their brother. And what do they call themselves? Forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father. For the first time the text tells us that they confess allegiance to the God of the universe. He's our God, not just the God of our Father. They repent and Joseph is weeping. So they got the message that Joseph is weeping. In verse 18 it says, "His brothers also came and they fell down before him and said, "Behold, we are your servants." But Joseph said to them, "Do not fear for am I in the place of God. As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones." Thus he comforted them and he spoke kindly to them. Their sorrow and their repentance is genuine. It's sincere. That's why they come on the heels of the messenger and they offer themselves to Joseph as slaves. And we got to pause and just say it's incredible how God worked in this family, how he's been growing this family. We see spiritual growth and maturity. We see the brothers humble themselves before their younger brother, a sibling they once hated. And they confess their sin and wrongdoing and they prostrate themselves before their brother just as Joseph once dreamed. Why is this emphasized in the last chapter of the book? Well, because finally this family is healed. Finally, this family is united. Finally, this family understands the grace of God. I don't know about your family situation, your family of origin, your current family. But I will tell you this, that apart from grace, you cannot have a true united loving relationship that's going to last the test of time. We need grace. Why? Because we're all sinners and we sin against one another. The forgiveness of Joseph gives is a full forgiveness, and it reminds us of the forgiveness of Joseph's antitype, the greater Joseph, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. And we can be assured of this, that when we repent of our sins and trust in Jesus Christ, our sins are forgiven completely. The forgiveness is permanent. And we are forgiven for the penalty of our sins forever. For those who are in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation. And when the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross and he bore the sins of sinners, he satisfied the divine justice for those for whom he died. Consequently, heaven can bring no new charges against those for whom the Lord has paid a full debt. God does not require the debt to be paid twice. The saved are safe and secure thanks to the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ. But there are seasons when we doubt this, are there not? Are there seasons in your life, dear believer, when you wonder, did Jesus completely forgive me? Am I truly secure in the hands of God? Or have I lost my relationship with God? And those seasons, for the true believer, those seasons are helpful, because those seasons cause us to wonder, why? Why do I have these doubts? The scriptures are clear that those who believe in Jesus Christ have eternal life immediately. It begins now and continues through return. Most likely we have those doubts because there's current sin in our lives. And then we've got to pause and say, what do I do? Well, you've got to repent of that sin and turn from it and turn back to the Lord. Go back to the cross of Jesus Christ. And we through our life of obedience of faith are to confirm that our election is true. And Joseph says, "Do not fear for am I in the place of God." Do I have the right to judge you? I'm not God over you. I have the power to judge you, but I don't have the right to judge you. And he reminds them that God is the ultimate judge and all wrongs are to be righted by him. Friend, when you are wronged by someone, what is the first inclination of your heart? Most likely it's to seek vengeance. And the Lord says, "No, no, no. When you're sinned against, remember vengeance is mine. I will repay," said the Lord. 1 Thessalonians 5:15," See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. "Joseph continues says, "As for you, you meant evil against me. But God meant it for good." And here we have a classic statement on the doctrine of providence and specifically God's concurrence. And that doctrine means that God can override, he chooses to override the evil consequences of the wicked to bring about a blessing. And the holy God overrides our sin while simultaneously remaining unsullied by it. One commentator says that God handles sin sinlessly. What could I do to interfere with God's plan even if I desire to do so is Joseph's sentiment. God is the ultimate governor of the universe. And it was the similar sentiment of Joseph back in chapter 45 when the brothers started the process of reconciliation in Genesis 45:5. "And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and the ruler over all the land of Egypt." You sold me, but it was God who sent me. God is a holy God, he's not the author of evil. He's holy, and therefore no holiness proceeds from him. But God does determine that evil exists in the universe in order to accomplish a greater good that would exist if he had not determined that evil should exist. Why? To manifest His glory through justice and grace, god determines that sin exists in the universe. And to really grasp this, it's important to meditate on the question, who crucified Jesus Christ? Who crucified our Lord and Savior? If you look at John 18 where Jesus is in the garden in Gethsemane, he told his disciples to pray, stay awake, be watchful. The flesh is weak but the spirit is strong. And the disciples fall asleep and then the soldiers are there. And then Judas points out who Jesus is. And Peter out of nowhere is awakened. And then Peter takes out a sword and he attempts to cut off the head of one of the servants that came. And he was still asleep, a little groggy. He missed the head and only nipped the ear. And then Jesus healed the guy. And then Jesus said in John 18:11, "Jesus said to Peter, "Put your sword into its sheath. Shall I not drink the cup that the father has given me?" Well, who crucified Jesus Christ? Oh, it was the father's plan. The Father gave him the cup to drink. What was the cup? Is the cup of suffering and the wrath of God. But then in Acts 2 after the day on the day of Pentecost when Peter gets up and he preaches the first evangelistic sermon, 3000 people got saved. But this is what Peter preached. He said, "Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know, this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it." And then later in the text it says that the people heard this and they recognized their responsibility. They were cut to the heart and they say, "What do we do?" And Peter said, "Repent and believe in Jesus Christ. There's no question about the responsibility of wicked men who put our Lord to death." They're responsible for their actions, but it's simultaneously true that God predetermined that this wickedness should take place. So God's providence is over everything, even over evil, and he has the power to turn the greatest evil into the greatest good. How do we know this? Well, because what was the greatest evil in the history of the universe? The greatest evil was wicked men putting the son of God to death. And then that greatest evil God transformed into the greatest good through the resurrection of our Lord so that anyone who trusts in the Lord will be saved and preserved and given life, just like the good that came out of the evil of Joseph's brothers selling him was the preservation of God's people. Third is a promise believed. This is Genesis 50 verse 22. "So Joseph remained in the Egypt, he and his father's house. Joseph lived 110 years." Now, this is important because between verses 21 and 22, 54 years intervene of the brothers living together. They all remained in the Egypt, he and his father's house. And again, the emphasis is on the whole family. They've been healed, they've been united, they're living in shalom. They're living in complete reconciliation. Why is this important? Because of so many brothers and family members that couldn't get along in the Book of Genesis. Adam and Eve's children, Cain and Abel, couldn't get along, couldn't get reconciled, and Cain kills his brother Abel. Abraham has two sons, Ishmael and Isaac, who did not dwell together. Isaac has two sons, Esau and Jacob, and they parted forever. So the book of beginnings ends with Jacob's 12 sons, who are mired in conflict, in a personal relational conflict, and now they're living together in unity. There's no disunity, there's no division, there's no dissension. They've forgiven one another. They saw healing and now they're loving one another and loving neighbor as self. Psalm 1:33 says, "Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity. It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes. It is like the do of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore." We know what it means to not get along with others, to be at odds with others, even with Christians. Especially Christians, dare I say. We've sinned against others and others have sinned against us. And that's why it was so important, at the Last Supper, Jesus Christ, this is his final charge to his disciples before the crucifixion. What does he do? He gets on his knees, he takes a basin on water, he takes a towel, and he starts washing the feet of his disciples. What is he doing? He's saying, this is love. Love is getting on your knees and washing the filth of your brothers. Recognize there is filth and recognizing that it needs to be cleansed and recognizing there needs to be humility for this to happen. For true love and true community and true spiritual family to be established. And then he says the following in John 13:34, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." Jesus is saying, this is how important love in the Christian community is. The watching world wants to know, do you believe? Do you truly believe what you say you believe? Do you truly believe in grace? Do you truly believe that your sins are forgiven? Is your heart transformed, so now you forgive one another? This is the greatest apologetic. The world sees this. The world is moved by this. Because there's nothing outside of the Christian Church that comes even close to this kind of community. And that's why this is the greatest point of attack of Satan. If Jesus is saying that unity is the greatest apologetic to the watching world, when brothers and sisters love each other in the church, what's Satan want to do? He wants to kill that apologetic, he wants to kill that testimony, by causing disunity in the church. And we are to be reminded that the blood of Jesus Christ, which unites us, has a unifying power that is stronger than anything that will pull us away from God or pull us away from another. And I say that because there are seasons in life where our love for one another is put to the test. I don't like watching the news. It's all terrible. I've unplugged from the matrix. I'm not on social media. And I'm hearing rumors of another lockdown coming. I don't know, rumors. When I heard that recently, it just took me a flashback back to 2020 and 2021 and the strife within the church. And I just want to say to you, dear church, just recognize that the unifying power of the blood of Christ, which washes us from all sins, which recognizes that we are all degenerate and we're all disgusting before God, we're all depraved in our sin. We are all wrong somewhere. And just putting down our own ambition, our selfish ambition and saying, you know what? My love for my brothers and sisters is a bond that is greater than anything else that could divide us. And the watching world, I'm telling, the watching world finds that incredibly meaningful and powerful. In Genesis 50 verse 23, "And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation. The children also of Machir, the son of Manasseh were counted as Joseph's own. " The age to which Joseph attain shows us how the span of human life was slowly shortening. Isaac lived 180 years, Jacob, 147, and Joseph here 110. Perhaps it's the hardness of life. Perhaps something was already changing because of sin in the world, changing in the environment. But during these years, he was blessed with seeing his grandchildren. In verse 24, "Joseph said to his brothers, "I'm about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of the land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." And then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, "God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here. So Joseph died, being 110 years old. They embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin In Egypt." I die, but God will visit. Joseph doesn't expect his brothers to bring him, as soon as he dies, to bring his coffin or his sarcophagus back to the land of Canaan, most likely because he realized that the political circumstances have changed. When Jacob died, Joseph was in a position of influence to bring him out. And by the end of Joseph's life, Israel doesn't have the same influence in the court of Egypt. He was put in a coffin in Egypt. This is how the Book of Genesis ends. The book opens with life and it ends with death. It opens with a garden and ends with a coffin. Why? Because of sin. Sin entered the world. And as the decades and centuries wore on, the became heavier and the mummy case must have begun to symbolize the futility of the hope. Joseph promised us that we will leave. Abraham was told that we will leave the captivity and land of Egypt, and there he lay for over 300 years until the last day finally when his hope and confidence long deferred was vindicated. The God who makes promises, fulfills his promises. And scripture says that Moses, as he's leading the people of Israel out of Egypt, he remembered the words of Joseph and they carried out his coffin. And then actually for 40 years, the coffin accompanied the people of Israel wherever they went until finally in the days of Joshua, the bones of Joseph were buried in Shechem. Each of the testaments, the Old Testament and the New Testament, ends in hope, with reference to the future. The Old Testament ends with the hope of the Messiah coming, the king of kings, the one that will save, the one that will redeem. The New Testament begins with the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the king of kings, and the New Testament ends with the second coming of the Messiah. Scripture speaks of the death of a believer as sleep. When a person sleeps, they are alive, they're resting, and they expect to wake up. But scripture doesn't teach soul sleep, it teaches body sleep. The body is in place, wherever it's buried or cremated, and the spirit goes to be with the Lord. So the person is alive, resting from his labors, awaiting and awakening. Body left here, soul in the presence of God. And then those who sleep will be awakened, that's their bodies being resurrected with Christ in a glorified sense. Perfect bodies that will not die. 1 Thessalonians 4:13 comments on this, "But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this, we declare to you by the word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not proceed those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words." So the body shall be raised from the dead. It shall be made like the Lord Jesus Christ's own glorious body, and shall rejoin the spirit in the resurrection. How can we be sure of this? How can we be sure that there is a resurrection? How can we be sure that our bodies will be resurrected and we will spend eternity with God? Well, we can be sure of this because we have no idea where Jesus Christ's body is now. Actually we do. It's not buried here. If Jesus Christ's glorified body is in heaven, now see it the right hand of God. And this is profound. If you study any other world religion, you realize that the followers of that world, they know where the founders are buried. They know where the body is. Just like Abraham and Jacob, they wanted their descendants to know where the bodies are so that they will be remembered. Jesus didn't leave his body. And this is the beauty of Christianity. And this is one of the great proofs for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If Jesus truly remained dead, then his followers would do everything possible to know where his body was buried to revere him. No, thankfully we don't have Jesus' bones. We have an empty tomb. The tomb is empty. And I love the fact that the tomb of Jesus Christ was where? What was the location of the tomb? It was in a garden. I love how God does that. Genesis begins with a garden and it ends with a tomb. And then when Jesus Christ comes, he fights Satan in the garden Gethsemane, where he's tempted to not take the cup of God's wrath. And then he finally says to the Lord, "Father, not my will but yours be done." And then he goes in the arduous journey of the cross and the Via Dolorosa and he takes the cross upon himself and on the cross he takes our sins upon himself. He suffered. He was crucified. And he was buried in a tomb, in a garden. And God is saying that there's a place of death, but it's a place of resurrection and it's in a garden. And I love when Mary goes to see Jesus on the resurrection Sunday. She sees him, but she mistakens him for what? She mistakens him for whom? She mistakens him for a gardener. I love that. I love that. A resurrected Jesus, he's mistaken for a gardener. Why? What's he doing? I don't know. He's probably weeding the garden around the tomb and he's like, oh, no one's taking care of this place. But it's a sign to us that God, through his resurrection of his son, that's the validation. That's the proof that we too by faith in Christ will be resurrected. Jesus Christ says to the disciples, "I go and I prepare a place for you, a truly Promised Land for you," in John 14. And he says, "Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I'm going. Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes through the Father except through me." This is an implacable truth of the universe, that the only way we can go to God, be reconciled with God, is through Jesus Christ. He is the way, he is the truth, and he is life itself. Joseph looked to the exodus. He looked forward to the exodus. And why was that important? Because the people of God were redeemed out of captivity and they were saved from the angel of death because of the blood of the Passover lamb. On the night before they were redeemed and brought out of the exodus, they took a lamb and they slew the lamb, and then by faith they painted the blood of the slain lamb over their door and were delivered from death and then from Egypt. And all of this was to point to Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God. Jesus Christ is the one that leads us out in the new Exodus. 1 Corinthians 5:7 says, "For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed." So the people of Israel, they had to act upon their faith. Do we believe the words of God when he says that you have to kill a lamb and you have to paint your doorway with the blood? Do we believe it? Then you have to act on it. We have to do it. And then they were saved. In the same way, how can we be redeemed from our sin through the blood of the lamb of God? You have to believe it, and then you have to act upon it. How do we act upon it? We repent of our sin. Lord, we have transgressed. We have committed evil. We have committed sins. Lord, that sin, that evil, the penalty for all of that was laid upon you. That's why you were slain. So we believe and then we reorder our life around that belief. Bible trivia question, did Moses ever see the Promised Land? Oh, look at you good Bible scholars. God prevented him from seeing the Promised Land because of his stubbornness and sin. But then on the Mount of Transfiguration in Luke 9, it says, "Moses met with Jesus." Where? In the Promised Land. And what do they talk about? Luke 9:28, "Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish in Jerusalem." And the word for departure in the original is Exodus. What did Moses want to talk about with Jesus? He wanted to talk about the Exodus. Moses, the great Moses who led the people of God in the exodus through the Red Sea that was parted, wanted to talk with Jesus Christ about the new exodus that was going to be accomplished in Jerusalem where on the cross, that we are led from the captivity to our sin. From condemnation for our sin, we're led through the Red Sea of the blood of Jesus Christ that was poured down on the cross and by grace through faith. When we repent of sin, the Lord forgives us and he frees us. Praise be to God. And as we await in faith and hope of our exodus to the Promised Land, we too, by God's grace, are reminded from this text that we are to seek to live in harmony and peace with one another, forgiving and being forgiven. Matthew 6:14, Jesus says some incredible things. He says, "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." It's incredible because he's saying, this is how fundamental forgiveness is in the Christian life. If you truly believe that you have been forgiven by God, a holy God, an eternal weight of penalty, well, how will you not then forgive those who sin against you? Matthew 18, it says that Peter came to Jesus and he said to him, and I'll close with this because these are some weighty words. He said, "Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times? And Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times." Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master awarded him to be sold with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, "Have patience with me and, I will pay you everything." And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him saying, "Pay what you owe." So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, "Have patience with me, and I will pay you. He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. And when his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, "You wicked servant. I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you? And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart." If you truly understand how much you have been forgiven by God at the cross, how could you withhold forgiveness from another? So meditate on the words of Christ from the cross. Father, forgive them, for they do not what they do. Let us pray. Lord, we thank you for a blessed time in the Holy Scriptures and the Book of Genesis, the book of beginnings. Lord, we thank you that because of your son Jesus Christ, we have access to grace. And Lord, I pray that we never take your grace for granted. And as we receive your grace, I pray it transforms us to be a people who are quick to forgive when others sin against us. And Lord, continue to bless this church, continue to unify our hearts, to bring us into cohesion around your will for us. And we do pray that as we love one another, because you have first loved us, the watching world will be mesmerized. How is it that these people truly love one another? And I pray that you give us grace to then deflect all the glory and honor to you and say, it's only because of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, and whose name we pray. Amen.

The Greatest Act of Faith

August 6, 2023 • Jan Vezikov • Genesis 48

Audio Transcript: This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston, or donate to this ministry, please visit http://mosaicboston.com Heavenly Father, you are blazing in your holiness, and we thank you that you are tender in your love, and we thank you for the holy scriptures in which you reveal your will to us, and we thank you that you reveal yourself to us. Lord, as we meditate on a text of one of your saints approaching death, I pray, Lord, minister to us, remind us that we are mortal, that we will die, but it's not our souls that die, it's just our bodies. Lord, I pray that as we meditate on death, that you give us an extra portion of the Holy Spirit to think about these things seriously and sober-mindedly, so that each one of us is prepared today to meet you. For those who do not yet know you, Lord, I pray give them a desire to know you, give them a desire to know if these things in the holy scriptures are true, give them a desire to know is Jesus God, and give them the desire to wrestle with you, Jesus, to wrestle with your claims and to wrestle with your person. I pray that as they do, that you meet them, and that you bless them, and that you walk with them. For those who are not yet Christians, Lord, save them today and usher them into your kingdom by giving them the gift of the new birth. We pray all this in Christ's name. Amen. We are continuing our sermon series called Graduate Level Grace, A Study in the Life of Joseph. We are nearing the end of it., As we near the end of it, the story goes from Joseph primarily to now Jacob. The title of the sermon today is The Greatest Act of Faith. The narrative here shifts from Joseph to his father, Jacob. The text slows down, and it does so deliberately to focus our attention on a man's last days. We've seen the life of Jacob, and we've learned many truths, and now we get a glimpse into how he prepares to die. The lesson here is that we ought to think about death. Do you think about death? You should. Few things in life teach us how to live in a more profound way than meditating upon death. Once in a while, the Lord reminds you that you're going to die. Sometimes it's through a near death experience. This week, or it was last week, I was on Bible Gateway. On Bible Gateway there's the Google Ads, and they target you. They're always kind of funny for they think they got me with this ad. They didn't get me. But then I'm preparing this sermon on death and the ad that comes up, I see this gentleman in the ad, I'm like, "What are they trying to sell me?" Then at the bottom I see it's an ad for Depends. It's a product called Depends. If you don't know what Depends are, you're lucky and probably young. Now I'm getting targeted with these ads. Unfortunately, with every day we are getting closer to death and we are to prepare. Ecclesiastes 7:1-4 says, "A good name is better than precious ointment and the day of death than the day of birth. It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting. For this is the end of all mankind and the living will lay to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter. For by sadness of face, the heart is made glad. And the heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth." And as Jacob approaches his death, we see that his faith is never stronger. It actually grows. How he behaves himself in this chapter, what he says, what he does, the posture of heart, this text is marked as his greatest act of faith in all of scripture. Why do I say that? Because of what Hebrews 11 says. If I was writing Hebrews 11, the Hall of Faith, this is the greatest saints and the greatest act of faith. If I was writing that chapter about Jacob, a little paragraph about his greatest act of faith, what would I choose? What act would I choose? Most likely it's that one occasion where he wrestles with God and it says that he wrestled with a man who then it turns out to be God. Theologians call this a Christophany, an appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. He wrestled with Jesus Christ and he wouldn't let go and they wrestled all night. If you know anything about wrestling, it's exhausting. That's why most matches are six minutes. He's wrestling all night. He's saying, "Lord, I'm not going to let you go until you bless me." I think the Lord was letting him win. I think that's what was happening. Then the Lord Jesus just touches his hip, bop, something happened and then the rest of his life he walked with a limp. He had the blessing of wrestling with God himself. Or was it the occasion where he has another vision in Bethel where he sees a staircase between heaven and earth and he sees angels ascending and descending on the staircase of God? The Lord had some incredible moments with Jacob to test his faith, to grow his faith. But in Hebrews 11, the act of faith that is pointed out, that is singled out as the greatest act of faith in Jacob's life was this Hebrews 11:21, "By faith Jacob when dying blessed each of the sons of Joseph bowing in worship over the head of his staff." Perhaps we wouldn't have chosen this incident, but God, the Holy Spirit did. Why is this his greatest act of faith? Well, what is faith? Hebrews 11:1 says, faith. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. The conviction that the most important things in life, the most meaningful things in life are not seen. The most important things in life are spiritual, they're invisible, they're immaterial, and in many ways they are future things. Jacob's greatest act of faith comes in his last days. This is a great vision for life, knowing that if the Lord is giving me life, today could be the day of my greatest act of faith. You may have peaked physically, but certainly while you're still alive, you have not peaked spiritually. II Corinthians 4:16, "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day." May this be true for you and for me. The context of our chapter here in Genesis 48 is that prior to coming to Egypt, Jacob stopped in Bathsheba and he worshiped and he made sacrifices to the Lord. He was wondering, "Lord, are you with me? Are you going to Egypt with me?" The Lord appeared to him and said, "Do not fear. I will go with you and Joseph will close your eyes with his hand as you die," a tender promise there. And three times in these last chapters, Joseph comes to the bedside of Jacob. Today. We're looking at the second such occurrence. Jacob is facing death, but he's not doing it with fear. He's doing it with faith. Three points as we walk our way through the text. First, the greatest act of faith is sharing the faith. Second, share the faith by sharing your faith. And third, salvation is by grace through faith. First, the greatest act of faith is sharing the faith. By sharing, I mean doing everything you possibly can to transmit the faith, to compel, to persuade, to teach, but then also to live it out. Because faith in many ways is taught, but also in many ways it's caught, like in the parable of the great banquet, the Lord says, "Go out to the highways and the hedges and compel people to come in that my house may be filled." This is what the Lord Jesus Christ told us in the great commission, "Go out and make disciples of all people." I had a conversation after one of my sermons recently and I was asked, "Are you trying to make America a Christian nation?" It was a very loaded question. I said, "Look, I'm trying to make people Christians and people from all nations. That's my job. We are called to convert." She said, "Are you trying to change people's minds about..." "Yes, oh yes. Yes we are. Yes, that's our mission, that's our job." She's like, "But don't they get offended when you're telling them they're wrong?" I'm like, "At least they're paying attention. Now we can start a relationship and actually deal with the things that cause offense, but this is our job." Why do we do this? Because we care for people's eternal destinies. We care for people's eternal souls. We want people to live an eternal bliss and glory with the Lord Jesus Christ forever. This is what the text shows us that Jacob does with his sons and what they do in Egypt. Genesis 48:1-4, after this, Joseph was told, "Behold your father is ill." So he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, and it was told to Jacob, "Your son Joseph has come to you." Then Israel summoned his strength and sat up in bed and Jacob said to Joseph, "God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me and said to me, Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply, and I will make of you accompany of peoples and will give this land to your offspring after you for an everlasting possession." It says He summoned his strength and he sat up in bed. He rallies his strength. It's a dose of fresh strength that comes with purpose. He knows he's got to get up. He knows he's got to do this thing that the Lord is calling him to do, to bless Joseph's sons. The first thing he remembers is that God appeared to him. "God almighty appeared to me," he says. Loses the old name for Bethel. And God appeared to Jacob twice in Bethel, 20 years apart. The first time when he was leaving the Promised Land, and then when he was coming back to meet with Esau. God appears to him twice. And then he says, "God Almighty appeared to me and he blessed me." In his last moments, in his last days, he wants to be remembered for what? For this. For God. For his relationship with God. He's saying, "Son, whatever you remember of your father, remember God Almighty. May God Almighty appear to you. May God reveal himself to you. May God bless you." And you can feel the authenticity of Jacob's faith in his voice. It's almost palpable as he's trembling, the gravitas, the seriousness. How does he want to be remembered by his grandsons? Like this, believing, worshiping, prophesying, praying over them, blessing. He's loving, he's affectionate, he's personal, he's tender. This is the greatest legacy that we can leave to our children and then to the people around us. The greatest legacy that we can leave, the greatest inheritance that we can leave, be a father or a mother to our children, or just as a believer to those who are not yet Christians, it's the knowledge of the Lord. Children, I want you to know God. I had a personal relationship with God. You too can have a personal relationship with God and this is the best thing for you. The greatest thing you can do for your children is to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The greatest thing you can give them is teaching them that God is the greatest blessing. A relationship with God is the greatest blessing. So to worship him, to glorify him, to thank him is the greatest blessing for our souls. Scripture teaches us that whoever doesn't provide for his household is worse than an unbeliever. And yes, that has to do with material provision. We are to provide for the bodies that God has entrusted to us, but how much more so is it imperative to provide for their souls? Why was this event considered Jacob's greatest act of faith? Because he believed and he believed so authentically and sincerely that his faith was transmitted to the next generation. It was transmitted to his sons and then it was transmitted to his grandsons. What's fascinating here is that Ephraim and Manasseh, the grandsons of Jacob, they didn't receive a direct revelation from God. God did not speak to them. No. This is how God chose to reveal himself to them through the testimony of their grandfather. What's fascinating is that God does not speak out loud audibly for another 400 years after Genesis ends, until he finally speaks to Moses in the burning bush. So Jacob is transferring the promises of the covenant to his son and to his adopted sons, both with his words and with his life. Psalm 78:1-7 says, "Give ear, oh my people to my teaching. Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known that our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord and his might and the wonders that he has done." He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to our children, that the next generation might come to know them and might know them and the children yet unborn and arise and tell them to their children so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments. One of the beauties of sharing your faith is once you start speaking your faith out loud, you begin to realize your gaps in knowledge or your gaps in faith. The more you share your faith, the better you become at it because God gives grace of knowledge to those who share. This is a promise that's given to us in Philemon that we can know God deeper, the things of God in a more profound way and the path to that profound knowledge of the faith, that depth of faith is sharing our faith. Philemon 1:4-6, "I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints. And I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ." Well, you can't share what you don't have. So if you are to share your faith, you got to say, "Do I really believe this? Am I living as if I believe this? And why does he have to pray for effective sharing of your faith?" Because sharing your faith is more effective when your faith is real. So he's praying for their faith to be ignited in such a way that they can't but share it. And as they share it, the more you share your faith, the deeper and fuller your knowledge of every good thing becomes the more effective you are. We are to share our faith at every opportunity we can and we are to use... In Genesis 48:5-6, the text continues. "And now your two sons who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt are mine. Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine as Ruben and Simeon are. And the children that you fathered after them shall be yours. They shall be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance." So Joseph comes in with his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. Manasseh is the oldest. He says, "Your sons, Joseph, are mine." In what sense? In the sense that he's just their grandfather? No, because then he wouldn't have to say it. That's just understood. No, he says, "Now they're mine in the same way that Reuben and Simeon are mine." Reuben and Simeon are his real biological children, but in a sense Jacob displaces them with his grandsons. Why did he do that? Because of Reuben and Simeon's sins against their father. I Chronicles 5:1-2 comments on this, "The sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, for he was the firstborn, but because he defiled his father's couch, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph, the son of Israel, so that he could not be enrolled as the oldest son. "Though Judah became strong among his brothers and the chief came from him, yet the birthright belonged to Joseph." So here, Reuben and Simeon through their sin, have squandered the blessing of the birthright and they squandered the blessing of their father. There's many a lesson here. The very moment you come to the Lord Jesus Christ and you repent of sin, he forgives you for the penalty of sin. But often in life there are sins that when you commit you will bear the consequences of that sin for the rest of your life. Through sin, we do squander blessings. That's what happened with these guys. Therefore by adopting them, Jacob is making them leaders in the tribes of Israel. Therefore, there were not just 12 tribal figures in Israel, there were 13 because Joseph is given two places as his great honor with Ephraim and Manasseh. Then Levi was the tribe that belonged to the Lord and they ministered in the tabernacle. So the land was divided amongst the 12 tribes, which included the sons of Joseph. Joseph's two sons here, their dad's still alive, they're introduced into the heirship of their father, Joseph, who's still living. They become joint heirs with Joseph. This is very relevant to us because the moment you trust in Jesus Christ, he becomes your Lord and Savior. We become joint heirs with Christ. His inheritance becomes our inheritance. His righteousness becomes our righteousness. We share as the sons of God and the firstborns right in the privilege of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so what is Jacob doing? He's imputing something to the sons of Joseph, and this is how grace works. We repent and we turn from sin and we trust in Jesus Christ and his blood sacrifice on the cross in our stead, substitutionary atonement the moment you believe you become joint heir and you are adopted into the family of God. This is exactly what happens when sinners through faith are counted reckoned righteous by virtue of the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're adopted into the family of God. God is our father. Jesus is our older brother with his righteousness, inheritance imputed to us. This is important to know, that just by virtue of you being a human being, that's not enough to be a child of God. We do not enter the kingdom of God through natural birth. Therefore, there are human beings who have not yet trusted in Jesus Christ. They're outside of the kingdom of God and they are not children of God. This for many people, this comes as a surprise because we've been taught God loves everybody and you don't have to do anything about it. You're just a child of God. That's not true. If you're living as an enemy of the cross, by not trusting that Jesus Christ had to die for your sins, that this was absolutely necessary for your salvation, you are not born again. And if you're not born as a child of God, a scripture says that you are child of the enemy. Jesus even said to the Pharisees, "Your children of Satan," harsh words to melt hard hearts so people repent and turn to Christ. Jesus is clear about this in John 1:11-13. "He came to his own and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." Imagine that. No matter what your family status, no matter what kind of family, faith background you have, no matter what your pedigree religiously speaking, no matter what you have done, no matter the sins that you have committed, no matter how you much you've transgressed God's law, no matter how much you've spat at the honor of God, the very moment you come to Lord and you receive him, "Yes Lord, I receive your grace. Lord, forgive me. Pardon me, Lord. I repent of my sin." The very second you believe in him, receive him, you will be born again. That's the promise of God and you're born into the family of God. Genesis 48:7 continues, "As for me, when I came from Paddan to my sorrow, Rachel died in the land of Canaan on the way when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath, that is Bethlehem." Joseph, the firstborn of Rachel, is standing before Jacob and reminds him of his mom, Rachel. He includes a comment here. Then verse eight, when Israel saw Joseph's sons, he said, "Who are these?" Joseph said to his father, "They are my sons whom God has given me here." And he said, "Bring them to me please that I may bless them." Now the eyes of Israel were dimmed with age so that he could not see, so Joseph brought him near and he kissed them and embraced them. I love that verse, that very end, just to see this man, this great man of faith, him in his most intimate moments. What does he... He's affectionate. He's affectionate with his children. He's affectionate with his grandchildren. Here just a word of reminder, in particular dads are... And to anyone to whom this perhaps doesn't come naturally, do you hug? Do you embrace? Do you kiss? Do you bless your children? This should be the natural rhythm of your lives. I have four daughters. It's so easy to be tender with them. They're so sweet. My third daughter is eight. Ekaterina is her name. We call her Ekat. She texts me sometimes from her mom's phone and she said, "Dad, this is Ekat." I know it is Ekat because she's got the emojis, what are they called? She got that game going. She's a little kissy and she always includes a dog at the end because she's trying to get a dog from us still. And then I respond with what? I heart it and I send little kissy things. But this should be the natural rhythm of our lives to love and to love tenderly and to love affectionately. This is a reminder that grandchildren are a blessing. Proverbs 17:6 says, "Grandchildren are the crown of the aged and the glory of children is their fathers." This was a blessing upon Israel. Psalm 128:6, "May you see your children's children. Peace be upon Israel." And then verse 11 of Genesis 48, "And Israel said to Joseph, I never expected to see your face and behold God has let me see your offspring also. Then Joseph removed them from his knees and he bowed himself with his face to the earth and Joseph took them both, Ephraim on his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand and brought them near to him." What's Joseph doing? Joseph understands how hugely important this moment is. Jacob, as the patriarch of the family, is also the priest of the family. His blessing is important because it's effectual. Ephraim, the younger son, he directs toward Jacob's left hand. Manasseh, the older son, he directs toward Jacob's right hand. Throughout scripture, the right hand is considered the place of honor and the place of greatest blessing. That's why Jesus Christ, the resurrected Christ, right now is sitting at the right hand of God the Father. Verse 14, "And Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on the hand of Ephraim, who was the younger and his left hand on the head of Manasseh crossing his hands for Manasseh was the firstborn." Now this right here throws Joseph for a loop. We'll get to what he does. What's happening is that Jacob is breaking societal norms. The firstborn who's blessed by the right hand gets a double share of the inheritance. For example, Joseph got the double share of the land by virtue of the fact that he got the blessing that should have gone to Reuben or Simeon. And Judah got the double portion of authority while Joseph got the double portion. That's supposed to go to the oldest. The oldest gets a double portion. Everything that the other children get, the oldest is supposed to get double that, double share of the inheritance. But Jacob here crosses his hands, and the Hebrew it's sakal, to lay crosswise. Joseph isn't happy about this, but he waits to interject knowing how solemn the moment is. This brings us to point two, share the faith by sharing your faith. Verse 15, "And he blessed Joseph and said The God before whom my father's Abraham and Isaac walk, the God who has been my shepherd, all my lifelong to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys and in them let my name be carried on in the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth." So he's blessing the sons of Joseph, but the text tells us in verse 15, "He blessed Joseph." He blessed Joseph by praying a prayer of blessing upon the sons of Joseph. What's the text communicating? It's communicating that the greatest blessing he can give Joseph is to bless his grandchildren because the greatest blessing a parent can receive is to see their children being blessed by the Lord. Does this sound like a man who thinks death is the end? No. He knows that God is going to be with them after he passes on to be with his fathers in heaven. This whole prayer is full of hopeful immortality. The prayer is triple pronged. It's a triune blessing. He talks about God and then he talks about God, and then he talks about the angel. He mentions three persons, the God, the God, and then the angel, which is Christ. In verse 16, he uses the singular. He says, "You," singular, "God bless these boys." This isn't a full revelation of the trinity, but it's certainly in accord and consistent with the trinity. First, Jacob calls the Lord his shepherd with emphasis on the Lord's holistic provision. As a shepherd, he knows intimately, in depth he understood what it means that the Lord has been shepherding him. He knows the Lord as a good shepherd has been with him in good times and has led him through the valley of the shadow of death. This is how the psalmist speaks about our relationship with the Lord. The question as we read this text is, is God your Lord? Is God your shepherd? Do you follow Jesus Christ as your shepherd where he tells you what to do, understanding that everything he tells us is for his glory and our good? Psalm 23, "The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in path of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For you are with me and your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Jacob hasn't been the best sheep. He's been stubborn in many ways in many seasons of his life, but he knows, "The Lord, the good shepherd has been with me." He says the angel, "The angel who redeemed me from all evil." Who's he talking about here? "The angel that redeemed me." Well, how can an angel redeem? The only way redemption was done is through a blood sacrifice. What is he talking about here? Well, this is a prophetic text about Jesus Christ. The word for redeemed is the same word that's used in the context of the kinsman redeemer, Goel, in the story of Ruth and Boaz. He says, "I have lived an evil life in many ways, but Jesus Christ whom I wrestled with, he tamed me." "He broke my hip. The rest of my life, I was walking with a limp as a reminder of the fact that he is God and I am not." In many ways he wrestled with Jesus Christ in the same way that we are called to wrestle with Jesus Christ. If you are not a Christian, if you're not sure what you believe or if you are a believer, I am just telling you most of the people in your life are not believers. We're going to finish this sermon series and then we're going to do a one week of vision, Lord willing, and then we're going to start a sermon series through the Gospel of Mark. We're calling it Kingdom Come, Gospel of Mark and the Secret of God's Kingdom. The intention of that whole series is we want to introduce people to Jesus Christ, to his teaching from the holy scriptures, present it as best as we can that there is reason to believe. And then give people an opportunity to wrestle with Christ yourself. If you want the greatest blessing in life, and that's to know God and be known by God and to have all your sins forgiven, the responsibility is on you. It's not on me. It's not on Christians. We do the best we can and we share our faith just like Jacob is sharing his faith. Remember 17 years before this text, he met with Pharaoh and Pharaoh said, "How many are the days of your years?" And he said, "The days of my years have been evil and few." Even to Pharaoh, he was already sharing his faith. "My life has been evil, Pharaoh, but I have been redeemed by the angel who is Jesus Christ. I have wrestled with him. I have known him, and I have had my evil in my sin redeemed." When you do that and when you trust in the Lord, and when you believe that Jesus took your evil upon himself in order to redeem us, in order to give us grace, well that puts everything into perspective. He does share his faith here. As we share the faith, we are to share our faith and share the moments in life where, you know what, this was evil that I did. I have transgressed God's law, but God saved me. God gave me grace. And because God gave me grace and I'm so sure of it, he's redeemed me. He's taken off the shame. He's taken off the guilt. He's given a new purpose in life. He's done that for me and I am more wicked than you could ever imagine. He can do that for you as well. That's what he's doing. Then point three is salvation is by grace through faith. Verse 17, "When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him and he took his father's hand to move it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. And Joseph said to his father, Not this way, my father. Since this one is the firstborn, put your right hand on his head." Well, this is the law of primogeniture, it's called. It's the cultural norm that the oldest was supposed to be more blessed, but Jacob himself broke that manmade law by supplanting Esau, Ishmael, and we see the other examples. Ishmael was the firstborn, but it was Isaac through whom the seed would come. Reuben had lost the blessing of the firstborn. Judah is the one through whom the seed will come. And so here, Ephraim is firstborn. His firstborn rights among the tribes Israel are over that of Manasseh. Ephraim was blessed. The successor of Moses, Joshua, came from Ephraim, which is a big deal. But why does he do this? Why does that happen and why does that happen in scripture all the time where it's like this guy is expected to be blessed above and beyond and then God just crosses his hands? Well, the point is that nature does not necessarily inherit the things of God. We don't inherit blessing through our physical body or through the things that are physical. If the oldest always necessarily inherited the blessings, we might get the idea that blessings come from our nature. God reverses things over and over and over again to remind us that if God is going to bless people despite their sin, it has to be by grace and by grace alone. The first Adam was rejected while the last Adam, Christ has the firstborn rights by virtue of a saving work on the cross. We're not blessed because we do good works or hold some high position in society. We're blessed by God's sovereign grace. If we're blessed, we're blessed because God chose to bless us. In I Corinthians 1:26, "For consider your calling brothers, not many of you are wise according to the worldly standards." Not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him, you are in Christ Jesus who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption so that as it is written, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord. Praise be to God that Jacob crossed his hands, and praise be to God that God the Father sent his son Jesus Christ to go to the cross. That's the ultimate cross of blessing. Whereas like Jesus, you did not deserve our curse. You did not deserve to die like that. You did not sin. We sinned. I deserve to be on that cross, not Jesus Christ, the blameless Son of God. But God crosses everything at the cross. He takes our curse so that we could have the blessing of God. It's so good because it's true. All of this is true. God, so to speak, crosses his hands and bestowing his blessings, giving them to those who in our eyes are least worthy of them and least likely to receive them. God is responsible for the blessing of man and he blesses sovereignly. Joseph says, "No, no, no. Father, no. Father, do I have to remind you I am the vice president of Egypt? Father, not like that." That's what he's saying. "It's not fair." That's what Joseph is saying. "This isn't fair, this isn't the way." But the Lord doesn't do what we deem fair. He does what his will determines should be done and whatever his will determines should be done is right. What's right? What's fair? It's what God decides. This is one of the reasons why Jesus gave us this parable in Matthew 20 where he talks about grace and that the owner of grace, that's God, can do whatever he wants with grace. Matthew 20:1-16 says, "For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. And after agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going about the third hour, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to them he said, You go into the vineyard too and whatever is right I will give you. So they went going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour he did the same thing. And about the 11th hour, he went out and found others standing and he said to them, Why do you stand here idle all day? They said to him, Because no one has hired us. He said to them, You go into the vineyard too. And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, Call the laborers and pay them their wages beginning from the last up to the first. When those hired about the 11th hour came, each of them received the denarius. And now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. On receiving it, they grumbled at the master of the house saying, These last worked only one hour and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat. But he replied to one of them, Friend, I'm doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go, I choose to give to this last worker as I gave to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me or do you begrudge my generosity so the last will be first and the first last? Do you begrudge my generosity?" That's exactly what Jacob is saying, "I am giving out the blessings." By the way, he was filled with the Holy Spirit as he was doing it. H chooses to bless the younger over the older. Verse 19 of chapter 48, "But his father refused and said, I know my son. I know. He also shall become a people and he also shall be great. Nevertheless, his younger brother shall be greater than he and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations." Perhaps this is why this moment is considered Jacob's greatest act of faith because he hears the word of God. He hears God speaking in his heart and he acts on the basis of it even in the face of displeasure-filled counsel from his prime minister son. Verse 20, "So he blessed them that day saying, By you Israel will pronounce blessing, saying God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh. Thus, he put Ephraim before Manasseh. Then Israel said to Joseph, Behold I am about to die, but God will be with you and will bring you again to the land of your fathers. Moreover, I have given to you rather than to your brothers one mountain slope that I took from the hand of the Amorites with my sword and with my bow." You in verse 21, "God will bring you out of Egypt." That's plural. Joseph and all of his descendants will come out. This land that he's giving him was the land of the Shechemites. Jacob had purchased a plot of land from Shechem and he now bequeaths this to Joseph and his sons. He promises that "God will be with you. No matter what happens, Joseph, when I pass, in the same way that God has been with me, may he be with you and your children and your children's children. May God be with you." This is what makes heaven heaven. It's the place where God will be our God and we will be as people and in fellowship. It begins here. "I will be your God and I will be with you, my people here on earth." Isaiah 59:21, "As for me, this is my covenant with them says the Lord. My spirit that is upon you and my words that have put in your mouth shall not depart out of your mouth or out of the mouth of your offspring or out of the mouth of your children's offspring, says the Lord, from this time forth and forever more." As we close and as we transition to Holy Communion, a question before us is do you fear death? That's really a good test of how strong your faith is. Do you fear death? I was at my gym last Saturday, it was like 95 at 9:00 AM and it was a hundred percent humidity. I go to this old school boxing gym where air conditioning... I asked the guy one time, "Is there air conditioning?" And he just laughed in my face. It was one of those places on a Saturday workout. It was a 90-minute workout. This guy that shows up regularly and we know each other, he's like, "Dude, after work, I almost died. I think I almost died. That was the closest I've ever been to death." I just looked at him. Any opportunity I have to Jesus juke someone and bring in the gospel, I do it all the time. I said, "Well, good thing I'm ready to die." I said it like that in a way that caused him to pause. He's like, "What do you mean?" I was like, "I am ready to die right now after this workout. That would be easier I think than driving home after this thing." He's like, "What do you mean? Do you go to Valhalla?" Because he thinks I'm a Viking. Long story. I call him the Italian Stallion. He calls me the Vike. That's true Brother Lilo. I was like, "No, because I believe in Jesus Christ." He's like, "Believing in Jesus Christ keeps you from dying?" I was like, "In a sense. Death is just a transition." It's just a corridor for the believer in Christ. You just transition from living here and now to living in the presence of God. And the promise is given to us that when we believe in the gospel that we can have eternal life that begins now. Why can we believe in that promise? Because Jesus Christ on the cross, he didn't just vanquish sin, he also vanquished death. In the death of Christ we see the death of death itself. I'll close with this and then we'll transition to Communion. I Corinthians 15:50-58, "I tell you this, brothers, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable." "Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written. Death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where is your victory? Oh, death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, the movable always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain." Every first Sunday at Mosaic, first Sunday of the month, we celebrate Holy Communion as was commanded to us by the Lord Jesus Christ, for whom is Holy Communion at Mosaic? Holy Communion is for repentant believers in Jesus Christ. If you have not trusted in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, we ask that you refrain from this part of the service. It'll do nothing for you. Instead, meditate on the gospel. If you even today repent of your sins, you are welcome to partake. If you have not received the elements, please raise your hand and one of the ushers will hand them out. In the meantime, would you pray with me over Holy Communion? Heavenly Father, we thank you for your love that you lavished upon us and sending your son Jesus Christ. And Jesus, we thank you that you lived the life of perfect obedience to God, the Father and everything, and you loved God and you loved neighbor as yourself perfectly. And you loved us so much so that you gave yourself as a blood sacrifice for our redemption. We thank you Jesus, that you didn't stay dead, but you conquered death itself as you triumphantly rose from the grave on the third day. We, Lord, repent of our sins corporately, and we repent of our sins individually. Lord, forgive us. Forgive me. Lavish your grace upon us and upon me. Lord, continue to sanctify us by the power of the Holy Spirit and draw many to yourself. We pray all this in Christ's holy name. Amen. There's a top and a bottom lid. If you take the bottom lid off the bread is there. On the night that Jesus Christ was betrayed, he took the bread and after breaking it, he said, "This is my body broken for you. Take, eat and do this in remembrance of me." He then proceeded to take the cup and he said, "This cup is the new covenant of my blood. Take, drink and do this in remembrance of me." Lord God, we thank you for your promise where you said that to all of those who come to you, with humility and contrition of heart, though our sins are like scarlet, you will make us white and pure as snow. Lord, I pray that you give each one of us that purity of heart. We thank you for the promise that those who are pure in heart shall see God. We pray for the gift of purity of heart and we pray for ever deeper revelations from you and revelations with you. Continue to bless our worship service Lord, and fill our hearts with joy, and help us sing with everything we've got to the God of the universe who's worthy of our worship. We pray all this the beautiful name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Wise & Innocent

July 30, 2023 • Jan Vezikov • Genesis 47

This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston, or donate to this ministry, please visit http://mosaicboston.com Father, we thank you for the gift of holy scripture in which you reveal to us your mind, your will, your purposes. Lord, you long to bless us, and I pray that you make us a people that long to be blessed, and care about your blessing. We thank you for the greatest blessing that we can have as a relationship with you, to be reconciled with you, to have our evil redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we come to your holy scriptures with trembling, and contrition of heart, recognizing that this is the posture of heart that you bless. And Lord, we fear you, and we recognize that to fear you is to love you. And to love you is to fear you to stand in awe, and reverence before your glory, your majesty. And Lord show us that the beginning of wisdom is to fear you. We are people who are naturally inclined toward evil, and folly. And Lord, as you redeem us from our evil, we do ask that you also save us from our folly, and make us a people who are good, but also who are good at life guided by your wisdom. Holy Spirit, we pray that you bless us today with your presence. And also, Lord, take these words, and apply them to each one of us specifically only as you can. We pray all this in Christ's holy name. Amen. We're continuing our sermon series called Graduate Level Grace Study in the Life of Joseph. We are today in Genesis 47, and the title of the sermon is Wise and Innocent. A few years back, the Brookings Institute named Boston as one of the knowledge centers of the world. And by this they mean that Boston is full of very intelligent, highly productive people, talented, and they come here to get more knowledge, and that knowledge is taken to the world. Knowledge is great. We're told knowledge is power, we're told, and scripture agrees. Proverbs 18:15 says, "An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge." But acquiring knowledge for the sake of knowledge is never enough. What do you do with that knowledge? That's what matters more. Can you skillfully execute upon this knowledge when necessary in the real world, and real time with real life consequences, and implications? And it doesn't matter how great of a game plan you have, if you can't execute in the real game, well then, it meant nothing. So, scripture does call us to knowledge, but to something more than just knowledge. It calls us to wisdom. And if knowledge is power, then what is wisdom? Well, wisdom is a superpower. In Matthew 10:16, Jesus tells his disciples before sending them out to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom. He says, "Behold, I'm sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves." Wise and innocent. And Joseph is marked by this razor sharp discernment, and strategic execution. The great Puritan, Thomas Watson. He said that, "The godly man acts both the politician, and the divine. He retains his ingenuity, yet does not part with his integrity." And one of the beauties about wisdom is you can grow in wisdom how through practice, and through training. Hebrews 5:14 says, "But solid food is for the mature for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil." And in our text today in Genesis 47, we see Joseph exercising this divine wisdom, and he does so in order to provide in four points to frame up our time as we walk through the text together first, Joseph provides for his family. And by doing so, Pharaoh is blessed. And then Egypt is blessed, and Israel is blessed. First, Joseph rides for his family. With shrewdness, and wisdom, Joseph sets out to accomplish his objective. His objective as his family moves from Canaan, his father, and his brother's multitude of people, hundreds. His goal is to provide prime land for them so that they can continue to prosper despite the famine that's still in the land. And in Psalm 105, 16 through 22, it's a Psalm that comments on the story of Joseph. It says, "When he summoned a famine on the land, and broke all supply of bread, he" that's the Lord, "Had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph who was sold as a slave. His feet were hurt with fetters; his neck was put in a collar of iron; until what he had said came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him. The king sent, and released him; the ruler of the peoples set him free; he made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his possessions to bind his princes at his pleasure, and to teach his elders wisdom." So, meaning all the suffering that Joseph went through, he went through with a purpose. God gave him a purpose to teach wisdom to whom? To Pharaoh, to Pharaoh's court, and then also the elders of Israel. Wisdom comes as a gift from the Lord for all who ask humbly. Scripture says, "Is there anyone lacking wisdom?" Well, just ask of the Lord, Isaiah 30:21, "And your ears shall hear a word behind you saying "This is the way, walk in it, when you turn to the right, or when you turn to the left." And this is what Jesus promised. He's a good shepherd. And he said, "My sheep hear my voice." And Jesus' voice teaches us how to follow God's moral law but also how to walk in wisdom. Psalm 25, eight, and nine, "Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way." To get the context of Genesis 47. I'm going to read the paragraph right before this is Genesis 46:31, Jacob, the brothers are before Joseph, and Joseph has a game plan, and he's coaching them. He's coaching his family's audience before Pharaoh, here's what you say, here's what you don't say. Here's how we are going to present ourselves in order to get what we want. Genesis 46:31, Joseph said to his brothers, and to his father's household, "I will go up, and tell Pharaoh, and will say to him, 'My brothers, and my father's household who were in the land of Canaan have come to me. And the men were shepherds for they have been keepers of livestock, and they have brought their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have." "When Pharaoh calls you, and says, 'What is your occupation?' You shall say 'Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now, both we, and our fathers in order that we may dwell in the land of Goshen, for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians." There are five more years left of the famine. And Joseph is thinking not just about himself, not just about his immediate family. He's thinking as a provider for his extended family. He understands that God has put him in this position, and God wants him to use his power, use his position in order to bless others. And he begins to think about the wider family, and he's thinking as a patriarch, and this is how a patriarch thinks, not how can I be most comfortable? Not how can I live a comfortable life, and have people serve me? No, a patriarch thinks how comfortable can I become with discomfort to serve as many people as possible? How can I leave a lasting legacy? How can I serve my family, and my descendants for generations? How can I provide for their needs both materially, and spiritually? And even with Joseph's approval, he knows that he could have just given them Goshen, and you guys can have that land, but he also understands that taking these men who are of fighting age, bringing them into Egypt is going to raise eyebrows, and it's going to give ammunition to Joseph's enemies in Pharaoh's court. No, he needs to get clearance from the very top, from Pharaoh himself. He needs Pharaoh to speak, and say, "Yes, you can have this land." It's only with the king's word that Joseph could protect himself from the charge of nepotism. So, he has the foresight to anticipate this, and craft a strategy with the proper precautions. So, he wants to focus on the fact that Egyptians did not like shepherds. Shepherds were an abomination to the Egyptians. Why? Because they probably felt that they were part of an impure cast. So, here you got to pause, and say, "Why would Joseph lead with this very unflattering information?" Here's my family, and their shepherds, which are an abomination. Won't people say you're from this family, you're related to these people? Well, he realized this was the best move to get the best land for his family, and also they'd be living in this land with autonomy which would allow them to grow their families, and grow their faith in the Lord. So, Joseph here he is taking a massive risk, and he's going out on a limb, but he's doing it because he understands he needs to provide for his family. So, that brings Genesis 47 verses one, and two. "So, Joseph went in, and told Pharaoh, 'My father, and my brothers with their flocks, and herds, and all that they possess have come from the land of Canaan. They are now in the land of Goshen.' And from among his brothers he took five men, and presented them to Pharaoh." Which five did he pick? Most likely brought Benjamin. Which six did he overlook? We're not told. Most likely operating out of wisdom, he's bringing the most unintimidating looking guys before Pharaoh, and he does say, "This is my father, and these are my brothers." He's not ashamed of his family. He proudly introduces them to his boss, which is very much like Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ our Lord, and savior, scriptures tells us he's our older brother, and as our older brother who welcomes us into the family of God, he provides adoption for us by his blood. Well, Jesus is unashamed to call his brothers, Hebrews says, Hebrews 2:10, "For it was fitting that he, for whom, and by whom all things exist, and bringing many sons to glory should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies, and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he's not ashamed to call them brothers saying, 'I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise." Joseph tells Pharaoh, they're already in the land of Goshen. He has them camp out in the prime real estate, which is really smart. They're already there, and the text continues. Verse three, "Pharaoh said to his brothers, 'What is your occupation?' And they said to Pharaoh, 'Your servants are shepherds as our fathers were.' They said to Pharaoh, 'We have come to sojourn in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants flocks for the famine severe in the land of Canaan. And now please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen.'. "Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, 'Your father, and your brothers have come to you. The land of Egypt is before you. Settle your father, and your brothers in the best of the land. Let them settle in the land of Goshen, and if you know any able men among them, put them in charge of my livestock." Pharaoh asks about the occupation question just as Joseph had anticipated, and the wisdom, Joseph has been studying his boss for nine plus years. He anticipates the moves, and they say we've been shepherds for generations. Yes, it's an abomination in your eyes, but we've been doing this for years, and the emphasis here is on sojourn. We've come to sojourn, meaning there's no talk of permanence. This is temporary, and just as Joseph needed him to do, Pharaoh confirms publicly, Israel can have the best of the land. Not only that, he goes beyond, and he says, "If you know anyone that could take care of my animals, my livestock, you can put them to work", which is just incredible favor from the Lord. Especially, as you read at the end of the chapter, the people of Egypt, and the people from of all the other countries, they ran out of money, currency. So, they start bringing their livestock, and their animals to Pharaoh, which meant this was a wonderful work opportunity, and this is how the Lord often works with us. Not only does he long to bless us, he longs to bless us in a shocking way, a way that's unexpected. For example, Ephesians 3:20 verse 21. "Now to him who's able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask, or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church, and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen." More than we can ask, or even think, or even imagine. In Genesis 47:7, "Then Joseph brought in Jacob, his father, and stood him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh." The blessing isn't recorded, but most likely it's a customary greeting before a king, something like long live the king, which is partially perhaps why Pharaoh asks Jacob's age. But here you see this contrast. A simple, old shepherd is standing before a powerful Egyptian monarch, and spiritual gravitas meets political gravitas. Yes, Pharaoh is an incredible person of power, but Jacob is an incredible person of spiritual power, and the character of the saint surely made an impression on the king. Although Jacob didn't have a crown of gold, he had a crown of glory. You say, "What's a crown of glory in scripture?" Well, Proverbs 16:31, gray hair. "Gray hair is a crown of glory. It is gained in a righteous life." Our culture idolizes youth, and dishonors people in their old age. And this is wrong. Leviticus 19:32 says, "You shall stand up before the gray head, and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God: I am the Lord." My grays have been coming in around my temples. I keep it nice, and short. In my beard, they're coming in. I don't have a full crown of glory just yet. So, you don't have to stand up completely in my presence, but maybe a head nod, or something. But we are to respect older people, and we do pray for the Lord to continue to send us older people to teach us wisdom, and teach us the ways of righteousness. And you see what dignity now marks Jacob, what a contrast from the day when he bowed himself seven times before Esau. But here there's no cringing, there's no fawning. He carries himself as a representative of God. He carries himself as an ambassador of the most high. He is a son of the king of kings. And in fact, the scene actually conveys the impression that Jacob is actually greater than Pharaoh no matter how great Pharaoh is, because who's doing the blessing? It's Jacob. And Hebrews 7:7 says, "It's beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior." So, the feeble patriarch blesses the mighty monarch, and in verse eight it says, "Pharaoh said to Jacob, 'How many are the days of the years of your life?" How many are the days of the years of your life? Not just how old are you, not just how many years have you lived? What an interesting turn of phrase. How many are the days of the years of your life? The emphasis here is on the individual days that go up, and that make up the total of your life. It's a great way to think about life. Why? Because today is all we have. Today is all we're given. Someone said days are long, and years are short. So, we are to think about daily. Today, am I living for the glory of God? Today, am I serving God, loving him, and loving people? I had a brother come up to me after the service, this was his second service ever. Second time in church ever. He came up, and he's like, "I could've gone to the club last night. Instead, I stayed home, and read chapter 47." Much better use of your time, brother, much better use of your time. Genesis 47:9. "And Jacob said to Pharaoh, 'The days of the years of my sojourning are 130 years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life. They have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their sojourning." And you see this phrase repeated sojourning. What does that mean? It means a pilgrimage. Jacob understood that life is a journey. It has a beginning, and it has an end. And for the people of God, every single moment that we're alive is a moment of sacred significance. As a matter of fact, everything in a believer's life is sacred except for sin. Sin is the only thing that a secular in the life of believers. Do you view your life like this? It's a pilgrimage. Hebrews 11:13 through 16, "These all died in faith not having received the things promised, but having seen them, and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers, and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they're seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God for he has prepared for them a city." Philippians talks about our citizenship, Philippians 3:20, "Our citizenship is in heaven. And from it we await a savior of the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself." The apostle Peter in First Peter 2:11 says, "Beloved, I urge you as sojourners, and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable so that when they speak against you as evil doers, they may see your good deeds, and glorify God on the day of visitation. Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to the governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil, and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God that by doing good, you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a coverup for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor." And this is exactly what Jacob is doing, what Joseph is doing, what they're emulating. Jacob says, "Few have been the days of my years, and they've been evil." Why use the word evil? Well, he's emphasizing that his life has been hard in many ways. From his flight to Mesopotamia, from his brother Esau, his miseries at the hand of Laben, he wrestled with an angel, and then scripture says that it was actually God himself most likely Christophany. He wrestled with Christ, and Christ touches his hip. And then the rest of his life he walked with a limp, the rape of his daughter, Dinah, which led to the bloody revenge by Simeon, and Levi, and his beloved Rachel's death, his eldest son's power seeking incest, and his favorite son's apparent death. Evil have been his days, he says, and few. At 130 years old, he says, "Few are my days." Well, Abraham lived 175 years, Isaac 180 years. Few, and evil was the unadorned truth. Martin Luther said the theologian was made by three things, oratio, meditatio, and tentatio. Oratio is prayer, meditatio, meditation on God's word, and tentatio means trial. And what he meant was that theologians are made by praying, and meditating God's word, and then also through pain, and suffering, and afflictions that give you a perspective on life, and God. And this characterized his life. I wonder, do you have a vision for long life? Do you have a vision to live a long time, a healthy life? And if so, to do what? Is it to just enjoy your retirement, and your twilight years? Or is it to care for people, care for your family? Is it to care for God's family? I have not given this much thought in my twenties, and my thirties, but I'm 40 now, and now I'm giving this more thought. And I do have a vision for a long life. And I like Caleb in the Bible. Caleb in the Bible, he goes to see the promised land when he's 40. And then God made the people of Israel wander in the desert for 40 years for disobeying him, and disbelieving. And then Caleb at 85 goes to Joshua, and says, "Hey, man, I'm going to take that mountain over there, and I'm going to lead the charge myself." And Joshua's like, "What are you talking about?" And Caleb says, "I am as strong today at 85 as I was at 40." So, I'm actually working out more now because I'm 40, and this is the benchmark I got to at least maintain the benchmark so that at 85, Lord willing. But there is something about a purpose like when you have a vision to live a longer life, you care for yourself, you care for your body. The body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. But you got to make sure it's not just selfish, because living for yourself is never enough to make the impact that God has for us. Ephesians 5:15, "Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil." What a great filter for our calendars, and what we do with our time. Is this the best use of my time? Genesis 47:10, "Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from the presence of Pharaoh." Do you think Jacob's blessing on Pharaoh was meaningful to him, to Pharaoh? I think so. Here stands before him, an aged saint who walked with the Lord faithfully in worship, and service for years. He didn't do it perfectly. He's a sinner. He's lived evil days. He knows. But scripture teaches that the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Meaning the more you grow in righteousness, and experiential righteousness, the more powerful your prayers become. The King James says, "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." And as Jacob prayed over Pharaoh, no doubt Pharaoh has never heard a prayer like this, a prayer to Yahweh. Pharaoh received that blessing, and he was blessed. Pharaoh first blessed God's people with his generosity speared Joseph promoted him, and then personally invites the family of Joseph to Goshen, sends them grain to preserve them, wagons, to transport them. And when they arrive, they're receive royally. Pharaoh blesses the people of God. And God in return blesses Pharaoh. Genesis 12:3, God promised Abraham, "I'll bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I'll curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." Text continues, Genesis 47:11. "Then Joseph settled his father, and his brothers, and gave them a possession of the land of Egypt, in the best of the land in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. And Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all his father's household with food according to the number of their dependents." In the Hebrew that were dependents is little ones according to their little ones. Joseph provided. And that's the emphasis on the text. And this should be the ambition of every godly person in particular godly men, men as heads of household to provide for your family, and to provide the best that you can for your family, which is actually an outward working of our faith. First Timothy 5:8 says, "If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever." Well, what's the connection between provision, and our Christian faith, where our Christian faith at the heart of it is a father who provides. God, the Father provides us with life, and he sustains us, and he cares for us. He sends Jesus Christ to procure salvation for us. God is a God who provides, and therefore his children, believers are to be people who provide, who receive his blessing, and become conduits of blessing so that the blessings that we receive are cascaded to the people around us, and beyond. So, in the throes of a deepening world, starvation, God prospers his people. So, Joseph provides for his family. And then we see that Pharaoh is blessed. This is point two, Pharaoh prospered as Joseph affects this plan that nationalizes the land, the livestock, and then turned Egyptians into tenant farmers. Genesis 47:13, "Now there was no food in all the land for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt, and the land of Canaan languished by reason of the famine. And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, and exchange for the grain that they bought. And Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house. And when the money was all spent in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph, and said, 'Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes for our money is gone.' And Joseph answered, 'Give your livestock, and now we'll give you food in exchange for your livestock, if your money is gone.' So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them food in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the herds, and the donkeys. He supplied them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year." "And when that year was ended, they came to him, in the following year, and said to him, 'We will not hide from my lord that our money is all spent. The herds of livestock are my lord's. There's nothing left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our land. Why should we die before your eyes, both we, and our land? Buy us, and our land for food, and we with our land will be servants to Pharaoh, and give us seed that we may live, and not die, and that the land may not be desolate". Tenant farming becomes the norm with Pharaoh providing the seed, verse 20. "So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for all the Egyptians sold their fields because the famine was severe on them. The land became Pharaoh's. As for the people, he made servants of them from one end of Egypt to the other. Only the land of the priests he did not buy for the priest had a fixed allowance from Pharaoh, and lived on the allowance that Pharaoh gave them. Therefore they did not sell their land." So, in short order, all of Egypt except the pagan clergy were serfs. So, Pharaoh becomes greater than he could have ever imagined. Prospered thanks to Joseph. Point three, Egypt is blessed, blessed in terms of what? Well, they were on the brink of starvation, and now they're provided for. So, Genesis 47:23. "Then Joseph said to the people, 'Behold, I have this day bought you, and your land for Pharaoh. Now here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land, and at the harvest you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four fifths shall be your own as seed for the field, and as food for yourselves, and your households, and as food for your little ones.' And they said, 'You have saved our lives. May it please my lord we will be servants to Pharaoh.' So, Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt. And it stands to this day that Pharaoh should have the fifth; the land of the priests alone did not become Pharaoh's." They said, "You have saved our lives may please my lord, we will be servants of Pharaoh. You've saved us, therefore of course we will serve you." And they understood this in political terms, and they understood this in real life. And how much more so does this apply to us as servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus, you saved us. Jesus, you paid it all. Jesus, of course to you, I owe everything. And this is how the great saints talked about the relationship with the Lord, the Apostle Paul. In his letters, he introduces himself I Paul in Apostle. And then he says over, and over, "I'm a doulos", and the Greek is, "I'm a slave. I'm a slave of Jesus Christ, and I serve him willingly. Why? Because he served me. He saved me." The royal serfs are taxed 20%, which was normal percentage back then, and 40% was not uncommon in Mesopotamia. The happy result of all of this was that Egypt thrived, the coffers were overflowing, bolstering the economy, and the people didn't complain about it. Joseph was Egypt's national hero. Without him, they'd all be dead. Joseph was led by the Lord. And scripture does teach that the closer you walk with the Lord, the more the Lord reveals his mind to you. The closer you walk with Christ, the more Christ reveals his mind to you. Well, what's Christ's mind like? Well, he's all knowing. And the Colossians Two, one through three comments on the treasures of wisdom found in Christ, "For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you, and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged being knit together in love to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding, and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden, are the treasures of wisdom, and knowledge." And the emphasis here is on the mystery. And that it is hidden. It takes effort. It takes work to study God, study his scriptures, and to walk with him. And if you study the gospels, you see that Jesus Christ applied this shrewdness, this wisdom in particular with his enemies. And he had many enemies. Enemies came to him, and they said, "John the Baptizer, you got to stop him. What is he doing? He's proclaiming the kingdom of God." And Jesus says, "Is baptism of John, of God, or of man?" Well, if they said of man, then all the people would've rejected him, because they saw the power of God. And if you say from God, well then you can't argue against that. Remember when the woman who was caught in adultery was brought to Jesus by the Pharisees? What does he say? He who is without sin cast the first stone, and they all walk away. Incredible wisdom. When the Pharisees came to him, and they questioned his divinity. And Jesus said, "Look at Psalm 1:10. What does David the Psalmist write as he is inspired by the Holy Spirit? He writes, the Lord said to my Lord, sit my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." And Jesus said, "How is David's son also David's lord?" And in that text he reveals the Trinity, the Pharisees when they came to him, and said, "Should we pay taxes to Caesar?" They want to catch Jesus so that Caesar, and the Roman authorities would arrest him. And Jesus said, bring me a coin. They bring him a coin. And he says, "Whose inscription is on this coin?" And they said, "Caesar's." And Jesus said, "Well give onto Caesar, what is Caesar's onto God? What is God's?" And the inscription, and the Greek his, icon image. So, this coin has the image of Caesar, give that back to Caesar, and whatever has the image of God, give that unto God, and he's calling them to obedience, or a question about the Sabbath. Can we do good works on the Sabbath? And Jesus said, "Which of you who has a sheep if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it, and lift it out?" And obviously we can heal on the Sabbath as Jesus did. Standing before Pontius Pilate, "Are you the king of the Jews?" And Jesus said, "You said that I am the king of the Jews." Leaving Pilate silent. Incredible wisdom as we study Christ, as we study how we operate, and as we walk with the Lord daily. Point four is Israel is blessed. This is verse 27, Genesis 47, "Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen, and they gained possessions in it, and fruitful, and multiplied greatly." They settled, they gained possessions, and they were fruitful, and multiplied greatly. They were fulfilling the great mandate that was given to Adam in Genesis 1:28. And it was given as a blessing, and God bless them. And God said to them, be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. And then after God sends the flood, and then Noah, and his family come out of the ark, God repeats this, and he repeats this twice, in Genesis 9:1 "And God blessed Noah, and his sons, and said to him, 'Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth." And verse seven, "And you'll be fruitful, and multiply, increase greatly on the earth, and multiply it." God loves people, and God wants more people, more people who are created the image of God, and are redeemed by Jesus Christ, and are adopted into the family of God. I had a gentleman at the gym ask me, and he found out I have four. I shock people all the time. I'm like, "I have kids." They're like, how many? "There's four." And they say, "Four?" And I always say, "Four daughters." And they're like, "Four daughters?" Same conversation every time. And he said, "How much do kids cost?" And my response is, "Well, they cost as much do you spend on them? That's how much they cost." But the principle is that the Lord does provide. And one of the things I told them, I was like, "Look, how much do you spend on going out? How much do you spend on entertainment? Well, here's the beauty of having kids. You just don't have time to go out, and they become your entertainment. And then you're like, actually this is a much better investment of my time, and money." The Lord provides for them. And that's the emphasis of this text. Someone could have said, "Jacob, why are you procreating? Why are you having so many children? How are you going to feed them all? Especially when a famine comes." But you see how the Lord blesses them. And Israel's prosperity far outstrips that of the average Egyptian. It's astonishing, but the citizens of Egypt lost their money. They lost their cattle, they lost their land. And all the time the children of Israel are over in the land of Goshen. They don't lose their money, they don't lose their land, they don't lose their livestock, or cattle. As a matter of fact, they became more, and more fruitful while the citizens of Egypt became servants of Pharaoh. And that's God's way of taking care of God's people. What Israel experienced in Egypt was a forced foretaste of the ultimate blessings of Canaan when the land, and its fatness would be theirs. And here I do just want to pause, and apply this to us. Joseph used his power, and he used his influence to bless his family. And we need to think about this in terms of our immediate family, our flesh, and blood, but also in terms of those who are not yet our family, those who don't yet know Jesus Christ. The Lord teaches us that when we repent of our sins, we become part of the family of God. So, evangelism is welcome people into the family of God. Hey, I've been saved by grace through faith. I am now a child of God, not because of anything I've done, but because of the work of Christ. And so I want to tell you about grace. I want to tell you about the fact that Jesus Christ saves people if you just ask, and receive the gift. And Jesus does teach us to think about being good stewards of everything he has given us in order to help people meet the Lord in order to gain eternal life. And Jesus does it by sharing this parable that's very curious upon a first reading. But as we meditate on it, incredible spiritual truths. In Luke 16, "He also said to the disciples, 'There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. And he called him, and said to him, 'What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management for you can no longer be manager. And the manager said to himself, 'What shall I do since my master's taking the management away from me, I'm not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do, so that when I'm removed from management, people may receive me into their houses. So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he said to the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' And he said, 'A hundred measures of oil.' And he said to him, 'Take your bill, and sit down quickly, and write 50.' And then he said to another, 'How much do you owe?' And he said, 'A hundred measures of wheat.' And he said to him, 'take your bill, and write 80.' The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness." "For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails, they may receive you into the eternal dwellings."So, Jesus commends this manager for his shrewd use of the vanishing opportunity before him. The manager understands my window of opportunity is going to be gone soon. And he begins to give these people discounts on what they owed the master while he still had power to do so. And the lesson for us is our time is limited, our money is limited, and we need to be thinking like good managers, like good stewards of what God has given to do what? To love people. He says, "Make friends with your wealth." People love generosity. People love generous friends. And when we're generous with time, and money, that opens up opportunities to talk about more meaningful things, and talk about the things of God. And he says, "When your wealth fails, when your health fails, well what's left is eternal souls." And he says, we are to think about it like that. And here also as we're talking about resources, a few comments on work. Jacob's sons were shepherds ordinary working men. And although their choice of vocation seemed an abomination to the Egyptians, there was nothing unworthy about their trade, but there was actually honor, and glory in their toil. And the capacity, and opportunity for work is a gift from God, whether the work is mental, or manual. And I grew up with my dad who was, he started a painting business as an immigrant, and I remember he would drop me off at college in his painting truck, and it pains me to say this. I said, "Dad, can you just drop me off like half a mile away from campus? I don't want anyone to see that my dad, the painter is dropping me off at college", which is terrible. That's a terrible mindset where we do rank people's worth depending on what kind of work they do, if they work with their hands, it's almost as if they're lesser. And that's not true. Scripture actually tells us that we are to aspire to work with our hands. First Thessalonians 4:9 through 12, "Now concerning brotherly love, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers through throughout Macedonia. But we urge you brothers to do this more and more, and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders, and be dependent on no one." So, we are to work, and we are to work, and think about working in a way where we are not dependent on other people. St. Paul funded his ministry by making tents, and this idea of being dependent on other people as the culture becomes hostile toward Christians, or to those who are faithful to the faith. Well, this idea of being dependent on someone for a salary, or for your livelihood, well this is a conversation that needs serious thought. Colossians 3:17, "Whatever you do in word, or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." In the verse 23 of that chapter, "Whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord, and not for men. Knowing that from the Lord you'll receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ." First Corinthians 10:31. So, whether you eat, or drink, whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Genesis 47:28, "And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt 17 years. So, the days of Jacob, the years of his life were 147 years." Joseph had spent 17 years with his father Jacob in the beginning of his life. And then Jacob spent 17 years at the end of his life with his son Joseph, and then in Genesis 47:29, "And when the time drew near that Israel must die, he called his son Joseph, and said to him, 'If now I have found favor in your sight, put your hand under my thigh, and promise to deal kindly, and truly with me. Do not bury me in Egypt, but let me lie with my fathers. Carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying place. He answered, 'I will do as you have said.' And he said, 'Swear to me'; and he swore to him. Then Israel bowed himself upon the head of his bed." Jacob here binds Joseph doubly. Twice he says, "I want you to promise this." Why was this so important to Jacob be buried in the promised land, the land of Canaan? Well, there's a declaration of promise. He believed that God would bring them back, and he wanted his family already to see that. And this was the symbol Jacob going to die, and we're going to bring his body to be buried in Canaan. Jacob was a man who cared about God's blessing, not just on his life, but he cared about God's blessing on the lives of his children, and his children's children. And that's why he makes Joseph promise. Jacob from his early days knew that God's blessing meant everything to the point where he even connived a away to get his father's greatest blessing when he stole it from Esau. And the text tells us that Esau did not value God's blessing. And we as people of God, we are to value God's blessing. We're to long, "Lord bless me, Lord bless my family, bless my family's family. Lord bless us." Remember Jacob even wrestling with the angel who was God himself. And he says, "I'm not going to let you go until you bless me." So, we are to value God's blessing, and God's greatest blessing is redemption. God's greatest blessing that he offers us is a relationship with God, forgiveness of our sins. Here in this text before Pharaoh, he said, "My days have been few, and evil", but perhaps he had some years to meditate on that in the land of Egypt. And in the next chapter in Genesis 48, as he's blessing the sons of Joseph, verse 15, "And he blessed Joseph, and said, 'The God before whom my father's Abraham, and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys; and in them, let my name be carried on, and the name of my father's Abraham and Isaac, and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth." Verse 16, the angel, that's the angel that he wrestled with. It was a God man, most likely Christ himself. He has redeemed me from all evil. Yes, there were days in my life he recognizes where it was evil, where I have done evil because I am evil, but he redeemed me. And that's the greatest blessing that Jesus Christ offers us. That when we come to him, and when we repent of our sins, when we acknowledge, "Lord, I have done things that are evil. I have transgressed your law. I have lived selfishly, I have lived as if I'm my own God. Lord, forgive me." John 10:10, Jesus says, "The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. I'm the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." Not only is Jesus the good shepherd, but Jesus is also the only way to heaven. Jacob had another dream where he saw a staircase, and he saw the angels of God ascending, and descending. And then Jesus commenting on that dream says the following in John 1:51. "And he said to him, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, you'll see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending, and descending on the Son of Man." Jesus Christ is the only staircase to heaven, the only staircase to God. The cross of Jesus Christ is the only means of attaining the greatest blessing that God offers, and that's himself. God offers eternal life, which is a relationship with him by grace through faith. As Joseph provided a place for his family in Egypt, Jesus provides a place for us in heaven. He told the disciples, "I'm going to go, and prepare a room for you." The wisest thing in the world you can do today is to accept the free gift of eternal life by repenting, and believing in Jesus Christ, and his sacrifice for you when he died for you, when he bled for you, when he was buried for you, when he was resurrected for you, when you believed that that's what he did for you, that your sins are paid for, your eternal life is secure. I'll close it with Matthew 11:28, an invitation from the Lord Jesus Christ. "Come to me all who labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle, and lowly in heart, and you'll find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Let us pray. Lord Jesus, we thank you for this invitation. We thank you for your shed blood on the cross. We thank you that you, you used your position, and your power, and your influence, and you used it to serve us.