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Voddie Baucham - Joseph Reunites with His Family · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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  Speaker 1: If you join me in Genesis chapter 46, we are
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  Speaker 1: moving rapidly to the conclusion of the book of Genesis
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  Speaker 1: and rapidly to the conclusion of this journey through Joseph's life,
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  Speaker 1: which in actuality was not about Joseph at all. As
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  Speaker 1: we've said on a number of occasions, we have to
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  Speaker 1: look at Joseph's life in its broader context. First, we
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  Speaker 1: have to look at it in the broader context of
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  Speaker 1: this particular section of the book of Genesis. And we
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  Speaker 1: know that there in Genesis chapter 37, that this is
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  Speaker 1: the Toledot of Jacob. This is the story of the
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  Speaker 1: generations of Jacob. So when we come to the life
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  Speaker 1: of Joseph, it is told in the midst of the
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  Speaker 1: story of Jacob's generations. We also know that when Joseph
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  Speaker 1: communicates his own story to his brothers, that he says
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  Speaker 1: to his brothers that God has sent him to Egypt,
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  Speaker 1: not just so that he could be elevated to a
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  Speaker 1: position of prominence, but Joseph says that God sent him
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  Speaker 1: to Egypt so that he might in turn rescue his brothers.
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  Speaker 1: So we have to put it into that context, but
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  Speaker 1: we also have to put it in the broader context
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  Speaker 1: of the story of redemptive history. And we know that
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  Speaker 1: the book of Genesis outlines for us a very important
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  Speaker 1: portion of that story of redemptive history, beginning there with
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  Speaker 1: the creation of man in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2,
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  Speaker 1: then the fall of man in Genesis 3. In the
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  Speaker 1: midst of the fall of man, there is this curse
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  Speaker 1: that is brought upon the man, the woman, and ultimately
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  Speaker 1: the serpent. And it is in that curse that is
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  Speaker 1: brought upon the serpent that we, for the first time,
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  Speaker 1: hear the good news of the message of the gospel,
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  Speaker 1: that there would be enmity between the serpent and the
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  Speaker 1: woman and between his seed and her seed, that the
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  Speaker 1: serpent's seed would bruise the seed of the woman on
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  Speaker 1: the heel, but the seed of the woman would crush
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  Speaker 1: the head of the snake. From that moment on, as
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  Speaker 1: we read not only in Genesis, but as we read
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  Speaker 1: in the rest of the Bible, we read an unfolding
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  Speaker 1: story narrative of redemptive history. For the rest of the Bible,
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  Speaker 1: if you wanna understand anything else in the Bible, you
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  Speaker 1: have to understand it through the lens of God's redemptive
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  Speaker 1: plan that is ultimately brought to fruition in the person
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  Speaker 1: and work of Jesus Christ, who is that promised seed.
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  Speaker 1: So when we look at the story of Joseph through
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  Speaker 1: that lens, through the broadest of all biblical contexts, we
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  Speaker 1: understand that the story of Joseph is about the continuation
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  Speaker 1: of the line and that ultimately Joseph has to save
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  Speaker 1: Judah and God has to redeem Judah. Because when we
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  Speaker 1: meet Judah in chapter 37, if you'll remember, He's the
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  Speaker 1: brother who says, why kill him? If we kill him,
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  Speaker 1: we get nothing. Let's sell him into slavery. At least
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  Speaker 1: we'll get something for him. In chapter 38, he's the
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  Speaker 1: one who is ready to take the life of his
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  Speaker 1: daughter-in-law because of her sexual impurity until she brings out
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  Speaker 1: the evidence that it was actually him with whom she
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  Speaker 1: was impure. How is that man going to be the
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  Speaker 1: leader of this clan? How is that man going to
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  Speaker 1: be the one through whom the promised seed will continue?
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  Speaker 1: How is that man going to be the one who
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  Speaker 1: ultimately gives us King David and great King David's greater son, Jesus?
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  Speaker 1: The answer, he must be redeemed. And we've seen here
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  Speaker 1: in the story of Joseph a picture of God redeeming Judah.
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  Speaker 1: of God redeeming Jacob. And now we come here to
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  Speaker 1: the end of chapter 48, or 46 rather, and we
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  Speaker 1: see this reuniting of Joseph with his father Jacob. You
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  Speaker 1: remember on last week we looked at the fact that
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  Speaker 1: God has renewed the covenant with Jacob. God uttered almost
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  Speaker 1: exactly the same words to Jacob that he had uttered
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  Speaker 1: to Abraham and to Isaac. And the end of that
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  Speaker 1: promise was that he's going to take him into Egypt
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  Speaker 1: and in Egypt going to make him a great nation.
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  Speaker 1: Now we read a list of names and when we
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  Speaker 1: finished there were 70 Israelites. 70. That's it. And God
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  Speaker 1: says this 70 is going to become a great nation.
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  Speaker 1: Today I want you to see how this nation will
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  Speaker 1: be set apart. and what will distinguish this nation. And
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  Speaker 1: just like with the overarching story of Joseph, we're going
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  Speaker 1: to put it into the context of the entire story
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  Speaker 1: here of the redemption of Jacob, in the context of
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  Speaker 1: the entire story of the book of Genesis, and in
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  Speaker 1: the context of the entire story of redemptive history. And
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  Speaker 1: I just have to confess that this has been an
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  Speaker 1: incredible journey for me. I've been through the book of
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  Speaker 1: Genesis on a number of occasions, but It's like going
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  Speaker 1: through for the first time. Look with me beginning verse 28.
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  Speaker 1: He had sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph. Again,
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  Speaker 1: not Reuben the firstborn, Simeon the secondborn was kept in Egypt,
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  Speaker 1: not Levi the thirdborn, but Judah. The fourth born son
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  Speaker 1: is now the son featured prominently. He had sent Judah
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  Speaker 1: ahead of him to Joseph to show the way before
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  Speaker 1: him in Goshen. And they came into the land of Goshen.
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  Speaker 1: Then Joseph prepared his chariot and went up to meet Israel,
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  Speaker 1: his father in Goshen. He presented himself to him and
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  Speaker 1: fell on his neck and wept on his neck a
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  Speaker 1: good while. Don't you just love that? He just, he wept.
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  Speaker 1: He didn't just greet his brother or his father. He
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  Speaker 1: wasn't just excited. The text says he greeted him and
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  Speaker 1: fell on his neck and wept a good while. Israel
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  Speaker 1: said to Joseph, now let me die since I have
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  Speaker 1: seen your face and know that you are still alive.
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  Speaker 1: Joseph said to his brothers and to his father's household,
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  Speaker 1: I will go up and tell Pharaoh and will say
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  Speaker 1: to him, my brothers and my father's household will who
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  Speaker 1: were in the land of Canaan, have come to me.
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  Speaker 1: And the men are shepherds, for they have been keepers
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  Speaker 1: of livestock, and they have brought their flocks and their
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  Speaker 1: herds and all that they have. When Pharaoh calls you
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  Speaker 1: and says, what is your occupation? You shall say, your
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  Speaker 1: servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth, even
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  Speaker 1: until now. But we and our fathers, in order that
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  Speaker 1: you may dwell in the land of Goshen, for every
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  Speaker 1: shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians. Isn't that interesting?
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to go tell Pharaoh that you're shepherds. When
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  Speaker 1: Pharaoh asks you what you do, tell him you're shepherds. Okay, why?
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  Speaker 1: Because the Egyptians hate shepherds. Okay, son, I'm happy to
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  Speaker 1: see you again and everything, but wait, back up. You're
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  Speaker 1: gonna go tell Pharaoh that we're shepherds, yes. When Pharaoh
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  Speaker 1: asks us what we do, we should say we're shepherds, yes.
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  Speaker 1: And you want us to do this because the Egyptians
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  Speaker 1: think shepherds are an abomination, yes. And we're going to
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  Speaker 1: live in Egypt, yes. With the Egyptians, yes. who think
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  Speaker 1: shepherds are an abomination? Yes. What's this about? I'm glad
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  Speaker 1: you asked. We see two main things here. First, we
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  Speaker 1: see a picture of God setting Israel apart in Egypt. Remember,
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  Speaker 1: they're going to Egypt to become a great nation. They
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  Speaker 1: are not going to Egypt to merge with a great nation.
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  Speaker 1: They are going to Egypt to become a great nation.
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  Speaker 1: And that is a very important distinction. God is not saying,
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  Speaker 1: Egypt is a great nation. I'm going to send my
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  Speaker 1: people into Egypt so that my people can merge with
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  Speaker 1: a great nation and that somehow This Israeli-Egyptian united nation
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  Speaker 1: will be a powerful nation that I can then use.
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  Speaker 1: God does not want nor does he need the power
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  Speaker 1: of the Egyptians. Amen? He's going to demonstrate that, by
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  Speaker 1: the way. Nor does God send Israel into Egypt so
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  Speaker 1: that they can learn from the Egyptians. God is not saying, hey,
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to send you to Egypt. Egypt is a
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  Speaker 1: great nation. You go to Egypt and learn everything that
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  Speaker 1: you can from the Egyptians. Learn their ways of warfare,
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  Speaker 1: learn their ways of metalsmithing, learn their ways of economics,
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  Speaker 1: learn their ways of whatever. And then after you've learned
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  Speaker 1: all the things that they have acquired and accomplished through
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  Speaker 1: their diligent use of common grace, then you will be
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  Speaker 1: more powerful. And when I send you out, you can
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  Speaker 1: be Egypt light. It's not what God does. God doesn't
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  Speaker 1: send them to merge with the Egyptians. God doesn't even
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  Speaker 1: send them to learn from the Egyptians. He doesn't do that.
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  Speaker 1: Never does that. In fact, it's very similar to what
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  Speaker 1: happens when Daniel goes into Babylon. Interestingly enough, when Daniel
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  Speaker 1: goes into Babylon, a lot of people look at that
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  Speaker 1: and they say, well, yeah, you know, Daniel went into
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  Speaker 1: Babylon and then they learned all these things from Babylon
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  Speaker 1: and then they became greater than the Babylonians at the
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  Speaker 1: Babylonians' own knowledge. No, if you read Daniel very carefully
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  Speaker 1: in Daniel chapter one, Nebuchadnezzar chose Daniel and the others
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  Speaker 1: that he brought in Because of the way that they
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  Speaker 1: had already completed their education and training in Israel They
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  Speaker 1: didn't go into Babylon until postgraduate school and They did
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  Speaker 1: not acquire Babylonian knowledge and become better than the Babylonians
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  Speaker 1: at their own knowledge They already had a superior worldview
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  Speaker 1: and that's what set them apart That's not how God operates.
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  Speaker 1: The pagans are great. Go learn from the pagans so
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  Speaker 1: that you can be great as well. No, God says,
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  Speaker 1: I'm sending you into Egypt to make you a great nation,
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  Speaker 1: not another Egypt. In fact, you're going in as a
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  Speaker 1: despised people group. And that is going to be part
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  Speaker 1: of the way that you are separated from the Egyptians.
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  Speaker 1: That's going to be part of the way that you
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  Speaker 1: are protected from being assimilated into Egypt. That's going to
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  Speaker 1: be part of the way that I preserve my teaching,
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  Speaker 1: that I preserve my truth, that I preserve my covenant,
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  Speaker 1: that you go in as my people in the midst
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  Speaker 1: of Egypt. In other words, go in and be in Egypt,
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  Speaker 1: but not of Egypt. Does that sound at all familiar?
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  Speaker 1: In the world, but not of the world. Listen to
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  Speaker 1: Calvin's comment on this. Nevertheless, though it was hard for
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  Speaker 1: the Holy Fathers to be thus appropriately rejected and, as
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  Speaker 1: it were, to be loathed by a whole nation, yet
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  Speaker 1: this ignominy with which they were branded was most profitable
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  Speaker 1: to themselves. For had they been mingled with the Egyptians,
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  Speaker 1: they might have been scattered far and wide. But now,
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  Speaker 1: seeing that they are objects of detestation and are thought
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  Speaker 1: unworthy to be admitted to common society, they learn in
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  Speaker 1: this state of separation from others to cherish more fervently
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  Speaker 1: mutual union between themselves. And thus, the body of the church,
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  Speaker 1: which God had set apart from the whole world, is
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  Speaker 1: not dispersed. As the Lord often permits us to be
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  Speaker 1: dispersed or despised or rejected by the world, that being
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  Speaker 1: liberated and cleansed from its pollution, we may cultivate holiness. Finally,
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  Speaker 1: he does not suffer us to be bound by change
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  Speaker 1: to the earth in order that we may be born upwardly.
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  Speaker 1: to heaven. There's the picture. This is who God is,
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  Speaker 1: and this is what God does. This is the God
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  Speaker 1: who says to Gideon, Gideon, you have too many men.
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  Speaker 1: Get rid of some of them. Why? Too many men? Yes,
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  Speaker 1: because this battle is about me getting the glory, not you.
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  Speaker 1: God does not want it said later on, oh yeah,
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  Speaker 1: that's Israel. Israel is a great nation because they went
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  Speaker 1: into Egypt, commingled with the Egyptians, and now they're partnered
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  Speaker 1: with the Egyptians, and the power of the Egyptians make
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  Speaker 1: them great. It is not God's desire that somehow, generations later,
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  Speaker 1: people will say, oh yeah, that's Israel. They're great because
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  Speaker 1: they learned metalsmithing in Egypt. They learned warfare in Egypt.
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  Speaker 1: They have chariots from Egypt. No, God wants it says,
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  Speaker 1: that's Israel. Fear them because their God fights for them.
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  Speaker 1: He distinguishes his people. He sets his people apart. And
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  Speaker 1: in fact, he does not use the greatness of man.
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  Speaker 1: It's always amazing to me when some famous person or whomever,
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  Speaker 1: you know, famous person comes to faith in Christ. Again,
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  Speaker 1: depending on how famous the person is, if they're famous enough,
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  Speaker 1: they come to Christ today. Next week, they're on Christian
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  Speaker 1: television and next month they got a book out. Amen.
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  Speaker 1: Just that quick. Why? Because we somehow believe that all
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  Speaker 1: God needs to turn the tables is the right Egyptian
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  Speaker 1: with the right fame, fortune, or power to turn the
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  Speaker 1: tide of public opinion. Folks, God has never been in
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  Speaker 1: the business of using Egyptians to grant him fame unless
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  Speaker 1: he crushes them with his mighty hand. Amen? That's the
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  Speaker 1: way God uses Egyptians to get fame for himself. He
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  Speaker 1: crushes them with his mighty hand. He drowns them in
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  Speaker 1: the sea. That's the way God uses the Egyptians. He
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  Speaker 1: does not take the Egyptians and raise them up and
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  Speaker 1: use what they have done in order to gain power
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  Speaker 1: for himself. Again, does he not do this in Babylon?
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  Speaker 1: There in chapter four, we see Nebuchadnezzar radically saved. Seven years,
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  Speaker 1: God turns him into a beast, and then Nebuchadnezzar rises up,
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  Speaker 1: and when he rises up, he blesses God, and in
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  Speaker 1: the next chapter, he's dead. Amen. Amen. Just when you think, oh,
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  Speaker 1: this is awesome. This is just like God. Daniel's there.
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  Speaker 1: They've been in captivity in Babylon. God gets the heart
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  Speaker 1: of the king. He saves the king. Certainly in this
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  Speaker 1: next chapter, the king is going to change all of
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  Speaker 1: Babylon and God is going to be worshiped. No, his son,
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  Speaker 1: who's worse than him, is now risen up. And he's gone.
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  Speaker 1: This is is how God operates. He will not share
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  Speaker 1: his glory with another. So he sends them in as
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  Speaker 1: despised shepherds into the land of Goshen. He separates them
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  Speaker 1: as despised shepherds in the land of Goshen. And he
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  Speaker 1: preserves for himself a distinct people in the midst of
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  Speaker 1: this land, a people whose honor will be based on
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  Speaker 1: the fact that God is their God. Not only does
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  Speaker 1: he bring them in as a despised group of people,
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  Speaker 1: but it would be one thing if he brought them
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  Speaker 1: in as a despised group of people who had a
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  Speaker 1: trade that was, I don't know, just maybe more noble.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe they come in as whatever, bankers or jewelers or
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  Speaker 1: used car salesmen or whatever. Some other, maybe they come
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  Speaker 1: in as something like that. But no, they come in
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  Speaker 1: as shepherds. Shepherds. So they are both despised and lowly.
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  Speaker 1: They're shepherds. But this is the second great truth. And
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  Speaker 1: this is the most powerful truth in this passage. Not
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  Speaker 1: only is God setting Israel apart in Egypt, but God
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  Speaker 1: is laying a foundation for understanding the relationship between him
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  Speaker 1: and his people. God is laying a foundation for us
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  Speaker 1: to understand redemptive history. God is laying a foundation so
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  Speaker 1: that the world will know who God is and how
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  Speaker 1: God interacts with his people because he brings them in
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  Speaker 1: as people. shepherds. Folks, there is perhaps no more significant
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  Speaker 1: theme in all of the Bible than the theme of
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  Speaker 1: the shepherd and the sheep. In fact, I would argue
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  Speaker 1: that everything else pales in comparison to the theme of
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  Speaker 1: the shepherd and the sheep, because that is the theme
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  Speaker 1: that God uses in order to communicate the truth about himself,
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  Speaker 1: the truth about his people, and the truth about the
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  Speaker 1: way that he redeems his people through the theme of
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  Speaker 1: the shepherd and the sheep. So two things God is doing. One,
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  Speaker 1: God is separating his people in Egypt from Egypt. But secondly,
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  Speaker 1: God is painting a picture of who his people are
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  Speaker 1: and who he is, who his people are in relation
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  Speaker 1: to him, and how redemption works historically. Don't believe me.
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  Speaker 1: Let's spend a little time with the theme of the
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  Speaker 1: shepherd and the sheep. First of all, the image of
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  Speaker 1: the sheep. You cannot understand the image of the shepherd
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  Speaker 1: unless you understand the image of the sheep. The sheep
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  Speaker 1: is weak, not at all a powerful animal. There is
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  Speaker 1: nothing powerful about a sheep. A sheep is defenseless. Sheep
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  Speaker 1: have no defensive mechanisms, none. Even a skunk can spray you. Amen?
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  Speaker 1: A porcupine sort of ball himself up and poke you,
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  Speaker 1: but nothing. Squirrel, fast enough to get away from you.
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  Speaker 1: Sheep's not fast. It's not powerful. He has nothing. He
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  Speaker 1: has no defense mechanism. He is helpless. The sheep is helpless.
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  Speaker 1: He cannot help himself. In fact, if a sheep becomes cast,
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  Speaker 1: that is laid over on his back in a crevice
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  Speaker 1: of some sort, the sheep cannot turn himself back over.
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  Speaker 1: If his wool is thick, he cannot turn himself back over.
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  Speaker 1: If this happens during the warmer months, he's got a
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  Speaker 1: number of hours before gases collect in his system and
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  Speaker 1: he dies. If it happens during the cooler months, he
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  Speaker 1: has a matter of days before this happens. But in
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  Speaker 1: either case, he usually won't die from those collected gases
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  Speaker 1: because something will come along and eat him first. Sheep
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  Speaker 1: are dumb. They are not intelligent animals. They're dumb. Again,
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  Speaker 1: you can't understand the life of a shepherd unless you
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  Speaker 1: understand sheep. Sheep are unintelligent animals. They will eat anything.
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  Speaker 1: Most animals, if they eat something that makes them sick,
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  Speaker 1: they won't go eat it again. Not so with sheep.
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  Speaker 1: They are not intelligent animals. lead sheep jumps off a cliff,
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  Speaker 1: you better start grabbing sheep because they will continue to
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  Speaker 1: pour over the cliff after the lead sheep. They are
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  Speaker 1: not intelligent animals and they are needy animals. Sheep are
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  Speaker 1: very needy animals because of all of these truths. So
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  Speaker 1: here comes Israel. What are they known for? They're known
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  Speaker 1: for herding these weak, defenseless, helpless, dumb, needy animals who stink.
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  Speaker 1: You ever been around a sheep full of wool? Those
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  Speaker 1: are sheep. That's what Israel is known for. They're shepherds.
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  Speaker 1: What do shepherds do? Four things. We've talked about these before.
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  Speaker 1: They know and love the sheep. Secondly, they lead and
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  Speaker 1: guide the sheep. Thirdly, they protect the sheep. And finally,
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  Speaker 1: they feed the sheep. That's the responsibility of shepherds to sheep.
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  Speaker 1: And it's not until you understand the nature of sheep
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  Speaker 1: and the nature of shepherds that you understand the relationship
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  Speaker 1: between God and Israel, between God and his covenant people.
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  Speaker 1: It's not until you grasp this that you understand the
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  Speaker 1: significance of redemptive history. So here comes Israel into Egypt.
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  Speaker 1: They are set apart from Egypt because they are shepherds
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  Speaker 1: who keep sheep. And they are distinguished in redemptive history
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  Speaker 1: because they are shepherds who keep sheep. In order to
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  Speaker 1: understand that historically, we have to understand this biblical picture.
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  Speaker 1: We understand first the line of shepherds. And we think
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  Speaker 1: maybe the line of shepherds starts here, but actually it
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: does not. The first one to whom we're introduced in
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: the Bible that is a shepherd is actually Abel. In
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: Genesis chapter four and verse four, it says, and Abel
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: and his offering. Abel was a shepherd. Abel was a shepherd.
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: So from the beginning, we have the picture of a shepherd.
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: Not only that, but the patriarchs were shepherds. We see
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: in Genesis 13, 5, 24, 35, 26, 14, 29, 2, 3,
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: and 8, that the patriarchs were all shepherds. So here's
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: a picture of Abel. You remember Cain and Abel, the
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: firstborn sons of Adam and Eve. Abel is a shepherd.
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: The patriarchs come along, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and they
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: are all shepherds. But not only do we find that
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: here in Genesis, but we also find as God continues
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: to deal with his people that he does so with
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: prominent men who are shepherds. Or do you remember Moses? Moses.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: Moses was raised in Egypt, but before God could use
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: him to deliver his people out of Egypt, he had
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: to go become a shepherd. It was not enough for
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: him to be a warrior prince. If he was going
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: to lead God's people, he had to become a shepherd.
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: So what do we read in Exodus 3.1? Now Moses
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: of Midian. And he led his flock to the west
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: of God. Very important thing happens there at Horeb, the
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: mountain of God, while he's tending sheep. The first 40
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: years of his life, There he is in Egypt. And
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: one would think God is raising up a deliverer who
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: delivers them out of Egypt. So he's going to raise
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: him up in Egypt. So he becomes an Egyptian and
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: uses the Egyptian things against the Egyptian. No, God says
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: second 40 years, you go become a shepherd. Why God?
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: Why do I need to be in the wilderness tending
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: these unintelligent, weak, helpless, hopeless animals? Because in the third
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: 40 years of your life, you're going to shepherd my
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: sheep in the desert. That's what I do. I shepherd
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: my sheep. And if you are going to serve me
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: and represent me, you need to do the same. So
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: Moses becomes a shepherd. Not only Moses, but Judah's first
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: great son by the name of David. And we all
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: look and we see that Samuel goes to Jesse's house.
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: And when Samuel goes to Jesse's house, he's looking for
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: the next king. Now, when we read the story, we
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: think that it's quite ironic that the one he finds
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: who is to be the king of Israel was actually
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: out tending sheep. But the only reason we think that's
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: ironic is because we don't know the history of the Bible.
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: You want to find the king of God's people? What
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: better place to find him than tending the sheep? God's
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: people are shepherds after all. His people are sheep after all.
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: His people keep sheep. His people are sheep. That's the
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: picture that God paints throughout redemptive history. This picture of
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: the shepherd and the sheep. You find in 1 Samuel 17,
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: David said to Saul, your servant used to keep sheep
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: for his father. And when there came a lion or
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: a bear and took a lamb from the flock, your
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: servant delivered it out of his hand. God prepared Moses
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: to lead his people. How? How? by making him a
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: shepherd in the wilderness. God prepared David to lead his people, how?
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: By making him a shepherd who would fight against lions
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: and bears in order to deliver sheep so that he
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: would not be afraid when a giant Philistine said, send
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: me somebody who trusts God enough to fight me. Not
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: only that, but the leaders of Israel are seen as shepherds.
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: Go with me, if you will, to the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: Jeremiah 23. Look at the first four verses. Woe to
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture.
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: Who's speaking here? God. About whom is God speaking? His people.
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: To what does God liken his people? Sheep. To what
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: does God liken the leaders of his people? Shepherds. Why?
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: Because that's the way it has always been. Woe to
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture,
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: declares the Lord. Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people,
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: you have scattered my flock and have driven them away,
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord.
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: of all the countries where I have driven them, and
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: I will bring them back to their fold, and they
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: shall be fruitful and multiply. I will set shepherds over
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: them who will care for them, and they shall fear
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing,
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: declares the Lord. The leaders of the church, in Ephesians
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: chapter 4, in verse 11, he gave some as apostles,
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastor
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: teachers or shepherd teachers. In fact, what we read today
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: in 1 Peter chapter 5 was a picture of the
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: leaders of God's people being referred to as pastors or shepherds.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: The word pastor means shepherd. And that is the work
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: of those who hold leadership over God's people. It has
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: always been that way. God's people are sheep. God is
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: a shepherd. And those who lead their people are shepherds
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: as well. But also the picture of God as shepherd
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: is even clearer in the scriptures. The clearest picture of
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: all is found in Psalm number 23. Go with me,
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: if you will, to Psalm number 23. Written, by the way,
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: by King David. The most beloved and endearing of all
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: the Psalms is a picture of the relationship between God
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: and his people. And it begins, the Lord is my shepherd.
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: I shall not want He makes me lie down in
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: my soul. He leads me in the path of righteousness
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: for his namesake. Even though I walk through the valley
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: for you are with me. Your rod and your staff,
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil.
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: My cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: all the days of my life and I shall dwell
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: in the house of the Lord forever. Who's God? A shepherd.
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: Who are his people? Sheep. So when God brings his
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: people into Egypt to make them a nation, who do
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: they come in as? Shepherds keeping sheep. Beyond Psalm 23,
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: we also see Psalm 28, nine. Oh, save your people
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: and bless your heritage. Be their shepherd and carry them forever. Forever.
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: Also in Isaiah chapter 40, verses nine through 11. Isaiah
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: chapter 40, verses nine through 11. Get you up to
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: a high mountain, O Zion. Herald of good news, lift
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news.
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: Lift it up, fear not. Say to the cities of Judah, behold,
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: your God. Behold, the Lord God comes with might and
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: his arm rules for him. Behold, his reward is with
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: him and his recompense before him. He will tend his
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: his arms. He will carry them in his bosom and
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: gently lead them those that are with young. Again, the
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: picture of God is shepherd. We see also in Jeremiah 17, 16,
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: I have not run away from being your shepherd, nor
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: have I desired the day of sickness. You know what
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: came out of my lips. It was before your face.
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: So again, this picture of God is shepherd. The picture
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: of God's people When they go to become a nation,
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: they go in as shepherds with sheep. But there is
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: another who paints the picture of God as shepherd. But
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: he also ironically paints the picture of God as sheep.
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: It is almost unthinkable, but that is exactly what Christ does.
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: Christ is the God man. He is fully God and
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: fully man. God is our shepherd. Man is what? Sheep.
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: He comes to redeem the sheep, but he comes to
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: do so as what? Sheep. Turn with me to the
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: book of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 53. Isaiah 53. Again, this
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: is not an isolated incident here. This is the overarching
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: picture of redemptive history. The picture of the shepherd and
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: the sheep. Isaiah 53, who has believed what has been
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: heard from us and to whom has the arm of
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: like a young plant and like a root out of
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: dry ground. He had no form or majesty that we
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: should look at him and no beauty that we should
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Did we not just
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: sing that this morning? And as one from whom men
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not.
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows,
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was crushed
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: us peace and with his stripes we are healed. All
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: to his own way and the Lord has laid on
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: him the iniquity of us all. What is that the
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: picture of? That is the picture of the scapegoat on
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: the day of atonement. So we are sheep who've gone astray.
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: Who's Christ? He's the scapegoat on whose head our sins
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: were placed. But wait, it goes on. Verse seven, he
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: was oppressed and was afflicted, yet he opened not his
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: mouth like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: like a sheep that before its shearers is silent. So
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: he opened not his mouth. Who is Christ? Who is Christ?
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: The next day, he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, behold,
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: the world. And he looked at Jesus as he walked
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: by and said, behold, the Lamb of God, the Agnus Dei.
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: Who is Christ? Christ is the Lamb of God. Luke
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: chapter 2, verses 8 and 15. And in the same region,
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: their flocks by night. When the angels went away from
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, let
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: The Lord has made known to us. To whom? Shepherds.
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: You don't get that unless you know redemptive history. The
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: Lamb of God is born in Bethlehem, and God goes
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: and gets shepherds to come and attend at his birth.
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: Go to the book of Revelation, if you will. All
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: the way over to the right. Go to chapter 5.
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: From the beginning of the Bible all the way to
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: the end of the Bible, there is this same thing.
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: Then I saw in the right hand of him who
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: was seated on the throne a scroll written, and on
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: to open the scroll and break its seal? And no
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: one in heaven or earth or under the earth was
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: able to open the scroll or to look into it.
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: And I began to weep loudly because no one was
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it.
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: And one of the elders said to me, weep no more. Behold,
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: David has conquered so that he can open the scroll
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: and its seven seals. And between the throne and the
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: lamb standing as though it had been slain. with seven
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: of God sent out into all the earth. And he
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: went and took the scroll from the right hand of
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: him who was seated on the throne. And when he
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each holding a
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song saying,
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: its seals. For you were slain and by your blood
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: and people and nation. And you have made them a
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: kingdom and preached to our God. And they shall reign
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: on the earth. Then I looked and I heard around
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: the throne and the living creatures saying, and the elders,
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: the voice of many angels numbering myriads of myriads and
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice, worthy is
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: the lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: and under the earth and in the sea and all
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: that is in them saying to him who sits on
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: the throne and to the lamb be blessing and honor
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: and glory and might forever. And the four living creatures said, amen.
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: And the elders fell down and worshiped. Now I watched
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: when the lamb opened one of the seven seals and
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: I heard one of the four living creatures say with
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: a voice like thunder, come. I looked and behold, a
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: white horse and its rider had a bow and a
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: crown was given to him. And he came out conquering
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: and to conquer. who is Christ, but the Lamb of God.
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: But not only the Lamb, but the Good Shepherd. Ezekiel 37, 24.
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: My servant David shall be king over them, and they
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: shall all have one shepherd. They shall walk in my
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: rules and be careful to obey my statutes. The only
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: problem is David's gone. So about whom does Ezekiel speak?
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: Ezekiel speaks about the Lamb of God, who is the
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: good shepherd. Matthew chapter two and verse six is actually
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: a quote from Micah chapter five, verses two through five.
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: It says, and you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah,
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: are by no means least among the rulers of Judah,
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: my people, Israel. From you will come a ruler who
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: will shepherd my people, Israel. Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 20.
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: Now may the God of peace be brought again from
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: the dead, I'm sorry, who brought again from the dead
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep by
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: the blood of the eternal covenant. Again, the Lamb of
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: God and the shepherd of God's people. First Peter 2.25.
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. Who is that?
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: That is Christ, the shepherd and overseer of our souls.
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: 1 Peter 5, 4. And when the chief shepherd appears,
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Who is
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: the chief shepherd? It is Jesus Christ. Revelation 7, 17.
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: For the lamb in the midst of the throne will
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: be their shepherd forever. And he will guide them to
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: springs of living water. And God will wipe away every
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: tear from their eyes. That's our hope. Christ as our
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: shepherd forever. And making provision for the sheep. Peter, do
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: you love me? Well, you know I love you. Feed
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: my sheep. He asked him again, do you love me?
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: Of course, Lord, I love you. Feed my lambs. He
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: asked him a third time, do you love me? Peter
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: didn't like it at all that he had asked him
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: three times, but he recognized that it was necessary to
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: be asked three times because he had denied three times.
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: You know all things. What does Jesus say to Peter
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: for a third time? Feed my sheep. Why? Because the
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: Lamb of God is God in the flesh. And God
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: is the great shepherd of his people. And the great
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: shepherd of his people gives under shepherds to his people
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: to care for his people. And he refers to those
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: under shepherds as under shepherds because it's their job. to
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: tend on behalf of the shepherd, the sheep. Finally, turn
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: with me to John chapter 10. John chapter 10. Truly, truly,
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: I say to you, he who does not enter the
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: sheepfold by the door, but climbs in by another way,
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: that man is a thief and a robber. But he
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice,
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: and he calls his own sheep by name and leads
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: them out. When he has brought out all his own,
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow,
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: but they will flee from him, for they do not
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: know the voice of a stranger. This figure of speech
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: he was saying to them. So Jesus again said to them, truly, truly,
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door.
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: will go in and out and find pasture. The thief
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: comes only to steal and to kill and destroy. I
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: come that they might have life and have it abundantly.
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: his life for the sheep. He who was a hired
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep,
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees.
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: And the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own,
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: and my own know me, just as the Father knows me,
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: and I know the Father. And I lay down my
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: life for the sheep, and I have other sheep that
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: are not of this fold. I must bring them also,
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: and they will listen to my voice. So there will
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: loves me, because I lay down my life that I
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: may take it up again. No one takes it from me,
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: but I lay it down of my own accord. I
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: have authority to lay it down and I have authority
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: to take it up again. This charge I have received
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: from my father. Who is this Christ? He is the
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: Lamb of God who was slain for the sins of
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: his people. But who is he? He is the good
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep. Yeah,
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: but who is he? He is the door in the
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: way that the sheep come in. Yes, but who is he?
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: He is the good shepherd who guides his sheep. He
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: is the one whose voice the sheep know and the
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: only one whose voice the sheep will follow. And so
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: here they go in. In Genesis chapter 46. And there
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: are 70 of them. And who knows how many sheep
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: and lambs and goats. And as they walk into Egypt.
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: And as they come into Goshen. I'm sure the question
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: rang out. Who are those people? Those are Joseph's people.
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: They're shepherds. That's how you know them. But if they
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: knew the real truth, the question would be, who are
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: those people? The answer would come, those are God's people.
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: That is God's nation. They are shepherds of the sheep,
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: which is but a picture and a foreshadowing. A picture
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: and a foreshadowing of what? Well, first, it's a picture
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: and a foreshadowing of how God is going to deal
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: with his people in order to make them his people.
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: Because eventually they're going to go out of this place.
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: And when they go out of this place, they're going
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: to go out of this place like sheep behind a shepherd.
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: That shepherd will be raised here in Egypt, but he
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: will not live as an Egyptian, nor will he deliver
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: them by using Egyptian means. But he will be a shepherd.
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: Believe that. And he will shepherd them in the wilderness.
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: And eventually, these people who are being shepherded in the
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: wilderness will become a great nation. But in order to
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: remind this great nation of who they are, God will
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: give them once again a shepherd to be their leader.
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: And eventually, these sheep will be cast all over the place.
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: But God will send a final shepherd, the good shepherd,
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: who is unlike any other shepherd, Because this shepherd will
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: be God himself and yet he will be the lamb
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: of God. This lamb of God will lay down his
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: life as a lamb for the lambs. And it's not
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: until this lamb of God comes that you will understand
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: all of the sacrifices of lambs and goats that have
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: gone before. It will not be until this lamb comes
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: that it will make sense that we placed our hands
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: on the head of the scapegoat and sent him out
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: representing the sins of the people being taken away and
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: slayed another lamb and killed him on the altar representing
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: the penalty being paid for the sins of the people
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: because in this one lamb death will finally atone for
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: sin And in this one lamb, sin will finally be
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: taken away. Why? So that we can be the sheep
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: of his pasture. So that he can be our good
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: shepherd forever. So what's happening in Genesis chapter 46? I'm
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: glad you asked. In Genesis chapter 46, God is saying
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: to you And to me, I've always been a shepherd.
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: And those who belong to me have always been shepherded,
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: both by me and by those who represent me. Don't
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: be surprised by this picture, but in fact, get used
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: to it. Because the greatest thing in the world that
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: you could be identified as He's a weak, dumb, helpless, needy,
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: good for nothing sheep. And if you're his, that's the
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: way you understand yourself. By the way, what is the
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: value of a sheep? You know how you determine how
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: valuable sheep are? It's very simple. You ask who's their shepherd. Why?
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: Great shepherds only shepherd the most valuable sheep. Why are
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: they so valuable? Because they belong to the great shepherd.
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: Who are you? Good for nothing sheep. But your value
• 53:35
  Speaker 1: is great. Why? Because God has seen fit to have
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: you shepherded by the good shepherd. Why are you valuable?
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: Because the ultimate price was paid. The good shepherd laid
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: down his life as a sheep for his sheep. What
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: are you worth? You are worth the matchless, priceless blood
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: of the Lamb of Almighty God. That's what you're worth.
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: That's what you're worth. And every time your head gets
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: too big, you just need to be reminded, but you're
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: still a sheep. When you come to Genesis chapter 46,
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: and we'll look at the first half of Genesis chapter 46,
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: and it's It's always interesting when you are assigned a
• 54:33
  Speaker 1: preaching segment that has, for the most part, a list
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: of names as its content. And we have that today,
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: where we have a list of names as a good
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: portion of the content in Genesis chapter 46. And yet
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: that list of names is extremely important as we understand
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: the movement here in chapter 46. I want you to
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: go back to Genesis chapter 37. And if you'll remember,
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: when we started in the life of Joseph, we started
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: in Genesis chapter 37. And we talked about those 11
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: times in the book of Genesis that you see this
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: Hebrew phrase or this Hebrew concept of the Toledot, or
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: this Hebrew concept of the story of the generations of.
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: Genesis starts these Toledotes early on in Genesis chapter 2. Ironically,
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: that's the first time when it's not the Toledote or
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: story of the generation of a family, but in Genesis
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: chapter 2, it is the Toledote or the story of
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: the generations of the heavens and the earth. Well, this
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: is the last one of those phrases that we have
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: in the book of Genesis here in Genesis chapter 37.
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: So the last Toledote or the last story of the
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: last generation to be accounted here in the book of
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: Genesis is not the Toledot of Joseph, but that of Jacob.
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: And it's important to remember that. So go back to
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: Genesis chapter 37, beginning of verse one. Jacob lived in
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: the land of his father's sojournings in the land of Canaan.
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: These are the generations of Jacob. Now, we've looked at
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: the life of Joseph, but we are studying the generations
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: of Jacob. The life of Joseph, though it looms large
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: in the minds of those of us who love the
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: Bible and those of us who love the book of Genesis,
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: the life of Joseph is only a parenthetical statement in
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: the life of Jacob. Joseph is not the patriarch. Jacob
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: is the patriarch. This is not about Joseph. Joseph finally
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: understands that. And we saw that in the last chapter
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: when Joseph says to his brothers, listen, don't be angry
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: with yourselves for what you did to me. God sent
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: me here. And more importantly, God sent me here in
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: order that he might use me to rescue you from
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: this famine. Why? Because this is not the Toledot of Joseph,
• 57:16
  Speaker 1: it's the Toledot of Jacob. This is about Jacob being
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: rescued and God using Joseph to rescue Jacob. Don't miss that.
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: So now we come back and all of a sudden
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: that title is reintroduced. That title, Israel. Remember, this is
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: the name that he gets after he wrestles with the angel.
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: So we are now talking about the nation that is
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: going to come forth from Jacob. Therefore, they refer to
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: him with this name again. We saw it already in
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: chapter 45, as he was once again referred to as Israel,
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: but now again, we'll see it in chapter 46. So ultimately,
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: here in this first half of chapter 46, we're going
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: to look at this picture of Jacob's multi-generational vision and blessing.
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: Jacob's multi-generational vision and blessing. Look beginning at chapter one.
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: So Israel took his journey with all that he had
• 58:15
  Speaker 1: and came to Beersheba. Now we've seen that place before, Beersheba.
• 58:19
  Speaker 1: His father Isaac built an altar there and offered sacrifices
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: to the God of his father Isaac. And God spoke
• 58:27
  Speaker 1: to Israel in visions of the night and said, Jacob, Jacob.
• 58:32
  Speaker 1: And he said, here am I. Then he said, I
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: am God, the God of your father. Do not be
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: afraid to go down to Egypt for there I will
• 58:41
  Speaker 1: make you into a great nation. I myself will go
• 58:44
  Speaker 1: down with you to Egypt and I will also bring
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: you up again and Joseph's hand shall close your eyes.
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: That statement only sounds confusing if you don't understand this
• 59:00
  Speaker 1: multi-generational and covenantal concept. If you don't understand this multi-generational
• 59:07
  Speaker 1: and covenantal concept then God just contradicted himself Don't be
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: afraid to go down to Egypt. I'm going to bring
• 59:14
  Speaker 1: you back up out of Egypt. By the way, you're
• 59:16
  Speaker 1: going to die there, and Joseph's going to be the
• 59:19
  Speaker 1: one to close your eyes when you die in Egypt. Whoa,
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: time out, God. I thought you said I was going
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: to go to Egypt, and then you're going to bring
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: me out. I'll explain in a moment. Verse 5. Then
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: Jacob set out from Beersheba. The sons of Israel carried
• 59:41
  Speaker 1: Jacob their father, their little ones, and their wives in
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: the wagon that Pharaoh had sent to carry him. They
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: also took their livestock and their goods, which they had
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: gained in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt.
• 59:59
  Speaker 1: Jacob and his offspring with him. His sons and his
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 1: sons' sons with him. His daughters and his sons' daughters.
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: All his offspring he brought with him into Egypt. Now
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: these are the names of the descendants of Israel who
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: came into Egypt. Jacob and his sons. Reuben, Jacob's firstborn.
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 1: And the sons of Reuben. So we got a lot
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: of pregnant women out there right now. You're trying to
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 1: think about names. You're gonna get a whole bunch of
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 1: ideas right here. Hanak, Palu, Hezron, and Carmi, the sons
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 1: of Simeon, Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaal, the
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: sons of a Canaanite woman, the sons of Levi, Gershon, Kohath,
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: and Merari, the sons of Judah, Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez,
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: and Zerah. But Er and Onan died in the land
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 1: of Canaan. And the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamu.
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 1: The sons of Issachar, Tola, Puva, Job, and Shimron. The
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: sons of Zebulun, Sered, Elan, and Jahlil. These are the
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram.
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 1: together with his daughter Dinah. Altogether, his sons and his
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 1: daughter numbered 33. The sons of Gad, Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Esbon, Eri, Arodi, Areli.
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 1: The sons of Asher, Imnah, Ishva, Ishvi, Berea, with Sere,
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: their sister. and the sons of Berea, Heber, and Malkiel.
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 1: These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah,
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 1: his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob, 16 persons.
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 1: The sons of Rachel, Jacob's wife, Joseph and Benjamin. And
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: to Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 1: and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potipharah, the priest
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 1: of On, bore to him. And the sons of Benjamin, Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Mupim, Hupim,
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 1: and Ard. These are the sons of Rachel who were
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: born to Jacob, 14 persons in all. the sons of Dan, Hushim,
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 1: the son of Naphtali, Jazil, Guni, Jerez, and Shilim. These
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 1: are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel,
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 1: his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob, seven persons
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 1: in all. All the persons belonging to Jacob came into Egypt,
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 1: who were his own descendants, not including Jacob's sons' wives,
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 1: were 66 persons in all. and the sons of Joseph
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: who were born to him in Egypt were two. All
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 1: the persons of the house of Jacob who came into
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 1: Egypt were 70. There's your nation of Israel, 70 people.
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 1: That's it. God made a promise to Abraham And his
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 1: promise to Abraham was a number so great that it
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 1: could only be compared to the stars in the heavens
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: and the grains of sand in the sea. And we
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 1: just read what they have up to now in five minutes.
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 1: That's it. 70 people. And God's going to turn 70
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 1: people Into a nation. And he's going to take 70
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 1: people out of Canaan. Most of the Canaanites probably didn't
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 1: even know these 70 people were there. Had no idea
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 1: who this clan was or anything about this clan. They're
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: going to come back and take over the place. 70 people.
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 1: What on earth can 70 people do? That's a good question.
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: If you know the rest of the story in the Bible,
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 1: you know that these 70 people are going to change
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 1: the entire world, but not in and of themselves. It
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 1: is going to happen over generations. And so here's the
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 1: multi-generational vision and blessing of Jacob that we see here
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: in Genesis chapter 46. Couple of things. Number one, we
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 1: see that Jacob worships the God of his father. Jacob
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 1: worships the God of his father. The first piece of
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 1: the multi-generational blessing of Jacob goes backwards. It's ironic because
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 1: usually when we talk about multi-generational vision, multi-generational blessing, we're
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 1: always talking about forward. We always start with me and
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 1: then we go forward. my children, my children's children, that's
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 1: going to be my multi-generational vision, my multi-generational blessing. No,
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 1: the beauty of Jacob's multi-generational vision and multi-generational blessing is
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 1: that it goes backwards before it goes forward. Look at
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 1: verse 1 and 2. So Israel took his journey with
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 1: all that he had and came to Beersheba, he goes
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 1: back to the place of his father and offered sacrifices
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: to the God of his father, Isaac. So he goes
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 1: back to the place established by his father to remember God.
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 1: He offers sacrifices there in order to remember God. And
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 1: God spoke to Israel in vision of the night and said, Jacob, Jacob.
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 1: And he said, here am I. Then he said, I
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 1: am God, the God of your father. He goes back.
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 1: This is something that we don't appreciate, especially those of
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 1: us who are of the reformed ilk. We don't appreciate
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 1: it because we look, for example, at Catholicism and we say, well,
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 1: Catholicism has a huge problem because they put the history
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 1: of the church and the tradition of the church on
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 1: par with the scriptures. That is wrong. Sola scriptura, sola scriptura,
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 1: to which I say amen, hallelujah, praise the Lord, be careful.
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 1: That's my response. Amen, hallelujah, praise the Lord, be careful.
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 1: Here's why. We worship the God of our fathers. If
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 1: your idea of biblical Christianity is starting at ground zero
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 1: and not depending on anyone who came before you, you
• 1:07:15
  Speaker 1: are arrogant, ignorant, and in great danger. If you do
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: not appreciate the history of the church, you are arrogant, ignorant,
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 1: and in great danger. If you don't read things that
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 1: are older than your own generation, you are arrogant, ignorant,
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 1: and in great danger. The first part of our multi-generational
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 1: vision is to go back, why? Because God wasn't invented
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: in my generation. Amen. God's truth wasn't invented by my generation.
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 1: There are those who have gone before who have known God,
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 1: who have walked with God, who have also failed to
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 1: walk with God, and there's something to be learned from
• 1:08:01
  Speaker 1: them all. Why is this so important? Well, a couple
• 1:08:06
  Speaker 1: of things. Look at, for example, the first commandment and
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 1: the fifth commandment. In the first commandment, God makes it
• 1:08:12
  Speaker 1: very clear. I am God. You should worship me only.
• 1:08:19
  Speaker 1: I'm God, you worship me only. Amen. He's God, we
• 1:08:22
  Speaker 1: worship him only. Then there's the fifth commandment. By the way,
• 1:08:26
  Speaker 1: first commandment, the first of our vertical commandments. The fifth commandment,
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 1: the first of our horizontal commandments is what? Honor your
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 1: father and your mother. Why? Because they're the ones charged
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: with teaching you who God is and how God is
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 1: to be worshiped. Do you follow? Do you follow? So
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 1: the first part of our multi-generational vision is we go back.
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 1: We go back to our forefathers. By the way, going
• 1:08:50
  Speaker 1: back to our forefathers, this is not about blood. This
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 1: is about truth. So who are my genuine forefathers in
• 1:08:59
  Speaker 1: the family? My genuine forefathers in the faith are those
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 1: who followed God. Which God? The Bible makes it clear
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 1: throughout the Pentateuch, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 1: Who's that? That is the one true and living God.
• 1:09:16
  Speaker 1: Why do we follow the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Well,
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 1: because the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was also
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 1: the God of Noah. Well, why do we want to
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 1: follow the God of Noah? Because the God of Noah
• 1:09:26
  Speaker 1: was also the God of Adam. Well, why do we
• 1:09:31
  Speaker 1: want to follow the God of Adam? Because the God
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 1: of Adam is the God who created all things. He
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 1: is the Lord of the universe. And if you're worshiping
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 1: somebody who was not the God that Adam worshiped, who
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 1: was not the God that Noah worshiped, who was not
• 1:09:43
  Speaker 1: the God that Abraham or Isaac or Jacob worshiped, then
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 1: you are not worshiping the God of the Bible. So
• 1:09:49
  Speaker 1: the first place you look in your multigenerational vision is backward.
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 1: To make sure that the God whom we worship is
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 1: the God of scripture, the God who has revealed himself,
• 1:10:06
  Speaker 1: and the God who has called upon those to whom
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 1: he has revealed himself to tell the story to coming generations,
• 1:10:15
  Speaker 1: which is the incredible blessing that you and I have
• 1:10:18
  Speaker 1: when we open up the scriptures, that those who have
• 1:10:22
  Speaker 1: gone before us, who have encountered God, who have been
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 1: encountered by God, have provided for us a record of
• 1:10:33
  Speaker 1: that encounter. Go with me, if you would, and look
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 1: to the right. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 6. Look at
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 1: Deuteronomy chapter 6. Verse 1. Now this is the commandment,
• 1:11:00
  Speaker 1: the statutes and the rules that the Lord your God
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 1: commanded me to teach you, that you may do them
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 1: in the land to which you are going over to
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 1: possess it, that you may fear the Lord your God, you,
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 1: your son, and your son's son, by keeping his statutes
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 1: and his commandments, which I command you all the days
• 1:11:19
  Speaker 1: of your life. and that your days may be long.
• 1:11:22
  Speaker 1: Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them,
• 1:11:25
  Speaker 1: that it may go well with you and that you
• 1:11:27
  Speaker 1: may multiply greatly as the Lord, the God of your fathers,
• 1:11:31
  Speaker 1: has promised you in the land flowing with milk and honey.
• 1:11:34
  Speaker 1: There's the multi-generational vision. What does he keep doing? He
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 1: keeps going backward to the God of your fathers and
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 1: forward to the God of your sons and your sons' sons.
• 1:11:45
  Speaker 1: It's backward and it's forward. In other words, Moses says,
• 1:11:50
  Speaker 1: I'm giving you these commandments. By the way, these commandments
• 1:11:52
  Speaker 1: didn't originate with me. They go back to the God
• 1:11:56
  Speaker 1: of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, to the
• 1:11:59
  Speaker 1: God who created the world. This does not happen in
• 1:12:02
  Speaker 1: a vacuum. It does not exist in a vacuum. Our
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 1: desire is to worship God in spirit and in truth,
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 1: not based upon my own limited experience and my own
• 1:12:13
  Speaker 1: limited scope and frame of knowledge. I cherish the record
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 1: of those who've gone before. Turn with me, if you will,
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 1: to Psalm 78. Psalm 78. And look at those first
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 1: few verses there. This is a mascal of Asaph. Give ear,
• 1:12:53
  Speaker 1: O my people, to my teaching. Incline your ears to
• 1:12:56
  Speaker 1: the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 1: in a parable. I will utter dark sayings from of old,
• 1:13:02
  Speaker 1: things that we have heard and known that our fathers
• 1:13:06
  Speaker 1: have told us. He's reaching back. We will not hide
• 1:13:10
  Speaker 1: them from their children, but tell the coming generation the
• 1:13:14
  Speaker 1: glorious deeds of the Lord and his might and the
• 1:13:17
  Speaker 1: wonders that he has done. He established a testimony in
• 1:13:20
  Speaker 1: Jacob and appointed a law in Israel. which he commanded
• 1:13:24
  Speaker 1: our fathers to teach to their children, that the next
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 1: generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 1: and tell them to their children, so that they should
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 1: set their hope in God, and not forget the works
• 1:13:37
  Speaker 1: of God, but keep his commandments, and that they should
• 1:13:40
  Speaker 1: not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation,
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 1: a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was
• 1:13:47
  Speaker 1: not faithful to God. So we reach back, but not
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 1: for everything. Amen? We reach back, but not for everything.
• 1:13:57
  Speaker 1: We reach back for that which is true, which is biblical,
• 1:14:00
  Speaker 1: which is right. But we also learn from those who
• 1:14:03
  Speaker 1: have gone before us and the things that they did
• 1:14:05
  Speaker 1: not do well. Not just the Psalms, but look at Proverbs.
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 1: And we'd have to read all of Proverbs to get
• 1:14:12
  Speaker 1: the richness of this concept here. But look at, for example,
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 1: Proverbs chapter 4 and verse 1. Hear, O son, a
• 1:14:41
  Speaker 1: father's instruction, and be attentive that you may gain insight,
• 1:14:46
  Speaker 1: for I give you good precepts. Do not forsake my teaching.
• 1:14:50
  Speaker 1: When I was a son with my father, tender, the
• 1:14:55
  Speaker 1: only one in the sight of my mother, he taught
• 1:14:58
  Speaker 1: me and said to me, let your heart hold fast
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 1: my words, keep my commandments and live. In other words, son,
• 1:15:08
  Speaker 1: I want you to pay attention to what I teach you. Why?
• 1:15:12
  Speaker 1: Because I'm teaching you God's precepts, which by the way,
• 1:15:17
  Speaker 1: I learned from my father who taught them to me,
• 1:15:20
  Speaker 1: reaching backward and reaching forward. And again, Ephesians chapter six,
• 1:15:26
  Speaker 1: verses one through four. Children, obey your parents and the Lord,
• 1:15:28
  Speaker 1: for this is right. Honor your father and your mother,
• 1:15:31
  Speaker 1: which is the first commandment with a promise that it
• 1:15:34
  Speaker 1: may be well with you and you may live long
• 1:15:36
  Speaker 1: in the land. By the way, what's that? That's Deuteronomy
• 1:15:38
  Speaker 1: chapter five and Deuteronomy chapter six. Verse four. Fathers, do
• 1:15:44
  Speaker 1: not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up
• 1:15:46
  Speaker 1: in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. What's that?
• 1:15:49
  Speaker 1: Deuteronomy six, seven. So the beauty here in what we
• 1:15:57
  Speaker 1: see in Jacob is first and foremost in its continuity.
• 1:16:03
  Speaker 1: Jacob knows God for himself. Jacob has encountered God on
• 1:16:08
  Speaker 1: his own. And yet, the God whom Jacob has encountered
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 1: was the God of Isaac and the God of Abraham.
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 1: Abraham could not know God for Isaac. Isaac could not
• 1:16:22
  Speaker 1: know God for Jacob. They had to know God for themselves,
• 1:16:26
  Speaker 1: yet it was incumbent upon them to teach their sons
• 1:16:31
  Speaker 1: about this God with whom they were in covenant relationship.
• 1:16:36
  Speaker 1: And so it first reaches back. That's the beauty of
• 1:16:41
  Speaker 1: his multi-generational vision, is that the first thing that we
• 1:16:44
  Speaker 1: see here is that Jacob is walking with the God
• 1:16:49
  Speaker 1: of his fathers, because we've already learned that the God
• 1:16:52
  Speaker 1: of his fathers is God indeed, amen? Secondly, Jacob remembers
• 1:17:00
  Speaker 1: the covenant. Jacob remembers the covenant. Where does the sacrifice
• 1:17:06
  Speaker 1: idea come in? The sacrifice idea that we see here
• 1:17:10
  Speaker 1: in Jacob's life is the same idea that we saw
• 1:17:14
  Speaker 1: in the life of his father and of his grandfather.
• 1:17:18
  Speaker 1: And so, we go back again to this first part
• 1:17:21
  Speaker 1: of the passage. Verse 46, chapter 46, verse 1. So
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 1: Israel took his journey with all that he had and
• 1:17:30
  Speaker 1: came to Beersheba. He stopped in Beersheba, heading south on
• 1:17:33
  Speaker 1: the way into Egypt, offered sacrifices to the God of
• 1:17:36
  Speaker 1: his father Isaac. God spoke to Israel in a vision
• 1:17:40
  Speaker 1: of the night, confirming again the covenant, and said, Jacob, Jacob,
• 1:17:45
  Speaker 1: And he said, here I am. And he said, I
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 1: am God, the God of your father. Do not be
• 1:17:49
  Speaker 1: afraid to go down to Egypt for there I will
• 1:17:52
  Speaker 1: make you into a great nation. Turn with me back
• 1:17:57
  Speaker 1: to the left and look at Genesis chapter 12. Genesis
• 1:18:19
  Speaker 1: chapter 12, and listen to this. Now the Lord said
• 1:18:24
  Speaker 1: to Abram, by the way, here's another one who's going
• 1:18:29
  Speaker 1: to have a name change. Isn't that beautiful? Even going
• 1:18:34
  Speaker 1: back here to Genesis chapter 12, you realize that this
• 1:18:36
  Speaker 1: is before the name change. God changes his name. Now
• 1:18:40
  Speaker 1: the Lord said to Abram, go from your country and
• 1:18:43
  Speaker 1: your kindred and your father's house to the land that
• 1:18:46
  Speaker 1: I will show you. By the way, is that not
• 1:18:48
  Speaker 1: exactly what's happening now with Jacob? God is saying, leave here.
• 1:18:57
  Speaker 1: Leave here. And I will make of you a great nation.
• 1:19:04
  Speaker 1: Is that not exactly, precisely what God just said to Jacob?
• 1:19:08
  Speaker 1: And I will bless you and make your name great
• 1:19:11
  Speaker 1: so that you will be a blessing. I will bless
• 1:19:13
  Speaker 1: those who bless you and him who dishonors you I
• 1:19:15
  Speaker 1: will curse. And in you all the families of the
• 1:19:18
  Speaker 1: earth shall be blessed. And again, we see it in
• 1:19:22
  Speaker 1: chapter 15 and so on and so forth. So what's
• 1:19:25
  Speaker 1: happening here is that God is reminding Jacob of the covenant.
• 1:19:32
  Speaker 1: that he made with Abraham, that he renewed with Isaac,
• 1:19:36
  Speaker 1: that he is now again renewing with him. He remembers
• 1:19:44
  Speaker 1: the covenant. He remembers the promise of God. Listen to
• 1:19:48
  Speaker 1: John Calvin commenting on this. Because the holy man is
• 1:19:54
  Speaker 1: compelled to leave the land of Canaan and to go elsewhere,
• 1:19:57
  Speaker 1: he offers on his departure a sacrifice to the Lord
• 1:20:01
  Speaker 1: for the purpose of testifying that the covenant which God
• 1:20:04
  Speaker 1: had made with his fathers was confirmed and ratified to himself.
• 1:20:09
  Speaker 1: For though he was accustomed to exercise himself in the
• 1:20:14
  Speaker 1: external worship of God, there was yet a special reason
• 1:20:17
  Speaker 1: for this sacrifice. And doubtless, he had then peculiar need
• 1:20:22
  Speaker 1: of support, lest his faith should fail. For he was
• 1:20:26
  Speaker 1: about to be deprived of the inheritance promised to him
• 1:20:30
  Speaker 1: and of the site of that land, which was the
• 1:20:34
  Speaker 1: type and the pledge of the heavenly country. Jacob's reminding
• 1:20:42
  Speaker 1: himself of the covenant. Please don't miss this. Jacob at
• 1:20:48
  Speaker 1: this point is older than anybody you know. Don't miss this.
• 1:20:53
  Speaker 1: Let me say that again. Jacob at this point is
• 1:20:55
  Speaker 1: older than anybody you know. Old people don't move. Amen. Generally,
• 1:21:05
  Speaker 1: old people don't move. If they do, it's kicking and screaming. Amen.
• 1:21:08
  Speaker 1: But generally, when you come to a place in your
• 1:21:10
  Speaker 1: life where you're 80, 90, 100 years old and you
• 1:21:13
  Speaker 1: live somewhere, what do you make up in your mind?
• 1:21:18
  Speaker 1: This is my home. I'm going to die here. Jacob
• 1:21:23
  Speaker 1: not only has found a place that has become a
• 1:21:26
  Speaker 1: home to him because it's where he grew up. This
• 1:21:30
  Speaker 1: is the place that God promised him. to his grandfather Abraham.
• 1:21:35
  Speaker 1: Abraham didn't even see it. He only got a small
• 1:21:37
  Speaker 1: portion when he bought a piece of land to bury
• 1:21:40
  Speaker 1: his wife. Now, here is Jacob and he's got 70
• 1:21:46
  Speaker 1: people and he's living in the promised land and God says,
• 1:21:50
  Speaker 1: old as you are, move. Really? Really? Do you know
• 1:22:01
  Speaker 1: how comfortable my chair is now? Are you serious? This
• 1:22:10
  Speaker 1: is the place where I have decided to die. I
• 1:22:20
  Speaker 1: remember my grandfather, who I buried earlier this year, when
• 1:22:27
  Speaker 1: he was close to the end, He couldn't say much.
• 1:22:34
  Speaker 1: And oftentimes he'd go into the hospital, but ultimately, ultimately,
• 1:22:41
  Speaker 1: what my grandfather would communicate toward the end was, I
• 1:22:44
  Speaker 1: want to go home and die. That's normal. That's natural.
• 1:22:57
  Speaker 1: I want to go home and die. I want to
• 1:23:02
  Speaker 1: lay down my head in the place that I know,
• 1:23:05
  Speaker 1: where my memories are, where my family is. And I
• 1:23:10
  Speaker 1: want to end my life where I have invested my life.
• 1:23:13
  Speaker 1: Just let me go home and die. That's normal. That's natural.
• 1:23:22
  Speaker 1: And at that point in his life, God says, move. Move.
• 1:23:32
  Speaker 1: And what does he do? He stops on his way
• 1:23:36
  Speaker 1: out of the land that was his home, out of
• 1:23:39
  Speaker 1: the land that had been promised, out of the land
• 1:23:43
  Speaker 1: that he lived his whole life to get to. And
• 1:23:48
  Speaker 1: on the way out, he stops and sacrifices to God
• 1:23:52
  Speaker 1: at a place where his father had built an altar
• 1:23:55
  Speaker 1: on his way into the land. And he says goodbye
• 1:24:01
  Speaker 1: to the promise Because God meant more. So many of us,
• 1:24:12
  Speaker 1: when we think about a multi-generational vision, all we can
• 1:24:16
  Speaker 1: think about is houses and land and wealth that we
• 1:24:20
  Speaker 1: can transfer from one generation to the next. And there's
• 1:24:24
  Speaker 1: nothing inherently wrong with that. But if you have a
• 1:24:27
  Speaker 1: place that you've acquired and your greatest hope is that
• 1:24:33
  Speaker 1: you look at yourself and say, one day a hundred
• 1:24:36
  Speaker 1: years from now, there'll be generations named after me and
• 1:24:39
  Speaker 1: they're going to live in this same place. You've missed
• 1:24:42
  Speaker 1: the idea of multi-generational vision. Jacob's hope is not in
• 1:24:54
  Speaker 1: the place, but in the God who promised. That's Jacob's hope.
• 1:25:03
  Speaker 1: And so we see first this multigenerational vision in that
• 1:25:06
  Speaker 1: he worships the God of his father. Secondly, he remembers
• 1:25:08
  Speaker 1: the covenant. But thirdly, he's leaving the land. He's leaving
• 1:25:15
  Speaker 1: the land. Because ultimately, Jacob's multigenerational vision and his multigenerational
• 1:25:22
  Speaker 1: blessing is faithfulness to the God of the covenant. Don't
• 1:25:30
  Speaker 1: miss that. Faithfulness to the God of the covenant. If
• 1:25:34
  Speaker 1: Jacob refuses to go, then he has faithfulness to a
• 1:25:38
  Speaker 1: plot of land. But Jacob doesn't have faithfulness to a
• 1:25:42
  Speaker 1: plot of land. Jacob has faithfulness to the God of
• 1:25:46
  Speaker 1: the covenant. He recognizes that the plot of land is
• 1:25:50
  Speaker 1: a very small piece in all of this. This is
• 1:25:52
  Speaker 1: not about a plot of land. This is about a
• 1:25:55
  Speaker 1: God who owns the plot of land. This is about
• 1:25:58
  Speaker 1: the God who owns the heavens and the earth. This
• 1:26:01
  Speaker 1: is about trusting that God. So he leaves. He's older
• 1:26:14
  Speaker 1: than anyone you know. and he packs up everything he
• 1:26:20
  Speaker 1: owns and he leaves to go to a land that
• 1:26:25
  Speaker 1: he doesn't know. He also knows that he'll never be back.
• 1:26:36
  Speaker 1: The last part of that paragraph is Joseph's hand shall
• 1:26:40
  Speaker 1: close your eyes. He's not going on a trip He's
• 1:26:50
  Speaker 1: not going on a vacation to Egypt. Jacob's part of
• 1:26:56
  Speaker 1: the journey will end in Egypt. So here's what God
• 1:27:00
  Speaker 1: is saying to Jacob. Jacob, I made a promise to Abraham.
• 1:27:05
  Speaker 1: And that promise to Abraham included this land in which
• 1:27:09
  Speaker 1: you now live and all of this land in which
• 1:27:12
  Speaker 1: you now live. That promise was confirmed again to Isaac.
• 1:27:17
  Speaker 1: Now here you are living in that land that was
• 1:27:19
  Speaker 1: promised to you and it's good. I've been good to you.
• 1:27:22
  Speaker 1: You've trusted me and I've delivered exactly what I said
• 1:27:25
  Speaker 1: I was going to deliver you. Now here's what I
• 1:27:28
  Speaker 1: want you to do. I want you to pack up
• 1:27:30
  Speaker 1: everything that you own and everyone who you hold dear
• 1:27:33
  Speaker 1: and take them out of the land that I promised
• 1:27:35
  Speaker 1: to you. And you are going to die on foreign soils.
• 1:27:46
  Speaker 1: And Jacob says, let me worship first. That's just good.
• 1:27:58
  Speaker 1: I'm not there. Are you there? I'm not. But by
• 1:28:06
  Speaker 1: God's grace, if he calls you to be, or if
• 1:28:08
  Speaker 1: he calls me to be, he'll grant us the grace
• 1:28:12
  Speaker 1: that we need in order to be there. Fourth thing
• 1:28:22
  Speaker 1: that we need to know is this. Jacob's playing a
• 1:28:25
  Speaker 1: part in the drama that he doesn't even know is
• 1:28:28
  Speaker 1: being written. Jacob's playing a part in a drama that
• 1:28:32
  Speaker 1: he doesn't even know is being written. Which is good,
• 1:28:36
  Speaker 1: by the way, because if he knew, it would be
• 1:28:39
  Speaker 1: even harder for him to go. That's why God doesn't
• 1:28:43
  Speaker 1: give us the big picture all at once. We couldn't
• 1:28:47
  Speaker 1: handle it. There's no way in the world that we
• 1:28:49
  Speaker 1: could handle the big picture. Here's what I'm going to do. Jacob,
• 1:28:52
  Speaker 1: here's what I'm going to do. I'm gonna take you
• 1:28:53
  Speaker 1: down to Egypt and things are gonna be great. You're
• 1:28:55
  Speaker 1: gonna be saved from the famine And you're going to multiply,
• 1:28:59
  Speaker 1: and this nation is going to grow. Oh, God, that's
• 1:29:01
  Speaker 1: so wonderful. You're too good to me. Yeah. And then
• 1:29:05
  Speaker 1: they're going to become slaves in Egypt for 400 years. Oh. No. See, no. No. No, no,
• 1:29:19
  Speaker 1: we're gonna go down there and then we're gonna eat.
• 1:29:21
  Speaker 1: And then the famine, see, that's gonna be over, right?
• 1:29:24
  Speaker 1: So five more years. And then after the famine is over,
• 1:29:27
  Speaker 1: then all of my people, they come back to this
• 1:29:30
  Speaker 1: land that you promised us and they stay here after
• 1:29:34
  Speaker 1: they've been rescued from the famine, God, right? No, they
• 1:29:42
  Speaker 1: will be slaves in Egypt for 400 years. Why would
• 1:29:56
  Speaker 1: God do that in order to keep his promise? Let
• 1:30:07
  Speaker 1: me ask you a question. Seventy people live in Canaan.
• 1:30:13
  Speaker 1: They continue to grow and multiply in Canaan. By the way,
• 1:30:17
  Speaker 1: we know what happens when they come back in Canaan
• 1:30:19
  Speaker 1: as a nation. We know the intermarriage and everything else
• 1:30:22
  Speaker 1: that happens. These 70 people are there in Canaan. they
• 1:30:26
  Speaker 1: begin to grow and multiply, they begin to intermarry in Canaan,
• 1:30:29
  Speaker 1: what are the chances that they end up becoming a
• 1:30:32
  Speaker 1: separate and distinct nation of people? Chances are slim. But
• 1:30:38
  Speaker 1: if you take them into an already existing nation, that
• 1:30:42
  Speaker 1: is the most powerful nation on earth at the time,
• 1:30:45
  Speaker 1: and you make them slaves to that nation, now what
• 1:30:49
  Speaker 1: are the chances that they don't intermarry with that nation,
• 1:30:53
  Speaker 1: and instead become a separate and distinct nation in and
• 1:30:56
  Speaker 1: of themselves, numbering in the millions and yet being completely distinct.
• 1:31:07
  Speaker 1: They go to Egypt to become a nation. They go
• 1:31:13
  Speaker 1: to Egypt to remain separate and distinct. By the way,
• 1:31:18
  Speaker 1: this is what God has always done with his people.
• 1:31:22
  Speaker 1: And in case you haven't recognized it, this is what
• 1:31:25
  Speaker 1: God does with you and me. In the world, but
• 1:31:28
  Speaker 1: not of the world. Come out from among them and
• 1:31:30
  Speaker 1: be separate. We are not of them. Do we love them? Yes,
• 1:31:34
  Speaker 1: we love them. Do we proclaim God's truth with them? Yes,
• 1:31:37
  Speaker 1: we proclaim God's truth to them. But by the way,
• 1:31:40
  Speaker 1: here's the difference. Ours is not an ethnic nation, but
• 1:31:44
  Speaker 1: a spiritual kingdom. So the blessing is that there are
• 1:31:47
  Speaker 1: those on the outside who can be added to the
• 1:31:50
  Speaker 1: kingdom to which we belong. But the fact of the
• 1:31:52
  Speaker 1: matter is, we are sojourners in this land. It is
• 1:31:56
  Speaker 1: not our home. And the land of promise is what
• 1:31:58
  Speaker 1: we anticipate, not what we already have. So he's playing
• 1:32:09
  Speaker 1: a part in a broader drama. By the way, As
• 1:32:15
  Speaker 1: I was looking at this, there were a couple of
• 1:32:17
  Speaker 1: things that just stood out to me. First, it was
• 1:32:19
  Speaker 1: just one or two. Then I started to look more
• 1:32:22
  Speaker 1: carefully and more closely. Before we get to the last point,
• 1:32:27
  Speaker 1: just stay here for a minute in this drama that's
• 1:32:29
  Speaker 1: going on that Jacob has no idea of, that Jacob
• 1:32:33
  Speaker 1: cannot understand at all. Now, in this drama, there are
• 1:32:37
  Speaker 1: several things going on. Number one, they're about to enter Egypt.
• 1:32:44
  Speaker 1: And I want you to see how entering Egypt mirrors
• 1:32:48
  Speaker 1: the Exodus from Egypt in a number of ways. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
• 1:32:57
  Speaker 1: Number one, they had to have permission to get into
• 1:33:00
  Speaker 1: Egypt from Pharaoh. Pharaoh grants the permission to Joseph. They
• 1:33:06
  Speaker 1: had to have permission to get out of Egypt from Pharaoh.
• 1:33:10
  Speaker 1: Pharaoh grants the permission to their representative Moses. How about
• 1:33:14
  Speaker 1: that representative? Well, Joseph was the head of Pharaoh's house.
• 1:33:19
  Speaker 1: In the Exodus, Moses was raised in Pharaoh's house. How
• 1:33:23
  Speaker 1: about intercession? Entering into Egypt, God gave Joseph favor and
• 1:33:28
  Speaker 1: softened Pharaoh's heart. How about in the Exodus? God used
• 1:33:31
  Speaker 1: Moses and the plagues to harden Pharaoh's heart so that
• 1:33:35
  Speaker 1: he would eventually let them go. Oh, what about their wealth? Well,
• 1:33:39
  Speaker 1: coming into Egypt, there's wealth that was given to them
• 1:33:42
  Speaker 1: by Pharaoh on those chariots that came to get them.
• 1:33:46
  Speaker 1: When they're going out of Egypt in the Exodus, there
• 1:33:49
  Speaker 1: is wealth that is given to them by the Egyptians
• 1:33:52
  Speaker 1: on their way out. How about these chariots? Going into Egypt,
• 1:33:56
  Speaker 1: Pharaoh sends chariots to pick up Jacob and his people.
• 1:34:00
  Speaker 1: Going out of Egypt, Pharaoh sends chariots to destroy Israel.
• 1:34:05
  Speaker 1: How about the census? Going into Egypt, there is a
• 1:34:08
  Speaker 1: census of the 12 sons and the 70 people connected
• 1:34:13
  Speaker 1: to them. Coming out of Egypt, there is a census
• 1:34:16
  Speaker 1: of the 12 tribes and the millions that are now
• 1:34:19
  Speaker 1: counted among the nation. How about worship? Jacob stops on
• 1:34:23
  Speaker 1: the way into Egypt to worship God. Moses requests from
• 1:34:30
  Speaker 1: Pharaoh to be able to go outside of Egypt to
• 1:34:34
  Speaker 1: a holy place and worship How about disaster? God uses
• 1:34:39
  Speaker 1: a famine to get his people into Egypt. Then God
• 1:34:44
  Speaker 1: uses plagues to get his people out of Egypt. Jacob
• 1:34:50
  Speaker 1: has no idea that he is part of a much
• 1:34:54
  Speaker 1: grander story. And yet, when we look at a panoramic view,
• 1:35:00
  Speaker 1: we see that what God is doing here is mirrored
• 1:35:03
  Speaker 1: in what he's going to do to take his people
• 1:35:05
  Speaker 1: out some 400 years later. Finally, Jacob is believing God
• 1:35:11
  Speaker 1: for an inheritance that he can neither see nor attain
• 1:35:15
  Speaker 1: in this life. In a number of ways. God says,
• 1:35:20
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna make you a nation. But he also, you're
• 1:35:23
  Speaker 1: going to go here and you're going to die and
• 1:35:25
  Speaker 1: Joseph is going to close your eyes. But I'm going
• 1:35:29
  Speaker 1: to make you a nation. He's believing God for an
• 1:35:31
  Speaker 1: inheritance he can't see. He won't be around to claim it.
• 1:35:35
  Speaker 1: And yet, because he loves and trusts God, he holds
• 1:35:38
  Speaker 1: on to it nonetheless. He also believes that God's going
• 1:35:42
  Speaker 1: to give him the land. And he holds on to
• 1:35:45
  Speaker 1: it even though he personally is not going to see
• 1:35:49
  Speaker 1: it in this life. I don't know how clearly you
• 1:35:55
  Speaker 1: have seen these parallels between between Jacob and his multi-generational
• 1:36:00
  Speaker 1: vision and ours. But let's see if we can put
• 1:36:03
  Speaker 1: a finer point on it. Jacob worships the God of
• 1:36:07
  Speaker 1: his fathers. Folks, you and I are called to worship
• 1:36:12
  Speaker 1: the God of our fathers, of Abraham and of Isaac
• 1:36:16
  Speaker 1: and of Jacob. Our multi-generational vision begins with Jacob. the
• 1:36:23
  Speaker 1: vision of the generations who've gone before. We are the
• 1:36:26
  Speaker 1: fulfillment of someone else's multi-generational vision before we can start
• 1:36:30
  Speaker 1: thinking about our own, amen? By the way, ultimately this
• 1:36:33
  Speaker 1: multi-generational vision is about God who is calling forth a
• 1:36:37
  Speaker 1: people called by his own name for his own praise
• 1:36:41
  Speaker 1: and glory. Secondly, we remember the covenant. You and I,
• 1:36:47
  Speaker 1: as we walk through this perilous land, as we walk
• 1:36:50
  Speaker 1: through as sojourners, our hope is ultimately in the covenant
• 1:36:54
  Speaker 1: that God has made. This covenant that has been ratified
• 1:36:58
  Speaker 1: by Jesus Christ who shed his own blood and gives
• 1:37:02
  Speaker 1: us his blood. This is the cup of the new
• 1:37:07
  Speaker 1: covenant in my blood. Amen. Do this as often as
• 1:37:11
  Speaker 1: you drink it in remembrance of me. In remembrance of what?
• 1:37:14
  Speaker 1: In remembrance of the covenant that we have with God.
• 1:37:17
  Speaker 1: In remembrance that the God that we worship is the
• 1:37:20
  Speaker 1: God of the covenant and he is and shall be
• 1:37:22
  Speaker 1: true to his word. We also leave our promised land.
• 1:37:31
  Speaker 1: This earth is not our home. We live here as sojourners.
• 1:37:37
  Speaker 1: Our home is heaven. Our home is the new city,
• 1:37:41
  Speaker 1: and new Jerusalem. And that is where our hope lies.
• 1:37:45
  Speaker 1: So because of that, it doesn't matter where God calls
• 1:37:47
  Speaker 1: us to move in the here and the now. Whatever
• 1:37:51
  Speaker 1: routes that we set up are always going to be temporary.
• 1:37:56
  Speaker 1: We also play a part in a drama that we
• 1:37:59
  Speaker 1: don't even know is being written. We can go and
• 1:38:02
  Speaker 1: read the end of the book, but we don't necessarily
• 1:38:04
  Speaker 1: know how we get there from here, amen? There are
• 1:38:07
  Speaker 1: things that God is doing in your life and mine
• 1:38:10
  Speaker 1: that are designed to bring maximum glory to our Master, Savior,
• 1:38:14
  Speaker 1: and Lord Jesus Christ. We don't know what those things are.
• 1:38:21
  Speaker 1: But we know that in God's providence, He knows. And
• 1:38:27
  Speaker 1: so we walk holding on to that. And finally, we
• 1:38:31
  Speaker 1: believe God for an inheritance that we can't see or
• 1:38:35
  Speaker 1: attain in this life. We believe God for an inheritance
• 1:38:40
  Speaker 1: that we can't see or attain in this life. We
• 1:38:46
  Speaker 1: only get glimpses here and there. We get We get
• 1:38:52
  Speaker 1: pieces of the puzzles. We get types. We get representations.
• 1:38:59
  Speaker 1: But eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has
• 1:39:03
  Speaker 1: it entered into the mind of man what he has
• 1:39:06
  Speaker 1: in store for us. It's more than you can fathom.
• 1:39:13
  Speaker 1: It's more than you can imagine. And it's way more
• 1:39:16
  Speaker 1: than you deserve. Amen. Amen. So as we see this
• 1:39:23
  Speaker 1: picture here in this first half of Genesis chapter 46,
• 1:39:27
  Speaker 1: this beautiful portrait of a man older than anybody you
• 1:39:32
  Speaker 1: know who was willing to get up and move. Know
• 1:39:36
  Speaker 1: that it's not because he was just an exceptional older man.
• 1:39:41
  Speaker 1: Because he wasn't. Amen? If you've been reading, if you've
• 1:39:45
  Speaker 1: been with us for the rest of the book of Genesis,
• 1:39:47
  Speaker 1: you know Jacob is not an exceptional older man. He
• 1:39:51
  Speaker 1: may be exceptionally wicked, but other than that, he's not
• 1:39:54
  Speaker 1: an exceptional older man. This is about the power of God.
• 1:39:59
  Speaker 1: This is about the covenant God makes with his people.
• 1:40:02
  Speaker 1: And this is about the grace of God. You are
• 1:40:08
  Speaker 1: going to come to a moment in your life where
• 1:40:12
  Speaker 1: you have to let good and kindred go Perhaps this
• 1:40:16
  Speaker 1: mortal life also. The question is, when you come to
• 1:40:23
  Speaker 1: that moment, will you hold on for dear life to
• 1:40:28
  Speaker 1: the stuff that you've acquired, believing that that is the
• 1:40:32
  Speaker 1: greatest good that your relationship with God could produce? But
• 1:40:36
  Speaker 1: wait a minute, God, I have houses. I have land.
• 1:40:39
  Speaker 1: I have money. I have this. I have that. I
• 1:40:41
  Speaker 1: have the other. How could you possibly be calling me
• 1:40:44
  Speaker 1: to that place when you are the God who exists
• 1:40:48
  Speaker 1: to give me this stuff? I have this stuff now.
• 1:40:51
  Speaker 1: Why would you want me to go somewhere else away
• 1:40:53
  Speaker 1: from this stuff that my relationship with you is designed
• 1:40:56
  Speaker 1: to produce? That's not biblical Christianity. That's one of the
• 1:41:06
  Speaker 1: greatest problems with the Word of Faith movement, by the way.
• 1:41:12
  Speaker 1: When you come to that place, make sure that you
• 1:41:17
  Speaker 1: already hold the blessings that God has given you with
• 1:41:20
  Speaker 1: an open hand. Because they're not yours anyway. And there
• 1:41:28
  Speaker 1: is something for which we live that is far greater
• 1:41:32
  Speaker 1: than houses and land livestock and money and wealth and
• 1:41:39
  Speaker 1: fame and fortune, children, wives, husbands, or anything else. That's
• 1:41:48
  Speaker 1: what we live for. But here's the beauty. Does that
• 1:41:51
  Speaker 1: mean that our attitude is negative and nasty toward all
• 1:41:54
  Speaker 1: that stuff? No. It means that we appreciate those things
• 1:41:58
  Speaker 1: all the more as gifts from the hand of Almighty God.
• 1:42:04
  Speaker 1: That he didn't have to give us in the first place.
• 1:42:07
  Speaker 1: That's what it means. It means that we hold on
• 1:42:11
  Speaker 1: to all those things loosely. Recognizing that we are part
• 1:42:15
  Speaker 1: of something greater than ourselves. That we belong to a
• 1:42:20
  Speaker 1: kingdom that is ever advancing. And that we serve a
• 1:42:25
  Speaker 1: soon coming king who is going to make all things right.
• 1:42:31
  Speaker 1: And put all things under his feet. We have that perspective.
• 1:42:37
  Speaker 1: Then perhaps we too would be willing at a ripe
• 1:42:42
  Speaker 1: old age to get up and move if God said so.
• 1:42:49
  Speaker 1: Because one day we're all going to relocate for good. Amen?
• 1:42:57
  Speaker 1: Let's pray. Father, we bow before you as a people
• 1:43:08
  Speaker 1: who hold on desperately to things. We bow before you
• 1:43:23
  Speaker 1: recognizing that more often than not, we cringe at the
• 1:43:29
  Speaker 1: idea of you calling us to faith and obedience and sacrifice.
• 1:43:40
  Speaker 1: But thank you for reminding us today that we do
• 1:43:43
  Speaker 1: not live for the here and now. We do not
• 1:43:48
  Speaker 1: live for ourselves. But we live for something greater. We
• 1:43:55
  Speaker 1: live for something more. We live for something lasting. We
• 1:44:00
  Speaker 1: live for something eternal. Thank you for the testimony of
• 1:44:09
  Speaker 1: our fathers. who walked with you, who by your grace
• 1:44:20
  Speaker 1: finished well in spite of their frailties and faults. May
• 1:44:29
  Speaker 1: their testimonies cause us to trust all the more. I
• 1:44:41
  Speaker 1: pray for those under the sound of my voice who
• 1:44:43
  Speaker 1: are wrestling with your calling. And ask that by your grace,
• 1:44:52
  Speaker 1: they may be granted an extra measure. That we all
• 1:45:00
  Speaker 1: may be granted hearts willing to serve you and obey you.
• 1:45:12
  Speaker 1: And we thank you for our Lord and our Master
• 1:45:15
  Speaker 1: and King, Jesus Christ, to whom all glory belongs, because
• 1:45:24
  Speaker 1: it is only him working in us that allows us
• 1:45:28
  Speaker 1: to will, let alone to work for your good pleasure.
• 1:45:35
  Speaker 1: Grant that we might prize him above all else. Grant
• 1:45:42
  Speaker 1: that we might hold him so dear, so close and
• 1:45:45
  Speaker 1: so tight that all other things pale in comparison. Grant
• 1:45:55
  Speaker 1: that we might remember that he left his home in glory,
• 1:46:03
  Speaker 1: suffered the humiliation of wrapping himself in flesh having not
• 1:46:11
  Speaker 1: only seen but been the creator, master, and lord of
• 1:46:15
  Speaker 1: the promise that we look forward to, humbled himself, took
• 1:46:22
  Speaker 1: on human form, became a human baby, submitted to human parents,
• 1:46:31
  Speaker 1: and ultimately died at the hands of human sinners, all
• 1:46:36
  Speaker 1: in obedience to his father who said, go. Go. May we,
• 1:46:47
  Speaker 1: as those redeemed by your obedient son, reflect the image
• 1:46:55
  Speaker 1: of his glory in our obedience to him. This is
• 1:47:01
  Speaker 1: our prayer. And we ask it because we believe it's
• 1:47:06
  Speaker 1: in accordance with the will and the nature and the
• 1:47:08
  Speaker 1: authority of Jesus, who is the Christ. Amen. Well, if
• 1:47:21
  Speaker 1: you come to Genesis chapter 46, and we'll look at
• 1:47:25
  Speaker 1: the first half. But are you? Are you? Do you
• 1:47:38
  Speaker 1: belong to the Good Shepherd? Have you heard the voice
• 1:47:41
  Speaker 1: of the Good Shepherd? And hearing his voice, have you
• 1:47:44
  Speaker 1: responded the only way his sheep can respond? In repentance
• 1:47:47
  Speaker 1: and faith. Have you come to the good shepherd and
• 1:47:51
  Speaker 1: said to the good shepherd, I know I am worthless.
• 1:47:54
  Speaker 1: I know I'm helpless. I know I am needy. And
• 1:47:58
  Speaker 1: my desperate need is for you and for none other.
• 1:48:01
  Speaker 1: Will you be my shepherd? Have you done that? Or
• 1:48:07
  Speaker 1: are you walking around Honestly believing that there is something
• 1:48:12
  Speaker 1: in you or about you that makes you worthy to
• 1:48:19
  Speaker 1: save yourself. Interestingly enough, while there is this picture of
• 1:48:27
  Speaker 1: God as the shepherd and his people as the sheep,
• 1:48:31
  Speaker 1: we see a picture of the adversary, the devil. And
• 1:48:36
  Speaker 1: what's the picture that we see in the New Testament today?
• 1:48:40
  Speaker 1: a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Is there
• 1:48:50
  Speaker 1: perhaps one in the scriptures who has saved sheep from lions?
• 1:48:59
  Speaker 1: I know of one. His name is David. By the way,
• 1:49:07
  Speaker 1: there is another He is great King David's greater son.
• 1:49:13
  Speaker 1: He too saves his people from the lion. But is
• 1:49:21
  Speaker 1: that you? Have you come to him as a weak, needy,
• 1:49:25
  Speaker 1: and helpless sheep? Or do you still believe you can
• 1:49:31
  Speaker 1: defend yourself? Are you trusting in him and him alone
• 1:49:39
  Speaker 1: Are you satisfied to do that or do you desperately
• 1:49:42
  Speaker 1: want to be a powerful Egyptian? Is being a sheep
• 1:49:48
  Speaker 1: enough for you? My prayer is that it is because
• 1:49:57
  Speaker 1: nothing else will satisfy. The good shepherd laid down his
• 1:50:05
  Speaker 1: life for the sheep. You trust your life to him.
• 1:50:12
  Speaker 1: He is your only hope. Would you bow with me? Father,
• 1:50:33
  Speaker 1: whoever would have thought that this ragtag bunch of shepherds
• 1:50:38
  Speaker 1: coming into Egypt was actually a foreshadowing, a picture of
• 1:50:50
  Speaker 1: a great nation that would be shepherded by you. Who
• 1:50:58
  Speaker 1: would have thought that this group of 70 people walking
• 1:51:04
  Speaker 1: into Egypt was actually preserving in themselves not only the
• 1:51:15
  Speaker 1: great nation and its great king, but ultimately its great savior,
• 1:51:23
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. Who would have thought that this picture of
• 1:51:36
  Speaker 1: the sheep and the shepherd would have so much meaning
• 1:51:41
  Speaker 1: throughout redemptive history? Who would have thought? I guess the
• 1:51:51
  Speaker 1: answer to that question is you would have thought. Because
• 1:51:57
  Speaker 1: you've always been the shepherd of your people. You continue
• 1:52:03
  Speaker 1: to be the shepherd of your people. You continue to
• 1:52:07
  Speaker 1: tend your weak, needy, fearful, helpless flock. May we continue
• 1:52:20
  Speaker 1: to be grateful. Thank you for the good shepherd who
• 1:52:29
  Speaker 1: laid down his life for the sheep. Thank you for
• 1:52:34
  Speaker 1: the lion of the tribe of Judah who is at
• 1:52:43
  Speaker 1: the same time the very lamb of God takes away
• 1:52:48
  Speaker 1: the sins of the world. May we be reminded of
• 1:52:55
  Speaker 1: that afresh and anew as we gather before this table
• 1:53:02
  Speaker 1: of remembrance.