Beyond Egypt
Genesis 49:1-33
May 10, 2015

As you know we have been studying the book of Genesis
For quite some time now.

We’ve actually watched as Moses walked us through his gospel.
• We’ve seen the dangers of sin
• We’ve seen the judgment it brings
• We’ve seen the sovereign election of God
• We’ve seen God’s salvation by grace through faith
• We’ve seen God’s sanctifying work
• We’ve seen God’s providential hand

Moses has given his gospel to his congregation

We are now in the final section of Moses’ message.
We have simply called this final section: “BEYOND EGYPT”

No, the children of Israel are not out of Egypt.
In fact, they still have over 400 years of Egypt life to go.

But it is important to Moses that his congregation understand
That God has nothing for them in Egypt.

Egypt was certainly a part of God’s plan.
• Egypt kept them unmixed from the Canaanites
• Egypt kept them protected from famine and war
• Egypt afforded them a place to multiply into a great nation

BUT EGYPT IN AND OF ITSELF WAS NOT THE GOAL
Jacob knew this
Joseph knew this
Moses knew this

And so the closing of Moses’ work of Genesis
Focuses on looking beyond Egypt.

We stress the importance of this reality in our lives too.

At times this world is good to us.
We enjoy laughter and health and prosperity and fun and comforts and pleasures.

There is certainly nothing wrong with that,
The writer of Ecclesiastes said those things were the gift of God
And we should enjoy them when they come.

But regardless of how good things can get,
We are never to let those things cause our heart to settle on the life here.
THIS IS NOT OUR HOME
This world is our Egypt…we are waiting for a better place.
(This world is merely the place God is using to prepare us for the next)

The New Testament (especially the book of Hebrews) reiterates that to us.

Hebrews 11:13-16 “All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.”

Hebrews 12:28-29 “Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire.”

Hebrews 13:12-14 “Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.”

The writer reminds again and again and again
That this world is not our home.
We have a better place prepared.

Peter wrote:
1 Peter 1:3-5 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

The writers of the New Testament were adamant that
You don’t begin to see the pleasures of this world as the final goal.
God has much more in store.

And that is the exact same message that Jacob is preaching to his boys
And that Moses is preaching to his congregation.

Ever since they arrived in Egypt,
Jacob has made sure his boys understood that Egypt was not the end.

• He has given instructions regarding his burial
• He has recently reminded Joseph of the promise of God for the land of Canaan
• AND HERE HE IS GOING TO PROPHESY OVER HIS SONS

Incidentally, the very presence of a future prophesy
Is meant to focus one’s gaze on the future,
Since a prophecy like this deals totally with what is to come.
Jacob is moving their perspective to the future…
To the things to come…to the things beyond Egypt.

He’ll dwell on hardships they’ll face, victories they’ll win,
Even on the specific land that some of them will inherit.

The point then is easy.
• Jacob wants his boys always focused on the prize
• He wants them always focused on the promise
• He wants them always focused on the inheritance

So, as Jacob has come to his time to die,
He has now called each of his sons to him.

(1-2) “Then Jacob summoned his sons and said, “Assemble yourselves that I may tell you what will befall you in the days to come. “Gather together and hear, O sons of Jacob; And listen to Israel your father.”

Jacob is about to help them fix their gaze on the future.

What we want to do is
FIRST walk through the prophecies concerning each boy to make sure we understand them,
THEN look at them as a hole and grab an understanding of what Jacob would have you to know.

His order is simple.
• He begins with Leah’s boys
• Then he moves to the sons of the concubines
• Then he ends with Rachel’s boys

#1 REUBEN
Genesis 49:3-4

Reuben was the firstborn son of Jacob.
He was born to Leah.

And by all accounts,
Reuben should have received the birthright and the blessing from Jacob.
He should have been the heir, the next patriarch,
And he should have received the double portion of the inheritance.

And yet, Reuben messed up.

Jacob called him, “Uncontrolled as water, you shall not have preeminence, because you went up to your father’s bed; then you defiled it – he went up to my couch.”

You will remember that incident in chapter 35 in which Reuben slept with Bilhah (Rachel’s maid; Dan and Naphtali’s mother)

This incident was not only gross immorality,
But also a tremendous display of disrespect toward Jacob.
Because of this, Reuben lost his place as the firstborn.

Matthew Henry writes:
“No judge, prophet, nor prince, is found of that tribe, nor any person of renown except Dathan and Abiram, who were noted for their impious rebellion against Moses. Reuben himself seems to have lost all that influence upon his brethren to which his birthright entitled him; for when he spoke unto them they would not hear, ch. 42:22.” (Matthew Henry commentary, pg. 68, notes on Genesis 49:3-4)

#2 SIMEON AND LEVI
Genesis 49:5-7

These two boys are lumped together
Because they were co-conspirators in their folly.

We are familiar with the incident regarding the Shechemites back in chapter 34.
• When one of the Shechemites raped their sister, Simeon and Levi consented to give her in marriage to the man if all the men would agree to be circumcised.

• When the men were in pain from the procedure, Simeon and Levi attacked them with the sword and slaughtered the entire village.

Jacob was angry then, and apparently this act
Also disqualified them in as potential firstborn in Jacob’s eyes.

For Jacob said, “Let my soul not enter into their council; let not my glory be united with their assembly”

In other words, don’t let them call the shots,
And don’t let my name be associated with their violent decisions.

And the consequence of their sin was spelled out by Jacob.

“I will disperse them in Jacob, And scatter them in Israel.”

And if you will recall
• Levi became the tribe without land inheritance since they were the priests.
• Simeon’s allotment actually came inside of Judah’s.

Joshua 19:1 “Then the second lot fell to Simeon, to the tribe of the sons of Simeon according to their families, and their inheritance was in the midst of the inheritance of the sons of Judah.”

Joshua 19:9 “The inheritance of the sons of Simeon was taken from the portion of the sons of Judah, for the share of the sons of Judah was too large for them; so the sons of Simeon received an inheritance in the midst of Judah’s inheritance.”

And so the first three sons all carry a common theme,
And that would be the consequences for iniquity.

While these prophecies were orchestrated
According to the will of the sovereign God,
It is obvious that in some mysterious way
God’s sovereign will coincided with these boys sin.

God may have pre-ordained their future,
But it is clear that their sinful choices played a part in it.

This would be a tremendous reminder to all the nation of Israel
About the dangers of sinful behavior.

Now also, to be fair, we must note that
God was not overly cruel to the descendants of these tribes.
They were punished
They lost preeminence
BUT THEY WERE NOT REJECTED

These boys and their descendants were not treated like Ishmael or Esau.
They still had a blessing.

And in reality it wasn’t even as severe as it sounded,
For Levi’s dispersal merely meant that he would become the priestly tribe.

Moses was a Levite and so clearly God had not rejected this tribe,
Even though they did suffer obvious consequences for their sin.

And then we move to the 4th son of Leah
#3 JUDAH
Genesis 49:8-12

Clearly here (and we have said it many times over) Judah is the next patriarch.
Judah is the next head of the family.

We even saw this emerge as he began to call the shots in regard to taking Benjamin to Egypt and was even willing to sacrifice himself in order to save him.

The important fact to remember again, however is that
Judah’s selection was not due to his impeccable character.

• Reuben was rejected for adultery
• Simeon and Levi were rejected for violence

AND YET JUDAH WAS GUILTY OF BOTH.
We know of his incestual affair with Tamar
And we remember that selling Joseph was his idea.

He was just as vile and sinful as his older brother,
Yet God selected Judah for preeminence.
That does not indicate that God somehow then treated Reuben, Simeon, and Levi unfairly. Indeed, they deserved their punishment.

It merely indicates that God treated Judah graciously
(better than he deserved)

None the less, Judah becomes the next patriarch,
The next head of the family.

God even promises 4 things to Judah.
1) PRAISE (8)

Previously Joseph had received such a promise, now it is given to Judah.

If you will remember when Joseph received that same revelation,
We attributed it to the fact that God was indicating Joseph as a savior.
Because the brothers didn’t like that insinuation, they sold him.

Now God is setting Juda apart as the savior.
And as a result of his salvation, his brothers will praise him.

God also promised:
2) POWER (9)

Judah is painted as a conquering lion, satisfied with his kill,
Sitting supreme over all the other beasts.

His power is unmatched and no one dares to mess with him.

3) PREEMINENCE (10)

Rueben may have lost it, but Judah received it.
It is promised that “the scepter shall not depart from Judah”

And that “until Shiloh comes”

The term “Shiloh” has been a difficult one for theologians.
• Some see it is a proper name (another name of the Messiah)
• Some see it is a single word meaning peace or rest
• Some see it is a compound word meaning “he whose it is”

Regardless of how you read it, the interpretation is the same.
There is One who rightly deserves that scepter…
There is One who will bring peace and rest…

He is none other than Messiah.
And the prophecy of Jacob is that Judah will reign until Messiah comes.

And the result of this will be:
4) PROSPERITY (11-12)
All of these poetic statements speak of excess and abundance.
• You’d never tie your donkey to the vine – it would eat the grapes
• You certainly wouldn’t tie it to the choicest vine
• That would be as foolish as using wine or grape juice to wash your clothes

The picture is that of such excess that
They use the most valuable things for the most menial purposes.

Today it would be like a person that uses $100 bills for tissue to blow their nose.

The prosperity will be extensive.

“His eyes are dull from wine, and his teeth white from milk.”

He will enjoy the prosperity.

And of course this will be the effect of Messiah reigning on the earth.

So Judah, regardless of his past flaws,
Will be the tribe that ushers in the Messiah who is the Savior,
Who will restore Israel to prosperity.

Isaiah 9:6-7 “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.”

In another Messianic prophecy, Isaiah would say:

Isaiah 55:1 “Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost.”

We sure are glad that God used Joseph to save Judah,
So that God can use Judah to save the world.

You see God’s obvious sovereign plan.

Now we move on to the boys of the hand maids
#4 ZEBULUN, ISSACHAR, DAN, GAD, ASHER, NAPHTALI
Genesis 49:13-21

Not much is said about Zebulun,
Except that Jacob announces his allotment of the land.

“Zebulun will dwell at the seashore”

That may seem insignificant to you, but remember,
When Jacob made this prophecy, Israel didn’t own any of the land.

Jacob was looking to the reward.
He was dispensing the land, even when he did not yet own it.

(14-15) “Issachar is a strong donkey, Lying down between the sheepfolds. “When he saw that a resting place was good And that the land was pleasant, He bowed his shoulder to bear burdens, And became a slave at forced labor.”

Here we find that Isaachar would be a man not given to battle,
But rather to peace and service.

It does not indicate some sort of forced slavery,
But rather the quiet life geared for work and labor
As opposed to a life of battle.

(16-17) “Dan shall judge his people, As one of the tribes of Israel. “Dan shall be a serpent in the way, A horned snake in the path, That bites the horse’s heels, So that his rider falls backward.”

Jacob obviously does a word play on his name here.
If you will remember:

Genesis 30:6 “Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me, and has indeed heard my voice and has given me a son.” Therefore she named him Dan.”

Dan means “to judge” and Jacob says that is precisely what he will do.

He will also be a dangerous enemy to those who oppose him.
Pictured as a snake that lies in wait,
But that which is lethal when it strikes.

Over the centuries people have almost universally applied this to Samson, a judge from the tribe of Dan who brought judgment to the Philistines.

And then comes a parenthetical thought from Jacob

(18) “For Your salvation I wait, O LORD.”

It is merely a reminder that Jacob is focused on the prize.
He sees the service of Issachar and the fighting of Dan
And still longs for a better day.

Jacob is looking to the future.

Up next is Gad.
Gad’s name meant “fortune” as in “good fortune”

And yet, Jacob prophesied that there would always be others
Who would seek to take that from him.

(19) “As for Gad, raiders shall raid him, But he will raid at their heels.”

Then comes Asher.
(20) “As for Asher, his food shall be rich, And he will yield royal dainties.”

Asher would also be a picture of wealth and comfort.
Some see it as though Asher would be a great farmer,
Others as though he would be rich and luxurious.

And finally, Naphtali
(21) “Naphtali is a doe let loose, He gives beautiful words.”

Naphtali is apparently the gracious and beautiful one of the bunch.

He is compared to a graceful deer.
Prophesied to be beautiful.

Now these are the children of the hand maids,
But the pictures are seen that some will have adversity
And some will have tranquility and peace.

Some are pictured to be in battle, attacking and being attacked,
Others are pictured to be full of beauty, wealth, and prosperity.

And then we’ll move on to Rachel’s boys.
#5 JOSEPH AND BENJAMIN
Genesis 49:22-27

Obviously the key word for Joseph is that of blessing and prosperity.
Jacob recounts the hardship that Joseph went through,
And how God blessed him in the midst of it.

(23-25) “The archers bitterly attacked him, And shot at him and harassed him; But his bow remained firm, And his arms were agile, From the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob (From there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel), From the God of your father who helps you, And by the Almighty who blesses you With blessings of heaven above, Blessings of the deep that lies beneath, Blessings of the breasts and of the womb.”

He would walk through extreme difficulty, even coming under attack,
But would be the recipient of much blessing as a result.

This not only accurately described Joseph’s life,
But also was prophesied over his descendants.

And the final boy to be addressed is Benjamin.
(27) “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; In the morning he devours the prey, And in the evening he divides the spoil.”

Benjamin is as a wolf that attacks, plunders and enjoys the plunder.
He would be one successful in battle and victorious in his raids.

And then the story ends with Jacob again asking to be buried in the Promised Land and him breathing his last.

READ: GENESIS 49:28-33

So just before Jacob died, we have these prophecies concerning his sons

Surely we can read them as specific and unique to each boy.
And we find that “He blessed them, every one of them with the blessing appropriate to him.”

And to some degree we can’t fully understand all of that
Because we don’t have full knowledge of each of those boys.
• Perhaps Zebulun loved the water…
• Perhaps Asher loved to cook…
• Perhaps Naphtali was very handsome and gracious…
• Maybe Isachar like to farm
• Maybe Dan was sneaky and vindictive…

We just don’t know, but certainly in Jacob’s mind
Each of these prophecies fit his boys.

What we can do is see these prophecies in a corporate sense
For the entire nation and learn what Jacob wanted them to know.

1) THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCES FOR INIQUITY

It is impossible to read these prophecies concerning these boys
And not recognize that choosing sin was not wise.
Reuben, Simeon, and Levi felt the consequences of their sinful behavior.

Sin always seems fun for the moment,
But the consequences for it down the road are never worth it.

Allowing the flesh to satisfy its cravings as those three boys did
Will never take you where you want to go.
There are always consequences.

Another clear reminder for the nation of Israel is:
2) THERE WILL BE TIMES OF TRANQUILITY

By in large what Jacob prophesied for his boys was pleasant.

They are seen as dwelling by the sea, resting between the flocks, enjoying royal dainties, speaking beautiful words, being blessed beyond measure, and enjoying the spoil.

Much of what Jacob promised was good for his descendants.
There would be times of tranquility and peace and comfort.

And certainly we have those same expectations.
God’s desire is not to harm us or to deprive us.
He does in fact satisfy our years with good things.

Every child of God should be able to smile at the future.

However, we also live in a fallen world and so we also see:
3) MOMENTS OF ADVERSITY

These boys also would be warned of trying times that are coming.
They would be raided
They would be slaves
They would be in battle

There will be difficult times.
God will use those to shape and change and mold and sanctify, but that does not mean they will be easy.

And yet all of that points to Jacob’s main focus.
4) EVENTUAL PROSPERITY

Without a doubt the prophecy that sticks out in the chapter
Is that of Judah.

Regardless of the hardship, regardless of the adversity,
Regardless of the battles or the struggles,
There is a day of prosperity coming.

When the descendant of Judah comes who rightly deserves to rule,
Then the entire nation will be able to enjoy
The peace and prosperity that God intended.

As Jacob lay dying in Egypt, his message to his boys was extremely clear.
Look for the coming savior!

Don’t settle for Egypt, God has much more in store for you than that.
The Lion of Judah will come and lead you to absolute victory,
And when He does, praise Him!

And of course we know exactly who this is:
Revelation 5:5 “and one of the elders said to me, “Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.”
• It is Jesus who will receive the praise of the nations
• It is Jesus who will be clothed in power
• It is Jesus who will rise to absolute preeminence
• It is Jesus who will lead Israel to prosperity
As Jacob lay dying he did not want his boys to grow comfortable in Egypt, he wanted them to eagerly await the coming savior who would usher in God’s promises to Israel.

That, incidentally, is the same message Moses would preach to his congregation and the same message preached to us today.
Don’t settle for this place
Don’t seek treasure here
Don’t attach yourself here

Look beyond Egypt, look for the Savior, look for the coming King
Who will set this world right.

This is the duty of every true child of God.

Paul wrote:
2 Timothy 4:7-8 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”

Philippians 3:20 “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;”

Hebrews 9:28 “so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.”

Paul said he thanked God for the Corinthians because they were:
1 Corinthians 1:7 “…awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ,”

1 Corinthians 16:22 “If anyone does not love the Lord, he is to be accursed. Maranatha.”

“Maranatha” means “Lord Come”

The idea being that anyone who is not eagerly anticipating the coming of the Lord is way off target!

And you get the point.

In this life we will have our share of adversity and good times.
Sometimes we will face hardships that are consequences for our sinful choices and
Sometimes they will be hardships that are simply the result of living in a fallen world.

But regardless of how bad or good things are,
Never – never – never lose sight of the prize.

We are waiting for the return of our Savior!
We are waiting for His kingdom!
We are waiting for our true inheritance!

That was the main and only concern of Jacob as he faced death,
And it should be ours as we live life.

So let me remind you again this morning to look “BEYOND EGYPT”
Don’t get allured here
Don’t get off focus

Jacob said it best.
Genesis 49:18 “For Your salvation I wait, O LORD.”

That should be the mindset of every believer.

Regardless of what we face,
We are waiting for the return of the Lion of the tribe of Judah
Who will usher in His kingdom
And restore God’s truest inheritance to His people.
In closing let me just read to you:
TURN TO: REVELATION 21

Joseph’s Birthright
Genesis 48:1-22
May 3, 2015

This morning we move into the final section of the book of Genesis.

Moses identifies it for us in verse 1
By saying, “Now it came about after these things…”

We just covered a 22 year period in which the plan of God was revealed.
We saw Joseph sold into slavery for the deliverance of his people.

We saw that plan hatched and we saw it carried through to completion.

Israel is now in Egypt and is safe.

At this point Jacob has lived in Egypt for 17 years.
Even the famine is long forgotten at this point.
Israel has settled in.

Moses now takes us to the final section,
And it is one that we could easily call, “Beyond Egypt”

That seems to really be the focus.

It was certainly the focus we saw last week with Jacob.
Genesis 47:29-31 “When the time for Israel to die drew near, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “Please, if I have found favor in your sight, place now your hand under my thigh and deal with me in kindness and faithfulness. Please do not bury me in Egypt, but when I lie down with my fathers, you shall carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place.” And he said, “I will do as you have said.” He said, “Swear to me.” So he swore to him. Then Israel bowed in worship at the head of the bed.”

We learned last week that regardless of how good Egypt might have been,
EGYPT WAS NOT HOME.

Jacob would die in Egypt,
But he refused to allow his family to fully settle there.
It was important to him that they merely saw themselves
As strangers passing through.

And Jacob is still on that task.

Moses is using Jacob’s focus as a motivator
To keep his congregation focused on the prize.

SO THIS MORNING we find Jacob near death,
And we have that very intimate scene
Of a son sitting near the bedside of his dying father.

(1-2) “Now it came about after these things that Joseph was told, “Behold, your father is sick.” So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim with him. When it was told to Jacob, “Behold, your son Joseph has come to you,” Israel collected his strength and sat up in the bed.”

First Jacob will talk with Joseph and then Jacob will call in the rest of his sons.

The conversations here are of the utmost importance.
There is no room for small talk.
It is time to get serious and make sure everyone understands the situation.

And just as we saw last week,
All that Jacob seems to care about
Is what is going to happen “AFTER EGYPT”

He knows that Egypt (as good as it may presently be) is only temporary.

It is as we read last week:
Hebrews 11:13-16 “All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.”

That is certainly Jacob.
All he is concerned with right now is the inheritance.
And he wants to make sure that his sons are concerned about it too.

We’ll get to the prophecies concerning all the sons next week, but this morning it is simply the conversation between Jacob and Joseph.

And the subject of the conversation is that
Jacob is about to give Joseph the birthright.

You are familiar with this concept.

Remember that the sons were heavily concerned about two things.
• One was the birthright
• The other was the blessing

Jacob had received both from his father Isaac,
And he received them both in a stealthy and conniving manner.

• First he set a trap for Esau regarding food and Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of pea soup.
• Then he dressed up as Esau and tricked Isaac into bestowing the blessing on him.

This morning Jacob is about to bestow the birthright on Joseph.
Incidentally the birthright equaled a double portion of the inheritance.
Now at this point some of you are saying – TIME OUT

You’ve been telling us for the last however many weeks
• That Joseph would not be the next patriarch of the family.
• That that honor was for Judah.
• So how can it be now that Joseph is about to get the birthright?

That is explained in 1 Chronicles 5:1-2
1 Chronicles 5:1-2 “Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel (for he was the firstborn, but because he defiled his father’s bed, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph the son of Israel; so that he is not enrolled in the genealogy according to the birthright. Though Judah prevailed over his brothers, and from him came the leader, yet the birthright belonged to Joseph),”

• Judah would prevail over his brothers (as Jacob will prophesy next week)
• Judah would be the next head of the family
• Judah would be the kingly line
• Judah would be the next patriarch

But Judah would be all of those things
Without the double portion of the inheritance…that would go to Joseph.

And that is what we see here.
Jacob is divvying out the inheritance and Joseph will get his first.

So let’s walk through the text
And then talk a little about receiving the inheritance.

There are three main points.
#1 THE BIRTHRIGHT REVEALED
Genesis 48:3-7

Here we have that delicate scene.
No doubt it was chalked full of emotion.

However, Jacob’s focus couldn’t have been clearer.

He starts by reminding Joseph of the promise.
(3-4) “Then Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, and He said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and numerous, and I will make you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your descendants after you for an everlasting possession.’”

I hope you can feel the urgency in Jacob’s speech
As he says this to Joseph.

Jacob is not only talking to his son,
He is also talking to the 2nd most powerful man in Egypt.

• Joseph has Egypt by the tail.
• He can have anything he wants.
• It’s all his

But you can feel how important it is to Jacob to make sure that Joseph understands that Canaan (not Egypt) is his inheritance?

It is a reminder again, not to settle for the lesser.
Don’t take what your eyes see, hold out for what God has promised.

Jacob is keeping that inheritance ever before Joseph’s eyes.

And then Jacob begins to reveal that birthright that we are talking about.

(5-6) “Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are. “But your offspring that have been born after them shall be yours; they shall be called by the names of their brothers in their inheritance.”

I don’t know if Joseph understood the implication here,
But he certainly will by the end of the chapter.

But Jacob just claimed Joseph’s boys.
Jacob took those two boys and made them equals with all of his other sons.

From Jacob’s perspective now, “Ephraim and Manasseh” are his sons
Just as “Reuben and Simeon” are.

They are going to be equal heirs of the inheritance.

That already implies that Joseph is getting a double portion
Since two of his sons get an equal share.

Jacob is revealing his plan for the birthright.
He is going to give it to Joseph.

And then simply comes another verse
That does a wonderful job of revealing Jacob’s mentality.

(7) “Now as for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died, to my sorrow, in the land of Canaan on the journey, when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).”

This verse admittedly seems a little out of place.
Jacob went from talking about adoption to grieving over Rachel’s death.

What this verse does do is remind us again of Jacob’s perspective.
I think that is simply Jacob’s way of saying,
“I’m about to die, and I’m ready to go.”

Remember what Jacob told Pharaoh when Pharaoh asked him how old he was?
Genesis 47:9 “So Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my sojourning are one hundred and thirty; few and unpleasant have been the years of my life, nor have they attained the years that my fathers lived during the days of their sojourning.”

Jacob said, “Life has been hard”

And Jacob is saying the same thing here.
He is recounting to Joseph one of the greatest hardships he ever experienced.

Jacob had to bury the woman he loved.
It was a sorrow Jacob never fully got over.

And since Jacob is bringing this up on his death bed,
I don’t think it’s a stretch to see this as Jacob saying,
“I’m ready to go.”

This life has nothing but pain for me, I’m ready for my eternal home.

And that is about as honest a scene as we can picture.
• Joseph at Jacob’s bedside
• Jacob tired of the struggle, ready to go home
• Jacob reminding Joseph not to get too comfortable here
• And Jacob revealing who the birthright is going to

It’s what we would expect during this stage of life.

So the birthright revealed
#2 THE BIRTHRIGHT RENDERED
Genesis 48:8-20

At this point Jacob recognizes that Joseph has someone with him,
But because Jacob’s eyes are old and weak he doesn’t know who it is.

But when Joseph reveals that it is his two sons,
Jacob seems to want to get on with it.

Jacob wants to bless those boys and officially make them heirs along with their uncles, so the ceremony commences.

Now, there are several things that occur here.
• Joseph sets those boys before Jacob, and he places them there by their age.
• He puts Manasseh on Jacob’s right and Ephraim on Jacob’s left, so that Jacob can reach out and bless those boys according to their age.
• However Jacob crosses his hands.
• He puts his right hand on the younger boy and his left hand on the older boy.

Now, it wasn’t that one hand was more important than the other,
But the fact that Jacob intentionally crossed his arms
Made the implication crystal clear.

Jacob was putting the younger above the older.
(Again we find the sovereign election of God)

And then he commenced to bless them.
And you have to love the blessing here.

1) THE SOURCE (15-16a)

“He blessed Joseph, and said, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, The God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, The angel who has redeemed me from all evil…”

You have to understand what is going on here.
Jacob is not blessing these boys, he is asking God to bless them.

I love the way Jacob reveals who God is.

He is: “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked”

That is to say He is the faithful and eternal God.
He does not change and He exists forever.

• He is the faithful God.
• Faithful to my grandfather
• Faithful to my father
• And thus He will be faithful to my ancestors as well

Beyond that Jacob calls Him: “The God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day,”

And there is a statement that we could definitely camp out on.
It brings clear images of the 23rd Psalm or of Jesus our “Good Shepherd”

But Jacob reiterates that God wasn’t just with his fathers,
GOD WAS WITH HIM.

• It was God who safely led Jacob out of and back into Canaan
• It was God who protected Jacob from Esau
• And it was God who providentially brought him into Egypt

God has guided his life.

And beyond that, He is: “The angel who has redeemed me from all evil”

He sees God as his redeemer.

Of course to redeem means “to buy back”
God wasn’t just a shepherd who kept him out of trouble,
God was a redeemer who paid the debt and bought him back
When Jacob fell into it anyway.

And that is the God Jacob is praying to here.
He is placing his family in the hands of this great God.

If his family is to be blessed,
It will be the Eternal Redeeming Shepherd who will do it.

God is the source of this blessing
2) THE SPECIFICS (16)

“The angel who has redeemed me from all evil, Bless the lads; And may my name live on in them, And the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; And may they grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”

The specific request is that God would take these boys
And raise them up to be the next leaders of Israel.
And that God would propagate the nation through them.

He simply is asking God to use them to fulfill His promise.

God has many promises in His word,
And we could pray nothing greater over our children than that
God would use them to bring those promises to fulfillment.

The source, the specifics
3) THE STRANGENESS (17-19)

“When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on Ephraim’s head, it displeased him; and he grasped his father’s hand to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn. Place your right hand on his head.” But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know; he also will become a people and he also will be great. However, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.”

Well now you know that Joseph wasn’t perfect.
He obviously opened his eyes during Jacob’s prayer

He saw what Jacob had done with his hands, and it clearly bothered him.
He even grabbed Jacob’s hand and tried to set him straight.

That doesn’t mean that Joseph was mad at Jacob, it could simply have been that Joseph knew Jacob was blind and merely thought he had made a mistake.

Either way Joseph sees it as wrong and wishes to correct the situation.

But Jacob corrects him.

Once again we see the sovereign election of God intervene.
Isaac was younger than Ishmael
Jacob was younger than Esau
And now Ephraim is placed above Manasseh.

It is again a reminder that God doesn’t operate
By a scale of human merit, but on a scale of sovereign grace.

It is as we have read several times before concerning Jacob and Esau
Romans 9:11-12 “for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, “THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER.”

It is the same here.
This is a matter of God’s sovereignty, not man’s worth.

And it seems strange to us, but it perfectly aligns with the plans of God.

4) THE SCOPE (20)

“He blessed them that day, saying, “By you Israel will pronounce blessing, saying, ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh!'” Thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh.”

There Jacob reveals that not only will Ephraim and Manasseh be blessed,
But God will make them the standard of blessing throughout the nation.

It is tremendous blessing that God will put on these boys.

So we have the birthright revealed, and then the birthright rendered.
#3 THE BIRTHRIGHT REITERATED
Genesis 48:21-22

Just in case Joseph didn’t fully understand what Jacob was doing here,
It is spelled out extremely clearly.

(21-22) “Then Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am about to die, but God will be with you, and bring you back to the land of your fathers. “I give you one portion more than your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow.”

Jacob is obviously speaking prophetically here,
For he never took any land from anyone by sword.
Jacob is speaking prophetically of the conquest,
And when Israel takes the land,
Then Joseph will get a double portion in it.

Now just for a second, please notice again the resilient faith of Jacob.

He is passing out land as an inheritance that he doesn’t own.
It would be like your dad putting in his will
That he was leaving you half the state of New York.

Obviously Jacob believes the promise.
• He believes the land is his
• He believes God will lead his descendants out
• He believes they will take the land
• And when they do, Joseph (by means of Ephraim and Manasseh) will get a
double share in it.

And so as Jacob lays about to die,
He is continually pushing his boys to focus on the inheritance
And he here gives Joseph the birthright and the double portion.

So we’re obviously talking about the inheritance.
We’re obviously talking about focusing on it over what we see.

But at this point another question arises, and that is
Why you are getting an inheritance at all.

The question I want you to consider at this point is:
WHY JOSEPH?
Why did Joseph get the double portion?

NOW I KNOW THE TEMPTATION.
You want to say – he deserved it because he was faithful.

But if you are going to answer – “Because of his faithfulness”
Then you have answer why he didn’t become the next patriarch as well.

If it’s a matter of worth or merit or what they deserve,
• Then sure we’d say Joseph deserved the birthright.
• We’d also say he deserved the blessing,
• And we’d say he deserved to create the kingly line.

But we aren’t operating on merit or what people deserve here.

One thing we have clearly seen is that human merit, or what we thought they deserved has not played a part in any of this yet.

Isaac didn’t deserve more than Ishmael
Jacob didn’t deserve more than Esau
Ephraim didn’t deserve more than Manasseh
Don’t fall into that trap now and say Joseph is getting what he deserves.
GOD HASN’T OPERATED IN THAT REGARD YET.

Well, if that isn’t it,
Then why are Joseph’s descendants getting a double portion?

And this may not seem like a big deal to you,
But I promise you it was a big deal to Moses’ congregation.

They were about to enter Canaan.
They were about to divvy up the Promised Land.

And don’t you thank that someone from that congregation wondered why Joseph gets a double share and the other brothers only get 1?

Don’t you think the question came up?

Well if this issue doesn’t interest you…
Think about it in your own life.

Ever wonder why some Christians get blessed with more earthly prosperity than other Christians?

Why is it that some seem to hit the jackpot in the way of gifts and abilities and even finances, while others seem to be scraping the bottom of the barrel?

Did they get the double portion because they were more faithful?
And of course you know the answer to those questions is “NO”

Well, that’s the answer to the Joseph question too.
He didn’t get the birthright because he was more faithful.

He received the birthright because God in His sovereignty
Determined for it to be that way.

You and I must understand that in regard to the blessings and gifts
And even in regard to the inheritance,
That if it was a matter of merit, none of us would get any of it.

I want to take you to a passage in the New Testament
That illustrates what I am talking about here.

TURN TO: MATTHEW 19

If you look at verse 16 you recognize that this is the story of the Rich Young Ruler
And of course we know about how he makes the opposite decision
Of what Jacob would recommend.

The Rich Young Ruler decides to keep his earthly riches
Instead of the eternal one and he goes away sad.
This decision prompts the disciples
To question if they have made the right decision.

(READ MATTHEW 19:27-29)

So Jesus tells them that they made the right decision
To choose the eternal inheritance over the earthly one.

However, then Jesus makes another statement:
(19:30) “But many who are first will be last; and the last, first.”

Well that’s a strange statement.
What did Jesus mean by that?

Well, to answer the question Jesus gives a parable.
READ: MATTHEW 20:1-16

Verse 16 is your clue that this entire parable is meant to explain to you what Jesus meant by the fact that the last would be first and the first last.

The parable is not hard to understand.

We have a group of men waiting to work.
• Some get hired at sun up
• Some get hired at 9am
• Some get hired at noon
• Some get hired at 5pm
• And then the work day was over at 6pm

And when they come to the end of the work day,
The land owner lines them up and pays them all the same amount.

And you can already hear the murmuring.
That’s not fair
They didn’t deserve it

Specifically they say that those who only worked an hour should not have been made equal with those who worked all day.

THEY DON’T LIKE THAT THE REWARD (the inheritance)
WASN’T PASSED OUT ACCORDING TO WORTH OR MERIT.

But notice the answer:
(13-16) “But he answered and said to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? ‘Take what is yours and go, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. ‘Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?’ “So the last shall be first, and the first last.”

So let’s talk again about why Joseph got the birthright.
See, the temptation is to say that
He received it because he deserved it the most.

But be careful, thinking like that
Will lead you right down the path of the prosperity gospel
And it will put you in the group of those
Who end up grumbling at the land owner.

The reality is that Joseph received the birthright
Because God chose to be merciful to him.

None of those boys deserved any of the land.
Certainly none of them deserved a double portion.

But God most certainly can do what He wishes with what is His own.

WHAT DO I WANT YOU TO SEE HERE?

First – that there is an inheritance beyond what you see here.
Second – that you should seek that inheritance over and above this world
Third – that you don’t deserve it, and it is purely the grace of God that you have one at all.

This mentality will cause you to serve God out of gratitude,
And not just so you can get something from Him.

Joseph wasn’t supposed to walk away
Feeling like he finally got what he deserved.
Joseph was supposed to walk away feeling grateful.
He was boy number 11 of 12,
He should have never received the birthright.

And that is true for all of us.
When we start assuming how much we deserve from God,
We have obviously missed the point of His amazing grace.

DON’T FORGET (like the landowner) GOD IS MERCIFUL
He hired us all when we didn’t deserve it
He pays us all more than we deserve
And the only response from us
Should be gratitude and an eagerness
To forsake this life to receive God’s great gift!

The Value of Jesus
Matthew 26:6-13
April 26, 2015

As you know, we are in the middle of a study on Sunday nights called:
“It’s All About Jesus”

It is a study meant for one purpose,
That is to help us remember why we are hear and what our main focus is.

Several weeks ago we saw how easily a church can lose this focus.
We looked at the church at Ephesus.

• That church that was a beacon for truth
• That church that was a stalwart for doctrine
• That church that was about to be shut down

All because they let things get out of order.
They had actually forgotten the main thing, which was to love Jesus.

We read the story of Mary and Martha
And how Martha was busy serving while Mary sat at Jesus’ feet.

We heard Jesus tell Martha that only “one thing was necessary”

You have to make sure you love Jesus.

We even saw a couple of weeks ago
The eternal danger in failing to love Jesus.

We looked at how Jesus is the only possible means of salvation,
And how if you reject Him,
There is no means of forgiveness or possibility of salvation.

Well this evening we are going to stay on this theme again.
And again we are going to look at those familiar characters
Of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.

Again Mary is doing the best thing, and again she is being rebuked for it.
(Let that be a reminder that others may not applaud you for doing what Jesus desires)

Just like Martha had previously done,
The disciples here are missing the point, and Jesus takes the opportunity to set their priorities straight.

NOW, TO GIVE YOU THE SETTING FOR THE STORY.
• Jesus is presently on the mount of Olives.
• He has already entered Jerusalem at the triumphal entry
• He has already cleared the temple and humiliated the religious leaders
• And now, He is two days away from His crucifixion.
Matthew 26:1-2 “When Jesus had finished all these words, He said to His disciples, “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man is to be handed over for crucifixion.”

The story we read in verse 6 is a flashback.

Jesus is about to enter the upper room for the Passover
And then go the garden to pray.
And in the garden He will be betrayed and arrested.

For Matthew’s purposes, he is explaining to you
How the decision to betray Jesus came about.

He is taking you back to the event in order that he might show you
Where the decision to betray Jesus came from.

This event was the significant turning point.

Now, they are “at the home of Simon the leper”

The fact that Simon was in his home indicates he had been made clean of
And since leprosy had no cure, this man had obviously been cured by Jesus.

Now Jesus is in his home.
And verse 7 says “a woman come to Him with an alabaster vile of very costly perfume, and she poured it on His head as He reclined at the table.”

John 12 tells us that Lazarus was also there,
And Martha was serving and this woman was in fact Mary.

John 12:2-3 “So they made Him a supper there, and Martha was serving; but Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him. Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.”

So we have MARTHA SERVING
And this is a beautiful picture.
• Martha had previously been reprimanded (for reprimanding Mary).
• Martha could have said, “Fine, do it Yourself” but she didn’t.
• She is still serving the Lord, and that is good.

We have LAZARUS FELLOWSHIPPING
I can’t imagine the perspective Lazarus must have at this point,
But one thing is certain, sitting at Jesus’ feet and fellowshipping with Him is enough.

And then we see Mary who is clearly WORSHIPING
She came “to Him with an alabaster vile of very costly perfume, and she poured it on His head as He reclined at the table.”

And she not only anointed His head,
But also His feet and wiped them with her hair.
Now there are several things that inspire us about this act of worship.

One is the cost of the perfume.
Later Judas will inform us that it is worth 300 denarii or 300 days wages.
That is about a years salary.

But in reality that is of relatively little significance.
Jesus was just as impressed with the widow that gave the two mites.

In fact based upon the number of mourners with Mary and Martha after Lazarus died, many have concluded that Mary and Martha could have been quite wealthy.

The really inspiring thing is the manner in which she gives it.

She takes this valuable bottle and anoints the feet of Jesus.
Normally you would anoint the head, which she did,
But here she did the unthinkable and anointed His feet as well.

This was the most dirty and humble part of the body,
No one would have wasted this perfume on a person’s feet.

And then she really breaks the mold.
“wiped His feet with her hair.”

1 Corinthians 11:15 “but if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her? For her hair is given to her for a covering.”

Paul taught that a woman’s hair was her crowning glory,
And so we see that Mary takes the most glorious part of her body
And wipes the most humble part of Jesus body.

It is a picture of selfless humility.
Even though Mary may have had a lot of money,
We still see that she gave all she had.
You get the picture that she is giving everything within her
To show her love for Jesus.

THERE IS NO DOUBT AS TO JESUS’ VALUE TO MARY.

And it should have been overwhelmingly evident to everyone there.
John 12:3 “Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.”

Thanks to Mary Jesus’ feet smelled better than anything else in the room. She had rightly exalted Him in the presence of all.
Such an act should truly inspire us all
To humble ourselves in any means necessary to worship Jesus.

However, while the disciples should have been INSPIRED, they weren’t.
Instead they were INDIGNANT.

(8-9) “But the disciples were indignant when they saw this, and said, “Why this waste? “For this perfume might have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor.”

Again, John’s gospel tells us where they got the idea.
John 12:4-6 “But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was intending to betray Him, said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to poor people?” Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it.”

Judas was the one who started the rebuke.
He wanted that money for himself, and when Mary wasted it on Jesus, it was more than he could handle.

In fact, Matthew wants you to know that
This was the event that pushed Judas over the edge.

This event solidified his decision to betray Jesus, and in a couple of days at the Passover Judas will seize his opportunity.

But the point to be seen here is that
The disciples rebuke Mary for worshiping Jesus.

She has been rebuked for listening to Him
Now she is rebuked for worshiping Him.

And let me go ahead and remind you that
While this was certainly difficult for Mary,
IT WAS DOWNRIGHT INSULTING FOR JESUS.

Why didn’t the disciples just come right out and say, “Jesus isn’t worth that!”
Why didn’t they just say, “Mary, it’s not all about Jesus here! You just overlooked the poor, who are way more important than Jesus!”

They just told her that she had made a mistake in worshiping Jesus,
And instead she should have been focused on ministry.

It’s not hard to tell who valued Jesus more is it?

But you have to love how Jesus (just as He had done previously)
Comes to Mary’s aid.

(10-13) “But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you bother the woman? For she has done a good deed to Me. “For you always have the poor with you; but you do not always have Me. “For when she poured this perfume on My body, she did it to prepare Me for burial. “Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her.”

And there you have to love Jesus.
He wasn’t belittling the concept of giving to the poor.
Obviously Jesus was all for it.

Jesus was just saying that loving Him
Was more urgent and more important.

And to fully grasp the significance of what Jesus just said,
I first need to show you just how important helping the poor really is.

Deuteronomy 15:7-11 “If there is a poor man with you, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in your land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother; but you shall freely open your hand to him, and shall generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks. “Beware that there is no base thought in your heart, saying, ‘ The seventh year, the year of remission, is near,’ and your eye is hostile toward your poor brother, and you give him nothing; then he may cry to the LORD against you, and it will be a sin in you. “You shall generously give to him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all your undertakings. “For the poor will never cease to be in the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.’”

Moses there in fact says you had better be very careful not to overlook the poor, and not to be angry when you help them.

That warning is echoed in:
Proverbs 21:13 “He who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor Will also cry himself and not be answered.”

Proverbs 28:27 “He who gives to the poor will never want, But he who shuts his eyes will have many curses.”

Helping the poor is a serious thing.

In Jeremiah 22, Jeremiah speaks of how Josiah helped the poor, and notice what he said:

Jeremiah 22:16 “He pled the cause of the afflicted and needy; Then it was well. Is not that what it means to know Me?” Declares the LORD.”

Helping the poor is what it means to “know God”
That is a huge reality.

Listen to what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 9 as he talked about taking up an offering for the poor saints in Jerusalem.

2 Corinthians 9:7 “Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

He said that God actually loves people who give cheerfully!

Proverbs 19:17 “One who is gracious to a poor man lends to the LORD, And He will repay him for his good deed.”

Proverbs 22:9 “He who is generous will be blessed, For he gives some of his food to the poor.”

And trust me when I tell you I could give you many more verses
About the importance of helping the poor.
It is a huge thing.
It is vitally important to God.

And yet Jesus said here that it wasn’t as urgent as worshiping Him.

“you always have the poor with you; but you do not always have Me.”

The fact is that Jesus was about to leave.
John 13:33 “Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’”

John 14:1-3 “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”

Specifically Jesus is about to die.

And if you want a beautiful picture…
Mary is the only one in the room that seems to realize that.

Jesus has told those disciples time and time again that His death is imminent.
• Peter argued with Him about it.
• In the garden they’ll be apathetic
• Then they’ll fight to prevent it

But Mary has accepted it.
She knows what is coming.

And Jesus said, “when she poured this perfume on My body, she did it to prepare Me for burial.”

I love the way Mark’s gospel puts it:
Mark 14:8 “She has done what she could; she has anointed My body beforehand for the burial.”
“She has done what she could”

• She couldn’t fight off those soldiers from Him…
• She couldn’t influence Pilate for Him…
• She couldn’t carry that cross for Him…
• She couldn’t take those nails for Him…
• She didn’t have a tomb to offer Him…

But she did have vile of perfume.
She could give Him that.

And it was important that she do it now.

WHY?
Because when Jesus would actually die, there wouldn’t be time.

Remember?
Jesus was crucified on Friday and the Sabbath started on sundown Friday night. And they had to quickly take the body of Jesus down and put it in a tomb.

If you will recall early Sunday morning (after the Sabbath) they were headed back to put perfume on Him because there wasn’t time Friday.

Luke 24:1 “But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.”

Mary was here actually anointed Jesus’ body ahead of time.
She was doing what she could to honor the death of her Savior.

But Mary saw a greater opportunity before her.
She saw her Savior about to endure the agonies of hell for her,
And the least she could do was give the best she had to honor His sacrifice.

And think about it.
If Jesus was going to die for you, would you at least pay the funeral cost?

• Mary was paying for the embalming.
• Later Joseph would offer a tomb
• Nicodemus would offer the linens to wrap Him in.

John 19:38-42 “After these things Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate granted permission. So he came and took away His body. Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. Therefore because of the Jewish day of preparation, since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.”

• Would you pay for Jesus’ funeral?
• Would you buy His casket?
• Would you buy His suit?
• Would you give up your cemetery plot?

How would you honor the death of your Savior?
Mary not only gave the finest possession in her home,
But she also humbled herself in the way she gave it.
She was announcing her gratitude for the death of her Savior.

And friends just for a moment can I remind you about worship?
WHAT JESUS ENDURED, HE ENDURED FOR YOU.

• In what way have you endeavored to thank Him?
• In what way have you endeavored to honor Him?
• Do you have an alabaster vile?

Many today just want to accept the blood of Jesus
And then brag that they got it for free; a bargain price.

Not Mary.
He was about to pay a debt she could never pay,
The least she could do was tell Him thank you with all she had.

Romans 12:1 “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”

And that is what we are talking about here.
• Worship is our job.
• Worship is our priority.
• It is not something we should be told to do.
• And it’s certainly not something we should scorn in others

Do you know what the difference is between ministry and worship?
Ministry is where God gives you gifts so that you can serve Him.
Worship is where we give God gifts because He has blessed us.

Look at the Old Testament.
People were always bringing things to God (sheep, oxen, grain)
People weren’t going to receive from God.

Worship is when you present your gifts to God.
That is what Mary is doing.

It is what Abraham did when he offered up Isaac.

If Christ really did for us what Scripture says He did,
Then the least we can do is give the best we have.

And Jesus told the disciples that
Instead of attacking Mary they had better honor her.

“wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her.”

Jesus here is letting the disciples know that
While helping the poor is of the absolute utmost importance,
It is not more important than worshiping Him.

IT’S ALL ABOUT JESUS

We aren’t saying not to care for the poor.
In fact loving Jesus and caring for your brother run real close.

1 John 4:20-21 “If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.”

1 John 5:1 “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him.”

What we are saying is that all of your ministry
Must flow from your love of Jesus.

Remember what Jesus said about helping the poor?
Matthew 25:34-46 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘ Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ “Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ “Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
It wasn’t about how they treated the poor,
It was about how they treated who?
Jesus.

All of the ministry, all of the benevolence
Must be done for the right reason.

All ministry must be INSPIRED by a love of Jesus,
Not INSTEAD of a love for Jesus.

If at any point the ministry becomes more important than love for Jesus, you have derailed.
You have become Ephesus who left her first love.

You are no different than the hypocrites who will not inherit the kingdom.
Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’”

That is what ministry without the relationship looks like.

Paul said:
1 Corinthians 13:3 “And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.”

So again I just want to remind you that it is all about Jesus.
• Your love for Him…
• Your worship of Him…
• Your trust in Him…

Is more important and outweighs everything else.

If those things aren’t right
Then no amount of church attendance or church work can substitute.

Take a lesson from Mary, she got rebuked a lot,
But never by Jesus.

Mary always chose the most important thing.
Love, devotion, and worship of Jesus.

It’s all about Him.

God’s Plan – part 3
Genesis 46:28 – 47:31
April 26, 2015

I do apologize that over the past few weeks
We’ve only been hitting Genesis every other week.
I know that can make it difficult to stay in the flow of what is happening.

But hopefully you will remember that
We have finally been able to see God’s Plan come into focus.

There was a time when we really wondered what God was up to.
• We saw Joseph hated
• We saw Joseph sold
• We saw Joseph falsely accused
• We saw Joseph imprisoned
• We saw Joseph forgotten

We saw all that and really wondered what God was doing.

However we have more recently seen
God to begin to reveal what He was up to all along.

He wasn’t afflicted Joseph just for the fun of it,
God was instead using Joseph to save Israel.

Genesis 45:4-11 “Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come closer to me.” And they came closer. And he said, “I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. “Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. “For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. “God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance. “Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt. “Hurry and go up to my father, and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, “God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay. “You shall live in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children and your flocks and your herds and all that you have. “There I will also provide for you, for there are still five years of famine to come, and you and your household and all that you have would be impoverished.”‘

And so all of a sudden what seemed like the worst unimaginable suffering
Was now turned into the most remarkable good.
And that is what we call PROVIDENCE

We rarely know what God is up to, but we can trust that it will be good.

WHEN WE LEFT THE STORY LAST, WE SAW GOD WORKING.
• He softened Pharaoh’s heart to invite Israel to come to Egypt
• He even gave Jacob the desire to leave Canaan and come

Now we are about to see Israel arrive in Egypt and begin to settle in there.
And at this point we have to be VERY CAREFUL
That we don’t lose sight of what God is doing.

I tell you that, because by the time Moses will rise to power to lead Israel,
Israel will have totally lost sight of it.

What I need to do at the beginning of this sermon
Is to remind you again of the plan of God.

Don’t forget the whole plan.

1) THE PLAN STARTED WITH A PROMISE TO ABRAHAM

Do you remember that?
God gracious selected a man named Abram from a pagan nation
And revealed the plan to him.

Genesis 12:1-3 “Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

• There was a promise of land
• There was a promise of many descendants
• There was a promise of blessing

God would make a great nation out of Abraham,
And through Abraham’s descendants would come the Christ
Through whom every nation in the world could receive salvation.

That was (and is) the plan.

And we won’t read them all, but God reiterated that fact over and over.

Genesis 17:1-8 “Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless. “I will establish My covenant between Me and you, And I will multiply you exceedingly.” Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying, “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, And you will be the father of a multitude of nations. “No longer shall your name be called Abram, But your name shall be Abraham; For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. “I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you. “I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. “I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”

God reiterated His plan over and over and over again.
And it all started with a promise to Abraham.

2) IT CONTINUTED WITH THE SANCTIFICATION OF JACOB
We studied all that God walked Jacob through.
God was in the process of transforming him from Jacob to Israel.

While God was preparing the land for Israel,
God was also preparing Israel for the land.

Jesus does the same for us.
He told us in John 14 that “I go to prepare a place for you”
And yet, while He is preparing the place for us,
He is also busy preparing us for the place.

3) THE PLAN WAS PROTECTED THROUGH THE SUFFERING OF JOSEPH

God had a plan to give Israel the land of promise,
But there were a couple of things that threatened that plan.

• Israel was too small
• Israel was prone to intermarry
• The sin curse (famine) threatened to destroy them

So God began to work to protect Israel from those threats.
The solution was to send Joseph to Egypt and to have Israel follow him.

And God would use Egypt as an incubator to grow Israel,
To preserve Israel, and to provide for Israel through the famine.

That is where we are in the plan, but you must realize that is not the end.

4) THE PLAN CULMINATES IN THE FULFILLMENT OF THE PROMISE

This plan isn’t over until Israel possesses the land of promise
This plan isn’t over until the Messiah comes to give rest to Israel
And bless all the nations of the world

It is important that you remember that.

What we are seeing happen in Egypt today is indeed good,
But please don’t see the happy ending yet.

EGYPT IS NOT THE GOAL.

And if you will remember, this is where Israel got off track.
How many times do we find them under Moses, seeking to return to Egypt?

You will see in a minute that right now Egypt is a good place to be,
But Egypt is not the happy ending

Let me remind you:
Exodus 1:8-14 “Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. He said to his people, “Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we. “Come, let us deal wisely with them, or else they will multiply and in the event of war, they will also join themselves to those who hate us, and fight against us and depart from the land.” So they appointed taskmasters over them to afflict them with hard labor. And they built for Pharaoh storage cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out, so that they were in dread of the sons of Israel. The Egyptians compelled the sons of Israel to labor rigorously; and they made their lives bitter with hard labor in mortar and bricks and at all kinds of labor in the field, all their labors which they rigorously imposed on them.”

Arriving safely in Egypt is definitely part of the plan,
But it is not the finished plan.

And as we examine our test this morning I hope to show you what I mean.

Let’s divide this text into 5 points.
And the majority of the text is just to show you one thing
Egypt right now is good for Israel.

Let me show you some of what they received in Egypt
#1 THEY WERE UNITED AS A FAMILY
Genesis 46:28-30

This is really one of the best “feel good” moments you find in Scripture.

It has been at least 22 years since Jacob has seen Joseph.
This was his favorite son and for 22 years Jacob thought he was dead.

There just aren’t words to properly put the emotion here in perspective.

(29-30) “Joseph prepared his chariot and went up to Goshen to meet his father Israel; as soon as he appeared before him, he fell on his neck and wept on his neck a long time. Then Israel said to Joseph, “Now let me die, since I have seen your face, that you are still alive.”

That is a happy reunion!

And it isn’t just Joseph and Jacob, it is Joseph and all of his family.
He once again has his brothers
He has all of his nieces and nephews

This is a good day

And it reminds us that God’s plan isn’t all suffering and pain.

Since it is true that God’s plan for your life does include suffering,
Satan would have you believe that suffering is all God desires for you.

Satan would gladly whisper in your ear not to trust God, and not to submit to Him, for all God wants to do is make you suffer.

But we should all remember the words of Jesus.
John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

It is not God who wishes to destroy your life, that is Satan’s desire.
God’s desire is for you to have life…real life…abundant life

While God does indeed carry us through times of discipline,
He also carries us into times of immeasurable joy and blessing.

Joseph has had his share of difficult days, but this is not one of them.
This is a good day.

Let me show you another good thing about Egypt.
#2 THEY WERE PRESERVED AS A NATION
Genesis 46:31-47:6

If you will remember, one of the reasons for sending Israel into Egypt
Was because they seemed to have a propensity
To intermarry with the surrounding Canaanites.

Esau did it, Judah did it.
Abraham specifically chose to guard Isaac from it, as did Isaac for Jacob.

Egypt would be a place where intermarriage would not be an issue.
WHY?

Because Hebrews and shepherds were detestable to the Egyptians.
And you will see God actually use that fact here to keep Israel separate.

When Joseph sees his brothers,
He has an important piece of advice for them.

Be sure and tell Pharaoh that you are shepherds and keepers of livestock.
In fact Joseph told Pharaoh the same.
WHY?

Because Joseph wanted to make sure
That Pharaoh would be willing to keep Israel separate
And not just try to integrate them in to the nation.

(33-34) “When Pharaoh calls you and says, ‘ What is your occupation?’ you shall say, ‘Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now, both we and our fathers,’ that you may live in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is loathsome to the Egyptians.”

And that is exactly what Joseph’s brothers did.
They told Pharaoh they were shepherds
And Pharaoh gladly allowed them to live segregated from the Egyptians.

(47:6) “The land of Egypt is at your disposal; settle your father and your brothers in the best of the land, let them live in the land of Goshen; and if you know any capable men among them, then put them in charge of my livestock.”

So in Egypt, not only did the children of Israel all get reunited,
But they were also granted special privilege to be separate from the Egyptians and to live in the best of all the land of Egypt.
This was again a very good thing.

They left the land of Canaan to receive the best of the land of Egypt.

I don’t really desire to leave Texas,
But if I do have to leave, I want it to be to a cabin with a wood working shop and a private golf course in the mountains of Colorado.

And I want it to be in a community surrounded by Christian people where I don’t have to worry about an outside pagan influence.

You get the idea.
It might not be Canaan, but it sure isn’t bad.
What was happening in Egypt was a good thing.

They were united as a family
They were preserved as a nation
#3 THEY WERE SHELTERED FROM DISASTER
Genesis 47:11-12

We are all familiar with the circumstances
As to why Israel has come to Egypt in the first place.

There is a major famine.
A famine so intense that it has threatened to completely destroy Israel.

Because of this Israel has gone to Egypt
In search of provision and shelter.
And that is precisely what they found.

(11-12) “So Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had ordered. Joseph provided his father and his brothers and all his father’s household with food, according to their little ones.”

How can you argue with that?

You’re living in your cabin in Colorado surrounded by Christians,
Playing golf every day
And now you find that someone is catering all of your meals.
It’s really hard to be too gloomy about that.
This is good.
God is pouring out His blessing upon His people.

United As a Family, Preserved As a Nation, Sheltered from Disaster
#4 THEY WERE FAVORED ABOVE THE WORLD
Genesis 47:13-27

And this is really remarkable.

First comes a long explanation of the suffering of Egypt.

God promised 7 years of famine so extreme
That the 7 years of prosperity would be totally forgotten.

That is what you read about here.
And the famine is so extreme that it caused every single Egyptian to give up all their money, sell all their livestock, surrender all their land, and becomes slaves of Pharaoh.

Do you see how hard it was in Egypt?

Now, before you get too hard on Joseph for presumably taking all that these people had, you must notice that in the end, he only made them pay 20% to Pharaoh as a means of preserving a surplus of grain.

And the people most certainly were not bitter.

(25) “So they said, “You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s slaves.”

But the point is that all of Egypt was suffering.
• They were not prospering
• They were not increasing
• They were struggling

They were going broke, losing their farms,
Losing their livestock and becoming slaves
It was hard in Egypt.

But you contrast what Egypt was going through
With what Israel was going through at the exact same time.

(27) “Now Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in Goshen, and they acquired property in it and were fruitful and became very numerous.”

• While the Egyptians are surrendering their property, the Israelites are gaining it.
• While the Egyptians are barren, the Israelites are fruitful.
• While the Egyptians are suffering, the Israelites seem to be sitting in the lap of luxury.
So to follow our illustration,
While you are in your little patch of heaven in Colorado, everyone else around you has had to sell their home and move into government apartments.

I mean, it’s hard to feel sorry for Israel right now.

Everything is going really really good for them.
• They’re together
• They’re protected
• They’re provided for
• They’re blessed
• They aren’t struggling or suffering

Egypt has proven to be really good for Israel.

And the point is that things are definitely looking up.

If there was ever a time for Israel to feel like they had arrived
And the good plan of God was finished, this would be that time.

BUT DON’T LET YOUR MIND GO THERE

At this point, you must learn from Jacob.
It is the point Moses is making.

They were united as a family
They were preserved as a nation
They were sheltered from disaster
They were favored above the world
BUT…
#5 THEY WERE NOT HOME
Genesis 47:28-31

Please, please notice what Jacob said to Joseph.

• Was it good to be in Egypt? Yes
• Was it Jacob’s desire to come? Yes

But don’t ever assume that Egypt was the finish line, it was not.
Jacob knew it was only part of the journey.

And it didn’t matter if things were good or bad,
It was all simply part of God fulfilling a greater plan.

We skipped it a moment ago, but look back at verses 7-10
Genesis 47:7-10 “Then Joseph brought his father Jacob and presented him to Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many years have you lived?” So Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my sojourning are one hundred and thirty; few and unpleasant have been the years of my life, nor have they attained the years that my fathers lived during the days of their sojourning.” And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from his presence.”

Now we know that Jacob had his highs
• Receiving the birthright and the blessing
• Marrying Rachel
• Having 12 sons
• A favorable reunion with Esau

But in Jacob’s mind his life was more characterized
By his struggles than his blessings.

• He had also been estranged from his mother early on.
• He had worked tirelessly and been tricked by his uncle.
• He has feared his brother most of his life
• He had to bury his beloved wife
• He had been disappointed by his sons
• He had been deprived of his favorite son

Jacob told Pharaoh that life had been hard.

And we know that.
Life is hard.
We live in a cursed world.

We learned back in Gen. 3 that the curse promised toil, pain, and enmity.
We were going to work hard, suffer much, and battle continually.

All of those things were a reminder to Jacob
That God’s plan wasn’t finished.

But now, we find Jacob in a good place.
We find Jacob in the lap of luxury surrounded by those he loved.

AND YET, JACOB STILL NEW THAT THIS WAS NOT THE PROMISE.
He makes Joseph swear to take his body back to the land of promise.

And we must grasp what Moses is driving at.

When things are hard and we are suffering,
It is easy to long for our eternal home.

But it’s when things are easy that we need to maintain the focus of Jacob.

When the money is good and the plans are working and the comforts are plenteous we will actually tend to settle for this life.
We actually start to settle for this.

To put it in the context of the story:
We get so comfortable in Egypt that we quit striving for Canaan.

But even when things were going good Jacob knew he was not home.

And I have to remind you of that as well.

If you’re suffering right now, I don’t have to tell you to long for heaven,
That is a natural response.

But if you are presently living in your cabin in Colorado,
Playing golf with catered meals,
It is much easier to settle in and get comfortable
And grow attached to this place.

And if that is where you are, I am happy for you.
We all long for good things and happy moments in this life.
• Those are a blessing from God
• Those are good things
• Thank God for them and enjoy them

The writer of Ecclesiastes said:
Ecclesiastes 5:18-20 “Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat, to drink and enjoy oneself in all one’s labor in which he toils under the sun during the few years of his life which God has given him; for this is his reward. Furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, He has also empowered him to eat from them and to receive his reward and rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God. For he will not often consider the years of his life, because God keeps him occupied with the gladness of his heart.”

Ecclesiastes 9:7-9 “Go then, eat your bread in happiness and drink your wine with a cheerful heart; for God has already approved your works. Let your clothes be white all the time, and let not oil be lacking on your head. Enjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of your fleeting life which He has given to you under the sun; for this is your reward in life and in your toil in which you have labored under the sun.”

I am in no way trying to tell you that if life is good, you shouldn’t enjoy it.
By all means, enjoy it.

JUST REMEMBER:
• That this is not the end.
• This is not the goal.

Both your day of adversity and your day of prosperity
Are simply part of God preparing you for the day of eternity.

All that God has done, is doing, and will do,
Is NOT about the betterment of this life,
It is about fulfilling His plan for eternity.

Jesus taught us:
Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Paul taught us:
Colossians 3:2 “Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.”

Philippians 3:17-21 “Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”

The call is whether things are bad here or good here,
Remember that either way we will not stay here.

Jacob never lost sight of the promise.

WHAT IS YOUR PROMISE?
1 Peter 1:3-9 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.”

Revelation 21:1-4 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”

That is what we are shooting for
That is what we are focusing on
It is the call to always maintain an eternal perspective.

The Plan of God for your life is not just to make you suffer here, or to make you happy here. (Both of those will occur)

The Plan of God is to prepare you for eternity.
The Plan of God is take you to the land of promise.

Regardless of how good it gets in Egypt,
Don’t determine to settle for it over what God has in store.

• That was the flaw of Israel. Even while Moses was trying to lead them to the land of promise there were many who were content just to keep Egypt.

• When Jesus was offering eternal life to the rich young ruler, he was content to keep his piece of this life.

DON’T

As Martin Luther wrote in his hymn “A Mighty Fortress is Our God”
“Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also
The body they may kill, God’s truth abideth still
His kingdom is forever”

Jacob didn’t want the present pleasures of Egypt,
He wanted what God had in store.

TURN TO: Hebrews 11:13-16

And friends that is what we are after.

That is the plan of God.
• Keep your focus on that
• Store up your treasure there
• Let your hope rest there

And even when this world is offered to you on a silver platter,
Make sure you don’t settle, God has something better in store.

Make sure you desire “a better country, that is, a heavenly one”