Heroes of the Faith 4

Jacob

Good morning everyone. Oh my my my. If you don’t see what God is doing in this place. The last month has been just incredible. There is such a move of God happening right here. Don’t yall just feel the life happening in the place. I mean there is just a shift to more of His kingdom. He is definitely building something. Father I pray that I don’t get in the way. I pray that this word today be so anointed because it is your word that it as we say in the south, sticks to the ribs. That is manifest in us a change for personal sacrifice and obedience to boast in community outward effects. That we not be consumed with what is going on in our little bubble of the world or four walls of this building but with what is happening out there. We give you praise for it all. Move us into a place where we seek only your face. You are the prize. You are the end goal. It is unto you!

We are week 4 of a series Heroes of the faith. I am ecstatic about this week. Because it is so good to me when God decides to share things or reveal things to me. Just reading and reading like you should and then wham, God says here look at this.

Ok stand with me for the reading of the word.

Hebrews 11:21 NKJV

21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.

Ok you can be seated.

This is such a weird event for God to mention. I mean couldn’t he have mentions Jacob reuniting with Esau. Or him battling with God and winning. Why not that story. But you say Paul his champion of faith moment was blessing his grand kids. Well if that be the case, I need to go take a look at that story and see what is happening.

We aren’t going to read it all but the story is in Genesis 48-49.

Joseph was the favorite of the father Jacob. Jacob gave Joseph a coat of many colors. Joseph’s brothers began to feel some type of way about that. What am I Swiss cheese? They got so beside themselves they started plotting to kill Joseph. In lieu of killing him they through him into a pit. Then dipped that coat into animals blood and brought it up to Jacob talking about here is what happened to your favorite son. They didn’t come right and say he was dead but they deceived him into thinking that he was.

So Joseph is found alive many years later. God has brought them all back together. Jacob honestly I am sure isn’t quite over that because in 49 he starts telling his kids off. We might get to that in a minute. Depends on how long yall wanna stay with me today. We ain’t got no food cooking back there so I think my time might be limited lol.

Any way, Jacob is dying and the bible says that he heard Joseph was coming to see him because he was dying. SO he gathers the strength and sits up in the bed. Look at this.

Genesis 48:9–22 NIV

9 “They are the sons God has given me here,” Joseph said to his father. Then Israel said, “Bring them to me so I may bless them.” 10 Now Israel’s eyes were failing because of old age, and he could hardly see. So Joseph brought his sons close to him, and his father kissed them and embraced them. 11 Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your children too.” 12 Then Joseph removed them from Israel’s knees and bowed down with his face to the ground. 13 And Joseph took both of them, Ephraim on his right toward Israel’s left hand and Manasseh on his left toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them close to him. 14 But Israel reached out his right hand and put it on Ephraim’s head, though he was the younger, and crossing his arms, he put his left hand on Manasseh’s head, even though Manasseh was the firstborn. 15 Then he blessed Joseph and said, “May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked faithfully, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, 16 the Angel who has delivered me from all harm —may he bless these boys. May they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they increase greatly on the earth.” 17 When Joseph saw his father placing his right hand on Ephraim’s head he was displeased; so he took hold of his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. 18 Joseph said to him, “No, my father, this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.” 19 But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He too will become a people, and he too will become great. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a group of nations.” 20 He blessed them that day and said, “In your name will Israel pronounce this blessing: ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’ ” So he put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh. 21 Then Israel said to Joseph, “I am about to die, but God will be with you and take you back to the land of your fathers. 22 And to you I give one more ridge of land than to your brothers, the ridge I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow.”

Now I know that was a bit of scripture. I could have made you stand for all of that but I didn’t. But what does all of hat scripture have to do with us. How are you pastor going to make that apply. You’ve got an old man with cataracts dying and in his last moments wants to bless his son. How does this show that a perfect God can love and use a broken man like me.

I promise by the time I am done with the help of the Holy Spirit, I will make it all plain.

In this culture, big word alert, they practiced

Primogeniture = first born gets everything

I mean the first is the heir and the second is the spare. So the father of the family would bless the first born with his right hand. That is the holy hand. That is the blessed hand. The left hand is the subservient hand. It wrong to great someone with shaking of the left hand. A lot of that is still believed today. Where did Jesus sit? The right hand of the father. Every scripture is the right hand.

So when Joseph brings his kids in asking for blessing he lines the two sons up with his oldest on the right side of Jacob and the younger on the left side. But Jacob crosses his hands.

This by the way is the only time this happens in scripture and that is called, big word alert,

Hapax legomenon

We have been studying Genesis on Wednesday nights and I have told the folks about the law of first mentions. Go ahead Wednesday night fam. If you aren’t here on Wednesday why? What is more important? Ok I won’t get on that but you need to be here. We just break stuff down on Wednesdays. You can’t just read the bible, you have to read the bible. Law of first mentions means that when something is mentioned the first time in scripture, that is the closest to the meaning. So pay attention to the context of that.

A hapax legomenon means it is the only time it is mentioned so when it happens it is important.

Joseph gets mad at him. Joseph says no dad, that was the wrong kid. You were supposed to bless this one. I know your eyesight is bad so maybe you got it mixed up. But Look at Jacob, I know, my son, I know. He says it tries to make doubly sure that Joseph knows that he knows what he is doing. I am blessing both but the younger is going to be blessed more.

What this is called

Etiology

This is the cause of a later event. This is the reason that Ephraim becomes prominent. When you read these two names later on you will ready Manasseh and Ephraim. You would think they were joined at the hip. Ephraim actually get bigger. Ephraim is the one when Israel splits onto two nations. there was northern and southern. These two become tribes. Manasseh gets the name half tribe of Manasseh. the north split and they become known as Ephraim.

What this means is there are no second rate Christ Followers

We are all favorites. We are all equal. No more sitting at the kiddie table at thanksgiving. He establishes the criteria because he is in charge.

Romans 8:14–15 NKJV

14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”

WOW!!!!! That should get you shouting because that means despite your past, despite your future, despite your current present situation. You get to approach him as Dad. He is so much better than your earthly dad. No matter how good or bad your earthly father was or is, He is better.

Romans 8:16–17 NKJV

16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

I talked about this last week but I want to emphasize it again this week because I am tired of the enemy lying to God’s people and they keep falling for it.

Look at what Jacob says as the beginning of this whole process.

Genesis 48:5 NKJV

5 And now your two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine.

You know what he is doing. He is taking these two son and placing them as joint heirs with his first born. He is adopting them as his own. Now let me emphasize what i said last week. In Jewish tradition the adopted son cannot be disinherited or kicked out of the will. Once you are in, you are in. Again cause of celebration. You are coheirs. Broke down, busted, disgusted, sinful, sweaty human being stand to inherit everything Jesus inherits.

Jesus doesn’t go to the Father and say Dad, I know they are dirty humans but can they just stay. I like them. They can have the basement. No we get to sit where he sits. Eat what he eats. Gain what he gains. Have joy that he has. The peace that he has. the love that he has. We get that too.

Boy there is so much more. I’m not even going to have to teach this chapter when we get to it on Wednesday nights. I’ll be honest too that when my family and I went through this chapter. I was kind of tired and i know they were and I didn’t get all this to them.

I wanna give a little bit more on this. Just some history on Joseph. We are going to move into Chapter 49 because remember this is all one story. These two chapters probably happened within minutes of each other in real time anyway. He is about to tell the rest of his boys about themselves.

See Joseph was the son of the woman Jacob loved Rachel. He worked 14 years to get that woman then another 7 to take her home. So every time he looks at Joseph, he sees her. And when his sons showed him that coat with goat blood on it, they turned his entire world upside down. They upended him. They caused a lot of problems for him.

And towards the end of he life he finds out that Joseph was alive and his kids lied to him. Can you imagine the disrespect he felt. They lied to him for years. And some of yall can relate. For years they lied to you about your daddy. They lied to you about your mama for years. But listen to me decisions have consequences. Elections have consequences. Marriage has consequences. You grown now wanna tell your parents a thing or two. That has consequences. Sin has consequences. Write this down.

SIN ALWAYS MATTERS

Just because you are saved doesn’t mean the consequences stop. You can be saved all you want, but you go out here sleeping around with folks don’t blame the devil cuz you ended with something you didn’t want. We spiritualize things to absolve ourselves of the responsibilities of our decisions. it isn’t demonic at all. You can dance all over the church raise your hands shout hallelujah but if you don’t change your decisions you cant change your consequences.

You get hands laid on you. fall out in the spirit but if you don’t change, your life still gonna be the same.

You can decree and declare all the blessings you want. You can sit up here and talk about the blessing of Abraham all day long but until you learn to manage your check book God won’t give it to you because he knows it would just end up in the mall.

Some of yall so disappointed in your job but you chose it. You are so disappointed in where your life is but you chose to be there. You chose who you married. Yeah he was always that way you just didn’t wanna see it because you were in love and now that you are out of love he changed. Stop all that foolishness. Oh we gonna get real today.

Decisions have consequences.

Jacob was disrespected as a father. But most of his issues and disrespect was given because of his own decisions.

Look at this.

The bible tells us in Genesis 34 that Jacobs Son’s Simeon and Levi heard about how Shechem defiled their sister. So they went to the city to meet with the leader of the city. The boy that defiled her was the leaders son. So these two tell the boy and his father if you want to marry our daughter you have to become like us and get circumcised. Not just you but all the men of the city. Now listen brothers. Yall my boys. But it prolly ain’t gonna happen. If all of us have to go through that just so one of us can get married, you just gonna die a lonely man. Sorry ladies we will be back in a minute. I ain’t doing it. But here all the men go through with it.

While they were healing and hurting.

Genesis 34:25 NKJV

25 Now it came to pass on the third day, when they were in pain, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword and came boldly upon the city and killed all the males.

God does not like it when you take advantage of someone else’s weakness. So while they are trying to recover they killed all of them. Not just the one who defiled their sister. Jacob makes the deal wanting it all to be squashed but the sons deceived them.

And Jacob said nothing. Though he didn’t do it, isn’t he complicit. He didn’t try and stop them that we read of. He didn’t try and hinder it or nothing.

When you know you are complicit it is easier to point the finger at the other folks when you know you didn’t stand up like a man and do what you were supposed to. Amen

Oh Jacob, Joseph is dead? Why didn't you go down and look for him. You just gonna accept the fact with no body no real evidence that he is just dead. You blaming them for killing Joseph but I don’t see you going to look for him. I don’t read Jacob where you had a funeral. I don’t read where you held a search party. Nothing. You blaming them for something you weren’t man enough to handle. Oh you gonna talk a big game about Rachel but you ain’t doing nothing about your son being dead.

But while we sitting up here blaming and cursing in both of those two boys of his let us not forget that you were deceitful first Jacob. Your daddy was deceitful. Your wife was deceitful. Your mama was deceitful. Ain’t not ner a one of yall got any gumption to put an end to it and now you just passed it right along.

Jacob you tricked Esau out of his birthright. You put on Esau clothes and deceived your father for the blessing that wasn’t yours. Rebecca put you up to it. Laban was deceitful. So the culture of deception started with you.

So he is cutting his kids out left and right. Simeon and Levi yall don’t get nothing. Judah you shall be praised. The scepter shall not depart from you because you tried to save your brother. These kids just watched their daddy do it. How do you stop that culture. Because if you don’t break the things off your life you wil find yourself a victim of the culture around you. You will become what was modeled for you. Now when you become it, you want mercy but when i become it, you want to stone me.

Not excusing Simeon and Levi but they didn’t get there by themselves.

They took the sword and slew all the males. Only one man raped her but they killed everyone. And they killed his father and spoiled the city. they took everything!!! Took the ladies and the children. wrecked the place. Jacob says you troubled me to make me stink.

Jacob is scared. How they gonna get out of this.

And here in Genesis 49 he is still angry about it. Are you still angry. You come to church smiling but still angry. You raising your hands and still angry. You singing the songs but still angry.

Jacob calls them in verse 5 Instruments of cruelty.

I wanted to give you all of this and there is so much more but look at chapter 48.

Genesis 48:15–16 NIV

15 Then he blessed Joseph and said, “May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked faithfully, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, 16 the Angel who has delivered me from all harm —may he bless these boys. May they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they increase greatly on the earth.”

In this blessing is some powerful stuff that I truly did not catch until this week in preparation over it. He is we see talking to God. The same God that was with his father and grandfather. The God who has been with him his entire life. The God who fed me or protected him all the days of his life. this is who he is talking to. He states at the end of his life who his actual protector was. He realizes. The beginning of his life he was thought he had to do it. So he was scheming and conniving to make sure he got his. But by the end of his life he realizes that aint working and all the things he worked for weren’t what he really needed. He had everything in God and he is passing that on to these boys. Then this next part really floored me.

The angel who has redeemed me from all evil. Yall see that? Shout out to last spring lift group. Who is this talking about right here? Is it an angel or The Angel? Verse 16 look at it. What is the clue ? The capital A. that dictates it is not a normal Angel. It is a reference to Jesus. Jacob says here I am dying and I realize that it is Jesus that has redeemed me from all of my failures. Jesus is who I am going to pass on.

Come on up worship team.

Jacob says, I know what my past has been. I knw what kind of a man i was. What kind of father I was. I know what kind of failure I have been and hwat I modeled in front of my kids. I know who they became and that is wy I am not going to bless them. I am going to pic these two right here because they have been away from me and havent learned from me. they are special and I am going to leave them the best thing that I can leave them. Jesus.

It is not too late for you. I know you haven’t been the best wife. I know you havent been the best husband. I knw you havent been the best friend or the best boss or worker. I kow yo have some limitations but if even on his death bed jacob can leave Jesus you still have time left and Jesus can redeem it all.

Ephraiam making fruitful

Manasseh making forgetful