1 00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:05,420 Well, good morning everyone. Please open your Bible at Hebrews in chapter 11 as we’re continuing 2 00:00:05,420 –> 00:00:12,340 our series, Living By Faith. We’re learning what a life of faith looks like, and we’ve 3 00:00:12,340 –> 00:00:18,340 seen so far that faith listens to God, that it walks with God, that it fears God, that 4 00:00:18,340 –> 00:00:24,900 faith obeys God, that faith receives from God, and faith submits to God. Now, today 5 00:00:24,900 –> 00:00:32,040 we’re coming then to the seventh feature of faith, and it is that faith worships God. 6 00:00:32,040 –> 00:00:39,279 We’re going to see that together from the marvelous story of Jacob. Verse 21 of Hebrew, 7 00:00:39,279 –> 00:00:47,340 chapter 11 is our focus by faith. Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, 8 00:00:47,860 –> 00:00:56,000 bowing in worship over the head of his staff. Now the keyword here, very obviously, is worship, 9 00:00:56,000 –> 00:01:04,300 bowing and worship over the head of his staff. Jacob ended his days worshiping, and we’re 10 00:01:04,300 –> 00:01:09,519 told particularly here that he was worshiping while he was leaning on his stick. There’s 11 00:01:09,519 –> 00:01:15,239 a beautiful picture really. Here’s an old man, and he’s so unsteady on his feet that 12 00:01:15,339 –> 00:01:19,160 he needs a stick to hold him up. He can’t raise his hands in worship because if he did, 13 00:01:19,160 –> 00:01:23,839 he would fall over. He has to hold on to his stick. He holds on to his stick with both 14 00:01:23,839 –> 00:01:31,800 hands, but as he leans on his staff, he worships God. 15 00:01:31,800 –> 00:01:37,519 That scene, beautiful though it is, is hardly the first scene that would come to your mind 16 00:01:37,519 –> 00:01:42,459 when you think about the life of Jacob. Many of you will know the story of Jacob’s life 17 00:01:42,500 –> 00:01:49,500 very well, and there are other stories that you would think would be more quickly remembered, 18 00:01:50,260 –> 00:01:56,339 like for example, By faith, Jacob wrestled with God and said, I will not let you go unless 19 00:01:56,339 –> 00:02:03,339 you bless me. But that amazing story gets entirely passed over, and what is recorded 20 00:02:04,360 –> 00:02:11,360 here as of special importance for us is the relatively obscure occasion at the end of 21 00:02:11,360 –> 00:02:18,360 Jacob’s life, where he blessed the sons of Joseph and he worshipped, leaning on his staff. 22 00:02:20,460 –> 00:02:26,039 And what makes it even more surprising that this is what is remembered is, that this is 23 00:02:26,039 –> 00:02:33,039 not a story about the continuation of the line into which the Lord Jesus Christ would 24 00:02:33,380 –> 00:02:40,380 be born. Remember, we saw last time that when Isaac blessed Jacob, what he was doing had 25 00:02:41,279 –> 00:02:47,100 great significance because he was announcing the line into which the Lord Jesus Christ 26 00:02:47,100 –> 00:02:52,979 would eventually be born. But that is not the case here. Notice that it says Jacob blessed 27 00:02:52,979 –> 00:02:59,979 the sons of Joseph, and Jesus was not born into the line of Joseph, Jesus was the Lion 28 00:03:00,979 –> 00:03:07,080 of the Tribe of Judah, he was born into that tribe and so this is not about identifying 29 00:03:07,080 –> 00:03:11,539 the line into which the Savior would be born. The focus here is simply on an old man who 30 00:03:11,539 –> 00:03:18,539 was able to worship, and he did it when he blessed his grandchildren. 31 00:03:20,520 –> 00:03:27,240 Worship then, is one of the fruits of Faith to which Hebrews especially draws our attention 32 00:03:27,240 –> 00:03:34,240 and here’s what we’re going to learn today, that where there is faith, there will be Worship. 33 00:03:34,679 –> 00:03:41,679 Where there is faith, there will be Worship. Now let me remind you as briefly as I can 34 00:03:41,720 –> 00:03:47,100 of the story of Jacob and I know that many of you know this wonderful and fascinating 35 00:03:47,100 –> 00:03:54,100 story very well. When Jacob fled from home in fear of what Esau might due to him after 36 00:03:56,679 –> 00:04:02,779 the great deception that he perpetrated in regards to getting the blessing from his father, 37 00:04:02,779 –> 00:04:08,979 Jacob went to work for a man by the name of Laban. Laban had two daughters and Jacob 38 00:04:08,979 –> 00:04:15,580 fell in love with one of them whose name was Rachel. He served Laban for seven years in 39 00:04:15,580 –> 00:04:22,579 order to win Rachel’s hand in marriage. But when the day of the wedding came, Laban 40 00:04:23,980 –> 00:04:30,980 played a cruel trick on Jacob. The bride behind the veil on the wedding day was not Rachel 41 00:04:33,100 –> 00:04:40,100 but her sister Leah. Jacob had been deceived and here is the point, he was deceived in 42 00:04:40,940 –> 00:04:47,940 a way that was the mirror image of the deception he had played towards his father. In other 43 00:04:49,540 –> 00:04:56,540 words, and you see this in the story of Jacob, God taught Jacob to hate his own sin by allowing 44 00:04:56,799 –> 00:05:03,799 him to feel the painful effects that that sin brought into his own life. And the Bible 45 00:05:04,880 –> 00:05:11,200 actually makes it clear that God often deals with us in a way that directly reflects the 46 00:05:11,200 –> 00:05:18,140 way we have dealt with others. You see this, for example, in Psalm 18, where we read, with 47 00:05:18,140 –> 00:05:25,140 the merciful you show yourself merciful, with the blameless you show yourself blameless. 48 00:05:27,359 –> 00:05:34,359 With the purified you show yourself pure and, wait for it, with the crooked you show yourself 49 00:05:36,619 –> 00:05:43,619 tortuous, tortuous. Now you see this very clearly in the life of Jacob. Jacob the great 50 00:05:47,720 –> 00:05:54,720 deceiver becomes the man whose life is shaped by being deceived. He got a taste of his own 51 00:05:55,600 –> 00:06:02,600 medicine, and that is how he came eventually to hate his own sin. And do you see the same 52 00:06:03,600 –> 00:06:07,260 principle that God often deals with us in the way that we have dealt with others in 53 00:06:07,260 –> 00:06:12,260 the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Sermon on the Mount. He says, with the judgments 54 00:06:12,260 –> 00:06:18,339 you pronounce you will be judged. So be very careful about the judgments you pronounce 55 00:06:18,339 –> 00:06:24,079 because, with the measure you use, well that’s exactly how it’s going to be measured to 56 00:06:24,179 –> 00:06:30,779 you. So here’s the conclusion of that, Jesus says, whatever you wish others would do to 57 00:06:30,779 –> 00:06:37,779 you, you do it also to them, for this is the law and the prophets. This is the story of 58 00:06:38,339 –> 00:06:45,339 Jacob in a nutshell, God brought him to repentance by repaying him in his own coin. What Jacob 59 00:06:45,519 –> 00:06:52,519 did to Isaac, his father – well Laban, the father-in-law did to him. His own sin 60 00:06:57,980 –> 00:07:04,980 rebounded into his own life until he hated what he used to love. Now Jacob, as we follow 61 00:07:05,019 –> 00:07:12,019 this story, worked then for Laban for another seven years and then finally Laban gave him 62 00:07:16,339 –> 00:07:23,339 the hand of Rachel in marriage. And needless to say, this was not then a happy family going 63 00:07:24,660 –> 00:07:31,100 forward. Leah was blessed with children, just one after another – first, Reuben, then 64 00:07:31,260 –> 00:07:38,260 Simeon, then Levi, then Issacher, then Zebulon – and after all of that, finally, Rachel 65 00:07:38,880 –> 00:07:45,880 conceived and gave birth to Joseph. And Jacob had a special love for Joseph because, of 66 00:07:48,619 –> 00:07:55,619 course, he was Rachel’s firstborn. And Jacob showed this special love for Joseph famously 67 00:07:56,619 –> 00:08:03,619 by giving him a coat of many colours. So it is not surprising that the brothers 68 00:08:04,660 –> 00:08:11,540 resented Joseph, and their resentment became worse after Joseph told them about a dream 69 00:08:11,540 –> 00:08:18,339 that he had in which they bowed down to him. The reason he told them that dream was not 70 00:08:18,339 –> 00:08:23,339 arrogance, it was that this was indeed a revelation of God. It was the word of God, this was what 71 00:08:23,399 –> 00:08:28,299 was going to happen, and the brothers needed to know that this was from God when it did 72 00:08:28,299 –> 00:08:35,299 happen. But of course they did not like the word of God and so they hated Joseph all the 73 00:08:35,419 –> 00:08:42,419 more! Well one day, as most of you know very well, Jacob sent Joseph to visit his brothers 74 00:08:42,419 –> 00:08:47,859 who were posturing their sheep. The brothers were determined to get rid of Joseph and so 75 00:08:47,900 –> 00:08:54,900 they sold him to traders who took him to Egypt. But the brothers kept Joseph’s coat and dipped 76 00:08:55,599 –> 00:09:01,780 it in the blood of an animal. Then they brought it to their father Jacob and they said, �Now 77 00:09:01,780 –> 00:09:07,419 this we have found, please identify whether this is your son�s robe or not.� 78 00:09:07,419 –> 00:09:14,419 Jacob, the deceiver, had been deceived by Laban and now he was deceived by his brother. 79 00:09:17,859 –> 00:09:24,859 His own sons. And this deception was the most painful of all and the pain of it shaped his 80 00:09:27,419 –> 00:09:34,419 life for years. Jacob looked at the coat covered in blood, and he said, �It is my son�s 81 00:09:37,159 –> 00:09:44,159 robe. A fierce animal has devoured him. Joseph is, without doubt, torn to pieces.� 82 00:09:45,159 –> 00:09:52,159 And at that point, Jacob tore his own clothes. He covered himself in sackcloth, and he mourned, 83 00:09:56,520 –> 00:10:03,520 and this went on for days. The brothers began to think that it would never end. The scriptures 84 00:10:04,260 –> 00:10:11,260 say, �All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him,� but he refused 85 00:10:11,919 –> 00:10:18,320 to be comforted, and he said, �No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son mourning.� You 86 00:10:18,320 –> 00:10:24,640 see what he�s saying? �I�m going to go to the grave in misery!� �I�ll never 87 00:10:24,640 –> 00:10:31,119 get over this. I�m going to spend the rest of my life in mourning. There�s no joy for 88 00:10:31,119 –> 00:10:36,719 me now. There�s no future for me now. There is nothing for me to look forward to now.� 89 00:10:37,719 –> 00:10:45,900 was devastated and, losing Joseph, he felt he had nothing left to live for. 90 00:10:45,900 –> 00:10:54,059 Now, of course, Joseph was alive and well in Egypt, and God blessed him and he rose 91 00:10:54,059 –> 00:11:00,780 to become the most powerful person in the Land, second only to Pharaoh. This happened 92 00:11:00,799 –> 00:11:09,219 because some years later there was a widespread and a devastating famine. And before it arrived, 93 00:11:09,219 –> 00:11:15,880 God had revealed that the famine would come in a dream that was given to Pharaoh. God 94 00:11:15,880 –> 00:11:23,320 enabled Joseph to interpret that dream. And after that, Pharaoh put Joseph in charge of 95 00:11:23,320 –> 00:11:28,820 preparing for the famine by storing up grain in the years of plenty so that there would 96 00:11:29,460 –> 00:11:34,419 to feed the people, and more beside, in the years of famine. 97 00:11:34,419 –> 00:11:41,419 So when the years of famine came in Canaan, Jacob sent Joseph’s brothers to Egypt. And 98 00:11:41,679 –> 00:11:47,880 of course when they arrived they had no idea whatsoever that the man in charge of the storehouses 99 00:11:47,880 –> 00:11:54,820 of grain was the brother they had sold as a slave. And when Joseph revealed himself, 100 00:11:54,820 –> 00:12:01,820 they were absolutely terrified. But wonderfully and beautifully, Joseph forgave them and told 101 00:12:03,179 –> 00:12:09,780 them to bring their father Jacob to Egypt so that he could see him again. Well, the 102 00:12:09,780 –> 00:12:16,780 brothers returned to their father Jacob and told him, Joseph’s alive. He’s in Egypt. 103 00:12:16,780 –> 00:12:23,780 God has raised him to a position of power and authority in the land. Can you imagine? 104 00:12:26,299 –> 00:12:33,299 After years of inconsolable sorrow over the loss of his dearly loved son, Jacob now hears 105 00:12:34,200 –> 00:12:41,200 that his son is alive and scripture records that when he heard this his heart became numb 106 00:12:41,520 –> 00:12:48,520 for he did not believe them. How could this possibly be? Joseph was torn to pieces by 107 00:12:51,679 –> 00:12:58,080 a wild animal years ago, I know it because I saw the blood on his multicolored coat, 108 00:12:58,080 –> 00:13:05,080 but you see now the brothers have to make a full confession. They have to tell him the 109 00:13:05,440 –> 00:13:12,440 truth of what they did. And when they tell him that they deceived their own father, Jacob 110 00:13:16,299 –> 00:13:23,299 realized that he had lived in pain and in misery all these years because he had believed 111 00:13:24,080 –> 00:13:31,080 a lie. Well, Joseph sent wagons to bring the family to Egypt and Jacob said, Joseph, my 112 00:13:31,960 –> 00:13:38,960 son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die. 113 00:13:41,080 –> 00:13:48,080 There’s great sadness in these words. Joseph’s alive, but it’s too late for me now. 114 00:13:52,479 –> 00:13:59,479 My life’s over. Nothing can give me back the years that I have lost. I’ll go and see 115 00:14:00,359 –> 00:14:06,520 him, but after that I’m done. 116 00:14:06,520 –> 00:14:11,640 And so when the reunion between father and son finally takes place in Egypt, it is hardly 117 00:14:11,640 –> 00:14:17,880 the celebration that you might expect. When Joseph meets his father in Egypt we read that 118 00:14:17,880 –> 00:14:24,880 Joseph presented himself to Jacob and fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while 119 00:14:25,140 –> 00:14:32,140 and Israel, that is Jacob said to Joseph, now let me die since I have seen your face 120 00:14:36,960 –> 00:14:43,080 and know that you are still alive. Now if that had been me, if I had been Joseph, I 121 00:14:43,080 –> 00:14:48,979 would have said really dad? Is that all you can say? Is that the best you can do? I mean 122 00:14:49,299 –> 00:14:55,299 son? It is so good to see you after all these years. What about son? Let’s now at least 123 00:14:55,299 –> 00:15:02,299 treasure every day that we have together. No, nothing like that. Instead, just a miserable 124 00:15:02,299 –> 00:15:06,900 old man who says now let me die. But God had something better in store for Jacob 125 00:15:06,900 –> 00:15:20,900 than dying on arriba. The scripture tells us that Jacob lived in the land of Egypt 126 00:15:20,900 –> 00:15:31,419 17 years. God extended his life. And during these years there was a remarkable change 127 00:15:31,419 –> 00:15:40,239 in Jacob in which he moved from regret to worship. And that’s what Hebrews wants us 128 00:15:40,239 –> 00:15:47,580 to see and to remember from his story. Now we know that a great change took place 129 00:15:47,580 –> 00:15:54,419 during these years because Jacob gave two descriptions of his life and they’re completely 130 00:15:55,239 –> 00:16:02,260 different. One, the first description he gave when he arrived in Egypt, and the second description 131 00:16:02,260 –> 00:16:07,539 he gave in the passage that was read for us today at the end of his life after the 17 132 00:16:07,539 –> 00:16:13,000 years, they are so different that they show the remarkable change that God brought in 133 00:16:13,000 –> 00:16:20,000 this man, moving him from regret to worship. The first description of his life you find 134 00:16:20,000 –> 00:16:27,000 in Genesis chapter 47 and verse 9. Jacob arrives in Egypt, and Pharaoh comes to welcome 135 00:16:28,840 –> 00:16:35,559 him and asks him, How old are you, which might seem a little bit of a rude question today. 136 00:16:35,559 –> 00:16:40,479 It was actually a question of great respect because age was a mark of dignity, and in 137 00:16:40,479 –> 00:16:45,280 asking how old are you he was saying, Well, now you’re a very senior person. How senior 138 00:16:45,280 –> 00:16:52,280 are you? And here’s how Jacob responded to that generous question. He said, The days 139 00:16:58,679 –> 00:17:05,680 of the years of my sojourning are a hundred and thirty years. Few and evil have been the 140 00:17:07,959 –> 00:17:14,959 days of the years of my life, and they have not attained, To the days of the years of 141 00:17:14,959 –> 00:17:21,959 the life of my fathers in the days of their sojourning. Now this is a man full of regret. 142 00:17:25,420 –> 00:17:32,420 Pharaoh says how old are you. Jacob says, Well, 130 years, but that’s not much. And 143 00:17:33,640 –> 00:17:39,439 if you put my years alongside my father Isaac or my grandfather Abraham, I really don’t 144 00:17:39,660 –> 00:17:45,640 amount to very much next to them at all. And besides, Pharaoh, if you were to ask me to 145 00:17:45,640 –> 00:17:51,380 pick one word to describe the years of my life, I think the one word I would choose 146 00:17:51,380 –> 00:17:58,380 to describe my life is the word evil. Think about that. 147 00:17:59,479 –> 00:18:06,479 Looking back, Pharaoh, I wish I had chosen a different path. My years have passed so 148 00:18:06,479 –> 00:18:12,760 quickly and I wish I had done more with them. Pharaoh, you ask me about the years of my 149 00:18:12,760 –> 00:18:19,760 life. Here’s my response. They’re few and they’ve been evil. There’s not a lot 150 00:18:19,760 –> 00:18:26,760 of faith there and there’s certainly no worship there. 151 00:18:27,760 –> 00:18:34,760 And if you find yourself today in church in a place of regret, I want to say to you, 152 00:18:37,199 –> 00:18:44,199 that your story need not end there. Joseph’s story did not end there and your story need 153 00:18:48,199 –> 00:18:55,199 not end there either. Because what Hebrews reminds us of is that during these years in 154 00:18:56,040 –> 00:19:03,040 Egypt, the faith that almost seems to have died in Jacob, wonderfully revived, and when 155 00:19:03,780 –> 00:19:10,300 faith in him revived, Hebrews tells us what happened. Jacob worshipped. Because where 156 00:19:10,300 –> 00:19:14,979 there is faith there will be worship. 157 00:19:14,979 –> 00:19:21,979 And so when you turn over to Genesis, chapter 48 to the second testimony that Jacob gives, 158 00:19:22,140 –> 00:19:27,040 the second description of his life, you’ll see that it’s entirely different after the 159 00:19:27,040 –> 00:19:33,760 seventeen years. We find him saying this, Genesis 46 verse 15, the god before whom my 160 00:19:33,760 –> 00:19:40,760 fathers Abraham and Isaac walked. The god who has been my shepherd all my life long 161 00:19:41,839 –> 00:19:48,839 to this day. The angel who has redeemed me from all evil. Bless the boys. And in them 162 00:19:51,719 –> 00:19:55,599 let my name be carried on. 163 00:19:56,040 –> 00:20:01,760 Now, do you see how different that is? Jacob arrived in Egypt full of regret. My years, 164 00:20:01,760 –> 00:20:08,300 Pharaoh, they’ve been few and they have been evil. But 17 years later, this man looks back 165 00:20:08,300 –> 00:20:15,300 on the same life and he now says, I now see that God has been my shepherd all my life 166 00:20:16,119 –> 00:20:22,359 long. And yes, I’ve experienced a great deal of evil, but he’s the one who’s redeemed 167 00:20:22,420 –> 00:20:29,420 me from it all. Evil has not had the last word in my life, God has and that’s why he 168 00:20:30,500 –> 00:20:36,500 worships. Now, if your faith is burning low this really 169 00:20:36,500 –> 00:20:43,500 is a story for you. If you live with a lot of regret this is a story for you. If you 170 00:20:45,099 –> 00:20:48,420 look back on your life and you say now it’s all gone so quickly and I wish I had made 171 00:20:48,420 –> 00:20:53,979 different decisions from the ones that I did this story is for you. Hebrew is reminding 172 00:20:53,979 –> 00:21:00,979 us that Jacob made a wonderful journey from regret to worship and you can make Jacob’s 173 00:21:01,920 –> 00:21:08,099 journey to and Hebrews tells us that the way he made the journey from regret to worship 174 00:21:08,099 –> 00:21:15,099 was by faith because where there is faith there will be worship. 175 00:21:15,380 –> 00:21:22,380 Now how did faith move Jacob from regret to worship? How can faith move us from regret 176 00:21:26,160 –> 00:21:32,140 to worship? How can faith bring us to a place where we have an altogether different view 177 00:21:32,140 –> 00:21:39,140 of the past years of our lives? Two things. The story of Jacob as it is presented to us 178 00:21:40,079 –> 00:21:47,079 in Hebrews teaches us first that faith worships because it receives God’s forgiveness. 179 00:21:49,420 –> 00:21:56,420 By faith Jacob when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship 180 00:21:58,020 –> 00:22:05,020 over the head of his staff. Now I love this picture of Jacob. 181 00:22:05,060 –> 00:22:12,060 Now I love this picture of Jacob leaning on his staff. 182 00:22:12,280 –> 00:22:19,280 Herees a man remembering, he’s looking back, he’s reflecting. 183 00:22:19,280 –> 00:22:23,780 His minds wandering through the various scenes of his 184 00:22:23,780 –> 00:22:28,739 extraordinary and remarkable life. And when Jacob looked back on his life 185 00:22:28,739 –> 00:22:29,959 he would of course at that and he would of course remember 186 00:22:29,959 –> 00:22:33,619 how he had deceived his father, who could ever forget that? 187 00:22:33,619 –> 00:22:36,599 And he would of course remember how 188 00:22:36,599 –> 00:22:42,579 he had been deceived first by Laban, and then by his own sons. 189 00:22:42,880 –> 00:22:47,500 And all the pain that had come from these things who could ever forget these things. 190 00:22:47,819 –> 00:22:55,819 His entire life had been shaped by a mirror image of his own sin. 191 00:22:55,819 –> 00:23:02,319 And old sins do have a way of catching up with you as the years move on. 192 00:23:02,319 –> 00:23:06,599 You lean in on your stick or perhaps 193 00:23:06,599 –> 00:23:11,400 you’re just sitting in your chair or you’re lying in your bed and you say why 194 00:23:11,400 –> 00:23:21,239 did I do that? What a fool I was. What in the world was I thinking about? 195 00:23:21,739 –> 00:23:29,579 And yet, Hebrews tells us that when Jacob leaned on his staff at the end of his 196 00:23:29,579 –> 00:23:36,300 life he was able to worship. And there’s only one way that a man whose life has 197 00:23:36,300 –> 00:23:42,459 been filled with regret can worship and that is when he knows that he is 198 00:23:42,459 –> 00:23:50,319 forgiven. Jacob bows his head in worship because he knows that God does not hold 199 00:23:50,319 –> 00:23:57,040 his sins against him. God has forgiven him. God has cleansed him. 200 00:23:57,040 –> 00:24:04,420 God has restored him. God has worked through the pain of his life to bring 201 00:24:04,420 –> 00:24:10,140 him to a place where he really hates what he used to love. And through it all 202 00:24:10,140 –> 00:24:17,400 God’s love has never let him go. And I’m saying from the Bible today that Jacob’s 203 00:24:17,500 –> 00:24:24,500 journey from regret to worship can also be yours. Listen to the promise of God 204 00:24:24,500 –> 00:24:30,599 and listen to the condition that tells us how the promise can be yours. 205 00:24:30,599 –> 00:24:39,719 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to 206 00:24:39,719 –> 00:24:47,739 cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now most of us know that verse well the 207 00:24:47,739 –> 00:24:55,880 danger is we forget the first line. There’s something for us to do if we 208 00:24:55,880 –> 00:25:02,319 confess our sins. It’s not enough simply to say brothers and sisters well of 209 00:25:02,319 –> 00:25:09,500 course God forgives so all is well. We must confess. That is we must draw near 210 00:25:09,500 –> 00:25:16,319 to God in repentance and the freedom that comes and the joy of worship comes 211 00:25:16,319 –> 00:25:25,000 when we know that we are forgiven and that comes when we repent. Guilt is 212 00:25:25,000 –> 00:25:32,199 lifted and cleansing comes when we draw near to God in repentance and confess. 213 00:25:32,199 –> 00:25:38,699 Without that we just carry on with a continuing sense of regret. And some of 214 00:25:38,800 –> 00:25:44,180 you may know what that is like. You come to worship and you think about your own 215 00:25:44,180 –> 00:25:48,180 sins. You look back on what you might have done, what you might have been, and 216 00:25:48,180 –> 00:25:52,699 you feel miserable. Nothing inhibits worship more than a conscience that has 217 00:25:52,699 –> 00:26:02,920 not yet been cleansed. Robert Bruce says this when there is no repentance, 218 00:26:02,920 –> 00:26:10,920 our sins are remembered. That’s really important. 219 00:26:10,920 –> 00:26:21,660 When there is no repentance, our sins are remembered. And if you want a biblical 220 00:26:21,660 –> 00:26:26,920 example of that, that’s exactly how it was for Reuben, Jacob’s oldest son. If you 221 00:26:26,920 –> 00:26:32,680 turn over just a page from where we were reading in Genesis 48-chapter 49, you’ll 222 00:26:32,680 –> 00:26:38,640 find that right at the very end of Jacob’s life, the sin of his oldest son Reuben is 223 00:26:38,640 –> 00:26:46,300 brought to memory. Genesis 49 and verse 3, Reuben, you are my firstborn, unstable as 224 00:26:46,300 –> 00:26:52,939 water, you shall not have pre-eminence because you went up to your father’s bed, then you 225 00:26:52,939 –> 00:26:58,239 defiled it. The references to a particularly vile sin that had been committed by Reuben 226 00:26:59,079 –> 00:27:07,800 So you say, now wait a minute, that was years ago. Why does Jacob bring it up now? And the 227 00:27:07,800 –> 00:27:15,619 answer is Jacob was speaking as a prophet. And the sprit of God brought this to Jacob’s 228 00:27:15,619 –> 00:27:22,579 mind. God was saying to Reuben, Reuben, your sin is still before the Lord. You need to 229 00:27:22,579 –> 00:27:31,060 repent in all these years you never have. You’ve simply moved on. 230 00:27:31,060 –> 00:27:39,300 Brothers and sisters, we cannot be cleansed from guilt and shame by simply moving on. 231 00:27:39,300 –> 00:27:48,060 If we confess our sins, there is something for us to do. 232 00:27:48,060 –> 00:27:57,780 But here is something you can do. You don’t need to live year after year in regret. 233 00:27:57,780 –> 00:28:04,680 You can take ownership. You can face the truth. 234 00:28:04,719 –> 00:28:10,219 You can confess to God. You can repent. 235 00:28:10,219 –> 00:28:16,160 You can do what needs to be done with regards to confession to others who have been directly 236 00:28:16,160 –> 00:28:20,680 hurt by what you have done. 237 00:28:20,680 –> 00:28:26,479 And then this marvelous promise will be yours. 238 00:28:26,479 –> 00:28:29,739 If we confess our sins. 239 00:28:29,739 –> 00:28:42,520 He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 240 00:28:42,520 –> 00:28:46,800 That promise is so good it is very hard to take in. 241 00:28:46,800 –> 00:28:52,319 It takes faith to believe it and faith staggers before it. 242 00:28:52,319 –> 00:28:58,900 But faith believes what God has revealed and faith trusts what God has promised. 243 00:28:58,900 –> 00:29:07,319 And Jacob was able to worship at the end of his life because faith receives God’s 244 00:29:07,319 –> 00:29:08,500 forgiveness. 245 00:29:08,500 –> 00:29:17,160 And forgiveness can be yours in through the Lord Jesus Christ and when by faith you know 246 00:29:17,160 –> 00:29:25,520 that you are forgiven, well then, you will worship. 247 00:29:25,619 –> 00:29:29,420 You will worship. 248 00:29:29,420 –> 00:29:32,079 And there’s one more thing here, just these two things today. 249 00:29:32,079 –> 00:29:38,260 Faith worships first because it receives God’s forgiveness and second faith worships because 250 00:29:38,260 –> 00:29:40,920 it believes God’s promise. 251 00:29:40,920 –> 00:29:49,520 By faith, Jacob when dying blessed each of the sons of Joseph bowing in worship over 252 00:29:49,520 –> 00:29:52,540 the head of his staff. 253 00:29:52,540 –> 00:29:58,540 Now think about this, Joseph’s sons, Joseph is the highest ranking official in all of 254 00:29:58,540 –> 00:30:00,859 Egypt second only to Pharaoh. 255 00:30:00,859 –> 00:30:10,060 Joseph’s sons by definition were as princes in Egypt, they had it made, they had it all. 256 00:30:10,060 –> 00:30:16,819 And old Jacob, he arrived in Egypt as a refugee, he had nothing, but what did the old man have 257 00:30:16,819 –> 00:30:21,939 that he could give to these very privileged boys? 258 00:30:21,939 –> 00:30:27,339 Well of course Jacob had something that was worth more than all the treasures of Egypt. 259 00:30:27,339 –> 00:30:32,939 He had a promise, he had the promise of God. 260 00:30:32,939 –> 00:30:38,079 He passed it on by faith because that is all he had, he had faith in a promise and he, 261 00:30:38,079 –> 00:30:43,780 by faith, said this promise also boys, is yours, it’s a promise that God will give 262 00:30:43,780 –> 00:30:49,000 you a life in a land that he will give. 263 00:30:49,040 –> 00:30:54,760 And we read the story from Genesis 48, of how Joseph heard that his father was ill, 264 00:30:54,760 –> 00:31:02,660 he’s in his last days now, and so Joseph brings his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh so 265 00:31:02,660 –> 00:31:10,979 that the old man can pass on a blessing to them before he dies and Jacob says this to 266 00:31:10,979 –> 00:31:17,880 Joseph, now your two sons who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to 267 00:31:17,880 –> 00:31:30,219 you in Egypt they are mine, Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine as Reuben and Simeon are. 268 00:31:30,219 –> 00:31:32,619 Now you see what is happening here? 269 00:31:32,619 –> 00:31:41,459 Jacob adopted the two sons of Joseph as if they were his own. 270 00:31:41,479 –> 00:31:49,819 And what that meant was that Ephraim and Manasseh became the heads of tribes that were descended 271 00:31:49,819 –> 00:31:52,180 from them. 272 00:31:52,180 –> 00:31:57,219 Remember each of Jacob’s sons became the head of a tribe. 273 00:31:57,219 –> 00:32:03,199 So Reuben, well the sons of Reuben were the Reubenites and the sons of Simeon were the 274 00:32:03,199 –> 00:32:06,579 Simeonites and the sons of Levi were the Levites. 275 00:32:06,579 –> 00:32:10,060 But the children of Joseph weren’t referred to as Josephites. 276 00:32:10,060 –> 00:32:11,339 Why? 277 00:32:12,260 –> 00:32:18,180 Well, because these two boys, Ephraim and Manasseh, were adopted by Jacob as his own 278 00:32:18,180 –> 00:32:22,660 and thereby became the heads of their own tribes. 279 00:32:22,660 –> 00:32:29,300 As if they were Jacob’s own sons, they were brought into a direct share in the promise 280 00:32:29,300 –> 00:32:31,479 of God. 281 00:32:31,479 –> 00:32:38,979 And so generations later when God’s people entered into the Promise Land, you remember 282 00:32:39,280 –> 00:32:46,579 that it was divided into 12 regions and portions of land was given to each of the 12 tribes. 283 00:32:46,579 –> 00:32:50,699 But, if you look at a map, and there’s also often one of these maps at the back of 284 00:32:50,699 –> 00:32:57,260 a Bible, you will see, if you look at how the land was divided, that there are two surprises. 285 00:32:57,260 –> 00:33:01,920 The first is that no land was given to the sons of Levi. 286 00:33:01,920 –> 00:33:05,619 There’s no area of the map that’s given to the Levites. 287 00:33:06,500 –> 00:33:11,140 And the reason for that, of course, is that the special calling of the Levites was to 288 00:33:11,160 –> 00:33:16,260 serve the other tribes by leading God’s people in worship, so they were only given places 289 00:33:16,260 –> 00:33:21,160 to live, they were not given areas of land, and their brothers and sisters from the other 290 00:33:21,160 –> 00:33:25,760 tribes supported them in the special calling of their work. 291 00:33:25,959 –> 00:33:35,540 The second surprise is that Joseph, the firstborn of Rachel, receives a double portion. 292 00:33:35,540 –> 00:33:41,319 Jacob said to Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh are mine. 293 00:33:41,319 –> 00:33:47,760 So when Joshua leads God’s people into the promised land, there is not one portion of 294 00:33:47,760 –> 00:33:53,699 land that is given to Joseph, there are two portions of land, one given to the children 295 00:33:53,699 –> 00:34:00,099 of Ephraim and one given to the children of Manasseh, because they had been adopted as 296 00:34:00,099 –> 00:34:03,680 if they were Jacob’s own sons. 297 00:34:03,680 –> 00:34:10,500 Now think about this, what a moment this is. 298 00:34:10,500 –> 00:34:20,239 Jacob adopts these two boys and by adopting them, he makes them direct sharers in the 299 00:34:20,239 –> 00:34:23,679 promise of God. 300 00:34:23,699 –> 00:34:30,780 Always you’re both born to great wealth but hear this from an old and dying man, however 301 00:34:30,780 –> 00:34:37,419 full and rich your lives may be here in Egypt this is not where you belong. 302 00:34:37,419 –> 00:34:44,600 You belong to another land, a land you have never seen and though you will prosper in 303 00:34:44,600 –> 00:34:51,020 Egypt, never forget what really matters, you belong to the people of God. 304 00:34:51,020 –> 00:34:58,719 You are heirs of God’s promise and your destiny is in another land. 305 00:34:58,719 –> 00:35:05,959 Jacob gave these boys a direct share in the promise of God by adopting them into his own 306 00:35:05,959 –> 00:35:12,459 family and do you see that that is exactly what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. 307 00:35:12,899 –> 00:35:22,439 Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 6, the mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs. 308 00:35:22,439 –> 00:35:27,199 They’re members of the same body, that is they’ve been brought into the same body 309 00:35:27,199 –> 00:35:32,239 as the twelve tribes of Jacob, and they’re partakers in the same promise. 310 00:35:33,219 –> 00:35:41,159 How, in Jesus Christ and through the gospel, we live our lives here in this 311 00:35:41,219 –> 00:35:47,479 world as Ephraim and Manasseh lived their lives in Egypt, but God has given to you 312 00:35:47,479 –> 00:35:52,419 in Jesus Christ through the gospel an inheritance that can never spoil or 313 00:35:52,419 –> 00:35:58,340 fade. You belong to another world and faith 314 00:35:58,340 –> 00:36:05,699 worships because it believes God’s promise. Now, do you see that this is a 315 00:36:05,699 –> 00:36:12,340 story full of hope for us today? Here’s Jacob and he arrives in Egypt full 316 00:36:12,340 –> 00:36:20,699 of regret, but he ends his days not with regret but with worship. And why does he 317 00:36:20,699 –> 00:36:29,060 end his days with worship? Because faith receives God’s forgiveness and faith 318 00:36:29,540 –> 00:36:38,959 believes God’s promise. And where there is faith there will be worship. Let’s pray 319 00:36:38,959 –> 00:36:44,800 together, shall we? Our Father in heaven, please make us the 320 00:36:44,800 –> 00:36:52,719 worshipers that you are seeking. Make us true worshippers because by faith we 321 00:36:52,719 –> 00:37:02,199 receive your forgiveness and by faith we believe your promise, through Jesus 322 00:37:02,199 –> 00:37:05,639 Christ our Lord, Amen.