Blessings Accepted - Genesis 48:1-22 - Sunday Sermon

Good morning.

Welcome to Boon Fairy if you're new. And

uh whether you're new or been attending

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If you never have and you're new, uh we

have a gift card for you just as a way

of showing our excitement that you're

here. You're very welcome at Boon Fairy

and I hope you feel like you just become

part of the family. Really quickly, um

another announcement I want to make, as

you know, it's Palm Sunday today and

that means it's Easter next weekend and

um that includes Good Friday. Not every

church does a Good Friday service. Uh I

think we do one for for really one major

reason and it's not church historical

tradition or the church uh calendar but

it's that we think it's a really good

thing to focus on the cross before we

focus on the resurrection. Uh there is

no resurrection without the cross and we

need to be thinking about that. And so

the good Friday service if you've never

attended one it's a very somber service

very reflective service. There is no

sermon. It's a lot of reading of

scripture and some of you will be tasked

to read that or already have and it's a

lot of worship songs and um and then and

then you walk out in that reflective

sorrow so to speak and I've noticed that

when and I always come but when I come

to a good Friday service I um the the

joy on Sunday is even greater because

I've considered the sorrow and the pain

that uh was required of our savior in

the cross. So we we welcome you to that

that we've changed the time. I don't

know if you even remember what the time

was last year, but usually around 4:00

or 4:30 and a lot of people been talking

about we really want to come, but it's

just too early to get off work and it's

it's hard especially no dinner or

anything like that. So, we changed it to

6:30. Hopefully, that's a good time for

you. You're very welcome to come to that

and as well to invite uh anyone and

everyone. I mean, I I've known people

that have come to faith just from

hearing the scriptures read out loud.

Um, and the same thing goes, but maybe

even more so with Easter. Um, Easter

will not be a sermon on Genesis. It will

just be a presentation of the gospel in

a way that's directly related to the

death and resurrection of our Lord. It's

a great time to invite friends that

maybe you've been already witnessing to

yourself, as you should be. But, um,

even if you haven't, inviting them to

the church is one way that they might

hear the gospel in the first place. and

and non-Christians or Christians who

need to recommmit their faith and their

their walk to the Lord will often times

be um willing to come on Easter. So, it

might be a little bit more of an

effective invitation than normal. Last

um uh thing that I want to talk about is

um I got to meet with Brett this week.

For those of you who don't know who

Brett is, he's the pastor of Athe Creek

Christian Fellowship. Uh it's really

just up the road on the other side of I5

from that Stafford roundabout over

there. I think that's that's Wiker's

Corner. Um but um it's it's probably the

largest church in Oregon and it's very

trustworthy church which is not always

the case with giant churches as you

probably know. Um but it was a really

great time meeting with him and a little

funny story. I was telling a friend

afterwards who I meet with pretty

regularly who attends a he was kind of

excited that I was meeting with Brett

and so I called him and I said, "Hey, I

met with Brett. I'm kind of a big deal

now." And he said, "Did you touch him?"

I haven't even I haven't even touched

him yet. Since he laughed at that one,

I'll tell you what Dan said. Although

Dan, I didn't get permission, but it

makes you look hilarious. So anyway, I

was telling Dan that exact story, and he

goes, "Well, if you didn't touch him or

eat fish with him, how do you know he's

real?" So to make sure that's not

actually blasphemous, no, Brett's not

Jesus. And uh he's also very just down

to earth. I really got along with him

well. We shared stories just about our

personal lives and things we're excited

about. and he talked quite a bit about

um PDX Crusade cuz I asked a lot of

questions about it. I'm very excited

about this and what this is is just a

largecale church-hosted evangelistic

event at the Moda Center and they're um

still working on all their volunteer

coordination systems as you might expect

and they're going to be telling us all

about how we might be able to serve and

they need a lot of people serving. I

kind of hope the whole church shows up

in Forest to I mean whole Boon's Fairy

shows up in Forest to serve. So, you're

very much invited in that and you can

read more about this at uh pdxcus

crusade.com. There's quite a bit of

information on there if you want to know

more about it. But we're going to be

participating that and that will be

August 2nd through 3rd, which is the

first week of August, first weekend of

August.

Um, one thing I do, one of the reasons

why I bring up this is not just to

invite you to PDX, but I wanted to share

something with you that I think is

really true about this. Um, atheism is a

very strong and established church, a

very trustworthy church. And I look at

it as um, God's favor on Boon's Ferry to

be connected in that way and be able to

participate in event like this. It's

actually only a very small list of

churches that they're inviting to

participate. He talked to me about that

actually. And um, so I think it's really

a blessing to be able to do that. And

uh, it's a huge blessing to me too.

sometimes being a lead pastor is is

lonely and getting to talk to him about

things it it just uh there was a

fellowship there that developed uh right

away and so I think it's a good thing to

to be connected in that way and I think

it shows that God's favor one thing that

I was just amazingly encouraged by he

said I can't tell you how often I hear

good things about Boon Fairy just all

the time from my staff from people just

randomly at the grocery store and I mean

that kind of thing you can't purchase

that kind of reputation it comes from

God it's I'm so thankful for it and it's

such a blessing. And we're in Genesis 48

and we're talking about those kinds of

blessings. Blessings we have personally

and blessings we have universally. So,

let me pray and we'll get right into

Genesis. Father, thank you for the favor

that you show us. Thank you for the

connections uh you're making between us

and other churches. Uh the fellowship

that we have with one another. um the

the good future that you've promised us

and the enthusiasm and excitement and

expectation that you've put in our

hearts as a church. We're looking

forward uh to see what you do in our

hearts and and through the work that

you're doing in us, but also the work

that we do for you. I pray now that you

would continue to do your work through

your word. And I pray this in Jesus

name. Amen.

Depending how long you've lived, you've

most likely experienced this if you've

been walking with Jesus for a while. Um,

but if you're younger, you know, maybe

you haven't yet experienced this and

this will be kind of a new idea, but

even young kids will sometimes already

know this lesson. Um, and I want to just

ask you a question. It's rhetorical. You

don't need to raise your hands, but you

can be thinking about it um in your mind

and heart. And it's the question of um

if you've ever experienced a season that

was just really painful suffering

really. I'm talking about the kind of

pain that's just really hard that after

several years you look back and realize

that God was doing something in your

life, in your heart, and maybe even the

lives around you and the people in your

family um that turned that pain into a

blessing that's so great that you

wouldn't go back and have it a different

way. Okay. And you say you say, "Yeah,

but sometimes people find the the loss

of a loved one to some disease to end up

being that kind of thing." So when they

look back, it's not like the suffering

wasn't that big of a deal. It's maybe

the worst suffering of their lives. And

yet they'll look back and sometimes call

it a gift, like a blessing. I have

experiences, we'll be talking about some

of those in my life that I look back and

it's hard to talk about them without

getting emotional. Like it it cracks

open the pain again. and and and and the

pain has never gone away. I feel healed,

but it's strange. You normally when you

when you when you're healed, um a

physical wounds, there's not like

lingering pain uh afterwards. Maybe

sometimes there is, but when you're

really healed, there's usually not pain.

But with spiritual wounds, it healing

does not necessarily mean that you don't

still remember the pain. It means that

God has redeemed something in that place

that that has given you a context, a

vision, an understanding for why he

brought you through it and why the

result of that is so much greater than

the pain actually was. So the longer

you've been walking with the Lord, the

the more you understand

that not just some of the greatest

blessings we get, but the very greatest

blessing that we all have uh will come

through suffering. It will come through

pain. And there is no other way. I want

to show you that today in scripture. Um

it is embedded in the eternal

gospel. There's no Easter Sunday morning

joy without Friday pain.

It's It's not any different for God's

firstborn, for his only eternally

begotten son, for himself. It's not any

different. So, he was made obedient

through suffering. It says obedient

through suffering. He's perfect. Still

obedient through suffering. There's no

there's no way around that. And I feel

the heaviness in the room here. But but

the blessing on the other side so far

eclipses the affliction that we

experience that it's it's it ends up we

realizing it ends up being a matter of

God's glory. And I've I've never known a

Christian that when they actually

receive not the blessing of suffering,

but the blessings that God brings in and

through suffering, suffering itself

really ought not to be called a

blessing. It may seem so simple, but

God's blessings are not curses.

You might you might just anchor that

into your heart right now so deeply

because the enemy will over and over and

over again try to tell you that this

thing that God is trying to bless you

through is a curse. And there's a reason

why your flesh wants to believe that.

We'll get back to that as we walk

through this. But the idea here is that

the the blessing that you receive from

the Lord will will end up turning back

to him in glory. And that's especially

true because when you only receive it

through suffering, right? When when

you're suffering and you can't bring

yourself out of that suffering. If

you've ever been in deep suffering, you

know, uh that like you can't lift

yourself out of it. The psalmist talk

about it being like a pit and there's no

ladder. There's no way out. And so when

God then lifts you out of that

suffering, not by somehow making you

forget altogether or acting as if it

never happened or actually causing it to

have never happened, but rather doing

something in your heart that's so great

that you realize there's so much joy in

this blessing of suffering. Well,

blessing through suffering that you end

up just wanting to point to him in it.

It's happening in this passage all over

the place.

But there's also sometimes where we

resist the way that God wants to bless

us. I think we intuitively know that

some blessings um are going to

automatically be a very deep sacrifice.

There will be things you can't take

along if you want to receive that

blessing. There'll be things of yourself

that can't stay the same if you want to

receive that blessing. To put it more

specifically, there will be things about

you that have to die to receive some of

God's blessings. And there's no death.

There's no taking up the cross. There's

no cru crucifixion of the flesh. That's

not really painful. That's not really

painful. And sometimes it comes to us in

unexpectedly horrible ways. And I so I

want to talk about that. But if we could

put the main point up, it's not just any

attitude in receiving blessing that

glorifies God. Joyfully accepting God's

universal and personal blessings glorify

glorifies him. If you don't mean know

what I mean by universal and personal

blessings, the differentiation between

that, we'll talk all about that here in

a moment. But accepting both God's

universal and personal blessings,

joyfully accepting those glorifies

him. You're going to see Jacob over and

over again joyfully accepting God's

blessings.

And I mean other than Jesus, maybe Paul

and and several other prophets, Jacob

suffered a lot. Not every Bible

character suffered as much as Jacob. And

Joseph suffered a lot.

So over and over and over again, the

story of the gospel, which started at

the beginning of Genesis, as we've seen,

is a story of God blessing

us most profoundly through, in, and

after suffering. So the the point here

is not one that's like, well, yeah,

joyful, accepting God's universal and

personal blessings, good. You're going

to

be brought through suffering. And the

question will be, is this main point

true in your heart when it seems the

most false? Why would you be joyful

while you're suffering? Why would you

accept God's suffering that he brings

into your life? Why would that ever be

good for you? You know, I remember a

teacher and a mentor at the time talking

about how his wife's death through

cancer was one of the greatest gifts

that God has ever given him. He's not

talking about the death itself being a

gift.

Death is a curse. It just is.

Period. So, we ought not to call God's

blessing curses. That's not what he was

saying. The things that God did in and

through him, the closeness that was

brought into his

life through that suffering, the ways

that he had to cling to him during that

suffering, that was the greatest gift.

And I was suffering at the time. And I

was like, "No, no, I'm not going to call

this suffering. It's not a gift. Doesn't

feel like a gift. I don't believe it's a

gift." And then time went by and God

ministered to to me. I began healing and

I started realizing what he was doing

that I didn't want to admit the time

that he was

doing. And I looked back at it and I

realized, wow, that's the greatest gift

I've ever received. And I would not be a

gift to the church or I would not be a

blessing to the church if God had not

done that in my heart. And this was post

me becoming a Christian. I was

definitely already saved when God did

it. So I want you to be considering

those things not just sort of neutally.

It's beautiful outside. All the buds are

out. I mean it feels like Easter and

such a amazing way. Um and even if this

is sort of the fall summer, I welcome

it. I'm excited about it. I look forward

to hanging out outside today after

church with the boys. So, it's a joyful

time in my life. A friend, I didn't even

have his number, but a friend I've gone

camping with before um texted me. He

drives by the church. He I I watched a

sermon about you going to Guam and I

just want you to know when I drive by

the church, I've been praying that Guam

would be a great trip for you. And I was

like, hey, thanks so much. Uh I don't

have this number in my phone. Who is

this? and he said, I'm not going to say

his name on a live stream, but he he um

he he told me who he was and so I

remembered and I told him all about

Guam. And um believe it or not, I've

lost my train of thought of why I even

said all of this stuff. Um God has

people praying for you. That was not the

message. But uh this is where the sermon

gets interactive when I forget what I'm

saying. Easter, the weather. Yeah, maybe

it was the weather. Um oh, what I told

him was here. I'll actually read the

text because this is one of maybe not

the first times in my life that I've

said this, but I just realized he asked

how I was doing. I said, "I'm doing

really well. Family is thriving. So is

the church. Honestly, a great time in

our lives right now. Maybe one of the

best. I might be going through the best

time of my whole life." I realized that

also in speaking to Brett because he

talked about um uh his Israel trips and

uh you know maybe the possibility of

linking up someday with with him and

that. But what he said is you know you

really ought to go to Israel and just

one bus just go just go with your church

right now. Uh as soon as you go two

buses different experiences we have 10

buses. We can't even stop at certain

sites. So it's just become a totally

different animal. And um and I I know

his uh one of his kind of right-hand

men, Gabe Carter, has said that uh Brett

kind of longs for the days where Athe

was smaller, you know, and I'm like,

"Well, I'm there right now." And I love

it. And I do think I do think God wants

the church to grow and it's a blessing

when the church grows and not a curse.

But it comes with its own disadvantages,

difficulties, growing pains. And I mean

right now, I don't know if you know

this, but we would love to meet with any

and all of you for dinner. And I can do

that. And not even it wouldn't even take

a year to meet with every one of you for

dinner to have you over to our house or

come over to your house. That will

become impossible as the church grows.

So just even knowing every name will

become impossible. So I look at that and

I think, wow. And and my heart is

currently eagerly joyfully accepting

God's universal and personal blessings

in my life. So I point back to him for

it. All this joy right now is storing up

for me something. I think to myself,

it's not like God brings blessings and

then there's some kind of evil with it

every time. That's superstition

superstition. Um but but there will be

suffering in the future in my life. And

I sort of want to store up this moment,

this joy, uh while it was good and

reflect that back to him about how good

he's been in my life. Uh and sort of

take that with me in the time of

suffering, remembering it's not always

been this hard. It's been really great

in a time. So I but I don't know where

you're at. Maybe for you I wondered in

saying that to him where he was at. He

hasn't texted back about that. But where

are you at? If you're in a time of

suffering by faith in a very real and

tangible way, you can joyfully accept

God's universal and personal blessings

in a way that glorifies him. I would say

more than you can ever glorify him. It

is easy to say that God's awesome when

your life is as good as mine is right

now. When it becomes hard is when

suffering enters. Okay. So let's get

into Genesis 48 and see how Moses and

therefore God makes this point of

joyfully accepting God's universal and

personal blessings glorifies him. Verse

148 after this Joseph was told behold

your father is ill. So he took with him

his two sons Manasse and Ephrame. And so

it's it's not particular to say

that the the Bible here doesn't really

focus on Joseph's suffering that his

father is is on his deathbed basically

and and about to die. In fact, there's

great joy here and and Jacob has great

joy in meeting and blessing his

grandson's sons Manassa in a frame. Um,

but there's no way around the fact that

death, even when it comes in old age

after having got to spend 17 years with

your aranged son and your grandchildren,

isn't a very sad thing. So, Joseph is is

going to lose Jacob. And they they weep

and mourn for 30 days. It's no cakewalk

to lose anybody at any time for any

reason. Death is terrible. And it was

not supposed to be the plan. And it

happened as a result of of Adam and

Eve's sin, particularly Adam's sin, the

Bible says. So death is real. Death is

suffering. And it is the backdrop of

what's going on here. And it was told to

Jacob, "Your son Joseph has come to

you." And then Israel summoned his

strength. So, uh, Jacob and Israel are

the same person. And we're actually, I

don't know if you know, if you've been

with us through Genesis, you probably

know how the name Israel came about, how

God renamed Jacob. And it's a very

important passage, and we'll go back

there. Uh, but then Israel summoned his

strength and sat up in bed. So, he's

he's he's on his deathbed. He's

summoning his strength to just sit up in

bed. And Jacob said to Joseph, "God

almighty appeared to me at l in the land

of Canaan and blessed me." probably more

than any other verse in this passage. Uh

we're going to spend time on it for a

very specific reason because all of our

universal blessings are pointed at in

this exact verse and I'll show you how.

Um when I say universal blessings, it's

the blessings that all Christians in all

places and times throughout history have

all shared. It it still um takes a

reception of those blessings. So

universal blessings um can be

attitudinally rejected. So let's say God

brings a blessing into your life that's

meant to undermine and destroy an area

or a pocket of pride in your heart,

right? And let's say that blessing is

the blessing of repenting of some

particular sin. The sin may be personal

to you, but repentance itself is a

universal thing, isn't it? To

Christians, everyone has to repent. And

you you repent initially. That's called

justification. You're now justified in

God's eyes when he sees you. He sees

Christ's righteousness superimposed on

you, right? So, he doesn't see your sin.

He sees Christ's atoning sacrifice for

you. And therefore, the law fulfilled.

You couldn't fulfill it. He sees

Christ's fulfillment of that law, which

not only he kept perfectly, but still

requires a sacrifice for sin, and he

kept that in the cross. He sees that,

not your sin. The enemy will keep

pointing out, "Oh, you're still a

sinner. You're still a sinner." It's not

how God sees you. But that doesn't mean

that God doesn't want to sanctify you.

And that's where you're already saved,

but he continues to have you, fancy

theological word, mortify your flesh,

put to death the misdeeds of the body by

the spirit. Okay? So, so there are times

where we need to confess our sin or or

repent of our sin even as Christians.

And actually, I think those times are

quite often. Uh it's important to do

that of every little sin and and really

also not to call them little per se, but

I mean sometimes we'll call a sin little

and think, "Oh, we don't need to confess

that." And yes, you do. Yes, you do. Sin

and snares and the truth will set you

free. So, you tell the truth about that.

I'm sorry that I did that, God. You you

even ask God to um show if there's any

unrighteous way in your heart and then

lead you on the path everlasting. So,

you'll need the Holy Spirit to highlight

because sometimes our pride is so

entangled in our in ourselves. You know,

I I was thinking the other day that

first of all, sometimes the flesh in the

Bible is used like as your like your

bone, your sin, you like your actual

flesh. But more often than not,

especially the New Testament, it's used

as those things inside of us that are

sinful, that resist God, that desire

something else opposite of his spirit.

And so in that way, and I have to be

really careful here because in another

way this isn't true at all. The flesh is

a spiritual concept. Do you understand

that? But the Bible says that spiritual

things are opposed to the flesh, but

they're both in the realm of spiritual

things. The flesh is not something that

you could like see or handle or touch or

like scientifically measure, but it's

it's still our sinful nature. Um my

point is that you can't do anything to

your flesh apart from the spirit. You

don't have tools or leverage or some

kind of way of reaching down and be like

killing that piece. Only God can. And

your flesh has a way of deceiving itself

into thinking that it's not wrong and

that you're justified in desiring this.

Oh, desiring this thing is not that

wrong. Even though it's become an idol,

as long as you can hide it from other

people, you think you're in the clear.

Well, God can see your flesh. God knows

exactly how much of it is still alive

and what it needs to be killed. And and

the Bible calls that taking up your

cross, living a crucified life. And if

there's anything painful, it's the

cross. So, you ought not to expect that

God is going to uh bring you to

repentance without pain because it

requires the surrender of your flesh to

death to the Holy Spirit. Sometimes

searing pain and terror because it's so

intertwined with you. you feel like

you're going to lose yourself in losing

this thing. Um, idols can get that

embedded. Why am I saying all of this?

Well, because Jacob had to give up a lot

of idols and so did his wife Rachel and

God would show up to him in these

powerful ways in this case at LZ which

he renamed to a famous name Bethl. This

is I think I have it uh Genesis chapter

Genesis 28 · chapter mention

28. And it's I mean actually not in a

faithful way, but it was made into one

of the most famous songs of all time,

the stairway to heaven. So even popular

society has heard about the stairway to

heaven, the ladder to heaven. And here's

that passage at which that's from

chapter 28:12. This is where God showed

up to him all. And he uh Jacob dreamed

and behold the there was a ladder set up

on earth and the top of it reached to

heaven. And behold, the angels of God

were ascending and descending on it. And

behold, the Lord stood above it and

said, "I am the Lord, the God of

Abraham, your father, the God of Isaac,

the land on which you lie, I will give

to you and to your offspring." Okay,

that's that's where he repeated that

promise that he had first given to

Abraham, passed on to Isaac, and now

it's passed on to to Jacob, but in this

very special vision. And so what we're

imagining, biblically faithful

imagination here, is Jacob seeing a

ladder that touches earth and it goes

all the way up to heaven and the Lord

God himself is standing at the top of

that ladder and angels of God are

ascending and descending. Very clear

picture that there's this ladder that's

the the only way to heaven. You know,

you've seen the I've seen people, you

know, have like street sign looking

signs in their uh in their room. And my

brother used to have one of these has a

a sign with an arrow up and it says one

way Jesus. Okay, that's and and it was

what? So really the latter is about

Jesus. How do we know? Can we can we

really say that? Well, let's go to

John 1 verse 51. And I have it up here,

John 1:51

I think. Um yeah, and he's speaking um

to one of his future disciples and he

says to him, "Truly, truly I say to you,

you will see heaven opened and the

angels of God ascending and descending

on the son of man." Which was one of

Jesus' favorite ways to speak about

himself as the son of man. He's the son

of God and he's the son of man. But he'd

often talk about himself as the son of

man. So what is Jesus saying here? He's

saying he's the latter. Who's the

stairway to heaven? You know, not Led

Zeppelin. Not that they were necessarily

saying that but Jesus is that stairway.

Okay. So, Jacob in a very real

way saw a revelation of Jesus Christ in

vision or image form. And I do not know

how much Jacob knew of that being a

revelation of of the Messiah, but it

very much was. And Jesus is the one that

reveals to us that that's actually about

him. So let's go back to Genesis 48

here and let's talk about what this

means for us because we know that the

blessing to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

that's passed on to Aphra and Manasse

here um is not just a blessing for

ancient Israelites that are now dead.

First of all, those who believed are

still alive in

heaven. Jesus himself says, "I am the

God. I am the God of Abraham." So before

Abraham was I am Jesus says so Jesus was

already there with Abraham and we we see

him showing up in ways in fact it's my

conviction and I think the Bible really

points to this is that who that's who

Jacob wrestled and we'll go we'll go in

a minute to that that moment well

towards the end of the sermon to Jacob

wrestling with God. We're going to

revisit that idea because it was also

about blessing. But we've already talked

multiple times about the idea of being

included in the

Abrahamic Isaiah or that would be about

Isaiah, but the Isaac and and Jacobite

blessing and that blessing was for the

entire world that Israel would become a

blessing to the entire all the world and

that uh in them all the world would be

blessed and specifically Abraham's

offspring. And Paul makes a big deal

about not offsprings like plural, but

one. And that points to Jesus. And one

thing that I want to do is because I'm

not just assuming that everyone in here

has necessarily already received that

blessing. It's a universal blessing of

all Christians to receive. To be

included in this promise, and there's a

lot to the promise, but eternal life is

what it's really pointing to. And to be

included in this promise means believing

in Jesus Christ. And that means

something very specific that I want to

show you. So we've already talked about

John 1 uh 51. There is no other ladder

and that ladder to God to heaven is

Jesus Christ. But we need to define who

Jesus actually is and what he said about

himself, what was said about him, what

he received being said about him and and

and those kinds of things. So I want to

go to John 20:8. And so if you're

John 20:8

wondering why are we talking about Jesus

and his divinity here, well, we're

talking about that because that is

something you need to believe to receive

the universal blessing. Um, and this is

John 20 28. Okay. Evidently, I didn't

have a marker there.

Um, remember doubting Thomas. Kind of

think that's a little bit of an unfair

way to characterize Thomas because

that's not the way God would see him.

God sees him also as a righteous man who

believed. But the reason why he gets

that name is because he didn't believe

and he refused to believe until he saw

proof. He wanted to see Jesus. And he

shows him his nail scars. And what does

Thomas say? Thomas answered, "My Lord

and my God." Thomas says that to Jesus

about Jesus. He calls him my Lord and my

God. So now we're beyond just being the

way to God, but being um God himself.

And and what Jesus says next in verse

29, have you believed because you've

seen me? Blessed are those who have not

seen and yet have believed. In other

words, he's not rejecting Thomas's

statement that he's Lord and God. But

he's saying you believe because you see

that. But it's even more blessed to

believe that I'm Lord and God without

even having seen it like that and need

to be proved in that way. Okay, just

believing by faith in response to the

word. So he not I want I want you to see

he not only doesn't reject it, he gives

us an example of how those who don't see

it, that would be all of us. We never

saw his nail scars. We see them by

faith. That's it. But we never saw them

like Thomas saw them. So we don't get

even the same proof. But Jesus says it's

more blessed to recognize I'm Lord and

God if you haven't even seen it. Okay?

So what what I'm telling you is that

that's either right for him to accept

the title God in that case or it's

absolutely blasphemous. Okay? And I want

to show you how all of those faithful

servants to God immediately reject being

worshiped when they're not God. And I

forgot to put a marker in it. So

Revelation 22

8-9, if you guys could throw that up. I,

John, and this is again the Apostle

John, am the one who heard and saw these

things, the vision that's written down

in Revelation, and I heard and saw them.

And I fell down to worship at the feet

of the angel who showed them to me.

Okay? But he said to me, you must not do

that. I'm a fellow servant with you and

your brothers, the prophets, and with

those who keep the words of this book.

Worship God. So just God alone you

worship. Nobody else. don't worship a

created being in any way. Right? It's

and and um God puts people to death on

the spot for receiving glory as a divine

figure. But in this case, Jesus accepted

Thomas calling him Lord and God, but the

angel didn't. Now, I want to continue in

verse 13 of the same

chapter. And this is uh chapter 22 of

Revelation, the last chapter of the

Bible. It says, "I am the Alpha and the

Omega, the first and the last, the

beginning and the and leave it right

here. What does that mean? And who's

speaking? You would think it's God the

Father that's speaking because that's

what he says about himself. Alpha is the

first letter of the Greek alphabet.

Omega is the last letter. And it means

and it's defined in this very I'm the

first and the last, the beginning and

the end. If you're the first, there's

nothing before you. And obviously, it's

not saying that you had someone before

you or that something existed before

you. You're just eternally the first and

also the last. You're everything.

There's nothing, right? It's it's saying

you're God. God says this about himself.

And then verse 16, and you can read this

for

yourself. I, Jesus, have sent my angel

to testify to you about these things for

the churches. I am the root and the

descendant of David, the bright morning

star. In other words, Jesus is

identifying himself as the one who's

speaking. And if you look literally at

any red lighter Bible, which is just

biblical translators, scholars of the

original language and and trying to

figure out who is saying what, saying

clearly, this is Jesus speaking. But

it's already obvious because he says, "I

Jesus." Right? I had Jehovah's Witnesses

come to my house one time and they they

started with a lie. They said, "We're

not from a church, you know, and but

they'll invite you to church later." And

I so I didn't actually know if they

because I thought, well, I mean, I

actually believe all Jehovah's Witnesses

are deceived by a lie. And so it's not

that they're always truthful, but I was

kind of surprised. So I thought, well,

maybe this is just some kind of Bible

study group or whatever. And they handed

me a little a little booklet and I

looked around it and couldn't find

Watchtower. I eventually found it there.

So I thought, oh, I started talking to

them about it. Um, and and then finally

when I started hearing some weird

things, I said, "Oh, is you guys are you

guys Jehovah's Witnesses?" And and they

said, "Well, yes." And I I said, "Do you

have um a place where you gather with

other Jehovah's Witnesses on a regular

basis?" And they said, "Yes." And I

said, "That's church." And he said, "You

are not from a church, but you're

definitely from a church." And so I

already know you're not telling the

truth because you lied to me with the

first sentence you said. Right? I never

even let them in the house. And I was

standing this close to them. Okay. Okay.

The Bible actually commands to not let

false teachers and uh uh false preachers

like that in the house. And uh so I I

said to them also, I know every one of

the passages that your Bible has

whitewashed and the minimal

understanding you have of Greek to

contradict certain things that aren't

even true, but I also know the passages

your Bible has missed. And this is the

one. They haven't whitewashed it. And I

read it to them and they had no answer.

The young guy even seemed like, "Whoa,

I've never seen that." Okay, you guys

say you know Greek and you know Jesus

isn't God. What about this passage that

he says himself, I am the alpha and the

omega. I'm the alpha and the omega.

Okay, and I I don't want to harp it on

anymore. But they even had no answer. I

said, look in your Bible. It says it in

your Bible. I don't know. You should

pray for that young guy. I think his

name was Caleb. Um the older lady was

just hardened and looked really angry at

me for making that point. and she was

looking at him and like could see that

he was like actually interested. It's

like if you really want to know what

your Bible says, you have to deal with

that verse cuz that is blasphemy if it's

not true. You can't call yourself the

first and the last, the beginning and

the end. So, but he does. Jesus does.

Let's continue. This is John

John 10:30

10:30. And uh you guys are just going to

be faster turning there. He says, "I and

the father are

one." Okay? claiming unity with God.

This is why in many creeds and faith

statements about the Trinity, you will

say, you will hear that although they're

distinct persons, Jesus is a person and

God the Father is a person and not the

same person, they're one in essence and

they're both fully God and fully divine.

They're one in essence. Let's go to

another verse. John 14:9.

John 14:9

Jesus said to him,"I have been with you

so long." He's talking to Philillip, I

believe. "And have you still not known

me?" Yeah. Know me, Philillip. Whoever

has seen me has seen the father. How can

you say, "Show us the father." Right? He

identifies himself so closely, so

unified with the father that to look at

Jesus is to see the father. He's saying

he's the revelation of the father here,

right? I mean, what what would you say

if a human being started saying those

kinds of things, you know? Right. You it

would it would it'd be terrifying

actually like whoa that is evil what

you're saying. It's an e cult leader say

these kinds of things you know. See I

think is Jesus a cult leader you know is

he crazy like CS Lewis said on the level

of someone who thinks they're an egg or

is he a blasphemer or is he actually

truly who he says he is? Matthew 21 and9

and and verse 16-1 17. Let's go to verse

9 first. I show you this. We had just

gone to uh John 14:9. Yeah. Had we

John 14:9

already done John 14:9? Go back to John

John 14:9 John 14:9

14:9 for me to check real quick because

there's a point here. Yeah. Okay. So now

Matthew 21:9. And there's there's a

Matthew 21:9

one-two punch here between Matthew

Matthew 21:9

21:9 and Luke 1843. And you might say,

you know, we could go to verses that are

even more convincing than this. uh yeah,

you probably could, but those are also

the ones that um uh the kind of cults

and sects have have had the most time to

manipulate and change and tamper with.

Whereas this one is, I think, one of the

more uh uh powerful proofs that Jesus

accepted worship. Um and and that very

same word is also used of God the

Father. So, let's go to Matthew 21:9.

Matthew 21:9

Um, and I included this one because it's

Palm Sunday and I thought we should not

just talk about Palm Sunday on Palm

Sunday. So, here it is. And the crowds

that went before him and that followed

him were shouting, "Hosana to the son of

David. Blessed is he who comes in the

name of the Lord. Hosana in the

highest." And the Pharisees, who didn't

even really worship God. They just said

they did. They were total legalists are

obviously starting to bristle at this

idea of calling this mere human being

hosana in the highest. Um it's getting

too close to worship for them. And so

they confront Jesus. Let's go to Matthew

21 same chapter verse 16-17. And they

these the Pharisees said to him, "Do you

hear what these are saying?" And Jesus

said to them, "Yes. Have you never read

out of the mouth of infants and nursing

babies you have prepared praise?"

In other words, Jesus is not only

accepting their

praise, he's um accepting their praise

of him as hosiah in the hosana in the

highness. Hos hosana in the

highest I don't even know. I just

blacked out. But

um but he's using scripture to prove

that it's right. All right. Now, that

word um praise is and it only shows up

one other time in all of the Bible. Very

interesting. Let's go to Luke

Luke 18:43

18:43. And immediately he recovered his

sight and following glorified God. And

all the people when they saw it gave

praise, gave in to God. Exact same word

only shows up twice in the Bible. Once

of Jesus saying that I'm worthy of it

according to the Bible. Even if infants

do it. Later he'll say even the rocks

will cry out. Right? Even creation to

some degree worships and displays the

glory of Jesus Christ. But very clearly

the word inos really means praise of

God. Okay? And Jesus accepts it and

defends it to those that are accusing

him of basically receiving worship.

Right? So the word praise, it's what we

do. We praise Jesus. We praise God. Same

exact word. Same exact word. Let's

continue just a little bit more and then

we'll be done. And the last verse I want

to go to is 2 Corinthians 4

3-6. And even if our gospel is veiled,

it is veiled to those who are perishing.

Next verse. In their case, the God of

this world has blinded the minds of un

of the unbelievers to keep them from

seeing the light of the gospel, the

glory of Christ, who is the image of

God.

I can't remember whether I gave it to

the team or not, but I just have to go

to Hebrews chapter 1 to just talk about

Hebrews 1 · chapter mention

that just a little bit more. Hebrews

Hebrews 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1 says something about the glory

of God. Remember our point is that

joyfully accepting our universal and

personal personal blessings glorifies

God. So why are we talking about Jesus

so much? Because he is our commonly held

universal blessing and to worship him

glorifies God. He is Hebrews 1:3. Yeah,

Hebrews 1:3

I have it. He is the radiance of the

glory of God and the exact imprint of

his nature. And he upholds the universe

by the word of his power. And after

making purifications for sins, he sat

down at the right hand of majesty.

Having become as much superior to angels

as he as the name he has inherited is

more excellent to theirs. For to which

of the angels did God ever say, "You are

my son. Today I have begotten you." Or

again, I will be to him a father, and he

shall be to me a son. And again, when he

brings the firstborn, we're going to be

talking about firstborn and secondborn

today. When he brings the firstborn into

the world, he says, "Let all God's

angels worship him." Okay, I could say

so much about the rightness of

worshiping God and worshiping Jesus with

the exact same kind of worship and how

it's exactly what scripture teaches us

to do. But what I want you to remember

that whether it's Old Testament saint or

not, it's our response to the revelation

of Jesus Christ that is the key idea,

the main point of the whole gospel. Let

me say that again. It's our

uh uh it's our reception of the

revelation of Jesus Christ. You think,

how is an Old Testament saved? How is an

Old Testament saved? By faith in what

God has revealed to them about Jesus

Christ. see that over and over again.

Okay? Remember when God declared Abraham

righteous by faith? By what did he

declare him righteous? That he was

willing to sacrifice his only beloved

son. I mean, come on, right? The whole

sacrifice of Isaac, what does Jes say

was like, "Where's where's the lamb,

daddy?" Cuz he sees like there's Well, I

mean, are you going to sacrifice me?

That's what's going through his mind.

God will provide for himself a lamb, and

it's his very own son.

So what was Abraham righteous by faith

by? He was righteous by faith in his

trust of what God had revealed to him

about himself. No, I will not require

your son to be

sacrificed. Right? But Abraham trusted

God and whatever God was trying to

reveal to him about Jesus, he trusted at

the time. And yes, we have had a lot

more revealed about who Jesus is than

they did. We not only know that he is

the latter to heaven. We know that he's

fully man. In every way that you can be

human, he is. But he's also fully God.

And in every way that you can be God, he

he also is. But he is not God the father

nor God the Holy Spirit. So let's

continue receiving that though. Like if

you worship Jesus, you have the

Abrahamic blessing. Period. And if you

don't, you don't. And it has to be

revealed to you. And you have to respond

to that revelation by faith. So joyfully

accepting that if Jesus is the radiance

of God's glory, of course you accepting

him as fully man and fully divine is

going to glorify God. I like to think of

God the father's eternal radiating glory

being mirrored back to him in Christ

from all eternity. Never started just

always was that mirror. So let's

continue verse four. And he said to me,

"Behold, I will make you a a fruitful

and multiply you, and I will make of you

a company of peoples, and I will give

this land to your offspring after you

for an everlasting possession." I want

to stop there, too. We won't spend as

much time on this verse as others, but

this one um is not just about the

blessing that we've received, although

this really points to the fact that all

those in Abraham will inherit eternal

life and heaven on earth forever. So

it's it's us along with the Jews that

God ultimately includes that uh will

inherit the earth forever. So ours is

the everlasting possession too. But

right here the promise is specifically

made to Jacob, Israel, same person and

it's being passed on. And we'll read

just a little bit longer. Let me let me

actually read verse 5. And now your two

sons who were born to you in the land of

Egypt before I came to you in Egypt are

mine. A frame and manasse shall be mine

as Reuben and Simeon are. Now, if you

have maybe an overbearing mother or

father-in-law or actually mother of

father and they're kind of horning in

too much on your children, you might

react to this passage, but don't

misunderstand who he's saying. He's not

saying they're my children. Now, he's

saying, I will treat them in terms of

inheritance exactly like my own sons.

Meaning, they will inherit their own

possession in the promised land. This is

nothing but unbelievably generous and a

huge blessing to these two boys and

Joseph would have most certainly

received it like that. Okay, but

remember it says an everlasting

possession. What's happening right now

in Israel? Well, they're at war. At war

with Hamas, but also to some degree at

war for the right to even exist as a

nation in the first place. And you hear

a lot of people sort of with logical and

political reasons defend Israel. But I

want to give you a very different reason

why we should support Israel existing as

a nation and support its right to defend

itself against all enemies, foreign and

domestic. And um it's it's verses like

this. So So it's not weird or playing

the God card to say that they have the

land by divine right. In fact, not only

is weird, no other nation can say that

about themselves. No matter how much you

believe in some kind of manifest

destiny, nowhere in scripture does it

say that Europeans who then become

Americans have a divine right to this

land. It doesn't say that, right? That

doesn't mean that I think we should

listen to the absolute nonsense of give

your land back. Well, how about you

first? Lead by example if you can tell

everybody to do that. And nobody ever

does it that says they're doing it. So,

but then am I am I saying that all the

ways that we traded the Native Americans

were okay? No. There were things that we

definitely did wrong. Blood feud back

and forth, right? So, I've been thinking

a lot about this and when I don't fully

understand something or I want to figure

out what's the simplest version of this,

I my mind goes to work, can't stop it,

and I just have conversations with

people. So, I think about it's like what

what is it really for every other nation

that gives them the right to be in a in

the land? And the further you distill

it, the more times you mull it over, the

only common denominator is might makes

right. for every other nation. If you

can take the land and you can hold the

land, it becomes your land. That's it.

There's nothing else. If you if you take

everything else away because you can't

say that it's definitely God who gave

you the land because you don't have any

authoritative points in the Bible to say

that you were given this land, you can

say biblically that you have the right

to defend your nation. Uh God shows that

over and over and over again. But again,

nations rise and nations fall over and

over and over again. Remember when we

went through Daniel and God prophesies

this nation state, power of the world

will be toppled by this nation state

will be toppled by this nation. Why?

Because that nation was more powerful.

God has his purposes in it. But that's

not the reason why Israel has the land.

That's political reasons people point

you. Oh, they just took it by violence.

They have a divine right. And it says

right here that it's an everlasting

possession. And I want to show you how

that has not changed and how it is not

only a misunderstanding or

misinterpretation, but it ends up

amalgamating and a curse to Israel to

reject this. And we ought not to curse

Israel because it says cursed will those

be cursed to you. We should bless Israel

because it says blessed are those who

bless you. Romans 11, hotly debated

passage, but I think in what I'm about

to show you very clear. Romans 11, I'll

just read it from here. lest you be wise

in your own sight. I do not want you to

be unaware of this mystery, brothers.

He's talking in this case to Gentiles.

Maybe in the Roman church, uh a mixture

of some Jews and Gentiles, but partially

primarily in this chapter 11 here, he's

talking to Gentiles and how they've been

included in the root. And the root is

Israel. And they've included included as

if they're wild olive branches. And you

can graft wild branches into different

trees and have two different apples or

two different olives grow on uh uh the

same tree, right? That's possible and

sometimes beneficial if you want to have

certain different kind maybe a hardier

type of uh blight resistant type of

fruit. But the point is we're the

unnatural branches as as um uh as

Gentiles and they are the natural

branches. And he even says, "How much

easier to break off the unnatural

branches and regraft in the natural

branches." So don't get arrogant like

you replaced them. Right? So Romans 11

is the slam dunk anti-replacement

theology uh passage in all the Bible.

And I just don't even understand how you

could read it and still have that view.

But it is terribly wrong. And I oppose

it with great passion. And and this is

why he says this mystery, a partial

hardening has come upon Israel until the

fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

Okay? So what he's saying is that what's

happened to Israel and them rejecting

Jesus is actually from God. And it's a

partial hardening. And that partial

hardening, let's continue reading here,

will be lifted when the fullness of

Israel comes in. And in this way, all

Israel be will be saved. As is it is as

it is written, the deliverer will come

from Zion. He will banish ungodliness

from Jacob. So what we're talking about

is that eventually currently hardened

ethnic Jews will become genuinely

spiritual Jews and will worship Jesus

again. Well, not again, but for the

first time they will actually be, as

some people say, completed. So it's not

just being an ethnic Jew, though

according to Romans 9 through11 that

saves you because not all Israel is true

Israel. So, it's those who are actually

included in that promised seed by faith.

Okay? And and ultimately Romans 9 says

that God's the one that chooses that.

And and that's the reason for why

there's some that have hardened

themselves and some that haven't. But

let's continue because here's where the

real proof comes. And this will be my

covenant with them when I take away

their sins. Verse 28. As regards the

gospel, they're enemies for your sake.

Do you know that?

like Pharisees or well I mean uh

religious teachers in Israel are still

very anti-Jesus they're trying to make

laws in the nation that you can't even

talk about him okay and that you like

could have prison time for talking about

it so regarding the gospel Israel and

hardened Israel is definitely enemy but

regards to election they are beloved for

the sake of their forefathers he's very

clearly differentiating between Gentiles

right and Jews it's not that the church

has replaced Israel in God's mind verse

29

N for the gifts and the calling of God

are irrevocable. What was the gift and

the calling? One of them we just talked

about that he was going to give them a

land for an everlasting possession. So

when you say Israel doesn't have a right

to the land, when you undermine Israel's

right to defend themselves from enemies

uh like Hamas, you are opposing God.

You're opposing his promise and you're

cursing Israel. And it's not okay and

it's not good and it's a very deep sin

that you ought to repent of. And I I do

not say that with any disclaimer or

backing down in any way because I think

it's that important and it's a universal

blessing Christians ought to receive. It

is blessed to bless the people of God

even though they are hardened for a time

because considering election their

brothers and the gifts and the calling

of God are irrevocable. It never

changed. Never changed. That's so

important and I hope that you agree

because there's such great universal

blessing to be received in it and we can

joyfully receive that in supporting

them. Verse 5, and now your two sons who

were born to you in the land of Egypt

before I came to you in Egypt are mine.

Aphrame and Manasse shall be mine as

Reuben and Simeon are. So he's including

uh Frame and Manasse. And if we were

just continue preaching the Bible, you'd

find out Manasse and Aframe become these

half tribes. Not one tribe each, but an

half tribe. Which is why sometimes it's

like, wait, were there 12 tribes? How

many tribes were there? You know, there

were more patriarchs than there were

actual tribes. Um, more tribal heads

than their actual tribes because

Manasseh and Reuben become two

half-tribes. And I guess actually there

are times where Joseph is considered a

tribe, but he's usually not considered

the head of a tribe. These two are in

replacement of him. That's how they got

their inheritance. So when Israel saw

Joseph's sons, he

said, "No, I I I skipped forward too

much here." So, and the children that

you fathered after them shall be yours.

They shall be called by the name of

their brothers in their inheritance. So,

it's not that they'll get no

inheritance. They're just not included

in the 12 tribes in terms of inheriting

actual land aotments in the fu in the

future. As for me, I came from Padan uh

to my sorrow, Rachel died in the land of

Canaan on the way. So again, we're

mentioning suffering, not just infusing

it into passages there. It's one of the

hardest things in his whole life to lose

Rachel. When there was still some

distance to go to Ephrath, I buried her

there on the way to Ephrath, that is

Bethlehem. When Israel saw Joseph's

sons, he said, "Who are these?" And

Joseph said to his father, "They are my

sons whom God has given me here." And he

said, "Bring them to me, please, that I

may bless them." There's a way that

might get missed here that father and

son are so alike. They just keep t like

they don't talk about stuff without

mentioning God. These are my sons would

be a very normal thing to say. And I'm

not saying that you every time you

introduce your children, you have to say

whom God has given me. But they do. They

just keep pointing to back to God for

what he's given them. Right? And what

what is the same like when we say

glorify God, what does that mean? It's

pointing at him as the giver of good

gifts, the giver of your children, the

giver of your wife, the giver of your

husband, the giver of your marriage, the

giver of this church to you. He's he and

and and his his giving and generous

nature is just one aspect of the

magnitude and multitude of his character

perfections. If you want to say what's

God's glory, what's the magnitude and

the multitude of his character

perfections? And he's revealed them to

us and reflecting those back to him,

pointing to him in the sight and witness

of other people that glorifies him. And

they just keep doing it over and over

again. Anytime they talk about

something, it's like God gave me this.

God brought this into my life. Okay? And

he said, "Bring them to me, please, that

I may bless them." Now the eyes of

Israel were dim with age so that he

could not see. That's a really important

detail. He can't see. So Joseph brought

them near him, and he kissed them and

embraced them. And Israel said to

Joseph, "I never expected to see your

face. And behold, God has let me see

your offspring also." Okay, remember

when I said that something may have

changed in Jacob's heart from the point

where he said, "Few and evil have been

the days of my sojouring and they have

not attained to the days of the years of

the sjourning of my fathers." Right? So

that was true. He had a really hard

life. Some because of his own making,

others because of things that happened

to him. Anyway you look at it, he had a

life of seemingly one after the other

hard knock hardship. Okay? And God did

use it to bless him. But now he's had 17

years with his son Joseph and his

grandchildren. And look, look at Is it

an attitude change? It seems like it may

be, but I'm not even saying he

necessarily had a bad attitude, but he's

just, you remember when Joseph said that

God has made me forget the years of my

hardship. It feels like that here. I

never expected to see your face and

behold, God has let me see your

offspring also. In other words, at the

real end of Jacob's life, he witnesses

and says that God has blessed me far

greater than I ever expected. That's his

witness. Does that make God look good

when a man of 130 years who's had one of

the most difficult lives recorded in

scripture? Hardship after hardship still

says, "God has blessed me more greatly

than I ever expected. I never expected

to see your face, and behold, God has

let me see your offspring also." Okay,

really powerful stuff. And this is where

I'm getting that point for. Joseph, even

with all the hardship that he's had, has

joyfully accepted his universal

blessings, which we just talked about in

the covenant promise. He's including

some of J Joseph's sons in this, but

he's also received this personal

blessing because it's not like God's

promising that he's going to reunite you

with Joseph and Joseph's grandchildren.

You don't even necessarily have a

promise that if your grandchildren and

and uh children move away that you'll

get to see them really often. You don't

know. God will probably be kinder to you

than you expect there either. But this

is what I would call a personal

blessing. A blessing that just applies

to an individual that's not necessarily

universally promised. And this is one of

those. So, you know, we're talking about

the difference between universal

blessings and personal blessings. And

it's where we want to shift to. Have we

not just have we received the universal

blessing of the revelation of Jesus as

God's son and fully God and fully man

and we worship him, but have you have

you joyfully accepted the personal

blessings? And there's something really

interesting. I was going to say cool,

but I think it was hard on Joseph and so

I don't think cool is the right word.

But there's something really instructive

here for us in how sometimes we will

want God to bless us or bless our

children differently than he's doing,

right? And we think, "Oh, there's a

mistake. This can't be right." Okay,

let's read on. And Joseph took them both

a frame in his right hand towards

Israel's left hand. So the left hand was

considered a lesser blessing, right hand

considered the greater blessing. Manase

firstborn to his uh to his left side

towards Israel's right hand and brought

them near him because Joseph is

expecting that that the blessing the

basically the greater blessing the

gressing of prominence and priority

would go to the firstborn and that's not

just a human tradition right that that's

something the patriarchs got from God

and it's something that's true in Christ

is the firstborn from all creation and

he inherits everything and we don't

supersede him but we inherit with him as

brothers and sisters basically

basically. But the point is it's not

just a human tradition. Although God

will not always work according to what

we expect the norm is either. And this

he's already shown with Jacob and Esau,

right? He he said it was going to be the

opposite. The younger will actually be

basically the master of the older. And

here that is repeated. We also should

not make a principle that somehow God

favors secondborns over firstborns

necessarily either. He just does what he

does and he doesn't always justify it.

And in this case that's happening. So

let's continue. And Israel stretched out

his right hand and laid it on the head

of a frame. And he stretched out his

left hand and laid it on the head of

Manasse. He switched and he's

blind. He doesn't know, right? He Joseph

brought them the way that would be most

natural. By the way, have you ever

prayed for someone laid on hands and

then like four minutes in your shoulders

really burning? You know, so he's

sitting there like this. It's it's he's

going out of his way. He knows something

and he can't even see it. So, it's it's

by faith. It's spiritual. There's

something prophetic going on here. So,

crossing his hands for Manasse was the

firstborn. And 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 long to

this day." These are very God glorifying

words. The angel who has redeemed me

from all evil. Bless the boys and in

them let my name be carried on in the

name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac and

let them grow into a multitude in the

midst of the earth. When Joseph saw that

his father had laid his right hand on

the head of Ephraim, it displeased him

and he took his father's hand to move it

from Ephrain's head and Manass's head.

This is the first time in the entire

book of Genesis and also the only place

in all the Bible where Joseph is

initially somehow in opposition to God's

plan. I was I realized this in the

disciplehip community and I want to give

a shameless plug to those now and in a

moment again. Um I didn't realize that

because I was studying it. I heard

someone say something that it wasn't

even exactly that point but it made me

realize whoa Joseph's not quite right

with God here. And he's the guy that has

the gift of interpretation of dreams,

right? So he's he's uh you have to be

very close to God. He's a man of the

spirit, too. And yet in this case,

there's something in congruent. And so I

thought, well, it kind of seems like

he's he's opposing God. But we actually

have to read much closer. Again, it felt

really, Joseph, he seems like he has a

pretty good track record. Would he all

of a sudden be doing that right now? And

the reality is that's not what's

happening. Let me let me read on. Um,

Joseph said to his father, "Not this

way, my father, since this one's the

firstborn. Put your right hand on his

head." What he's doing is thinking that

Jacob made a mistake. He's not saying

God's wrong in this blessing. He doesn't

think it was God doing it. He thought he

made a mistake. Okay? And the moment

Jacob tells him, "No, I know." Joseph

stops resisting it. Which is hugely

instructive, right? Because sometimes

we'll want a certain thing for our

children, want a certain thing for

ourselves, want a certain thing for

others, and we see God doing the

opposite. Um, we'll think that can't

quite be right. But in the back of our

mind, we know, well, God doesn't do

wrong things. So, how do you reconcile

it either way? But his father refused,

verse 19, and said, "I know, my son. I

know." Like, he knows, right? He knows

the heartache it broke into brought into

his and Esau's life that he strove to

try to take away and uh uh not only

Israel, Esau's blessing, but even his

birthright, right? He knows what the

father Joseph is thinking about what's

happening here. I know, my son. I know

he also shall become a people and he

also shall be great. Nevertheless, the

younger brother shall be greater than

he, and his offspring shall become a

multitude of nations. This is a

prophetic blessing. This is Jacob who's

blind doing what God has planned.

Because God and it's not because one

would be greater than the other that

they get blessed like that. One will be

greater than the other because they got

blessed like this. That's what I mean by

prophetic blessing. Blessing that will

most certainly take place in the future.

And I actually actually want to go

there. Um did you know that for a time

Ephrame as a name becomes synonymous

with the name Israel? So that when God

says Ephraim, he's speaking actually of

the entire northern tribe of Israel.

Ephraim really indeed becomes great.

Both Manasse and Ephrame become

powerful, prestigious warriors with lots

of people in their land. And one way

that they would count blessing is like

the multitude of the amount of offspring

you have because every child's a

blessing. So they were but but Ephrame

was greater even though he was the

younger in that in that blessing and and

in one way uh his greatness is related

to um the way God relates to him

spiritually but he ultimately actually

becomes a representation of all of

northern Israel and that includes

Manasse. So I want to go to Jeremiah

Jeremiah 31:9

31:9. I would not be surprised, although

you've probably read through this if

you've never really considered deeply

what this means.

Um, most most Christians might not have

gone through a uh whole study on

Jeremiah, but 31:9 says this, "With

weeping they shall come, and with pleas

for mercy I will lead them back. I will

make them walk by brooks of water in

straight path in which they shall not

stumble. for I am a father to Israel and

a frame is my firstborn.

So what had happened in this case is the

northern tribe of Israel before the

southern which is considered Judah

technically that's all Israel but in in

uh old covenant history you have a break

between after Solomon Rayoboam and

Jeroboam break off and they become two

different kings one of the northern

kingdom one of the southern kingdom and

eventually they become so disobedient

that God sends them off into exile but

one to Assyria and one to Babylon. The

one to Babylon is Judah and that happens

later. So in this case, what Jeremiah is

prophesying is that he's going to bring

them back. But notice how he's using the

word aphrame for all of northern Israel.

For I am a father to Israel. I'm going

to bring them back. And a frame is my

firstborn. Okay? So he's speaking of

that entire group of Israelites. That

this is the way he's going to relate to

them. And he has even more to say about

frame. And look at the language. If

you're a father to a son or to a

daughter and you remember them being

young or they're young right now, you

will know exactly well to some degree

you will understand how the father

feels. His is just an order of magnitude

greater than our love. And this is what

he says. Is a frame my dear son? Is he

my darling child? He's talking about an

entire like tribe of people. Hundreds of

thousands. And to them they're like his

baby boy, darling child. For as often as

I speak against him, I do remember him

still. Therefore, my heart yearns for

him, and I will surely have no mercy on

him, declares the Lord. He's angry at a

frame for over and over and over again.

Uh I mean, terrible false worship, child

sacrifice kind of horrors, right? A

frame is rebelled. But one of the most

famous verses in all of Jeremiah, maybe

the famous most famous one, shows God's

um great mercy towards him. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry I misread that. He surely I

will have mercy on him, declar declares

the Lord. God had been angry with the

frame because of all that he had done.

And if we had time to go through

Jeremiah, we would see that. But surely

I will have mercy. And this very next

verse is that famous verse about mercy.

But you're going to see it applies to

all Gentiles, too, because it's he's

God's done this for you. Verse 31 of

chapter 31. Behold, the days are coming,

declares the Lord, when I will make a

new covenant with the house of Israel

and the house of Judah. Not like the

covenant I made with their fathers on

the day when I took them by my by the

hand to bring them out of the land of

Egypt, my covenant that they broke,

though I was their husband, declares the

Lord. For this is the covenant that I

will make with the house of Israel after

those days, declares the Lord. I will

put my law within them, and I will write

it on their hearts, and I will be their

God, and they shall be my people. Do you

know that Paul says that God wrote the

law on our hearts? That's the spirit of

the law. And what that ultimately means,

and I'll just say one thing about that,

that this new covenant is not one by

which you could keep the law and be

declared righteous. And neither one was

that one either. Remember Paul says in

Galatians, they were declared righteous

by faith as well. But now it's not even

that we are required to keep the law at

all. And this is a confusing thing for

Christians. And my son, we don't have to

keep the ten commandments anymore.

Listen very carefully. The way that the

Ten Commandments were actually designed

is to show everyone the utter sinfulness

of sin. You can't even keep these 10

simple rules that we can all agree on

are good. Right? Don't murder people.

Everyone in every society in every time

in history has recognized that that's a

bad thing according to their enshrined

laws. So don't do that. We can't do

that. And what it points to is the utter

sinfulness of our transgression and the

righteousness of the law. And Paul even

says, "So we know in our hearts that the

law is good and righteous and true, but

yet we covet all the time and wretched

man that I can't stop, right? But

therefore there is now no condemnation

for those who are in Christ Jesus

because they've been set free from the

law to this and and been given the

spirit of the law." And what that means

is that God will write the law on your

hearts in such a way that your desire

will change. But Jesus already fulfilled

it. You do nothing to fulfill the law.

When you don't murder or don't lie or

don't cheat or don't covet or when you

don't steal. You do nothing to keep the

law. It's already fulfilled. So think of

like the requirements of the law as

fully completed. They're done. You

complete nothing. You're adding nothing

to it. But he's made your very heart

like a letter. Not written on tablets of

stone, but written on tablets of flesh.

And in this case, the the new heart. So,

as a Christian with Christ dwelling in

you, you'll find yourself not only

desiring to do God's law as Paul did,

but having the power by the spirit to do

it. And how? By putting to death the

misdeeds of the spirit. I basically just

paraphrase Romans 7 through8. That's

exactly what that says. And that is such

an unbelievably powerful powerful

blessing. And and it started with the

frame. My point was here to walk you

through how you get from Jesus to a

frame. These prophetic blessings are

always always always about Jesus even if

you don't initially see how. Let's

continue. So he blessed them that day

saying by you Israel will pronounce

blessings saying God make you as a frame

and as Manasse. Thus he put a frame

before Manasse. Then Israel said to

Joseph, "Behold, I'm about to die, but

God will be with you and will bring you

again to the land of your fathers.

Moreover, I have given to you rather

than your brothers one mountain slope

that I took from the land of the

Amorites with my sword and with my bow.

And again, when he's saying to you, he's

talking about Jacob's inheritance

through a frame and manasse. So, I want

to conclude here with just a

consideration of the application of the

main point, but it's a fairly deep one.

Like I said, it's it's difficult for me

to talk about without getting emotional.

Um, but I some of the most broken things

in my life, some of the most painful

suffering I've experienced has turned

into a joyful blessing that I accept.

And in this case, it was a mixture of a

universal and a personal blessing. One

that in some ways not all Christians can

experience and in another way all can.

And I want to show you that there is no

such thing as great blessing that comes

without brokenness. And if you want to,

I don't know if I have the team. I gave

it to them, but this is Genesis um I

think it's Genesis 28. It's the place

where or wait a

minute. Well, it's the place where where

Jacob wrestles um with uh with God. He

ultimately figures out that he's

wrestling with God. And um I'm going to

find it here in a moment. If somebody

finds it before me, let me know. Jacob

feasts from Laban. It's right before he

meets with Esau. So, it's got to be like

31 32. Thank you very much. The same

night he arose and took his two wives,

his two female servants, and his 11

children, and crossed the ford of the

Jab, and he took them and sent them

across the stream and everything else

that he had. And Jacob was left alone,

and a man wrestled with him until the

breaking of day. And when the man saw

that he did not prevail against Jacob,

he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's

hip was put out of joint as he wrestled

with him. I don't know if you've ever

had a joint put out of, but the bigger

the joint, the more painful it is. This

would have been excruciating. So, in

severe pain after having wrestled all

night, I was gassed after one twominute

segment of wrestling in high school and

I was in very good shape. Wrestling is

so hard. So, you can imagine he's out of

breath. All of his muscles are aching.

He's at the very end of his physical

strength. Now, he's getting broken by

this man. Then he said, "Let me go for

the day has broken." But Jacob said, "I

will not let you go unless you bless

me." And he said to him, "What is your

name?" And he said, "Jacob." Then he

said, "Your name shall no longer be

Jacob in Israel, for you have striven

with God and with men and have

prevailed." So very clearly, it's God

he's wrestling with. And you can very

clearly see that God calls him, clinging

to him while he breaks him, a blessing.

Have you ever been broken by God in a

way that like is so painful and and it

makes you not humiliated, but it humbles

you so deeply. It's like I like to say

like he humpty dumptied you and you

don't know if you're going to get put

back

together. That's what this is

like. God wanted a broken Jacob who

clung to

him. God wants a broken you who clings

to him.

But I I can't contain my emotion because

it's so painful when God breaks you like

this. I

mean, because of my pride in the way

that I lured the uh um led the church

plant. And I I was blinded to it, but

not with excuse. Like I I blinded myself

to that

pride. And God had to cause the church

to fall apart. And and it was people I

loved that accused me of being like a

cult leader and spiritually abusive. But

what my real sin was that I was

overbearing and too forceful and still

sometimes and are. But the big

difference is I never justify it when I

realized it anymore. I was justifying it

back then. And so man, I had dreamed for

10 years of planting a church and

planned and planned and planned and

planned and worked so hard and the whole