Jacob's Final Blessings

0:15Please turn in your Bibles with me to Genesis 48. We have been in an extended series walking through the book of Genesis and the finish line is within view. This has been a good race. This is a good book and we're gonna consider two chapters today, Genesis 48 and 49. But let me remind you something we've heard a few times along the way that the author Moses wrote this book for a people who is about to enter into the land that's been promised to them in this book almost 450 years later in the future. He was writing this history not only to tell them what happened but to inspire their faith to trust God into the future.

1:06So what particularly might he have had in mind with this text? If you fast forward, Moses wrote these five books and Deuteronomy is a sermon and in Deuteronomy six he gives this reason that you may, this is the people of Israel, the 12 tribes of Israel, that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your sons and your sons sons. So generations now and into the future by keeping all his statutes and commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, all the days of your life, faith that endures that is very much what Moses is about. All the days of your children's life, your grandchildren's life, faith that is endure, faith that endures.

1:55Do you know that that's God's heart for you too? It's not just for some past people. If we look in the Bible, the book of James calls believers to be steadfast. Or if we look at Hebrews, it calls us to hold our original confidence from to the end. Or if we read the from revelation, it presents the one who conquers, the person who overcomes, who endures to the very end through tribulation. You see, our God's design is that his people would believe and keep believing to the very end of their days and that their generations after them would believe and keep believing until he returns. That's God's heart. It's all over the scriptures.

2:43Do you know what that looks like though in real life? Do you have ideas on how to do that? Do you have examples in your life that you can look to and say, that person to the very last day kept calling me and pointing me to Christ. I know what that looks like for some of us. We do. We know for others of us that's a gap. It's very important that we have examples that show us what faith looks like. But today in this text we get a picture in these two chapters, chapter 48 and 49. We gather by Jacob the patriarch at his bedside and we see faith that endures to the very end faith that is calling the next generation.

3:37Keep enduring and not just for them, for the people 450 years in the future who are hearing this and being stirred up for faith, but not just them, us, we too God calling us to endure to the end and trust him. We get a picture of what dying well looks like, somebody who's kept the faith to the very end. We also get words to the future generations. He's speaking to his 12 sons, but the words extend in there, meaning extend far beyond and there's warnings, there's encouragement, there's insights in what it looks like to have confidence in Christ firm to the end.

4:23Do you see that You need that? God very much thinks you do and he has wonderful gifts from His word for you in this text to that very end, here's how this sermon is gonna go today. Most of this text is just reading these two chapters. There's 55 verses. God has all sorts of good things in his word. And from time to time I'm going to comment along the way, kind of be your guide, give you a few comments and I'm gonna keep pointing you back to how this text calls us to have faith that endures to the end in these two chapters. Each of them is a different scene of Jacob giving blessings to different sons and each of them is gonna just come in three parts.

5:14There's an overview to the blessing, the actual blessing, and then some words that end each chapter. Super simple, two chapters. The first chapter is the unexpected blessing. If you've hung out with us and seen Jacob, it's always like we get something unexpected. He's, he's tricking this, this is God using him, uh, the trickster to give us, not to trick but to give us something unexpected. So there's several curve balls in chapter 38 so you can be ready for those. And then we're gonna look at chapter 49, which is a suitable blessing or suitable blessings, a suitable blessing for each tribe of Israel.

5:54Please join me and pray uh, before I dive in and take us there. Lord God, your word calls your people to hold their original confidence firm to the end. We live in a culture that is constantly changing and loves the new and yet we want to be oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord that just keep getting wider with roots that are going deeper, that endure in faith. So would you work through your word in your believing people today? And God, I thank you that your word is not just for your believing people, but you work in your word to convict those who are not yet trusting in you of sin and righteousness and judgment and Jesus, you spoke those words and you wanna offer that gift.

6:44So would you be about starting ongoing faith today as well by your word? We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. So if you're not there already, look with me at Genesis 48 verse one and I want you to have kind of two eyes. We need to pay attention to the main things that are on the forefront, but keep one eye in the text looking, where am I seeing truth for endurance? Where am I seeing faith that is enduring? What does it look like? What does it look like so that you might be stirred up by way of reminder or encouraged with this example, 48 verse one. After this, Joseph was told, behold your father is ill.

7:27So he took with him his two sons, manas and ephrem and so that you're following later, you just need to know the order. Here is Joseph's intention. It's very important he puts Manasses name first because Manasses is his firstborn son and Ephraim is his second born son. So that's why he lists them here. Manas and Eum, it's gonna be moving around so you just need to pay attention to those names. And it was told to Jacob, your son Joseph has come. Then Israel summoned his strength and sat up in bed. He is so ill that he needs to mu muster all of his energy just to sit up in bed and give these clear in calls that he's about to do.

8:08Verse three and Jacob said to Joseph, notice the first words out of his mouth. God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me. You see, this was a redeeming moment in Jacob's life. He'd gone off track a little bit. God came back to him and with these words reminded of him of his promise to him and he blessed him verse four and said to me, behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you. Have you heard those words in the book of Genesis? They go all the way back to the beginning, be fruitful and multiply and they continue to Abraham and now they're continuing to Jacob and he's about to pass them on to the next generation enduring faith.

8:53And I will make of you a company of peoples and will give you this land to your offspring after you for an everlasting possession. Those words come directly from Genesis 35, 9 through 12. The words that are coming out of his mouth, the first words that we hear are scripture words spoken by God to his chosen son, his chosen instrument. Look at verse five, here comes the first surprise and now your two sons, who are those that would be Mansen? Ephraim Eum who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to Egypt are mine. Put your finger underneath. Those words are mine. What Jacob? You already have 12 kids.

9:45What are you doing with the grandchildren? What? What do you mean they're yours? In a sense they are, but that's not what he means. Keep reading Ephraim and Manas. Notice he switches their names. Ephraim and Manas shall be mine. He says it again. What as Reuben and Simeon are now who are Reuben and Simeon again, they are his first and second born. What is he doing here? Verse six. And the children that you fathered after them shall be yours. They shall be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance. Okay, Jacob is doing something very interesting here. He's looking ahead to a time where there'll be a people on the edge of the promised land who will go in and take it and then parcel it out.

10:38Each son will get a 12th of the land and what he's saying here is Jacob or Joseph, we're doing something here instead of just you getting one 12th, I am adding your sons to that list. And now the people of Joseph get one sixth. Why is he doing that? The firstborn gets the double portion. And if we look ahead in the Bible at first Chronicles five verse three, it clarifies this that the birthright is going to Joseph. So in a sense, Reuben will still get his 12th, but in a sense, efrim is being stuck in there. And so that Josephs, that the tribe of Joseph gets one sixth of the land, a double portion he's making j Joseph the firstborn son, he's giving him that right, which is his prerogative to do and it's in the mighty hand of God, but it's definitely a surprise.

11:39Look at verse seven In these, in this next section, Jacob talks about some of the pain in his life and then we get to see him experience some of the joy in his current final day. And it's the two spectrums of life, the end of life and the newness of life. Young life. Verse seven, as for me, when I came from Paan to my sorrow, Rachel died. That is his wife, the wife that he held most dear in the land of Canaan on the way when there was still some distance to go to Frith and I buried her there on the way to Frith, that is Bethlehem. When Israel saw Joseph's sons, he said, who are these? Now remember he's 147 years old and and he's very ill and you're gonna see in just a minute why he would ask that question in verse 10.

12:34But before that, verse nine, Joseph said to his fathers, they are my sons whom God has given me here. And he said, bring them to me please that I may bless them. Verse 10 says, now the eyes of Israel were dim with age. That's perhaps why he asked who they were. And also it's a flashback. I remembering when, when this very man was tricking his father out of a blessing whose eyes were also dim. No tricking going on here, but it's just a flashback to that so that he could not see. So Joseph brought them near him and he kissed them and embraced them. Do any of you have grandchildren? Oh, that's pretty cool.

13:15They're coming near, they're embraced. This is what's going on here. Verse 11. And Israel said to Joseph, I never expected to see your face and behold God has let me see your offspring. Also notice where his attention is going. He's looking at his life and he's seeing the kindness of God. His faith has endured many evil days and he's reached this place and the unexpected blessing of God is now clear in his mind. Look at what God has done. Faith that endures to the end. Now the unexpected blessing beginning in verse 12, then Joseph removed them from his knees and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.

14:06It's pretty interesting. Remember the dream that Joseph had that the sun, moon and stars would come bow down to him. Now he's bowing down to Jacob just like Jacob. Blessed Pharaoh the last time we were together, the second highest man in the kingdom of Egypt is bowing down before his father to show that God has chosen Jacob in a very special way and he's to be honored. Verse 13. And Joseph took them both ether in his right hand towards Israel's left hand and Manasses and his left hand towards Israel's right hand. Okay, there's gonna be all sorts of hands going on here and you might get confused, but just what you need to keep clear in your mind is the right hand is the hand of prominent blessing and the left hand is the hand of blessing but just not as prominent.

14:56So what Joseph is trying to do is he's trying to get Manasseh by the right hand for the prominent blessing 'cause he's the firstborn and E for him by the left hand because he's second born Manasses to his left hand towards Israel's right hand and brought them near him and Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim who was the younger and his left hand on the head of Manasses crossing his hands from a NASA was the firstborn. So Joseph brings the sons by his intention in for the blessing and Jacob goes, interesting what is going on there? We have a sovereign free God who throughout the book of Genesis has been choosing those whom he chooses and still giving blessing but not complete blessing to those that he doesn't choose.

15:55That is our God. And once again, it shows up before the end of this book, verse 15, and he blessed Joseph. Now he's blessing the sons, but remember these sons are Joseph's offspring in a sense in the tribes they will become Joseph and Joseph's double blessing and said and and this is like the place to like put a star by in your Bible to come back to and reflect on to, to underline some phrases to make sure that this, these verses make it into your notes. Please pay attention here. The God be for whom my father's Abraham and Isaac walked. The God who has been my shepherd, all my lifelong to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys and in them let my name be carried on and the name of my father is Abraham and Isaac and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.

16:56We don't have time to look at all of this, but just notice a couple things here specifically. Look at the second phrase in verse 15, the God who has been my shepherd all my lifelong day. Remember Jacob was a shepherd. That was his job. He knew how goofy, unwise, prone to wander stupid. These animals were as a shepherd. He's calling himself a sheep, a goat, an animal, a needy person, and he's saying the very good overseer whom I would be desperate without in, in, in this arid land, you absolutely needed a shepherd. That's what God has been to me every day of my life. Even when I wasn't acknowledging him, even when I held him at arms di distance and said, if you bring me back has been my shepherd all this day to this very dying day in my illness, he's been my shepherd.

17:56That is faith, that is encouraging faith to pass on to the next generation. Do you see that God is your shepherd? Jesus said, I am the good shepherd. Is Jesus your shepherd? Do other people in your life know that Jesus is your shepherd? They do in Jacobs and were called to live that way, to see grace from God to respond that way to life. The angel who has been, who has redeemed me from all evil, this word redeem is very significant in the scriptures. I believe this is the only time it shows up in Genesis. We're gonna see it prominently in the book of Exodus where a people who is under slavery oppression cannot get out.

18:41They try to get out and it gets worse. Straw is taken away from them for their bricks. God comes in and redeems them. The same is true in the book of Ruth. A woman who's lost the people to care for her and support her and interact with her and help her survive in this hard world needs a kinsman redeemer, somebody who can come and rescue her from an absolute impossible situation to navigate on her own. What he's saying is, that's my God. My God comes to the place where it's impossible. He shows up, he redeems. That's my God. Words of faith. That's our God today. And notice the words name and multitude and earth or land.

19:33He has saturated the promises of Genesis 12 to Abraham have gone in to the dough of his life and spread throughout and everywhere. It's like a chocolate chip cookie, not like wimpy little chips, but big prominent chunks of chocolate throughout the cookie. That's his heart. The blessings just keep coming out everywhere and you're like, whoa, there's another blessing. That's what's going on in this saint. He shepherd his redeemer, his promise keeper. Look at verse 17. When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand, were back to this confusion thing. The laid his hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him and he took his father's hands to move it from Ephraim's head to Manassas head.

20:22Yikes. He's like intervening in the blessing like, dad, I know your eyes are dim but you got this wrong. Verse 18. And Joseph said to his father, not this way, my father since this one is the firstborn, put your right hand on his head. But his father refused and said, I know my son. I know he also shall become a people and he also shall be great. Nevertheless, his younger brother shall be greater than he and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations here. Jacob clearly communicates, this is not up for debate, this is God's sovereign choice. This is how it's going to be. So we bless them that day saying, by you Israel will pronounce blessings saying God make you as Ephraim and Manasseh again.

21:08He switched the names. And this is also a promise to Abraham. Abraham, you'll be a blessing. Abraham. People will in the future will say, may God bless you like Abraham. And what Jacob is saying is that's gonna carry on to the next generation. People are not just gonna say that. They're also gonna say, may you be blessed like Ephraim and man, thus he put Ephraim before manas. That's the omniscient narrator stepping in and saying for all future generations to know. In case you missed it, Ephraim is going to be the prominent one.

21:42This chapter closes with some final words to Joseph in the last two verses. Please look at 21 with me. Then Israel said to Joseph, behold, I'm about to die but God will be with you. Have we heard that before? How about like 10 times in a row last week in the sermon? That's our God who's with us? Don't forget it and we'll bring you again to the land of your fathers. We're in Egypt now, but he's gonna bring us back there. That's the land of promise. Our God's promise is do not fail. Moreover, I have given you rather than your brothers one mountain slope that I took from the hand of the Amorites with my sword and with my bow.

22:24Now we don't know exactly what he's talking about there, whether that's an actual thing that's just not recorded or whether he's looking into the future and saying your generations will do that. And I'm giving this section to you regardless, land promises, faithfulness of God is all over his words. In Hebrews 1121, the banner that the author of Hebrews puts over this chapter, it says, by faith Abraham when dying blessed each of his, each of the sons of Joseph, that's Ephraim Inman bowing in worship over the head of his staff. What is the theme of this chapter? Faith. Faith that endures to the end by faith.

23:11He did all these things. He spoke these words, he switched the hands. It's all by faith. This is what it means to die. Well here's an example for all of us faith that endures to the end as we move to the next chapter. Just consider quickly what is the status? What is the the nature, the current condition of my faith? Where do I need to go to God to say God, give me faith that will endure what's coming at my faith? What's attacking my faith? Where do I need help from you to have faith that endures to the end? Will we move from the unexpected blessing to the suitable blessings? We'll get that right outta the text in just a moment.

23:59All of the tribes of Israel, all of his 12 sons gather around his bedside and he gives a blessing to each of them. And we're gonna also see this in three parts, sort of a prelude to the blessing. Again, the prominent blessing in the center and then some concluding words. But I'm gonna sneak in verse 28. So we're gonna begin for the prelude to try to understand what's going on with this blessing by looking at verses one and two and then the words right after the blessing in verse 28. So look at one and two with me and then I'll have you skip down the page to 28, Genesis 49 verse one. Then Jacob called his sons and said, gather yourselves together that I may tell you what shall happen to you in the days to come.

24:41So it's not just for you, it's not just for the end of your days, it's for the days far to come. And then he starts moving into poetry. All of these are poetic lines. This blessing is amazing. Assemble and listen. Oh, sons of Jacob, listen to Israel, your father, before we look at those words, slide down the page to verse 28 and look with me all these are the 12 tribes of Israel. So even Moses knows it's not just words to these sons, it's words to the tribes. It's words to the tribes that are standing before him that Moses knows this is what their father said to them as he blessed them blessing each one with a blessing suitable to him.

25:24That word could be appropriate or fitting appropriate is the word that the NET translation uses appropriate. So that's really important for us to know because right off the bat we're gonna get some words that don't really sound like blessings. And yet in God's plan, in the ways that he has orchestrated life, these are the words that are appropriate for them. So let's look at the first three sons and one commentator helpfully put this title, the anti blessings. You'll catch it real quick. Reuben, you are my first born, my might and the first fruits of my strength. Preeminent indignity, preeminent in power.

26:07And then it moves to verse four, unstable as water. If you were fishing in a boat and you decided to go back to land, but you didn't want to take the boat back there, you just thought you'd walk. If you're not Jesus or Peter hanging out with Jesus, you're gonna find out very quickly that water is unstable. And that's what he's saying about this sun. You are unstable. Notice these words. These are the words that hang over him. You shall not have preeminence because you went up to your father's bed, then you defiled it. He went up to my couch. Ruben was given preeminence at birth. He would've had the double portion had he followed in the way of the Lord.

26:53Yet his actions which were both in violation of God's design for the family to honor his father and designed for sexuality by committing adultery, he gets the anti blessing. You shall not have preeminence. And what's perhaps important for us to realize here, one thing is his sin led to major consequences, not just for him but for his offspring as well. We'll see that same in the next two sons. Verse five, Simmon and Levi are brothers. Weapons of violence are their swords. If you're curious about that, you can read about that in Genesis 34, verse 25 and so forth following, let my soul not come into their counsel.

27:34These are words of warning and instruction. Don't hang out with violent vengeful people. Oh my glory be not joined to their company for in their anger they killed men in their willfulness. The hamstrung oxen cursed be their anger. For it is fierce and their wrath for it is cruel. I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel. So because they acted in violence together, they're blessed together and they actually, their anger and their wrath receive a curse. And it's almost as if it's cursing them, but he's not cursing them. We see that earlier in Genesis with Noah's son, but he's cursing their actions especially, and there are consequences that follow that they're going to be divided and scattered.

28:21If we look ahead into the future, we learned the tribe of Simeon was truly scattered. They were listed in the spreading of things, but they actually received some land within Judah. They were sort of like absorbed into that tribe and no longer eventually their own prominent tribe and the tribe of Levi. This is an amazing story of redemption that you can read about in Exodus. They use their swords for good. However this still comes true even though they are given the prominence priesthood. If you've read your Bible further, you know that they don't get an inheritance land. God is their inheritance. Praise the Lord for that.

28:59But they are scattered throughout the tribes. They get their own little cities of refuge or places for the priests to live. So this, their actions again affect the future generations. So as we look at a few of each of these sons chunked together, I wanna ask the question, how does this help us endure to the end? This is a reminder that sin is serious. Just ask yourself the question, do I believe that the sins that I'm wrestling with right now are very serious? And do I believe that these sins will not just affect me? We are very self-focused when it comes to sin and often self-focused in our justification.

29:43That's a lie. Our sin always goes beyond us. It affects others to endure to the end. In faith we must fight sin, reach out to others, get help. Don't be isolated. The the enemy loves isolated people that he can just pick off one at a time, make your sin known, fight sin so that you can endure to the end. The next section is Judah. And here we get a kingly blessing. Judah gets a lion's share of the blessing, pun intended. Verse eight, Judah, your brothers shall praise you. Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies. Your father's son shall bow down before you. What ironic redemption, the same word spoken to Joseph, led Judah to sell him into slavery.

30:37Now after the redeeming hand of our great God has redeemed him, they're given to him and he is going to be the one through whom kings come. Judah is a lion's cub from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down. He crouched as a lion. As a lion is who dares rouse him. We don't have too many lions hanging around in our area. But basically Klu phoned, don't mess with a lion. If you rouse him, he'll take you out. Don't do that. Verse 10, the scepter shall not depart from Judah. Kings will come from his lion nor the ruler staff from between his feet. And this is where our hearts can start to praise Jesus, who is from the tribe of Judah until tribute comes to him.

31:24And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples binding his full to the vine and his donkeys cult to the choice vine. He has washed his garments in wine and his ur in the blood of grapes. His eyes are darker than wine and his teeth whiter than milk. Two things to notice that this blessing helps us endure to the end. First the Lord God is a God of plentiful redemption. I may have lost you at the the three sons whose sin passed on and had great effect. Judah's sin had great effect as well. And yet the Lord stepped in and redeemed and turned the course of his life in a completely different direction.

32:06We've seen that in the last several chapters of Genesis. God's redemption is amazing. Today is the day of salvation. Until he returns we can repent. Turn from your sin, experience God's gracious redemption. Ask him for a new heart, to give you a heart of flesh, to take out your heart of stone. He does that. He did that in this man and in many of his future offspring. It's also an encouragement for us to think about revelation which says the lion of the tribe of Judah. Not not the lion's cub, but the lion of the tribe of Judah has conquered and that is Jesus Christ. As we fix our attention on Christ, our hearts are encouraged to endure to the end, to long for his appearing and his kingdom to come next we're gonna look at six sons and their blessings all looped together.

33:10From verses 13 to 21, Zein shall dwell at the shore of the sea. He shall become a haven of ships and his border shall be at seden. Its akar is a strong donkey crouching between the sheep folds. He saw that a resting place was good and that the land was pleasant. So he bowed his shoulders to bear and became a servant at forced labor. Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a viper by the path that bites the horse's heels so that the rider falls backwards. I wait for your salvation Lord. Raiders shall be at Gad, but he shall raid at their heels.

33:57Asher's food shall be rich and he shall yield royal delicacies. Naftali is a dough let loose. That bears beautiful fawns. So what is going on there and how does that help us endure to the end? Well, let me just draw your attention to the fact that though these people are not prominent though though these are not our gold medal winners, those these are perhaps more of the people who are playing in the minor leagues. These people are, all these sons are all known by God and given specific gifts to carry out specific tasks in God's good plan. You see there are some headlines or there are some sins as Joe Rni says, that catch headlines like adultery and murder, um, which we saw earlier in the suns.

34:47But there are also so many other hidden beneath the headline sins like covetousness, envy, lack of contentment, ungratefulness. And I think what these sons remind us is those things can shipwreck our faith. If we're looking at other people's blessings from God and we're like, I wish I had that. Why don't I have that yet? God, what's going on with your timetable with me? Do you have any good plans for me? God's word is very clear for his people. He says, you, yes, you are my workmanship, creating Christ Jesus for good works, which I have prepared in advance for you to walk in. So don't be derailed by lack of contentment, envy, wanting what others have.

35:38Trust God's goodness to you. He is so infinite, so great, so awesome that he writes thousands and thousands and thousands of stories that are all beautiful and are carrying out his purposes. Each of these men though don't not getting much airtime and genesis are God's privileged founders of these tribes. And some will become seafarers, others will be hard workers. Others will have beautiful children. I'm not sure what the whole FAS thing is about, but they're all gonna have different and amazing things by God's good plan. Don't sell yourself short. If your story is not being written as you might choose to write it, it's far more amazing than you could ever write.

36:25Let's move on to the final two. Rachel's sons Joseph is a fruitful bow, a fruitful bow by a spring. His branches run over the wall and then it reminds us of Joseph's stories and says something really amazing. In the middle of this, the archers bitterly attacked him, shot at him and harassed him severely. Notice verse 24. This will be another one to make sure makes it into your notes or gets a star by it or you come back to yet his bow remained unmoved. His arms were made agile by the hands of the mighty. One of Jacob from, from there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel. By the God of your fathers who will help you.

37:15He's looking back at Joseph's story and says, do, do you wonder why he didn't crumble in all that persecution in prison and and being sold and and carried off and being left for several more years? How did he do that? His hand remained unmoved and his arms were made agile by the hands of the mighty one of Jacob. You may be in that place like I'm not so sure I can endure. I don't have enough resources inside of me. That's a good place to lift your eyes to the hills from where your help comes. Your help does not come from you. It comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. He made heaven and earth outta nothing.

38:00So if you look at your life and you say there's nothing our God can show up and cause life and endurance and help and strength, that's who He is our God who will help you. Notice he moves it into the future, not just what he did for Joseph. Like that's a nice story. He says, who will help you By the Almighty, who will bless you with blessings of heaven above blessings of the deep that crouch beneath blessings of the breasts and of the womb. The blessings of your father are mighty beyond the blessings of my parents up to the bounty nest of the everlasting hills. May they be on the head of Joseph and on the B brow of those who set apart, the one set apart from his brothers trust in the great keeper, we do not endure to the end on our own.

38:59There is a mighty hand. The mighty one of Jacob has a hand that seeks to strengthen and help and encourage each and every one of his followers. Look for that trust that capture words from his word to keep in front of you, to remind you of that truth. And finally, Benjamin, who like the six brothers I mentioned a little bit ago, is also a unique son given a blessing known by God. Benjamin is a ravenous wolf in the morning, devouring the prey, and at the evening dividing the spoil. God is the one who keeps his people to endure. This is not just a come to church and find out what you're supposed to do.

39:45Yes, that's important. That's what God word says. But how do we do it? We do it by faith. We do it by faith in a God who stirs us up by hearing his word to act in faith and works a miracle in us to keep us believing and trusting. Let's end with Jacob's final words of faith in the last five verses of this text. Look at with me at verse 29 when he commanded them and said to them, I am to be gathered to my people. That is a sweet phrase. I'm to be gathered to my people. That reminds us we serve a God of resurrection. We live beyond. This is not just a like I'm out of existence after I give my final breath.

40:29We serve a God of eternity and our spirits live on, but he also cares about his body. Bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of ephron, the Hittites in the cave that is in the field of Mac fella to the east of Mammary in the land of Canaan. Look at where his focus is. He is looking to the promised land in his dying breaths, which Abraham bought with the field from Efron, Hittite to possess as a bearing place. There they buried Abraham and Sarah, his wife there. They buried Isaac and Rebecca, his wife. And there I buried Leah. The field and the cave that is in it was bought from the Hittites.

41:12When Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his people he endured to the end with faith, believing that his spirit would be gathered to the Lord. Second Corinthians five, eight says, to be away from the bodies, to be at home with the Lord. That is true. And we will be reunited with new bodies, those followers of Jesus to an everlasting possession. That's what he was looking forward to. A land, a Cavan Mac fella. We will always be with the Lord in the new heavens and the new earth. And two Peter three 13 adds this beautiful thing, new heavens and new earth where righteousness dwells from time to time.

42:09We sing a song that's kind of a call and response that basically asks, are you ready? Do you see the brokenness of our world? Are you ready for a place where righteousness will dwell? Mayor Harts long for that and long for the return of the king who will usher that place in. And if you've not yet bowed to that king, please bow to that king. Let me close with two questions. What truth from the mouth of Jacob do you need to study further to help you endure to the end? Do you need to study the seriousness of sin? Do you need to study about this returning king and the line of the tribe of Judah? Do you need to look further at this God who strengthens you, who works in you, to will, and to work for his good pleasure?

43:01We faith comes by hearing. We endure by faith, by hearing God's word and letting it stir up our souls. But in the American church, in our individualistic society, we can forget another very important thing. We don't just hear God's word for the sake of our faith. The book of Hebrews in in chapter three, um, 12th through 14, helps me ask the second question, are you encouraging others to endure? We are a community. We're brought together by God so that we might spur one another onto love and good deeds. We might exhort one another daily as long as it's called today. Who do you need to exhort? What truth can you say?

43:43God help me today. I I may not even know the person, but as they come into my path, give me grace by your spirit to exhort someone that they might endure in their faith. Let's pray to those end ends. Lord, your word says, for we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end, you've laid that before us. You've given us example of what that looks like. You've spurred us on by ideas and opportunities and insights and warnings and corrections and truths. And God, would you help us to hear them today and benefit from them, but to dig deeper into them? Would you establish your people as oaks of righteousness with enduring faith to their final days?

44:36And would you make us many, many with the generations that follow us? Trust Christ to the end. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.