Jacob's life demonstrates faith in God's promises even in the face of death, illustrating that true faith looks beyond present circumstances to future hope. The sermon highlights Jacob's adoption of Joseph's sons as his own, ensuring their inheritance according to God's covenant, and his worship while preparing to be buried with his fathers, not in Egypt. The core lesson is that the greatest blessing for our children and grandchildren is a relationship with God, not worldly riches. Ultimately, Jacob's faith provides a model for facing death with confidence, trusting in God's faithfulness and future promises.
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We are introduced here to Jacob, and we are introduced to the subject that I would think is probably the taboo subject of the twentieth and twenty-first century. The one subject that people do not talk about, the one subject that people are very hesitant to talk about, it's the subject of death. by faith Jacob when he was dying. And here it speaks about the faith of this man as he was dying. But if you try to get people to talk about death today, many are so afraid of death that they do not want to talk about it.
Many look at death as the end of their existence and the thought horrifies them. Many are more optimistic. They are hoping that death will lead them to a better place. But there is little certainty. People are plagued by sin and by guilt. And many are just too frightened to talk about this subject of death. Now we who are believers in Jesus Christ have a different perspective. Christ has taken the sting of death away from us.
We have been made children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. He has died for us and paid the penalty for our sins. And so we have the promises of God of eternal life and a sure and certain hope in heaven with Him. And that gives us a difference in our perspective as we face death. And yet I still find that there are many Christians who are afraid when it comes to this subject of death. The Bible does look at death, even for us who are believers. The Bible does look at death as an enemy, the last enemy.
And we should not underestimate what is involved in dying. The Bible says that we have victory through Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection, but there are a lot of Christians who do not enjoy that victory and are still frightened when they face death. A few years ago, I was reading a wonderful biography, the biography of Martin Lloyd Jones. Martin Lloyd Jones was one of the greatest preachers in the twentieth century. A Welsh preacher who preached at Westminster Chapel in London, England.
He followed G. Campbell Morgan there and was just a tremendous preacher and influence for God in the middle of the twentieth century. But in his biography, there was a thought that he expressed that really struck me as strange and he was he was talking about that the thought of dying suddenly and he was saying many people say when when someone dies suddenly you know they're out there on the golf course and and all of a sudden they've fallen over and they're dead and many say what a wonderful way to go And Martin Lloyd Jones said no.
He said he would rather have time to prepare for death. He had gotten to that age. He knew that he was dying. And he said he wanted to face death and not let it slip past him. He wanted to face it and experience victory over it by faith. Now we are looking at Hebrews chapter eleven and the heroes of faith and we read in verse twenty seven by faith Jacob as he was dying blessed each of the sons of Joseph and worshipped leaning on the top of his staff here we have as one of the heroes of faith Jacob and as you look at what the writer it's just one verse And the writer of Hebrews refers to two incidents in the life of Jacob.
And when you stop and look and see what is mentioned, it really is strange the two things that he uses to emphasize the faith of Jacob. One of them is that as he was dying, he blessed each of the sons of Joseph. That was... the example of his faith that was chosen here. And then the second example is that he worshipped, leaning on the top of his staff. He worshipped. Now these two things, when you look at them, don't seem to be very significant examples of faith.
There are many incidents in Jacob's life which are passed over. when he was fleeing from Esau in Genesis twenty eight he he met God at Bethel you might have you might have looked at that as one of the chat one of the incidents which was chosen of his faith or when he was coming back in Genesis thirty two he wrestled with the angel of God at Peniel and it says that his name was changed to Israel because he had striven with God and with men and had prevailed but you have these two examples of Joseph's faith his blessing the sons of Joseph and his worshiping now I think the key to this is really in that phrase Jacob as he was dying These are examples of Jacob's faith as he was facing death.
Now, when you look at Jacob here, I keep saying Joseph. If I say Joseph, I don't mean it most of the time. Joseph is in this narrative, but it's Jacob who is given here as the example of faith. And if you look through Jacob's life, In Genesis, here's a man you would say, this man is never going to make the Hall of Fame, the Hall of Fame of faith. Jacob was a rascal and scoundrel for most of his life. Most of his life, he was a schemer and a conniver.
And you would wonder, where was his faith? It took Jacob learning some very hard lessons from God. to have his faith strengthened and at the end of his life when he came to face death Jacob had grown and he faced death with faith he was strong in his faith it was not as if Jacob had a death bed conversion but rather his faith had been developed through life and he learned to trust God and when he came to the end of his life here was a man who did not always succeed well in his life as a believer, but he did end his life well.
How did he face death? How did he face death without fear? How did he face death with confidence in God? Well, if you look at these two incidents that are mentioned here, you can see that he faced death preparing for the future and that was his example of faith now this verse in in in Hebrews mentions two incidents and it just mentions them the writer of Hebrews assumes that we know the story from the book of Genesis now I'd have to say that These days, that is a riskier and riskier assumption.
My daughter was taking a class in English composition in Yakima, Washington. And so the teacher of the class was referring to the subject of a literary illusion. And she gave us an example of a literary illusion, the phrase or the reference to the patience of job now there were two two sections of that class in one section there was not a single student that understood what that phrase referred to the patience of job and in my daughter's class she was the only one in the class that understood what was referred to as the patience of Job.
We're living in a day when people do not know their Bibles. The writer of Hebrews assumes that we do know our Bibles, and yet they are not two of the prominent accounts in the book of Genesis. But we want to look at them, and how do these two incidences in the life of Jacob show us his faith well it says first of all by faith Jacob blessed each of the sons of Joseph the story is found in Genesis forty eight I'd like you to turn there Genesis forty eight and there are two aspects of what is going on here Genesis forty eight tells us that Joseph that Jacob had come to the end of his life.
You look at Genesis forty-seven in verse twenty-nine, it says, When the time drew near, that Israel must die. Israel is another name for Jacob. And in verse one, it came to pass after these things that Joseph was told, Indeed, your father is sick. Jacob is near the end of his life. And Joseph comes bringing his two sons with him, the two sons that had been born in Egypt. One was Manasseh and the other was Ephraim.
And when Jacob saw these two grandsons, he struggled to sit up in bed and began to tell what God had done in his life. Now, when we sit around the dinner table, when our children are all visiting, and I start telling stories about some of the things of the past, they take that as a sign of old age. You know, you start reminiscing. Well, Jacob was not reminiscing here. This was testimony time. This was time to tell of God's blessings in his life.
In verses three and four, he tells how God had appeared to him at Luz. That's another name for the place Bethel. And how God had made wonderful promises to him. These were the promises of the Abrahamic covenant, the promises that we have seen that God made to Abraham. how god would bless him how god would multiply him how god would make a great nation of him and how god would give him the land of canaan the land that he had promised to abraham in other words the same promises that were made to abraham were made in the next generation to isaac and then in the generation after that to to jacob that god would give him the land as an everlasting And then after recalling these promises, Jacob says to Joseph in verse five, he says, Now your two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, your two sons are mine.
As Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine. What is he saying here? He is saying that these two grandsons, Manasseh, Ephraim and Manasseh, he is adopting them as if they were his own children, his own sons. You remember Jacob had twelve sons. Each of these twelve sons became the twelve tribes of Israel. And God had promised that he would give the land. to Jacob's sons, to his descendants, to those twelve tribes.
Well, what Jacob is doing here is saying, I am adopting these two sons, the tribe of Joseph, is actually going to become two tribes. There are going to be thirteen tribes of Israel. And Ephraim and Manasseh are going to have equal shares with the other tribes in the land now what that means is that he is giving a double portion of the inheritance to joseph normally the double portion was given to the first firstborn son that was the birthright you remember that was the the birthright that jacob had had had had bought from esau with a bowl of stew And the firstborn of Jacob was Reuben.
And he had lost the right to that double portion, that birthright, because he had had sexual relations with Bilha, Jacob's handmaid. And so now the double portion was going to go to Joseph, and his two sons were going to receive an equal portion of the inheritance with their uncles. Now that's the first part of the story. The second part is found in Jacob's blessing of his two grandsons, Ephraim and Manasseh. And that is found in verses eight to twenty-two.
When Jacob saw these two grandsons, he had Joseph, he says, bring them near, that I might bless them. And so Joseph took his two two sons, and he took the older son, Manasseh, and he took him with his left hand that he might bring him to Joseph. And so, as you're facing me, Jacob would be facing Joseph, and Manasseh on the left hand of Joseph would be on the right hand of Jacob. Because he was the older son in the right hand would give the greater blessing.
And he took Ephraim in his right hand and he brought him over to the left side of Jacob because he wanted Jacob to lay his two hands on these sons and bless them. And so what Jacob did was crossed his hand. And he put his right hand on the younger son, Ephraim. And he put his left hand on the older son. And he blessed him. In spite of the protests of Joseph, he blessed the younger son in a greater way than he blessed the older son.
Now what does all this mean? This is what the writer of Hebrews chooses to give us as the example of Jacob's faith. Now how is this an example of Jacob's faith? Well it really goes back to the Abrahamic covenant, the promises that God had made to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. what Jacob was doing as he was dying what he was doing was showing his confidence in his belief in his assured assuredness of these promises that God had made to him he acted in confidence and even death was not a deterrent to his faith that God would complete that which he had promised God had promised To Abraham that he would be his God.
That he would multiply his seed. That he would give him the land as an everlasting possession. He had made that promise to Abraham. He had made that promise to Isaac. And now he had made that promise to Jacob. Now what was going to happen to Jacob? And what was going to happen to his family? You remember at this time, where are they? They are in the land of Egypt. because of that famine that had been in the land, God had used that to bring Jacob and all of his sons and all of their family down into the land of Egypt. And you remember that Joseph was still prime minister in the land of Egypt.
These two boys, Ephraim and Manasseh, were princes in the court of Pharaoh. Their mother was from a very prominent place. family in Egypt. They had been raised in wealth. They had gotten all of the education and advantages and wealth and social position that could be found in the land of Egypt. Joseph and his family had, or Joseph's sons, I should say, had never seen the land of Canaan. And it would be very easy for them to be tempted. to want to stay there in the land of Egypt as their true homeland.
And it would be very easy for not only Joseph in his family, but for all of the Israelites, all of the family of Jacob, just to be absorbed in the land of Egypt, assimilated with the Egyptians. When Jacob calls Joseph, blesses his sons and reminds them of the promises that God had given him. Jacob is saying is that what he wanted for his family, what he particularly wanted for these sons of Joseph, was not the riches of Egypt, but the blessing of God. What he wanted for them was not all of the wealth and all of the attractions that Egypt had to offer.
What he wanted for them was all that God had to offer them, not to stay in Egypt, but to return to Canaan, even though they would not return themselves, but their descendants would return, not to live and enjoy all of the wealth and advantages of Egypt, but to enjoy God and to enjoy his blessing. That is what Jacob wanted for his family, and he believed the promise of God. He believed that God would not allow this family to be swallowed up in Egypt. Living in Egypt, becoming Egyptians, worshiping as the Egyptians did, he believed that God would take them back to the land.
God had actually promised Abraham that his family would live for four hundred years in the land of Egypt. And then he said that they would return to the promised land. And Jacob believed that God would keep his word. He believed that promise. And it was his faith in the promise that was the basis for his blessing of these two boys. In faith, he looked beyond the present and he looked to the future it was his faith that believed the promises of God but you know it was more than that it was his faith that set value on the promises of God it was his faith that said these are the things that are important and these are the things that I really want for my children and my grandchildren Let me ask you tonight, how do you want to bless your children?
And how do you want to bless your grandchildren? You know, the greatest blessing that you can give them is the knowledge of God and salvation through Jesus Christ. That is the greatest blessing that you can give them. Egypt did not really have anything to offer. Joseph's sons and this world really does not have anything that worthwhile to offer your children and your grandchildren now many of us Christians know this but in spite of that all of our efforts seem to be to pass on something else to our children and our grandchildren We want our children to be well situated in life, to have a good education, to have useful friends in contacts, to have material advantages.
You know, when we come to the point of death, when our children come to the point of death, these things are not going to mean anything, absolutely nothing, and they're even uncertain in this life. They're all things that can be stripped from us in a moment. It is only the knowledge of God and a personal relationship to Him that will count for all of eternity. See, Jacob wanted for his family that which really was important. What is it that you want to see your children or your grandchildren doing?
Is it having a certain position? Do you want them to be a... a doctor or lawyer or a successful businessman to be able to afford a certain kind of neighborhood or a certain kind of house. You want them to be an Olympic athlete. None of these things will count when your children have to stand before God. I have two of my sons. have been very good soccer players. And some people have asked me why I did not push more and encourage them more to try to get them to get a scholarship playing soccer.
I think they were capable of it. And I am not against that kind of thing. But there was something I really wanted more for them. more than success in athletics. And if you know me, Dave Rogers can tell you about me that I love, I love athletics. I just had a great time as my kids were in soccer and wrestling and some of the other sports in high school. I loved it. But there's something I want much more for my children. I want more than anything else to see them going on for God.
And when they wanted to come to a mass and study the Word of God, and when they wanted to commit their lives to God, there was nothing that thrilled me more. I am thrilled to see them want to follow Jesus Christ and live for him. This is one I want to see first. One of them has struggled in that area in the last couple of years and God has had to deal with him in a tough way and I am praying that God's hand upon him will lead him to really put first things first but I am convinced at least for my family that if they are walking with God and following him then everything else will work out in life They will be successful in that area.
They will be successful in their lives. Jacob shows his faith in trusting the promises of God. I think we also see that Jacob shows his faith in that now he is content to rest in the will of God and let God be the one in control. You know, this, if you look at the patriarchs, God often chose the younger son over the older. And this seemed to cause a lot of struggle and conflict among the patriarchs themselves.
When God chose Isaac over the older brother Esau, Abraham's response was, but Oh, that Ishmael might live before you. When Isaac was told that the younger will serve the older, Isaac tried to go against God by calling Esau in because he wanted to give the blessing to Esau. He was really fighting God at that point. Jacob came to the point now where he goes to bless his two grandsons.
And I think that God had revealed to him what the future of these two lads and the two tribes would be, just as he showed him in Genesis forty-nine, what the future of all of the tribes of Israel were going to be. And you don't see Jacob struggling here. the way Abraham had done and the way Isaac had done, what you see him is submitting to the will of God. In faith, he believed that God would fulfill his promise. In faith, he believed that God would bring them back to the land. That God was the Lord of history.
He would multiply Ephraim and Manasseh. and give them their inheritance in the land of Canaan. That's the first incident that the writer of Hebrews uses to illustrate to us Jacob's faith. It was Jacob's faith as he was dying, where he looked beyond his own personal death to God's fulfillment of his promise in the future. the second thing that the writer of Hebrews does is refer to Jacob's worshiping God at this time Jacob worshiped leaning on the top of his staff staff and that second incident is is referring to what we have in the end of Genesis chapter forty seven it's found here in in Genesis forty seven verses twenty nine to thirty one I read verse verse twenty nine where it says the time drew near that Israel must die and he called his son Joseph and said to him here Jacob
is about to die and he calls Joseph and he makes him swear an oath that he would not bury him in Egypt bury me in the grave of my fathers he says And it says that when Jacob, when Joseph took that oath, Jacob worshipped. Jacob worshipped. Now, how did this show his faith? Again, it is faith because his action shows that he was believing the promise of God. He was believing the promise of God.
Remember, God had promised to give him this land of Canaan as his inheritance. Jacob was dying without having received that promise. Remember Hebrews chapter eleven and verse thirteen. All of these died without receiving the promises. Not only was Jacob about to die without receiving the promise, he was also about to die in the land of Egypt. Now, what does that mean? If Jacob dies without receiving the promise, does that mean that God's word has failed? Does it mean that God has not kept his word?
Jacob didn't believe that. Jacob was not doubting the faithfulness of God. He knew that God would keep his word. God cannot lie. And so he knew that if he died without receiving the promise, just as Abraham knew this, God would raise him from the dead. And when he blessed Ephraim and Manasseh, he showed that he believed God's promise for his descendants. When it says that he worshipped here, it shows that he believed God's promise for himself. Death is not the end for him personally.
He has a future. Don't bury me in Egypt. Carry me back and bury me with my fathers. Now, what is he saying? This is not just a sentimental request. Sometimes a wife where a husband dies first and the survivor, wherever they have lived at a later time, wants to go and be buried right next to them. This is not that kind of sentimentality. It is not a kind of nostalgia for the old country. Take me back to Scotland, the land of my youth, and lay me under the heath and heather and let my bones rest in the land of my birth that's not what Jacob's saying here this isn't sentimentality it isn't nostalgia it's faith it is confidence in God for the future his future it is a future that goes beyond death it is a future that goes beyond the grave and
so Jacob worshiped God it is his expression of thanksgiving for the promises of God and his hope for the future Jacob dying faced death and he trusted in God. Have you faced death? Are you ready to die? Unless the Lord Jesus comes first, there is nothing more certain for each one of us in life. And the first issue that you have to face is what I would call the objective issue.
and the objective issue is simply this are you going to heaven are you going to hell the bible says in the book of hebrews that it is appointed into men to die once and then after this the judgment there is no annihilation destruction as and not as materialists say so that we die and that is the end of our existence the bible does not support that there is no sentimental eschatology that says that we all will die and go to a better place God has revealed that there is a heaven and that there is a hell and that the way to heaven is through faith in his son Jesus Christ who died for our sins that we might have eternal life And the way to hell is simply to reject or neglect his son.
All you have to do to go to hell is do what most people are doing. Do absolutely nothing other than what they are normally doing. The way to hell is the way of the normal life. It is only by trusting in Jesus Christ as your own personal Savior that you have any hope of heaven. And if you have trusted in Him, then you have received The Bible says eternal life. He that hears my word and believes on him that sent me has eternal life and shall not come into judgment but is passed from death unto life.
That is an objective fact. If you have Christ, you have eternal life. If you have Christ, you are going to heaven. Now you may have doubts and you may have fears Those are subjective feelings. But salvation does not depend on my doubts and my fears. It does not depend on my being good enough. It depends on my having a Savior who is able to save me. And if I have Jesus Christ as my Savior, then I have eternal life, regardless of my own personal subjective feelings.
doubts and feelings. So the first issue is the objective issue. Do you have Christ? The second issue is really the subjective issue. There is a subjective aspect in facing death. And that is, do we face death with confidence? Do we face death without fear? Do we face death with a calm assurance? That was the faith of Jacob. But there are a lot of believers who do not face death with that kind of assurance. There are some who do not have peace.
They are still frightened by death. Jacob looked to God. He looked to the promise of God. He looked to the one who gave him assurance, and he put his faith and trust in that one who does not lie, and who can be depended upon as always faithful. It is that one who gave Jacob that kind of subjective peace. He was able to face death. He was able to walk confidently toward it. in full assurance of faith.
He knew that death could really not give him any harm. I think that's what Martin Lloyd Jones was saying when he said he wanted to have time to face death. If you are a Christian and you die instantly, then you are at home with the Lord. You go through death. You have Christ as your Savior, but you haven't had to look at death itself. You have not had to face it. When you die slowly, you know that death is coming.
Your faith is tested, and you are able to give testimony to the victory of Christ in giving you hope and confidence. in the face of death. Martin Lloyd Jones was saying, I want to glorify God in the way I face death. I want to glorify Him not only in my life, I want to glorify Him in my death. Now I don't know whether I will die quickly or I will die slowly. And I don't know if I will die with the kind of faith that Jacob exhibits here.
I know that that is the kind of faith that I want to have and the kind of assurance I want to have and the kind of peace that I want to have in facing death. That kind of assurance and that kind of confidence comes from looking at the promises of God. and considering the one who has promised, and realizing that he is faithful, and that I can depend on him through it all.
That is the kind of faith that Jacob exhibited here, and that is the kind of faith that I would like to have. By God's grace, may it be so. Let's pray. Father, we do thank you that you are in