Jacob's Faith, Part 1

I am having an absolute blast in Hebrews 11. I just think it is the most incredible chapter. That's why we're taking so long to get through it. Why? It's the most important topic in all the scripture. It's the most talked about topic in all the scripture that is faith. And so we're looking at what faith really is. And so we're taking each and every character in the chapter of Hebrews, trying to look at that individual and show you how they exhibited that they believed absolutely in what God said and then behaved accordingly to what God said.

It's called trusting obedience. That's what faith is. And they lived not by sight, but by faith. And so we come to the life of Jacob today, Hebrews 11 verse number 21. Just one verse. By faith, Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff. There is so much in that verse. There is so much to talk about. There is so much to look at.

But because we're not Jewish, the writer doesn't expound on it. Doesn't have to, right? He's writing to Jewish people. He's writing to them about their famous fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Joseph. These great patriarchs of the Old Testament. But I don't know how much you know about Jacob and Joseph. I don't know how much you remember about the life of Joseph. I don't know what you know. So I just gotta take you back to explain it to you, to help you understand Hebrews 11 verse number 21, that Jacob is going to worship on his staff or literally on his bed.

He's gonna worship and bless the sons of Joseph. What does that have to do with faith? What does that have to do with me today? How do I understand this? This is great. So go back with me to the book of Genesis, the 48th chapter, okay? Genesis chapter 48. In Genesis 49, Jacob is gonna bless all his sons, okay? In Genesis 48, he's gonna bless the sons of Joseph. Why? Why is this particular aspect of Jacob's life highlighted in Hebrews 11? There is so much about his life and so much about the faith that he exhibited.

Why is it he's going to talk about this particular incident? Remember, he is showing how the promises are passed down from generation to generation. There's a legacy being passed down from father to son to son to father, from father to son, so that they can begin to understand the importance of the truth of God's word and how there is a promise of a seed. There is a promise of a land. There is a promise of blessing and fruitfulness that God, even though we have not seen it, we take it by faith it's going to happen because God said it.

Faith is believing in what God has already said, right? And so Abraham believed what God said. Isaac believed what God said. Jacob believed what God said. So much so, he takes Joseph's sons and blesses them. He's going to bless Joseph in chapter 49, but he's going to bless the sons of Joseph in chapter 48. Now you remember Joseph, right? You remember who Joseph is? Genesis chapter 37. Joseph, when 17 years of age, this is verse number two, was pastoring a flock with his brothers while he was still a youth, along with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives.

And Joseph brought back a bad report about them to their father. Ah, there's always one in the family that tells that everybody else in the family, right? That's Joseph. Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons. Oh, stop right there. Last week, what did we say? Isaac loved Esau. Rebecca loved Jacob. We got a problem. There's favoritism in the family. The mother loves one, the father loves the other. We got all kinds of problems, right? And so we did. So now Jacob loves Joseph more than all the other sons.

This has got to present a problem. Why would now Jacob knowing how it is his mother loved him primarily over Esau and the difficulties that that brought, now why would he love one son and not the other 11 the same? Tells you. Because he was a son of his old age. Well, that would mean that, wow, he's getting up in years. He's probably around 100 years of age at this point. And Joseph is just now being born and almost like a grandson to him. So he's gonna love him more than all the others. No, that's not what it means because Benjamin is born after Joseph.

But Benjamin is not the son of his old age. So what does that mean? Very important. It simply means the son of wisdom. It's a phrase that speaks of an old head on a young body. It speaks to the fact that the observation and intelligence of this individual is way beyond his age. That's what the phrase son of his old age represent. It's not talking about Jacob, it's talking about Joseph. That's why it says, and he made him a very colored tunic. He made him a multi-colored cloak and gave it to him to wear.

And of course, that was supposed to be given to Reuben. Reuben was the firstborn. But the problem with Reuben is that he slept with the concubine of his father. So he lost the privilege. You see, the reason he received the cloak was not because of anything other than the fact that there was a character that was exemplified in Joseph that was not exemplified in all the other sons. There was something about Joseph that set him apart. In fact, over in Genesis chapter 49, it says that Joseph was the one distinguished among his brothers.

What distinguished Joseph from his brothers? Purity, holiness, character. That's what separated them. That's why he was the son of his father's old age. That's why he received the tunic, the cloak of honor, because he was the one worthy of honor. Well, that cloak caused all kinds of problems. His brothers hated him. They despised him. And you know the story. They took him, they threw him in a pit and lied to their father, sold him to the Ishmaelites, that he can be Egypt, Potiphar bought him. You know, it just goes on and on and on, right?

You know the story, but Joseph rises to prominence. In fact, Pharaoh serves in Joseph's court because Joseph becomes the man and God does remarkable things. So in Genesis chapter 48, Jacob's about to die. And who does he want to come? Not Reuben, not Simeon, not Benjamin, not even Judah. He wants Joseph. There's a reason he wants Joseph to come. So the Bible says in Genesis chapter 49, 48, excuse me.

Now it came about after these things that Joseph was told, behold, your father is sick. So he took his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim with him. Stop right there. Very important. These are the two sons in Hebrews chapter 11 that Jacob blesses. Manasseh means to forget. Ephraim means to be fruitful or doubly fruitful. It's in the plural, so it's doubly fruitful. Very important. Joseph has these two sons while in Egypt, right? And he names them according to what God has done in his life. Manasseh, the firstborn.

God has caused me to forget. What is he forgetting? Did he forget that his brother sold him to the Israelites? Nope, never forgot that. Did he forget that his brothers hated him? Nope. Nope. Did he forget how his brothers lied about him? Nope. Didn't forget any of that stuff, okay? So why does he say I'm gonna name my firstborn Manasseh because God has caused me to forget? What did he forget? Did he forget the events? Nope. Did he forget the circumstances? Nope, because you can't forget those things.

They're indelibly etched in your memory. But he forgot the pain and the misery surrounding the events and circumstances. God caused him to forget all the pain, all the turmoil, all the tragedy. God did that. And so know what he did? He forgave. He forgave his brothers before he ever saw his brothers. He never knew if he'd ever see his brothers again. But he forgave them. So he named his second son what?

Ephraim, which means to be fruitful or doubly fruitful and Joseph was. Can I just add this little tidbit for you this morning? Until you learn to forget your past, you'll never be fruitful in the present. Just never will. If you can't forgive what has happened to you in the past, the people that have harmed you and wronged you, you forget about being fruitful in the present. It's just not gonna happen. But God blessed Joseph in a great and mighty way. These are the two sons that were born to him while in Egypt.

Very important. Why? Because he didn't marry a Jew. He married a daughter of a priest in Egypt. He married a Gentile woman. So these boys are outside Judaism. They're outside the camp. Very important to the story, right? They're Gentile boys, okay? So read on. Says, when it was told to Jacob, behold, your son Joseph has come to you. Israel collected his strength and sat up in the bed. Then Jacob said to Joseph, God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me. And he said to me, behold, I will make you fruitful and numerous and I will make you a company of peoples and will give this land to your descendants after you for an everlasting possession.

Now, your two sons who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt are what? Are mine. Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine as Reuben and Simeon are. But your offspring that had been born after them shall be yours. They should be called by the names of their brothers in their inheritance. Wow. Your sons are now mine. This is ancient language for adoption. Jacob is adopting Joseph's two sons. He has to, in order to bless them. He has to bring them into the family, into the fold.

How do you become a Jew? One, you gotta be born a Jew. If you're not born a Jew, you gotta be married to a Jew. If you're not married to a Jew, you have to be adopted into Judaism. That's how you become a Jew. So these boys are now being adopted by Jacob. This is all the background to Hebrews 11, verse number 21. This is so amazing. He brings them in, okay? He's gonna take them as his own. He's going to adopt them for his own because now he's going to bless Manasseh and Ephraim. Joseph, your other sons, they're yours.

These two, they're mine. He's going to bless them. And Joseph doesn't have a problem with that because he knows Jewish law. He knows what's gonna happen. Now I want you to notice something very unique.

The Bible says in Hebrews 11 that in this whole process, Jacob worshiped. How do you worship without any music? You ever think about that? You know, you might wanna do a study in your Bible about how many times there was music when somebody worshiped. Extremely rare. Have you ever heard people say these kinds of words? Hey, you know, I love going to that church. I love the preaching, but the worship, the worship is really not my style. You ever heard that? I've heard it a million times, okay? I don't like the preaching, but I do like the worship at this church as if you can separate preaching from worship.

If anybody says that to you, you know automatically in your mind, they have no idea what worship is. They think they do, but they don't because in their mind, worship is music. Music can, worship can incorporate music, but music is not worship. We have what we call a worship service because everything we do in the service is to the glory and honor of God. So mark this down. Worship is the human response to divine revelation. Worship is the human response to divine revelation. Please mark that down.

I cannot respond correctly or concisely unless God is revealed convincingly and correctly and clearly. I can't. I will never respond correctly unless God is revealed clearly. And then and only then will he be revered conspicuously. Why do I say that? Well, if you are aware of this past week and what has taken place on Discovery Plus channel with the documentary on Hillsong. If you haven't seen it, you need to watch it. It's three hours long because it exposes the implosion of Hillsong. It's imploding from the inside out.

Hillsong is a movement based on music, not the message. Based on song, not scripture. Based on tunes, but not truth. It's a movement that's imploding because whenever music takes precedence over the message, the product is always misfortune and mayhem, always without exception. When the tunes take precedence over the truth, the product is always turmoil and tragedy without exception. When the songs take precedence over the scriptures, the product is always sin and shame. Mark it down. Brian Houston, who is the pastor of the Mother Church in Australia, resigned this week.

Had to. He's been indicted for the cover up of his father's sins. What were his father's sins? His father was a child molester, but Brian Houston was involved in the coverup of that. He's been indicted. As well as two women have accused him of sexual impropriety over the last several years. He said to step down from his position. Last year, Carl Lentz, pastor of Hillsong, New York. It's typically called Justin Bieber's church or Kevin Durant's church or Kyrie Irving's church. It's a celebrity church in New York.

Carl Lentz had to step down because of adultery with another woman in the assembly. Reed Bogart, pastor of the Hillsong Church in Dallas, stepped down last January. Because he's been accused of raping a junior staff member while on staff at the church in New York. My friends, Hillsong was built on lawlessness, licentiousness and lust. These pastors of these mega churches are falling one by one because they're involved in alcohol, sex and drugs. Why? Because the music took precedence over the message.

The song took precedence over the scriptures. And the tunes were more important than the truth. Jacob worshiped. In all throughout the Old Testament, you'll find the patriarchs worshiping, but no music. Because you don't need music to worship. See, you can use music in worship to give praise and honor to God. You give a sacrifice of praise, right? You give a sacrifice of yourself. You give a sacrifice of your substance. So you are a living sacrifice, sacrificing unto the Lord. That is our worship opportunity.

But we're not here as a church to entertain you. We are here as a church to enlighten you as to who God is and what God has done. Once you've been enlightened, now you know how to live according to God's word because worship is the human response to divine revelation. So if he's not revealed properly, you can't respond correctly. You just can't. And so why do I say that? Because in today's churches, our idea of worship is molded by the world, not by God's word. That's a problem. But Hebrews 11 says that Jacob worshiped on his bed without a guitar, without a flute, without a piano, without any music.

How did he do that? Simply because it was his response, human response, to the divine revelation of God. See that? And the blessing that he gives, like the blessing last week that was given, if it's all by faith, right? Based on what God has said, the blessing given is based on what God has already said. This is not some blessing that Jacob conjures up in his mind and says, let me bless this one that way and let me bless this one that way and I'll bless this one this way.

No, no, no. Genesis 49 is all a blessing that was a prediction about what was gonna take place within that individual and that tribe. That's what the blessing was. It was all a prophetic prediction based on what God had already told Jacob. And so he's gonna take these two boys, he's gonna bless them. And what is that blessing based on? He says, God appeared to me at Luz. Do you know that story? If you don't, turn back with me if you would to Genesis chapter 28. Genesis chapter 28, this is a story that he refers to.

God Almighty appeared to me. You need to understand the context. You need to know what's going on here. You can read Hebrews 11, 21, go on to verse number 22, go on to verse number 23, just skip over it. Yeah, I know about Jacob, I know about Abraham, I know about Isaac, I know about Joseph. But do we really know? Do we understand? Do we grasp it? Do we get it? So he says, listen, Joseph, I'm about to die. You have to understand, son, that what I'm gonna tell you is based on what God did when he appeared to me at Luz.

This becomes a pivotal chapter in Judaism. And for you and me as Christians, you need to know the chapter. Then Jacob departed from Beersheba, verse 10, and went toward Haran. He came to a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set, and he took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head and lay down in that place. You ever slept on a stone? Jacob did. He had a dream. And behold, a ladder, or better translation, a staircase, was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven.

And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. But the Hebrew syntax is that not that the staircase went from earth to heaven, but from heaven to earth. Okay? Very important to understanding the story. It says, verse 13, "'And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, "'I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham "'and the God of Isaac. "'The land on which you lie, "'I will give it to you and to your descendants. "'Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, "'and you will spread out to the west and to the east "'and to the north and to the south.

"'And in you and in your descendants "'shall all the families of the earth be blessed. "'Behold, I am with you, "'and will keep you whenever or wherever you go, "'and will bring you back to this land. "'For I will not leave you "'until I've done what I have promised you.' "'Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "'Surely the Lord is in this place.' "'And I did not know it. "'He was afraid.'" Afraid. Listen, if you have a vision or a dream, or God speaks to you and you're not afraid, God didn't speak to you.

Because everybody that God speaks to is terrified. How awesome is this place? This is none other than the house of God. And this is the gate of heaven. What's the gate of heaven? What's the gateway to glory? How do you get to heaven? Gotta climb the stairs. Gotta walk up the stairs. What are the stairs? I love what the Jewish rabbis say about this. They say, this is the way to God. But they never define for you what the way is, because they don't know. Guess what? You know. Jesus said to Nathanael in John chapter one, "'You shall see angels ascending and descending "'on the Son of Man.'" If you think it's unique and special, because I saw you underneath the tree when I wasn't around you, you haven't seen anything yet, Nathanael.

Because you're gonna see what Jacob saw in Genesis chapter 28. Angels ascending and descending on the staircase. Because who is the way to glory? Jesus. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes into the Father but by me. See that? This is so incredible. And this is what Jacob's saying. Jacob, God appeared to me. Where? At Luz. Wait a minute, I thought this was the house of God. I thought this was Bethel. So Jacob rose early in the morning and took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on its top.

Why did he do that? What's the point of oil have to do with this pouring of oil over a stone? It's symbolic. It's symbolic of consecration and devotion. That not only am I devoting this place, but I'm devoting my life to what happened in this place. It's an act of consecration and devotion. Some would say that because it's a stone and there are so many memorial stones in the Old Testament, it was all symbolic of the ultimate stone, Christ, who would come. Maybe it is, maybe it's not. I'm not gonna preach on that one, I don't know.

I know Christ is the stone. He is the cornerstone, I do know that. But this was all symbolic of dedication and devotion to God. So he says he called the name of that place Bethel, which means house of God. However, previously the name of the city was called, what, Luz, see that? This is Jacob's reference in Genesis 48, which takes you to Hebrews 11, verse number 21, where Jacob blesses the sons of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim. Listen to this. Then Jacob made a vow saying, "'Since God will be with me and will keep me "'on this journey that I take, "'and will give me food to eat and garments to wear, "'and I return to my father's house in safety, "'then the Lord will be my God.

"'This stone, which I have set up as a pillar, "'will be God's house. "'And of all that you give me, I will surely give a,' What? "'Of all that you give me, I will give a tenth to you. "'How do you know you have dedicated "'and consecrated your life to the Lord? "'You give a tenth of all that you have.'" Now, pastor, that's under the law. This is before the law was given. That's Old Testament stuff. I love when people say that. I love when people say, that's Old Testament. New Testament's different.

It is. Zacchaeus gave 50% of what he had. Mm, now how do you feel? Oh, how about this? The widow, she gave 100% of all that she had. So if you're looking for numbers, the New Testament's numbers are 50 in the hundred. The Old Testament numbers are 10. Which number do you wanna take? See? You see, we wanna get caught up in numbers, but it's not about the numbers necessarily. It's all about the heart's commitment. He was so consecrated to God, he said, "'Look, a tenth of all of my possessions, "'I'm giving to you.'" I've always said to people, a tenth is where you start.

It's not where you end up. A tenth, start with a tenth and move on from there. Could you imagine if everybody in the church gave a tenth of all that they had to the Lord? There would not be enough banks to hold the money of the people in the church. That's because people on average give about 1.8% to the Lord, on average. That was before inflation came. All that to say is that this is the story behind Genesis chapter 40. I'm not gonna finish this today. That's all right, what's new, right? So go back to Genesis chapter 48.

So Jacob's whole belief about the blessing is based on what God did when he appeared to him at Luz, and the promise that he gave. I'm gonna pass that on to your sons, see? Now look at this.

Now as for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died. To my sorrow in the land of Canaan on the journey, when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath, and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath, that is Bethlehem. From Jacob's belief, you see Jacob's bereavement. There's this memory about Rachel. Oh, he loved Rachel, remember? He worked 14 years to get her. He told Laban he would work for seven years, thinking he'd get Rachel. Instead, he got Leah. You know what Leah's name means? Sore eyes, sore eyes.

You know what Rachel's name means? Beautiful, she was beautiful looking. Yeah. Laban would come and say, this is my daughter, Rachel, and say, mm-hmm, this is her sister, Leah. You go, mm-hmm, sore eyes, baby. My eyes are sore now, look at Leah.

So he worked seven years thinking he was gonna get Rachel, and he got Leah instead. Wow, how'd he mess that one up? Said he'd work another seven years to get Rachel. Rachel was his beloved, Rachel was his beauty, Rachel was everything to him, he loved Rachel. And Leah was having all these kids, and Rachel was what, barren, right? And he said, God had to do a great work in Rachel's life, and boy, she gave birth to Joseph, and she just asked for one more son. And God gave her another son, Benjamin.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Perfect timing, ha ha ha ha ha. You didn't know this was a celebrity church, did ya? Anyway, on tape, no one's gonna know what went on, but that's okay. Anyway, all that to say is that he loved Rachel. And so in this whole blessing, he sees Joseph, his son, the firstborn of his beloved, Rachel, and sees his grandsons, and says, I wanna pay tribute to my wife, Rachel. I wanna honor my wife, Rachel. She's not with us today, how I wish she was, she's not.

I don't wanna give her honor. And so in the midst of his belief, there's that constant bereavement, a constant reminder of the beauty of Rachel, the love he had for her, and what God did in her life to birth both Joseph and Benjamin. And then from there, you wanna begin to move to Jacob's blessing. Listen to this. 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. What a beautiful statement. God gave me my sons. When someone asks who are these, do you say these are the gifts that God has given to me?

God has given me this one, and this one, and that one. Joseph always knew that God's hand was upon his life. God has given them to me. So he said, bring them to me, please, that I may bless them. Now the eyes of Israel were so dim from age that he could not see. Then Joseph brought them close to him, and he kissed them and embraced them. Israel said to Joseph, I never expected to see your face, and behold, God has let me see your children as well.

Notice that everything in the chapter is about God. God Almighty appeared to me, verse number three. God has let me see your children.

Verse 15, the God has been my shepherd. Verse 20, may God make you. Verse 21, but God will be with you. Everything is about God and the blessing. Why? Worship is the human response to divine revelation. You see and understand God in everything, and Jacob did. See? Then Joseph took them from his knees and bowed with his face to the ground. Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his right hand, toward Israel's left, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel's right, and brought them close to him. So you get the scene, right?

Right? He has to bring Manasseh with his left hand because Manasseh's the firstborn because that will be on Jacob's right side. And when you ever, when you bless the sons, you bless the firstborn by putting your right hand on the firstborn and your left hand on the next one and the next one and the next one and the next one, but the right hand stayed on the firstborn because he was the primogenitor. He was the heir of the inheritance. So Joseph's very careful because his dad can't see, right? So he brings his boys, Manasseh with his left hand, Ephraim with his right, so Ephraim will be on his left hand and Manasseh will be on his right hand because he's the firstborn.

So what does Jacob do? Crosses his hands. Remember, Joseph has bowed down, see? He bowed down like this. He's already bowed down. He can't see what the man who can't see is doing. So it says, but Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on the hand of Ephraim, the secondborn, who was the younger, his left hand on Manasseh's head, crossed his hands, although Manasseh was the firstborn. He blessed Joseph and said, the God before whom my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, walked, the God who had been my shepherd all my life to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads and may my name live on in them and the names of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, and may they grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.

When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on Ephraim's head, it displeased him and he grasped his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. Joseph said to his father, not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn. Place your right hand on his head. But his father refused and said, I know, my son, I know. He also will become a people and he also will be great. However, the younger brother shall be greater than he and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.

What a scene. Only time in the life of Joseph recorded in the scripture that causes him questioning what God's doing. Only time, no other time. This is it, these are my sons. You gotta bless the firstborn, Manasseh, because God's caused me to forget all the pain, all the memory of what's taken place. But you must bless him. But Jacob crosses his hands and blesses Ephraim as the firstborn and Manasseh as the secondborn. This is the way it's all through scripture, right? All throughout the Old Testament.

It wasn't Ishmael, it was Isaac. It wasn't Esau, it was Jacob. It wasn't Manasseh, it was Ephraim. That's just the way God does things. But he only did this because God told him to. The blessing is given from God to Jacob to do what is right for the nation of Israel. Human response to divine revelation. And so Jacob could say to Joseph, I know, I know. What does he know? I know what I'm doing because I know what God said. That's how he knows. And that's the way every one of us should be in our lives.

We do what we do simply because God said it. That's faith. That's what Jacob lived. And we're not done yet. Gotta come back next week to finish one verse. Hebrews 11, let's pray. Father, we thank you, Lord, for today. The things you teach us are so over the top incredible. The Old Testament just bleeds nothing but truth. It is so amazing to understand the plan and purposes of God. We don't necessarily grasp them when we read them, but when we study them, we begin to understand that God is doing a great work.

Our God is mighty, all powerful. Lord, I pray that every one of us in the room would live a life of faith. We respond to the revelation of God in a way that brings glory and honor to your name. Please, Lord, go before us. If there's someone here who doesn't know you, oh, God, may today be the day that they, by faith, embrace the grace, the gift of grace that you have given to them because of the sacrifice on Calvary's cross. In Jesus' name, amen.