Jacob le thihnak

I want to go back to my mother’s womb, which limitless universe: Silk road king.

Genesis 50

For the last nine months we have been learning from the book of Genesis about Foundations

For Life! And I pray God that you have learned more about building your life on a solid and

sure foundation! When you build your life upon the solid rock of Jesus Christ and with the

Word of God as your guide, like may knock you down, but it can never knock you out!

This morning we come to the end of our study of the book of Genesis! So take God’s Word

and turn please to Genesis 50. Now, last Sunday we learned from Jacob how to face death

without fear!

Now, you may ask, ”Is it really possible to face death without fear?” Indeed it is! With the

presence of God in your life through a relationship with Jesus Christ and with the promises of

God that are yours because of your relationship with Christ, you can face death without fear!

I received a note last week from a man in our church regarding last weeks message and he

said regarding the prospect of his death, ”I am no fool! I am ready!” And may I say that you

friend are not ready to die or live until you’ve invited Jesus Christ to come into your life to

forgive your sin and to save your soul!

Now as Moses completes the book of Genesis he tells us about a couple of deaths! The

death of Jacob and the death of Joseph. For some time now we have been learning from

their lives. Now let’s see what we can learn from their deaths.

Last Sunday we learned how to face death without fear. Today we’re thinking on this subject

now as we think together about Funerals, Fear, and Faith.

From Genesis 50, I want you to see,

(1) THE FUNERAL OF JACOB.

Here we find the details of Jacob’s funeral. And those details tell us a couple of things.

-the expression of bereavement.

Joseph was the Prime Minister of Egypt but his heart was still tender. So when Jacob died,

Joseph bends over the body of his old dad. And the Bible says he weeps upon him and

kisses him.

It’s not unusual at a funeral service for somebody to weep over a loved one and kiss them.

You see, Joseph was experiencing what some of you have experienced: the death of a

daddy! And as he saw the lifeless body of his father, his teardrops gently fell from his eyes

onto his father. Those lips of Jacob that had spent years praying for Joseph were now silent.

Those eyes of Jacob that had twinkled watching those boys grow up were now shut. Those

hands that had often reached out and touched those boys are now still never to move in this

world again.

And so Joseph weeps and kisses his daddy as to say, ”I’ll meet you on the other side.” Did

you know that the Bible does not forbid a believer to express grief when a loved one dies.

When Jesus comes into your life, He doesn’t de-humanize your heart and emotions!

Nowhere does the Bible say that a follower of Jesus Christ is not to mourn when a loved one

dies.

Now Paul does say to us that we’re not to grieve like those who have no hope, but he doesn’t

say not to grieve. Friend, there would be something wrong with you if you didn’t grieve!

Over the years I’ve preached funerals for those who did not know the Lord and I’ve preached

funerals for those who have known the Lord. In fact, the first funeral I preached was 15 years

ago. And as far as I knew nobody in the family knew the Lord. I shall never forget when the

family passed by the coffin. One of them was weeping out of control and literally crawled into

the coffin hugging and kissing their loved ones.

Oh, what a difference in the way non-believers and believers face the loss of a loved one!

Now there are tears in the eyes of believers all right at a funeral, but when God’s people

mourn and when God’s people come to pay tribute to a loved one they can sing, ”In the

Sweet by and by, we’ll met on that beautiful shore.”

And so we read about the expression of bereavement on the part of Joseph.

-the explanation of the burial.

We are told that he was embalmed for a period of 40 days. Their embalming process was

quite elaborate! We embalm bodies today of loved ones and then bury them. Let me say

something to you about the matter of embalming. We don’t embalm bodies in order to help

God out when the resurrection day comes.

I’ve heard people ask about those whose body were totally destroyed in war or in a plane

crash or lost at sea. They wonder how in the world God’s going to resurrect them? There’s

nothing left to resurrect!

Well, let me tell you something: the same God who can take the chemicals of this universe

and speak them into a body will have no problem retrieving your body when the resurrection

day comes. Don’t you think we are embalming bodies because God can’t pull the deal off.

The same God who had the power to create your body in the first place will have the power

to call that body back together in resurrection! We don’t embalm bodies for God’s sake, we

do it for our sake. We embalm bodies of our loved ones out of a sense of reverence and

dignity and to ease our grief and sorrow.

So the funeral of Jacob is over. But we not only read about,

(1) THE FUNERAL OF JACOB.

(2) THE FEAR OF THE BROTHERS.

Verse 15-19, Now those brothers had already been forgiven by Joseph. Joseph had already

told them they were forgiven! But those brothers had some lingering guilt. You see, they had

been forgiven of that sin and yet that old sin still troubled them and bothered them and

haunted them.

I’m talking to some people today who are still haunted from some old sin. Like these

brothers, you have some lingering guilt. Oh you’ve asked God to forgive you and you’ve

turned away from it but from time to time out of nowhere, there it is again in your mind!

You know the Devil knows how to keep us in defeat, doesn’t he? All he has to do is to pull

out our old laundry and shake it in front of us and say, ”Remember this. Do you really think

God has forgiven you? Who do you think you are to be a Sunday School teacher? Who do

you think you are to sing in the choir? After what you’ve done?”

So how can you tell during those times if it’s God calling those things to mind or the Devil?

Can you tell? Oh yes! You can tell and here’s how. If you’ve turned from that sin and asked

God to forgive you, you can know it’s not God bringing those things to mind because He’s

forgotten them!

Now if you haven’t turned from that sin and not asked God to forgive you then you can know

that’s God bringing those sins to mind! He wants you cleanse! He wants you set free!

So if you’ve already turned from it and asked God to forgive you, you can know that it’s the

Devil whose bringing those things to your mind causing you to live in defeat! And the next

time the Devil reminds of your past, you remind him of his future!

It’s time you forgive yourself! Just by faith claim the forgiveness of Jesus! Don’t you go fishing

in that old fishing hole of forgiven sin. When God forgives your sins, He buries them in the

depths of the sea and then puts up a no fishing sign! You don’t have to drag up those old

sins! If you are forgiven by God, then it is forgiven and it is forgotten!

If your sins have been forgiven, then they are removed from you as far as the east is from the

west! God has covered them with the blood of His son! God has put them behind His back so

that He can’t see them anymore.

They just misunderstood Joseph. Look at verses 19-20. Do you know what Joseph had

done? He had memorized Romans 8.28 before it was ever written! ”All things work together

for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose.”

Joseph came to understand that though we may intend something for evil, in the marvelous

chemistry of God’s sovereign purpose and grace, He can take those circumstances which in

and of themselves may be evil and He can work them out for good!

They meant evil when they sold him into Egypt. God took their evil intentions and He just

mixed it in his sovereign purpose and when it was all over the very fact that Joseph was still

in Egypt was good in that they were spared in the days of the famine.

Whatever comes into your life, remember this: God has a far off purpose that you might not

be able to see immediately. My problem in the things that come into my life is that I can’t see

any further than my nose. I can just see the immediate circumstances. But oh praise His

Name today that I have a loving heavenly father in glory and He looks down on the

circumstances of life and He sees all things in the eternal now.

Everything in the eternal past, everything in the eternal future, and everything in the eternal

now! And He is working all things together for good to those who really love Him. He knows

the way through the wilderness and all I’ve got to do is follow Him.

Verse 21, Do you see what Joseph promised his brothers? He promise them he was going to

take care of them. He promised he was going to provide for them.

”Boys, you don’t have to worry about a thing, I’m going to take care of you.” And that’s

exactly the promise of God to every one of you who know Him. God said, ”I’m going to take

care of you, you don’t have to worry about it.”

You say, ”Pastor, I lost my job. I don’t know what I’m going to do.” God says, ”I will nourish

you.” God’s going to take care of you. Whatever comes your way, God will take care of you.

Here’s Joseph and he makes them a promise and God has made you a promise! He will take

care of you!

We’re thinking about Funerals, Fears, and Faith. Now we’ve seen:

(1) THE FUNERAL OF JACOB.

(2) THE FEAR OF THE BROTHERS.

(3) THE FAITH OF JOSEPH.

Joseph is getting to be an old man. He’s no longer Joseph the young boy. He is Joseph that

elder statesman. He’s 110 years old and I want you to see the faith of this man in his last

years.

Verse 23 in other words, Joseph had the privilege of helping bring up his own grandchildren.

Can’t you see this granddaddy holding those grandchildren in his lap? I can see him pulling

surprises out of his pockets. I can hear him telling his grandchildren the great stories of the

great God who had taken care of him.

Do you know what Joseph was doing? He was putting into their hearts the spiritual truths and

lessons that would sustain them for a lifetime. You will never be able to estimate the power of

faith of a grandparent implanting in the life of a little grandchild.

The older Joseph got, the more precious God was to him. I believe that’s the way it ought to

be. Everyday with Jesus is sweeter than the day before! It gets sweeter every step of the

way. What a way to live. What a way to close out your life, just living for the Lord.

Well finally Joseph gives his family a command. Look in verses 24-26. He tells them that God

will visit them and he makes a prophecy that God won’t leave them down in Egypt. He tells

them that one of these days that God is going to come and take them out of this land.

And when He does, carry my bones with you! Now what a strange thing to say. What a

strange thing to leave your family! He left them his bones in a box. But those bones were a

reminder of what God had done in the past and what God was going to do in the future.

Those bones pointed backward and forward.

And we’re going to learn in the book of Exodus that they were put into bondage and their

taskmasters would beat them with whips. There were times it didn’t look like they could make

it.

I can see them pulling out those old bones of Joseph and saying to their children, ”Do you

see these bones? These are the bones of Joseph. Do you know what they mean? They

mean that one day our God is going to come and deliver us out of here and we are going to

take those bones out of this place.”

Did God do it? Well, in Exodus 13, Moses is leading the children of Israel out of Egypt and

we read in vv.17-19,

And then when we get to the book of Joshua they go into the promise land, they go into the

land of Shechem and they take the bones of Joseph and bury them. I can almost hear a

chuckle in that box. I can almost hear those bones saying, ”I told you so. God wasn’t going to

leave my bones in Egyptland.” And I’ve got good news for you. He’s not going to leave your

bones in this world either.

One of these days when the resurrection comes, God’s not going to give this world or the

devil one victory over the believer. You are going to be resurrected and you are going to

leave this world when Jesus comes. It’s going to be something when those bones come

together in resurrection and the Bible says we will go up to meet the Lord in the air, changed

instantly into a body like the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we will forever be with the

Lord!

Categories: Sermon

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