Word of God to you and to me, Genesis 46, beginning in verse 13. Actually, let's begin... rather, let's begin in verse 28. 46, 28, And He had sent Judah ahead of Him to Joseph to show the way before Him in Goshen. And they came into the land of Goshen, And then Joseph prepared his chariot and went up to meet Israel, his father in Goshen. He presented himself to him and fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while. Israel said to Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen your face, and know that you are still alive. Joseph said to his brothers and to his father's household, I will go up and tell Pharaoh, and will say to him, My brothers and my father's household, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me. And the men are shepherds, for they have been keepers of livestock, and they have brought their flocks and their herds and all that they have. When Pharaoh calls you and says, What is your occupation? you shall say, Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now, both we and our fathers, in order that you may dwell in the land of Goshen. For every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.' So Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, My father and my brothers, with their flocks and herds and all that they possess, have come from the land of Canaan. And they are now in the land of Goshen. And from among his brothers he took five men and presented them to Pharaoh. Pharaoh said to his brothers, What is your occupation? And they said to Pharaoh, Your servants are shepherds, as our fathers were. And they said to Pharaoh, We have come to sojourn in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants' flocks, for the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. And now, please, let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen." Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, Your father and your brothers have come to you. The land of Egypt is before you. Settle your father and your brothers in the best of the land. Let them settle in the land of Goshen. And if you know any able men among them, put them in charge of my livestock. Then Joseph brought in Jacob his father and stood him before Pharaoh. And Jacob blessed Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to Jacob, How many are the days of the years of your life? And Jacob said to Pharaoh, The days of the years of my sojourning are one hundred and thirty years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life. and they have not attained to the days of the years of the lives of my fathers and the days of their sojourning. And Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from the presence of Pharaoh. Then Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Ramses, as Pharaoh had commanded. And Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all his father's household with food, according to the number of their dependents. Thus ends the reading of God's Word. Please, you may be seated. Let's pray together. Let's pray. Our Father, we come again to this text which is ancient, which has some things that are difficult for us to understand. And yet, Father, we know that by Your Spirit's help we can understand Your Word to the degree that it teaches us about our faith in Christ, and how to live before Him, and how good and glorious of a shepherd and a king He is. And so I pray tonight, O Lord, that You would reveal these things to us, and that You would help us to understand this text better, and to apply it to our lives, and to live in light of it. We thank You, Father, for speaking to us through Your Scriptures, and by Your Spirit, and we bless You for it. Please, we speak now, Your servants, we listen. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, as we come to this text, brothers and sisters, I'm reminded of a city in Texas. As I was growing up, as I lived in Texas, there was a city, Austin, Texas, that I would occasionally visit. And Austin, Texas is known to be a very left-leaning city, much like Asheville, North Carolina is, just to the south of us. A very progressive city, a very left-leaning, liberal city. And their motto, their town motto, is keep Austin weird. Keep Austin weird. And the meaning behind that is, of course, the people who have lived there for a long time, who love that culture, they like to keep the distinctives of Austin the way they are. And they noted through the years the town became more and more popular and more and more young people began to move in who didn't have the same values as they did and began to change their city. And the people cried out, no, keep it weird, keep it strange, keep it the way we love it. And as I think about this passage, it reminds me that there's a very real sense in which the Church of Jesus Christ has to be able to keep her distinctives. in a culture that does not share her values. God wants us as a church to keep our distinctive culture in the midst of a culture that is constantly trying to change and move and shape us. God wants us to, if I could put it this way, keep Christianity weird. Keep Christianity distinct. Keep Christianity the way Christianity is meant to be. Different from the world. And in a very real sense, that is what this text is all about. It's what it's teaching us about the way Christ wants us to think about ourselves in light of who He is. A little context before we jump into the text itself. Verses 1-4. Remember, Jacob is on the edge of the wilderness. He is now going now to Egypt. He's about to bring his whole household to Egypt. God said, Go and take all of your sons and their families and go into Egypt where you will now dwell. And if you remember, Jacob was nervous, right? He was a little afraid because he knew that this would be the last time in a long time they would be where? in the promised land. And Jacob is very anxious about leaving the land of promise that God said you will possess with your sons. And so God encourages him, no, no, don't be afraid. I've got a plan. I'm going to take care of you. You and your sons will possess the promised land without a doubt. Then in verses 5 through 27, we see God moving all of the sons of Jacob, the sons of Israel, into Egypt. They made a 200-mile journey. to the south, to the west, to the land of Goshen in Egypt. And moving them all in that way, He brought them to a place that would become for 400 years the home of Israel, the home of the people of God. And they would live in the land of Goshen, a land of rich, fertile ground, pasture land, water. Everything they needed to live would be there. But in another way, Goshen was a very wonderful place for them because it was like a spiritual incubator. It was a place where they were insulated from the corrupting influences of the world. So for 400 years, think about this. This is an astonishing fact. Israel lived in the land of Egypt in a pagan polytheistic culture, and they maintained their distinct believing heritage in the true God Yahweh for 400 years, pure. That is an astonishing fact. How did it happen? Well, this text teaches us how it happened. And so, they lived in the land of Goshen, their spiritual incubator, for 400 years. And this passage shows us how Jacob could rest easy, moving his people there. So, the main idea of this text is this. God wants His church to live in a certain way that protects and preserves and promotes our distinctive faith and life in a world that does not share our values. God wants His church to live in a way that protects and preserves and promotes our distinctive faith and life in a world that does not share its values. So I want you to see two things here. I want you to see, first of all, Joseph's instruction on how to dwell in the land. I could put it a different way. Joseph's instruction on how to survive in the land of Egypt. And the second thing we're gonna see is Jacob's example. of how to dwell, indeed how to survive in the land of Egypt. So Joseph's instruction and Jacob's example. So let's look at the first one. Look at chapter 46 again, beginning in verse 28. Just keep your Bibles open. We're going to go through this more quickly tonight. But I want you to know, first of all, the arrival in Goshen. Verse 28, He had sent Judah ahead. Notice that Judah is now leading the family. He's leading the charge. He's the one guiding the family now. Judah would become the de facto leader of the family. Jacob is getting quite old now. He's 130 years old. And he will live another 17 years. They arrived in the land of Goshen. Interesting, the name Goshen, it means drawing near. That's a very appropriate name, the name drawing near. Because in a very real sense, it would become a place of safety for the people of Israel. They would draw near to God, even in the midst of a pagan culture. Goshen. Verse 29, look at this, this is just sweet. I want to read it with you again. Then Joseph prepared his chariot. Literally, he hitched up his chariot. Picture Joseph and all of his regalia, Egyptian dress, formal attire, perhaps a rich oriental robe, hitching up his fancy chariot with massive steeds before it, and then racing across Egypt. to be where His Father would be. He didn't wait for Jacob to come to Him. He ran, rode hard His horses to get to where His Father would be. And He got there, and then of course this text is beautiful, it speaks for itself. It says that when He presented Himself to Him, He fell on His neck and wept on His neck a good while. It's a beautiful picture. of this reunion, and you just wish you could, in a sense, view it for yourself, to see it with your own eyes. It's a beautiful scene. I won't mention anything other than one thing here. This little phrase that he presented himself to him, literally it's that he appeared before him, Joseph appeared before him, and this verb structure in the original language Every time it appears in the book of Genesis, it pertains to God. Several times this little phrase appears. But this is the last, and this time when it's mentioned, it's Joseph, not God. It's a very interesting connection here. Joseph is a picture, in a sense, of Christ. Verse 30. Here is Jacob's words. Remember when he thought Joseph was dead, he said, Oh, I'm going to go to my grave in sorrow now. Look at how things have changed for him. Verse 30, Now let me die, since I have seen your face, and I know that you are still alive. And again, he will live for another 17 years. It's very interesting. He was there for the first 17 years of Joseph's life, and here's Jacob now for the last 17 years of Joseph's life. And so God blessed him, blessed this old patriarch. He's still in the ruling of his family. So we see the arrival in Goshen, but now I want to get to the heart of it where we see surviving in Goshen. How are they going to survive in this culture that is not friendly to the true and living God? To the faith of the true and living God? How are they going to survive in this place? Well, now Joseph has a plan. Joseph is going to instruct them on what to do. Verse 31, he tells his family, I will go up and tell Pharaoh, I will go up and tell Pharaoh who you are, that you're here, and I'm going to tell him one other thing. Verse 32, I'm going to tell him that the men are shepherds. So he's going to go up to Pharaoh, Pharaoh, don't be surprised, I'm going to tell you in advance, these men are shepherds. I just want you to know that. Verse 33. So he says, Pharaoh's gonna call you. You're gonna go and stand before Pharaoh. You're gonna stand in his courts. You're gonna look up at him and his glorious throne and you're gonna have to answer his questions. And he's gonna ask you, what's your job? What do you do for a living? And here's what you're gonna tell him. You're gonna tell him, Pharaoh, we are shepherds. We are shepherds. Tell Him you are shepherds. Now this is, verse 33 and 34, is the key to understanding this passage. If you don't understand this, you understand nothing else. Verse 33 and 34 is unexpected wisdom because here's the thing. Joseph understands what Israel is facing. You have 70 people in the midst of a couple million people who are pagans or polytheists, who are idolaters, and they are in grave spiritual danger. Grave danger. It could be very easy for them to lose the faith of the true and living God. in one generation. They could be wiped out, not by being killed, but being brought in, being assimilated, being changed by their culture. Joseph knows this. And so what does he do? He gives them wisdom. And here's the wisdom. The only way the sons of Israel can survive living in Egypt The only way the sons of Israel can survive living in Egypt is to freely confess what makes them offensive to the Egyptians. They have to freely confess what makes them offensive to the Egyptians. Tell them you are shepherds. Now remember, look at verse 34. You shall say, your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth. Again, this is very odd because Joseph knows the Egyptians. He knows the culture because look what he says next. He knows the Egyptians hate shepherds. He knows they hate shepherds. It says, for every shepherd is an abomination. to the Egyptians. That's a very strong word. That's like the worst of the worst. The Egyptians find a shepherd to be completely unacceptable in their culture. And Joseph says, that's exactly what you're to tell Pharaoh you are. Tell him you're shepherds. Derek Kidner, the Old Testament commentator, said this. This is how he explains the hatred. Why do Egyptians hate shepherds? That's a big question. What's wrong with a shepherd? Derek Kidner, quoting him, has said this. The perennial antipathy. He cites the perennial antipathy between the town dweller and the nomad or the gypsy. Egypt was known to be a very sophisticated, urbane sort of culture. Philosophical even. And he suspects that they had a very low view of those who dwelled in the country and dwelled in the pastures and so forth. Animals. They were not impressive. They were not koof, if you will. They weren't clean. And so Egypt didn't care for these kinds of people. But if you think about Joseph's wisdom, it's not wisdom that we would call common wisdom. We wouldn't commonly put forward the thing that is most offensive about us when we're moving to a new place. When you have new neighbors, you don't want to put your worst foot forward. That's in a sense what Joseph was telling them to do. Put the worst foot forward and tell them what's most distasteful about yourself to them. He could have told them many other things about themselves, such as that Abraham had a formidable army, that he actually went to battle with kings and defeated them. He could have told Pharaoh that my people are landowners in the land of Canaan and we're quite wealthy people, actually. We're people who have made a sizable fortune. And that the peoples around us come to us for advice. He could have told him all these things. But he chooses that which is most offensive. about themselves. I want you to think about the theology of shepherds as well. What does the Bible teach us about shepherds? Our God is a shepherd, isn't He? Our Savior identifies Himself as a shepherd. John chapter 10. He's the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd who knows His sheep, who calls His sheep by name, and leads them to where He is calling us. Psalm 23. God's King is described as a shepherd, and we His sheep. Psalm 100, many other places. And shepherding is symbolic of God's life under the Lordship of the Lord Jesus Christ. Shepherding is symbolic of the kind of life that we live. You see, we have a shepherd, but yet he's given us as shepherds to our little ones as well. and our families and our churches. And so our shepherd shepherds us while we shepherd those who he's given us to shepherd. So we have a shepherding life, if you will. We have a life of the pilgrim in this world that we live in. We are like Israel, the tent dweller, the seeker of heaven, the pilgrim, in a land that's not our own. So, why does Joseph tell Israel to tell Pharaoh that they are shepherds? Three reasons. He wants to preserve their identity as a people who are spiritual sojourners. To be those who are strangers in this world. A world that's not our home. To preserve their identity. Egypt is not their final pasture. They mustn't get too comfortable there. Secondly, He wants to protect them and their children from spiritual compromise, from intermarrying, to mixing, to becoming partnered, if you will, unequally yoked with the people around them. He wants them to be distinct, separated from the world. And so they need to be protected by understanding who they are. They are the shepherd people, the shepherd's people. And then thirdly, to promote their faith, you see, because if they fail or lose, their true worship, then they lose the message of God. They lose the gospel. They lose everything that becomes distinctive about them. So as soon as the church or the people of God lose our worship and we lose our message, we lose our identity and we cease to be a church. So, what is Joseph doing? Joseph is protecting God's people by calling them to be distinct in the midst of this land. Look at verses 1-6 of chapter 47 as we continue. There's a section here, it's a long section that sort of repeats a lot of what we've seen. Just a couple of things I want you to see here. Verse 1, he goes before Pharaoh. So now Joseph is in the presence of the king of Egypt. Just picture in your mind what that must have been like. Pharaoh's court, surrounded by marble and gold and all sorts of servants. Now Joseph is standing before the king. My father and my brothers, they're now in the land of Goshen. Notice how he mentions the name Goshen to Pharaoh. He's probably given a suggestion to Pharaoh. He's probably suggesting this would be a good place for them, Pharaoh, for them to live. He takes five of the brothers, verse 2. We're not told why he only takes five. He takes five. Very likely he took the ones who could speak the best and who could present themselves with the most dignity. But anyway, he gets five of his brothers and they stand before Pharaoh. And notice in verses 3 and 4, notice how they speak to Pharaoh. They speak to him very deferentially, very submissively. They refer three times to themselves as your servants. Your servants. They're very, very deferential. Jacob, on the other hand, won't do that. I want you to note that. Verse 5. He does something immensely huge for Israel. Verse 5, he says, "...settle yourselves in the best of the land." Settle yourselves in Goshen. Now, this is very important because, number one, this is a royal decree. The king now has decreed from his throne that Israel are legitimate citizens of Egypt. They have a right to live here by authority of the king. And He allows them to live separately in Goshen. This is huge because now their people are protected. They're separate from Egypt, but they're also protected. They're not mixed in with all the rest. It protects their distinctiveness, their covenant community. And above all, it protects them by force of the law. You see, because Pharaoh has decreed it, it's now the law. And no one can hurt Israel. Later we'll see that Pharaoh will hurt Israel, but he's the king. Another Pharaoh will hurt Israel. But for now, they're safe. For very, very many years, for centuries, they will be safe. So this is God's amazing, supremely amazing providence towards His people. He makes a way, by emphasizing what makes them offensive, to protect them in the land. that has no respect for their God or their values. And even look at verse six. He puts them in charge of his livestock. He even gives them official role in Egypt. So Joseph, to summarize all of this, to recap all this, Joseph knows that Egyptians find shepherds to be an abomination. But he says, this is what you're to tell them so that you can be preserved and protected and that you will be able to promote your distinct faith in this world. So, that's what we see here at the beginning here. And I want to just point out a couple things about this. This is, to me, very helpful for the church. Number one, notice that the state, the king, if you will, the government, takes a role in protecting the church. You see, our government ought to protect The Church of Jesus Christ. It doesn't mean that I ought to favor the Church of Jesus Christ necessarily. That it ought to be the state religion necessarily. I would never promote that. However, the state is responsible to protect the free exercise of... the people of God, the free exercise of religion. And when a government begins to limit the freedom of the people of God's worship, it becomes a tyrannical regime. It becomes a tyrant instead of the proper servant of God. And so here you see Pharaoh, this man who you wouldn't expect to be this, he becomes a protector and indeed a promoter of the true religion. It's an incredible thing, you see. And this is the way it ought to be. But there's another more important point here, and this is the biblical doctrine of separation from the world. Children, God wants His people to be separate within the world. We're to live in the world, but not to be of the world. He wants us to be separated from idolatry. Where do we see this? In many places. Look with me at Leviticus chapter 20. You can turn there with me. Leviticus 20 verse 26. God teaches us in many places that He wants His people to be separated. Separated from the world. Leviticus 20 verse 26. You shall be holy to me, for I, the Lord, am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine." Now, notice there's a lot packed in there. He said, you are mine, you belong to me, you are my holy people, and I want you to represent me to the world. Therefore, you come out from amongst the peoples, and you be distinct, you be holy, you be Like me. This is God's will for His church. Even probably more familiar to you is 2 Corinthians 6. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians 6. We see this fleshed out even more. In a very familiar passage, 2 Corinthians 6 verse 14. Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? And then, of course, he goes on. But you get the picture. God says, I want you to be separate. I don't want you to partner with those who do not believe what you believe. Not to be unequally yoked. Now, of course, we know from many places that we're to be in the world, not of the world. We're to live in the midst of the world. We're to be witnesses in the world. We're to engage with our neighbors. We're to be friends with them, to be kind to them, to serve them, to bless them, and so forth. But God says, by all means, you must keep yourselves distinct and separate and holy in the midst of an unholy and profane world. And that is a very difficult thing to do. A very difficult thing to do, because we're constantly being pulled, and pushed, and lured, and enticed, and tempted to think like they do, to live like they do, to compromise, and to worship the idols that they worship. And we have to be very close to our Savior. who leads us out of the world, not to love the world or the things of this world, but to love Him and to serve Him. You might think of Goshen as a little picture of the church. You see, the church is our Goshen. The church is our place where we draw near to the Lord. The church, the visible people of God, is our place, our sphere, where we can dwell, where we inhabit, where we worship, where we are constantly being reaffirmed and reoriented in our faith, so that we might live according to the ways of God, and live under His law, and live according to the gospel that He gives to His people. And so this is our Goshen, if you will. And so God has given us a place that's rich of heritage and culture, a place that is constantly re-encouraging us and reaffirming us in what we are to be and who we are and how we're to live. So this is our Goshen that He's given us. The church is to be a holy city in the midst of the whole world. And there's no city like the city of God. It's a holy city. We always dwell in tension between those who are people in the world and loving those people who are of the world. And we must never lose our distinctive aroma, as it were. See, we are supposed to smell. like shepherds. We're supposed to smell like the Good Shepherd. We have an aroma about us and we must never lose that aroma. And we must never lose that offensiveness in the world. Look with me at 2 Corinthians 2. While we're in 2 Corinthians, just turn a page back and listen to the way Paul talks here. 2 Corinthians 2. He says, For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. We are the aroma of Christ. We are supposed to smell like Jesus. And if we don't smell like Jesus, then who are we and what are we? What are we going to be communicating? Children, ask yourself, do I smell like Jesus? Do I remind others of Jesus? Do I give the impression of Christ to others? Am I like Him? He says, to one, a fragrance from death to death. To the other, a fragrance from life to life. That's powerful, profound, isn't it? So we must never lose our distinctive aroma. We're to smell like the Good Shepherd, as it were. Matthew 5, if you want to turn back to Matthew 5 with me, look what Matthew 5 says to us. That we are to not lose our saltiness. We're not to lose our saltiness. Matthew 5 verse 13. You, the church, are the salt of the earth. But if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. What does salt do? What is salt good for? It's only good for really two things. that I know of. Salt gives taste, flavor. It has a very distinct flavor, doesn't it? Salt. Nothing else like salt. And it's powerful. And it also preserves. You put your meat in it, and it keeps it fresh. Keeps it good for many, many years. And so, what is the church to be to the world? We're to be the flavor of Christ? We're to give people a taste of Christ with our lives, our words? are witness, and we're also to be those who are to help, by the Lord's grace, to preserve the lives of others. So these are the reasons why it is important to separate from the world, that we are to be distinct, to preserve our worship, number one. We have to keep our worship. Because if we lose our worship, we lose our culture, our Christian culture. We are called to preserve our Christian heritage, our faith for our children and their children and their children's children. Where our hearts and minds are reoriented to Christ and His way of life. We're called to be distinct from the world, to protect the church from compromise, so that we might not love the things of this world too much and become idolaters. And then to preserve, of course, the gospel to the world. and were to be salt and light, were to be an aroma of Christ to those around us. Therefore, we ought to keep the scent. We ought not wash off the scent of the shepherd. We need to continue to keep our distinction. Well, let's look at this second part. How we've seen Joseph, he gives instruction on how to survive in the land of Egypt. But I want you to look at Jacob. Now, Jacob is something of an example of how to live in the land. This is sweet to me. I've always read this passage and remarked to myself about how odd it is in some ways and sort of heartwarming at the same time when you read about this old man Jacob, 130 years old at the end of his life, and how he just talks so brutally honest to Pharaoh. It's heartwarming to me. I love it for some reason. But as I've studied, I've loved it even more. I want you to see three things about Jacob as we come to a close here. Because Jacob teaches us how we're to live in the land. He's giving us a good example here. How we're to live in the world. Number one, here's Jacob now, the old man, the old patriarch. In the presence of Pharaoh. Now picture in your mind this picture. Here's Joseph leading his father probably on the arm. Here's old Jacob with a limp. He walks with a limp because he's somewhat crippled. And he walks in. Joseph's got his old father on his arm and he leads him in after his brothers are dismissed. And he leads in Jacob. I wish I could see this moment with my own eyes. But he leads him in with all the gold and all the marble and all the servants. And then he looks up at the throne. Here is Pharaoh in all of his glory. Here's Pharaoh with his headdress and his royal robes and his rings. And here's old Jacob with his robe, his long beard. And he stands before the king. What's their conversation? Number one, look at this. Jacob doesn't bow. Jacob doesn't bow. Then Joseph brought in Jacob, his father, and stood him before Pharaoh. Now when you enter the presence of a king in these ancient times, you are to do some obeisance. Some subservience. Do some act of honor to the king. Jacob does none of that. Nothing of the sort. Never does he bow. Never does he nod his head in approval. Never does he throw a pinch of incense into the flames. He does nothing to worship Pharaoh, who is considered in Egypt a god. He doesn't bow. He's not impressed. This is the point, I think. He's not impressed with the earthly glory and grandeur of Pharaoh. He is an ambassador for the true and living God. He's not impressed with Pharaoh. He's the ambassador of God to Pharaoh. He's not there to get something out of Pharaoh. He's there to give something to Pharaoh. It's a very powerful point for us. Secondly, Jacob doesn't boast. He doesn't bow. He doesn't boast. Look at verses 8 and 9. And Pharaoh said to Jacob, how many are the days of the years of your life? Notice the first question he asks is, how old are you? This is interesting about Egyptians, but Egyptians were obsessed with two things, death and living a long time. They were afraid of death. They wanted to live as long as they could. And if someone who lived to be a hundred or a hundred and ten years old in Egypt, you were a person of great honor. Here, he sees a man who is 130 years old. He is very old, and Pharaoh is very impressed with this man. How old are you? Wow! You must be really favored of God. But Jacob doesn't boast about his age. He doesn't boast about his age. In fact, he does the opposite. Look what he does. Verse 9. And Jacob said to Pharaoh, The days of the years of my sojourning are 130 years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life. And they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their sojourning. Now, this takes a little thought as to what Jacob is saying here. Why does he say this? Why doesn't he say, well, of course, I'm 130 years old. How do you like that, Pharaoh? That's pretty impressive, isn't it? No, no, he says, huh, my days have been few and evil. Sailhammer, the Old Testament commentator, says that he thinks that Jacob's making a connection with the Fifth Commandment. that the fifth commandment promises long life in the land that the Lord your God will give you. And he's saying something like, you know, I haven't lived very long and I haven't been in the land of my sojourning very long. I haven't been in the promised land very many years. And he's probably alluding to the fact that all of that is because of his sin against his father. There's a very good theory there. He didn't live very long in the land that God had given. He is saying something like this, sin has hindered my ability to carry on my kingdom work. My sin has hindered my ability to dwell in the land that God has given His people. His sojourning has been very short in comparison with Abraham and Isaac. Think about it, Jacob lived for many years in Padomorom. Far from the land that was given to his father. Why? Because of his sin of deceiving his father. He had to go far away. to avoid being killed by his brother. And then we see him dwelling in the land of Shechem, in the Shechemites. And again, a very evil time for Jacob, when his daughter was assaulted, and there was all the evil that happened with his sons, and going in and killing the people. Few in evil have been the days and the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days and the years of my father's in the land of their sojourning, he says. He's filled with humility now. He knows what he's supposed to be. He knows what he's called to. But he's saying, oh, how I wish I could do it over again in a sense. I wish I could live it again. He's very humble. He doesn't boast. He's real. He's honest about his failures and about his kingdom purpose. So he doesn't bow. He doesn't boast. And thirdly, notice what he does. He blesses. and is blessed. He blesses and is blessed. Notice verse 7, when he comes into Pharaoh's presence, what does he do? He doesn't bow, he blesses Pharaoh. Now this isn't sort of like a, you know, how do you do? This isn't sort of just a friendly greeting. When the patriarch blesses someone, when the prophet, Jacob, the prophet blesses someone, that is a divine communication from God to a man. It is something very real. In fact, at the end of the service, when I put my hands up and I give the blessing, that is something from God to you, the people of God. It's not from me. It's from Him. He blesses you. And God only blesses His people. Interesting. And so who does He bless here? He blesses Pharaoh. This is the best evidence that Pharaoh was, in fact, a believer. I think Pharaoh was a believer and I think we'll see this Pharaoh in heaven someday. He gets a blessing. You don't get a blessing unless you're one of God's people. Very, very, very significant. But he blesses him. Jacob enters and exits Pharaoh's presence as a benefactor. He doesn't want anything from Pharaoh. He wants to give Pharaoh something from God. That's huge. He is the one with something to give. He offers what is most valuable. He doesn't ask Pharaoh for anything. He doesn't even ask Pharaoh for land. He just comes in and lays down the blessing of God. That is a believer in this world. We're to be a blessing to our neighbors. We have something to offer to our neighbors. And we can only offer this to our neighbors if we keep our distinctives. If we keep our faith. If we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and have the scent of a shepherd. Then we can be a blessing. So he understands all this. He's an agent of God's blessing in a world of curse. And look at verse 11 and 12. Won't go into all the details, but look at how God blesses Jacob and how He blesses his family. He gives him a place to live. He gives him the protection of Pharaoh's law. He gives him a place where they can have their distinct faith and life in the midst of a world that wishes to corrupt and lead them astray. in the middle of a pagan polytheistic Egypt, free of their idolatrous influence. And God has done all this by His sovereign hand, because He loves His people, and He loves His glory. So in conclusion, brothers and sisters, as we close, how can we follow Jacob's example as faithful sojourners in the midst of this world? Number one, don't bow to the demands of our culture. Don't curry favor with the great or the impressive. We are God's people. We serve the King of kings and the Lord of lords, you see. We're not here to get anything from them. We're here to give something away, and that is Christ. The Christ who loves sinners, who loves the hopeless, who offers Himself to anyone who will come and hear, and He calls them to Himself so that we might believe His promise, receive His grace, be washed by His blood, and be forgiven of our sins, and enter into His kingdom, and be blessed in Him, as I believe, I think, this Pharaoh was. And we're not to be overly impressed with the world and its glories. What's so impressive? We're going to see glories beyond measure. What does this world have to offer? We walk as ambassadors of Christ. We're in the King's service. Secondly, don't let the world's ways tempt us to pride, brothers and sisters. Don't let the world tempt us to follow its lifestyle, to engage in its politics, to sort of strive and cling and claw our way up a corporate ladder of some sort. No, we are called to be, again, a prophetic people in the midst of this world, to be a pilgrim people. This world is not our home. And we're called to live as a holy people in the midst of this present evil age. We are to be good citizens, obey the law, devote our conscience, to pray for our leaders, to respect them. But by all means, never lose your voice. Never lose your message. Never forget who you are. And then lastly, like Jacob, we are not to be those who curse, but bless. Now, frankly, I'm convicted about this because I find myself cursing, not like cuss words, but, you know, complaining, like letting words out of my mouth that are negative. This is not good, brothers and sisters. We are called to be those who bless with our words, to let words that come out that are pleasing to Christ, that are a blessing to our neighbors, and that, most importantly, bless God. Let words come from our mouths that have to do with praising Him. Speech that is a saver of the gospel and has good words. Now we know that sometimes when we speak about Christ and the cross, as Paul said in Galatians, it's an offense. We will be offensive, but we must never lose that offensiveness. Yes, we'll offend when we preach about Christ and teach about Christ, but let us never be offensive. by our actions, by our foolishness or our sins, but we want to keep our distinctive savor of Christ. We are people of the shepherd and never lose your distinctive scent of the shepherd. Let's pray. Our Father, thank you for your word. Oh Lord, it enlightens us, it teaches us how we're to live. And oh Lord, this passage is a clear passage for us that we might take and use these principles even as we live, not in Egypt, but we live in a world around us that is like Babylon, like Egypt. A place that is like Rome. A place full of idols and full of false gods and full of compromise and corruption. And Lord, we pray that you would make us faithful witnesses in the midst of this culture. And by doing that, Lord, we pray that you would help us to keep our distinctive culture as Christians. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.