Let's turn now in God's Word to Genesis chapter 49. And we're going to take our text for our sermon this afternoon in the words of verse 21. Genesis chapter 49. We'll take our text in the words of verse 21, and to set these words in context, we could read verses one and two of the chapter, and then verse 21. So Genesis 49, reading from the beginning. And Jacob called unto his sons and said, gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. gather yourselves together and hear ye sons of Jacob and hearken unto Israel your father. And we see of course how he goes through the different sons starting with Reuben the eldest all the way down to Asher in verse 20 and in verse 21 he blesses Naphtali in these words. Naftali is a hind let loose, he giveth goodly words. Naftali is a hind or a deer let loose, he giveth goodly words. Now can I say again, as I begin preaching the word of God to you once more, that I bring you the very warm love and greetings of my own congregation of Knock and Point Free Church Continuing. Now that is of course a congregation in the very far north-west of Scotland, on the island of Lewis, which is a good distance off the Scottish mainland. And I'm there in quite a rural area in the area of Point, which is a peninsula of that island jutting out into the waters of the Minch. It's very wild. We get a lot of wind, a lot of storm. We have cold weather. We are not used to the climate that you have in North Carolina. We have a small population. It's only about 2,000 people that live on Point, about 20,000 on the whole of the island of Lewis and my own congregation would number about 25 people on a Sabbath morning gathered together from these people who live in Point. So we are a congregation with needs, small in number and we would value and covet your prayers for the ministry there as we seek to be faithful, as we seek to worship God and we remember the work of God here in Mebane and we have been praying in our own prayer meeting for you as a congregation of God's people, for your pastor whom we know and love so well from his days ministering the word and preaching and lecturing in Scotland, we have been praying for him that he will be blessed and upheld as he becomes your own minister. So seeking the help of the Lord we turn now to this passage of scripture and we seek again that the Lord will speak to us this day in the preaching of the word. Naftali is a hind let loose. I was recently out for a walk in the Isle of Lewis. It is, of course, a very rural area, as I was saying, and I was walking along the road and I'm passing the farmlands, the crofts, that is the small holdings of my neighbours, and a lot of them keep sheep. And as we came along, we realised there was something interesting. The fence was shaking. The whole fence was trembling. There was pressure. There was something going on. And as we neared the fence, we could see what it was. A sheep with all the folly, which is typical of sheep, had looked through the fence, had seen the grass on the other side, had stuck its head through, had eaten its fill of the grass, and then attempting to remove itself, had realized that its horn had hooked upon the wire of the fence, and it was stuck. and you children can imagine a sheep is not a social animal when it sees a person coming it wants to run away but it was stuck it was hooked on and no matter how it tried to run it was held. So I reached forward I took hold of the creature's head I levered the horn over from where it had caught on the wire And of course the children here know what happened. As soon as the beast was free, it took off like a rocket. It was not seen for dust. The sheep ran. It was let loose and it ran. That's a sheep. That's a slow animal in normal circumstances. How much more a deer? How much more a deer? Now we have deer in Lewis, we have deer in Scotland and we have to be careful of the deer because very often they come down onto the roads and cause accidents and we can hit them with our car. They're fast moving animals aren't they? Animals that are untroubled by gradients. They are not put off by the hills. They are not troubled by mountains. They are animals that skip and climb over the highest and over the steepest mountains. As the deer released runs effortlessly into the mountains, as the deer released runs, so is the believer in Christ. That is what our text is saying to us here. It's maybe not immediately obvious. It's an Old Testament passage and it is speaking to Old Testament individuals. Here is Jacob blessing his sons. But we need to understand this is not just one family, one household. This is not a type or picture of the church. This is the church. This is the people of Christ in this day and generation. And Jacob is speaking to them. And it's clear from verse one, gather yourselves together that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. that Jacob is speaking to them as a prophet of the Lord. He is here speaking authoritatively, not merely as their father, but as a prophet of God, as the one who is leading them in spiritual things. He is speaking to them with spiritual authority. He is the Word of God. to these sons. And as we New Testament believers come to this passage, as we find our own experience in these blessings that are recorded here, so we may take legitimately these blessings to ourselves, we may apply them to our own circumstances and draw comfort and challenge and encouragement from them. I've been preaching a little series in our own prayer meeting in Point through the blessings and I found it a very rich exercise indeed. And here is a little blessing given to one of the more obscure tribes, Naphtali. Naphtali, it doesn't bring much to mind in the way that Joseph or Judah would. Naphtali, not an important tribe, not prominent, not significant, but the people of God. And here's the point, as we look at Naphtali, so we find our own experience here. Naphtali is a hind let loose. He giveth goodly words. Here's a blessing. Jacob says, speaking as a prophet of the Lord, Naphtali is free. He is liberated and he is like a hind let loose. What's it mean? What's Jacob getting at as he describes Naftali in this way? We understand it when we think about the history of Naftali and what he had done. Think back to our Old Testament reading. The children were listening and they know the story. What an awful thing the brothers had done to their little brother Joseph. These ten older brothers, these brothers who should have been wiser than Joseph, should have been more mature than Joseph, should have been gracious and kind and caring to their younger brother just as you who are older brothers and sisters should be to your younger siblings, they had instead resented him and hated him and despised him and naftily participated in that sin. He knew the sin. He knew the shame. He experienced the remorse because although the sin happened quickly, there were many years that followed in which these brothers were brought to see the folly of what they had done. And Naftali felt the reproach. He felt how he had sinned against his brother and how he had sinned against God. and he found the burden of sin and repented of. Naphtali knew what it was to be trapped by his sin. Now praise God, Naphtali was brought to a place of repentance and was brought to find forgiveness. And Jacob say, speaking as a prophet of the Lord, but speaking also as a father who had witnessed himself, the change in his son. He said, Naphtali is a hind let loose. He giveth goodly words. What a change Jacob saw. Naphtali, that quiet man. That man with secrets. That shifty man who would never quite meet his eye. That man who had his own private shame. What a change he saw when at last Naftali had repented of his sin. When at last Naftali had acknowledged what he'd done and sought forgiveness. Oh, what freedom. Oh, what joy. Like Onesimus of old, Naftali's real slavery was not that imposed by other people. It was the slavery of his own sin. And what a joy when he was made free from the burden of his own sin. That change was evident to all. Here now was joy. Here now was gladness. Here now was honesty. Here now was someone who could look you in the eye, who could see what was actually going on. Here was a hind let loose. Oh, what relief. Oh what joy for Naftali and for those who loved him as they saw the transformation of conversion. Naftali is a hind let loose. He giveth goodly words. The words historically have been used to describe the Church of Christ. In fact there was a godly covenanting minister in Scotland, Alexander Shields, who wrote a book about the history of the sufferings of the Church of Scotland and he took the very words of our text as the title of his book, A Hind let loose. Here, he said, is the Church of Christ and for all our burdens, for all our persecutions, we are, he said, a hind let loose. Well, I want us to think of it individually today. I want you to think about your individual experience. I want you to think if you are one of the Lord's people how these words apply to you, how this is your blessing, how you are let loose and I want you to experience again the joy of knowing yourself a hind let loose. And if you're still in the bondage of your sins, then I want to set before you very clearly the preciousness of what Christ offers, the liberty that he brings before you in the gospel. And I want to call you and summon you to embrace that liberty. Here is a blessing for the child of God. Naphtali is a hind leg loose. I've summed up the sermon as the liberated believer and we could take that as our text, as our theme I should say. Naftali, the liberated believer. Two points this afternoon. We'll consider firstly the bondage and secondly the liberty. So firstly the bondage and secondly the liberty. The bondage. Naftali is a hind let loose. He giveth goodly words. The deer. It's a good choice of animal for this purpose. The deer is made to be free. The deer is made to skip over the hill. The deer is made to run effortlessly, to run fast. It's designed for speed. It's designed for freedom. It's designed to be without constraint. And how much more man whom God has made. You and I are designed to be free. You and I are not designed for sin, we are designed for holiness. That's the purpose of our being. We are here to glorify God. We are here the very capstone of his creation, the most intelligent of his creatures. We are here physical beings, yes, but spiritual beings. and call to worship and to glorify God. We are here not to grub about in the dirt of this world, but to skip upon the hills. We are here to ascend high and to lift our thoughts high and our hearts high, to live here as those who look up, as citizens of heaven, as those with a hope beyond this life, as those whose hearts are already above with God, where we hope to be. That's the purpose of humanity. And here is the tragedy of your state by nature. Man sinned and the deer is trapped. Oh, think of it. Naftali illustrates the problem perfectly. Born into that large and privileged family. Oh, what joy should be his. Out of all the families of the world, he's in the covenant family. He is trained in the ways of godliness. He is discipled by his father, Jacob, the preeminent man of God of that day. He is in good company. He is hearing good conversation. He is hearing accounts of the prophecies of God and of the word of God and of the salvation of God. He's called naphtali and it means wrestling. And that in itself is an indication of the problem. You see, Naftali came from this family, this troubled family. Rachel said of this child that the handmaid had given her, with great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed, and she called his name Naftali. So Naftali's very name indicated all was not well amongst the covenant people. There was conflict, there was fighting. So it is today. The Church of God is still full of conflict and full of fighting and full of error. We know it, don't we? We are still Naftali, just as Naftali was then in that family. But let's be honest, Naftali's greatest wrestlings were not with others, they were with himself. And if you know your own sins, you know that you are more a sinner than sinned against. And you know that the person who's done most harm to your life is not your enemy or your opponent, it's yourself. Whatever you've been through, the person who's most damaged your life who has most led you astray, who has most encouraged you in foolishness and in sin, is your own willful heart. Naphtali sinned. And we can't blame the older brothers, and we can't excuse him. He sinned. He allowed sin in the envy of Joseph. When Joseph spoke out his dreams, the children here know Joseph was dreaming what was true. You remember Joseph's dreams? He dreamed that there was going to be his sheaf of corn and all the lesser sheaves of corn of his brothers bowing down to it. That was fulfilled. Genesis chapter 50, you see there his older brothers on their knees before Joseph. It was the word of God he was speaking. And so when Naftali resented his brother's dreams, he resented God, and he resented God's word. When he hated his brother, he sinned. When he could not speak peaceably to his brother, he sinned. And on that awful day, when Joseph approached his brethren in Dothan, and they looked at one another and they said, come on, let's kill him, Naphtali sinned. Oh, the hatred in his heart. Oh, the anger. Oh, the cruelty. His own brother. And he looked at him with murder in his heart. Did Naftali seize Joseph? Did he tear off his back the beautiful coat of many colours that his father in love had put there? Did Naftali hurl him into the well? Did Naftali urge that he should be sold into slavery, a sort of living death? Naftali get his share of the 20 pieces of silver. Certainly, we know this, he lied to his father. He lied. You can lie with words, and you can lie with silence, and I suspect Naftali lied with both, and kept on lying, day after day, and week after week, and year after year, as his father wept and mourned for a son who was still alive. And Naftali knew it, and he let him wait. he let him weep. O the sin! O the wickedness of that! How he must have replayed it in his mind! as every day he saw his father still sad, still weeping, still grieved, still mourning. Each time it must have been an arrow to his heart. I did this. This is my fault. And I should tell him, but I can't. I can't say what we did. he's trapped. He's a hind trapped. He's a creature of holiness and he's caught in the web of his own lies and he can't escape. Each day he felt the guilt But each day he added to the guilt by his own lies. Each day it got worse and it got worse. The guilt was worse, and so the shame was worse, and so the wrath of God against Naphtali, and he knew it, was worse and was worse, and yet he could not repent. Was this your experience? to be trapped by sin, to hate it and yet to be bound by it, to desire to be holy. and yet for it to seem utterly impossible to break these habits, to be trapped so completely that no matter how you wriggled and wrestled, you were like the sheep with its horn through the fence, stuck, trapped, immobile. Was that your experience? Bound by sin. Were you not a hind trapped, a soul burdened, a deer made for skipping on the hills, and you've turned yourself into a donkey, a beast of burden, with your load of guilt, and each day the load was getting worse and was getting worse. Naphtali's life was blighted by this guilt. He was troubled, he was grieved, he was cast down, but he would not repent. And maybe you are the same this day. Maybe you're still like that. You know you're doing wrong in the way that you're living. You know you're offending God in the path that you're choosing. But it's just impossible. You cannot live in this holy way that these Christians do. It is impossible. And so you're trapped and you're bound. And every day your sins are worse. And every day the punishment you know you deserve is worse. And every day you're one step nearer the pit of a lost eternity. And you have no escape. That is the curse of the child of this world. And the sweetness of the gospel is that the gospel offers liberty. The gospel offers freedom, but it's not your freedom, it's God's. It's his deliverance. And oh, that you would look to Christ and would find his liberty. We've considered firstly the bondage. Let's come secondly to see the liberty. Naftali is a hind. Let loose, he giveth goodly words. What a change when the believer is liberated from guilt. What a change when you can say Christ has paid my debt. When you can say I don't need to tremble. I don't need to be afraid of the judgment of God in eternity to come because I believe in Jesus and his blood is sufficient. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died. Oh, the sweetness, the sweetness of the gospel. Isn't it an oil of joy in the soul as you experience conviction of sin? When joy replaces darkness, when hope replaces despair, when sin is confessed and God's forgiveness is granted, and you can look your Lord in the eye, because he knows it and you've confessed it and you've forsaken it and in that moment you repent of sin utterly and you hate it and you despise it and in that moment your desire is only for holiness. You can look your Lord in the eye because he has paid the price. Oh the sweetness of the gospel. Consider the experience of Naphtali. Naftali was burned for years with this sin, this unrepentant guilt, and then, without warning, without preparation, He found himself standing before a man who said to him, I am Joseph. And like a bolt from the blue, he realized Joseph lives. And Joseph is here before me, the man I offended. the one I sold into living death, he's still alive and he's here and he's looking at me right now, not with condemnation but with forgiveness. Isn't it beautiful when you see the face of Christ and you see not condemnation but forgiveness. Isn't that precious to the soul? And that's faith. That's the faith which he gives to look to Jesus and to see forgiveness. The faith, his gift. The forgiveness, his gift. His gift, the beginning. His gift, the end. All of grace. Isn't that beautiful? And that was Naftali's experience. How precious to know pardon. How precious to know love. and real forgiveness. Not forgiveness that just pretends the sin didn't happen, that glosses over it, that says it doesn't matter. Joseph is there with the scars of his slavery, with the years of his life wasted and squandered in prison in Egypt. Joseph is there who's gone through the misery and the loneliness and the trial of these awful years. and he forgives. That's real costly forgiveness. That's the forgiveness that Christ gives. The forgiveness of one who has suffered for our sin. Who has experienced, as we might say in his own body, our betrayal of him. who is felt in the lash of the whip, in the piercing of the nails, in the agony of the cross, in the soul agony of the wrath of God upon his head, he's experienced your sin in all that it deserves and he looks upon you and forgives as you believe in him. Think of that. That's the sweetness of the gospel. Is it any wonder that Naftali was to his father's eyes a hind let loose? Oh, what liberty he now had. What joy, what freedom. That guilt that had hung on him like a cloak all these years lifted off. That secret shame, it's all exposed. It's known to the very depths. And he's confessed it and acknowledged it and been forgiven. Isn't that beautiful? Isn't that precious? And what a change Jacob saw. What a change the brethren saw. The blessing here was one that the brethren heard and the blessing here was one that seems strikingly appropriate for this tribe of Naphtali. These blessings in part look back on the life of the individual and in part look ahead upon the future life of the tribe that is to come forth from the individual. And in this case the blessing here seems adequately to describe Naphtali. For example, Moses in Deuteronomy 33 said of Naphtali, O Naphtali, satisfied with favour, full with the blessing of the Lord, possess thou the west and the south. Satisfied with favour, full with the blessing of the Lord. The implication of that is that not just Naftali himself had found salvation, but multitudes of his descendants, many of that tribe of Naftali, had found the liberty of the Gospel, had found freedom from guilt and from sin in Jesus Christ. and had the joy of it, satisfied with favour and full with the blessing of the Lord. There's a description of one tribe of the children of Israel. And here's the question, is that a description of you? Is this your blessing? Can you relate to this? When did you last feel joyful just for this, just I use that word deliberately, with irony, just for this. Just that you've been forgiven all a lifetime of sins. Just that you have been atoned for by the blood of the God-man. Just that you have been saved by the intercessory prayers of the Son of God which must be heard. Just that you have an inheritance awaiting you in heaven. When did you last feel joyful just for that? When everything in this world is misery and trouble and heartache, when your life is difficult and challenging, your circumstances are painful, people are unkind and disagreeable and unreasonable and unfair, when all is against you in this life, when like Job you're sitting down and you've lost everything and you must say, naked I came out of my mother's womb and naked am I going. Hence, when did you last feel joyful? Just for this. that you are Christ's and that you have his eternity before you. Think of that. Think of that sweetness. Think of that joy and then say, is this not a right and a proper blessing upon me? A hind let loose. If we had a touch more of heavenly mindedness, truly would we not be as the deers upon the hills. We were singing in Psalm 18 verse 33. of the blessing of God. He maketh my feet like hind's feet and setteth me upon my high places. It puts us in mind of the deer. When did you ever see a deer that was just plodding wearily along? That's not how they go. They run energetically, effortlessly, untroubled, unburdened, the steepest gradient, the harshest landscape, the rockiest outcrop. The deer navigates with ease. Oh, the joy, the joy that marks the true believer, the joy that is your portion, your resource in the midst of trial. Oh, is there not joy to lay hold of in the face of the trials that are to meet you this coming week? As you look ahead and as you think of all you're to go through, isn't there a joy, a comfort in Christ that gives the strength you need for all that you're to experience? Who can get a deer down Who can bind the hind? Let the spirit of Naftali be yours. Be as a hind let loose upon the mountains. This freedom must be expressed. And in Naftali's case it was. See the second part of the blessing. Naftali is a hind let loose. He giveth goodly words. Now the picture drops away. Naftali's being praised now not as a deer but as a man, as someone of intelligence and with capacity for speech. He's a hind let loose in his emotion, in his joy, in his praise, but he will express it as a man, intelligently, in words. And this blessing suggests that Naftali was notable amongst the brethren in giving vocal expression praise unto God. He giveth goodly words. Naphtali, out of the brethren, was notable for this, for his vocal praise. Oh friend, you have a liberty, a liberty of joy, a liberty of sweetness, but you have a liberty that can be expressed in words. Do you do so? Do you pray? Oh, what a privilege is prayer, to know your words heard by the eternal God, to know more than that, your words received in Christ as a prayer of one who stands in the righteousness of him. You can pray. You have the words that he has given. Will you use them? Will you come before God and lift your appeals for his blessing, for his presence, for the advance of his kingdom in your soul, for the advance of his kingdom in this world. Will you give goodly words in the presence of God? Now you can sing and will you express your joy before God in the songs of Zion? Will you bring forth praise to God, adoration to him in the words that he himself has inspired. We were reading in James chapter 5 verse 13. Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any merry? Let him sing psalms. Do you give goodly words? Do you bring forth prayer to God? Do you bring forth praise to his glorious name? Now you can. That's the point. Now you can. You have the liberty to now be bold before God, to come before his throne, and to give such praise, such prayers unto him you can be bold. And it's interesting to notice that Naftali the tribe was bold, that this characteristic continued. Listen to this, in Judges chapter 4 we're told of the prophetess Deborah who gave forth a call to the people of Israel. I need soldiers to come and to fight to liberate Israel from the persecution of the heathen king Jabin. And so she sent forth the call. And we're told that she was answered by Beirach of Kadesh Naphtali and 10,000 of Naphtali and of Zebulun to drive out the enemy. Naphtali came. And Naphtali's leader, Beirach, came with these words, wise words. If thou wilt go with me, then I will go. But if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go. He was speaking prophetess. He was speaking of the Word of God. He would go forth and he would do exploits for his God. Oh friend, are you an afterlight? Are you ready to fight alongside your God? Are you ready to serve in his army? to face the enemy, to face the challenges that are to come. We're told that when Gideon called, Naphtali came to fight with him. We're told that when David called for men to fight for him, 37,000 men of Naphtali and 1,000 captains came to make him their king. Now you can proclaim the name of Christ. You can exalt him as your king. It's interesting that the ministry of Christ was chiefly exercised within the bounds of the inheritance of Naphtali. We talk about the evangelical triangle, that area on the northwest shore of the Lake of Galilee, bounded by three towns, Capernaum, Bethsaida and Chorazin, And within the triangle formed of these three towns, the great bulk of the preaching and the miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ were exercised. We're told of that as a specific aspect of the prophecy of the coming Christ. Matthew 4, 15, 16, the land of Zebulun and the land of Nephilim, that is Naphtali, by the way of the sea beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people which sat in darkness saw great light. And to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, light has sprung up. And so just as Old Testament Naphtali found forgiveness in Joseph, so the New Testament Naphtali found forgiveness in the coming of Christ. They found the light of the world. They found the deliverance of the Lord's anointed Saviour. And from that evangelical triangle, the apostles were sent out. Isn't the unity of Scripture incredible? A hind let loose, he giveth goodly words. And from that evangelical triangle, Peter and Andrew and James and John and many other of the disciples went forth, men of God, preaching the word of God, giving us in some cases books of the Bible inspired by God. claiming God's truth to a world now ready and prepared to hear it. Oh, the unity of scripture. Here is a blessing fulfilled in New Testament times, still being fulfilled today as we go out as Naphtalites, as successors to the apostles, preaching the word of God, preaching the gospel of Christ, following in the footsteps of these apostles. Naphtali, the liberated believer. Oh friend, have you found this liberty yourself? Do you know what it is to experience forgiveness in Christ? Is that sweet to you? Is that precious to you? Is that joyful to you? Do you have a resource of joy there that the world cannot touch or take from you because you have Christ as saviour? If that is so, then express it. He's a hind let loose, he giveth goodly words. Let your prayers be for the advance of Christ's kingdom. Let your song be the song of Zion. and let your witness in this world be a testimony to Jesus Christ and to him crucified as the only saviour and as your saviour. Be one who gives goodly words as you find this blessing fulfilled in your experience. Oh what privileges may be yours if you're found faithful in this. But if you're here today And you're saying, well, I know the burden. I know the bondage. I know what it is to be trapped like Naftali was trapped. But I don't know the liberty. And look to Christ. It's there. It's offered. and he's calling you this day in the gospel. And the word of God to you this day is plain and clear and simple. Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out. Think how Naftali must have regretted these years of silence. Think how Naftali must have wished that he went and told Jacob all so that they could go and hunt for Joseph, so that they could go and bring him home and deliver him out of the prison house and buy him back. Think how he must have regretted his secrecy and his lying and his wickedness. You don't want regret like that. You don't want shame like that and more to the point. You don't want to continue like that in danger of the eternal judgment of God. Turn to Christ. You will never regret it. Turn to Christ and confess that sin. He knows it already. Confess it. Repent of it. And you know what? He will give you a love for holiness that you cannot believe. A delight in the life of the Christian that you will find sweet and joyous to your soul. He will give you new joys. He will give you new friends. He will give you new privileges and new experiences. He will give you the life of the believer here and the eternal inheritance of the believer in the world to come. Come then to Jesus. Look unto me and be he saved, all the ends of the earth. for I am God and there is none else. Oh that we would find a salvation, oh that we would joy in it, that we would be as hinds let loose giving forth goodly words in our day and in our generation. Amen and the Lord bless his work. Let's come before him in prayer.