Good morning. Please turn in your Bible to the book of Genesis. Our passage this morning is Genesis 47 verse 28 through Genesis 50 verse 26. And Genesis 47, 28 can be found on page 41 of the Pew Bible directly in front of you. In your bulletin is an outline which shows you where we will be going this morning, and on the back are questions for you. The top portion of the backside of the outline are great questions for parents to review the sermon with children, and then the bottom part is good for Christians to consider as it goes deeper, and perhaps you can have conversation with other brothers or sisters or with the Lord. So this morning we come to the end of the beginning. Today's passage will end our study in Genesis which began in September 2019 in our Sunday School series. took a hiatus during COVID and then resumed in February 2021 in our Wednesday night Bible study series. This last passage in Genesis, this book about beginnings and origins, and that began with the beginning of time itself, will not only end this last of the 10 narratives that make up this book, but will allow us the opportunity to step back. and to consider the whole picture presented by this book. The first 11 chapters of the book move through thousands of years of history. And since chapter 12, we have studied God's work in the lives of four men, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. and as he began to work in these men's lives in establishing the nation of Israel. And whether we were rapidly moving through the earliest events of world history in chapters 1 through 11, or looking intently at the various episodes in the lives of these four men, sin and its impact have been constant throughout this book. From Adam and Eve's rebellion in the garden, Cain's murder of his brother Abel and only the second generation of man. God's judgment on man's sin rendered in the worldwide flood and in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. To the lying of Abraham and Isaac as they claimed their wives to be their sisters. the favoritism, deception, and hatred seen in the narrative of Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, and Esau, to the favoritism, jealousy, and hatred seen in the life of Jacob's family. Sin has been shown to be at the very core of man. And further, sin's impact has been seen all throughout Genesis. We've seen pain. We've seen disorder. We've seen conflict. And because of our first parents' disobedience, we've seen death. Death, both physical and spiritual, is what God indicated to Adam and Eve would come if they disobeyed his command not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And death has indeed been a drumbeat throughout Genesis. As Romans 6.23 tells us, the wages of sin is death. Wages are what are earned and deserved from what one has done, and surely deserved is death for our sins. Genesis 5. To read through the generations of Adam, one is struck by this phrase that came after the names of the individuals shown there in their years of life. It says, and he died. Over and over again, the curse of sin, which is death, is shown. Death came to Noah. Death came to Abraham, death came to Isaac, and death will come to Jacob and Joseph in today's passage. And while death is an enemy of all mankind, the people of God, death doesn't mean the end, as we will see in today's passage. And death doesn't mean the end because of that one other constant that we have seen throughout Genesis, God's grace. While death was the consequence of rebellion, he did not instantly destroy Adam and Eve. While death was the consequence of rebellion and man's sin throughout the whole world, Noah and his family found favor in God's eyes. And as we consider these prominent characters of Genesis and God's work in their life, we saw that in the life of Abraham, God's redeeming grace was displayed. God, in his grace, took Abraham out of idolatry and brought him out of the evil around him and separated him unto himself. In the life of Jacob, we saw God's refining grace, God's gracious work in the life of Jacob through trials and difficulties and his dealing with the consequences of his own sin. and God taking him from a scheming, self-reliant man to a man who becomes fully dependent and trusting in God. And in the life of Joseph, we have seen God's prevailing grace displayed. God's grace that overcomes and accomplishes God's good purposes, despite trials, despite difficulties, despite unfavorable circumstances, and even despite man's sin. And so this morning, we'll once again see God's prevailing grace displayed, and even more, will see the triumph of God's prevailing grace as we study Jacob's and Joseph's deaths and the surrounding events before their deaths. And as we study this passage, we will be challenged to consider the appropriate response to God's prevailing grace, so that our lives, like the lives of those who have gone before us, will bring glory to God. With that as introduction, I would ask that you would stand as we will read portions of this morning's passage. Genesis 47, beginning at verse 28. And when the time drew near that Israel must die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, If now I have found favor in your sight, Put your hand under my thigh and promise to deal kindly and truly with me. Do not bury me in Egypt, but let me lie with my fathers. Carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burying place. He answered, I will do as you have said. And he said, swear to me. And he swore to him. Then Israel bowed himself upon the head of his bed. Chapter 48, verse 1. After this, Joseph was told, Behold, your father is ill. So he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. And it was told to Jacob, your son Joseph has come to you. Then Israel summoned his strength and sat up in bed. And Jacob said to Joseph, God Almighty appeared to me at Luz, in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, and said to me, Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make you a company. of peoples and will give this land to your offspring after you for an everlasting possession." Now let us turn to chapter 50. Chapter 50, the end of our text this morning, starting at verse 22. So Joseph remained in Egypt, he and his father's house. Joseph lived 110 years. Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation The children also of Macchae, the son of Manasseh, were counted as Joseph's own. And Joseph said to his brothers, I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here. So Joseph died being 110 years old. They embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt. Let us pray. Our God and Father, we thank you for your word, your word which is eternal, your word which is inerrant, your word which is authoritative. Lord, we pray that as we study your word this morning, that you would indeed shine the light of your word upon our hearts. And Lord, that once again you would, by your Spirit, apply your word to our hearts for the glory of your name. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. In today's passage, we will see the triumph of God's prevailing grace displayed in conviction regarding God's promise, constancy regarding God's provision, and confidence regarding God's providence. And as we've done over our last few studies, you do not need to get nervous. We will not read every single verse in our passage. We will take portions of what we are studying this morning and we will study it around the themes that are shown here. And the first theme that we see is conviction regarding God's promise. As our passage begins in 47-28, we're told that Jacob lived in the land of Egypt for 17 years, that the years of Jacob's life were 147. 17 years have passed since that dramatic reconciliation of Joseph and his brothers. Joseph, who is now the second in command in Egypt. This reconciliation was brought about by God's transforming work in the hearts of the brothers. Their two trips illustrated that transforming work in that they confessed their sin. regarding their treatment of Joseph and selling him in to save slavery. It was shown in their unity and standing with Benjamin. when Benjamin was found to have Joseph's cup in his sack of grain. They did not abandon Benjamin, but all of them returned to Joseph's home and stood with Benjamin, who seemed to be the one who was guilty and about to be sentenced to be a slave in Egypt for the rest of his life. And this transformation of heart was shown in Judah, the one who originally suggested the selling of Joseph into slavery over 20 years before. He stood and offered himself in Benjamin's place so that their father would not face the agony of losing yet another favored son. After Judah's impassioned plea for Benjamin's release, Joseph revealed himself to his brothers and told them to bring their father and their families to Egypt because at that time there were still five years of famine yet to come. Ultimately, Jacob and this family did relocate from Canaan to Egypt, and they settled in Goshen. And as the famine grew more severe, the earlier sections of chapter 47 showed the Egyptians giving their money, and their livestock, and then their land, and even themselves becoming indentured servants to Pharaoh. And in exchange, they received grain and seed from Joseph. while 4727 tells us that Jacob and his family settled in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen, and they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied greatly. How ironic it is that Jacob and his family, the foreigners in Egypt, gained possessions and increased in the land, while the Egyptians were losing their land and losing their freedom. And it's also ironic that as we come to this point in the text, that Jacob has spent 17 years of his final years of his life living in the care and the comfort of his son Joseph. And Joseph had lived the first 17 years of his life experiencing the hatred, experiencing the conflict with his brothers. So we can certainly agree that Jacob's years, his final years, he's experiencing the blessing of God in Egypt, just as God had promised to Jacob before they relocated from Canaan to Egypt. And as Jacob prepares for death, what is his request of Joseph? We read in verse 29, now I found favor in your sight, put your hand under my thigh and promise to deal kindly and truly with me. Do not bury me in Egypt, but let me lie with my fathers, carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying place. Jacob tells Joseph to put his hand under his thigh, a near Eastern custom for confirming a promise. He asked him to swear to him that Joseph will not bury him in Egypt. Joseph swears that he will not do so and will follow his father's command to bury him in the place of Jacob's fathers. And in chapter 48, as Joseph comes to Jacob with his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, we learn more of the motivation for the oath that Jacob had Joseph take regarding where he should be buried. Look at verse three in chapter 48. Jacob said, God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, and said to me, behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your offspring after you for an everlasting possession. With Jacob's recounting of God's appearance to him at Luz, which he would rename Bethel or House of God, Jacob recounts to Joseph his encounter with God in Genesis 28 as he ran for his life from his brother Esau. God appeared to him and made these great promises to him. And Jacob's words to Joseph were a paraphrase, actually, of what God spoke to him. Hear the exact words that God spoke to Jacob from Genesis 28, verses 13 through 15. And behold, the Lord stood above it. He stood above this staircase that Jacob saw in a dream and said, I am the Lord, the God of Abraham, your father, and the God of Isaac, the land on which you lie, I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south. And in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I've done what I've promised you. So what were the elements of God's promise to Jacob? Land, offspring like the dust of the earth, so much so that they would spread abroad in all directions, being a blessing to all of the families of the earth, being with him and keeping him wherever he goes, bringing him back to the land and not leaving him until all that has been promised to him has come to pass. And these were not new promises. God had spoken these promises to his father Isaac in Genesis 26, 2 through 5. And he had spoken these promises to his grandfather Abraham in Genesis 12, 1 through 3, and then again to Abraham in Genesis 13, 14 through 17. So here are all these great promises that God has spoken to Abraham, Isaac, and to Jacob, and land was the prominent feature of this promise. And where was that place in Canaan to which Jacob wanted to be taken? You see the answer in chapter 49 in verses 29 through 32. So please turn to chapter 49 and look at verse 29. This is Jacob speaking to his sons at this point. Then he commanded them. and said to them, I am to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, to the east of Mamre in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. There they buried Abraham and Sarah, his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah, his wife. And there I buried Leah. The field and the cave that is in it were bought from the Hittites." So as Jacob nears death, his request is not to be buried in Egypt. amid the comfort of the prosperity that he is experiencing over the last 17 years of his life. where he seemingly would have received an honorable burial as evidenced by the 70 days of weeping that was undertaken by the Egyptians, which we're told of in Genesis 50 verse 3. We see a great procession for him that accompanied his family into Canaan, and that included, as 50 verse 7 says, all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household, and all of the elders of the land of Egypt. And as chapter 50 verse 9 tells us, included chariots and horsemen. No, Jacob projected all of what may have been available to him in honor of him in Egypt to be buried in a cave, in a field, which at that time was the only piece of land that was owned by his family. When we studied the purchase of this plot of land in Genesis 23, one could have simply looked at Abraham's purchase of a burial plot for his wife, Sarah, as a mundane detail of life. And when the particulars of Abraham's purchase of this plot were studied, we were struck by the contrast of the smallness of this field and the cave that was purchased by the one who was promised all of the land. Indeed, that's what God had promised to Abraham. Abraham's purchase amounted to a foothold in the land that his descendants were to completely inhabit in the future. So on Jacob's request, we see his conviction regarding God's promise. A conviction is a fixed or firmly held belief. And as Jacob requests his burial in Canaan, we see the one who used to be the self-reliant one, we see the one who would scheme to get away with what he wanted to have gotten away with in life, we see him fully convinced firmly believing that his burial place should be in the place not only where his father and mother were buried and where his grandfather and grandmother were buried, but in the place where his descendants would ultimately live. And after Jacob gives this command to be buried in Canaan, we then read that Jacob drew up his feet into the bed and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people. Jacob dies peacefully, unlike so many years of his life that were marked with conflict and danger and difficulty, often of his own making. And he is gathered to his people. Phrase spoken of Abraham in Genesis 25.8, and of Isaac in Genesis 35.29, indicating the truth that man's existence does not end at death. In commenting on this phrase, gathered to his people, commentator Dale Ralph Davis says, what does gathered to his people imply? Well, if Abraham, for example, is gathered to his people, it implies that his people still exist in some way, even though they are dead. Being gathered to one's people implies that men and women survive in some way and join their forebears in the realm of the dead. There is no room to build racy mythologies on this as one sometimes sadly hears at funerals about so-and-so enjoying parties and giving high fives to cousins. None of that. But the clause does intimate that death does not mean annihilation. When you die, you do not cease to exist. So Jacob gathered to his people in death. And just as Abraham and Isaac did not cease to exist, Jacob did not cease to exist. Upon his death, Jacob's conviction regarding God's promise did not cease to exist, as evidenced by Joseph's words in preparation for his death in chapter 50. Please turn there. Joseph's death is the other bookend of our passage. And we're not given an extensive description of his last days, only that he lived 110 years and saw his great-grandchildren. But in chapter 50, verse 24, we read, And Joseph said to his brothers, I'm about to die, that God will visit you and bring you up out of this land, to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here. Because of Joseph's conviction regarding God's promise, Joseph, who lived 93 years in Egypt, who was the second in command for approximately 80 years during his time there, and who was ultimately buried in Egypt, did not see Egypt as his people's final home. In his words to his brothers, he gives voice to this conviction, this firmly held belief that God, Elohim, the one who rules all things, would visit his people and would bring them into the land that God had promised to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And we see the triumph of God's prevailing grace displayed in their requests to be taken to the land of Canaan. God has graciously granted them an ability to see beyond what they saw at the times of their deaths. They're people owning a single plot of land in Canaan. And God enabled them to see because he had granted them a conviction that indeed he would fulfill his promise to this family, who was slowly becoming a nation, and that they would be brought into that land by God. And as Jacob's and Joseph's death stand at the beginning and end of the passage, The events specifically surrounding Jacob's death also display the triumph of God's prevailing grace at work in the lives of his people, with the first being constancy regarding God's provision. Constancy is not a word that we use every day. speak of something's constancy, is to speak of something's permanence, or something's endurance, or something's continuing nature. As noted earlier, in addition to land, another element of God's promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was blessing or provision. God promised Abraham and then Isaac that he would bless them and make them a blessing. as Jacob prepared for his death. In addition to commanding his sons as to where he is to be buried, Jacob's impending death is the occasion for him to pass along this blessing to the next generation. We see that in chapters 48 and 49. Remember that for Jacob and for his mother, Rebekah, this blessing was so desired that they were willing to deceive Isaac to obtain it. But even before Jacob's stealing of the blessing, God had ordained that Jacob would indeed be the one to whom the blessing would be extended. So in chapter 48, Joseph, along with Ephraim and Manasseh, come to Jacob after Joseph learns that Jacob is ill through circumstances that are very similar to his interaction with his own father Isaac. Verse 10 tells us that Jacob's eyes are dim with age. And ironically, in verse 8 of chapter 48, Jacob asked Joseph, who are these, in reference to Joseph's sons. And we should remember Jacob's similar experience. should remember Jacob's response to Isaac's question of, who are you? But in this scene, there is a deliberate passing of the blessing, showing Jacob's understanding that God's blessing, God's provision, would continue through this family. In verse 5 of chapter 48, we read Jacob's words to Joseph. And now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine. Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are. And the children that you fathered after them shall be yours. They shall be called by the name of your brothers in their inheritance. With this pronouncement, Jacob declares that Joseph's family will, in essence, receive a triple portion of the blessing compared to his brothers, since Joseph, Ephraim, and Manasseh will receive portions of Jacob's blessing. And we see the content of this blessing in verses 15 and 16, where we read in verse 15, the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked. pointing us and reminding us of the covenant-keeping nature of God and His keeping of covenant with Abraham and Isaac. Next, Jacob says, the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day, pointing to God's guiding of and provision for Jacob throughout his life. In verse 16 we read, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil blessed the boys. And given the parallelism where we see one line building on another and we see God being spoken of in the previous two lines, the angel also refers to God who Jacob says has redeemed him, has ransomed him, has rescued him, has brought him out from all evil. And he completes the blessing and says, in them, let my name be carried on in the name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. Pointing to the promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, many offspring and descendants, and declaring that God's blessing would continue through these boys, whom Jacob now regards as his son. So in these pronouncements, God's provision is being passed down to Joseph's sons. And in this unusual scene where Jacob has now adopted these two grandsons, we see an even heightening of the unusual nature of this blessing. As Jacob passes down the blessing, Joseph seeks to ensure that the blessing is granted according to tradition. So Joseph brings Manasseh, his oldest, closer to Jacob's right hand so that he would receive the blessing that is usually given and is often given to the firstborn. And he brings Ephraim closer to Jacob's left hand since he was the younger. And as verse 14 tells us, Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim. who was the younger, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, crossing his hands, for Manasseh was the firstborn. And verse 17 tells us, when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him. And he took his father's hand to move it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. And Joseph said to his father, not this way, my father, since this one is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head. But his father refused and said, I know, my son, I know. he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great. Nevertheless, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations. So he blessed them that day, saying, By you Israel were pronounced blessings, saying, God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh. Thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh. And should we be surprised by what seems to Joseph to be a mistake? Not at all if we remember all that we have studied throughout Genesis. We've seen throughout Genesis that God upends social conventions. that God chooses the most unlikely, that he works in ways that we, if we were God, probably would not have worked. Indeed, it was the younger Abel whose sacrifice was accepted over the older brother Cain. It was Abram who was an idolater and error of the Chaldeans who God chose and made into a great nation. It was Jacob the younger. the schemer who would be chosen over Esau the older. So we see the gracious choosing of God continuing in this scene of blessing Ephraim before Manasseh. And in the future, the tribe of Ephraim would indeed be greater in number than Manasseh. And we see even more of the constancy of God's provision and his gracious choosing and the blessings that Jacob renders to his sons in Genesis 49. In 49.1, we read this. And Jacob called his sons and said, gather yourselves together, that I may tell you what shall happen to you in days to come. Jacob, as he is nearing death, as these parting words for his children. And starting with the oldest, Jacob pronounces blessings upon his sons, but as we see with his oldest, he actually pronounces anti-blessings upon them. In these anti-blessings we see in verses 3 and 4, chapter 49, the promise to Reuben of not having the preeminence that is typically given to the firstborn. As Reuben's disqualifying act of having slept with his father's concubine, Bilhan, chapter 35. which was likely more than just a lust for sex, but actually pointing to a lust for power and an attempt on his part to take over leadership of the family, tells him that he will not have preeminence. In verses five through seven, the promise or the anti-blessing to Simeon and Levi, that they will be scattered throughout Israel because of their sin of slaughtering the Shechemites, In chapter 34, after the defilement of their sister Dinah, in the future Simeon will become an insignificant tribe in the future nation. Levi indeed won't be assigned a portion of the promised land, but in God's grace, Levi will instead be set apart for the service of the Lord because of their assisting Moses in the response to the golden calf. Shorter blessings are pronounced on Zebulun, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, and Benjamin that spoke in some instances to their location within the future promised land. If you read the blessings to Zebulun and Asher, In other instances, it spoke of the characteristics of their eventual tribes in respect to their future military prowess, which you see in the blessings pronounced on Dan, Gad, Naphtali, and Benjamin, and the work that they would perform in the Promised Land with reference to Issachar. And as one would expect, a longer blessing is pronounced for Joseph, where we see references to God's keeping Joseph amidst his trials in verses 23 through 25a. The promise of comprehensive blessings seen and that he would receive blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that crouches beneath, and the blessings of the breast and the womb in verse 25, and the bounties of the everlasting hills in verse 26. But once again, As shown in placing Ephraim before Manasseh, we see that God's ways are not our ways. As we see a blessing for Judah, that surpasses that of even the blessings of Joseph. A blessing for Judah? A blessing for the one who, before his heart was changed, came up with the idea of selling his brother into slavery? The one who left his brothers and went down into Canaan and married a Canaanite and had children by her, threatening the very separation that was to exist between the people of God and the Canaanites? And then after the deaths of his two sons, didn't take care of his daughter-in-law, didn't give his final son to his daughter as he was supposed to, and ended up having children by his daughter-in-law, who he thought was a prostitute. This Judah? Yes, this Judah. Starting at verse eight in chapter 49, we read, Judah, Your brothers shall praise you. Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies. Your father's son shall bow down before you. Judah is a lion's cub. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down, he crouched as a lion and as a lioness. Who dares rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. Binding his fold to the vine, and his donkey's coat to the choice vine, he has washed his garments in wine, and his vesture in the blood of grapes. His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk. What's been promised to Judah's offspring Verses 8 and 9, we read praise, which is the very meaning of His name. Victory. Verse 10, kingship and dominion. Verses 11 through 12, an abundance of blessing. And the scepters not departing from Judah would indeed be fulfilled in part by David's rule. David was of the tribe of Judah. But the everlasting nature of Judah's descendants rule alluded to in verse 10's indication that the scepter would never depart from Judah. And all of the obedience of the peoples being to him is completely fulfilled as from Judah would come the lion. of the tribe of Judah, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so from this one, whose track record was not one deserving of any honor, comes this distinct honor of having from his line come the very Savior of the world. And as we read verse 28, which comes after the blessings have been given, we read, all these are the 12 tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them as he blessed them, blessing each with the blessing suitable to him. Suitable to him. suitable in whose eyes? In God's eyes. And so with these pronouncements, not only is the triumph of God's prevailing grace shown in the constancy of God's provision for this family, but the triumph of His grace is also seen in God choosing as He pleases, blessing whom He pleases, His grace prevailing over social conventions and even over sin to continue His provision of protection of, guidance for, and preservation of his people. And don't we see God working in the same way today? Hear the words of 1 Corinthians 1, verses 26 through 31. For consider your calling, brethrens, Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards. Not many were powerful. Not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, so that as it is written, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord. We read here of those God chose for salvation, and like God's passing along the blessings to the sons of Joseph and to Judah, we see we who have been adopted into God's family are the unexpected. are the undeserving. And we're the testimonies of God's grace prevailing even over the hardest hearts, bringing them to salvation. And in salvation we see God displaying the constancy, the continuing nature of his provision for man's greatest need. greatest need is forgiveness of sins. What a display, the triumph of God's prevailing grace as God gave Jacob, he gave Joseph, he gave Joseph's sons in the blessing they received and gave Jacob's sons in the blessing they received and has given to us far better than we deserve. we saw earlier after these blessings, Jacob died. And Jacob's death uncovered a tension between the greatness of these blessings that these brothers received and their fear that the provision that they had experienced over the last 17 years would come to an end. Jacob died. And now these brothers thought that Joseph would use the occasion of their father's death to repay the evil that they had done to him. And in this last section of our study, we see the triumph of God's prevailing grace as we see the counter to this fear, which is confidence regarding God's providence. Look at chapter 50, verse 15. when Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead and they said, it may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him. So they sent a message to Joseph saying, your father gave this command before he died. Say to Joseph, please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin because they did evil to you. And now please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father. Joseph wept when they spoke to him. His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, behold, we are your servants. Despite all they had experienced over the last 17 years, Joseph graciously revealing himself to his brothers. Joseph sending for their families and bringing them to Egypt. Joseph settling them in the best of the land in Goshen. The brothers' words reveal that they lived for 17 years with this suspicion, this fear that all the kindness that Joseph showed them was only on account of their father. As they approach him and speak of their transgression, of their sin, and of the evil that they've done, they show that they have a right view of the sinfulness of what they did to Joseph. And while Joseph certainly forgave them, they seem to have not forgiven themselves and even went so far as to offer to be Joseph's servants in order to appease what they thought would be a long-held hatred or desire for vengeance on his part. Perhaps it's his brothers not comprehending that he had fully forgiven them. Or perhaps it's just his love for his brothers. But in verse 17, we see Joseph's response. It says that he wept. He wept as his brother spoke to him. And in verse 19, we then read, but Joseph said to them, do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today. So do not fear. I will provide for you and your little ones." Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. Joseph twice tells his brothers not to fear. declares to them that he would continue to provide for them and their children as he had done previously, after he had revealed himself to his brothers. Joseph wrested from his brothers, in his words, any sense that he was ultimately in control, or that they were ultimately in control of all that transpired all those many years ago. Instead, Joseph pointed his brothers to the one who was, and is, and will always be in control, the only true God. Joseph declared to his brothers a confidence regarding God's providence. And because of this confidence in God's providence, Joseph can assure his brothers of his complete forgiveness of them. His words point them to the truth that all the while, During those first 17 years of his life, all the while they were plotting to destroy that which God had declared to Joseph in his dreams, that God was at work to bring to pass the dreams that he had given to Joseph. And note that Joseph's statement wasn't that his brother's sin messed up God's perfect plan. or that God had to come in after they committed this sin against them and had to clean up the mess that they created. No, God was working through the brother's sin to bring about his good purposes of saving life, preserving this family through whom the nation of Israel would be created, and ultimately through whom the Messiah would come. all demonstrating God's providence and sovereignty. These are big words, providence and sovereignty, that we use often. And I found a very good definition of these terms given by John Piper in an October 2019 article on the Desiring God website, where he says, God's providence is God seeing that absolutely everything that needs to be done to bring about his purposes happens. And God's sovereignty is his right and power to do all that he decides to do. To boil Joseph's statement down to its core, Joseph was saying that nothing can stop God from fulfilling his purposes, and thus we see the triumph of God's prevailing grace in granting Joseph this confidence, that indeed nothing can stop what God intends to do. As we consider these words, conviction, constancy, confidence are not these words pointing us to one word, and that word is faith. And what is faith? but an enduring belief and trust in God. Hebrews 11.1 gives us a definition of faith when it says, now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Without faith, the conviction regarding God's promise seen in Jacob's desire to be buried in Canaan, and Joseph's instruction about his bones being taken to Canaan because both believed that God would bring this family that would develop into a nation into the land of Canaan. Without faith, all of that would have been just a fanciful notion. Without faith, the constancy regarding God's provision, the passing down of the blessings of the provision of land and protection along with the promises of kingship and dominion would have seemed like senseless words that would never come to pass. And without faith, the confidence regarding God's providence would have seemed to be a nice way for Joseph to make sense of the callousness with which he was treated by his brothers, without being able to see that God was at work on a far greater scale and in a far greater way than anyone could have imagined. All these things would have seemed impossible. and truly ridiculous, especially if one looked at all these things through the lens of the last two words of the book. Look at verse 26. In Egypt. Genesis ends in Egypt. The covenant people of God are in Egypt. But imagine if you were among the first hearers of this book, and as you hear this history read to you under the wilderness sky, perhaps after having seen the mighty works of God and having come out of Egypt, and as you're considering the daunting task of going into the promised land, And you hear in the Genesis narrative that the God who spoke creation into existence by His very Word, that the God who created man and woman and breathed life into them, that the God who forgave this man and woman when they sinned against Him, and promised the coming of a Redeemer, that the God who spoke great and humanly impossible promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, promising them blessing and descendants without number, land, and to be a blessing, the God who gave military victory to Abraham as he faced enemies more numerous than him and protected him all throughout, the God who preserved Abraham and Isaac during famines, the God who used the jealousy, envy, and hatred of ten brothers to bring about the salvation of the known world and the preservation of a people unto himself. When you hear that this God is your God, that this God has said He is with you, and that these great promises extend to you, wouldn't the appropriate response to this God be faith? But before we become too critical of those who first heard this book, let us consider how much more revelation we have received. Consider how many more promises we have been given as compared to the first hearers. And the question is, do you have a conviction, a firmly held belief regarding God's promises? Consider the provision that God has made for us in Christ. And the question is, do you trust in the constancy, the continuing nature of God's provision? And consider all that God has done throughout redemptive history. And the question is, are you confident in God's providence? Especially when it comes to God using man's evil to accomplish his good purposes. And if this last one, brother or sister, is a challenge for you, consider that the greatest display of God's using man's evil to bring about his good purposes accomplished your salvation. This greatest display is the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. The day of Pentecost, after being filled with the Holy Spirit, Peter stood up and in his sermon he stated this in Acts 2, verses 22 through 24. He said, men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know. This Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it. Peter declared to those gathered that day that they had crucified and killed Jesus, who is the eternal Son of God, and who was proven to be so by the mighty works and wonders and signs that he did. And yet, when he was delivered up to be crucified and was killed, this was by means no surprise to God the Father. No, as Peter says, this was according to God's plan that was established before the foundation of the world. a plan that even was pronounced in Genesis 3.15, coming of a Redeemer. And while there were some who thought that the grave was the end of Jesus, He was raised from the dead because the Father accepted His sacrifice and death could not hold Him. And so knowing all this, which is far more than the first hearers would have known, isn't our only appropriate response to all that God has done and all who God has shown himself to be throughout his word, isn't our only appropriate response faith? And yet, what are we so prone to do? We are prone not to believe. We are prone to allow trial and difficulty to cause us to no longer believe that God is who he says he is, a good father who is aware of our needs, who is for us and not against us, who is working all things together for our good, for he has called us according to his purpose. How easy it is sometimes to doubt God's goodness. And while we would never say it aloud in our hearts, We allow doubt. We allow fear. We allow unbelief to take up residence. But hear this warning that comes to us from Psalm 95, starting in verse 6. O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker, for He is our God and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as on the day at Mass in the wilderness. Your fathers put me to the test, put me to the proof, though they had seen my works. For forty years I loathed that generation and said they are a people who go astray in their heart. They have not known my ways. Therefore, I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest. Verses six and seven declare to us who God is, our maker and our God. Then comes the warning, a warning concerning those, the very ones who are the first hearer of this book of Genesis. As the psalm ends, God declares that those who do not believe in him would never enter his rest. With this, another set of questions come as we end this study of Genesis. And we step back and look at all Genesis has told us and shown us about God. Question is, are you resting in God's promise? Are you resting in God's provision? Are you resting in God's providence? Resting in his sovereignty? Hear God's rebuke of Israel in Isaiah 30 verse 15. He says, for thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, in returning and rest you shall be saved, in quietness and in trust shall be your strength, but you were unwilling. In so many ways, our resting in God displays the state of our trusting in God, our faith in his word, and who he says that he is in his word. For Hebrews 11.6 tells us, without faith it is impossible to please God. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. And while as a Christian, you may be here with a very weak faith in God, There are some hearing this who have no faith in God. Yes, you may believe some things about God, and perhaps you may have heard that Jesus died, and you might generally believe that Jesus died for sinners. But do you believe that Jesus died for your sins? Do you believe that Jesus had to die for your sins and that without Jesus' sacrifice that you would stand before God guilty and condemned with no hope and destined for an eternity of conscious wrath of God, experiencing consciously the wrath of God? Because that is what even one sin. against the holy, holy, holy God requires. But none of us can honestly say that we've only committed one sin. No, all of us have committed many sins. All of us have broken God's law, and none of us have lived lives that sought to bring glory to God. But God, being rich in mercy, but God being rich in grace, sent the Lord Jesus Christ, who added to himself a human nature, As fully man and as fully God, He obeyed the law perfectly and without sin. Jesus voluntarily went to the cross, laying down His life on behalf of sinners, making a complete payment for sins and providing a ransom for sinners. And because Jesus was the sinless, spotless Lamb of God, He was raised on the third day, declaring that God accepted the sacrifice and that the work of satisfying God's wrath was finished. So if you are outside of Christ today, I call you to look away from your own works and any other trust. Repent of your sin by forsaking your sin and look to Christ so that you may be granted a saving faith in Him, a faith that converts you from one dead in trespasses and sins to one who is united and has eternal life in Christ. a living faith that will sanctify you and cause you to become more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ. And he will grant you a persevering, a preserving faith that will bring you into heaven either when you die or when Jesus returns. And as we who are in Christ Praise God that His grace prevailed and caused these that have gone before us to believe His promises and enabled them to persevere in those promises despite how impossible the fulfillment of those promises might have seemed. We are reminded of how that great chapter of faith, Hebrews 11, describes these two men that we study today. Listen to verses 21 and 22 of Hebrews 11. It says, by faith, Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff. By faith, Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave direction concerning his bones. It doesn't look at any of the other events of their life. What does it look at? When they were dying, before their death, And what was it? Their conviction, their declaration of faith in God's promises. If these who had very little revelation of God's plan for redemption could persevere in their faith, could believe God's word, shouldn't our response be to the one who has given us the full revelation of all that he's done in redemptive history be faith? Knowing he's in control of all things, knowing he is working all things together for good. May God use this passage to encourage us to be like those that we studied in today's passage. and like those who have gone before us in Genesis, those who were still in Egypt as they were declaring and holding on to God's promise that he would establish them in the land, that he had promised to those who had gone before them. And as we journey here in this land, which is not our final home, may we be fully convinced that he will indeed fulfill his promise conform us fully and completely to the image of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, truly displaying the triumph of His prevailing grace. Let us pray. Our God and Father, we so thank You for Your Word. We thank You that You have condescended to show us who You are show us who we are, and to show us our need for a Savior. And we thank you that in this book of Genesis, you have continually shown your grace. And Lord, we who are recipients of your grace, today we thank you and we confess how easy it is for us to not fully believe you, not fully trust you, to not have a full confidence that you are indeed working in all of the various areas and details of our life. Lord, I pray that today's word would convict each one of us and by your spirit that your word would be applied to our hearts And Lord, that once again you would conform us to the image of Christ by showing us those areas that need to come into conformity with Christ. We thank you that in Christ we have every spiritual blessing. We thank you that in Christ we have forgiveness. We thank you that in Christ we have everlasting life. Lord, we thank you that in Christ we can call you our Father, we can know you are good, and by your Spirit we can understand the truth of your word. May you cause faith to arise in our hearts today, faith to believe your great promise, to bring us to the end that you have declared for us, which is an eternity in heaven, worshiping you, praising you, and knowing you in an even greater way. May all that has been said and done during our time in studying your word bring glory to your name, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.