we turn in the scriptures this morning to the first book of the bible if you're a visitor we've been working through this book and we're nearing the end a few sermons left and this morning we're picking up genesis chapter 47 genesis chapter 47 verse 13 and we're reading through 48. Let's give our attention this morning to God's holy word. This is Genesis 47 beginning at verse 13. Now there was no food in all the land for the famine was very severe so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished by reason of the famine. And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan in exchange for the grain that they bought and Joseph bought the money brought the money into Pharaoh's house and when the money was all spent in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said give us food why should we die before your eyes for our money is gone and Joseph answered give your livestock and I will give you food in exchange for your livestock if your money is gone so they brought their livestock to Joseph and Joseph gave them food in exchange for the horses the flocks the herds and the donkeys he supplied them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year and when that year was ended they came to him the following year and said to him we will not hide from my lord that our money is all spent the herds of livestock are my lord's there's nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our land why should we die before your eyes both we and our land buy us and our land for food and we with our land will be servants to pharaoh and give us seed that we may live and not die and that the land may not be desolate so joseph bought all the land of egypt for pharaoh for all the egyptians sold their fields because the famine was severe on them the land became pharaoh's as for the people he made servants of them from one end of egypt to the other only the land of the priests he did not buy for the priests had a fixed allowance from Pharaoh and lived on the allowance that Pharaoh gave them. Therefore, they did not sell their land. Then Joseph said to the people, Behold, I have this day bought you, your land for Pharaoh. Now here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. And at the harvest, you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four fifths shall be your own, as seed for the field, and as food for yourselves and your households and as food for your little ones. And they said, you have saved our lives. May it please the Lord. We will be servants to Pharaoh. Well, Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt, and it stands to this day that Pharaoh should have the fifth. The land of the priests alone did not become Pharaoh's. Thus, Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen. And they gained possessions in it and were fruitful and multiplied greatly. And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt 17 years. So the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were 147 years. 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. 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 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 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 Ruman and Sibion are and the children that you fathered after them shall be yours they shall be called by the name of their brothers and their inheritance as for me when i came from padan to show to my sorrow rachel died in the land of canaan on the way when there was still some distance to go to ephra and i buried her there on the way to ephra that is bethlehem when israel saw joseph's sons he said who are these joseph said to his father these are my sons whom god has given me here and he said bring them to me please that i may bless them. Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age so that he could not see. So Joseph brought them near him and he kissed them and embraced them. And Israel said to Joseph, I've never expected to see your face. And behold, God has let me see your offspring also. Then Joseph removed them from his knees and he bowed himself with his face to the earth. And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand and brought them near him and israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on the head of ephraim who was the younger and the left and his left hand on the head of manasseh crossing his hands for manasseh was the firstborn and he blessed joseph and said the god before whom my fathers abraham and isaac walked the god who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys. And 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. When Joseph saw that his father had 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. 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, will pronounce blessings, saying, God, make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh. Thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh. Then Israel said to Joseph, Behold, I'm about to die, but God will be with you and will bring you again to the land of your fathers. Moreover, I've given to you rather than to your brothers one mountain slope that I took from the hand of the Amorites with my sword and with my bow. May the Lord bless the hearing of his word. As I was preparing this message, I thought it would be helpful to capture the life of Jacob using language from wrestling that is somewhat familiar to us, particularly the submission hold. The submission hold. Listen to this common description of the submission hold. When one fighter has his opponent held in a painful position where he can't move or escape, this is a submission hold. Left without any other options, the opponent is forced to either submit, tap out, give up, or deal with the extreme pain of a dislocated joint, torn tendons, or worse. What does that sound like? I want to begin this sermon with the wrestling match that occurred back in chapter 32. Remember what happened? the angel of the lord wrestled down jacob and remember he had put jacob in a seven hour submission hold he couldn't move it was a painful position and he held remember jacob was held there till the breaking of the day he had a choice he could uh he could submit or he could deal with the pain of a dislocated joint what did he take took the dislocation walked with a limp he was dislocated as i gave reflection to this this past week i realized something about genesis 32 we believe that the angel of the lord is christ when christ put him in a submission hold that day and changed his name we witnessed a man who just wouldn't would not tap out wouldn't do it it's been his life the man would not tap out it's fascinating when you put it in this language wouldn't submit he would not submit and the angel wouldn't let go hasn't that been the perfect imagery of this man's life as we have worked through it for some time and studied. Just a refusal to submit to the Lord. And I don't need to rehearse his life again. I've done a lot of that. I don't need to go through all the serious departures that we studied. You know the mess. You know what he did with his family. You know the real messes in this man's life that were consequences of his choices that he made. And even then, it made him sad and miserable throughout the course of his life. And last time he sat before Pharaoh. He sat before Pharaoh and we get the moan. Oh, few and evil have been the days of my life and they've not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers and their pilgrimage. Well, this is where we really do pick up this morning. I was thinking of all that we've studied with Jacob and what's so encouraging about it is throughout the whole course of this man's life, Christ did not let go of him. I don't know if there's any other figure in the Bible where if I were looking at Philippians 1 and I were saying the principle of he who begins the good work completes the good work, I don't know if I could show anyone else with more clarity of the truth of that doctrine than the life of Jacob. Of all the departures, of all the mishaps, of all the sin in this man's life, Right at the end, we have a powerful presentation of submission. Of submission to Christ. And the contrast that we've seen and everything that's being played out here, I believe the Lord wants us to see this clearly and to understand it so that all of us would say, with Jonah, salvation is of the Lord. It belongs to the Lord. But there's a message in all of this. There's a message in the life of Jacob. And the message is this, submit today. tap today don't try to continue the wrestling match because the hard life he lived were often due to the consequences of refusing to tap out refusing and in that place of submission in that place where the hold is and you submit you have the greatest place of blessing the greatest place of happiness the greatest place of joy that you'll find in life there are three things that demonstrate this this morning this theme of submission that i'm working with you'll see it here uh in three things that happen in this section that i've read you'll see it in his bowing you'll see it in his believing and you'll see it in his blessing it's really really neat to see how this all plays out because what you have here at the end of his life are three deathbed scenes in the last scene he had come before pharaoh and he had made that moan and i took it that way i don't think you can read it another way especially if all things are given by inspiration are profitable for so many different things that the man of god may be thoroughly equipped and trained in righteousness that's not a good witness you don't say that the few and evil have been the days of my life because it was patently untrue when you looked at it from what god was doing and the text this morning opens up by saying it's certainly untrue that they were few because when he stood before pharaoh he was 130 years old and the text wants to make something very clear to us that he died at 147 to tell us he had 17 more years to enjoy Joseph, his son. And the reason that was important was that's when Joseph was stolen at 17. God gave it back. Gave him back 17 more years at the end to enjoy his son, to live in that blessing, to live in that joy. It wasn't few. And it certainly wasn't evil. His choices may have been, But not God's workings. And so, as we look at this, this morning, and now we move into this next section. What we have here are three deathbed scenes. And I find that remarkable. Why do I find that remarkable? Because no other patriarch gets there. Abraham's death was passed right over. It was quick. Isaac's death passed right over. But the text stops here. And it puts a giant spotlight right here on this long extended deathbed scene of Jacob to say, look at what God did in this man's life. So beautiful, so powerful. It's a remarkable ending to a life. And I mean that. It is a remarkable ending. And that's what you see today. Was Jacob still bitter? Was he still saying 17 years later now, Few and evil been the days of my life as he bears witness to his sons. As we read the text, the first thing that strikes us is the emphasis again on how long, 17 years, he was blessed with in Egypt. But then the text shifts. Well, if you look back up, it has an interjection of something that happened setting the scene for us a little bit of how hard life really was in Egypt. In verses 13-26 of chapter 47, you have a description of how bad the famine got in Egypt. It begins in verse 13 saying, this got really severe. All the people's monies, now imagine the scenario here for a minute. All the people's monies that they had, that they had earned, all of it just went to getting food. There was no more excess. There were no more camel rides out in the desert, just for food. All the excess was peeled away. It got that bad. And so what they did was, every cent was used just to survive. That happened. Then the text tells us that all of their belongings became Pharaoh's because the people started, when the money ran out, They started paying with all the excess that they had had for all those years and they started using all of that to buy food. Imagine that. No more money. And so now you're paying with your cars. You're paying with your boats. You're paying with everything else you have. That happened. What's next? Verse 18. When that year was ended, they came to him the following year and said, We will not hide from my Lord that our money's all spent the herds and of livestock it's all deeded back to pharaoh there's nothing less there's nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our land why should we die before your eyes both we and our land by us and the land we will be slaves to pharaoh and give us seed that we may live and not die, that the land may not be desolate. Can you imagine if things got so bad that your money was only spent on food and when your money was all gone, you took all your belongings and that's all you paid with and then you were purchased by President Obama? Scary. Bias. Now, why is this so striking? Everyone's a slave in Egypt. shouldn't that mean something to us for what we know about the future? They're all slaves. Nobody's free. Nobody's free. Now, why do you think God is telling Moses and us when he wanted this inspired as they studied this, the first thing you should start thinking about is who are real slaves here because we're in a section on submission, and who are real freemen? Ultimately, while governments are designed by God for the good of society. They all run cycles of iniquity. You're in one. You all run cycles of iniquity. History has taught us this. That's why they've been taken out of the land because the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete. That has to run its cycle before they're brought back in. History's proven this, that governments ultimately do defect at some point. And what do governments do? They take. What's going to happen? Here's what I want you to ponder. Something was taught to Israel here. Over against all this, you have this stark contrast. It's not governments that provide for you guys. Look at what God is showing you. But Israel, verse 27. But Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen, and they had possessions there. Whoa. They had it. And they grew, and they multiplied. And if you look back up at verse 12, Joseph provided for them. What a marvelous thought. Israel lived in Goshen, full and provided under, and here's the imagery, under the gracious reign of Joseph. And what was this teaching them? They were getting a foretaste. And you're understanding through this. They were getting a foretaste of what was held out for them when they reached the promised land and ultimately the ultimate goal of it all when they sat under and lived forever under the gracious reign of Christ. And the Lord always wanted us to know He'll provide for us. This is why He was saying throughout the Gospels, why are you worrying? I'm your king. It's not your president. I'm your king. And if you ask me, I'm not going to give you a stone if you need bread. No one else was free except Israel. Wasn't that a message for them heading into the 400 years of bondage? Who's really free? He'll shield you. He'll guide you. He'll protect you. He will bring you out, whatever afflictions. But that's not the place I'm fully going this morning. I want to now focus on Jacob. you have one of the most brightest moments of faith in the scriptures. You can learn a lot about a man on his deathbed. He's reflecting on his life. And in verse 29, we read that the time drew near for Israel, name choice, to die. Notice what he says to Joseph. I want you to swear to put your hand under my thigh. Put your hand under my thigh that this was the way of making an oath. Here's the oath. Don't bury me in Egypt. Let me literally rest with my fathers. I want you to carry out my bones and take them. I'll come back to that. I'll come back to that. I want you to notice here what happens. What does Jacob do in this section? Look at verse 31. So Israel bowed himself on the head of the bed. Now that may not mean much to you at this point. That's the most significant moment in his life. Why do I say that? This is a scene. The imagery is he's confined to bed. He gets up and he moves to the back end of the bed. Joseph's standing at the back end of the bed. And he bows. Remember? Genesis 37. I've dreamed another dream. And this time the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me. So he told it to his father and his brothers. And his father rebuked him, said to him, What is this dream that you've dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you? And his brothers envied him, but his father kept the matter in mind. Powerful. The most glaring time in his life that I find Jacob in a position of complete submission is on his deathbed. He is an absolute submission to the will of God. In other words, when Joseph said that, Jacob always pondered it. He didn't understand it, but he kept it in mind. And he understood that this was God's will for him to bow down before him. His whole life had been a struggle from turning from Jacob to Israel, which meant I still believe God overcomes. and he had finally come to submit and here was this Christ-like figure, his own son from his own body and he's bowed prostrate to him. I said after the wrestling match back in Genesis chapter 32 that the posture of a Christian is a limping one. You know, that was incomplete. That was incomplete. The posture of a Christian is a limping one until he refuses to submit. until he finally submits and bows the knee before the Lord. The posture of the limp is a stepping stone to the ultimate posture of the bow. Do you understand what Israel learned about life? No one was really free. All those Egyptians were in bondage to Pharaoh, but Israel was free. And Jacob bows, the imagery here is before his God. I just love this position. You know, this is the position that Christ wants you in. When do you ever really take the knee and bow it? I mean, really. I'm not talking about just in heart. I'm talking about the whole posture of it. That you get on your knees and you bow. In your room. In your closet. And you say, you're my God and I submit. Every knee will bow. And every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. If you don't do it today, Judgment Day will happen. And look at the beauty of this. His whole life of fight and bow. That's the position He wants us. And we go this way in life and we go that way in life and we do what we want and we find ourselves constantly bringing ourselves in bondage to others and to things and financial obligations just on and on and on. And ultimately, God wants you in that kind of position. Him. And it's not a burden. It's the greatest place of freedom you'll ever be. That you'd bow the knee and confess that He is Lord. No one else had it in Egypt. So that's the first thing, the bow. Then you have one of the brightest moments of faith or believing here from Jacob in the whole course of his life. You can learn a lot again about a man on his death, but look at what he says. He's reflecting on his life, and then he now gives instructions about where he is to be buried. So he makes Joseph swear, you take me back, you take me back there. I do not want to be buried here in Egypt. Why is that so important? Well, because Abraham had purchased the cave. And all the patriarchs were put in the cave. And Jacob wants to go back to the cave and be buried in the cave with the rest of his brethren. And you'll remember when Abraham was buried that it said that Abraham was gathered to his brethren. Jacob's fully believing the promise. This is not it. Egypt's not it. i have another land i have another place and i'm going to be with my brethren put me there don't leave me here take my body there because i believe in the resurrection is what he's telling us and i look at that and i think what confidence in death then he says this in verse 3 god almighty appeared to me at loz in the land of canaan and blessed me and said to me behold i will make you fruitful multiply you and i will make of you a company of peoples and i will give this land to your offspring after you for an everlasting possession think of this contrast i believe a great contrast was set up for you from last week where he stands up before the world's greatest leader and says few and evil have been the days of my life and now he is testifying and listen to it here are his sons and he had lived to learn to enjoy his god and love his god and what is on his mind what is on his heart he's living under the gracious rain he's tapped out and he's living the most freed and happy last 17 years of his life And I love his dying testimony. I love this man's dying testimony. Picture him, riddled with cancer, if you will, knowing he's dying, and he bows his head in worship. It's beautiful. He's worshiping on his bed, and then in the second deathbed scene, listen to what he's saying. God Almighty appeared to me at Luz. That's Bethel. Remember what happened to Bethel? A ladder dropped from heaven. Christ was at the top and He declared a promise to me. It was unconditional. I didn't have to earn it. He confirmed His love for me and He gave me. God Almighty appeared to me. Let me tell you about Him, son. Let me tell you about my God, son. When I was running away from Him and I ran away from the promised land and I did my own thing for many years of my life. On my run, he met me. And you know what he did? He said, from your body, I'm going to multiply you and make you companies of peoples will come for me. And I'm going to give you everlasting life. I'm going to give you a land. I'm going to give you everything you could ever imagine. Everything that was promised to Abraham, everything that was promised to Isaac, Jacob, it's all yours. Can you feel the affection for his God here for the first time? He's enjoying him. He loves him. Fervent. He knows him. Shining. Let me tell you how wonderful he's been to me. It was God's relentless love the whole way through that had wooed him and won him. So at the end of his life, God did not let his gray hair go down to the grave in sorrow, but God brought him to a place of bowing and giving this kind of faith, joy and satisfaction for the wonderful grace that he had looked back and seen now. It wasn't few and evil been the days of my life. No, no, no. That's not what he's saying. What he's saying is God blessed everything. He didn't speak about God like this most of his life. when he stole the birthright he said and brought the meal and Isaac says where did you get it so quick God gave it to me drag his name through the mind listen to him in verse 15 he blesses Joseph and says listen to this the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day the angel who has redeemed me from all evil see few and evil he redeemed me that's his testimony hasn't been few hasn't been evil because he redeemed me from it bless the boys and let and 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 the God of Abraham was my shepherd all the way through I can't help but think of the imagery of Psalm 23 the Lord's my shepherd I don't have one leads me guides me but this statement of everything else grabs me the angel redeemed me from all evil he just said christ saved he understood who the angel was i've got faith in christ i'm free this is a transformed man and all he's doing is talking about the promises that god made and demonstrating true faith it's so beautiful the submission of his life he's bowed and he's believing and he's trusting and he's resting in the god of his salvation i just have to say this is why it's such a tragedy at funerals to me i've never understood it where we get up and all we do is talk about all the supposedly good things that somebody did and they never tell this story they never tell this story i'm like what are you doing you've undermined the whole story of what salvation is about doesn't it doesn't work i don't believe it i don't believe it when somebody gets up a pastor gets up and tells me how good the person's. I don't believe it, but I believe in God's goodness to them. Talk about that. Jacob had made a mess of his life. And the striking thing about the final scene of chapter 48, here's this. The scene that began his life closes his life. Verse 10 tells us he's blind. Who was blind? His dad. Two sons are brought in. You'll notice in verse 9, Jacob says, bring them to me that I will bless them. Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age so that he could not see. Then Joseph brought them near him and he kissed them and embraced them. Two sons years ago were before Isaac named Jacob and Esau. Isaac had sinfully disregarded the life of Esau who was not of the promise and Isaac tried to force the blessing on Esau. Remember? Jacob deceives his dying dad wearing Esau's clothes and Isaac said, come near. And what happens in that scene? It was awful. It was awful. Here's Jacob in a posture of total submission to the Lord. Look at how he surpassed his father. Do you know that Hebrews makes this the highlight of his life? Listen to it. By faith, Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph and worshipped, leaning on the top of his staff. That was the highlight in God's eyes. Why? Why was this all an act of worship? That's how God described it for us. This is an act of worship. Why was it an act of worship? rites of firstborn were being given. So what happens? With the two sons standing before him, Manasseh being the oldest and the youngest being Ephraim, the one to whom the rites should go is Manasseh. Ephraim being the youngest, they both come before him. Jacob does this. Joseph brings them. Jacob stretches out the hands and goes like this. Crosses. Can you picture it? On the edge of the bed, dying. This is his posture. Joseph's frantic. No, you can't do that. I know, son. I know. Manasseh will be a great people, but the younger will be greater. What was Jacob doing? What a position of submission. feeling the pain of his son Joseph, Jacob speaks very clearly at the end of his life. And do you hear what he's saying? Grace comes to the man of God's choosing. Grace comes to the man of God's choosing. Oh, he'd learned that. Oh, he'd learned that. Let them grow into a multitude of God's children in the midst of the earth. This is a man taken captive to the obedience to Christ. That's the legacy he left to his children. One pastor said, the greatest legacy any man can leave to his children is unswerving faith in God and the memory that gave God all the glory and witnessed his unchanging faithfulness. God says he's not ashamed to be called the God of Jacob because in this scene, the Spirit, he says, triumphed over the flesh and God was acknowledged as all in all. When our earthly inheritance is gone, when lands are eroded, when stocks are depreciated and money is spent, the legacy of unwavering faith in God will be the most that you can pass on to your children. What a picture. What a scene. A man ready to die. understanding the marvels of grace, submitting to God's workings, faith that communed with Him, that loved Him, that embraced Him, that bowed down and worshipped all the way to the end, that embraced Christ and His righteousness. I'm closing with this. I'm sure all of you have loved that statement from Psalm 46. At the very end of Psalm 46, it says, Be still and know that I am God. And I don't know how many times I've heard it applied Is that some sweet contemplative thing? But we just need to stop worrying. You know what that means? Stop fighting against me. Desist and know I'm God. And the psalm ends with the God of Jacob is our refuge. I come back to where I began. Took years to tap out. Took years to tap out. When one fighter has his opponent held in a painful position where he can't move or escape, that's a submission hold. Left without any other options, the opponent is forced to either submit or deal with the extreme pain of a dislocated joint. You could go that way. It's a painful way to go if you're a child of God. Many are walking dislocated today, and it's painful. But when you tap out, when you bow, When you believe, when you submit, you're in the happiest, most fulfilled, greatest, peaceful place you'll ever be in this life. And you've seen what it looks like. Here's my question. Have you tapped out? I hope you felt the submission hold. I hope you felt the submission hold and have come to know his gracious, his loving, faithful care for you in Christ Jesus our Lord and that your life is bowed down to him. Let's bow to him in prayer. Heavenly Father, we are so encouraged by your workings and what you did in this man's life. When we look at the whole story, this is a remarkable ending. And all praise and glory belongs to You for Your power to bring us down, to submit our lives, to place us in a hold so that we do tap out and then enjoy You. Because until then, we don't enjoy You. We fight, we complain, we moan. And we do our own wills, bringing down the sad consequences of our own sins on our heads. And thank You for showing us your grace and power to save us. May all of us tap out and bow the knee and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and seek to live the rest of our days under that gracious reign where we will always be provided for. We look forward to the day when we will all be together gathered around your throne no more sin or sorrow but forever provided for an eternal land with great joy in your presence bowing before you for eternity. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. Amen.