God Blesses Us With Adoption

The 1920s were a very important decade for American religion. In that we saw the Scopes Trials, we saw the rise of many liberal theologians and liberal institutions. We had a great divide between the modernists and the liberals, and the main issue was many of the key doctrines of the Orthodox Christian church were being challenged, not for the first time, but in a new way. People who are claiming to be Christians were challenging them. Questions like the virgin birth or topic doctrines like the virgin birth, the resurrection, the atoning death of Christ and the miracles of Christ. People who claim to be within the church were questioning these doctrines, even denying them. They were called liberals. On the other side were the fundamentalists who said these are these these doctrines can't be questioned. These are definite doctrines revealed in scripture. The 1920s, you saw a man named John Grissom Machen rise up. He was a Princeton professor of theology. In life to be one of the next great Princeton theologians like B.B. Warfield and the Hodges before him. But he saw Princeton crumbling around him because Princeton had drank the Kool-Aid. They were going liberal. They were denying, they were allowing denials of these key doctrines to take place within the walls of that institution. So he founded Westminster Seminary. He also founded the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Most importantly, we saw in 1923 a book published by him, Christianity and Liberalism. One of the most important books in this century. Asher actually has some to give away today if anyone wants a copy. It's one that I think every Christian should have on their bookshelf. If you want to read it, that's up to you. 1923, Christian liberalism. He didn't just go after what they denied. He actually proposed what they were proponents of. Liberalism wasn't just denying the key doctrines. They were arguing for two basic doctrines. The universal fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood of man. Now they hear that, that sounds all right. It kind of sounds like a Beatles song. And that's where we should first start wondering what's going on here. It's not a good thing for Christianity to sound like a Beatles song. They were wanting to unite all of us together, no matter what our beliefs were, because we're all brothers together. We're all under God together. Now, a key question to ask any movement is, what do they do with Jesus? What do they do with Jesus? Jesus Christ is the beginning and end of Christianity. Well, in most liberal theologies, Jesus is brother. He was a man with a great moral compass. He was a great teacher. He was someone to be modeled after. And full stop. That's it. Jesus is just like you and I. He's a good human being who had good ideas and good moral principles. And that's it. See, what this book does is show that this religion called liberal Christianity is nothing like Christianity. You cannot throw liberal as an adjective upon Christianity. What he wants to show is that they're denying the very person and work of Jesus Christ, because He's not just another human being. He is God Himself, the Son of the Father, the unique and only begotten Son. Machen showed that liberalism was a completely different kind of religion, because we're not all equal, especially with Jesus Christ. What he wanted to show was that they are denying the true personal work of Jesus Christ. They're robbing Him of His glory and therefore robbing themselves of his salvation. If there's anything universal about us is that we are all universally guilty of sin. We are all universally dependent upon Christ, the one true son of the Father, who died on the cross and rose again so that we can have salvation, so that we can have hope. See, in the liberal theology, there is no adoption. There is no adoption in Christ. There is no salvation in Christ. All we need to do is learn to live better lives. Christianity calls us out of darkness and into light. Christianity, as Jesus taught it, calls us to be children of God when we were His enemies. Our message this morning is very simple. God calls us into His family through His Son. God calls us into His family through His Son. The reason I had Matt stand up and give his testimony of adopting is because we're going to see an adoption ceremony this morning. We're going to be looking to Genesis 48, and we're going to see Jacob adopting his grandchildren to be his children. To not have an inheritance from Joseph, but to actually have a full inheritance from Jacob himself. Now as I read this, I want you to listen for a few things. One, We hear a lot about God. That's what we come here to study. We come to study what is God doing in the text. And Jacob gives all praise and glory to God. We see this in verse 3, verse 11, and verse 21. He trusts the promises of God. He gives praise to God in verses 15 and 16. Secondly, we want to listen for how he claims the sons of Joseph as his own. He has a ceremony and he has blessings. And finally, we really want to hear how Moses is going to emphasize how Jacob intentionally blesses the younger instead of the older. And that'll be in verses 13 and 19. I'm going to begin in chapter 47, verse 29, because here we begin to see that Jacob is old. He is dying and his hope is not in Egypt. It's not in Joseph. It's in God who will deliver him. Chapter 47, starting in verse 29. 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 the 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 him. 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, appear to me and lose. 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. 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 their brothers in the inheritance. As for me, when I came from Badan to my sorrow, Rachel died in the land of Canaan on the way, when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath. And I buried her in the way to Ephrath, that is Bethlehem. When Israel saw Joseph's sons, he said, Who are these? Joseph said to his father, they 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 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 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. Now Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim. It displeased him. And he took his father's hand and moved it to Ephraim's head, 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 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 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 am about to die, but God will be with you. and will bring you again to the land of your fathers. Moreover, I have given to you rather than to your brothers one mountain slope that I took from the hand of the Amorites with my sword and my bow." So look, this morning we get to see this adoption ceremony and the adoption blessing. We see an old man who is dying and wants to put his house in order. His hope is in God. His trust is in God. He does not want to be buried there in Egypt. He wants to be buried in the promised land. He is trusting that God will fulfill his promise. We first want to consider verses 1 to 12. Jacob adopts Joseph's sons. Joseph hears that his father is ill and he comes to him. Jacob has been a mighty man of strength. Remember when Rachel was originally coming up the hill, there was a stone over the well, and it usually takes many shepherds to lift this stone. Well, in order to impress Rachel, he decides he's going to do it himself. He power lifts it over. So, Jacob has been a man of might. But here in his old age, he summons his last bit of strength to lift himself up to put his house in final order. Verse 3, And Jacob said to Joseph, God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, blessed me, and said to me, Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you. I will make you a company of peoples and will give this land to your offspring after you for an everlasting possession. God has promised prosperity and property. He is not in the land that God has promised him. But he knows God. He's been walking with God for a hundred years plus now. He knows that God is faithful. He can look back and see how God has led him, cared for him, and provided for him. He knows that God will fulfill this promise. He's even so willing to trust in God's promise that he's going to will off land that he does not possess and he is not even occupying. In verse 5, we see Jacob claim Joseph's two sons. This is a huge honor. Now, the firstborn It's supposed to get double portion. But here we see Joseph, not the firstborn, that would be Reuben. He's getting a double portion because two of his children are going to be adopted. They're going to have a full inheritance. They're going to have an inheritance as if Simeon and Reuben. They're going to get the choice land. They're going to get the first fruits. Joseph is doubly blessed. Now, we don't know how much time he lasts between verses 7 and 8. He has a conversation with him and Joseph comes back. Joseph comes back with his sons. And it's interesting in verse 8, Jacob begins, who are these? Now we see a narrative comment here, verse 10. He's dim in his eyes. He cannot see. This is obviously referring to his physical sight. Very similar to Isaac when he was going to bless Jacob when he thought it was Esau. Instead, he has lost his eyesight. There, Isaac is physically and spiritually blind. Here, we see Jacob is just physically blind. He gets to see his children. There's a great irony there. He has lost his eyesight, but he has now been in the presence of his children, and he's the one who sees who is supposed to be blessed, whereas Joseph, he still hasn't seen it spiritually. Who are these? Maybe he asked this question because he cannot see. That's reasonable. Maybe he asked the question because he doesn't want to get duped like he did his father. I really think this is probably the way you began the ceremony. Just like at a wedding, after the father and the bride-to-be walk down the aisle, the ceremony begins when the pastor says, who gives this woman over to be married? That's the beginning of the ceremony. Now, the pastor knows who's giving them. They've practiced it numerous times. He asks a question to make sure the ceremony begins. Who are these? It's just the way they began the ceremony, just like we do with our weddings. Verse 9, Joseph says, They are my sons whom God has given me here. They are sons from the land of Egypt. Now, verse 11. It's very emotionally loaded. I never expected to see your face. And behold, God has let me see your offspring also. Jacob thought he had lost his son. He thought he was dead and now he's alive. He's not just alive. He's a ruler of all the world. Jacob wasn't just blessed to see his son again. Now he gets to see his grandchildren. Behold, God has blessed him greatly. The boys are claimed to be officially Jacob's. Now, if we look there in verse 12, it's very subtle, but there's a significant ceremonial act that takes place. Then Joseph removed them from his knees and he bowed himself with his face to the earth. Now, we didn't even know he put them on his knees. Culturally, they already knew it was taking place. As soon as he said, who are these? The father of the children, or the person organizing the ceremony, he puts them on the adopting father's lap. It symbolizes, this child is as if from my own Lawrence. This child is as if from my own offspring. It's a great symbolic event that shows this child has an equal inheritance as if he were from my own Lawrence. It's a wonderful, symbolic ceremony. Now, notice also that Joseph is prostrating himself. The ruler of the entire world is bowing down to this weak, dying man. Because it's his father. For the same reason Jacob blesses Pharaoh, Joseph bows down to Jacob. There's a great contrast in their position. Jacob has summoned his strength to sit up and Joseph is bowing himself down. In verses 13 through 20, we see the ceremonial blessing. With Joseph's head down, he intentionally pushes the boys forward. He knows that he needs to put Manasseh on his right hand and Ephraim on his left because that's the birth order. That's the way things are supposed to be. Moses goes out of the way to make sure we understand that Jacob knows, even though he's demonized, he does not see, he knows he needs to have the blessing. So, as his son is pushing the boys up as cultural norm would have it, Jacob crosses his hands. He intentionally puts his right hand on the younger and the left hand on the older. Now, the right hand is the place of the most prestigious authority and power. Jesus is at the right hand of the Father to show that He is the most unique Son. Psalm 110 talks about how you will be at the right hand of God, the King would be. The right hand is a prestigious place of the most power. And so the right hand is the greater blessing. Joseph doesn't understand. Why would you make the younger? Well, it's because Jacob himself was a young'er. Jacob himself, while dim in the eyes, he spiritually sees. He can see that God wants to bless the young'er. Now, really, the main focus of this passage, in terms of what we see about God, is in verses 15 and 16. Hear the blessing that he gives to Joseph. 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." Here we have three great confessions of God. The God who my father walked before. Now remember, Abraham was commanded to go. That was his great calling to be a patriarch. So, walking before God really makes sense. It's an idiom for following God. Walking before God, God didn't tell Abraham, I'm going to be with you. Do not fear at this point. He said, go. And Abraham, by faith, went. He's claiming that this is a God who has always been with his family, who has called his family out and who has been with his family. Secondly, it's a. It's a sweet confession, because here we have a shepherd calling God his shepherd. He's saying to God, I am your sheep. You are my shepherd. He's putting himself in absolute submission. He's putting himself in absolute humility under God. He is completely dependent on God for everything. He is saying, I need you. I need your protection. I need your care. I need your personal presence. God has led him, preserved him, and protected him. Oftentimes, a king would be called a shepherd. Because a king looks over his people. He provides for them. He protects them. It's a great, mighty confession from a shepherd to claim someone else is his shepherd. Only God Himself could fulfill this role. Secondly, he calls on the angel who has redeemed me from all my ways. in verse 16. Now, who is this angel? Well, it could just be an angelic being. A spiritual being that God created. That's a real possibility. I do not think that is the best option for one thing, the way this person is described, he's doing things that only God does. Third, in Hebrew parallelism, what you have is God has done this, God has done this, and then he uses another word, but I believe he's still referring to God. The sent one. has redeemed me from all evils. Now, I believe, this could be a guardian angel of some sort, but I don't really believe in guardian angels. I don't think I need one because I have God the Father guarding over me. Why would you need a guardian angel? I believe this angel reference is actually a profession of Jesus Christ. I believe this is looking forward to the Son. I believe Jacob who wrestled with God, who I think he was wrestling with Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity. I believe here we see a vague proclamation of the beginning of what will be the Trinity. Why? Because first we see it's in reference to, it really is taking place of God here. God was my shepherd. You could simply, you could easily say God has redeemed me. The angel here is simply the way that Hebrew parallelism works. It's replacing the name God with another reference, but still the same person. Secondly, the reason we believe Jesus Christ is God is because he only does things that God can do. Only God creates. Only God saves sinners. Only God can reveal God. Those are your three basic principles and reasons why we confess Jesus Christ to be fully God. He does things that only God can do. Here we see this angel doing something that only God can do. The angel has redeemed me from all evil. Only God can redeem and deliver us from evil. Only God saves sinners. God has delivered him from a number of human enemies. Esau, Laban, Esau again. As we saw quite a few weeks ago, the most powerful enemy that God has delivered him from is himself. His own sin, which will completely destroy him. To conclude the blessing, he has two requests. My name will be carried on in them." Just like a wife receives the last name of a husband, the name will be carried on in him. They now have the full name of being a son of Jacob. Just like Anna now has the name Kaiser. The two boys have a new identity and a new purpose. They will be many. God will bless them greatly. Finally, before we get into application, let me read verses 21 through 22. Jacob never loses hope. Jacob fully trusts in the God who has placed them there, who has brought them there, who is with them there, and who will comfort them and care for them there. Verse 22, moreover I have given to you rather than to your brothers one mountain slope that I took from the hand of the Amorites with my sword and my bow. Now, there's a lot of debate as to what this particular piece of property might be. Mountain slope sounds a lot like Shechem. Shechem was a mountain slope. We may see here Jacob blessing Joseph with Shechem. Now, for those of you who have been with us, Shechem is the city that the sons of Israel raped and murdered. I believe Jacob may be taking it out of their hands because of what they did to that city and giving it to Joseph, who would be innocent of the rape and murder of that city. Let's look at our application. First, we are adopted by God. We are adopted by God. He chooses to adopt us. Let's look back at this intentionality of Jacob. He focuses on one child above all the others. Joseph. Joseph isn't the firstborn. This is against cultural norm. He intentionally focuses on one child and then he decides to choose two grandchildren out of many of this one child. He chooses them also out of order. He blesses the younger of those two grandchildren. He's going against every cultural norm. What we see here is election. The doctrine of election is the driving theme through Genesis. We can look back and see how God chose Abel. We can see how God chose Noah. We can see how God chose Abraham, who was just another pagan among pagans. And God came down and said, you will be the father of my people. You will be the one who brings about the Savior I promised in Genesis 3.15. He didn't choose as Isaac, even though Abraham tried to adopt a son, Eleazar, and then tried to have another child, Ishmael. No, God provided. Isaac. He chose him to be the one through whom we were blessed. God then chose Jacob instead of Esau. He's now choosing Joseph and he will choose Judah. Just as redemption and deliverance is a driving theme from the book of Exodus, election is the driving theme through Genesis. God remains faithful to an unfaithful people. There's nothing that makes us lovable to God. He decides to put His love upon us. He decides to call out these men so that we have the blessing of their future child, the chosen one, Jesus Christ. God elects us to be His children. Now, election is one of these words that Christians are afraid of for some reason. A lot of people are allergic to the idea of election. I wonder if part of it is because we know people who talk about election and they seem very arrogant about it. People who talk about election think they've intellectually figured it out. Anybody who thinks they have actually figured out the golden chain of salvation and all its T's crossed and all its I's dotted doesn't understand it at all. The doctrine of election is supposed to give us awe and mystery and worship. It's supposed to humble us because God's ways are completely against what we think he should do, how we think he should act. God's ways are above our ways. If anyone is full of hubris, they have never gotten the doctrine of election. The doctrine of election can only humble us. God's way is to choose according to His wisdom, not our social norms, not our understanding. God chooses to show His grace according to His own wisdom. Romans 9, 15. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. God chooses to bless some. God chooses to gift some. We expect that God is supposed to treat us all equal. We think it is our right to have an equal opportunity and equal privileges. God never has acted this way. Yes, he has let the rightful and the righteous and the wicked, but God chooses some to have mercy. He chooses some to have certain gifts and others to have other gifts. He doesn't treat us all equal. We feel entitled to receive from God what anyone else might get. We do not recognize that He has the right to give His good gifts according to His good wisdom. We put our rights that we think we have above His rights. The creature challenges the Creator. God in His good wisdom gives us good gifts. We, in our sin, abuse those good gifts and then covet other people's gifts. Instead of praising Him and thanking Him, For all He gives us that we do not deserve. If we want what we deserve, we get hell. If we get what we deserve, we get wrath. Because we are sinners and offensive before God. But instead, He gives us mercy. He gives us hope. And then He recruits us into His work and gives us gifts to glorify Him. We take His gifts and use them selfishly or we covet other people's gifts. The key question is how can we discipline our hearts to be less selfish and self-centered? How can we discipline our hearts to praise and thank the God who is sovereign in his gift giving? First, learn to be thankful for how God has blessed you. Count your blessing. Look around and think of all the ways God has blessed you. If you have nothing else to be thankful for and you're a Christian, be thankful you're not going to hell. Maybe you don't have a home. Maybe you don't have a family. Maybe you've lost your spouse. Your children have abandoned you. You have nothing in this world. You have everything in the next. Thank God for blessing you with salvation. The second way we can grow to be less selfish is to thank God for the blessings of others. We should be able to look around and thank God for the way He blesses our brothers and sisters. We should rejoice in how God blesses the church fully and differently. Let me give you an example. Lisa and I have always wanted a full quiver of children. God has kept us back from this because of health issues. Our previous church was very young and apparently very fertile. And Sunday night, for about two years, every Sunday night someone else was announcing a pregnancy or multiple people would announce pregnancies. And every Sunday night we had to learn to prepare ourselves to go in and rejoice with our brother and sister who God is blessing and not us. It wasn't easy. It didn't come naturally. You wanted to covet. You wanted to grow bitter. You wanted to think of how and why God could bless you. But our calling in Christ was to rejoice with them. We had to intentionally think through and pray through. How can we praise God and thank God for how He is blessing others? First, we thank God for what He's given us. Then, we went and intentionally rejoiced with them by loving them and hugging them and praying with them. It's not easy to praise God for how He blesses others. It's not easy to praise God in the midst of you thinking you have no blessings. We must discipline our selfish hearts to not keep looking at what we don't have, what we want. to look at what God has given us and how God is working in His bigger kingdom. Two questions to consider and talk about afterwards. What is it that you covet and have a hard time thanking God for that He has blessed someone else with? When you look at others, what is it that you typically covet and wish God had blessed you with? Secondly, if you find yourself growing bitter with covenants this morning, trace back when you stopped being thankful. Trace it back and what was that thing that you could never thank God for in someone else's life? Or what is that thing that you thought you could not live without? And begin counting your blessings in Christ. Secondly, we are adopted by faith in Jesus Christ. We are adopted by faith in Jesus Christ. Just as Joseph ushered in his two sons to be his equal, to share in his inheritance, to have an equal share as a full son of his father, Jesus Christ ushers us in to be sons of the Father. We get to go in and we get to eat at the table. We get to have the rights and privileges and benefits of being a son of God. When we get to heaven, we'll have our own room, we get to go to the table, we get to go to the fridge whenever we want. We don't have to ask permission as if a stranger, as if a visitor or a guest were part of the family. Joseph may be the clearest type of Christ in the in the Old Testament that's never referenced as such in the New Testament. We should praise God that Joseph models the sonship of Jesus Christ. Only what we get in Jesus is so much better than land or children. It's eternal life. It's infinite love from God the Father. He is our big brother because he is the only proper son of the father that calls us to have a part in his inheritance. Now, part of that adoption means we're delivered from evil. We're delivered from our sin. We're delivered into internal life. Just as Jesus, I think, is that angel of God reference. God has delivered us from our evil. Now, God has led Jacob into a number of problems. He was hated and despised by his brother. He delivered him from the physical pain that he would have met if he had seen Esau after he stole the blessing. The murder that he would have faced. He has also delivered him from the trick and the trapping of Laban. God has delivered him into reconciliation with Esau. God has delivered him now from famine in Egypt. God has delivered him from many enemies. But the most important enemy that God has delivered Ennias from is our own sin. Our sin is crouching at our door, seeking to destroy and devour us. But in Jesus Christ, in His death, that forgiveness of our sin, that gives us new hope, that gives us new power in the Spirit, we have new life and we are delivered from that evil. The question we have this morning, if we have such an inheritance that is imperishable in Jesus Christ, How much of our life reflects this? We talked about this all week last week in the sermon, but it's worth asking again. How much of your life choices, how much of your ambition is geared to building up treasures in this world rather than in heaven, where Christ is standing at the right hand of the Father, where He is promising you an inheritance with joy and crowns? Are we investing more in this world or in the life to come? We're supposed to be living as children of hope. Putting an investment in a land we do not yet possess. Putting a hope in our investment in a land we do not yet live in. Do you believe in the promises of God that He will take you there and He will bless you greatly? Third, we are adopted into protection. I don't know how many times I heard it on school buses or in school cafeterias, but The common thing for boys to argue about for some reason is, my dad can beat up your dad. Somehow this was still an argument in the suburbs. I don't really know why it mattered in the suburbs if my dad could beat up your dad. I assume this is leftover from the tribal times where it really was important if your dad could beat up my dad because my life depended upon it. As Christians we have the mightiest father who can protect us as our shepherd. Not just from the bully down the street, but from the devil himself. We also know that He protects us from our own sin. God as our shepherd leads us and protects us. He doesn't always lead us to smiles. He leads us with His personal presence. He leads us with love and compassion and care But sometimes He leads us into the valley. Sometimes He leads us into despair. Sometimes He leads us to the mountaintop. God is leading us all the while. Just as God led Jacob to many trials with Esau and Laban and others, God leads us today. Life is not meant to always give you prosperity. Life is meant to give you hope. God leads us into trouble so that we can realize we do not depend upon ourselves, we depend upon Him. He is always with us as He leads us, as our Good Shepherd, who knows us by name, who knows what we need, who knows who we are, and who loves us in every way. God shepherds us in the midst of our difficulty and in the midst of our joys. If you're going through a difficulty this morning, And you're a Christian, God is with you. He is your shepherd who walks beside you to give you personal protection and care. One particular concern that I know is in with many is how God is shepherding you and your family. Many have children who aren't confessing Christ to be their Savior. Many have siblings Spouses or parents who do not know God. And you are left wondering, how is God leading me? How is God leading my family? What is God doing and why aren't they coming to Him? Friends, just as Jacob thought his son was lost and dead, God delivered him. So too, God is able to deliver your loved ones. Do not lose hope. Trust in Him to lead them to Himself. Trust in him by sharing the gospel with them, by praying with them, by letting us pray with you for them. God is able to lead them to himself and God is able to lead you through the difficulty of worrying for them. Finally, our last application. As we start to say goodbye to Jacob, not quite yet, but we are starting to say goodbye to Jacob. We are adopted into life. We are delivered from death. As Christians, we should not celebrate death. I've heard Christians say, at my funeral I want to party. That's perverse. You don't celebrate death. Death is not the way it's supposed to be. Death is destructive. Death is not what God has created us for. God has created us for life. In Him we live and move and have our being. Death is not the way it's supposed to be. You cannot celebrate death. It's supposed to be painful. We're supposed to mourn death. We're supposed to grieve over death. Because when we look at death, we're supposed to remember sin and its consequence. We cannot celebrate death. We have to hate death. While we look at it and we mourn death and we grieve over death, we also cannot be fearful of it because we believe in Jesus Christ who has died and risen again to give us hope beyond the grave. Death is not to be celebrated, but it's also not to be feared. We are not to be scared of death. It has lost its sting because Christ has conquered it. He has risen again. In Jacob, we see a great man who looks at death and he knows God's promises are true. He wants to teach his children to trust in God's promises. His last words are, God will keep you. God will be with you. God will deliver you. He's preaching the gospel. He's counseling his children with the gospel. He will not be there anymore. It doesn't matter. God will be with him and God will deliver. Friends, how are we talking to one another about death? It's a reality we all must face. It's a reality that will ultimately end all of our lives here. We need to be talking about how deadly and dangerous it is, how painful it is. We also must talk about the One who has conquered it to give us hope. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Our Great Shepherd, and Redeemer. We come before and we praise You because You have saved us. We thank You, God, for the way You have revealed to us a great adoption that we have in Jesus Christ, our big brother, our Savior. We pray that we would be encouraging one another in the midst of our trials, in the midst of our tribulations, in the midst of facing death. I pray that we would trust you, obey you, and depend upon you. We pray for whoever this person is who has been injured today. I pray that you would bless them, be with them, and protect them. Help us, Lord, as we leave this place to encourage one another with the gospel in the same way that Jacob has encouraged his children. In your holy name we pray. Amen.