Truth For Life

Bob Lepine: Are you satisfied with where you are in life? Have you done enough, learned enough, accumulated enough, achieved enough? Today on Truth For Life, Alistair Begg explains how having the right focus can help us find satisfaction in life and be at peace with the prospect of death. Let’s open our Bibles to Genesis chapters 46 and 47.

Alistair Begg: This is what Jacob is affirming here: that no matter how excited he was about seeing Joseph, no matter how much that meant to him in terms of his earthly pilgrimage, a good conscience toward God was ultimately more important to Jacob than ever seeing his son again. In other words, he allowed eternity so to fill his mind that time took its place where it should, rather than allowing time so to fill his perspective that eternity had to fight for a place.

We need to learn from his attitude that we might be pilgrims in need of guidance, worshippers before the only true God, and sinners in need of pardon. And then we can rejoice as did Jacob, not only in the attitude that he revealed but in the assurance that he received. "I am God, the God of your father," he said. Why does he say the God of your father? He said because I was true to your father all the days he lived his life. You know that, don't you?

Jacob would have looked back and said, "Yes, I know that." And he could have added to that his grandfather, and he saw his grandfather through. And he said, "Well, I am the God of your father. Don't be afraid to go down to Egypt. In fact, I'm going to make you into a great nation there." A great nation there? I mean, get serious. There's only 66 of them. When you roll in a few extras, we get it up to 70. 70 and a bunch of borrowed carts, used clothes, a few donkeys, and bits and pieces.

God says, "Hey, Jacob, I'm going to take you down into Egypt, and I'm going to make you a great nation." What was the nation about which he was speaking? What was the ultimate fulfillment of the promise to Jacob? It's Revelation. A great company that no man could number, from every tribe and background and language and tongue. This was the promise that he was affirming.

It was the promise that he had made to Abram, and through Abram's seed to Isaac, and through Isaac to Jacob, and Jacob to Joseph, and the sons of Joseph, and all the way through to the fulfillment of the person of the Messiah, Jesus himself. Jacob could never have grasped all of this, but he had God's word to go on. "I'm going to make you, I'm going to take you, I'm going to be with you."

Well, you say, "I'd do that if God said that to me. If he flat out came in a vision to me, I'd do it." Don't be cheeky. That's not true. God has said it. He said it in this book. 2 Peter 1:19: "We have the word of the prophets made more certain." There is nothing else he has to say. It is all in this book. All we have to do is read the book and obey the book.

"I will," he says, "take you up. And I will make you." You see, that's the great wonder of God's dealings with us. Who are we? What are we? What do we have to offer? Nothing. What do we have to say? Nothing. Unless he picks us up, speaks into our lives, and assures us with his presence, then we'd better stay where we are. But when he does, then we may go boldly.

Okay, move the trolleys again. Let's go to the next scene. Genesis 46:28-30. Set up the angles. Get that black and white board out. Click it once. Take one. Actually, the long angle shot would have been of this great pilgrimage coming with all the carts and stuff. The kind of Beverly Hills trip. This is the Beverly Hillbillies in the 4,000 years before Christ.

The people looking at him say, "What are you doing, Jake?" He said, "Guess what? I'm a millionaire." "You are?" "Yeah, my boy. I'm going to see my boy. He's big time. Yeah, he's the head of the whole thing. He wanted us to come down. That's why we've got these new carts with the steering wheel on the other side. That's the thing." I mean, why do you think Benjamin's walking around the way he's walking around?

All these clothes, he changes his clothes every 25 minutes. It's unbelievable. Buying everybody stuff. This guy is fantastic. We're going to see Joseph. And so the Beverly Hillbillies go rolling on their way towards their own little version in Egypt of Beverly Hills. And so the carts inexorably rumble on into Egypt, and with every turn of the wheels, the anticipation mounts.

In the same way when you make these trans-Pacific or trans-Atlantic flights to be back in the company of those from whom you have been separated by time or whatever it is: children who have gone far away, people who are in the forces, whatever it is. You know that feeling on the plane when you suddenly get across the point of no return and you know it's all down from here.

And you check your watch and you add five and take away five, and you begin to think and anticipate, "What will I say when I get off?" And you go to the bathroom for the 14th time and comb your hair, then you come back and mash it all up against the window, and then you go again. And you think of how will it be and all the time. And then through the customs. And that's exactly what was going on in Jacob's mind. How do you know, you say? Because he was a dad.

You like to see your kids? You love seeing your kids. I just watch the people in my office, listen to them talk. "Got to go! So-and-so's on the phone! Excuse me just a minute!" Why? Anticipation. And all of that is bundled up in this. And then all of a sudden, in an instant here, and you bring the camera in real close, you're tracking him, and all of a sudden Joseph appears in the horizon.

Last time he saw him, he walks off into the distance, a 17-year-old boy. Gone, gone, gone, gone, gone. Now he looks into the distance and this speck with the dust behind the wheels gets larger and larger and larger, and he sees it's not a cart, it's a chariot. And he sees the accompanying entourage, and he looks and he looks and he looks, and all of a sudden the eyes meet, the arms reach, and they're embraced in a cosmic hug.

Caught up in one another's arms. Now, interestingly, Jacob's been doing a lot of hugging in the book of Genesis. In fact, I went to check because I was so struck by this hug. I said this has got to be one of the great hugs of the Bible. As you know, of course, I'm really into hugs. And I determined that I would look. And you can go and study this yourself and make a sermon somewhere.

But in Genesis 29, Laban gives him a big hug after Jacob has been kissing Rachel. Not every dad hugs the guy who's been kissing his daughter, but anyway, he gets a major hug in 29. In 33, he gets a super hug from Esau. In 48, he's doing some major hugging later on with his grandchildren. And in 50, he dies in the embrace of his son Joseph.

But all of those cumulatively do not even come close to this here. I don't think there is any question that this is the crowning moment of the earthly pilgrimage of Jacob because over 20 years of life are squeezed into this hug. In this hug, in this happy, most unexpected surprise, past sorrows are forgotten, evil deeds are forgiven.

And he is able to express how satisfied I am. "Now," he says, "I am ready to die." In other words, there's nothing to top this. There's nowhere else to go, there's no trip to take, there's nothing to do. This is the absolute best. Does your mind flash forward to a similar scene? Isn't this like the Nunc Dimittis for those of you who come out of an Episcopalian background?

Luke chapter 2, Simeon in the temple. He takes in his arms the child and he says, "Now let your servant depart in peace, for my eyes have seen your salvation." And Jacob looks into the eyes of Joseph and he feels essentially the same way. And in realistic terms, the boy whom he takes in his embrace is in the lineage of that which would make possible the statement of Simeon in the temple in Luke chapter 2.

So he is satisfied, first, in the puzzle of his life. Are you satisfied? Am I satisfied in the puzzle of our lives? In all the changing scenes of life: our disappointments, our failures, our wanderings, our rebellions, our awareness of God's providence, the death which has come into our lives, the things that we have got no explanation for at all?

Can we look at all of that and say I am satisfied in face of those puzzles? Indeed, I'm ready to weep for the way in which I formerly shed tears in rebellion against your providence because I recognize now, Father, that you were preparing me for this day, so that I might be satisfied in the puzzle of my life and also that I might be satisfied in the prospect of my death.

"Now I am ready to die." This is the only ultimate satisfaction in life. Can I just ask you this morning, do you know this kind of satisfaction? This is not a satisfaction that materialism brings. This is not a satisfaction that is ushered in by earthly success, by fame, prominence, by having achieved certain things. This is a satisfaction which is grounded in something far deeper.

This is the satisfaction towards which the Psalmist looks when in Psalm 17 and verse 15 he says, "In righteousness I shall see your face; I will be satisfied when I awake with your likeness." John in 1 John 3:2 says, "And when we see him, we will be like him, because we will see him as he is." Why do we live in such a dissatisfied world this morning when we have so much to enjoy?

So much of freedom, so many opportunities to go and to come, to earn, to relax. Never has there been an opportunity quite like this probably in the history, at least of this nation, no matter how glowing they painted it in the past. And yet are men and women satisfied? No, they are not satisfied. I can't get no satisfaction, but I tried and I tried and I tried and I tried, looking for peace in all the wrong spots.

Hoping that if I can just get that car, buy that house, secure that job, start that business, marry that girl, fix that retirement, make that stock come up to the point that I'd hoped for, then that'll be it. I'll have it there. It's not going to happen. I was playing golf with some guys up the road here in Chagrin a few years ago. Three stockbrokers and me. Why they were all stockbrokers I don't know.

But in the course of lunch, I asked the gentleman who was my neighbor if he knew many of his clients who were contented. You would have thought I asked some very difficult mathematical question of a group of high school students because the silence was deafening. "Yes," I said, "do you have many clients who are contented?" And they each of them sat for a long time, looked at one another, and everyone answered the same: "No, I do not know a single contented client."

Are you satisfied in the puzzle of life, in the prospect of death? Jesus died to deal with that sense of disenfranchisement. Finally, he was settled. Settled in the dying moments. Chapter 47. Consider his prime site. For those of you who have been taking notes, if you've tracked with me, it went like this: stunned, he was confused by what he heard, he was convinced by what he saw. Strengthened, the attitude he revealed, the assurance he received. Satisfied in the puzzle of his life, in the prospect of his death.

And finally settled. Two things: consider his prime site and consider his pilgrim status. We're told in verse 11 and 12 of chapter 47 that Joseph settled his fathers in the best part of the land. Without the word from Pharaoh, the Egyptians might have been aggravated and jealous. They may have protested. So Joseph exercises great wisdom. He's convinced that Pharaoh will respond as he does.

That's why he gives to his brothers and his father the outline of how to approach things. And you have this wonderful picture now of them coming out of all of the famine and coming on their journey and finally reaching the place, being met by this man in the chariot. And then he says, "Now I've got a nice place for you to live. I want you to live here. It's a super place. In fact, it's the best place."

Now, there's a kind of perversity which would say that Joseph shouldn't have put his dad in the best place because you just don't do that. Baloney, you do that. For your dad, you do that. God gives us all things richly to enjoy. "Dad, I've got a really great place for you." For the last 13 years, I'm unable to buy my own father a lunch, buy him a breakfast, buy him hardly anything because we are separated by all that time.

So anytime I'm in his presence, whatever, let's do it. I mean, let's have fun. Let's do it because we've got 13 years here that we haven't been able to do these things. So let the good times roll. And so Joseph says, "Hey, Dad, for 22 years I couldn't even buy you an ice cream cone. Don't say this." And you can imagine Jacob saying, "Oh, I don't need this stuff."

He said, "I know you don't need it, but it's going to be great. Let me show you where you're going to be. Look at this, look at the view, look at the house, look at the place. Isn't this nice? You're my dad. I can't tell you how wonderful this is." Thank God for every wonderful example of those children who care for their parents. And may God forgive those of us who are stingy with our parents, who make them live in a little hovel somewhere down in Florida.

We think because the sun shines all the time that that's fine. Get them a nice place. Think of all of their sacrifices for us. Now wouldn't it be the greatest joy of life to sacrifice for them? Do you call when you say you'll call? Do you write when you say you'll write? Do you give? Do you give generously? Do you give out of your abundance or do you give abundantly? This is an expression of godliness.

The care that we take of our parents in their old age is an expression of the transforming power of God in our lives, and Joseph was delighted to put his dad in a prime site. And his dad responded to it by acknowledging his pilgrim status. He says to Pharaoh, "The years of my pilgrimage are 130. I'm a pilgrim. This is a nice place my boy has me. I like it here, but I'm not staying here."

The way in which you and I respond to our prime sites gives indication of the extent to which we understand our pilgrim status. The way in which we drive our cars, pay our mortgages, take our vacations—it all gives an indication of whether we are bound by earth or whether we are living in light of eternity. And although Jacob was not around to sing the song, he would have gladly sung the song, "This world is not my home, I'm just a-passing through."

"It's a nice place, Joseph, super. But my treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. The angels are beckoning me from heaven's open door, and hey, I can't be at home in this world anymore. Oh Lord, you know I have no friend like you. If heaven's not my home, then Lord what can I do? The angels beckon me from heaven's open door, and I can't be at home in this world anymore."

Ultimately, see, loved ones, when we cut to the crux of that—it's hard to do when we're caught up in the materialistic generation in which we live. I'm the first to admit that. I live there with you. But sometimes in a moment of wonder when we sing as we sang this morning, "I stand, I stand in awe of you." When in just a moment the light of eternity breaks into the experience of time.

Holy God, to you all praise is due, and I stand in awe of you. Suddenly in those moments, all of the perspective of time is broken into by the inrush of heaven. And they are precious moments. Gather them, grab them, put them in a bottle, hold them, remember them. Because it will not always be that way. When you're walking in the street and in your neighborhood and suddenly it's as though the divine power picks you up from underneath and lifts you up and says, "You are my own and I love you."

That is a great moment because it shows to us a little glimpse of where we're going, you see. We're not sticking around here. No, no. Why is everybody so concerned to heal everybody now? Because we've given up on heaven. Why is everybody trying to get it all politically fixed up now? Because we've given up on heaven. Why is everybody trying to make America the perfect place to live?

Because we've determined this is the only place we're going to live. But we're not going to live here. We're going to live there. We're going to live there forever. When we were kids, we used to go camping, and they took us on these treks into the hills. No toilets, no nothing. It was absolutely pathetic. Dreadful is not a good enough word to describe how I felt on those lousy journeys.

And the guy would tell us, "When you get to the top of this, it's going to be brilliant." And I was one of the more positive of the group saying, "Yeah, and it stinking better be, because this is horrible." He taught us these little songs we used to sing. In fact, I wrote about one of them in the chapter of the book and it went like this:

"A few more marchings weary, then we'll gather home. A few more storm clouds dreary, then we'll gather home. O'er time's rapid river, soon we'll rest forever. A few more marchings weary, and then we'll gather home." It will be worth it all when we see Jesus. Life's trials will seem so small when we see Christ. One look at his dear face, all sorrow will erase. So bravely run the race till we see Christ. What you have in these four scenes is the progress of a pilgrim. May we put our feet in the footprints that he's left to us.

Father, for your word which shines as a light on our path and is a lamp to our wandering feet, we thank you. Apply your word to each of our lives today to pick up the fallen, to redirect the wandering, to encourage the brokenhearted, and to rebuke the sinful. We want, Lord, in righteousness to see your face. We want to be satisfied when we awake with your likeness. And may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God our Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit rest upon and remain with each of us today and forevermore. Amen.

Bob Lepine: Are you, like Jacob and Joseph, a pilgrim living in light of eternity? You’re listening to Truth For Life with Alistair Begg. I hope you are encouraged by our current study of God’s providence in the lives of Joseph and his family. If you’ve missed any of the messages in this series, you can catch up online. All of Alistair’s teaching can be streamed for free using our mobile app or on our website at truthforlife.org.

You’ll find the series by using the search feature and keying in "The Hand of God." And if you’d like to dive deeper into how God works sovereignly and providentially in our lives, ask for the book we are recommending today. It’s a companion to the series that shares the same title, *The Hand of God*, and the book is yours for a donation at truthforlife.org/donate or you can call us at 888-588-7884.

By the way, if you were not able to take part in last year’s Deeper Faith cruise, you have another opportunity to join Alistair this year for a week of adventure combined with worship, Bible study, and Christian fellowship. The cruise departs from Amsterdam September 5th. Join believers from around the world to explore the natural beauty of Norway’s fjords and the charming coastal villages. Alistair will be preaching from God’s word along the way. Find out more about the trip when you visit deeperfaithcruise.com.

I’m Bob Lepine, thanks for joining us this week. Have you thought about how you will face death? Are you confident about what happens after you die and where you’ll go? Be sure to join us Monday as we consider these things together while it can still make a difference. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth For Life, where the learning is for living.