In the word today, we're in Genesis chapter 49
and we are beginning the final words of Jacob.
Have you ever had the opportunity to hear someone's
final words? Some of us have. We've been in those
circumstances with a loved one who is passing.
But there's people I know who have been a part
of like medical services and stuff and been at
tragedies and have... heard the final words of
somebody as they're passing. It's quite different
than our first words, right, when we're, ooh,
what's that? Okay, got distracted. When we are
babies, right, our first words are what? Those
are our first words, right? Very not intentional.
We're just learning how to use our mouth and
make noises, right? And it is the most adorable
thing you've ever seen. But when we get to the
other bookend of our life and we find ourselves
in our last moments, you know, the final words
we share are something that are altogether different.
They're very distilled, very deliberate, very
intentional, and in many ways, very sacred. Because
in those times, you realize, This is it. There's
no more tomorrow. There's no more, I'll get to
that later. I'll tell them that next time I see
them because that is the last time you're going
to see them. Genesis chapter 49 is a continuation
of the deathbed scene that we began in Genesis
chapter 48. This is where the patriarch Jacob
is dying and giving his last words. He's 147
years old at this point. He's had a very difficult
life. In fact, he told Pharaoh in Genesis chapter
47 verse 9, he said, my years have been few and
hard. You know, and few is, that's great insight
on his part because we all know that our life
compared to eternity, compared to forever, the
Bible says is but a vapor. Poof, that's your
whole life. You know, sometimes people describe
it as the dash on the headstone, right? You got
your birth date, your death date, and that dash
is every decision, every thought, every relationship,
every action, every moment of service, every
act of generosity, every failure, every, all
in that little dash. And if you've ever had a
chance to go walk through a cemetery, maybe visiting
your own loved one or not, You can walk for five
minutes and literally pass by hundreds of years
of life that you know nothing about. No detail,
no story, no name, nothing. And here, Jacob is
at the end of his poof. He's at the very edge
of death. And although he's had many years of
difficulty and stuff, it is in this moment he
kind of rises to one of his greatest, grandest
hours. Here we have the old struggler Jacob now
speaking as Israel very boldly, very prophetically,
speaking as the one in whose life God has won.
And which is what Israel boils down to, the name
that God gave him after wrestling with him, that
God wins. And so Jacob's going to be speaking
a prophecy here. It's very interesting. This
is the very first prophecy declared by a man
in Scripture. The first time a man is saying,
I am directly declaring this is what the future
holds. This is what God has shown me. And he
tells his sons, I will tell you what will happen
to you in the days to come. And these words that
we're going to start studying in this chapter,
these aren't words of vague hope. They're not
words of sentiment, right? These aren't words
where it's like, oh, you're gonna do so good,
right? These are prophetic words. It's prophetic
blessing about tribes, about histories that we
can, from our point of view, look back and verify,
and ultimately about the Savior that was to come
from his point of view. This morning, we're looking
at his words to his first four sons. It's going
to be Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah. Three
of them are disqualified and one is elevated.
And we're going to learn why those three were
disqualified and why the one was elevated. We're
going to learn how uncontrolled passions ruin
the potential that God gives us. We're going
to see how repentant sinners are lifted by grace.
And we're going to be reminded as we come together
in communion this morning how God's plan has
always centered in a coming king. the king of
kings, the lord of lords, the lion of the tribe
of Judah. And finally, we will ask, so what?
What does this mean for me today? Which is the
point of all Bible study that we learn and apply.
But first, we're going to worship God because
he is worthy. You guys agree he is worthy? Amen,
right? Is he only worthy on Sunday? Every single
day. And we get the opportunity, at least once
a week, to come out of our own individual lives,
to come together, to sit with one another, to
pray with one another, to interact with one another,
and to worship our Lord and Savior together.
Hallelujah, what a sacred moment this is. Let's
pray. Father, we love you so much, God. We're
so thankful for what you've given us, God. We
know that Lord, our entire lives are summed up
in your word as a vapor, a puff of smoke. And
yet, Lord, our lives, you know, before when we
look back in our younger years and the years
ahead of us, Lord, there seems to be so much
time and so much that has been done. Or, you
know, some of us, it's so much joy and some of
us, it's mixed with so much regret. And yet,
Lord, all of it. In the perspective that you
show us in your Bible, it's a puff of smoke.
And God, every single one of us one day will
find ourselves at the end of this puff of smoke.
And Lord, we'll be faced with the reality of
leaving this life. And God, it's in those times
we might think about what is most important,
especially when it comes to the final words we're
going to give to those that we love. And Lord,
it's those final words that so often are going
to show what really matters. Lord, whether we're
speaking blessing and joy or whether we're speaking
regret. And so, Lord, I pray today you would
speak to us as we listen to Jacob's final words,
that we would be encouraged, that we would be
challenged, that we would again be reminded,
Lord, that this life isn't as long as we think
it is. And Lord, we have a choice to use this
time to prepare for eternity or use this time
to waste on temporal pleasures that are going
to go away like a puff of smoke. So help us,
Lord, to learn from what he says to his sons,
God, as he is passing on his final wisdom to
them, his final words of encouragement or rebuke.
that, Lord, we would learn what they were intended
to learn, that we would apply into our lives
what it is we need to apply. God, that at the
end of our days, there would be no regrets. At
the end of our days, we would be able to look
into your eyes as you're about to welcome us
and just say, like Paul said, I've ran the race.
I've fought the good fight. I'm ready, Lord.
And so we love you. We worship you. We bless
you, Lord. Bless us today. It's in Jesus' name
we pray, amen. All right, Genesis chapter 49.
So what do the final words of a dying man thousands
of years ago have to do with us today? Well,
let's figure it out. Genesis chapter 49, verse
one. Then Jacob called his sons and said, gather
around and I will tell you what will happen to
you in the days to come. Come together and listen,
sons of Jacob. Listen to your father Israel.
Reuben, you were my firstborn, my strength, and
the firstfruits of my virility, excelling in
prominence, excelling in power. Turbulent as
water, you will not excel, because you got into
your father's bed and you defiled it. He got
into my bed. Now, Reuben is the firstborn son,
obviously, so he's the first one being addressed
here by Jacob on his deathbed, and he refers
to good things at first, right? His strength.
He goes, you're my progeny, you know? And as
he's saying these things, I can imagine Reuben.
kind of feeling pretty good about this, right?
Reuben knew he blew it, and yet here, as this
time comes, you know, culturally, this is where
the fathers would pronounce blessing onto their
sons. This was kind of the last will and testament,
if you will. This is where authority in the family
was passed. This is where prophecy was spoken.
And this is where even rebukes and challenges
were said. And, you know, with Reuben's past,
I could imagine he was expecting just to have
the hammer drop on him. And his dad says these
really, you know, positive things at first. And,
you know, I mean, excelling in prominence. The
idea of that is that you were a well -respected
individual. That people respected you. When it
says that he was excelling in power, that word
power means dependable, right? Or you could say
that he was known as a man of his word. is what
he is saying here about Reuben, his firstborn.
And he's going, man, you're... You were my strength.
You were the first fruits. You know, I've known
many dads over the years when their firstborn
son is born, right? It's just like, oh, my son.
We hold them up like Lion King. And because,
you know, it's like, it's a very proud thing
to have your first son to carry on the name.
And so, yeah, he's saying these positive things,
but then he shifts in these prophetic words and
he says, you're as turbulent as water and you
will not excel. That word turbulent means reckless.
That, Ruben, you give little thought to danger.
Like, you have a good reputation. People trust
you. People trust your word, right? If Ruben
says he's gonna do it, he's dependable. You can
expect him to follow through, but you're turbulent.
That word is reckless. You're reckless in your
decision -making. You don't think about the consequences
of your decisions. You don't think about what's
gonna take place. And he uses that imagery of
turbulent as water. It's like rushing floodwaters
is the picture here. Have you ever seen like
a flood coming down or the water's rushing down
a stream after a dam breaks or something? This
is the idea of Reuben's thought process in his
decision making, that you flow wherever the desire
pulls you. And those are kind of two big interesting
contrasts, right? You're a well -respected guy.
You have a good reputation. You're trustworthy,
people trust your word, but man, you don't think
before you act. You don't think of how your actions
are going to affect other people. You just kind
of do whatever you want to do in the moment.
Now, in most cases, yeah, you're doing good things,
but the thing he references here as he's pointing
out at the end of his life and all the life Jacob
has lived and all the stuff he's seen in the
life of his firstborn. He points out one particular
incident. It was 40 years earlier in Genesis
35, 22, where Reuben had slept with his father's
concubine. Now, if you remember back then, this
is when they had just gotten back to the promised
land, and his wife, Rachel, had passed, and she
had passed in childbirth, giving birth to Benjamin,
and that broke Jacob's heart. He was devastated
over that. She was the love of his life, even
though he had three other wives at the time or
another wife and two concubines. She was the
one, right? She was the one he truly loved. And
so her kids were his favorite kids. And when
she passed, he just kind of got depressed and
just kind of gave up for a time and really gave
up in many ways for the rest of his life. Reuben
had seized the opportunity there, whether it
was through purely lust, whether it was through
pride, thinking I'm the firstborn, but he saw
an opportunity to seize ownership of the family.
The culture of the time, very patriarchal. Dad
had pretty much absolute authority in the family.
As he's sad and weak in the eyes of everybody
at this time, Reuben's like, I'm gonna... seize
control. And in the culture, if you slept with
your father's wife, that act, and then if she
got pregnant, even solidified that act more that
you seized rulership, you seized authority, you
seized control of the family. And so this is
what Jacob is referencing here when he says,
man, you had a great reputation. You had You
were trusted, like your word meant something,
and yet you did this thing. You did this thing.
You let your desire lead you to try and seize
power. And instead of that, you lost everything.
You lost it all. Jacob says to him, you will
not excel. You excelled in reputation, you excelled
in power, but you will not excel. That word excel
means to be the last one standing or to be distinguished
above others. Reuben, you're the firstborn. You're
the one who is supposed to inherit the authority.
You're the one that's supposed to inherit the
power. You're the one that's supposed to be the
leader in the family. You're the one with the
good reputation. You're the one whose word is
trusted by people. And yet, because you let your
passions override logic in that moment, you tried
to take what wasn't yours. You did it the wrong
way. And because of that, you will not excel.
You will not be the first in strength. You will
not be the first in reputation. You will not
be the first in power. Nor will you be the last
one standing when all others have faded away.
History confirms this prophecy on Reuben and
the tribe that came from him because as we study
through the Old Testament, we'll come to find
out that there wasn't a single prophet. a single
king, or a single judge that ever came from the
tribe of Reuben. What Reuben went from, he went
from all of this notoriety, good reputation,
to being insignificant. Because he made these
choices or this choice that is being pointed
out here and it was so heinous in the culture
in the time that he went from this great reputation
to having no reputation. He went from being a
man whose word was trusted to being a tribe of
people who were just insignificant that God didn't
bother to raise up one person in that tribe to
come speak his word. That's a big, big deal.
The picture is the first became the last. And
that is the history of the tribe of Reuben. Reuben's
part in this story, and what we're to learn from
this, is Reuben was a man who had fantastic potential,
amazing potential, but he was ruined by uncontrolled
passion. He was ruined by reckless decision -making.
He had the first position, but because he couldn't
exercise patience or control his lust, he lost
everything. And that's something that can happen
to us, that one bad decision or a series of bad
decisions can ruin our legacy, can ruin our reputation.
could take everything that most people would
know about us and go, wow, this person has a
great reputation, and they're a man of their
word, or they're a woman of their word, and that
reckless decision -making could end up, the fruit
could be, it's gone. You're insignificant. You're
unremarkable. And that's a very difficult thing
for Reuben to have to face. I mean, look how
Jacob emphasizes it by referring to him in the
third person. Turban in his water, you will not
excel because you got into your father's bed
and defiled it. And then it's like he turns to
the rest of the brothers and he's like, he got
into my bed. Right? I'm going to refer to you
in the third person now. And these are the last
words he has for Reuben. What you did was terrible.
And it's an unfortunate thing because we struggle
with these things all the time. You know, we
endeavor as God's people to be people of good
reputation, right? We want to be people who are
trustworthy, whose word means something. We want
to be those people. That's what God wants us
to be. God wants us to go into the world and
represent him. And we all struggle with sin and
we struggle with things, but one bad decision
can destroy everything. All of it in a heartbeat.
And it's unfortunate. Because in some cases,
you have this entire life of beautiful and wonderful
things, and at the end, all anybody is going
to remember when they see that dash is that one
horrible decision you made. And that horrible
decision might reflect ill on God or His church.
You know, and for Reuben, you know, position,
it's not gained by grabbing, right? He already
had a good reputation. He already, he had what
God had given him in those regards, but he thought
he deserved something and so made these bad decisions.
In James chapter four, verse six, God says, or
James says, God resists the proud but gives grace
to the humble. Then in verse 10, he says, humble
yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt
you. Humility comes with doing the right thing
even if it hurts. Humility is, God, you're right
and I'm wrong and so I'm going to do what you
say no matter what the cost is. Humility is,
God, I am the wicked sinner you say I am. and
so I'm not gonna try and protect my reputation.
I'm not gonna try and protect anything that is
of me because I just know God that I don't deserve
anything. I'm a wicked sinner, and then what
the Bible tells us is God says, cool, then I'm
gonna do the work to raise you up. Reuben, unfortunately,
learned this the hard way, and we see it play
out in the history of his tribe. Verse five,
we move on to brothers two and three. Simeon
and Levi are brothers, Jacob says. Their knives
are vicious weapons. May I never enter their
council and may I never join their assembly.
For in their anger they kill men and on a whim
they hamstring oxen. Their anger is cursed for
it is strong and their fury for it is cruel.
I will disperse them throughout Jacob and scatter
them throughout Israel. Imagine being at that
reading of the last will and testament. Thanks,
Dad. Wow. What would you say if you were really
mad at me, right? Reuben probably was like, oh,
got hit. Turbulent as water, you're not gonna
excel. Oh, man. I can imagine Reuben right now
going, you guys got it worse. Dad just really
laid into them. And of course, we know the story
from Genesis chapter 34 that Simeon and Levi
were the ones who went in and slaughtered all
the men in Shechem. That these were guys that
used the sign of God's covenant, which was circumcision,
right? This was a sign that God gave to his people
to say, this sign represents a covenant that
I made based on my character that is one -sided,
that I am gonna save you and I am gonna redeem
you. This is a sign of redemption. This is a
sign of salvation. This is a sign sealing you
as my people. And they took that sign, used it,
told all the men of Shechem, hey, if you get
circumcised, the horrible thing you did to our
sister will be okay. And then they used that
sign as a means of deception to go in and kill
them all. And then they defended their actions
as, well, righteous anger. We did the right thing.
The problem is their anger was rooted in self
-will, not God's. What does he say there? Your
knives are vicious weapons. In your anger, you
kill men. Not in justice, not in duty. In your
anger, you kill men. And then he says, and on
a whim, you hamstring oxen. See, not only were
Simeon and Levi two guys that were driven by
rage, the picture here is that they were mean.
They were just mean people. And not only were
they mean, but it says in their fury for it is
cruel. We see this thing where it says on a whim
they would hamstring oxen. You guys get the picture
there? Walking down the road, hey, there's some
cow. Let's go slice the back of their legs so
they can't walk anymore. That's fine. They were
mean, cruel individuals. You know, there's been
many, many studies that people who are cruel
to animals Not just, you know, what kids do.
You know, like James, my grandson, when he gets
excited, he gets amped up and he wants to hit
things. And, you know, my poor dogs, right? You
know, he'll like play with them and then they'll
bark and then next thing you know, pow, elbow
drop. And I'm like, whoa, bro, chill out. I taught
him the elbow drop, so it's probably my fault.
But I'm not talking about that kind of thing,
but cruelty, right? And we all know what, you
know, cruelty is, is inflicting intense, torturous
pain, that type of thing, and finding pleasure
in it. And there's been so many studies that
find out that kids who are cruel to animals are
significantly more likely to engage in violence
against humans in their adult life. Significantly
more likely. That's who Simeon and Levi were.
Mean, cruel, hurtful. And they found pleasure
in these things is the implication. But I do
want you to notice that Jacob doesn't curse them
directly. He curses their anger. Do you see that?
Their anger is cursed, for it is strong. You
see, the curse falls on their problem. The curse
falls on their passion. The curse falls on their
issue, but the curse doesn't fall on the person.
Do you guys notice that? This distinction matters.
Their anger, way out of control. Their wrath,
unnecessarily cruel, right? They're the person
who responds to the smallest thing like Lamech
did. A kid bumped into me and I murdered him
for it. I'm so powerful. I'm the man's man. This
is the kind of idea that they were, but God doesn't
say you guys are cursed. You, Simeon and Levi,
he says your anger is cursed. Their violence.
Not that this justifies anything, but it flowed
out of what they thought was right. They thought
they were doing the right thing. They thought
that this was how the situation should be handled.
They deserve death. All the men, not just the
ones who raped their sister, but all the men
of the whole city, they all deserve to die. And
I point this out for a couple reasons because
we all need to know that anger, in and of itself,
is not sin. In fact, in Ephesians, Paul writes,
be angry and do not sin. Or to put it another
way, don't sin in and from your anger. But God
never prohibits. being angry. Anger is one of
the emotions that God gave us. Anger is one of
the responses we have to what happens around
us, but we could definitely sin in our anger.
And the reason is, is because I think most anger,
it simply flows from a wounded pride, right?
How dare you do that to me? Don't you know? That
I am the most important person in the universe
and I have to get to work on time because my
job is the most important thing and you dared
cut me off? We don't say those words, but don't
some of us act that way sometimes? We cut someone
off. Oh, sorry. Someone cuts us off. We're like,
I wish I had a rocket launcher attached to my
car. It's wounded pride. I am most important
and therefore. It destroys relationships, right?
This is what happens in the communication problems
that we all have. Someone says something that
hurts your feelings, how dare you say that to
me and now I have to defend myself and hurt you
in equal measure and then oh my gosh, I can't
believe you and right, this is how arguments
happen between friends and between couples and
in marriages and relationships. Because how dare
you speak to me that way? How dare you not understand
my point of view? How dare you not agree with
my point of view? It creates distance between
people. But responding to things this way, I
think one of the worst things of all is it can
be passed down through generations. And we see
that all the time in our world. Children that
grow up witnessing abuse often become abusers
themselves. Children who observe their dad disrespect
and abuse, whether it's physically or emotionally,
abuse their spouse or treat them just incredibly
unloving and disrespectful, they often grow up
to be men who treat their wives the same way.
But God doesn't discard those who bear his image.
He targets what is destroying them. And that's
the hope. That is the hope. You know, here's
the proof. Although both of these guys were dispersed,
he said you'll be dispersed throughout Jacob,
right? Simeon and Levi were both dispersed. What
that means is they ultimately did not inherit
any land in the promised land. But Levi, his
tribe doesn't end up in insignificance the way
Simeon's did and the way Reuben's ultimately
ends up. Simeon's tribe ends up just kind of
disappearing. They get some land, and then they
just kind of, and they get absorbed into Judah,
the tribe of Judah, and there's no more tribe
of Simeon. They're gone. No history, nothing
significant. But the Levites, later on in Exodus
chapter 32, When Israel had escaped Egypt and
they're in the wilderness and they get to Sinai,
then Moses is like, hey, I'm gonna go up there
and talk to God. And God's like, hey, Moses,
come up. I wanna give you my commandments. And
the people are down there and they're like, dang,
Moses has been gone a long time. And then some
of them are like, we've been abandoned. It was
a mistake to leave Egypt. We need to make our
own God who will get us out of this. So collect
all the gold and they made the golden calf. You
guys remember that story? And they start worshiping
the golden calf that they fashioned with their
own hands because that was the God that was going
to get them out of the problem. Well, Moses comes
back down and says, what are you guys doing?
And then he like Captain America's the Ten Commandments
tablets at him. I don't know. That's a picture
in my head sometimes. Throws the tablets down.
He's like, what are you doing, you know? Well,
in that incident, the Levites are the ones who
said, that's not right. We shouldn't worship
that. That is wrong. We're going to stand on
the Lord's side. It was their zeal, their intensity,
their stubbornness, all that made them Going
back to Levi, harsh, cruel, angry people, self
-righteous, maybe you would call it legalistic,
the ones who like to point out, you're a sinner,
you're a sinner, you can't do that, how dare
you? That zeal, that intensity that was once
destructive was then redirected towards holiness.
And they became the priestly tribe of Israel.
They became the teachers of God's law. They became
the channels of the covenant blessing. Moses
and Aaron and other faithful servants came from
the tribe of Levi. Great significance. They became
defenders of righteousness as a tribe, as a people,
as a tribal identity. And so their scattering
became a blessing. What sounded like a curse
was turned into a calling. Why? Well, one, because
the man wasn't cursed. The problem was. God cursed
the anger. The man was not abandoned. The idea
in cursing the anger is if you continue in this,
this way, bad things are going to happen. Consequences,
judgment's going to come. And that's what happened
to Simeon and his people. But that zeal, that
stuff that's a part of you, if you redirect that
towards what's right, you redirect that towards
holiness, I will do something with you. And that's
the hope for all of us. That's the hope. Whereas
we look at Reuben's part of the story and we
go, dang, one decision could ruin your legacy,
could destroy your reputation. Being ruled by
anger and a self -directed will, I'm going to
do what I think is right and I'm going to be
cruel and I'm going to be harsh, can lead to
insignificance as it did with Simeon. But if
we listen to the Lord, if we humble ourselves,
God can redeem those things. God will put his
finger on lust. He'll put his finger on anger.
He will expose pride. There are times where God
will allow sin to be cried out from the rooftops,
but he does it to redeem us. He does it to heal
us, not to erase us. God doesn't put his finger
on those things or expose those things because
he just wants to be like, aha, look at you, terrible
person, gone. He wants to redeem. But when he
puts his finger on the thing, when he exposes
the sin, when he brings it to light, the outcome
is determined by a response. Are we gonna listen?
Are we gonna obey? Are we gonna do what he says
to do no matter how hard it is? Will we follow
righteousness and goodness? Even when it hurts
people you care about. He does all of it to redeem
us. The lessons here is unchecked passion invites
judgment. Reckless living invites judgment. Being
harsh and cruel and angry in an ungodly way,
that invites judgment. But repentant sinners,
those who say, you know what, no. I'm going to
finally call what's evil, evil, and what's good
is good. And I'm going to stand against the evil.
Those are the ones that remain in the sphere
of grace. So if you hear God addressing your
anger this morning, or your self -will this morning,
your destructive patterns this morning, right?
What I want to encourage you with this is this.
Don't confuse conviction with rejection. The
Holy Spirit convicts. God puts his thumb on it.
God reveals. God brings it to light so that you
can repent. It's not rejection. It's not you're
no longer my child. It's not I don't love you
anymore. It's not that you can't be a part of
my family. You see, we'll do things in our lives
and the rod of correction or judgment will fall.
That's called consequences. But we can't ever
forget that that rod of correction is still held
by a father who wants to extend grace and mercy
and forgiveness. He may let the consequences
fall, but that doesn't mean that we're cut off
from him. And we have to remember these things.
Because if we find ourselves like Simeon and
Levi in their anger going, they need to pay and
this needs to be done and re -react just in our
own self -will and not in a godly way, be very
careful. Lest God treat you the same way. Don't
be so quick to go expose everybody's sins. If
you're not willing to have yours exposed. Now,
I'm not saying we don't deal and expose things
that need to be dealt with. But if you're overzealous
about making sure that person is held accountable
and convicted and da -da -da -da -da -da and
disqualified, and you're going to go aggressively,
just let's put aside forgiveness, grace, and
mercy. They have to pay. We need our pound of
flesh, which is what Simeon and Levi did. then
expect someone to get on a rooftop and to scream
your sins out for the whole world to see. Vengeance
is mine, says the Lord. I'm content with letting
him handle those things. Now when God says, this
is how I'm going to handle it, I want you to
do this or do that, right, you do it. You go
talk to your people. You go say, hey, I've heard
this, and they're not responding. You know, there's
biblical models that we follow, but we have to
be careful to not be like Simeon, who disappeared
into unremarkable obscurity, but to be like Levi
and say, look. We may be zealous, we may be intense,
we may be all these things, but let's be intense
for holiness. Let's be intense for righteousness.
Let's be intense for what is right. Not what
feels good, but what is right. So now we move
on to brother four. Verse eight. Judah, your
brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on
the necks of your enemies. Your father's sons
will bow down to you. Judah is a young lion,
my son. You return from the kill. He crouches.
He lies down like a lion or a lioness. Who dares
to rouse him? So, we've gotten through the first
three sons. They're disqualified. We get to Judah
now. Now, we know Judah has his own skeletons
in the closet, right? Judah was the one who suggested
selling Joseph into slavery to begin with. We
read a whole chapter. God said, let's devote
a whole chapter. to Judah's sleeping with a prostitute,
right? Talk about things being yelled from the
rooftops when they need to be yelled from the
rooftops, right? There was a reason for that
and God allowed that. And so we read about him
getting tricked by Tamar, his dead son's wife,
who was supposed to be taken care of into the
family and she was due inheritance and stuff
and Judah just kind of ignored her and so she
tricked her father -in -law and he ends up sleeping
with her and she ends up getting pregnant. Judah
has skeletons in his closet. Judah has stuff
in his background. But something has changed
because as we read the story through Genesis,
when the time came where Benjamin, the youngest
son, was facing slavery in Egypt, where Joseph,
before he had revealed himself, said, you guys
go home. I'm going to keep this one as the collateral.
He's going to serve me forever. And Judah had
come to this place. It was in Genesis chapter
44, verse 33, where he finally came to the place
and he said, All of this is because of my sin,
the decisions I've made. I'm a sinner. I'm not
justifying anymore. I'm not trying to excuse
it. I'm not trying to water down the truth. I'm
just calling it out as transparent as I can.
This is because of us, he told his brothers.
We're in this because of what we did to our brother
Joseph 20 years ago, 22 years ago. So he finally
steps up and he goes, look, we're sinners. We're
wrong. We deserve all the judgment. End of story,
period. And then what he said is, so take me
instead of Benjamin. I deserve the life of judgment.
I deserve the slavery here in Egypt. I'm the
one who deserves to pay the price because I'm
the sinner. Benjamin didn't do anything. He's
innocent. Let him go. I will take his place.
He was willing to substitute himself so that
another would go free. And this was sacrificial
love. This was a humble love. He's willing to
lay down his own life for another. He said, they're
more important than me. Their life is more important
than my life. And he did all that because of
what he came to understand. Nobody else should
have to suffer the penalty for my sin. I did
that. Oh, but it was because I was raised this
way. So what? It was sin. God made it very clear
what is and isn't sin. Do you notice? Have you
ever read the Ten Commandments? Are there any
caveats in there? Thou shalt not lie unless it's
going to get you out of trouble with your wife.
No caveats. Thou shalt not steal unless you really
need it. Thou shalt not steal shall not use the
name of the Lord in vain unless you stubbed your
toe really hard. No caveats. It's pretty cut
and dry. And yet, Judah was like, I've sinned.
Period. No excuse. Sometimes we try and justify,
right? Well, yeah, but that person's sin, what
they did is so much worse than what I've done.
They deserve to be exposed and held accountable
for the whole world to see. And that exposure,
like I said, it may be necessary in some cases,
but when we're too zealous about that, because
we're minimizing our own sin and maximizing our
own sin, we're forgetting what the word of God
says. All have sinned and fallen short of the
glory of God. The wages of sin is death. All
sin. Your lie? Equally as guilty as the murderer.
This is the hard one for me and a lot of people.
You stole a paper clip at work? You're just as
guilty as a pedophile in the context of sin before
a holy and righteous God. Sin leads to death.
Sin is what led Christ to hang on the cross and
to bleed and to die for us. And then God comes
in and he goes, guess what? I will step in your
place. I will sacrifice myself because I love
you so much. And he didn't say, but I'm only
doing this for the sins that are category three
and below. The sins category four and above,
I'm sorry, you're done. Paul was a murderer.
And God restored him and redeemed him and gave
us the New Testament. Judah had come to understand
the depth of his sin and we see in Judah's story
that humility precedes elevation. Humble yourself
and he will exalt you. And now the humble Judah,
understanding he deserves nothing because he's
a sinner, he's lifted up, right? This whole prophecy
here. He says, all of your brothers will bow
to you. They will praise you. I imagine Joseph
going, hey, I had that dream when I was a kid.
But it was me. But hey, good times, Judah. It's
pretty cool. You will be strong, victorious,
right? The very symbol of his tribe here is prophesied
that the symbol of Judah will become the lion,
majestic and dominant and unchallenged. That
is what's gonna represent Judah. Not insignificance,
not fading into obscurity, but the lion. Verse
10, he says, the scepter will not depart from
Judah or the staff from between his feet until
he whose right it is comes and the obedience
of the peoples belongs to him. So this is where
leadership and authority is given to Judah, right?
Reuben, you're the firstborn, disqualified. Simeon
and Levi, two, three, disqualified. Number four,
you are now gonna be the head of the family.
You are gonna have the rulership here. And it
wasn't because he took it. It wasn't even because
he thought he deserved it. In fact, he was ready
to go be a slave in Egypt for the rest of his
life. That Benjamin and the rest of the family
would go free. And now here, because he humbled
himself and repented of his sin, he is not just
restored to the family, he is lifted up to lead
it. Now the scepter there, this is a thing that
is symbolic of the right to rule, right? Kings
would often hold scepters, you know, and in old
days sometimes it was like if you could steal
the scepter, you had the right to rule, you know?
Somebody shows up one day and they're holding
the scepter of the king and everybody's like,
oh, I guess you're king now, right? It's like,
but it was this thing. It was a symbol of power.
It's like the crown on the king's head, right?
It was. Representing royal authority and tribal
sovereignty and the legal right to rule. And
Judah, it says, was the scepter. They were given
the scepter and it won't depart for a particular
time. And we see that even when Israel was under
Babylonian rule, Judah was still allowed to self
-govern to a degree. They were still allowed
to rule themselves. In early Roman rule, they
were allowed to maintain their tribal identity.
And they even had judicial authority, right?
They were allowed to do capital punishment within
the confines of their own legal system while
they were under Roman and Babylonian rule. And
so the scepter, right, it's seen as this visible
symbol. That the kingship belongs to this tribe.
And of course, 640 years later, King David comes
from the tribe of Judah. And ultimately, we see
it come in Jesus, the final and everlasting king
of kings. Now the staff, this was a symbol of
the exercise of rule. Like not only did you have
the authority to rule, but you also had the authority
to enforce law. Right, so one was like. The throne,
one was the courtroom. These are two aspects
of the right to govern and pass law and execute
law and enforce law. And so he says, you're gonna
have this scepter and it won't depart from Judah
or the staff from between his feet until he whose
right it is comes. Somebody is gonna come who
has the right to that scepter and the right to
that staff. Judah, you're gonna hold on to it
until that person comes. Any idea who that person
is? Jesus Christ. Other translations here say
until Shiloh comes. That word Shiloh literally
means he to whom it belongs. So what it's saying
is the right to rule, the right to enforce law
will not depart from Judah until he Whose right
it is to have those things comes. And so for
centuries, Judah maintained this tribal identity.
And even under foreign rule, as I said, they
hung on to this identity. But the time came when
Rome removed Israel's ability to enact capital
punishment. That Israel was no longer allowed
to death penalty people. And the Jewish leaders
at the time said, the scepter has departed from
Judah. And Shiloh has not come. You know what
they didn't know? When those words were spoken,
there was a little boy in Nazareth who was growing
up. They had no idea. But the prophecy held true.
Shiloh had come. Verse 11, in this prophecy to
Judah, he goes on to explain the kingdom of this
one who will come. And in the nature of this
leader, it says, He ties his donkey to a vine
and the colt of his donkey to a choice vine.
He washes his clothes in wine and his robes in
the blood of grapes. His eyes are darker than
wine and his teeth are whiter than milk. So the
idea with vines here, we know that vines produce
grapes, grapes produce wine. Wine was a common
beverage of the time, but as we know today, there
are different vintages, and there's the cheap
wine you get at Aldi, and then there's the expensive
wine you have to keep in a cellar somewhere,
right? And there's the really expensive stuff.
The idea here of tying a donkey to a vine is
saying that these grapes, especially, The choice
grapes are going to be so common that you'll
basically just tie your donkey to it as a hitching
post and the donkey can feed on the grapes and
nobody cares. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, those are
the expensive grapes. What are you doing? That's
this idea here that during his kingdom, fine
wine is going to be as common as water. used
to wash clothes, that there's going to be such
an amazing abundance and prosperity during this
future king's ruling. When he comes, it's going
to be an extravagant abundance. It's going to
be an overflowing joy. And the picture is just,
it's a prosperity that is so rich that things
we normally consider precious become common.
For example, does anybody know how much gold
is an ounce today? About $5 ,000 roughly. It's
fluctuating. That's pretty valuable, right? What
are the streets of heaven made out of? Gold.
You'll be driving through heaven one day. I don't
know if we're going to be driving to heaven.
And then you hit a pothole. And I don't know
if there's going to be potholes in heaven. But,
yeah, there's a pothole in the road and they're
going to bring gold. There you go. Potholes filled,
right? The idea. Gold, which is so valuable to
us today, it's asphalt. You know? It's road paving.
So it's gonna be this abundance, and this type
of imagery exploded in John chapter two when
Jesus was in Cana at the wedding. You remember
that? The first public miracle of Jesus. He goes
into this wedding, and in a wedding, they would
put out the good wine, right, until the people
got a little tipsy, and then they would put out
the watered -down wine because you were too tipsy
to notice it was cheap wine, right? But then
they ran out of wine at this wedding, and all
they had was water left, and then Jesus, he turns
the water into wine. And then when they serve
that wine, the people are like, oh my goodness,
host? The host of the wedding. You saved the
really, really good stuff to the very end. And
the picture of all of that is go get drunk. No,
just kidding. That's not the lesson, right? The
lesson is that when Jesus comes into the picture,
he brings what is best. What is of true value,
it's through him that abundance and prosperity
comes. And I'm not just talking about financial.
I'm just talking about in a life of peace and
blessing and joy and all of those things. It's
in Christ. Genesis 49 there in John 2 is glimmering
into fulfillment. It's a glimpse of the prosperity
to come. And then in Revelation chapter five,
John is caught up to heaven. He's having a vision
of the throne room of heaven. And he sees the
scroll with seven seals on it. And the scroll
represents the ownership of creation and earth
and heavens and universe and everything. Like
God created everything. It belonged to him. But
when mankind sinned against God, since we were
the caretakers of it all, we essentially handed
Satan the title deed. to all of creation. And
that's why Satan's been allowed to just run wild
all these years. This is why he took Jesus up
on the hill and said, hey, this is all mine.
I'll give it to you if you just worship me. So
in Revelation, when John's having this vision,
he starts crying because he's like, there's nobody
worthy. to buy back what was given over to Satan
in the fall. There's nobody worthy to purchase
back the right of all that comes with that. And
then there's an elder in verse five that says,
look, right there, the lion of the tribe of Judah,
he has conquered and he is able to open the scroll.
And then right after that, it says, I looked.
And John says, I saw one slaughtered like a lamb.
Jesus is the lion in the right to rule, in the
right to make law, to enforce law, to enact judgment
and penalty for breaking the law. He has the
right and the power and the authority to do all
of that. But simultaneously, he is the lamb who
is slain. He is the Judah who stepped forward
and said, take me instead. And then he was brutally
crucified on the cross for our sins. When it
says his eyes are darker than wine and teeth
whiter than milk, you know in ancient times we
didn't have dentists. A lot of people had nasty
teeth. Those that had white teeth that were healthy
and stuff, it was usually a sign of wealth and
prestige and all those types of things. But the
picture of the dark eyes, it's a picture of radiant
vitality and joyful abundance and restorative
strength. The idea here is that this ruler is
gonna come from Judah, who has the right to rule,
the right to make law, the right to enforce law,
and his reign is gonna be marked by the opposite
of scarcity. It's gonna be marked by abundance,
not curse. It's gonna be flourishing and full
of life. And you go, cool, why does this prophecy
matter to us today? One, because it reminds us
that God has a plan for all of history. All of
history. Do you know what all of history includes?
The history that hasn't happened yet. Right,
we look back and we go, wow, God had a plan for
everything, right? And then sometimes we forget
about tomorrow is history that God already has
a plan for. You know, our world today, we just
went and entered into war with Iran. Personally,
I'm glad that regime is being overthrown. I lament
for casualties. I lament for the innocent that
are being hurt. But people are like, oh, anytime
a bomb drops in the Middle East, it's the end
times. You know, and God knows that's going to
happen. God knew that was going to happen. We
can't look at what's happening in our world and
speculate forward and get all like worried and
freaked out that, oh, God doesn't know what's
going on. God has a plan for history. Now above
that, God's plan has centered on a person, Jesus
Christ. Do you know the answer to every problem
humanity has is Jesus Christ? If everybody just
served the Lord without selfishness and sin,
da -da -da, guess what we wouldn't have? War.
Hurt. Betrayal. But we're not there yet. Today,
the answer for the conflict and the troubles
you have in your life, in your marriage, with
the kids, at work, is Jesus, more Jesus. Know
him more, fall in love with him more, know about
him more, study his word more. This was the prophecy
here. This was the plan all the way back in the
very beginning. This prophecy tells us that character
shapes destiny for God's people, right? Judah's
a sinner, just like Simeon, Levi, and Reuben.
But what changed? What changed in Judah? Judah's
the one who finally humbled himself. Fully humbled
himself. And he got elevated. And then it also
tells us that grace can redeem failure. You know,
if you've messed up, and you're thinking, God's
done with me. He wants to erase me. That's not
true. Yes, there may be. consequences for the
actions you've done, and there may be serious
consequences, and there may be life -altering
consequences, and those consequences may hurt.
But what's more important than here is there.
And grace can redeem failure. The Bible tells
us that when God forgets our sin, it's as far
as the east as the west. Think about this. God
who created everything. God of the universe.
God who spoke light into existence has chosen
to forget your sin. Can God make a tree or a
rock so big he can't lift it? We're not going
to go down that rabbit trail. God knows all things,
but can God choose to forget some things? The
Bible tells us he did, and it's our sin. And
that's the sin of stealing the paperclip. That's
the sin of abuse and betrayal. That's the sin
of murder. That's even the sin of someone who
commits the heinous crime of doing something
against children. Every sin God forgets for the
one who finally comes to him in repentance. But
that future kingdom, that future reign, the abundance,
the vitality and all of that, it comes through
the blood of the covenant. I think when it said
he washes clothes in the blood of grapes, this
was a prophetic hint, a prophetic foreshadowing
to the cross because it tells us that sacrifice
is embedded into abundance. God gave his life
for you and me that we would have eternal life
in paradise. You want abundance of joy. You want
abundance of peace. You want abundance of just
like, I'm walking with God and there's no guilt
and all that. You want an abundance of things.
It comes through sacrifice. Now, I know God says,
I want obedience, not sacrifice. That's a different
Bible study. But for the sake of right now. is
when you say, I'm gonna lay down my reputation,
I'm gonna lay down my pride, I'm gonna lay down
my worry about my life and my family, which are
real important. I'm gonna lay all that down at
the foot of the cross. I'm gonna put it all on
the altar. That's when God does miraculous things.
From Genesis 3, 15 forward, the promise, we've
seen it narrow down from Eve. to Shem, to Abraham,
to Isaac, to Jacob, to Judah, to David, to Jesus.
This is not us having a faith that's just made
up out of nothing. You know, these things didn't,
they weren't invented in the first century by
some people who decided to make up a religion.
The Savior was promised in the very beginning
of creation. It is spoken through the creation,
and not only was he promised, the Savior came,
and the Savior died according to the scriptures,
and his name is Jesus Christ. Now, some of us
this morning are Reuben, right? We have great
potential. You have great potential, but you're
guided by unrestrained passions. You're reckless.
Some of us are Simeon, Levi. We're strong, zealous,
but self -willed. Have an anger that's simmering
just below the surface at all times, right? Bruce
Banner's secret, I'm always angry. And you're
just frustrated all the time. Some of us are
Judah. We're ashamed of our past, but we've been
changed through faith and repentance. And here's
the invitation. Bring your passions to the cross
and submit them unto the control and the guidance
of the Holy Spirit. Take lust captive. Confess
anger honestly. Stop excusing what God calls
sin. Bow before the sovereignty of God. Your
circumstances are not accidents. They're opportunities
to respond to the Lord. The golden calf incident
was an opportunity for the Levites to redeem
their heritage. And the opportunity is will you
turn away from the lion and the lamb or will
you turn towards him? Judah's blessing came after
repentance. So does ours. Now, the end of Jacob's
life here, he was seeing dimly. But we see it
very clearly, right? We see that the lion has
come. We see that the lamb has been slain. We
see that the scepter and staff belong to him.
And one day, every knee will bow. The Bible tells
us that. The only question is when. Now, for
some of you in this room today or watching online,
the question is simply this. Are you going to
bow now? In repentance? In worship? Are you going
to take the opportunity to bow before the Lord
as we're about to come to the communion table
remembering his death on the cross and the sacrifice
for us? Or are you going to wait until later
when he forces you to bow? Because you're going
to bow either way. He is God Almighty. Now we
come to the table this morning in repentance
and joy, right? We come to this moment in communion
remembering the abundant life that was promised,
remembering the blood that was shed to secure
our joy and our peace. We have to remember that
uncontrolled passion ruins joy. But repentance
restores because the lion reigns. Now Jesus is
coming back. And he's not just coming back for
the sons of Jacob. He's coming back for all who
have responded to the invitation. To be a citizen
of that kingdom. To be a child of God. And if
you don't know Jesus Christ as your personal
God, your personal Lord and Savior this morning,
I would be remiss to not give you an opportunity
to respond to him right now. To know him right
now. To come to that saving relationship with
him. And we do that through confession. We do
that through repentance. We acknowledge the truth
that we are sinners, that we have broken his
law, that he is holy, that we are not. And when
we stand before him, a holy and righteous God,
that when we stand before him, we are guilty,
deserving of judgment. And yet we acknowledge
the truth that Jesus Christ, who is God in the
flesh, came to die in our place, to came to pay
our price. And when we put our faith in that
atoning sacrifice, when we accept that that paid
our price, that it was enough to redeem us, we're
set free from our sin nature. We're set free
from our controlled passions. We're set free
from our destructive anger. Now we could still
give into it, and that's the problem we have
here on earth, and that's the walk of obedience,
right? But when you yield to the lordship of
Jesus Christ, you receive the free gift of salvation.
You receive the sure hope of eternal life and
the promise of heaven. A place where there is
no more sin and there is no more pain and there
is no more sorrow. There's just perfect love
and perfect joy. You can have that now. Access
to that now. the hope of all those things now,
a changed life now. All you have to do is pray.
Let's all remember together this morning here
as we come to the table of the Lord, the fulfilled
promise, the fulfilled prophetic word of salvation
through Jesus Christ, the payment made on our
behalf that we would all have the hope of eternity
in paradise without sin. We remember this morning
Jesus Christ, the King of Kings. the Lord of
Lords, our High Priest, our Deliverer, the Lion
of the tribe of Judah, and the Lamb who was slain
for us. Let's pray. Father, we trust You in all
things and we thank You, God, for who You are.
Lord, we acknowledge You this morning in knowing
that we're nothing without You. Lord, that with
you, as your word says, we are sons of God, spotless
without sin. And yet, Lord, we have this life
here on earth where we have both of our natures
with us and one pulling at us into temptation
and one that pulls us towards you in obedience.
And God, in your sovereignty, seeing all things
and knowing all things, Lord, you give us the
opportunity every moment of every day. To choose
what is good and what is right or to choose what
is wrong. God, saved or unsaved, we face those
choices every day in this brief life we have.
But God, for those who are saved and who have
put their faith in you, the promise of a covenant
has been applied to them. That they are saved
through faith in the blood of Jesus Christ who
hung on the cross for them. And that now moving
forward, it's not a question of salvation. It's
not a question of eternity in heaven. It's a
question of consequence and blessing here and
now. And even an effect on heaven, Lord. And
that's another study as well, God. But Lord,
for those who don't know you this morning, the
question is, heaven or hell? The question is,
is when they reach the end of this life and their
vapor, their puff of smoke comes to an end, will
they enter into heaven forgiven? experiencing
a love that is just beyond comprehension or where
they enter into the judgment, the righteous judgment,
because you have the right to rule, the right
to enforce, and the right to enact punishment,
Lord, so it will be a perfectly righteous judgment
against their sin, against their breaking your
law. So, Lord, I pray right now if there's any
in this room that don't know you as Lord and
Savior and they know they need to. Just right
now as we're praying, Lord, that they would repeat
after me and say, Lord, I recognize that I'm
a sinner. I acknowledge I've broken your law.
I do deserve punishment. I do deserve judgment.
But Lord, I put my faith in you. I believe in
the prophecy that you would come. I believe that
you did. I believe in you, Jesus Christ. I believe
that you died in my place. I believe that you
rose again. And I believe that my faith in you
forgives me of all the wrong I've ever done and
ever will do. Help me to live for you, Lord.
Help me to lead a life where I have no regrets.
Lord, help me to lead a life that honors you.
Help me to walk in obedience. But Lord, right
now, help me to remember the penalty, the cost
of my salvation, Lord. We thank you. I thank
you, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen. Don't ever forget
what God's done for you. Don't ever forget what
he's extended to you. Don't ever forget what
he planned to do before you were even alive.
Walk in righteousness through the power of the
Holy Spirit. Ask him to help you and empower
you to do good and to do right. And then walk
in faith and walk in grace and mercy when you
mess up. But with that, God bless you guys. I
pray the Lord would richly bless you. I pray
the Lord would show redemption in your life.
That God would provide restoration through your
life, that relationships would be restored, that
sins would be forgiven, that God would be glorified.
Amen? God bless you guys.