In this sermon, the speaker discusses the three spiritual periods in the life of Jacob, which can be applicable to many believers today. The first period is when Jacob lived somewhere else and then encountered the gospel and turned to God. The second period is characterized by Jacob's struggle to rely on himself rather than on God. The third period is when Jacob grows in grace and knowledge of Christ. The speaker then focuses on Jacob's journey to Egypt due to a famine in the land, highlighting the improvement in Jacob's faith as he takes his entire family with him. The speaker acknowledges the presence of a long genealogy in the passage but does not delve into it, emphasizing the importance of not getting bogged down in such details.

Now I read on, I will go down with thee into Egypt, and I will also surely bring thee up again. And Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes, and Jacob rose up from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, their little ones, their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh has sent to carry him. Remember now, Pharaoh had sent up these wagons. They just put Jacob in a wagon, and here they go. The thing is that Jacob had gone into that land with just a staff, leaning on his staff. He never got rid of that staff, but he's not walking anymore, nor is he running anymore. He went into that land walking, he came out running from his father-in-law Laban, and then was afraid to meet his own brother Esau. But now things are different, there's an improvement, definite improvement in this man, and I believe a man of faith. Now we're going to see that man of faith down in Egypt. As we said at the beginning of the study of Jacob, there are three periods in his life that are actually geographical locations. There was the land of Haran, that's the manifestation of the flesh. Then he's back in the land of Canaan, that's where he did all of his fighting. And now he goes down to the land of Egypt, and we see the man of faith down there. These three areas denote the three spiritual periods in the life of this man. That, I think, is true of a great many of us today. As believers, while we had that period, maybe we lived somewhere else. And then we moved and came in contact with the gospel and the Word of God, and we turned to Him. Then there was that period of that struggle, thought we could do it ourselves. And then there came the day when we did grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ. Now, God's appeared to this man, and He's now encouraged him to go down into the land of Egypt. Now, friends, we have a whole section here, and I'm sure you have taken a look at it, and probably you've thought about just cutting out the radio at this period, because there's nothing in the world in here but a bunch of names. Here's another one of those long genealogies. Now, I'm of the opinion it would be profitable, really, to go through it. But don't get frightened, I'm not. I'm not going through it. Even when we have five years to go through the Bible, we can't get bogged down even in genealogies, and they're very important. But I want you to notice something now as I move on here. I'll read, beginning at verse 5. And Jacob rose up from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father. Now, verse 6. They took their cattle, their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt. Jacob and all his seed with him. Now, he went down there for a visit, but he had to take everything. Why? There's a famine in the land. They couldn't survive if they'd stayed back in the land of Canaan. Now they go down into this land. Now notice, his sons and his sons' sons with him. His daughters and his sons' daughters. And all his seed brought he with him into Egypt. Actually, he had his children, his grandchildren, and I'm of the opinion some great-grandchildren along. And now we have here this list. His sons, his sons' sons. With him his daughters and his sons' daughters. And all his seed brought he with him into Egypt. This is very important. This is a genealogy that's leading to Jesus Christ to begin with, and it'll be followed through the Scripture. These are the names of the children of Israel which came into Egypt. Jacob and his sons. Reuben, Jacob's firstborn. The sons of Reuben. And I'm not going through that, friends. Then you have the sons of Simeon, the sons of Levi, the sons of Issachar. And you just keep going on down through there. And I'm coming down now to verse 26. You can see how I'm going through this genealogy. But I want to call attention to some very important things.