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Jacob Before Pharaoh
Chuck Smith

Chuck Smith (1927 - 2013). American pastor and founder of the Calvary Chapel movement, born in Ventura, California. After graduating from LIFE Bible College, he was ordained by the Foursquare Church and pastored several small congregations. In 1965, he took over a struggling church in Costa Mesa, California, renaming it Calvary Chapel, which grew from 25 members to a network of over 1,700 churches worldwide. Known for his accessible, verse-by-verse Bible teaching, Smith embraced the Jesus Movement in the late 1960s, ministering to hippies and fostering contemporary Christian music and informal worship. He authored numerous books, hosted the radio program "The Word for Today," and influenced modern evangelicalism with his emphasis on grace and simplicity. Married to Kay since 1947, they had four children. Smith died of lung cancer, leaving a lasting legacy through Calvary Chapel’s global reach and emphasis on biblical teaching
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In this sermon, Pastor Chuck Smith focuses on the actions of Jacob as he is brought before Pharaoh. Joseph brings his father Jacob to Pharaoh, and Jacob blesses Pharaoh. Pastor Chuck emphasizes the significance of Jacob's blessing, highlighting the importance of recognizing God's provision and redemption in our lives. He also discusses the first mention of God as a shepherd and the first mention of redemption in the Bible, connecting them to the work of the Holy Spirit and Jesus as the redeemer. The sermon encourages listeners to experience the power of God in their lives and walk in fellowship with Him.
Sermon Transcription
Oh, let the Son of God enfold you With His Spirit and His love Let Him fill your heart and satisfy your soul Oh, let Him have the things that hold you And His Spirit like a dove Will descend upon your life and make you whole Welcome to The Word for Today Featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor Chuck Smith Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California Pastor Chuck is currently leading us on a verse-by-verse study through the entire Bible And on today's edition of The Word for Today We once again will be following the actions of Jacob As he is brought in before the Pharaoh So let's turn in our Bibles to Genesis, chapter 47, verse 7 As Pastor Chuck Smith provides us with the details Then Joseph brought in his father Jacob and he set him before the Pharaoh And Jacob blessed Pharaoh Now that's something, here's the guy who was the king of the greatest nation of the world Here comes in this old man who's just a shepherd and he blesses him Now we are told that Melchizedek blessed Abraham And surely the lesser is blessed by the greater This old shepherd that God had chosen to be the father of the race that would bring the Messiah into the world Is greater in the eyes of God than the king over the greatest empire in the world of that day And so Jacob blesses the Pharaoh Pharaoh said to Jacob, how old are you? Obviously an old man at that point And Jacob said to Pharaoh, the days of the years of my pilgrimage Notice I'm a stranger in a pilgrim here, I'm just a pilgrim The days of my pilgrimage are 130 years Few and evil have been the days of my years Notice he says there are just a few years, well yes, compared with eternity Few have been my years And evil, haven't had a good life, man I've had a lot of hardship A lot of problems, wasn't easy So Jacob is confessing, few and evil have been the years of my life But I've not attained the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage Again, seeing that life is just a pilgrimage, don't belong here, I'm passing through There's an eternity that I'm living for and looking for The person who lives for the now is a fool The wise man lives for eternity Jesus said don't lay up your treasures here on earth, they can be ripped off Lay up your treasures in heaven, the eternal treasures, the eternal kingdom And so his grandfather Abraham lived to be 175, his father lived to be 180 So I'm 130 but man that's nothing compared to my dad and my granddad, you know He went on living for another 17 years, he was 147 when he died So Jacob blessed the Pharaoh, again the second time he blesses him And he went out from before Pharaoh, so it must have been quite a meeting The old patriarch that God has chosen to bring forth the nation That will bring the Messiah into the world is meeting now the chief potentate of the world The Pharaoh of Egypt, blesses him And Joseph situated his father and his brothers and gave them possessions in the land of Egypt In the best of the land, in the land of Ramesses As Pharaoh had commanded Then Joseph provided his father and his brothers and all of the father's household With bread according to the number of their families And so Joseph apportioned them out the grain According to the number of children and all that they had Now throughout the land of Egypt, we're into the third year of the famine There was no bread, no grain for bread The famine was very severe so that all of the land of Egypt And the land of Canaan languished because of the famine And Joseph gathered up all of the money that was found in the land of Egypt In the land of Canaan for the grain which they bought And Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house So the people were spending all of their savings to purchase the grain So when the money failed in the land of Egypt, in the land of Canaan And all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said Give us bread for why should we die in your presence? We don't have any more money Joseph said, OK, give me your livestock And I will give you bread for your livestock if your money is gone So they brought their livestock to Joseph And Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses and the flocks The cattle, the herds and for the donkeys And thus he fed them with bread in exchange for all of their livestock that next year And when that year had ended they came to him the next year and they said to him We will not hide from my lord that our money is gone My lord also has our herds of livestock There's nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our lands But why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land Buy us and our land for bread And we and our land will be servants of Pharaoh Give us seed that we may live and not die That the land may not be desolate And so the next year they come back and they said, look We'll trade you our land now for bread And our own bodies Then Joseph bought all of the land of Egypt for Pharaoh For every man of the Egyptians sold his field because the famine was severe upon them So the land became Pharaoh's And as for the people he moved them into the cities From one end to the borders of Egypt to the other So they would be closer to the supplies of grain And only the land of the priest he did not buy For the priest had rations allotted to them by Pharaoh And they ate their rations which Pharaoh gave them Therefore they did not sell their lands Now these priests, the religious leaders It would appear that Joseph wanted to also charge them But the Pharaoh nixed that and they had privileges And thus they did not have to sell their lands Later on when Moses stands before the Pharaoh We find these religious leaders again withstanding Moses And we'll get to that as we move into Exodus Then Joseph said to the people, indeed I bought you and your land This day for Pharaoh, look here is seed for you and you shall sow the land And it shall come to pass in the harvest that you'll give one-fifth to Pharaoh Four-fifths shall be your own as seed for the field and for your food For those of your households and food for your little ones So they said you have saved our lives Let us find favor in the sight of my Lord and we will be Pharaoh's servants And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt to this day That Pharaoh should have one-fifth except for the land of the priest only Which did not become Pharaoh's And so there became a tax of 20% But the government takes care of you You belong to the Pharaoh now So it wasn't a bad deal You know we have so many taxes We have property taxes We have sales taxes And then we have the income taxes And if you figure out all the money that you're paying out in taxes You'll find that your tax rate is much higher than the 20% that they had to pay So they had a pretty good deal You plant your food, you get four-fifths of it All you have to do is turn in 20% to the government And so they really didn't have a bad deal going So Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt In the country of Goshen And they had their possessions there And they grew and multiplied exceedingly And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt for 17 years Meaning he was 147 then when he died When the time drew near that Israel would die He called his son Joseph and said to him Now if I have found favor in your sight Please put your hand under my thigh And deal kindly and truly with me Please do not bury me in Egypt So by faith it says Jacob when he was old Made commandments concerning his bones Don't bury these bones in Egypt Promise me, swear to me You'll not bury me here It is interesting that putting the hand under the thigh Was the most sacred kind of a vow This was the kind that Abraham Sought from Eliezer his servant Swear to me that you'll not take a wife from this land But you'll go back to the land of my fathers To get a wife for my son Putting his hand under his thigh he swore to him Now Jacob is asking the same kind of an oath from Joseph Swear to me you won't bury me here in Egypt But you'll carry me back and bury me with my fathers And he said swear to me And he swore to him So Israel bowed himself on the head of his bed And probably also on his staff Because it said he leaned upon his staff In Hebrews chapter 11 Now it came to pass after these things That Joseph was told Indeed your father is sick He's about to die So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim Now Joseph at this point was 56 years old Which means that Manasseh and Ephraim Were probably in their 20s They weren't just little kids Perhaps even as much as in their 30s As Joseph is 56 years old at this point When he brings his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh with him To meet his father And Jacob was told Look your son Joseph is coming to see you And Israel strengthened himself And sat up on his bed He's a gutsy old man You know he just musters the strength that is left Sits up on the edge of the bed Then Jacob said to Joseph God Almighty appeared to me at Luz Which was later named Bethel The house of God In the land of Canaan and he blessed me And he said to me Behold I make you fruitful and I will multiply you And I will make of you a multitude of people And I will give this land to your descendants After you as an everlasting possession That's the promise of God made to Jacob in Bethel Luz And now your two sons Ephraim and Manasseh Who were born to you in the land of Egypt Before I came to you in Egypt are mine As Reuben and Simeon they shall be mine Now these two sons Ephraim and Manasseh They're going to be mine And they will be tribes of Israel When the tribes of Israel are named These two will be named Now this is how he gave to Joseph The double portion Of the inheritance Taking the two sons And giving each of them An equal share of the inheritance That meant that a double portion came to Joseph These two sons they'll be mine So when the tribes of Israel developed Ephraim and Manasseh became tribes of Israel Now you hear constantly of the twelve tribes of Israel As we talked about symbolic numbers and the rounding off The number twelve is symbolically The number of human government There were actually thirteen tribes of Israel Because of Ephraim and Manasseh becoming tribes Out of Joseph And so the other eleven sons Plus Ephraim and Manasseh make thirteen tribes But whenever the tribes are listed There is always one omitted Not always the same one Sometimes Dan is omitted Sometimes Ephraim is omitted Sometimes and most of the time The tribe of Levi was omitted As they named the tribes When they divvied out the land Each tribe, the twelve tribes got their land The Levites didn't get any land And so they weren't named In the naming of the twelve tribes When you talk about the land of Naphtali Or Asher or whatever Levi doesn't come in But there were actually thirteen tribes Because Jacob laid claim to the two sons And Ephraim and Manasseh actually became Ephraim became one of the greatest tribes And the most powerful tribe of the northern kingdom And so here Jacob is saying Whatever sons you have from now on They can be yours But these two are mine And they will become my sons My heritage And they will be as Reuben and Simeon, the tribes Your offspring Whom you beget after them will be yours Whatever more kids you have, you can have But these are called by the name of their brothers In their inheritance Now I've tried to do that with my daughter And her two kids I've tried to say Now look, these are mine And you can have others But she doesn't see it that way I don't have the power of Jacob, I guess, over my family But as for me When I came from Patam Rachel died beside the land of Canaan on the way Now he was hoping to have other sons by Rachel He didn't So I'm going to take and adopt these two grandsons Who have come actually from Rachel through you I'm going to take these as mine Rachel died in the land of Canaan And there was but a little distance to go to Bethlehem And I buried her there on the way to Ephrath That is Bethlehem Then Israel saw Joseph's son And he said, who are these? Now he was probably not able to see And so as he's talking to him about his two sons He looks up and he sees these two men Saying, well, who are these, you know? And Joseph said to his father, they are my sons Whom God has given me in this place And he said, please bring them to me And I will bless them Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age So that he could not see So Joseph brought them near to him And he kissed them and he embraced them And Israel said to Joseph I really didn't think I would ever see your face again But in fact, God has even shown me your children Oh, how beautiful I never hoped to ever see your face again But not only have I seen your face I've even seen your children So Joseph brought them from beside his knees They had no doubt come up and knelt by their grandpa As he was sitting there on the edge of the bed And Joseph pulled them back And he himself bowed with his face to the earth Before his father The reverence for this old patriarch And Joseph took them both Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel's left hand And Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel's right hand And he brought them near him So Joseph brought them back up to Jacob But he brought Manasseh So that when Jacob would reach out to bless him His right hand would be on Manasseh Because Manasseh was the older son And the left hand would be on Ephraim Because he was the younger son But Jacob as the two sons came He crossed his hand And he put his right hand over here on Ephraim And his left hand over here on Manasseh And Joseph was upset No, no, dad, you got it wrong He said, leave me alone, son I know what I'm doing And he began to pronounce the blessings His right hand crossed over on Ephraim Then Israel stretched out his right hand Laid it on Ephraim's head, who was the younger His left hand on Manasseh's head Now, of course, Jacob was the younger son too And maybe he has a sort of a thing for the younger son Guiding his hands knowingly For Manasseh was the firstborn And he blessed Joseph and said God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked God, the eternal creator The one before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked The God who fed me Interesting, interesting All my life long to this day Here we have actually the Trinity The first God of my fathers Abraham and Isaac Is God the Father God the Holy Spirit The one who has fed me all the days of my life The word fed here is the Hebrew word ra'ah Which in Hebrew is shepherd The God who shepherded me And this is the first mention of God as a shepherd Which became a common figure for God As He relates to His people Watching over them, caring for them Keeping them, sustaining them The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want This is the first mention of God as a shepherd God the ra'ah And He is in the work of the Holy Spirit here In the ministry of taking care and providing for the people And then finally, the angel Who has redeemed me from all evil This is the first mention of redemption in the Bible And there is what they call in hermeneutics The law of first mention Go back where the thing was first mentioned in the Bible And usually it's quite significant The angel, who is the redemption? The redeeming angel is Jesus Throughout the Old Testament He was called the angel of the Lord The angel who redeemed me And so the redemption, of course, through Jesus Christ And here Jacob prophesying now And blessing Joseph, speaks of the Father God of His fathers The work of the Holy Spirit, feeding me, shepherding me Tending over me And then the work of Jesus Christ redeeming me May they bless the lads Let my name be named upon them And let the name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac And let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth And they did, they became some of the largest tribes in Israel Now when Joseph saw that his father had laid the right hand on the head of Ephraim It displeased him So he took hold of his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head and put it on Manasseh's And Joseph said to his father, not so, my father This is the firstborn, put your right hand on his head But his father refused and he said, I know what I'm doing, son, I know And he also shall become a people And he also shall be great, but truly His younger brother shall be greater than he And his descendants shall become a multitude of nations And so he was prophesying And so it came to pass, Ephraim became much greater than the tribe of Manasseh So he blessed them that day, saying, By you, Israel Will bless, saying, May God make you as Ephraim and Manasseh And thus he set Ephraim before Manasseh Then Israel said to Joseph, Behold, I am dying But God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers Moreover, I have given to you one portion above your brothers Which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow Now, this is an interesting scripture What is he referring to? He took from the Amorite these things with his sword and his bow And he gives this, a double portion to Joseph There's one scripture in John 4-5 that refers to this It doesn't really give us that much information And so that's an area that we know very little in reality So, he came to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar Near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph So, he had gained a parcel of ground near Sychar No doubt, with his sword and a bow, he took it And he gave it to Joseph, the double portion to Joseph of that land We'll return with more of our verse-by-verse study through the book of Genesis As Jacob calls his sons to gather around him And we do hope you'll make plans to join us But right now, I'd like to remind you that if you missed any part of today's message Or perhaps you'd like to order a copy for that special friend or loved one You can do so by simply contacting one of our customer service representatives And they'd be more than happy to assist you with the ordering details Simply call 1-800-272-WORD And phone orders can be taken Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. PT Once again, our toll-free number is 1-800-272-9673 And for your added convenience, you can order online, anytime When you go to TheWordForToday.org And while you're there, be sure to browse through the additional resources That include Bible studies, commentaries, CDs, DVDs, and so much more Once again, that's The Word for Today, online at TheWordForToday.org And for those of you who still prefer to write You can use our mailing address, which is The Word for Today, P.O. Box 8000, Costa Mesa, CA 92628 And be sure to include the call letters of this station with your correspondence And now, on behalf of The Word for Today We'd like to thank all of you who share in supporting this ministry With your prayers and financial support And be sure to join us again next time As Pastor Chuck Smith continues his verse-by-verse study Through the book of Genesis That's right here, on the next edition of The Word for Today And now, once again, here's Pastor Chuck Smith May the Lord be with you, bless you, give you a beautiful week As you walk in fellowship with Jesus Christ May you experience the power of God in your life Bringing you victory over sin Enabling you to walk in fellowship with our Lord In Jesus' name I have a question for you How would you like to go from Genesis to Revelation in one year Using a daily Bible devotional? And what if this devotional was written by Pastor Chuck? 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Jacob Before Pharaoh
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Chuck Smith (1927 - 2013). American pastor and founder of the Calvary Chapel movement, born in Ventura, California. After graduating from LIFE Bible College, he was ordained by the Foursquare Church and pastored several small congregations. In 1965, he took over a struggling church in Costa Mesa, California, renaming it Calvary Chapel, which grew from 25 members to a network of over 1,700 churches worldwide. Known for his accessible, verse-by-verse Bible teaching, Smith embraced the Jesus Movement in the late 1960s, ministering to hippies and fostering contemporary Christian music and informal worship. He authored numerous books, hosted the radio program "The Word for Today," and influenced modern evangelicalism with his emphasis on grace and simplicity. Married to Kay since 1947, they had four children. Smith died of lung cancer, leaving a lasting legacy through Calvary Chapel’s global reach and emphasis on biblical teaching