Genesis 49:1-4 KJV And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. [2] Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father. [3] Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power: [4] Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father’s bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.
2 Corinthians 5:10 KJV For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
l. INTRODUCTION -- THE JUDGEMENT SEAT OF CHRIST
-Looming in the future of every person is an event that none will be able to escape. Every person will at some point appear before the Lord. Scripture specifically mentions that we will be judged in one of two places:
• The Judgment Seat of Christ -- 2 Corinthians 5:10 & Romans 14:10
• The White Throne Judgment -- Revelation 20:11-15
-The word judgment seat in 2 Corinthians 5:10 translates into bema. This will be the place where the lives, character, and the deeds of the saints of God will be established. What judgment is meted out, will determine where the saints will serve in the Millienial Kingdom.
-It will be at that place that our ministry, our service, and most importantly our motives will be finally and truly discovered.
• Hypocrisy and pretense will be stripped away from us.
• Every thing that is earthly and temporal will vanish and be consumed like wood, hay, and stubble by the fire of God’s testing.
• Matters that held no eternal significance will literally disappear.
-On the other hand. . .
• True godly motives will remain like pure gold.
• Righteousness that has been exalted in the lives of saints will be a heavenly treasure.
• Godliness will stand the test of the heat.
• The fruits that come from the discipline of prayer and fasting will finally be revealed.
-I have a feeling that all will be so preoccupied with what God reveals in our own lives that we will notice little about what is occurring in the lives of others. For this reason, we must allow this message help us to give up all of the impure motives and desires that monopolize and control our lives.
• Free us from self-justification.
• Deliver us from rationalizing our own failures.
• Remove any hint of self-deception.
• Pull away the veil that blinds us.
-My life of service (or performance to obedience) to God, to the family of God, and to the Church is going to make a drastic difference as to where I will end up in the Kingdom. At the point of this judgment, it will be too late to make amends and “fix” things into what they should have been all along.
A. Accountable for What?
-When we get to the judgment seat of Christ there some things that we will be held accountable for:
• Every Word We Speak
Matthew 12:36 KJV But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
• What Our Life Has Been Lived For
1 Timothy 5:24-25 KJV Some men’s sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after. [25] Likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand; and they that are otherwise cannot be hid.
• An Account of Stewardship
Luke 16:1-2 KJV And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. [2] And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward.
• Positions of Authority Will Have To Give an Account
Hebrews 13:17 KJV Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
• An Account of Witnessing
Ezekiel 3:18 KJV When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
Acts 20:26-27 KJV Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. [27] For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.
-There is also another judgment that will be coming and that one will be even more horrifying than the first. The Great White Throne Judgment in Revelation 20 will be the final judgment. Very few, if any, will be saved at this particular judgment. In fact most scholars and theologians believe that no person will go to Heaven from this judgment point.
ll. THE JUDGMENT SEAT OF JACOB
-Now backing up in time from what Paul and John have established for us in the New Testament we move to Genesis 49.
-The scene that we find here in Genesis 49 is the death bed of old Jacob. He is no longer confined to a tent in the wilderness but is now in a palatial mansion in Egypt with Joseph.
A. Jacob’s Final Words
-Jacob is 147 years old, Joseph is 56, and Benjamin is now 39. All of the brothers are now gathered around the bed awaiting the words of the old man.
-This scene is nothing more than a type for us of the Judgment Seat of Christ. Jacob’s judgment simply pre-figures the judgment that we all must endure.
-On this single day, Jacob is going to review, rebuke, or reward his sons, whichever situation applies. Now what has been planted will be harvested. As one reads through all of the sons of Jacob, he pulls away the hidden things and exposes them and then judges them. The actions in the open will be either praised or punished.
-There is a place in the Kingdom that is at stake for each of them and their lives in the past will speak for what place in the kingdom that will come.
-So now the old patriarch turns into a prophet. Imagine with me, an old man lying back on his death bed. The worries and anxieties of life have wrinkled his face. His body no longer exhibits strength in fact he looks very fragile. His color is gone and he is pale. His voice no longer booms but is tremulous and weak. Those who listen have to almost strain to hear what he has to say.
-Imagine all of these men gathered in this room standing in a hushed silence. They have known this day was coming but each of them had tried to brush away the thoughts of their father’s death. They are now probably going back to the good times that they had known when they were growing up.
-They remember Jacob teaching them how to lead sheep and to drive oxen. They can remember him teaching them how to put up those huge tents that could sleep twenty-five people. They remembered his knowledge of all of the watering spots in the wilderness and how their water levels fluctuated throughout the year. He had taught them patience in working with camels that were ill-tempered and nasty in their dispositions.
-It seemed as if it were just yesterday that all of this was happening. . . Something else kept creeping up in their minds and that was the day that they all had made their greatest mistake. . . . when they had deceived the old man into believing that Joseph was dead.
-They had watched him grieve day in and day out. They had watched a depression get a grip on his soul that lasted months on end before he finally came to grips with the fact that Joseph was forever gone out of his life.
-But just as they remembered the mistake, they also remembered the providence of God that had brought Joseph back into Jacob’s life and after that a restful and contented spirit had taken over the old man’s life. He was happy now, he was free finally from the grief that had dogged his path all of earlier years.
-The words of Jacob on that day would give way to a deep hush of awe, fear, and expectation in the heart of his sons. Let me reiterate again that this scene is mirroring the one that is before us all in the future.
B. Rueben
-All twelve of these sons are prophesied to but we shall only go into the life of Rueben for this message.
-Rueben was the first born. With the first born always comes a certain measure of blessing. However, with this blessing there is also an accompanying responsibility, an unspoken expectation.
-The first born was the one who would gain the double portion of the property. It very well could be that out of Reuben would come the Messiah.
-Jacob’s dimming eyes now look up to Rueben’s face. It is not long before Jacob’s wizened soul picks out a mixture of pride, weakness, lust, and guilt. All of these things are literally struggling for the mastery of Rueben’s soul.
-Jacob begins. . . Genesis 49:3 Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:
-With those words you can almost see Rueben rise up to full height, you can almost hear a sigh of relief come from his mouth when Jacob says these words. . . but Jacob would go on and ultimately seal his fate with what followed: Genesis 49:4 Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel;
1. An Unstable Personality
-There it is. . . . out on the table for him and all of his brothers to see. . . He is like water. . . Water will always seek it’s own level no matter how low that might be. . . and once water is spilled to the ground, it can never be gathered up again.
-Because of this instability, Jacob told him that he would never excel. There was nothing in his character that would allow him to settle in as a leader among the tribes of Israel. He simply did not have what it took:
• He lacked character.
• He lacked conviction.
• He lacked courage.
• He lacked “grit.”
-The fact of the matter is that Reuben never did excel. His tribe never rose to anything significant for Israel.
• Not one of Rueben’s tribe ever became a judge. Instability leads to insignificance.
• Not one of Rueben’s tribe ever did anything remarkable in a positive way. Instability leads to inconsistency.
• His tribe was the first to demand it’s inheritance and because of their rashness they chose the wrong side of Jordan. Instability leads to indiscretion.
• Reuben could not wait for the best (Numbers 32). Instability leads to impatience.
• Reuben’s tribe was barred from the priesthood. . . so let it come as no surprise that they were all too ready to help a disgruntled Levite whose name was Korah in his attempt to seize control. Instability leads to insurrection.
• The tribe of Rueben was the first tribe to be taken into Assyrian captivity. Instability leads to incapacitation.
-They never excelled at anything! In fact you may trace the tribe of Reuben all throughout the Bible one finds that they were indeed as “unstable as water.”
Edward Hastings -- The great business of life is not to feel finely, but to do finely; and woe be to him who puts fine feeling in the place of fine action.
i. The Mistake of “Time”
There is an old story that has been around for quite some time about a man who gained some insight into the world of the devil and his evil ploys. On the throne was the devil himself and he was addressing his horrible hordes. With a loud voice, he cried out, “Who will go to the earth and persuade men to accomplish the ruin of their souls?”
One of the sniveling spirits spoke up, “I will, sir!” “And how will you persuade them?” “I will persuade them that there is no heaven, sir!” But the devil looked at him and said, “No, that won’t work. You will never be able to force such a belief of mankind at large.” With that the devil loudly repeated his question, “Who will go to the earth and persuade men to ruin their souls?”
A second demon stepped forward, “I will, sir!” “And how will you persuade them?” “I will persuade them that there is no hell, sir!” But the devil looked at this one too, and said, “No, that won’t work either. You will never be able to persuade them of that because the voice of their conscience will rail against you. We must have something else, something which will work and appeal to all classes and ages and personalities.”
Then a dark spirit glided forward and simply said, “I will go, sir.” “And what will you tell them?” The dark spirit said, “I will tell them that they have time, sir! I will say that there is no hurry, and no reason to worry.”
He was the spirit that was chosen to go. . . . .and he is still quite at large in our world today.
-That was the problem with Rueben. Whatever pull that greatness had in his soul, he simply thought that he had time to accomplish God’s purpose. . . .
• Dreams of greatness.
• A hungering of vision.
• A desire to really make a difference.
• A hope for the future.
-But all of it was held hostage to his own lack of commitment. . . his own instability toward what really mattered in life.
-Spiritual life has it’s ebbs and flows and we must all understand that. If it were up to me:
• I would keep all the youth in a perpetual state at Youth Camp or Youth Congress.
• I would keep all the men in a perpetual state of a Men’s Retreat.
• I would keep all the women in a perpetual state of a Ladies Retreat.
• I would keep all of the ministers in a state of Because of the Times.
-The problem with that though is that life is never going to be like that. It is incredibly unreasonable to believe that! We must live for God whether we have the high tide (the emotion of the Spirit) or the low tide (the commitment of the Spirit).
1 Corinthians 4:1-2 KJV [1] Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. [2] Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
-Faithfulness and stability is required out of me every single day. It has a huge impact on my personal walk with God and on the relationships that depend on me.
2. An Unscrupulous Passion
-But just as Reuben had an unstable personality, he also had an unscrupulous passion that would prove to be a further detriment to him.
Genesis 49:4 . . . because thou wentest up to thy father’s bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.
-Because Reuben had invested himself in a wild passion years earlier. . . now it was about to come to light. Forty years prior, Reuben had taken advantage of one of his father’s concubines (Genesis 35:22).
-There had been ample amounts of time for Reuben to repent. In fact, twenty-two years in Canaan and seventeen years in Egypt had passed but Reuben chose to hide his sin.
-The longer that he chose not to repent, the easier it came for him to bear his sin. He was a little uncomfortable around Bilhah and Jacob at times. . . but he had learned to cover up his feelings and slowly silence the voice of his conscience.
i. The Problem with Self—Our Chief Foe
Once in his dream a man was haunted and thwarted by a mysterious, veiled figure. As soon as he had gained a fortune, the veiled form snatched it away from him. When he was about to enter into peace and joy, the veiled figure attacked his mind with fear and anxiety. When he was hungry and sat down to eat, the veiled figure snatched the food away from him. When he was weary and bone-tired and lay down to sleep, this enemy of his life filled his mind with thoughts which ripped away his sleep.
When he stood at the open door of a great opportunity and was about to enter, the hand of the veiled one slammed the door closed against him. When he stood at last at the marriage altar and was about to say his vows, the veiled figure burst into the chapel and loudly protested the marriage.
Enraged, the man cried out to his adversary, “Who are you?” In a move of violence, the man leaped forward and ripped the veil from the face of his tormentor and surprise turned to anguish when the face of the intruder was actually his own.
This dream sets forth such a great truth to all, that man is his own chief foe. If he is his own best friend, he is also his own worst enemy. Men make or ruin themselves. Our fault is not in dreams, visions, opportunities, but in ourselves and we are the ones. . . the only ones, who make or mar our destiny. (Adapted from Macartney’s Illustrations, Clarence Macartney, p. 324).
-Suddenly at the end of the old man’s life, this sorry act had to come out in front of all of his brothers.
• The salt had lost it’s savor.
• I did not mean for the fire to go out but the increasing association with world extinguished it.
• Commitments made and then they were not kept.
• Prayer no longer captivated.
• Spiritual hunger gave in to fleshly passions.
-Surely in that series of minutes on that day, Reuben could feel all of the entitlements of the kingdom beginning to slip away from him.
-I have a feeling that for some, the judgment seat of Christ is going to be such an event of remorse, grief, and guilt.
-We all will have to face things:
• Opportunities that were wasted.
• God-granted vision that never came to life.
• Spirit-inspired dreams that slowly went out.
• The fits and starts of prayer lives.
• The commitment to reaching the lost that never became more than just a feeling.
• The desire to know the Word that never gave into the grip of discipline.
• The hunger for spiritual gifts that always remained uncultured.
• The immature efforts at allowing the Spirit to have free and total control of my life.
-I honestly prayed this week as I put this message together that every commitment that I had ever made, the God would bring it to my memory.
-If there are any adjustments, changes, options that need to be meted out. . .I want to take care of them now. . . . while I am still at the mercy seat. . . . before I get to the judgment seat.
lll. CONCLUSION -- MY KINGDOM FOR A HORSE
William Shakespeare immortalized the Battle of Bosworth with the words, "A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!"
King Richard the Third was preparing for the fight of his life. An army led by Henry, Earl of Richmond, was marching against him. The contest would determine who would rule England.
The morning of the battle, Richard sent a groom to make sure his favorite horse was ready.
"Shoe him quickly," the groom told the blacksmith. "The king wishes to ride at the head of his troops."
"You’ll have to wait," the blacksmith answered. "I’ve shoed the king’s whole army the last few days, and now I’ve got to get more iron."
"I can’t wait," the groom shouted impatiently. "The king’s enemies are advancing right now and we must meet them on the field. Make do with what you have."
So the blacksmith bent to the task. From a bar of iron he made four horseshoes. He hammered and shaped them and fitted them to the horse’s feet. Then he began to nail them on. But after he had fastened three shoes, he found he did not have enough nails for the fourth.
"I need one or two more nails," he said, "and it will take some time to hammer them out."
"I told you I can’t wait," the groom said impatiently. "I hear the trumpets now. Can’t you just use what you’ve got?"
"I can put a shoe on, but it won’t be as secure as the others."
"Will it hold?" asked the groom. "It should," answered the blacksmith, "but I can’t be certain."
"Well, then, just nail it on," the groom cried. "And hurry, or King Richard will be angry with us both."
The armies clashed, and King Richard was in the thick of the battle. He rode up and down the field, cheering his men and fighting his foes. "Press forward! Press forward!" he yelled, urging his troops toward Henry’s lines.
Far away, at the other side of the field, he saw some of his men falling back. If the others saw them, they too might retreat. So Richard spurred his horse and galloped toward the broken line, calling on his soldiers to turn and fight.
He was barely across the field when one of the horse’s shoes flew off. The horse stumbled and fell, and King Richard was thrown to the ground. Before the King could grab the reins, the frightened animal rose and galloped away. Richard looked around him. He saw that his troops were turning and running, and Henry’s troops were closing around him. He waved his sword in the air. "A horse! A horse!" he shouted. "A horse! My kingdom for a horse!"
But there was no horse for him. His army had fallen to pieces, and his troops were busy trying to save themselves. A moment later, Henry’s soldiers were upon Richard, and the battle was over.
Philip Harrelson
August 3, 2006
barnabas14@yahoo.com
