It's so good to see all of you.
I'm so thankful that we've got another day. I think about how
many times I've said that in the past and oh, how thankful
I am that we'd be here together. I'm gonna ask you to take your
Bibles and turn with me to the book of Genesis chapter 47. Genesis 47. I'd like to look at the first six verses. You know, there's
nothing more comforting to a believer, one who has been saved. Saved, we say the Lord has saved
us, we're being saved and we shall be saved. But there's nothing
more comforting than to know by the grace of God that we've
been made to see the weakness of our flesh, our flesh and our
spiritual weakness. That's such a blessing, because
man by nature thinks that he's able. And to be able to know
that before the foundation of the world, the Lord God that
we know and love and trust was pleased to give us in the Lord
Jesus Christ, one that will stand for us and answer for us One
who has taken upon himself the account of all of his people,
an advocate, an advocate. One who will answer, answer for
every infraction, answer for every thought that's inconsistent. Oh, how quickly. We, we, our
minds are led astray. We just, I, I need, I need one. You who know him, you know what
I'm talking about. You need one that will answer for us. One
before whom the father has looked and seen his people and has given
them an advocate, an intercessor. One to answer. That's what I want to look at
today. I need one to answer for me. Now, our scripture today in Genesis
chapter 47, our scripture sets forth in picture and type. You know, isn't it a blessing
to be able to see in these holy scriptures? When the Lord told
his disciples, He was talking, well, he was talking to some
Pharisees when he said this. He said, you search the scriptures,
and in them you think you have life. You know, you know where
certain scriptures found, you know, you can quote, but they
are they that testify of me. They speak of me. And to know
that these holy scriptures speak of the Lord Jesus Christ, This
is not, I've said before, this is not history. We're going to
be looking at an event that happened in the life of Joseph, Jacob,
his daddy, his family. But this is a picture of God's
mercy and grace to his family. So when we look at this blessed
passage today, let's realize we're talking about Our Lord,
our Savior. John said, don't you turn with
me to the book of 1 John. 1 John chapter two. 1 John two. 1 John chapter two. Look at verse
one and two. 1 John two. My little children. These things write I unto you
that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have an
advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, and he
is the propitiation. He's a satisfaction. He's a satisfaction. He's the answerer. He is the
propitiation for our sins. Not for our sins only, but for
the sins of the whole world. Now, does that mean that he has
answered when it says, people say, there, you see there? He's
answered for the sins of the whole world. Well, just turn
with me to John 17 for one sec. that scripture there in Genesis,
but I got to reading this morning when I said, but not for our
sins only, but for the sins of the whole world. Jew and Gentiles, all of God's
elect. You say, well, it says for the
whole world. Well, let's listen to what the
Lord has to say in John chapter 17. John chapter 17. Look at verse nine. I pray for them. Who is that? Those that you've given me. I
pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me,
for they are thine. You know, this is the mistake
that man by nature makes. He takes a scripture out of context
and he disregards the whole of God's Word. We got to make sure,
understand who is speaking, to whom he's speaking, what he's
saying, what he means. So here's, here's, back in Genesis
chapter 47, we're going to be looking at, at this, at the picture
of the intercessor, the advocate. It's going to be, it's going
to be concerning when, when Joseph He's going to approach Pharaoh
on behalf of his people. But it's a beautiful picture
of our Lord Jesus Christ answering for his people. He prays for
his people. Hold your place right there.
Turn with me before I go. I want to look at a scripture
in Luke. Luke 22. Luke chapter 22. Whenever the Lord is speaking
to one of his disciples, he's talking to Peter. You know, Peter
had told him, he said, Lord, the Lord told him, he said, you'll
all forsake me. Peter said, I won't. You can count on me. Others will. But I'm the one
that you can depend on. Luke chapter 22, verse 31, 32. And the Lord, verse 31, and the
Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you,
that he may sift you as wheat. Oh, but listen to this. But I've
prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted,
strengthen thy brethren. I need an intercessor. I need
one to pray for me. I need one to approach the Father
on my behalf. I need one to answer. I've prayed
for you, Peter. Satanists desire to have you
and sift your wheat, but I've prayed for you. I've prayed for
you. Believer, listen now. We're all sinners, we're all
sinners by birth, we're all sinners by practice, by choice. And therefore we need one who
is able, one who's willing to save us from our sins. And bless the Lord, God Almighty
has provided the Lord Jesus Christ to be the advocate. The answerer, as I said before,
the one that will answer before God on his own merit. Charge all of their guilt, charge
it to me. I'll answer, I'll answer. Call
his name Jesus. He shall save his people. from their sins. Well, let's
look at this passage. Let's turn, John, I mean, Genesis
47. Genesis 47. Now, remember, here is a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we're gonna see him in type,
picture, shadow, in the life of Joseph, Joseph's family. Let's look at the first six verses
of Genesis chapter 47. Joseph had told, well, I'll tell
you what I'll do before I read it. I'm getting ready to read
that. But look at verses 31, 34. Joseph told his family what
he was going to do. before he did it. He told him,
he said, this is what I'm going to do. Look at verse 41. Joseph said unto his brethren
in his father's house, I will go up and show Pharaoh and say
unto him, my brethren in my father's house, which were in the land
of Canaan, are come unto me, and the men are shepherds. For
their trade hath been to feed cattle, brought their flocks,
they brought their herds, and all that they have, and it
shall come to pass when Pharaoh shall call you and shall say
unto you, what is your occupation? You shall say, thy servant's
trade hath been about cattle from our youth even till now,
both we and also our fathers, that we may dwell in the land
of Goshen for ever shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians. Now, cattle, sheep, they were
all considered, it was all one. It wasn't that they, you're gonna
see what they're gonna say in just a minute, but it was those
that were tended to by shepherds, cows, sheep, these all were abominations
to the Egyptians. And Joseph told him, he said,
now I'm going to present you to Pharaoh. Pharaoh and all the Egyptians,
their cows, sheep tended to, or abominations to them. When
he asked you, you tell him, this is what I do. This is what I
am. So here we are, he's gonna come
before Pharaoh and he's been unassigned of God to answer for
his brethren. Now, you have to remember, now
here's Joseph. All these things we considered
about Joseph when he was hated by his brethren, lied on, sold
into bondage and all those things he went through. But the Lord
has raised him up And even though he was hated by his brethren,
raised up of God to be a prince in this world, Joseph loves his
brethren. He loves them. These are his
brethren. Now just, again, just let our
minds, by the grace of God, let us minds be mindful of the fact,
here's a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're the ones that betrayed
him. We're the ones that sold him
out. We're the ones that have acted
the traitors against the Lord Jesus Christ. And here's Joseph
now, picture of Christ. And he's gonna answer for his
brother, those that had treated him so disrespectfully. And he's
getting ready to speak on their behalf. He told them before,
what we just read, what he was gonna tell Pharaoh. He's preparing
him. He said, I'm gonna answer for you. Well, it says in verse
one, chapter 47, then Joseph came and told Pharaoh and said,
my father, my brethren, their flocks, their herds and all that
they have are come out of the land of Canaan. And behold, they're
in the land of Goshen. I read that again and I thought
to myself, looking at his family, what a marvelous
picture we have of our Lord and his love. for us. The way they had treated him,
lied on him. And here he is, being pictured
by Joseph. And this is what he says, my father, my brethren, their
flocks, he owns them. This is my family. I'm one with
them. They're one with me. And he's
talking to Pharaoh. And Pharaoh is, Pharaoh loves
Joseph. Pharaoh doesn't know, Pharaoh
doesn't know Joseph's family. Everything that Pharaoh's gonna
know about Joseph's family is gonna be what Joseph tells him.
He trusts Joseph. Can you just stop for, just muse
upon this. Everything that the Father sees
or considers of sinners like us is based upon what the Lord
Jesus Christ, who loves us, has answered for us, has paid our
debt. Everything, the association with
the Father, is our hope, and it's only in Christ. And here's
Joseph, now he said, I'm gonna talk to Pharaoh for you. Pharaoh,
trust me, he's entrusted me with all of this, all this stuff in
Egypt. Pharaoh entrusted me with it,
and I'm gonna talk to him for you. Well, I tell you what, that's
the best thing that these brothers could have, this family could
have, is for Joseph to answer for my brethren, my father, all
their flocks. They've come out of the land
of Canaan and they're in the land of Goshen. Here's the one that is trusted
by Pharaoh only for Joseph's sake. So Joseph, he's not gonna
hide anything. He's not gonna hide anything
from Pharaoh concerning his brethren. He's gonna speak on their behalf
and he's gonna bring them into the land of Goshen. The land
of Goshen, it was the best of the land. It was the best of
the land of Egypt, the most fertile of all of Egypt. And here's where
the flocks of his people. This is where his people are
gonna be, their flock gonna be the best, the most fertile of
all of it. And so hey, he's gonna come in
and it's all gonna be above board. He's not gonna try to say anything
that's gonna be less than the fullness of the truth. Oh, but
can we not see, spiritually speaking, something of the believers in
this life. Here's where we are. We're not
of this world. We're just sojourners in this
place. And we live in a world of sin. We live in a world that
is pictured by Egypt. And we have nothing but the blessing
that Almighty God will bestow upon us in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the best that Joseph could
do, the best that the one that Pharaoh loved, the best that
he could do for his family is to tell Pharaoh, I know them. I know them. I know who they
are. They're with me. You trust me,
trust me to tell you that I know these people. So we find in this
beautiful association a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ setting
forth that I know these people, they're my family. The other
day I went in to, I was in a bank, I needed to cash a check. and had the check. And the only thing
I didn't have with me, had the check, but it didn't have my
ID on me. Well, I pretty well know most
of the people there at the bank. And I don't have any problem.
I don't, you know. But I walked up and there was
a, there was a young man there that I'd never seen before. And
of the three tellers that was there, my next one that I had
to walk up to was this young man that I didn't know. He didn't
know me. And I told him, I said, I've
got this check I'd like to cash. He looked at it, looked at the
back, and he said, he said, I'm sorry.
But he said, I don't. He said, do you have ID on you?
He said, I'm sorry, I'm new here. It's my first day. And he said,
they told me if I don't know the person that I'm dealing with,
I need to see some ID. I told him, I said, I am so sorry. I said, I'm here. Glenda had
driven me. Look, I didn't have keys. I didn't have my wallet. I had
a check in my hand that she had handed me. That's all I had.
This man's telling me, he said, I don't know you. And I said,
well, he said, well, hold on just a minute. He turned to a
lady who was standing next to her, and I knew her. And he said,
he said, excuse me, he said, this gentleman's here, needs
to cash a check. And he said, he doesn't have
any ID on him, he doesn't have anything. And she looked at me
and she said, I know him. She said, yeah, you can take
his check. And the man said, that'll be fine. I'll do it.
And I thought, man, alive. And I thought, you know, I need
somebody that knows me. I need somebody that God knows
that loves me. I need an intercessor. I thought
that was just a simple thing. But you know what? If she didn't
answer for me, I think I was going to have to go outside and
tell Glenda. I said, you're going to have to go in there and cash
this check because I don't have my ID on me. Joseph came before
Pharaoh, and he told Pharaoh, he said, I know these people,
this is my family. He said, I know them, I know
their flocks, and I'm not gonna hide anything from you. And this
truth was set forth. All of Joseph's family was gonna
be accepted before Pharaoh, because Pharaoh knew Joseph, and Joseph
said unto him, It's my father. It's my father. These are my
brethren. I know them. I know them. Joseph therefore
made peace for all of his family before Pharaoh totally because
of his association. Joseph was the mediator. Joseph was the advocate because
he knew them. Pharaoh knew Joseph. Joseph said,
this is my family. Joseph, and therefore Pharaoh
said, okay, okay. And scripture says in verses
two, and I'm gonna read verses two to six. Here's what happened. It says, and he took some of
his brethren, even five men, and presented them unto Pharaoh. Now this is Joseph. Joseph takes, he took some of
his brethren, And Pharaoh said unto his brethren, what's your
occupation? And they said unto Pharaoh, thy
servants are shepherds, both we and our fathers. And they
said moreover unto Pharaoh, for to sojourn in the land, for we're
come, for thy servants, our servants have no pasture for their flocks,
for the famine is in the land of Canaan. Now therefore we pray
thee, let thy servants dwell. in the land of Goshen. And Pharaoh
spake unto Joseph, saying, Thy father, thy brethren are come
unto thee. The land of Egypt is before thee. In the best of the land, make
thy father and thy brethren to dwell in the land of Goshen.
Let them dwell, if thou knowest any men of activity among them,
and make them rulers over my cattle. And here they are. They're with Joseph. Joseph told
them, he said, now look, when you go in, you be sure and tell
Pharaoh everything true. Don't tell him anything that's
not true. So he comes in and Joseph introduces
them. This is my family right here.
This is all their cattle. Well, that first thing that verse
two says, He took some of his brethren and presented them unto
Pharaoh. Now, you gotta understand something
here. Everything that Pharaoh knows
about this family, everything he knows about this family is
involving Joseph. The only one he knows is Joseph.
Everybody else, I don't know them. And Joseph told him, he
said, now listen, when you go in, you tell him, you tell him
the truth, don't tell him. And the scripture says he took
some of his brethren. Well, there was over 70 of his
family that went in, that came in there, came into that land. The family of Jacob, There was
a bunch of them. But now here it says that when
Joseph took his family, it says he took some of his brethren,
even five, and presented them unto Pharaoh. I looked at that
passage of scripture, and I'll just admit my foolishness here,
I looked at that, he took some. Well, I know that out of the
brethren, I know as far as his brothers, I know there were 12
of them, including Joseph, I know there's 12 of them. Well, what was it about taking
just five of them? It said he took some of his brethren. And in my mind, I'm thinking,
well, Why didn't he take all of them? Why didn't he take all
of his brothers? If he didn't take the whole family,
you know, three scored, 10, if he wasn't gonna take all of them,
why didn't he take at least all of them? Why wasn't it all the
brothers there? I began to look at these words.
And I looked at that word when it says, and Joseph took some. some of his brethren. And I looked
up that word to find out what some, he took some of his brethren. And here's what the word some
meant. It means it was a condensed term
for what is included within the extremities. He just took some
of them. He took five of them. These were
gonna be the representatives. These were gonna be those that
were examples of. There's 70 something of us, of
the whole family. But he just took some of them.
He took a remnant, he took some of them. of all of, and when
I looked up that word, it's a condensed word for what is included within
the extremities. This was what it was saying.
You look at these five right here, and this is how the whole
rest of the family is right here. These are examples of just five
of them. Just five. It was a remnant of
just some of them. And I began to think. Joseph
is getting ready to set forth some characteristics of his brethren. He just took in five, just some
of them, to Pharaoh. But what he was saying is, if
you want to know what the rest of us believe, how the rest of
us are, these five right here, just some of us. You know, you
go to a church, another church where the gospel of God's grace
is preached. If we'd go to Todd's Road, or
we'd go to where Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church is, you wanna know
what they believe? Well, just go to one of those
churches where the gospel of God's grace is being preached. You don't have to go to the extreme.
I mean, the Lord's raised up churches, Sovereign Grace churches,
everywhere. Everywhere, throughout all the
land. They're scattered, they're scattered. They're here. There's
just, there's a remnant. But if you wanna know what somebody
believes that has professed Christ and they know the Lord, if you
wanna know an example of the family, the family of God, what
they believe, go to the pastor. Go to the pastor at Kingsport.
Go ask Gabe what they believe. Go ask Todd what he believes.
And I'm gonna tell you what they're gonna believe. they're gonna
all believe the same thing. Joseph brought before Pharaoh
some, some of his family. If you wanna know what the rest
of my family believes, look at these five right here. This is
just, that's all it was. It's just a remedy. He took some
of his brother, even five, and presented them unto Pharaoh. This is what you're gonna get
in this land. The scripture says in verse three,
and Pharaoh said unto his brethren, what's your occupation? Now remember,
whatever these five say, whatever these some say before Pharaoh,
Pharaoh's getting ready to let a lot of people into his lands. A lot of migrants be coming in
here. I'd kind of like to know, what
do y'all believe? What are y'all's thoughts? What's
your attitude? You're coming into a place that
I'm gonna let you have the best of the land. Who am I giving
this to? Pharaoh said, verse three, unto
his brethren, what's your occupation? And they said unto Pharaoh, thy
servants are shepherds, both we and our fathers. Joseph's
brethren confessed, what they are. Remember back in chapter
46 verse 34, all of the Egyptians looked upon these shepherds. They were an abomination to them.
All of the people of God in this world, you want to know what
the world thinks about them? They're abominations. You'll
be hated of all men for my name's sake. And so they just told Pharaoh,
Joseph told him, he said, don't try to hide anything from me.
You tell him, when he asks you, what's your occupation? You tell
him, you tell him, this is what we do. You tell him, we're hated,
we're hated. These Egyptians in this land
hated shepherds. You be honest with them. You
tell them what you are. Every believer in this world
will be honest with you. He'll tell you, we know that
for Christ's sake, we're hated of all men. Paul, the apostle,
hold your place there and turn to Romans chapter one. Romans
chapter one. Romans one, verse 15 to 17. Romans 115 says, much is in me
as I'm ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome. I'm
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it's the power of
God and salvation, everyone that believeth, to the Jew first,
also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith. It is written, the just
shall live by faith. God's people, all of them, You
just ask one. He just asked, Pharaoh just asked
some of them that was coming in. But the some that were coming
in, they were just examples. They were examples of all of
them. They're telling Pharaoh, you want to know what our whole
family believes? We know that we're an abomination. We know that we are an abomination.
We know. Every believer will be honest
with you. I know that we're hated of all men for Christ's sake.
We're shepherds. And look back in Genesis 47,
chapter 47, verse three, Pharaoh said to them, what's your occupation?
They said to Pharaoh, we're servants, we're shepherds, both we and
also our fathers. We're shepherds and all those
that came before us, they were just like us. We were We come
out of a family by the grace of God, the family of God's grace,
and all before us were hated for Christ's sake. We're all,
we come from a family of shepherds. Verse four, and they said, moreover
unto Pharaoh, for to sojourn in the land are we come, and
thy servants, we have no pasture for their flocks, for the famine
is sore in the land of Canaan. and therefore we pray thee, let
thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen. Joseph's brethren
knew that as pictures and types, they knew that we're just here,
we're sojourning here. We know this is not our home,
but is that not a picture of God's elect, God's people? This
is not our home. We're just here for a while,
that's what they told him. We realize that we're just here
for a while. We've come to sojourn. We're
just visiting. We're just visiting here. That
word right there, we're just here for a while. They stayed in Egypt just so
many years. God's people are here just so
many years. This is not our home. I serve,
we have no pasture for our flocks. The famine in this land, we're
in a land of famine right now. This is not, we don't find eternal
sustenance in where we are. We're just sojourners. Hold your
place right there and turn to Hebrews 8, and I'll try to wrap
this up. Hebrews chapter 8, verse 11. I'm sorry, Hebrews 11, if
I said eight, It's Hebrews 11, verse eight. Hebrews 11, starting in verse eight. By faith Abraham, when he was
called to go out into a place which he should after receive
for an inheritance and obeyed, and he went out not knowing whether
he went by faith He sojourned in the land of promise, as in
a strange country dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob,
heirs with him of the same promise. He looked for a city which hath
foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Through faith,
Sarah also. Sarah herself received strength
to conceive seed and was delivered. of a child when she was past
age because she judged him faithful, who had promised. Brethren, we're
like these that are pictured here back in Genesis 47. Pharaoh asked them, tell me about
yourself. What's your occupation, what
you do? We're shepherds. We're hated
of this world, we know that. And we know that we're just sojourners
here. We're just coming through this
place. We're a place that God's provided for us, kept us in the
midst of all this thing. We're being kept in this world,
which in itself is a land of famine. We know that. But thanks
be unto the Lord for his sustaining grace to keep us in the midst. And then, In verses 5 and 6,
I'll read these together, and we'll finish it up. And Pharaoh
spake unto Joseph, saying, Thy father and thy brethren are coming
to thee. The land of Egypt is before thee,
and the best of the land make thy father and thy brethren to
dwell in the land of Goshen. Let them dwell. If thou know
any men of activity among them, then make them rulers over my
cattle." What he was saying was this. I realize that you're family,
you've been honest with me. And I realize that these family
members, based upon your confession and their confession, they're
just like you. I want you to come in here and
make them, make them welcome in this place. You know the scripture,
Proverbs chapter 16, I'll read this for you. Proverbs 16. I thought about this scripture
we have read and seen, but how true. Proverbs 16, verse seven. When a man's ways please the
Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. These men, these women of Joseph's family, they were shepherds. They were honest about it. And
Joseph had told them, did you tell him? You tell him. You tell
him everything, you be honest with him? And here the scripture
says, he told Joseph, Pharaoh did, he said, your family's welcome
here, you're welcome. When the ways of a man please
the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. How
God has provided for his people. We live in this world, and I
got to thinking, believers in this world, and we all know that
we're sojourners here. We all know that we're here by
the grace of God. We all know that this world hates
the God that we serve. We know that. We know that. But
in the midst of this, even though we have enemies in this world,
our enemies, this world, this world does not love God's people.
this world and its religion. I mean, you know that. If the
world hates you, remember it hated me before it hated you.
The world hates God's people. So we've got enemies in here.
Death, hell, the grave, we've got enemies. But when a man's
ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace
with him. What does that mean? We have
peace as far as, you know, the world, we believe what they believe.
The word there is safe. But a man's ways please the Lord.
He makes even his enemies. Death, hell, the grave, the world,
he's safe. The Lord's gonna watch over his
people. He's gonna keep them. He's gonna keep them by his good
pleasure and grace. Joseph brought his family into
Egypt. He told them, he said, I'm telling
you right now, They don't love what you love. They don't believe what you believe.
Egypt, you know, but you're with me. I'll answer for you. And with me, you're safe. I pray God bless these words
to our hearts for Christ's sake.