Seeking the help of God and your
prayers, the words to which I would direct your attention this morning
are found in the 45th chapter of the book of Genesis. Genesis
chapter 45 and the first part of verse 4. The book of Genesis chapter 45
and the first part of verse 4. And Joseph said unto his brethren,
Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. The book
of Genesis chapter 45 and verse 4, And Joseph said unto his brethren,
Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. Sometimes when we hear the Gospel
preached and we think of the Gospel, we sometimes in our own
minds can make it a very complicated thing. In reality, the Gospel is a very
simple thing. The Lord Jesus, when he was here
below, he often put it in very simple language. He put it in
language that even a young child could understand. When he said
things like this, he said, come unto me, all ye that labour and
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. He doesn't use long,
complicated words to explain the Gospel. He comes and he puts
it in very simple language. Now, of course, that's not to
deny that there is a depth in the Gospel that is really incomprehensible
to us. The Gospel is incomprehensible
not because it is complicated, but because our minds are not
capable of understanding it. There is a depth in it that is
beyond us. But in essence, the message of the Gospel is a very
simple message. The gospel of Jesus Christ is
a very simple gospel. And it's often put before us
in the language of this verse here. Joseph said unto his brethren,
come near to me I pray you. This short word, come, really,
it captures the very essence of that gospel. It's a gospel that's full of
this word, come near to me. And we see that message not just
here in this chapter, But as we look through the scriptures,
we see very often that this word is used when the Gospel is described. It's not just the way in which
the Lord Jesus speaks of it. Again, he said, if any man thirsts,
let him come unto me and drink. But we see it also in the Old
Testament. You might think of what we call the evangelical
prophet. The prophet Isaiah speaks a great deal of the Gospel. He
describes to us in very graphic and very striking language, the
work of the Lord Jesus Christ and his person. You look at the
language that he uses there in the first chapter of his prophecy. Come now and let us reason together,
saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool." That's the very spirit of the Gospel
that Isaiah is setting out. There in the early chapters of
his prophecy, so many hundreds of years before the Lord Jesus
Christ came into the world. And again in the 55th chapter
of that prophecy, Isaiah, or the Lord through Isaiah speaks
in this way, "'Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the
waters, And he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat. Yea, come,
buy wine and milk without money and without price. Incline your
ear and come unto me. Here and your soul shall live.
And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure
mercies of David. He speaks of the person of Christ.
He speaks of the work of Christ. And so often the word that he
uses to describe the gospel is this short word, come, come unto
me. We see this message in the prophecies
of the Old Testament, and we see it in the words of Jesus
Christ in the New Testament. But we see the same message,
don't we, in so many of the historical accounts that we have set before
us in Scripture. The Old Testament is very much
a historical book. It tells us about the creation
of the world. It tells us about that great flood that came in
Noah's day. It tells us about the lives of
Abraham, of Isaac and Jacob, all those prophets and patriarchs
and kings of the Old Testament, of Samuel, of David, of his son
Solomon, and of all those kings of Israel and of Judah. Why is
it that all these things are put down here in the Word of
God? Why has God set before us all
this history? Well, it's not just historical,
is it? It's not just so that we can
read it and say, well, that's very interesting, and then go
on and think about something else. All these accounts, they teach
us something concerning the Gospel. That's what Paul says to Timothy,
doesn't he? When he speaks of Scripture, He doesn't just say
that some scripture is profitable. He says that all scripture is
given by inspiration of God and is profitable. It's useful in
other words. It's useful for us to know these
things because these things teach us certain things concerning
the Gospel, certain things concerning Jesus Christ. What we have here
in this account What we have there in the account of Noah,
what we have in the account of David and Solomon, really these
things are pictures. They are like pictures of the
Gospel. They're almost like parables in history. We very often find the Lord Jesus
speaking in parables, doesn't he? You read through those Gospels
and very often you'll find yourself coming to this kind of expression,
the Lord Jesus will say, the Kingdom of Heaven is like The
kingdom of heaven is like unto this, or it's like unto that.
You look there in the 13th chapter of Matthew's Gospel, you have
the parable of the sower. Then you have the parable of
the tares and the wheat. He says, the kingdom of heaven
is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field. Then
another parable put he forth unto them, the kingdom of heaven
is like to a grain of mustard seed. And he says the kingdom
of heaven is like unto leaven which a woman took and hid in
three measures of meal. And he says the kingdom of heaven
is like unto treasure hid in a field. The kingdom of heaven
is like unto a merchant man seeking goodly pearls. The kingdom of
heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea. All these
things he spoke unto them in parables. Why did he have to speak so many
parables? Why couldn't he just speak one parable? Well, the
answer is that each parable is designed to show us a different
aspect of the truth. They're not designed, the parables
are not designed to show us the truth perfectly and entirely,
but they're to emphasize a different aspect of it. They enable us
to look at the truth from a different angle. And just as that's true
with the parables that Jesus spoke in the New Testament, so
it's true with all these historical accounts that we have before
us in the Old. The account of Noah is intended
to teach us something concerning the Gospel. The account of Joseph
is also intended to teach us something concerning the Gospel.
And as you go on, you could say the same of the accounts of David,
of Solomon, and of all the history of the nation of Israel. There
are many parables because there are many aspects to this truth,
but they all teach us something concerning Jesus Christ. Well,
as you take up the Bible and as you read it, is it Him that
you look for? It's very easy, isn't it, to read especially
these historical parts of scripture. You might read the details of
the law later on in Deuteronomy or in Leviticus and sometimes
we read these things and it seems difficult for us to understand
why they're there. And we wonder why is all this
detail given to us. Well, we need to pray for those
eyes to see the Lord Jesus Christ in all these things and for those
ears to hear his voice as we read these historical accounts. Well, this is a very familiar
account, isn't it? This story of Joseph, this account of Joseph.
Many of us, I expect, can remember when we were children. This is
an account that we probably would have been told, an account that
we probably would have remembered. It's a very striking story. You
remember how it goes right back to those two children, Jacob
and Esau. Esau is the firstborn and Jacob
is his younger brother. And they grow up together, but
they're very different children. Despite being twins, they're
very different. And we all know the account of
how when their father Isaac is a very old man, Jacob effectively
steals the blessing that really by right should have belonged
to Esau. He deceives his father. With his mother's help, he deceives
his father and steals the blessing that was really Esau's blessing.
And when Esau finds out what Jacob has done, he's so angry
with him that he determines to kill him and Jacob has to run
away from his home. He goes to live with his uncle
Laban, his mother's brother. And while he's there, he marries
the two daughters of Laban, Rachel and Leah. And then in process
of time, he marries their two maids also. He ends up with four
wives and many sons. And after some time, he has to
leave Laban. Laban seems to have been a very
deceitful man. He changes Jacob's wages time
and time again. And Jacob eventually leaves Laban's
house and goes back to his own country. He ends up with 12 sons. And he has a favourite son, doesn't
he? As Rachel was his favourite wife.
Joseph was Rachel's first born son, so it says in the 37th chapter,
Israel, that Jacob loved Joseph more than all his children, because
he was the son of his old age. and he made him a coat of many
colours and we all know the account of Joseph's dreams and how his
brothers come to hate him because of those dreams and because of
their jealousy and ultimately their hatred results in them
selling him into slavery. He's taken down into Egypt and
he becomes a slave unto that man Potiphar who's one of Pharaoh's
officers. He's there in prison, then he's
falsely accused and thrown into prison And there he interprets
the dreams of the chief butler and the chief baker. And it's
because of that that eventually he ends up standing before Pharaoh
and he interprets Pharaoh's dreams. And as Pharaoh sees his wisdom,
that God-given wisdom that Joseph has, so he makes him almost the
second in command over Egypt. He becomes Pharaoh's deputy. and he gathers together corn
for the famine that is going to come. Seven years of plenty
and then there would be seven years of famine. So during those
seven plenteous years Joseph builds barns and storehouses
and gathers together a great deal of corn and provision so
that when the famine comes he can sell it to those who come
looking for food. And among those who come of course
is his own eleven brothers. His brothers come to buy food.
He tests them, doesn't he, with that requirement to bring Benjamin
the second time. He wants to see what their attitude
is towards Benjamin. And so we read in that chapter
how Judah is there speaking to Joseph and beseeching him not
to punish Benjamin. Joseph says to them, if you come
again, you need to bring Benjamin with you, and they have to overcome
their father's reluctance. Jacob says, I'm not going to
send Benjamin. If he's killed like Joseph, then
I'll be killed with grief. But eventually they become so
It becomes so necessary for them to find more food that he sends
Benjamin with them. And so when it looks like Benjamin
is going to be kept in prison in Egypt by Joseph, Judah beseeches
Joseph to change his mind and to let Benjamin go. He says,
well, I'll stay here in Benjamin's place. And of course, by doing
that, he showed that really his attitude towards Benjamin was
very different to the attitude that he had showed toward Joseph.
And when Joseph sees this, he cannot refrain himself before
them. He sends all his servants out and he makes himself known
unto his brethren. He weeps aloud in the Egyptians
and the house of Pharaoh heard. And Joseph said unto his brethren,
I am Joseph. Dost my father yet live? And
it must have been a great surprise, mustn't it, for his eleven brothers. The last they had seen of him,
they had sold him to those Ishmaelites and as far as they were concerned
that was the end of Joseph. They didn't expect ever to see
him again. Perhaps they'd even convinced themselves that he'd
died and that they would never have any possibility of seeing
him again and then suddenly this great prince in Egypt that they're
standing before, this one who is their Judge, really, in the
matter of Benjamin and the stolen cup, suddenly they see that he
is not just someone far off and distant, he is their own brother.
He is that one that they had sold, that one that they had
thrown into that pit and sold to the Ishmaelites. I am Joseph,
your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. Well, as I say, it's a
very familiar account, one that we probably all know something
about. But as I say, Joseph here is
not just a historical figure, but he's what we might call a
type, a type of Christ. What do we mean when we talk
about people as a type of Christ? Well, really we just mean that
they are people who show us something that is true concerning Christ.
It's not that they're exactly like him in all the details,
but there are certain things concerning them that are also
true concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. What things are they in the case
of Joseph? Well, there are many things, aren't there, that we
might think of, but just to consider these four things. First of all,
as we already noticed, he was his father's favourite. As the son of Rachel, Isaac's
favourite wife. So this son, Joseph, was Isaac's
favourite son. Israel loved Joseph more than
all his children. And when we think of that, of
course, we see something concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. When the Lord Jesus was here
below, we very often have the Father witnessing to Him in that
kind of language, don't we? This is my beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased. This is my firstborn, my only
begotten Son. Jesus Himself says in that 17th
chapter of John, speaking to His Father, He says, Thou lovest
Me before the foundation of the world. He was with God, He was with
the Father before He descended into the world in the beginning.
We're told in the opening chapter of John's Gospel, in the beginning
was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.
And as He existed as one person in that mysterious Trinity, so
there was that love. Father, He says in the 17th chapter
of John, I will that they also whom Thou hast given Me be with
Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which Thou hast
given Me. For Thou lovest Me before the foundation of the
world, just as Joseph was the favourite son of Jacob. So there is that special love
between Father and Son in the Trinity. Thou lovest me before
the foundation of the world. Then we might think of the way
that he was hated by his brothers. You think of that relationship
that there was between Joseph and his other brothers. They
hated him, didn't they? When his brethren saw that their
father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him
and they could not speak peaceably unto him. Well, again, isn't
there something in that verse that reminds us of that experience
that Jesus Christ had when he came into the world? He came
unto his own, we're told, and his own received him not. His
own brothers, even his brothers in a natural sense, many of them
didn't believe on him. And his people, the nation of
Israel, they largely rejected him, didn't they? He came unto
his own, and his own received him not. He was despised and
rejected of men. Then in the third place you think
of the way that they treated him. He was sold, wasn't he?
He was sold to strangers. He was sold to Gentiles. those Ishmaelites who were seen
coming from Gilead on their way to Egypt. And Judah says, what
profit is it if we slay our brother and conceal his blood? Come and
let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and let not our hand be upon
him. So they drew him up out of that pit and sold him to the
Ishmaelites for 20 pieces of silver. And they brought Joseph
into Egypt. He was sold by his own people
into the hands of foreigners. And again, of course, we see
something in that that reminds us of the history of Jesus Christ
and his experience. How he was taken by his own people,
his own countrymen. He was taken by the Jews and
he was, in effect, sold into the hand of the Romans, into
the hands of the Gentiles. And it was they that crucified
him. And in the fourth place, you
think of how Joseph was ultimately exalted. Yes, he was sold as a slave and
he was a slave for a time. He was the lowest of the low,
but then he was exalted, he was uplifted and he becomes a prince
over Egypt, a man of great power, of great authority. Don't we
see something in that concerning the resurrection and ascension
and exaltation of Jesus Christ? Yes, he died. He literally died
and he literally was laid in that grave as a dead man. But
he didn't remain there, just as Joseph didn't remain in that
dungeon. He came out of the grave, he spoke to his disciples and
he ascended into heaven and is even now seated on the right
hand of the throne of God, just as Joseph was second in command
to Pharaoh. So the Lord Jesus Christ has
that position of exaltation. The Apostle Paul tells us, doesn't
he, that every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
There was that bringing down and there was that lifting up. And then in the fifth place,
and this is the final thing really, we see how Joseph makes provision
for his brothers. He recognised, didn't he, that
those things that had happened to him, it wasn't just chance,
it wasn't just fate. We read it, didn't we, in the
45th chapter. God sent me before you. God sent me before you to preserve
you a posterity in the earth and to save your lives by great
deliverance. Well, just as it was God that
arranged for Joseph to be there in that prison and to be exalted
and to be set at Pharaoh's right hand in order that he might provide
food for his brothers. So the death and the resurrection
and the ascension of Jesus Christ is also all part of God's plan. When Jesus Christ was crucified,
it was no surprise to God. It was not something that happened
unexpectedly. God appointed it. And he appointed it for one reason.
It was for the salvation of sinners. God put Joseph in that position.
God made him pass through that experience. in order that he
might be there to provide physical food for those who are hungry,
and just in the same way God has appointed that Jesus Christ
pass through all those difficult and terrible experiences that
he knew, in order that he might provide spiritual food to those
who are spiritually hungry. so that he is able to say things
like those things that we've already noticed come unto me,
all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
He spoke of himself as the living bread that came down from heaven.
He spoke of himself as the water of life. How is he able to give
that bread? How is he able to give that water?
Well, it's because of the things that he passed through, because
of that pathway that was appointed for him. just as Joseph was brought
to this place here in this chapter, where he has food to give to
his brothers. And Joseph said unto his brethren,
Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. Well, if
Joseph is a type of Christ, if Joseph is a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ, if Joseph teaches us certain things concerning
Jesus Christ, then surely The words of Joseph here in this
fourth verse, they are a picture of the Gospel. They are a picture
of the message of Jesus Christ. And we've already noticed how
similar many of the words of Jesus Christ were to these words
of Joseph. Come near to me, I pray you.
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden. Joseph here calls his brothers
to come near to him. And very often as we read through
the New Testament, we find the Lord Jesus drawing sinners to
himself. He doesn't come to drive people
away from him. He doesn't come to judge the
world. He doesn't come just to tell
people what to do and to send them away to do it. He comes
to bring sinners to himself. This was what really offended
so many of the Pharisees so much, wasn't it? You read very often
of the Lord Jesus and he draws publicans and sinners to himself
and they come and he eats with them and he speaks to them and
he spends time with them. And the Pharisees, they very
often say things like this, don't they? They say, why is your master
eating and drinking with publicans and sinners? Why did they speak
in that way? Well, it's because they had a
very high opinion of themselves, didn't they? The Pharisees thought
of themselves as the righteous people, as the special people.
They didn't think of themselves as sinners. They thought that
they were worthy of God's blessing. And so when Jesus Christ comes,
their natural thought is, well, when the Messiah comes, of course,
he'll come to us, the Pharisees, and he'll spend his time with
us, won't he? They looked down on the publicans and the sinners,
and they said, well, of course, Jesus Christ won't come for that
kind of person. He won't be interested in that
kind of person. But he'll be very interested
in us, the Pharisees. And they were very mistaken,
weren't they? And they saw that. They saw the Lord Jesus spending
his time with publicans and sinners. And this was what offended them. He comes to cause sinners. He
himself said, didn't he, I came not to call the righteous the
self-righteous, I came to cause sinners to repentant. This is the great contrast, isn't
it, between the gospel and the law. And we sang about it in
our first hymn, didn't we? The hymn writer saw something
of that contrast. And he said, run, run and work.
This is what the law says, he said. He recognised that the
law is something that just tells people to go and to do things.
Run, run and work, the law demands, but finds me neither feet nor
hands. When you read through the law
in the Old Testament, when you read those Ten Commandments,
what is the message of the law? Well, the law is very much a
message that says, do this. Do this and live. There's no message like this
message of Joseph here to his brothers under the law. The law
doesn't say come. The law doesn't say come near
to me. The law says go. Go and do this. Go and do that.
Don't do this. Don't murder. Don't steal. Don't
commit adultery. Honour your father and mother.
Keep the Sabbath day. Don't tell lies. These are all
the things that the law tells us. Really, the first and the
greatest commandment under the law is a law that affects what
we love, isn't it? When the Jews came to Jesus Christ
and they asked him what the first and the greatest commandment
was, he didn't talk about things that they would do with their
hands. He didn't talk about things that they would say. No, he says
the first and the greatest commandment is a commandment that talks about
what you love. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, with all thy soul, with all thy strength, with all thy
mind." This is the first commandment he says. The others are important,
yes, but this is the most important. He says to them, if you've not
kept this commandment, and of course none of us have kept that
commandment, none of us have loved the Lord our God in that
perfect way, in that wholehearted way. Jesus says, if you've not kept
this first and greatest commandment, what use is it to boast about
how you've kept the others? If you've not kept the most important
rule, the most important law, how can you be so pleased with
yourselves for supposedly keeping all those other parts of the
law that you think you've kept? This was where the Pharisees
went wrong. This is where they didn't understand the very essence
of the law. The most important thing is about
what we love, not about what we say or think or where we go
or what we wear or what we do. It's about what we love. The gospel says go, run, run
and work, the law commands. What's the problem with the law?
Well, Berridge puts it in very Striking language, he says, run,
run and work the law commands, yet finds me neither feet nor
hands. It tells me to do things, but it doesn't enable me to do
them. It tells me to love, but it doesn't enable me to love.
It tells me to honour God, but I can't honour him and I can't
find a way to honour him. It finds me neither feet nor
hands. But the message of the Gospel
is very different. Just as the message of Joseph to his brothers,
it wasn't, go and do this and go and do that to make up for
what you have done. No, he says, come near to me,
I pray you. What's the message of the Gospel?
Well, John Berridge says, sweeter news the Gospel brings. It bids
me fly. It bids me fly. But it doesn't
just bid me fly, it lends me wings. It enables me to do what
it commands me to do. Well, John Berridge saw something
of that contrast. Have you seen anything of that
contrast? What do you see when you look at the law? What do
you hear when you listen to the law? Do you realise something
of what John Berridge realised? It's telling you to do things
that you cannot do. It tells you to love God and
you cannot love him. It tells you to obey him and
you cannot obey him. This is what Paul discovered,
wasn't it? You read that chapter in the
Epistle to the Romans, and of course we have to remember that
Paul was one of the Pharisees once. He was one of those that
would have boasted of himself, always said, I've never committed
murder, I've never committed adultery. If you'd gone to him
and said to him, how are you getting on with the law? No doubt
he would have said, well yes, I'm doing rather well actually.
I think I've kept all the main points. But what did he find through
that experience that he had on the road outside the city of
Damascus? Suddenly he sees something about the law that he'd never
seen before. He sees that the law is spiritual. For we know
that the law is spiritual, he says. It's not just about outward
things. It's about inward things. It's
about the heart. It's about the state of the heart. It's about
what we love. It's about how we feel about God. We know that
the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin, and now
he sees things in a very different way. And he says things like this,
the good that I would, I do not, but the evil which I would not,
that I do. I find then a law that when I
would do good, evil is present with me. And he has to say, O wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
He saw something about the law. He understood that he could never
keep it. He understood that there would never be a time when he
could stand before God and say, well, I think I've done everything
that you asked. I think I'm worthy of coming
into heaven now. He realised he would never be
able to do that. I find then a law that when I
would do good, evil is present with me. Well, have you found
that same law? Have you made that same discovery?
Have you realised the same thing that Paul realised? Has the law
been your schoolmaster? That's how Paul puts it when
he writes to the Galatians. He says the law was our schoolmaster.
to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
There's a great difference between the law and the gospel. And the
gospel message is really a message, a very similar message to the
message of Joseph here in this verse. Come near to me, I pray
you. And they came near. That's the
first thing that we see about Joseph's words here in this verse. The message of the Gospel is
a message that speaks of coming. Come unto me all ye that labour
and are heavy laden. When Jesus drew sinners to himself
it wasn't so that he could tell them off and berate them for
being sinners. Oh yes, he says to them, doesn't he, from time
to time, you think of that woman taken in adultery, go now and
sin no more. He doesn't come to tolerate sin.
He doesn't come to say, don't worry about sin, it doesn't really
matter. The Gospel doesn't come to make a man careless about
sin, but it comes to speak a message of forgiveness. Come near to me, I pray you,
and they came near. This is the first thing about Joseph's words.
The Gospel message is a message that speaks of a coming. Then
you look at the language that Joseph uses in the second place,
and you see that Joseph is not careless about whether they come
or not. He doesn't just say, come near
to me if you want to. He doesn't say, you can come
closer if you want, I don't really mind. No, he says, come near
to me, I pray you. Come near to me, I pray you. He wants them to come. He wants
them to be near unto Him. He's not just issuing an invitation
in a general sense for men to take it or leave it and He doesn't
really mind whether they come or not. No, He desires them to
come. Come near to Me, I pray you. Well, you think of those words
of Jesus Christ again when He said, Come unto Me all ye that
labour and are heavy laden. Why does he invite them to him,
those labouring and heavy laden sinners? He invites them because
he wants them to come. Just as Joseph wasn't careless
about whether his brethren came or not, so the Lord Jesus, when
he speaks these gracious invitations of the Gospel, he's not just
speaking them in a way of carelessness. It's not that he says, come unto
me all ye that labour and are heavy laden if you want. It doesn't
really make any difference to me. No, he wants them to come. If any man thirsts, let him come
unto me. He calls them to come because he wants them to come. When he calls labouring and heavy
laden sinners to himself, it's because he wants them to come. You think of those that he called,
those that labour, those that were heavy laden. Isn't that
really in a spiritual sense? Don't the brothers of Joseph
give us a picture of those labouring and heavy laden sinners? You
think of what they must have felt. You think of what they
must have felt when they are on their journey home and Joseph's
servant comes after them and says, why have you stolen my
Lord's cup? And they take down their sacks.
The servant searches through the sacks, beginning at the oldest
through to the youngest. There in the last sack, in Benjamin's
sack, there the cup is found. And Judah and his brethren come
to Joseph's house. And what do they do? They fall
before him on the ground. They realise that their lives
are in his hands. He was like Pharaoh in front of them. He was a man that had authority
to put them in prison, probably even to put them to death. They're
laboring, they're heavy laden, they feel such a weight of guilt
upon themselves. And Judah no doubt realized something,
and his brothers no doubt realized something of the guilt of the
way in which they had treated Joseph. They're laboring, they're heavy
laden, They're a picture of the sinner before Christ. What was the message that they
expected? No doubt they expected a message of condemnation. They
expected to be judged. But they get something very different,
don't they? Come near to me, I pray you. He doesn't send them
away. He calls them because He wants them near. Jesus Christ
calls the laboring and heavy laden sinners to Himself because
He wants them near unto Him. We already noticed what he said
in the 17th chapter of John, Father I will, that those whom
thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold
my glory which thou hast given me. He wants them near unto him
because he loves them. Those for whom he died, those
for whom he gave his life, those who were given that laboring,
that heavy laden spirit over their sins, he calls them to
him. Doesn't that come across so often
in the parables? You think of the parable of the
shepherd with his lost sheep. There he is with his hundred
sheep in the wilderness and he counts them one day and finds
that one has been lost, one has wandered away. But he doesn't
just shrug his shoulders and say, well I've got 99 others,
it doesn't really matter. He wants that sheep back. And
he goes and he seeks it. Again you see it in the parable
of the prodigal son. When the prodigal son comes to
himself and starts to return to his father, what does he find
his father doing? His father is watching for him.
His father is not careless about whether he comes back or not.
He wants him back. He's watching out for him. And
he runs to meet him. And Joseph said unto his brethren,
come near to me, I pray you. He wants them near unto him. When Jesus Christ calls those
who are laboring and are heavy laden, when He calls those who
are thirsting, it's because He wants them near unto Him. And if you are laboring and heavy
laden under your sins, and if you are thirsting for forgiveness,
and if you are looking for that atonement that Jesus Christ came
to accomplish, He calls you. The message of the Gospel is
for those who feel their need of it. The message of the Gospel
is for those who want forgiveness. Come near to me, I pray you.
He wants them near. He calls them because He wants
them. Then in the third place, why
does He call them near to Him? Well, I already said, He doesn't
call them near in order that He might tell them off. He doesn't
call them near in order that He might punish them. No, it's a very different spirit,
isn't it? The very different thing that they experience when
they come near to him. You might think of a child in
the playground and they're misbehaving and the head teacher says, come
to me. And the child knows why they're
coming, they're going to be told off. Perhaps that's what Joseph's
brothers thought when they realized who this man was that they were
standing before. Perhaps they thought, well now he's going
to tell us how wrong we were to throw him into that pit. Now
he's going to punish us, now he's going to get his revenge.
What does he draw them near for? He draws them near in order to
bless them. He calls them to him in order to bless them, to
bless them with everything that they wanted, everything that
they needed, everything that they had come for. They had come
looking for food, he gave them food. They were troubled, weren't they?
When he first spoke to them and said, I am Joseph, his brethren
could not answer him. They were troubled. They were
trembling. They were astonished. They could hardly believe their
ears. They were troubled because they
realized what it meant. This man in whose hands their lives
were, this man on whom they depended for natural life, he was that
one that they had sold, that one that they had treated so
unkindly. And now he was the one that was
in that position to judge them, but he calls them near in order
to bless them. It reminds us, doesn't it, of
the words of the Lord Jesus there to Nicodemus when he spoke of
the reason for his coming. God sent not his son into the
world to condemn the world. That wasn't because the world
didn't deserve condemnation. The world deserved condemnation
when the Lord Jesus came. It deserves condemnation today.
We all deserve condemnation, but God sent not his Son into
the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him
might be saved. He comes with a message of salvation, not condemnation. Joseph calls his brothers near
to bless him. There they are trembling before
him. and thinking that they're going to be punished for what
they did, but they receive a blessing. They receive everything that
they needed. Don't you see that again in the
way that sinners come to the Lord Jesus Christ when he was
here? They come trembling. They come
trembling because they feel unworthy, because they realize what they
have done. But they don't receive condemnation,
they receive a blessing. Do you know that same spirit
of trembling that Joseph's brothers knew as they came to him? Do
you realise the power of this one who is revealed to us in
the Gospel, the Lord Jesus Christ? That one that we have despised
and rejected and now we stand before him and he is our only
hope. Well if there is that trembling,
if there is that heavy laden spirit, if there is that labouring,
then he calls us to him not to condemn but to bless. He calls
us to Him, not to take away, but to give. You look at how Joseph treated
his brothers. It fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck and wept.
And Benjamin wept upon his neck. Moreover, he kissed all his brethren
and wept upon them. And after that, his brethren
talked with him. Come down unto me, he says. He
gives them a place to live. He gives them food to eat. He
gives them everything that they need. This is why he calls them
near unto him, because he wants to bless them. Come near to me,
I pray you. And then fourthly, and in the
last place, you look at the effect of it. You look at the effect
of Joseph's calling. Joseph said unto his brethren,
come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. They came
near. Of course they came near. They came near because they had
to. It wasn't that they stood there weighing up the two options,
shall we come near or shall we not? And eventually they shrugged
their shoulders and said, well, I suppose we might as well. They
had to come. Joseph was their only hope. Joseph
was the only way of escape for them. They had to come. Well, it's just the same when
Jesus calls sinners to himself, they come because they have to. People talk about free will,
don't they, and they talk about sinners choosing to come. Well, when a man sees something
of his sin and sees Jesus Christ as the only saviour of sinners,
it won't be a matter of choice, it won't be a matter of decision,
it will be a matter of necessity, he'll have to come. Just as the
thirsty man will be drawn to the fountain, just as the hungry
man will be drawn to the food, So the sinner, if he sees what
he is and what he deserves and who Christ is and what Christ
has done, he'll have to come. Come near to me, I pray you,
says Joseph. And they came near. Sinners don't come to Christ
because they choose to, they come because they have to. They
feel that they have to, they feel there's nothing else to
do. They know that they don't deserve to come. You think of
what the hymn writer said when he said, nothing in my hand I
bring, simply to thy cross I cling. He came because he had to, not
because he felt that he deserved to. He comes because he has to,
because God has what he needs, just as Joseph had what his brethren
needed. Come unto me, all ye that labour
and are heavy laden, come near to me, I pray you. When you can
think of so many examples in the New Testament of those who
have come in that way, you think of a man like the Apostle Paul,
When he sees the Lord Jesus Christ there on the Damascus road, when
the Lord Jesus Christ calls him to himself, it's not that Paul chooses to
come, he has to come. Again, you think of the woman
with the issue of blood. When she heard of Jesus, what did
she do? She saw something of his power. She knew that he could
help her. And she comes because she has
to. She'd already tried the other physicians, they couldn't do
anything for her. But this man could, and so she comes. There's
much to overcome, isn't there? She has to press through the
crowd, it's not easy. It's not an easy pathway for her. There
is a simplicity to her faith, but there's so much to overcome
in the way that she comes to him. She pressed through the
crowd because she knew that it was worth it. She knew that he
could help her. Then you think of that man, blind
Bartimaeus, and he just sat by the highway side begging. And
when he heard Jesus passing by, he cries out, now son of David,
have mercy upon me. Why does he cry out like that?
Because he has to. He knows that Jesus can help him. He can't
come, he's blind, he can't see his way. So he just cries. Perhaps
you feel like that sometimes and you don't know how to come
to him. Well, be encouraged by what blind Bartimaeus experienced.
Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. And what did
they say? Be of good comfort, rise, he calleth thee. He calleth
thee. And he comes and he receives
what he wants. He came because he had to come.
And again, this is not just a once in a lifetime experience for
the Christian. There has to be a constant coming,
a constant believing, a constant calling. My sheep hear my voice,
said Jesus Christ, and I know them and they follow me. And
they don't just hear his voice once, they need it continually.
If they stop hearing, they'll stop following. It's not just once in a lifetime.
Jesus Christ doesn't just call his people to him once and then
send them off to make their own way. No, the hymn writer said,
I need thee every hour. Stay thou nearby. Temptations
lose their power when thou art nigh. And of course, finally, these
brothers of Joseph, it's obvious, isn't it, that they didn't deserve
to come. I remember reading the experience
of a minister And he said one of the most common things that
he experienced in his life was people would come to him burdened
with their sin and he'd seek to explain something to them
of the way of salvation. And then he would say, well,
do you understand it? Do you see it? And they would
say, well, I just don't feel good enough. And he said, in
effect, they had not been listening. Joseph called his brothers near
unto him, not because they deserved it, but because he would have
mercy upon them. Come near to me, I pray you,
not because they deserved it. Nobody deserves it. All those
who came to the Lord Jesus when he was here below, not one of
them deserved it. You read through the histories of saints in the
Christian church from the days of the apostles until today.
Not one of them came to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ because
they deserved it. Not one of them came to his feet
because they deserved it. They came despite what they deserved. What does the hymn writer say?
He speaks of those who say, how can I come? There are those who
hear the gospel and they're attracted to it, but they say, how can
I come? What does he say to them? He doesn't say, well, you have
to try and make yourself worthy. He doesn't say you have to make
yourself better until you're worthy of coming. How can I come? Some soul may say I'm lame and
cannot walk. My guilt and sin have stopped
my mouth, I sigh, but dare not talk. He says, come boldly to
the throne of grace, though lost and blind and lame. Yes, he says,
you are lost, you are full of guilt and sin. He says to them, come despite
all those things, come with those things, come because of those
things. Come boldly to the throne of grace, though lost and blind
and lame. Jehovah is the sinner's friend and ever was the same,
just as Joseph was here, calling his brothers to him. He was their
friend. He wanted them to be near him. Come near to me, I
pray you. And it was an effectual call,
they came near. Well, may God grant that we may
hear that same call in the gospel. that we might know our need as
these brothers of Joseph knew theirs, that we might come near
to Jesus Christ as they came near to Joseph and find him to
be all in all to us, that one who provides all our need. There will I nourish thee. There
will I nourish thee, he says. Thou shalt dwell in the land
of Goshen and thou shalt be near unto me. Thou and thy children
and thy children's children and thy flocks and thy herds, and
all that thou hast, and there will I nourish thee. For may
God grant that we might be nourished in a spiritual way by Jesus Christ. Amen. Our closing hymn this morning
is number 1044. 1044. The tune is Theodora, number
511. 1044. Water from salvation's
wells. Thirsty sinner, come and draw.
Grace in Jesus' fullness dwells, more than men or angels know. Hymn number 1044.