Hebrews 2, and I pray the Lord
will give you attentive hearts, hearing ears, attentive hearts. This is a wonderful gospel story,
and it may be my last message of the day. But I don't want you to hear
it because it's my last message. I want you to hear it because
it's good news. Hebrews chapter 2. These verses
sum up this whole story. Hebrews 2. Look at verse 9 through,
well, to 12. Hebrews 2. We see Jesus who was
made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death,
like Joseph, crowned with glory. We're going to see Him, aren't
we, on the throne. That by the grace of God, He takes death
for every son. It became Him, for whom are all things and by
whom are all things, and bringing many sons unto glory. We just read that, didn't we? To make the captain of their
salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth
and they who are sanctified are all of one, God, for which All
of this, the cause of Christ, He's not ashamed to call them
brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren in
the midst of the church while I sing praise unto thee. And
again, I'll put my trust in Him. And again, behold, I and the
children which God hath given me. That's what we just read
about Joseph. Go over to Hebrews 11. Here's
another. verse that sums up this story
of Joseph, why it was written. It says, ìHe was not ashamed
to call us brethren.î Now, verse 16, ìNow they desire a better country
that is in heaven, wherefore God is not ashamed to be called
their God, for He hath prepared for them a city.î Goshen. Now go back to our text. And
Jude also said he's able to keep us from falling and to present
us faultless before his presence. Back to Genesis 47. Now the story
of Joseph presenting his brethren to Pharaoh I hope you saw that while we
were reading it, that this is the gospel story of Christ presenting
His brethren unto God the Father. That's why this was written,
this whole story. Now, let me remind us who these
fellows are. You see, the gospel really doesn't
mean anything to us unless we're unworthy sinners. And they remind
you who these sons of Jacob were. They had despised and rejected
their brother Joseph. And such were some of you, all
of us, toward Christ. But now, by God's mercy and grace,
all these brethren are brokenhearted, repentant, believing brethren. And so are we. They were once
rebels. They said, ìWeíre not going to
bow to you.î But now theyíre glad he reigns and rules. Theyíre
sure glad that their brother reigns and rules because heís
merciful. Heís a merciful and faithful
high priest. Heís not like them. Theyíre so
glad he reigns and rules. And so are we. And theyíve come
to Joseph. They came to Joseph and they
bowed. They kept bowing and they kept
asking forgiveness. And Joseph spoke peace to them
personally. He spoke peace to them. He comforted
them. And he said, I'm going to present
you to Pharaoh. And he made all sorts of promises
to them. Say, I'm going to bring you all
the way to Pharaoh. You're going to dwell in the best land in
all of Egypt. I promise you. He made exceeding
great and precious promises to all these sons of Jacob that
had come to Him, bowing to Him and asking for forgiveness. He
made exceeding great and precious promises. And since Joseph is
Lord over all Egypt, the promises of Joseph through Pharaoh are, And amen. They will come true. And that's crap. That's crap. And these, let me remind you
of this too, that these are the sons of Jacob. This is Israel. The sons of Jacob. He's the God of Jacob. God of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. There's no mention of any Egyptians
here, is there? These are the sons of Jacob.
These are the elect. These are the chosen. These are those who
are Jacob's seed. All of Jacob's seed is coming.
They're all going to dwell in the Lamb. I'm the God of Jacob,
he said. Happy to see that, the God of
Jacob. What's your name? What's your name? Jacob. Are
you a son of Jacob? Are you just like him? Good. I've got good news for you. All
the promises of God are for you. All the promises. And I keep
stressing this. I keep stressing, you know, who
they are, and the elect, and Jacob's seed, and what they are,
sinners, and all of this because God gets the glory for this.
Because those who love His glory love to hear these same things.
Because the world is not saying this. And because someone hasn't
heard this. And I dare not ever stand up
without telling sinners how they're saved. Saved by grace through
faith. And that's not of yourselves.
It's a gift of God. Saved by blood. Saved by a Redeemer. Saved by the Lord Jesus Christ.
We don't save ourselves. These sons were passive in all
of this. They were saved by Joseph going
to Pharaoh for them. Alright, now look at chapter
45, go back there briefly, chapter 45. Now we read, no we didn't
read it, but let me quote it to you, in Hebrews 2, both he,
yes we did, we read it, both he that sanctified, and that's
Christ, listen to it, listen to God's Word, both he that sanctified,
that's Christ, who set apart, set apart by him, And they that
are sanctified, that's us, sons of Jacob, are all of one, God
the Father, one God, one Father. You see, it was the Father who
chose us and gave us to Christ to come down here and do what
He did. Isn't that what Joseph kept telling
his brethren? It wasn't you. It was God that
sent man. For the great love wherewith
He loved us, even when we were dead in sin, sent Christ to die
for us. Sent Christ. We read that. He
became the captain of our salvation. We see why He suffered. Like the sons of Jacob, they
saw that Joseph had suffered according to the will of God,
and now he's on the right hand of the majesty on high. And because He did what He did,
He's been given a name above every name, that at the name
of, not Joseph, but Jesus, every knee bow and every tongue confess
that He's Lord. And everyone that does, the good
of the land is yours. All that come to God by Him.
So they're all of one, they're all of God. Look at chapter 45,
verse 16. It says, "...the fame thereof
was heard in Pharaoh's house, saying, Joseph's brethren are
come." And it pleased Pharaoh well. Pharaoh was pleased that Joseph's
brethren were coming. And what does the Scripture say
that pleased God? It pleased God to make you His
people. It pleased God to bruise His
Son. It was in God's pleasure and
will to send Joseph to Egypt for those unworthy brethren of
his. And it was God's pleasure to,
in saving you, to bruise his son on Calvary's tree. And since
he did that, who is he that condemneth? Christ should die. And God that
justifieth. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Have you noticed that after they
confessed, no mention is ever brought up again of what they
did to Joseph? Except by them. They remember. Please God to
make you His people. And Pharaoh, verse 17, said to
Joseph, say unto thy brethren, Pharaoh said to Joseph, you tell
your brethren, to lay your beasts, go, get to the land of Canaan,
take your father, your household, come unto me, I'll give you the
good of the land. You tell your brethren, Joseph,
to come unto me, and I'll give unto them the good of the land."
God, who at sundry times in divers manners spake unto the fathers
by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by how? His Son. And what God the Father
said for Christ to tell us, you tell them to come unto me. And
I'll give him rest. Remember that in Isaiah 55? What
God says, the Son says, come unto me, all you that labor,
come unto me, hope, everyone, come, my wine and milk, without
money. It's all free to the family.
And he commanded, he gave the command, verse 19, you're commanded
to do this. He told Joseph, you're commanded
to do this. Pharaoh, for the pleasure of
bringing his brethren, he said, I'm giving you a command. You
go get them and you bring them to me. Christ said in John 14,
as the Father gave me commandment, so do I. And we read in one of
the stories our Lord's high priestly prayer in John 17, didn't we?
And it read just like something Joseph would have said. as thou
hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given me." He said, I've glorified
thee on the earth. I've finished the work you gave
me to do. Remember, Joseph did what Pharaoh, he did the work
in Egypt. He's saving people alive by his
wisdom. And he said, I've manifested
thy name unto the men you gave me. Thine they were. You gave
them to me and they've kept your word. Oh, what a picture this
is of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, they're coming before Pharaoh. And you and I just can't enter into how powerful a man
Pharaoh was. There's never been anybody in
our lifetimes like this man Pharaoh. A true despot. a true sovereign,
the most powerful man on the face of the earth. He reigned
and ruled over the then known world. And whatever he said,
he could do. If he didn't like you, He could
kill you. But if He did, He could give
you anything. Everything. Pharaoh. They're
coming before a great and powerful, almighty, humanly speaking, King. You think they're scared? Well,
they better be. Alright? Look over here real
quickly in chapter 46. Here's what Joseph said unto
his brethren, verse 31. I'm going up. Verse 31, Joseph
said to his brethren under his father's house, I will go up. I'm going up first. I'm going
up, up. I'm going to ascend to the throne
of Pharaoh for you. And I'm going to show him. And
we're going to talk. And I'm going to say unto him,
my brethren and my Father's house are coming to me. And here's what I'm going to
tell him. The men are shepherds. That's what they've always been.
And they've brought their flocks and all they have. They're coming
to you themselves and with all they have, they're coming to
you. They came to me, and I come to you on their behalf." He's
interceding, you see. They thought he was dead. Oh,
no, no. He's living. And he's ever living to make
intercession for these brethren. And he comes to Pharaoh and he
says, now these brethren of mine, they're just shepherds. And that's
what their fathers were. And it comes to pass when Pharaoh
asks you, when he calls you, and says unto you, asks you,
what is your occupation? This is what you'll say. Don't
hide it. Tell him what you are. Thy servant's trade hath been
about cattle. From our youth even until now,
cattle and shepherds are the same thing. Sheep and cattle,
they called sheep cattle sometime, cattle sheep. Okay, it's the
same thing. Shepherd or cattleman back then,
there's no difference. And he said, now you tell him
what you are. Tell him both we and our fathers,
this is where I came from, this is my dad, my dad's dad. If you tell him this, you're
going to dwell in the land of Goshen, even though. He's telling
him, though every shepherd is an abomination under the Egyptians. It doesn't matter. You better tell him, because
I'm telling him what you are. And then he asks you. Don't deny
it. You tell him. So, he said, he'll
accept you. And they may say, but if we're
an abomination to him... Do you reckon any of them asked
him that? Brother Joseph. Lord! They didn't
call him Joseph, did they? Lord, but if we're an abomination
to Pharaoh, how's he going to accept us? Joseph probably smiled. Brethren,
you'll be with me. And He accepts me. You'll be
accepted in the Beloved. He loves me. And whatever I say
goes. He always hears me. Isn't that
what our Lord said? I thank You, Father, that You've
heard me. I know You always hear me. But for their sake, I pray
these things. Accept them. Accept them. Oh,
he's able to save, Hebrews 7 says, verse 25, he's able to save to
the uttermost, the guttermost. Joseph's going to present Simeon,
Levi, Dinah, Judah, He's going to present them all. They're
all going to be presented to Pharaoh by one man. And they're
all going to be accepted. It doesn't matter if they're
the chief of sinners. They're all going to be accepted
in one way. Did God write this story or what?
Isabella one time, I fixed her a little milkshake. She was about
4 years old. We were standing there drinking
it and I looked down at her and she was licking her lips. She
said, Is that good or what? Or what? Is this good or what? Oh my. The whole line of children. Look at chapter 47. Now here
it is. Joseph came and told Pharaoh. He said, My father, and my brethren,
and their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have, they're
giving their all. They're giving their all. And we're going to see in a minute,
they don't have anything. But they gave it all, and they
came, and they came out of the land of Canaan, and behold, they're
in the land of Goshen. And he took some of his brethren,
five men, and presented them unto Pharaoh. Our Lord in the
Scripture says, Behold, I and the children thou hast given
me. He is able to present us faultless before the presence
of His glory. Verse 3, And Pharaoh said unto
his brethren, What is your occupation? Do you
think they are trembling? before this man's presence? By
the way, you reckon they're on their faces? You reckon they're
bowing? I reckon. What is your occupation? And they all to a man, every
one of all five of these representatives said, verse 3, Thy servants are
shepherds, both we and also our fathers. Thy servants are shepherds. And what they're saying is, we're
your servants. We're at your mercy. We are here
to do your bidding. We're here according to your
will and your purpose. We're here to answer to you. You don't have to do anything.
We are your servants, and it's according to your will whether
or not you will receive us. Old Brother John Sheasley, Sr.,
prays that every time he prays, Lord, not our will, but Thy will,
according to your will. That's a good prayer. That's
how we should approach the Father. We're here. We're your servants.
We belong to you. But we sure hope. Verse 4, we're
here to sojourn in the land, and we come. Thy servants have
nothing. We have no pasture there. It
is a time of famine. Now therefore, verse 4, we pray
thee, we beg thee, we beseech thee, will you let thy servants
dwell in the land of Goshen? Will you let us stay here? Will
you let us dwell with you? We're at your mercy. Oh, let
me remind you of what Hebrews 11 says. It says that all these
brethren, you remember the stories of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob,
it says they sojourned in the land of promise, dwelling in
tabernacles, Isaac, Jacob, heirs of the promise. It says they
all declared plainly that they were sojourners, strangers and
pilgrims on the earth. If they'd had opportunity to
return back, they wouldn't have taken it. There's nothing back
there. They all said there's nothing
back there. It's a land of famine. We want to dwell here with you
and our brother. They desire a better country, a heavenly,
wherefore God's not ashamed to be called their God. He's prepared
for them a city. These are shepherds. They said,
Joseph told them, say, we're shepherds. Now, shepherds were
an abomination. Shepherds are nobody. Shepherds
aren't wise, mighty, or noble, are they? They're just too much
of nobody. Poor. Who did the Lord first appear
to, the angel of the Lord first appear to, to announce the coming
of Christ? Shepherd. Poor shepherds. Lowly shepherds. And that's who
the Gospel comes to. The meek and the lowly. Sinners.
And the Scripture of our Lord tells us to come to God as guilty
sinners. Come before Him confessing what
we are. When He asks you what you are,
tell Him. Tell Him. They've heard this
before Him. They've heard this from Jacob.
We're sons of Jacob. We're just like our Father. We're
just like our Father added. We're sinners. We're born in
sin. Just like our Father. But Lord, if You will, we're
at Your mercy. Now, Lord over all, You will
do according to Your good pleasure. And we're Your servants. We serve
You. We're going to serve either Your
mercy or Your justice or both. And we're at thy mercy. We're
sinners, we're nothings, we're nobodies. Would you accept us? Will you accept us for Christ's
sake? We've come unto you by Christ. Will you please accept
us? Reckoning with you. They said,
will you let us? Do you notice that? Will you
let us dwell? And I can't emphasize this enough.
That religion that tells everyone to let go and let God. That religion,
whatever it is, whoever it is, that tells men, won't you let
Jesus be your Savior? Won't you let God save you? Won't you let Him be your Lord?
Won't you let Him into your hearts? It's false religion and it's
blasphemy of the worst sort. What if these men had come to
Pharaoh? Huh? Come in there presumptuously,
proudly, and walked up like claiming stuff that religion doesn't today. And said, we've decided to let
you be Pharaoh. What would have happened? Well,
Pharaoh first would have laughed, wouldn't he? He would have laughed. And then his brow would have
furrowed, and he'd say, mind them hands and foot. Cast them
into outer darkness. What if they'd come in their
own works? In their own merit? What if Levi
had said, I'm a good fellow. I'm sincere. What if Judah said,
I've got some faults, but really, you should be glad to see me. No, these fellows knew what they
were. They've been taught by the Spirit of God, and so have
all the sons of God. And this is how we all come.
We come asking for mercy to be accepted in the beloved. And
here's what Pharaoh said. Verse 5, Pharaoh spake unto Joseph,
saying... He's still speaking through Joseph. You see that? He's still speaking
through Joseph. Why? He doesn't speak their language. He has a language they don't
understand. He's high and lofty and speaks the language of Egypt.
They don't know this language yet. They're Hebrews. But Joseph
knows the language. He's one of them. He's bone of
their bone and flesh of their flesh. So Pharaoh says to Joseph
to tell them. And God speaks unto us by the
Word, by the Word made flesh. And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph,
saying, Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee. The land
of Egypt is before thee. In the best of the land make
thy father and brethren to dwell. In the land of Goshen let them
dwell." Oh, my. God says, through Christ
our Lord, everything is yours. Like when He came to Mary and
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary. When He arose from the
grave, having gone into the Holy of Holies and prepared that place
for us and came back to His brethren, He said, all hail, I've got good
news. The sacrifice has been accepted.
You've been accepted. I'm coming back to get you. I've
prepared a place for you. If it were not so, I would have
told you. And you're going to dwell in
the best of the Lamb, because that's where I'm going. And so,
in verse 6, look at this and notice it says that he said,
if you know any men of activity among them, make them rulers.
In other words, you know some men, some of these men, you pick
them, Joseph, if they're men of your choosing, men, industrious
men, hardworking men, men that you decide, you make them ruler
over all the cattle. And then our Lord, he went up
into a mountain, the scripture says, and he called unto him
his disciples, twelve disciples. And they came to him. And he
made him rulers over all his cattle, Christ over all his sheep. And Joseph, verse 7, brought
in Jacob his father, and we're going to look at this at another
time all by itself, Jacob and Pharaoh. Let's go down to verse 11. Let's
skip down to that. We're going to look at that Jacob
blessing Pharaoh and Pharaoh's question to Jacob. Down in verse
11, it says, Joseph placed his father and his brethren and gave
them a possession in the land of Egypt. And you know, our Lord
Jesus Christ, He's the one that prepared a place for us, didn't
He? And it says, He divides according
to the grace given unto us. Let me read this. I was going
to have you turn, but I'll do it for you. But in Ephesians
chapter 1, you know these verses, but you don't know them in reference
to this story. Listen to this. He has Joseph
placed them. and gave them where He would
put them, put them where He would. Listen to Ephesians 4, verse
5. It says, there is one Lord, one
faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all
and through all and in you all, But unto every one of us is given
grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Because
he ascended up on high and let captivity captive and gave gifts
unto men. That's what we just read. He
gave them, it says, a possession. Look at this. In the land, a
place to dwell, a place to stay. And you know, we have an eternal
dwelling place, don't we? In the heavens, not made with
hands. An eternal place, and that is
Christ Himself. The land of Goshen is actually
a good picture of the kingdom of God, isn't it? The eternal
kingdom. And verse 11 says, he placed his brethren and gave
them a possession in the land of Egypt and the best of the
land. Egypt was the richest land in
all the country. He gave them the best of the
land and the land of Ramses. He emphasized it, Ramses. What's that? That's the land
of the kings. Land of the kings. Kingdom of
kings, Ramses. All these kings came from the
line of Ramses. So these poor shepherds, these
poor, lonely shepherds who were an abomination to Pharaoh and
the king and the king's kings, they are brought all the way
from this land of famine into the greatest land in all the
world to reign as kings. And that's exactly what the Revelation
says, that He has made us kings and priests and we shall reign
on earth. the new earth with him, the Lord
Jesus Christ, a kingdom, the kingdom of God, the kingdom of
Christ, and the kingdom of his people. My, my. And verse 12,
and I close, 31 minutes. And Joseph nourished his brethren,
he nourished his father and his brethren, and all his father's
household with bread. according to their families.
Joseph is the one that nourished him with bread. What did he feed him? Bread.
Anything else? Well, that's the one thing they
did. Bread. Did not our Lord say,
I am the bread of life? Didn't He say, come unto Me?
If any man thirsts, let him come unto Me. Blessed are they that
hunger and thirst, they will be filled. I am the bread of
life. He said, take and eat. This is my body, which was broken
for you, bread, and it nourishes our soul. And they all ate the
same food, and they all were nourished, and they all were
satisfied. You reckon? They were satisfied. And this last line is interesting.
It says, according to their family. And if you have a marginal reference,
what does it say? It says, He nourished them with
bread like a little child is nourished. That is, according to the little
ones. He nourished them like they were
little ones. Most of them were older than him, weren't they? Oh, but our Lord is the ancient
one in them. And He nourished them, nourished
us, and nourishes us all the days of our life like little
children. Milk for the little ones. Meat for the strong ones.
From the youngest to the oldest. From Dan to Dinah. Little children
to old men. They're all kept. They're all
nourished. They're all fed one way. Let me close with this verse
in Psalm 107. This is too good to pass up. Psalm 107. Because the next verse,
it says, they were in a land of famine. Psalm 107, verse 5 says, hungry
and thirsty. Their soul fainted in them. These
are the sons of Jacob. Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses.
And He led them forth by the right way, that's Christ, that
they might go to a city of habitation. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for His goodness, for His wonderful works to the children
of men, to the sons of Jacob, for He satisfieth the longing
soul. and filleth the hungry soul with
goodness." If this is my last message, I take a measure of
comfort in knowing that I've done what the Lord told me. Comfort
my people. Feed my lambs. Feed my sheep. But so if it is my last message,
I have preached Christ to you. And I commend you to Him and
the Word of His grace. Okay, stand with me. Our God and our Father, how we
bless You. Bless Your holy name. Holy, holy,
holy Lord God of hosts, the whole earth is full of Thy glory. Everything
redounds to Thy glory. Everything speaks of our great
God and Creator. The wrath of God revealed from
heaven. Oh my Lord, drought, floods, earthquakes all speak
of Your justice and Your holiness and Your anger and Your wrath.
And so God, this is why we're so thankful that You made Christ to be sin
for us, the sons of Jacob, sinners, that You sent Him into this world.
and save sinners, even the chief. This is how we come. This is
not doctrine. This is our heart's plea. We
do come before You, our Most Holy God, in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ through Him, through His bloody work on Calvary's
tree and through His perfect righteousness that He worked
out on our behalf. And according to the promises
that You gave Him to give us, that all who come to You by Him
will be accepted in the Beloved. We come. We come. We come. O Lord, accept us. We believe
You will. We believe You have. How we thank
You for the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that You've made
Him ruler over us. You must have loved us in sending
Christ to be our King and our Redeemer and revealing all these
things to us, making known Your Word to Jacob. Oh Lord, but forgive
us of our sins and feed us, we know you will, nourish us, and
this land of famine, we know you will. And oh Lord, show one
of our children, one of our little ones, Show them their desperate
need of Christ, and break their hearts, and bring them bowing
before Your Son, asking for mercy like You did for us, and receive
them unto Yourself. For Your glory, in the name of
Christ we pray, and as we sing, Amen. We are very stricken.