All right, go back to Hebrews
chapter 2 now. Hebrews chapter 2. Let's read
one verse. One verse will be our text. Verse
11. Hebrews 2 verse 11. Both he that
sanctify and they who are sanctified are all of one. for which cause he is not ashamed
to call them brethren." Now, one of the brethren, either Brother
Nybert or Brother Elmquist, quoted half of this verse in their preaching. And ever since they did, it has
stuck with me. I wanted to speak from it, so
tonight we will. He is not ashamed to call them
brethren. Brethren. Brethren. Now this is a term that is very
loosely used in our day. Very lightly, flippantly used
in our day. I reserve that term. for those
who I believe to be God's people. I don't call everyone brother. Though all are in Adam brothers,
yet this speaks of brethren in Christ, sons of God who have
been set apart to be called brethren. This is a precious high, holy,
heavenly calling, to be called one of Jesus Christ's brothers. Now brethren, very simply, brethren
indicates that they are more than one, they are sons. Brethren
being sons of the same parents, right? The term brethren indicates
that all of these sons and daughters or sisters are included in this
term brethren. So you ladies are brethren in
this sense. The sons, there were three sons
in my family and one daughter. All three sons were brethren. Sons of Henry Mahan and they're
all brethren. And this speaks of God the Father. God, the Almighty God, being
the Heavenly Father of many sons, and all of them are called brethren. Look at verse 10. In verse 10
it says, It became him for whom are all things. That is God.
It is becoming to God. In bringing many sons for whom
are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many
sons unto glory." God the Father, it says, is going to bring many
sons unto glory. Now, God only has one begotten
Son. One begotten Son. Look over at
chapter 1 with me. Chapter 1. verses 1 through 3. God who at sundry times and in
diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets, he hath in these last days spoken unto us by, and the
word his is in italics. It should read, by son. He has
but one, by son. His Son he hath appointed heir,
singular, heir of all things. By whom? By the Son also he made
the world, renown. Who? That is, the Son, being
the brightness of his glory." That's a good term for the Son,
isn't it? The brightness of his glory,
and the express image of his person. Are you looking at it
with me? The express image of his person. Alright? God's Son is the express
image of, and Colossians 1 says this and 2 Corinthians 4 says
this, of the invisible God. God is invisible. God is spirit.
God doesn't have an image. Right? But Christ is the image. of God, the bodily manifestation
of the invisible God, the express, exact image of God. Now, man was created in the image
of God, it said. Male and female created he, them,
in the image of God, that is, the likeness of, resemblance
of God. Who's that? It must be Christ,
because he is the image of God. So man, Adam, man was created
in the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the beginning. All
right? But not the express image. You understand, there's a distinction
there. Christ is called the exact image. Man is created in the image,
but not the exact image of God. This is important, because Christ
is only exact, or that is, begotten Son of God. Begotten is to give birth, isn't
it? To come from your person. It says he was in the bosom of
the Father. It says the Holy Spirit overshadowed
the woman and the child that was born was the son that was
given. So he's the only begotten son
of God. Look at verse 5. Under which
of the angels said God at any time, thou art my son? This day
have I begotten thee. And again, I will be to him a
father and he shall be to me a son. God never said that to
anyone but Christ. Verse 6, and again, when he bringeth
in the first begotten into the world, he saith that all the
angels of God worship him. Why? Because this is God's Son. He's much higher than the angels. He's God. Look at verse 8 and
9, under the sun he saith, thy throne, O God. Though he is a son, yet he is
God. You know the verse, don't you,
in Isaiah 9, verse 6. Under us a child is born, a son
is given. Thou shalt call his name Wonderful
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father. That's what
it said. Read on. Under the Son, he saith,
Thy throne, O God, is forever. Verse 9, Thou hast loved righteousness. This is God speaking of his Son.
Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Therefore
God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness
above thy fellows." He is way above all his fellows. Turn back with me to Proverbs
8. I believe, and I believe the scriptures attest to this as we're going
to see. I believe that the Son, God the Son, Jesus Christ, had
this image which God gave him. He had this image from the very
beginning, before the world began. That's what I believe, that he
had an image, a body, or an image of some sort. I look at what
Proverbs 8, verses 22 through 25 say. The Lord possessed me. Now this is Christ speaking.
The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before
his works of old. I was set up from everlasting,
from the beginning of wherever the earth was. When there were
no depths, I was brought forth. When there were no fountains
abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before
the hills was I brought forth. Look at verse 30 and 31. Then
I was by him, as one brought up with him. I was daily his
delight, rejoicing always before him, rejoicing in the habitable
part of his earth, and my delights were with the sons of men. You see that? What it's saying?
The habitable parts of the earth. And his delights were with the
sons of men. In other words, it was his delight
to go down to earth and visit the sons of men. And there are
many stories in the scriptures of the Lord himself visiting.
Let's go back to the first one. Genesis chapter 1, okay? Genesis
chapter 1. many stories of the Lord visiting
his creation, his people. Genesis chapter 1. Let's look at what I quoted to
you. Genesis 1 verse 26. And God said, let us, God, the
singular, The Lord our God is one God,
right? But now God said, let us make man. I'm confused. Yeah, we are. We
can't understand God. God consists of three persons. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit. These three are one. One in essence, one in person,
one in power, one in glory, yet three distinct persons. Do you
understand that? No, you don't. I don't. All of you understand the facts. That is the facts. Are you listening? We can't understand it. In John
chapter 1, it says, was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. All things were made by him,
and without him was not anything made which was made." He's talking
about Christ. Well, okay, so he said, let us
make man in our image, after our likeness. See that? Our image? So God had an image then, huh?
Isn't that what he said? Our image. God had an image then, didn't
he? Before, there was a man. God had an image. Who was it? What was it? It was the sun.
Our image. They all dwelt in the sun. It
was the bodily manifestation in order to visit human beings. Our image. Look at chapter 3.
I love this. Chapter 3. You know the story
of how the man and woman rebelled against God in verse 8. And God
in all this fire was talking to Adam and Eve, wasn't it? It
says the Lord. The Lord talked to them. Talked
to them. Who? Who talks to men? Who speaks to men? The Word. Well, that's Christ. Christ was
talking to them. I believe he was dwelling with
them. His delight was with the sons of man. And in verse 8,
after they fell, it says, they heard the voice of the Lord God
walking in the garden. Voices don't walk. Well, the Word of God does. He
walked, he was made flesh, and dwelt among us. We beheld his
glory as of the only begotten of the Father. This confuses
people. This really confuses the world.
So they make him to be less than God, less than he is. But no,
God is spirit, man is flesh, man can't see God. Man can't
talk to God, be talked to by God. God is a consuming fire.
In order for God to dwell with the sons of men, with human beings,
he has to disguise himself. He has to robe himself in flesh. He has to be like us, right?
Flesh, in order to speak. So he did. He made himself an
image. And Christ's Son dwelled in that
image. We don't know what that image
was, it was a glorified image. I believe he took it back after
he rose from the grave. He put it back on again. Verse 21, it says down in verse
21, unto Adam also and his wife did the Lord God make coats of
skin. Somebody slid an animal's throat,
a lamb, skinned it, tanned that hide. and wrapped them up in
it. God has hands, all right. And
those hands are Jesus Christ. That was him doing that. I believe
that. I believe that. And as I quoted, go with me to
Galatians 4, Galatians chapter 4. As I quoted to you, the Word
was made flesh, John 1, 14. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the
Father, full of grace and truth." So God has only one begotten Son, one express image
of his person. Kelly, that boy right there,
he's a, I guess we could call it the spitting image. That's
what we call it, the spitting one. God's been cloning people
for years. You know, look, look at, look
at those two, cloned. Here they are. Look, look, look
at, what's your daughter's name, Mary? Lauren. Lauren, look at
those two. Aren't those three cloned? I
believe in cloning. I believe God's been doing it
for years. But God has one person. express image of himself, and
it's Jesus Christ. We are adopted sons. We're adopted
sons. We're not born sons. We're adopted
sons. And look at Galatians 4. That's
what this says. Galatians 4, verses 4 through
6. When the fullness of time was
come, God sent forth his Made of woman, made under the law,
to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive
the adoption of sons. And because your sons are by
adoption, that is, God has sent forth the spirit of his Son into
your hearts, so you can cry, Abba, Father. You can call him
Father, too. Ephesians 1. Ephesians chapter
1, verses 3 through 5, look at it. Ephesians 1, blessed be the
God. You have it? Ephesians 1, you
can quote these. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath
chosen us in him, that he is his one Son, before the foundation
of the world, that we should be like him, holy and without
blame, before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption
of children Who? By Jesus Christ. By Jesus Christ
to himself according to the good pleasure of his will. Or as Barnard,
I like what Barnard said, an illustration of this. He said,
God predestinated people to be just like his son. God admired
his son so much, loved his son so much, he decided to have a
whole bunch of children just like him. That's what that meant. Now the new birth is something
different. The new birth is a mystery. It
says there's a new creature put in us, created in the image of Christ
Jesus, born from above. Doesn't it say that? in Christ Jesus, creating the
image of Christ. And someday, now this is a mystery,
but it's true, someday we're going to put off this old man,
this corruptible, and put on incorruptible. And when we see
him, we'll be as he is. We'll be blood, we'll be blood
can. We'll be, we'll be the actual
begotten sons of God. Do you understand? But that's
what it's going to be. No longer adopted children, but
the express image of Jesus Christ. Somehow. By death and rebirth. By death. Blood brothers. I go back to Hebrews 2. What's
all that got to do with our text? I had to make it straight that
there is only one begotten Son on this earth that ever walked
on this planet. One begotten Son, one image of
God. Man lost that image. That image
was marred by sin. Christ's express image of God. Verse 10, it said, It became
him. I love this. It became God, God
the Father, for whom are all things. That is, he did it for
He did all things for himself. By whom are all things? He became
God in bringing many sons unto glory. In other words, this gospel,
this story of salvation, of bringing sons of Adam into the kingdom
of God, making them sons, this is a gospel that's becoming to
God. Have you ever said about some
clothing somebody's wearing or something they've done, that's
very becoming on you. That fits you well, that looks
good on you. You make that look good, and
it makes you look good. It's becoming to you, right?
Well, this gospel is becoming to God. This is a gospel that
is becoming to God. It's befitting such a one as
he is, because it's the gospel of his wisdom. The whole story
is of infinite wisdom. Right? The whole purpose and
will and mind of God, infinite will, that's his power. This
is the gospel of God's power. It's becoming to a God of all
power. It's becoming his glory. It's
becoming his mercy, his love, his grace. It became him in doing
this, bringing many sons unto glory. You see, this is a gospel
that's becoming to such a good and wonderful God as this, in
bringing many sons unto glory, in enabling many to experience
his glory and eternal happiness. And to do this, verse 10, it
says, he had to make the captain of their salvation perfect through
suffering. You see that? To bring many sons
to glory, he had to make the captain of their salvation perfect
through suffering. They needed a perfect man to
represent them, these sons. If they're going to be in glory,
they needed somebody perfect. to represent him. They needed
a perfect righteousness, because God is righteous. They needed
a perfect substitute. They needed a perfect covenant
head. They needed a perfect lamb. They
needed a captain. Captain of their salvation. Captain,
my captain. Through suffering. He was made
sin for us, who knew no sin. that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. He was made under the law. We
read that. He was made under the law. Why? Because we're born
under the law. Made of the sea of woman. Made under the law
to redeem them that were under the law. He was made a curse.
Why? Because we were under the curse.
And he took the curse. So he was made, he's the perfect
substitute for his people. In order to bring many sons unto
glory. To present these sons faultless
before the presence of his glory. So Christ sent, God sent his
own son. God, the old saying is, if you
want something done right, you do it yourself. That's what God did. Hebrews
1 says, when he had by himself purged our sins. Salvation is
of the Lord. No man could do it. He looked
and he saw that there was no man. Isn't that what he said?
So, the right hand and the right arm of the Lord came down and
brought him salvation. God determined to save these
sons of Adam. They can't save themselves. So
God came down to do it himself. In the flesh. God was made flesh. He welcomed them. And we beheld his glory. Oh,
that's glorious. Verse 11 now. Now it says, both
he that sanctified, that is God, God's the one who sets apart,
and it's Christ too. Both. I don't have time, but
there's a threefold sanctification by the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. Anyway, both he that sanctified and they who are sanctified
are all of one. Now this, in context, is speaking
of Christ. He, Christ, that sanctified.
Christ said in John 17, for their sakes I sanctify myself. That is, for the sake of these
sons, he set himself apart. He left the Father. He left the
bosom of the Father. He set himself apart. He came
into this world. He set himself apart. For their
sakes I sanctify myself, Christ said. that they also might be
sanctified. That was it. So this is speaking
of Christ. Alright, it says, He that sanctified
Christ, and they who are sanctified, who's that? These many sons,
you and me, the saints, are all of one. All of one. One God, Ephesians 4 says, one
Lord, one faith, one baptism. One God, one Father, one hope
of your calling. One blood, one family. God's family, sons. Now read
on. For which cause, verse 11, for
which cause, that is, for God's glory, for our sonship, for our
salvation, for which cause, for the sake of saving us, he is
not ashamed to call them brethren. Now this is our text. He's not
ashamed to call them brethren. Now go back with me, we're going
to see this illustrated in the scriptures. Genesis 37. Juanita back there wanted us
to go through the book of Genesis. Well, we pretty much have been. Hebrews is a summary of the whole
Old Testament. Hebrews 11 begins with Abel and
goes almost all the way through. But here in Genesis, we're going
to see this illustrated, how the son is not ashamed to call
them brethren. It's got to make this sweet to
her. Now, it says he's not ashamed to call them brethren. Now by
saying that, that seems to indicate that there's something shameful
about them. Doesn't it? It says, for this
cause he's not ashamed to call them brethren. That tells me
that there's something shameful about them. But it says he's
not ashamed. He's not ashamed of them. Well,
they are shameful, all of them. By nature, Ephesians 2, Ephesians,
oh, I love the book of Ephesians, it says, when we were by nature
children of wrath, even as others, children of disobedience. It
goes on to say aliens and enemies by our own wicked works. By nature,
all these sons were children of wrath, even as others. By
nature they were shameful. Hating God, every one of them. They hated God's Son. They lived
for themselves. They lived shamefully without
shame. That's us, is it not? Look at
Genesis 37, verses 2 and 3. It says, 2 through 4, these are
the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being 17 years old, was
feeding the flock with his brethren. And the lad was with the sons
of Bilaam and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought unto his father
their evil report. In other words, he came back
to his father and told, these brethren of his were wicked men. We're going to see no matter
how wicked they were. They were wicked. And Joseph went back
and told the Father. Now verse 3, it says, Now Israel
loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the
son of his old age, and he made him a coat of many colors. Do
you know who this speaks of? Some of you do, I see recognition
in your faces. This is speaking of the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is the son of God's old age. The eternal
son, is he not? And he loves him. Now all of
God's children have been his children in God's purpose before
time began. There never was a time when we
were not God's children. Is that right? According to God's
purpose. Like these sorry fellows. be
sorry, brethren of Joseph. But now Joseph was loved. He's
the obedient, he's the obedient, the well-beloved son of Jacob,
his father. So it is with the Lord Jesus
Christ. And verse 3 says, He gave him a coat of many colors.
He wore a distinguishing coat. Joseph's coat. He wore a distinguishing
coat which distinguished him from all his brethren. They were
rough-hewn, and he had this glorious, beautiful coat which the Father
gave him and set him apart from the rest. What is that? That's a righteousness of God,
is it not? Multiple colors, a multifaceted
beauty of that. Well, it says in verse 4, his
brethren saw their father loved him more than all his brethren,
and they hated him. And they couldn't say anything good about
him. They despised him. They hated him. And it says, look down in verse
23. Well, I didn't mean to turn back. Down in verse 23 through
25, It says that he came to pass
when Joseph was come to his brother, he came to his own. He came to see about him, sent
by the Father. He came to do him good. He came to do him good, sent
by the Father. But his own received him not. Look at it. It says they stripped
Joseph of his coat. Stripped him naked. His coat
of many colors, it was on him. They took him, cast him into
a pit that was empty. There was no water in it. And they sat down to eat bread.
They sat down. Oh, people, that's almost word
for word what it says that we did to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Stripped Him naked and cast Him upon a cross and sat down to
watch Him die. Sat down to watch Him. And I
want to quit turning back. It says, look at verse 27 and
28, it says, Let's sell him to the Ishmaelites.
Let not our hands be upon him. We don't want his blood upon
our hands. Isn't that amazing? That's what they said of Christ.
He's our brother in our flesh, and his brethren were content. So they passed by Midianite merchantmen,
and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit and sold Joseph
to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they, these
fellows, brought Joseph to Egypt. He was brought to Egypt. They
sold him for twenty pieces of silver. And so it was that our
Lord was sold for thirty pieces of silver. Why thirty? He's worth
more than Joseph. But nevertheless, he was sold,
just like Joseph here. But he was brought to Egypt. He was brought to Egypt. Alright? So, these rotten, no good brethren
of Joseph, what do you think about these guys? Would you give
them a time? What would you do to them? If
you, loving, you know, in Joseph, and how they spitefully used
him, what would you do to them? What would you do to these sorry
sons of Joseph? I wouldn't give him anything.
I wouldn't do anything for him. I'd put him to death. I'd do to them
what they did to Joseph, wouldn't you? That's what they deserved. No good sold their brother. How
could somebody do such a thing for $20? But God purposed all this. God
Almighty purposed all this to bring Joseph to Egypt. That was
in the purpose and will of God. Though they with wicked hands
took and did to Joseph what they wanted to do, what their evil
wills willed to do, but God in mercy, they did what he determined
before to be done. In bringing Joseph to Egypt and
set him on the throne in the process of time, set Joseph on
the throne because in time the world, the world is going to
have to go to Joseph to receive everything from him. The whole
world. He's going to be put under the authority of all flesh. All
authority is going to be given to Joseph. And these sorry, no
good sons of Jacob, brethren of Joseph, they're going to have
to come before Joseph someday. Now chapter 45. Go over to chapter
45. And so much happened between
when they sold him and this chapter 45. So much
happened to them. God, in his purpose, began to
make these sorry sons of Jacob realize what they were. In the
process of time, God began to deal with these no-good sons
of Jacob, because they were in the purpose of God. twelve sons of Israel. They are
in the purpose of God. Sorry, no good, they ought not
to be. They are in the purpose, the
saving purpose of God. And in the process of time, through
so many events in their lives, they are being made to realize
what wicked, no good, sorry brethren they were. Trial after trial comes upon
them and they begin to realize something of their utter by selling their brother. This
kept coming back to them. Trial after trial happened to
them. They were brought in straights and bad circumstances and one
of them would be held captive and the others were, they were
all, you know the stories, most of you do. And they finally,
John, to a man, to a man, every one of these brethren realized
it's because we hated our brother, Joseph. All this is happening
to us because we're sorry, no good, shameful brethren of Joseph
who sold our brethren, spitefully, what we did spitefully to him. And they finally, after God sufficiently
broke them and brought them down, they finally were ashamed of
themselves. thoroughly and completely ashamed
of themselves, brokenhearted, down in the dirt, sorry for what
they've done to their brother, their wonderful brother. That's salvation. That's where
God brings every son of Isaiah 53 is a testimony that
says, We hid, as it were, our faces from him. We did esteem
him smitten and strict. We, with wicked hands, took and
crucified the Lord. We despised and rejected him. We saw no beauty in him, but
we should desire him. I said we all hated God by nature.
We did. Indifference is hating God. You
can't be indifferent to God. You either love him or you hate
him. You know, ignoring God is hating him. Ignoring the gospel
for years is the same as saying it doesn't matter to me. God
is or God isn't, or Christ came or Christ didn't come. Ignoring
the gospel is the same thing as hating it. That's what there's
a passage in Jeremiah where the prophet said, Is it nothing to
you, all that you that pass by? Behold my shame. See if there's
any suffering like unto my suffering. Is it nothing to you? No, it
wasn't anything to us. A man could stand up and tell
this gospel of Christ, his beauty, his glory, his worth, his majesty,
God's goodness to us, God's provisions for us, God's sustenance of us,
all our lives, his goodness, it didn't mean nothing to us.
We wouldn't give God thanks, we wouldn't worship God, we wouldn't
say anything in the gospel that we needed, and so what? That's it. He said in Isaiah 1, I've raised
up children. nurtured them, raised them up,
fed them that are rebellious to me. He said, the ox knows
its owner, the ass knows its master crib, but my people don't
consider. They don't know and they don't
even consider. That was me for about 20 years. Didn't even consider. where I
got my breath, where I got my food, where I got my clothing,
why I miraculously was spared from death so many times. I could
tell you story after story how God literally spared me, did
not spare my cronies. I could tell you story after
story. I've got several childhood friends who died in situations
that I could have died in. He said, My people doth not know
and do not consider. So it is with all God's no good,
sorry sons before they know Christ. Huh? And so
what the gospel does, and you know, this false gospel out there
is trying to make everybody feel good about themselves. might
not be gospel. This gospel is for the purpose
of making men want to feel very bad about themselves, to bring
people down to the point of being ashamed of themselves. Why? Ashamed of ignoring God, ashamed
of ignoring Christ, ashamed of being unthankful, ungrateful,
ashamed of themselves. And then when God finally brings
us to the point of being fairly and completely ashamed of ourselves, then the good news comes. See, the gospel is only good
news to shameful brethren. That verse back there, it says
he's not ashamed to call called them brethren. It must mean there's something
shameful about them. Yes, and I didn't tell the half of it
tonight. If I could put a big screen up here tonight and expose
your past life, expose your thoughts today, huh, would you want me
to do that? Anybody? Shameful. Shameful people. Sorry
excuses for brethren. And so it is with all the brethren.
All the brethren. Look at chapter 45. Chapter 45. You got it? Verse 1. Oh, I love this. My favorite
story in all the Bible. I hope you're with me. You sorry
son of Jacob, you. Then it says, verse 1, Then Joseph,
they were thoroughly ashamed of themselves. Now, finally,
then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that
stood by him. And he cried, Cause every man
to go out from me. And there stood no man with them,
while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. Do you know
the story behind this? I wish we had the time to deal
with it all, but Joseph, you see, was on the throne of Egypt,
and these brethren, the whole world, the whole land was in
famine, and their father Jacob told them, you've got to go to
Egypt, we hear there's corn there. And all this famine and troubles
on the way, and when they got to Egypt, some of them were put
in jail for being spies, you know, and Joseph was doing all
this. Joseph was on the throne, Joseph
whom they sold, Joseph whom they hated, was on the throne of Egypt,
and he knew these were his brethren. But he had to teach them a lesson.
He had to bring them down. He had to make them realize,
in the purpose of God, had to make them realize what they were,
how they didn't deserve mercy and grace and so forth. And finally,
they were sufficiently broken and came to him as unworthy. They didn't know this was Joseph,
he said. They didn't know it was Joseph sitting on the throne.
And they came to him as the king of Egypt. As their lord and master,
they came to him. Didn't call him Joseph. They
thought he was the king. He had disguised himself, he
said. It says he spoke hard to him. Remember that? The first
things that Joseph said to his brethren were hard things, not
sweet things. He did not make himself known
until they were sufficiently ashamed. And Joseph spoke to an interpreter. He himself did not speak to them.
He spoke to another man, as if you're not worthy to be heard
by me. They weren't worthy. So finally they're broken, and
Joseph, it says, could not refrain himself anymore. He's going to
speak to them personally. He's going to make himself known
under his brethren. And it says in verse 2, he wept
out loud, and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard it.
All heaven and earth heard him weeping. What's going on? Joseph said under his brethren,
verse 3, I am Joseph. Didn't you imagine what went
through their minds? Everything. First thing I bet
you they had was fear. The one we killed, the one we
would have killed. We're in your power to do with
as you please. His brethren could not answer
him. Look at it. They were troubled at his presence. People, this
is salvation. This is what every son of Jacob
goes through when they hear the gospel first. God's going to kill me, be done
with me now, I'm such a sorry sinner. Verse 4, Joseph said
unto his brethren, come near to me, I pray you. When they
came near, he said, I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into
Egypt. Now therefore, be not grieved,
nor angry with yourselves. that you sold me hither, for
God did send me before you to preserve life. For these two
years hath the famine been in the land, their five years in
which they shall neither be eerie nor harvest, and God sent me
before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, to save your lives
by a great deliverance. So now, verse 8, it was not you
that sent me hither, but God." and he hath made me a father
to Pharaoh, and Lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout
all the land of Egypt." Fear not, fear not. Look down at verses 16 through
18, and it says, The same verb was heard in Pharaoh's house,
saying, Joseph's brethren are come. Pharaoh's house heard it. The king of kings heard it, that
Joseph's brethren had come, and it pleased Pharaoh well and his
servants. In verses 17 and 18, Pharaoh
said unto Joseph, You tell your brethren, you say unto your brethren,
this do you, lay your beast, go, get you the land of Canaan,
take your father and your household, come unto me, and I'll give you
the good of the land of Egypt, and you'll eat the fat of the
land. These are Joseph's brethren. These are Joseph's brethren.
Old Joseph, what a wonderful man. Not a shame to call these
fellas brethren. And everybody heard about it.
And the king of kings, Pharaoh himself said, since they're your
brethren, just tell them to come right on in. Come right on up
to the palace and we're going to They're going to be family
from here on out. Take care of them. They'll eat
the fat of them. It's not a shame to call them brethren. And so
it is. Go back to the text. Hebrews
11. Hebrews 11. That's not the text, but that's
where I want you to turn. Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11. It should have been the text. And so it is with every—you go
through the stories in the scriptures of—and you could use this in
reference to every one of God's people. It's not a shame. For
this cause, for the cause of saving them, no matter how evil
they were, he's not ashamed to call them brethren. A lot. Oh, my. No, he's not ashamed
to call them brethren. He called him Just Lot. Lot. Jacob. What a sorry fella. Scheming, conniving, cheat his
own brother, cheat his own father, but it's not a shame to call
him brother. Peter. Peter. A poor little maid. Cussed and ranted and raved and
said, I don't even know that Jesus is a matter. I ain't one
of those flippin' Christians. No, he says, you go tell my disciples
and you especially tell Peter, my brother. It's not a shame
to call him brother. Mary Magdalene. Mary Magdalene. Married five times or more. Street
woman, lowest of the low. You go tell Mary. She's one of
my brethren. Not a shame to call her thief
on the cross. The worst of the worst. Thief
on the cross. Not ashamed to call him brother.
So is there hope for you and me? So all of God's children
are at one time shameful, shameful, shameful sinners. But God in
mercy shows them their shame. Shows them then their Savior
on the throne, high and lifted up. And shows them through the
gospel He is not ashamed to call them brethren. In Hebrews 11,
it says, God says this, Hebrews 11, verse 16, it says, Now they
desire a better country. Now they do. They didn't then,
but they do now. Those sorry sons of Jacob, they
didn't, they didn't want to go anywhere, did they? They were
happy to be right there with Joseph. Now they desire a better
country, that is, and heavenly. Wherefore God is not ashamed
to be called their God. And he's even prepared them a
city. These sorry sons, not ashamed. Father's not ashamed, son's not
ashamed. Ought to be, but he's not. Behold
what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we
should be called the sons of God." I see why he calls Christ
that, but not that. All right, stand with me. Our Father, thank you so much
for your mercy, your love, your grace to us through Christ, the
only begotten well-beloved Son. Truly, all spiritual blessings
are through him. through him, the well-beloved
Son in whom you are well pleased, and we do look to him, we sure
do look to him for all things, that we may be found in him in
that day, our elder brother, the brother to him. Thank you,
Lord. In Christ's name, amen. Thank you. Bye.