It's always a great blessing
to gather together with the Lord's people. Let's go to Lord in prayer and
ask His blessing on the service this morning. Heavenly Father,
we thank You again for allowing us to gather together, for bringing
us together by Thy sovereign hand. We pray that You bless
the service today. We pray, Lord Jesus, that You'd
be glorified and that once again the hearts of Your people would
be turned to Thee, O Lord, that we would look to you and not
look to the things that are occurring for this time that we're here.
We can just forget about the things in our lives and forget
about the things going on in this world and focus upon Thee,
O Lord. And this is a place where we
come to hear about your wondrous works and what you've done for
your people. So we pray, Lord, that today again, we'd be reminded
of the wonderful, wonderful work of salvation that you wrought
out for us on Calvary's cross. And we thank the father for sending
your son. And we thank the Holy Spirit
for regenerating us by the almighty power and showing us and teaching
us the things of Christ. May you be glorified today and
magnified in Jesus name. Amen. Turn if you would to Genesis
chapter 46. Genesis chapter 46. Now in our study of the life
of Joseph in the last few weeks, we've seen how Joseph has revealed
himself to his brethren. They did not know who he was
when they first appeared before him. And then when he revealed
himself, oh my, they knew who he was. They knew who he was.
And what a clear picture that is, what a clear picture that
is of how the Lord Jesus Christ reveals himself to us, to us,
to his people. And last week we looked at how
Israel, Jacob took a journey down to Egypt. Let's read verses
one to seven. of Genesis chapter 46 and Israel
took his journey with all his all that he had and came to be
Sheba and offered sacrifices unto God unto the God of his
father Isaac and God spake unto Israel in the visions of the
night and said Jacob Jacob and he said here am I so take note
of the next two verses the promises of divine presence the promises
of divine presence and protection from from our great God. And
notice we see three times God tells Israel in the next two
verses, I will, I will. And remember, who's saying I
will is God Almighty. It's Jehovah, the self-existent
one. And our Lord, beloved, our Lord
will never leave us nor forsake us, never. His people, never. And this is true of God's people
of all ages. This is not just a promise to
Israel, but this is what God says to His people. Says this
to His people. And He said, I am God, the God
of thy father. Fear not to go down into Egypt,
for I will there make of thee a great nation. And then look
at verse four. I will go down with thee into
Egypt. Never forget the Lord's with
us. Never forget he's right. He's with his people always He
goes before us beloved. He goes before us. I Will go
down with thee into Egypt. I will also surely bring thee
up again Well, he's going to be with us isn't he all through
this life all through and then he's going to take us to glory
below for I will They're make of thee a great nation. I will
go down with thee into Egypt And I will also surely bring
thee up again and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes
Joseph's gonna close his eyes in death Jacob shall and Jacob
rose up from Bathsheba and the sons of Israel carried Jacob
their father and their little ones and their wives in the wagons
which Pharaoh had sent to carry him And they took their cattle
and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan,
and came into Egypt, Jacob and all his seed with him, his sons
and his sons' sons with him, his daughters and his sons' daughters,
and all his seed bought he with him into Egypt. Now Jacob was
130 years old when he made the trip from Canaan down to Egypt. And we see there's no mention
made of his wives. We know that Rachel had died
giving birth to Benjamin. And some concubine, or some commentators
believe that Leah is not mentioned, nor his two concubine wives,
Billa and Zilpha, because they had probably died by this time
as well. And take note, all of Jacob's sons, their wives and
all their children, are not only mentioned in verses 8 to 27,
the names of the men are recorded in the verses that follow, so
that we see in all, counting Joseph and his two sons, 70 Israelites,
all of Jacob's seed, come down to live in the land of Egypt.
And always keep in mind that this was ordained by God. This
was God's eternal purpose at work. He had told Abraham before
Isaac and Jacob were born that his seed, Abraham's seed, would
go down into the land of Egypt and become slaves to the Egyptians.
But they would be delivered by the mighty hand of God. And we
see then that Jacob's son took all their cattle, their livestock,
and their worldly possessions, all that they could carry, and
they went down into Egypt. Now verses 8 to 27 give all the
names of Jacob's son and grandsons. I'll leave that to you for reading
if you'd like. And we'll study verses 28 to
34 of Genesis chapter 46 where we will see Jacob and Joseph
reunited face to face. Face to face. Let's look at verse 28 to 34. And he sent Judah, Jacob being
sent Judah, or Israel, sent Judah before unto Joseph to direct
his face unto Goshen. And they came into the land of
Goshen. And Joseph made ready his chariot
and went up to meet Israel, his father, to Goshen, and presented
himself unto him. And he fell on his neck and wept
on his neck a good while. And Israel said unto Joseph,
now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art
yet alive. And Joseph said unto his brethren
and unto his father's house, I will go up and show Pharaoh
and say unto him, my brethren in my father's house, which were
in the land of Canaan are come unto me. And the men are shepherds,
for their trade hath been to feed cattle. And they have bought
their flocks and their herds and all that they had. And it
shall come to pass, when Pharaoh shall call you, and shall say
to you, What is your occupation? Then ye shall say, Thy servant's
trade hath been about cattle for our youth until now, both
we and also our fathers, that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen.
For every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians." What a day What a day it will
be for we who are the born again people of God. What a day it'll
be when we see our Lord face-to-face. What a day that'll be. It'll
be a day of immeasurable joy. Face-to-face. Face-to-face to
see him. To see him who died on Calvary's
cross for us. Face to face, what a day that'll
be to see our Redeemer. To see the one who's loved us
from eternity, to see the one who's loved us so much that he
went to the cross and died for us, purchasing his blood-bought
bride. Look at verse 28, and he sent
Judah before him unto Joseph to direct his face into Goshen,
and they came into the land of Goshen. We see that Jacob sent Judah
to represent him. Jacob sent Judah to represent
him and his family before Joseph. Again, all this was according
to the sovereign purpose of God. As of all the sons of Jacob,
Judah was the one who was best suited to be Jacob's representative. Judah had a more gentle love
and spirit about him, as we've seen in our studies. Listen to
what John Gill brings forth about him. Judah had endeared himself
to Joseph by his speech to him, in which he discovered so much
affection, both to his father and his brother Benjamin, and
was upon all accounts the fittest person to be sent to Joseph.
Remember, Judah was the one who said, keep me. Keep me. Don't bring my father down to
the grave by keeping Benjamin. And it was Judah that spake,
if you turn over a couple chapters to verse 16. Look at Genesis
chapter 44, verse 16. And Judah said, What shall we
say unto my Lord? What shall we speak? O how shall
we clear ourselves? God hath found out our iniquity
of thy servants. Behold, we are my Lord's servants,
both we and he also whom the cup is found. Oh my, so Judah was the spokesman
for his brethren even then. Judah was sent to Joseph. He
was sent to Joseph to direct his face on to Goshen. That is
to inform Joseph of Jacob and his family's arrival. And not
only would this announce that Joseph Now it's to Joseph that
Jacob was entering into the land of Goshen, but it would also
give Joseph the needed time to prepare the right place in Goshen
for Jacob and his family to dwell. And note, they came into the
land of Goshen. John Gill brings forth that this
was the first land of Egypt on their way from Canaan, the nearest
to the land of Canaan. And one can only imagine how
Israel felt as he waited for that exciting moment to finally
see his son again. He thought he was dead. For years
he thought he was dead. And what an exciting, the excitement
would be building up inside him. It being the first time in many,
many years that he would get to gaze upon Joseph. All the while again thinking
that his son had been ripped apart by wild animals. Over 22 years had passed. Could you imagine not seeing
your son for 22 years, or your brother, or your mom and dad
for 22 years? thinking they were dead and all
the time they were alive. 22 years had passed since they'd
last seen each other. And they were soon to see each
other face to face by the divine sovereignty of our great God.
So imagine the excitement, imagine the joy that was bubbling up
inside of Israel. In not just his heart, but in
Joseph's too. In the anticipation that they
would see each other face to face. They probably couldn't
wait until the time that they would see each other face to
face. Let's read verse 29 with that
in mind. We see Jacob and Joseph, they
meet face to face for the first time in over 20 years. And Joseph
made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel his father,
Togoshin, and presented himself unto him. And he fell on his
neck, and he wept on his neck a good while. They wept. Tears
of joy, beloved. Tears of joy. Joseph had his
chariot ready to go. He had his chariot ready to go,
beloved. And we see that he traveled up
to where his father was in Goshen. And think upon this, beloved
of God, when our Lord allows us the honor of meeting together
for public worship, it's like a family reunion, isn't it? We
get together. We're family in Christ. We're
one in Christ. We're here for the furtherance
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's like a family reunion. And even though it's only a week
in between or a few days in between when we meet midweek, it's still
a great blessing to see God's people, isn't it? We desire and
we look forward to gathering together. It's our oasis. Because we're going to look at
this, this is the inn. We're going to look at this morning's
message. The Lord's brought us to the
best inn. And that's the church where we can hear the gospel
preached and proclaimed. And you know why we have to keep
hearing the gospel? I was talking to young Jake about
this this week. You know why we have to keep hearing the gospel?
Because we so soon forget his blessings. He was like, Wayne,
all these blessings I have in my life and all these blessings
I have every day. And I said, we're so forgetful,
aren't we? That's why, beloved, we as God's
sheep have to keep coming to hear the gospel, to be reminded,
isn't it? It's the same message, just coming
from different texts, beloved. Right? It really is. The message
is all about Christ. But that's what we as God's people,
that's what we desire to hear. Right? And God sends a man to preach
and proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, He gets filled studying and the
Lord's people get filled and edified and built up through
the preaching of the word and reminded once again of the great
things that the Lord has done for us. It's wondrous. And we never grow tired of hearing
it, do we? We never grow tired. It's like,
I want more. Oh, and it's wondrous. It's wondrous
each time we hear it. Each time we hear it, it's wondrous.
So Joseph, he had his chariot ready. He was ready to travel. And again, think of the honor
we have of meeting every week. We meet together each week, and
we speak face-to-face. I saw John and Tim sitting there
earlier today just chatting. And isn't it wonderful? You get
to meet face-to-face and talk. and fellowship. We fellowshiped
earlier. We'd just get to sit and talk.
How was your week? Oh, it was great, right? And
we, every week, but then what's most important and why we're
here is the preaching of the gospel, preaching the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's what we want to hear,
too. So what a blessing it is that not only do we get to meet
face to face, but we get to hear the gospel preached and proclaimed
every week. And can you imagine, I bet you
that chariot didn't even come to a stop. I bet you Joseph leapt
out of that chariot. I could just see him. Doesn't
say that, but could you? That's just my own speculation,
but I imagine he, I would've jumped right out of there. Oh
my. My oh my. And then could you
imagine when he first laid eyes on his father? When he saw his
father. Could you imagine Israel? Laying
eyes on Joseph. Could you imagine? Oh, they've
been weeping tears of joy. Tears of joy. And them tears, they'd just flow,
wouldn't they? They'd just flow. Israel thought
his son was dead Israel thought his son was dead now. He finds
out he's alive and now he has the honor of seeing him face
to face embracing him Embracing him. Oh My oh my beloved And
and could you imagine Joseph? Joseph's very thankful to our
great God that his dad didn't die. I that he gets to see his
dad face to face. Oh my. And we see that the words
they spake to each other are not recorded. Are not recorded. But we know from the text that
their emotions were flowing. Their emotions were flowing.
Joseph fell on Israel's neck and wept. Just wept on his neck
and it says for a good while. You ever seen someone you haven't
seen in ages? My, you go see them and you're
weeping with them and tears of joy. Oh my. Your hearts are overflowing with
love for each other. Oh, they embraced each other
for a good while. They were filled with a love
that only a father and son could know, could possibly understand. Now beloved God, let us never
forget that this was recorded for our learning. This is recorded
for our learning. To manifest our Heavenly Father's
love for us. His love for us. Have you ever
thought about the love the Lord Jesus Christ has for you? The
love the Father has for you? It would bring tears to your
eyes. Love with an eternal love. Unmerited. Undeserved. Loved by the Father freely, sovereignly. My. Imagine what a day it'll be when
we see our Savior face to face. The moment we breathe our last
breath here. Imagine what that'll be like
when we're ushered into glory. And when we see the one who was
pierced for us. When we see the one who gave
his life for us, when we see the one who has loved us with
an eternal love, imagine what a day that will be for us. Oh
my. Look at verse 30. And here Israel
said unto Joseph, now let me die since I have seen thy face,
because thou art yet alive. Thou art yet alive. We see that
Joseph rejoiced to see his son. whom he had thought had died.
He'd been deceived by his other sons. He'd been deceived by them. And we see in these verses, actually,
that Israel was expressing great joy at seeing his son Joseph. And we see that he brings forth
with his words that should he have died right then, he'd have
been filled with joy at the sight of seeing his son. seeing his
son who he thought was dead. But he was yet alive. He was
yet alive. And you know, Joseph and Israel
had another 17 years together by the grace of God. Isn't that
wonderful? By the grace of God, they had
another 17 years together. And what a joyful, do you think how joyful that must have been?
That must have been sweet times. Must have been a very sweet time
for them to have together. My, oh we see the words here of Jacob. Now let me die since I have seen
thy face because thou art yet alive. And we're reminded again of a
man who we read in scripture, turn if you would to Luke, chapter
2. Luke chapter 2. We're reminded
of a man in scripture. Luke chapter 2. Luke chapter 2 verses 29 to 32. A man named Simeon. This is a wonderful portion of
scripture. Lord had told Simeon he wouldn't
die until he saw the Lord's Christ. Look at this. Verse 29. Lord,
now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to
thy word. According to what you said, Lord. For mine eyes have
seen, what? Thy salvation. His eyes, beloved,
have seen the salvation of the Lord. He's gazed upon the Messiah. He is gazed upon the Messiah,
beloved, which thou hast prepared. It's all planned and purposed
by God before the face of all people. A light to lighten the
Gentiles, praise be to God, and the glory of thy people Israel.
So that's Jew and Gentile right there. That's Jew and Gentile. A light to lighten. Gentiles
and the glory of thy people Israel and it's all prepared by God
and Remember to this meeting this meeting between Joseph and
Jacob for Israel. It's a divine appointment It's
planned and purposed by God right? Lord's taking his people down
to Egypt. We're here going to deliver them with a mighty hand
and Now let's read verses 31 to 34 of Genesis chapter 46. Genesis chapter 46 verses 31
to 34. Joseph said unto his brethren
and unto his father's house, I will go up and show Pharaoh
and say unto him, my brethren and my father's house, which
were in the land of Canaan are coming to me. So Joseph's gonna
go before them. Who went before us, beloved?
Who's in glory right now before us? The Lord Jesus Christ, our
heavenly Joseph. He's gone to the king, hasn't
he? And he's mediating for us. Oh my, what great pictures we
see in Scripture. I will go up and show Pharaoh
and say unto him, My brethren, my father's house, which were
in the land of Canaan, are come unto me. And the men are shepherds,
for their trade hath been to feed cattle. And they have bought
their flocks and their herds and all that they have. And it
shall come to pass when Pharaoh shall call you, and shall say,
What is your occupation? That ye shall say, Thy servant's
trade hath been about cattle from our youth even until now,
both we and also our fathers, that ye may dwell in the land
of Goshen. For every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians. So when we consider these verses
spiritually, these verses teach us of the
separation of God's people from the people of the world. Turn,
if you would, to 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians, look at this. 2 Corinthians. There's definitely a separation
between God's people and the people of the world. 2 Corinthians
6. 2 Corinthians 6, verses 14 to 18. Look at these words. 2 Corinthians 6, verses 14 to 18. Speaking of God's people. Be
ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. So that's a
warning. That's a warning for God's people.
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship
hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light
with darkness? And what concord hath Christ
with Baal? Or what part hath he that believeth
with an infidel, which is an unbeliever? And what agreement
hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the
living God, as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk
in them, and I will be their God and they shall be my people.
Wherefore, look at this, come out from among them and be separate, saith the Lord, and touch not
the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and I will be a
father unto you, and ye shall be my sons, and daughters, saith
the Almighty. So we see a separation there.
between God's people and the people of the world. And it clearly
says, be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. The
unbeliever will never add anything to the believer, but he or she
will take away from the believer. It happens. Look at that. Be
not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship
hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light
with darkness? So in these verses of Scripture, even in Genesis,
back in Genesis, in the verses of Scripture, we see where Joseph
told his brethren that he would go before them and speak to Pharaoh,
and speak to Pharaoh on their behalf. And we see that he instructed
them as to what they should say and how they should conduct themselves
before Pharaoh. Now, Pharaoh had already accepted
Jacob and his family for Joseph's sake. And Pharaoh had already told
Joseph that his family could dwell in the land of Goshen.
But now that they had arrived, it was needful for Joseph to
speak to Pharaoh again. informing him of the things concerning
his father Israel and all his family. And it was necessary
for Israel and Joseph's brothers to appear before Pharaoh to speak
for themselves, and we see that shepherds were an abomination
unto the Egyptians. They were an abomination unto
the Egyptians. We'll look at that a little bit
more Next week, where we see Joseph's brothers, they do not
try to hide the fact of their occupation, because Joseph told
them, don't hide, don't hide what you are. They openly confessed
to Pharaoh that they were shepherds, and we see that they do it willingly. Now consider this, beloved God,
and consider this, consider the separation, right? The Egyptians, The Israelites are told to go
to the land of Goshen. They're gonna be given the land
of Goshen to dwell in. They are separate. They're still in Egypt,
right? They're still in the nation of
Egypt, but they're separate from the Egyptians. Ah, we're still
in this world, right? Which Egypt's a picture,
but we're separate. We're separated by God. We're an ekklesia, which means
a called out assembly. A called out assembly, that's
what we are. We're called out of the world,
aren't we? We're still in the world, we still have to deal
with the world, we still have to deal with our own sin, right? But praise be to God, we're saved,
we're called out, we're a called out people. by the Holy Spirit
of God, born again by the Holy Spirit of God, granted faith
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And yet we still live
in the land of Egypt, don't we? We still live in this world,
beloved. Oh my. And consider this again, as I
mentioned earlier, our heavenly Joseph, he's already entered
into the presence of the king. He's already entered into the
presence of the king. to appear in the presence of
God for us. For us. He's already pleaded
our cause before God Almighty. And our Heavenly Father has already
accepted us in Christ. In Christ. Oh my. Even though He knows that all
of us are in our unregenerate state, an abomination to Him,
right? Yet we are accepted in the beloved.
We're accepted in the beloved. My. And each of God's people,
by God-given faith, must bow down to God our Father, right?
We bow down to God our Father. My. And we confess, what do we
confess? We confess that we're hell deserving
sinners, don't we? We confess we're hell deserving
sinners, but God's had mercy on us in Christ. Oh my, and we
confess that everything in us in our natural state is an abomination
to God. We're just sinners to the core. Somebody doesn't admit they're
a sinner who confesses to be a believer, then they got a problem.
Because we're sinners. We're sinners. Now we're just,
now we're saved sinners. Praise be to God. Oh my, it's
wonderful. And no wonder the apostle Paul
wrote this, for I know that in me, meaning his flesh, dwelleth
no good thing. That's the saved man writing
that. Dwelleth no good thing. For the will is present with
me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good
I would do I do not, but the evil which I would not, that
I do." That's a man with a civil war going on, isn't it? Just
like us. And he turns right to Christ, doesn't he? He says,
I have victory in Christ. Victory in Him. You know, God
strips us of all our sinful, foolish pride, doesn't He? Oh
my, he gives us a new heart that moves us to humble ourselves
before God, to bow our knee before God. We, in our natural state,
we said, we're not have this man rule over us, and now we
say, oh Lord, oh Lord, you are king. And we bow to him, willingly,
don't we? Willingly. With a true, sincere,
heartbroken confession before him, we cry out with the publican,
God be merciful to me, the sinner. And we cry that out to our Heavenly
Father. Look at verse 6 of this Genesis. Turn, if you would, over to Genesis
chapter 47. Look at this. We'll look at this
more next week, but look at this. Genesis 47, verse 6. The land
of Egypt is before thee. In the best of the land make
thy father and thy brethren to dwell. in the land of Goshen. Let them dwell, and if thou knowest
any man of activity among them, then make them rulers over my
cattle. Oh my. Think upon this, beloved, before
we can worship God in peace of conscience and liberty of heart,
we must know upon the authority of God's word and by the power
of the Holy Spirit of God that the entire question of our sin
The entire question of our sin is forever settled by the blood
of the Lamb, by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Right? Trusting only in Him as our divine
sin offering. And we must know that all the
demands of our soul, all the demands for the ransom of our
souls, and all the necessities to redeem our souls have been
forever Forever, forever fulfilled in the sacrifice of Christ. Fulfilled. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith
Christ hath made you free. And be not entangled again in
the yoke of bondage. Galatians 5.1. Stand fast in
the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free. And oh how
this gives us peace. And the enjoyment of that peace
as we walk through this world. We worship our great God. Our
Savior is the perfect sacrifice. The perfect man. Praise his mighty
name. And he gave his life. If you're
one of his people, he gave his life for you. Praise his name. Heavenly Father, we thank you
for your goodness and mercy and grace. Oh, how kind you are to
your people. Oh, Lord, how compassionate you
are to us. Oh, in our natural state, we
shake our fists at the in our sinfulness. And yet. Your love has ever been upon
us. Set upon us from eternity. Oh, Lord. You came and died on
that cross and shed your precious blood to purchase our eternal
souls. May we, who are your people, rejoice, O Lord. And may the
message go forth, the messages go forth from this place, O Lord. And may you be glorified, and
may you be magnified, O Lord. And may you draw in your lost
sheep, if it be your will. And we who are your people, we
say glory be to Thee, O Lord. Glory and honor and praise and
blessing to Thee, who has loved us with an everlasting love. In Jesus' name, amen.