if you would, to Genesis chapter
45. Genesis chapter 45 will continue
our study in the life of Joseph. The life of Joseph. Last week
in our study we saw that Joseph had revealed himself to his brethren
and that's when they realized that he was the sovereign ruler,
the monarch over all of Egypt, only answerable to Pharaoh. And they realized that this was
their long lost brother who they had at one time hated without
a cause. And they proved their hatred
towards him by selling him into slavery when he was only 17 years
old. And as a result of hearing this
news of who he was, they were afraid. And then we saw the joy
of Joseph revealing himself to his brothers. A.W. Pink says that's such a picture
of Christ revealing himself to his people. And though they were
troubled at first, Joseph's brothers began to rejoice with him, fellowshipping
and talking with him after he spake these words to him from
verse five. Look at Genesis chapter 45 verse
five. He says, now therefore be not
grieved nor angry with yourselves that ye sold me hither For God
did send me before you to preserve life. So Joseph now sees the
whole purpose and plan of God and that which befell him. And
look at Joseph's words in verse 7 and 8 as well of Genesis chapter
45. And God sent me before you to
preserve your posterity in the earth and to save your lives
by a great deliverance. So now 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. So we see Joseph here tells his
brothers not to be angry with themselves for what they had
done, and he declares the sovereignty of God in the situation that
befell him. and all that's followed afterwards. And he tells them, knowing that
it was God's sovereign plan for this to occur, that all this
happened, and that it was God who sent him down to Egypt to
preserve life, to preserve their lives. Let's look today at Genesis
chapter 8, or Genesis chapter 45, and we'll look at verses
8 to 24, but first let's look at verses, we'll do it in sections
here. Let's look at verses 8 to 10
right now. So now it was not you that sent
me hither, but God. So again, he sees the sovereignty
of God in the situation. And he hath made me a father
to Pharaoh, and Lord of all his house. He's only answerable to
Pharaoh. and a ruler throughout all the
land of Egypt. Haste ye, and go to my father,
and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made
me lord of all Egypt. Come down unto me, tarry not. And 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. So we see that Joseph tells his
brethren to make haste, to make haste, to quickly go to their
father and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath
made me Lord of all Egypt. Come down unto me, tarry not. Now think upon this. By the time Joseph revealed himself
to his brothers, he'd been ruler over all of Egypt. For more than
nine years. For more than nine years. It
had been seven years of planning. And now they were two years into
the famine. They were two years into the
famine. The second year of the famine. And we don't know how
long Joseph desired to reveal himself to his brethren to tell
them what God had done for him and in him. But some things we
do know are that Joseph had the Spirit of God dwelling in him.
And he knew that it was God who had sent him down to Egypt. He
knew that. We see that in his very words.
He knew that. He'd been taught that by God. And he knew that the seven years
of plenty had come, and he knew that there would be seven more
years of famine, and he knew that this was all ordained by
God. He knew that as well. He knew that. He trusted and
rested in the same God that we trust and rest in, our great
Savior. And we see a picture with Joseph
and his brethren of how Christ our Heavenly Joseph reveals Himself
to His people at the appointed time, at God's appointed time. Our Savior spoke these words,
turn if you would to John 17, our Savior spoke these words
in the high priestly prayer In His high priestly prayer, He glorifies His Father by giving
eternal life to as many as the Father gave Him. And who are
they? Well, they're the ones who we'll
look at this morning in the morning's message. They're the children
of promise. They're the children of promise.
Look at this, John 17, verses one to five. These words spake
Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the
hour has come. Glorify thy son that thy son
may also may glorify thee. As thou has given him power over
all flesh. Right there, what a statement.
Christ has power over all flesh. Whether people believe it or
not, Our great Savior is absolutely sovereign, and He has power over
all flesh. And we know He also has power
over all things, visible and invisible. That's the one who
saved us. And remember, weak and weary pilgrim like myself,
that's the one who keeps us. That's the one who keeps us,
beloved. He keeps us. As Thou has given Him power over
all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou
has given Him. Now you see the tie-in there.
has all power to give eternal life to as many as, what? As
many as the Father has given him. And like I said, this morning's
message is all about the children of promise. And that ties right
in there. Right in there. And this is life
eternal, that they may know thee the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom thou hast sent. God sent his Son into this world. He sent his Son into this world.
And then look what the Lord says. I have glorified thee on the
earth, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. It's
done. It's finished, and he's gonna
go to the cross and he's gonna cry what? It is finished. It's done. And now, O Father, glorify thou
me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee
before the world was. So notice it says in verse two
there, and thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he
should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
He reveals himself to those the Father gave him, just like Joseph. See, Joseph is a picture of our
heavenly Joseph. And when he reveals himself to
his brethren, it's a picture, because remember, all the Egyptians
were told to leave the room. And Christ only revealed himself
to his brethren. Or I mean, Joseph only revealed
himself to his brethren, which is a picture of Christ. He reveals
himself to his people, to his brethren, and not to anyone else. It's marvelous. And who does
he reveal himself to? All that the Father hath given
him. All of them. And notice that, too. It's all
of them. It's all of them. He should give
eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. My. So let this
warm your soul, you who are the redeemed of the Lord, Our sovereign
Lord knows when it is the appointed time, when it's the appointed
time for Him to reveal Himself to those that He purchased with
His precious blood. And when that appointed time
comes, that time of love, nothing can stop Him from accomplishing
what He has purposed, nothing, nothing. And take note that right
after Joseph reveals himself to his brethren, that he sincerely
desires to see his father now. He sincerely, he hasn't seen
his father since he was 17 years old and he's in his 30s now. My. And when we witness the members
of our own family or to our neighbors, our friends, or our co-workers,
We are not to tell them what we've done for Christ, no, no,
no. But we're to tell them the great
things the Lord has done for us, what he's done for us. What has Jesus Christ done for
us, for we who are his people? Well, he walked upon this earth
and he perfectly honored God's law in our place and he established
a perfect righteousness. That's when he said, I've finished
the work. He established the perfect righteousness for us,
beloved. In addition, by the supreme sacrifice
of himself, by the shedding of his precious blood, he has obtained
eternal redemption for us. He's done this. He's obtained
it. We could never obtain eternal
redemption. We can't pay for any sins that
we've committed, but he paid for all ours. And then the Lord's
risen from the grave, hasn't He? He's entered into heaven. And He now appears in the presence
of God for His people. And our suffering Savior, He
laid down His life. And when He laid down His life,
remember that He completely satisfied all that God demanded in our
place. Everything. Satisfied. Completely. My, what a Savior. And let us
also think of what Christ has done. He came to us. Think of this. He came to us
when we were dead in trespasses and sins. Right? We didn't seek Him out. And we were made willing in the
day of His power. We didn't seek Him out. Just
like that, just how I love Luke 15 where the shepherd, he goes
and seeks that lost sheep. When he finds him, he puts him
on his neck, carries him home. What a pitcher. He sought us
out, beloved. That's what he's done for us.
He sought us out. Oh, he sought us out. When we
were dead in trespasses and sins, when we were despising Him and
despising His gospel, He sought us out. And He came to us when we had
absolutely no desire to come to Him. No desire to come to Him. He
came to us. Then consider what Jesus Christ
has done in us. He broke the stubborn, rebellious
will that was within us, didn't He? He made us willing in the
day of His power to come to Him. And He took away the unregenerate,
stony heart that was within us and put in us a new heart that
hungers and thirsts after righteousness, the Scripture says. My. He gave us true saving faith,
didn't He? To believe on Him. And what else
did He do? He put His unfathomable love
in us. He put His unfathomable love
in us. Oh, my. Put new desires in us, new motives
in us. And it's God who has worked all
these things and so much more in us. And He continues to work
in us, doesn't He? Yeah, we're being conformed to
the image of Christ, the Scripture says. We're growing in the grace
and knowledge and truth of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's all
according to His will and according to His good pleasure. Isn't that
wonderful? It's absolutely wonderful. These are some of the great things
that the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us and we tell others.
He saved my soul. He saved my soul by the giving
of His life. So Joseph tells his brothers
to tell their father and his loved ones, come down unto me
and tarry not. Don't tarry. Think upon this. The only hope they had to survive
the famine that God had bought upon the land was to go to Joseph. There was no other way to survive
that famine but to go to Joseph. He was the only one who could
supply them with the food that they needed to make it through
the famine. He was the only one. Well, there's only one who provides
salvation. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ. There's nowhere
else to go but Christ. And this is the message we have
for our unsaved loved ones. You must humble yourselves before
God. You must come down. from the lofty pedestal that
our sinful pride has put us in, we must trust Christ. And we
do that when we're made willing in the day of God's power. Brother
Henry Mahan says, the way up, or the way down is the way up.
We humble ourselves before our great God. There's absolutely no hope of
forgiveness, no hope of God's mercy, no hope of eternal life,
no hope of heaven if we don't fall down at the feet of the
Lord Jesus Christ. If we don't come to Him through
the gift of God's faith and believe on Him as He's plainly set forth
in the scriptures, there's no hope for a sinner outside of
Christ. So we see then that Joseph told
his brothers to take the good news back to their father. Take
the good news back to our father. Take it back. And also to all
the members of the household, right? To all the members of the household.
And then he told them to bring them all down to Egypt. My oh
my. Let's look at verse 10 one more
time before we go on to our next verse. And thou shalt dwell in
the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto me, as thou
and thy children, and thy children's children, and thy flocks, and
thy herds, and all that thou hast. Joseph told them that they
would dwell in the land of Goshen, where they would be near to him. Near to him. The Hebrew word
for Goshen is defined as drawing near. Drawing near. It's said of one older grace
preacher that the land of Goshen could easily typify the places
where God's saints meet together for public worship. Could typify
that. Where they draw near to Christ,
praising him, in corporate worship and rejoicing in the preaching
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And under the preaching
of the gospel is where the Lord Jesus Christ reveals himself
to his loved ones, to his loved ones. It's where he nourishes
us. It's where he feeds us, where
he strengthens us, where he encourages us, where he builds us up in
the faith, all through the preaching of the gospel. all through the
preaching of the gospel. And think also upon this, when
we absence ourself from the appointed times of public worship, we're
often robbing ourselves of that spiritual nearness that our Lord
has ordained for us. And we deprive ourself of spiritual
nourishment that's so vital to our eternal soul, so vital to
our spiritual being. That's without a mind, let's
read Genesis chapter 45 verses 11 to 15. And there will I nourish
thee in the land of Goshen. Oh, in the land of Goshen. And
yet, there are five years of famine, lest thou and thy household
and all thou hast come to poverty. And behold, your eyes, the eyes
of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaketh
unto you. and ye shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt,
and of all that ye have seen, and ye shall hasten bring down
my father hither.' And he 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. Only the grace of God has made Joseph the man that
he is when we see in the text here. His brother sold him into
slavery and this isn't, you know, slavery was brutal back then. And they were treated like almost
just a little bit above animals, slaves were. And look at this,
he told them, God sent me down, but look at the grace that's
flowing through him, in the sense, in the love that he has for his
brethren. He's forgot all the wrong that
they've done to him. He said, don't be troubled. And look at how he embraces them.
So not only is the love that he has in his heart for his brethren,
manifested by his words, but now by his actions. And he truly has forgiven them.
He's embracing them. He loves his brethren. This is
a miracle of grace, beloved. And we see that Joseph told them
to bring Jacob and all his family down unto him, so that he could
nourish them all through the remaining years of the famine. Our Lord takes care of us while
we're here on this earth, doesn't He? And there's a famine of the
Word of God right now in this world. And you have places where
you can come and hear the Gospel and rejoice. But it's not everywhere. And I can see how that older
brother, It's brought out how Goshen is a picture of the church. It's a refuge. It's an oasis
for us. And we're nourished and fed by
the Lord through the preaching of His Word. Let's read verses
16 to 24 now. And the fame thereof was heard
in Pharaoh's house, saying, Joseph's brethren are come. And it pleased
Pharaoh well and his servants. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,
Say unto thy brethren, This do ye, lay your beasts, and go get
you in to the land of Canaan and take your father and your
households and come unto me and I will give you the good of the
land of Egypt and you shall eat the fat of the land now thou
art commanded this do take ye the wagons of the land of Egypt
for your little ones and for your wives and bring your father
and come also regard not your stuff the good of all the land
of Egypt is yours." My! And the children of Israel did
so, and Joseph gave them wagons according to the commandment
of Pharaoh, and gave them provisions for the way. To all of them he
gave each man changes of raiment, but to Benjamin he gave three
hundred pieces of silver and five changes of raiment. and
to his father he sent after the manner ten asses laden with the
good things of Egypt and ten she-asses laden with corn and
bread and meat for his father by the way." Totally provided
for. So he sent his brethren away
and they departed and he said unto them, see that ye fall not
out by the way. So we see here by Pharaoh's actions
in sending the wagons saying, take the wagons, take whatever
you need, that Joseph was admired and highly respected by Pharaoh
and by his servants. And Joseph's fame, which is the
news of Joseph's brothers, pleased Pharaoh and all his servants.
So God had... You remember the Israelites when
they leave Egypt? And remember when they spoil
Egypt because God showed favor in their eyes? And they were
given their gold and their silver and everything just to take it. It's the same thing going on
here. God is having the Egyptians show favor to the Israelites.
It just shows you His sovereign power, His almighty power over
all things. And think upon this, what they
did not see nor acknowledge was this, Joseph was God's man. He
was God's man sent from Jehovah Himself, the one and only true
and living God. And they did not see that Joseph
typified Christ. They didn't see that. They didn't
see that. He typified the come and promised
Messiah who would save his people from all their sins. He typified
them. and provide them with what? What
does Christ provide us with? All we need. All we need. Joseph provided everything they
needed for the trip down to Canaan and for the trip back. And then
everything was gonna be provided. They were gonna eat the fat of
Israel, the best of Egypt, the best of Egypt, all provided. all provided for them, beloved. And they did not see that Joseph
was God's man. How do we know this? Well, it's
proven by their continual worship of their imaginary false gods.
They were blind to the things, to the God that Joseph worshiped.
The Egyptians were blind to that. And they still worshiped their
imaginary gods, but yet God showed favor in the eyes of the Egyptians
to Joseph and his family by his sovereign power. And note that
the command came from Pharaoh that Joseph was to send his brethren
back to the land of Canaan to bring his father and the rest
of his family back to Egypt. And note also that the command
was accompanied by that which would be needed. The command was accompanied by
that which would be needed for their trip. Wagons for the women
and children to ride in. Provisions. And look at verse
20. Look at verse 20. We see that
Pharaoh told Joseph to tell his family not to regard their stuff.
Don't even regard your stuff. Look at that. Also, regard not
your stuff, for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours. Don't worry about the stuff you've
accumulated. Just leave it behind. Just leave it behind. Because everything will be provided
for them. Everything will be provided for them. And all the
good of the land of Egypt was to be theirs. And we see that Joseph obeyed
the commandment of Pharaoh and gave them provision. for the
way and we know that Pharaoh's word, his promise to Joseph and
his loved ones was as good as himself, was as good as himself. Is this not a clear picture of
the promise of God, the father to his son and to all the family
of those who are loved by our Lord Jesus Christ? We see in
the story of when King David set and fetched Mephibosheth.
Remember when David set and fetched Mephibosheth? Over there in 1
Samuel chapter 9, he set and fetched Mephibosheth. And Mephibosheth was in Lodabar,
which means pastureless. Pastureless. The land of no bread. That's where he was. Beloved,
that's where we were. We were dead in trespasses and
sins and we were in the land of no bread, weren't we? In our
natural state. Then the command comes from David
to go and fetch Mephibosheth. Do you know why? Because he was
a covenant child. But as a result of a fall, he
was lame. He was lame. King David says, go and fetch
Mephibosheth. Bring him down to my house. And
he was a helpless man. He was lame from a fall, so there's
no way for him to get there on his own. So David sends some
down to fetch him. And Mephibosheth had no power
or desire to see David because the house of Saul, David had just took over the
throne of Saul. and Mephibosheth was the grandson of Saul, which
normally, when a king took over, they wiped out whoever came behind
him. But Mephibosheth didn't know
that Jonathan, his father, had made a covenant with David before
he was even born, that David would have mercy on
the household of Jonathan. He had no idea. And that impotent, helpless man,
Mephibosheth, David sent servants to fetch
him, which typifies all of God's covenant
children. Right? Holy Spirit, He comes
and fetches us, doesn't He? Yeah, he does. He does. And Mephibosheth was made willing
in the day of the king's power. He was bought before David. And you know what the words David
spoke to him? Listen to these wonderful words. Fear not. For I will surely show thee kindness
for Jonathan, thy father's sake. And will restore thee all the
land of Saul, thy father, and thou shall eat bread at my table
continually. Fear not. Is that not what the
Father says to us in Christ? Fear not. Does he not have mercy
on us for Christ's sake? because of a covenant that they
made in eternity. Oh, it's wonderful. And Mephibosheth,
he falls at the king's feet and he cries, what is thy servant
that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am? That's
every believer's cry, isn't it? Oh, Lord, you had mercy on me?
Oh, my. Yeah. Because of a covenant he made
in eternity with the Son and with the Holy Spirit of God. And David fulfilled his covenant
promise to Jonathan as long as he was alive. And as long as
he was on the throne of power. Who's alive right now? And who's
on the throne of power? Our great savior, beloved. Our great savior, and he lives
forevermore. Oh my. Mephibosheth had nothing
to fear as long as David was alive. Oh, my beloved. Isn't
that wonderful? We have nothing to fear. Our
Savior's in glory, alive, risen, risen and alive. And in our text
in Genesis 45, we read where the children of Israel did so.
And Joseph gave them wagons according to the commandment of Pharaoh
and gave them provisions for their way. And Joseph directed
his brothers according to the instructions of Pharaoh. providing
them with enough provisions for both trips, for both trips, for
the trip down to Canaan and for the trip back from Canaan. For
all the women and children to ride in, for everyone, for everyone. And notice in verse 21 and 24
that not only did Joseph give them wagons at the king's command,
but he gave them, again, all the provisions that they would
need, also including changes of raiment. And the children
of Israel did so, and Joseph gave them wagons according to
the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provisions for the
way. Has not our Lord provided for us for the way until we get
home to be with Him? He has, and He still does, doesn't
He? The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. To all of them
He gave each man chains of raiment, but to Benjamin He gave three
hundred pieces of silver and five chains of raiment. And to
his father he sent after this man a ten asses laden with good
things of Egypt, and ten she-asses laden with corn, and bread and
meat for his father by the way. So he sent his brethren away,
and they departed. And he said unto them, See that
ye fall, not out by the way. Oh, my. And we tell our friends
and our family the great things that the Lord had done for us
and that he's had compassion on us, don't we? He's had compassion
on us and how our Heavenly Father has put all things into the hands
of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. His darling son, as one
fellow grace preacher says, his darling son. I love that. And he's given us a change. Now,
he's given us a change of arraignment, hasn't he? And that, see the
picture there too? He's given us a change of him.
He's taken our filthy rags, our own self-righteousness off us,
hasn't he? And he's clothed us in the righteousness
of Christ. Oh my, what pictures we see here. What pictures we, we're clothed
in this perfect spotless righteousness. Listen to the scriptures declared.
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he
that believeth not in the Son shall not see life, but the wrath
of God abideth on him. My, oh, my. If you believe on the Son, rejoice.
Rejoice, because you're one of the covenant children of our
great God. Heavenly Father, we thank you
for allowing us to look into thy word. And oh how the Old
Testament shows us pictures of thee, Lord Jesus. And oh how
Joseph is a picture of thee, Lord. We thank you for allowing
us to look into the scriptures, giving us an understanding. We
pray that we could take away things from the messages today
and that they would comfort our souls all through the week, oh
Lord. Let us think upon the wondrous truths that we've looked at.
We love you. We who are your people love you
because you first loved us. In Jesus' name, amen.