The name of the message is revealed.
Revealed. Genesis 45. Now, up to our study
at this point, Joseph has known who his brothers are, but they
do not know who he is. As far as they are concerned,
he's probably either perished in slavery, as they say that he's no more,
when they talked to Joseph. So let's read Genesis chapter
45 verses 1 to 5, again the name of the message is revealed. 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 him, while Joseph made himself known unto
his brethren. And he wept aloud, and the Egyptians
in the house of Pharaoh heard. And Joseph said unto his brethren,
I am Joseph. Doth my father yet live? And
his brothers could not answer, for they were troubled at his
presence. And Joseph said unto his brethren,
Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said,
I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Now, therefore,
be not grave nor angry with yourselves that she sold me hither, for
God did send me before you to preserve life. Last week, we
saw that Joseph had arranged for all his brothers to be bought
back before him by having his silver cup placed in Benjamin's
bag. Now, all of Joseph's brothers,
they were on their way back to Canaan, and they thought, well,
We're good. The worst of the trip is done.
The worst of the trip is done. We went down, bought food, received
food in Egypt, and now we're heading home. Second year of
the famine is over, but we know that by God's eternal decree
that it was now their appointed time to have Joseph reveal himself
to them. They did not know. And not only is their brother
that they sold into slavery, but he would reveal himself also
as the sovereign ruler over all of Egypt. And Judah had made
an oath to his father Israel to be surety for Benjamin when
Joseph told his brothers that all of them could leave but Benjamin.
And his silver cup had been found the youngest brother Sack, Benjamin
Sack, and Judah poured his heart out to the sovereign monarch
over all of Egypt, not knowing that he was pouring his heart
out to his brother Joseph. He was true to his word to his
father. He's willing to become a bond
slave to the Egyptians so that Benjamin and all his other brethren
could go free. And we saw last week that Joseph
typified the Lord Jesus Christ as the sovereign ruler over all
of Egypt. Egypt is considered a picture
of the world. The Lord is sovereign ruler over all things. And he
brings us to a point and to a place where he will reveal himself
to us, just as Joseph revealed himself to his brethren. The
Lord does that to every one of his people. We don't know him
before we're saved. We have no idea. We have no idea
that he's our brother, because he is our brother. He's our elder
brother. He's the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
God incarnate in the flesh, but we have no clue until he reveals
himself to us who he is. No clue at all. So we see a picture
here. Joseph's brothers typified all
of God's elect who by the Holy Spirit convictions pour our hearts
to the one who we've hated without a cause. and showing genuine
remorse and confession for our sins before the Lord Jesus Christ,
our maker. And Judah did this. Judah did
this in the place of all his brethren. He confessed. He confessed to Joseph and said,
take me, make me the bond slave. Let my little brother go free.
I'm the guilty one. I'm the guilty one. You remember
they had revealed their guilt to Joseph before and how they
were remorseful for what they had done to him. not knowing
that the very one they spoke to was the one who they had sinned
against. So I ask you, is this not a picture
of God's dealing with all whom He saves? Our sins, even the
corruption of our best deeds are bought before us, and what
do we do when the Lord reveals Himself to us? What do we do? We own our guilt, don't we? Natural
men will not own guilt for their sin. They will not do it. But
when the believer has Christ revealed to us, we own the guilt
of our sin, don't we? We own the fact that we are guilty
before a holy and righteous God. We own that fact. We own our
own guilt of unbelief and our part in Adam's fall and the crucifixion
of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. It's my sins that put
him there. It's mine, and every believer
says that, don't we? It's my sins that put him on the cross.
He's sinless, spotless, perfect, holy, undefiled, and he dies
for sinners. That's my sin he died for. My
wrath that was due me, the believer says, fell upon him. Fell upon
him. So we come hungry, empty, and
needy before God's throne, confessing all our sins. and owning God's
justice and condemning us, don't we? We say we're guilty, and
we deserve to be condemned. We deserve it. And we fall at
the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ, whom we denied at one time and
rejected at one time, and our sins crucified Him, and we own
that He is Lord, don't we? We own that He is Lord. And we
own the fact that he can do whatever he wills. Remember the leper? Lord, if you will, you can cleanse
me. That's what we say, don't we?
When we come to the Lord. Lord, if we will. By Holy Spirit
conviction. Lord, if you will. And this is
not an outward form nor faked repentance like Judah of old. We are genuinely pleading for
mercy. Undeserved mercy in waiting upon
the Lord, knowing that salvation is of Him. And it's His to give. It's His to give. He can justly
condemn us or mercifully save us. It's up to Him. It's His
sovereign choice. We are but receivers of mercy
and grace. We're receivers of mercy and
grace. We have no claim on Him. He's not obligated to help us
out. No. But he's faithful to his covenant
in Christ. That's where it is. He's faithful
to his covenant in Christ. Like what an old preacher said
one time, he said, if we got what we deserve, we'd all be
in hell. But we don't get what we deserve,
God's people. And in due time, Joseph revealed
himself to his brethren and spoke peace to them. Did you notice
that? He spoke peace to them. He said, don't be afraid. They
were troubled, weren't they? But He spoke peace to them. And we know that Christ will
in due time reveal Himself to His sheep, sincere seekers. And what does He speak to us? He speaks peace to our hearts,
doesn't He? He speaks peace to our hearts through His precious,
precious blood. Twenty-two years had passed from
the time Joseph's brothers had sold him into slavery in the
time when Joseph revealed himself to his brothers as sovereign
ruler over all of Egypt. And we see in these first five
verses of Genesis chapter 45 that Joseph reveals himself to
his brother. And this again, this was all
by God's perfect timing. It didn't happen second early
and it didn't happen second late. It's God's appointed time for
Joseph to reveal when this has occurred. Not a second too early,
again, and not a second too late. I was talking to someone, a believer in Christ, and they
said, well, I sure wish the Lord had saved me when I was 10. You know, I used to talk like
that. I used to talk like that. I don't anymore. And I told him,
I said, will the Lord save you when it's his perfect time? Not a second early and not a
second late. When it's the appointed time
for us. It's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. He's
the one who does the saving. And his brother standing before
Joseph here on this visit was more of a fulfillment of Joseph's
dream Concerning his brothers than any of the other times when
they had stood before him. They're all standing as before
him now and Remember his dream. They said to him shalt thou indeed
reign over us remember they said that to him or shall thou indeed
have dominion over us and They hated him yet the more for his
dreams and for his words and here they are standing in front
of him as a fulfillment of that dream And take note also that when
their brother Joseph, whom they hated and despised, revealed
himself to them, there was no doubt in their minds that Joseph
did indeed reign over them, and did indeed have dominion over
them. They're afraid, beloved. Look at verse 3. And Joseph said
unto his brethren, I am Joseph, doth my father yet live? And
his brethren could not answer. Why? They knew who he was now. He can have their heads lopped
off if He wanted to. And look at this. They could
not answer Him for they were troubled at His presence. I bet
they were. Are we not troubled at the presence
of the Lord when He first reveals Himself to us? When we see the
law with a just claim upon us and a holy and righteous God
who we sinned against? In comes the balm of Gilead,
beloved. Christ died for all your sins.
Oh, then peace comes, doesn't it? Then peace comes. Look at this in verse four. And
Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near me, near to me, I pray
you. And they came near. And he said,
I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Now therefore
be not aggrieved nor angry with yourselves that you sold me hither. For God did send me before you
to preserve life. He speaks peace to them, beloved. And we're reminded here Again, by their fear of him,
how they once hated and despised him. How they once hated and
despised him. And again, there's no doubt that
Joseph now reigns over them. There's no doubt of that, is
there? No, he's standing before them
as second in command over all of Egypt. And we're reminded again, that
it's God's purpose to exalt Joseph to his position as ruler over
all. over all of Egypt, and we know
that God will make sure that what He has purposed will come
to pass. Will come to pass. Note in our
text in verse 4 again, Joseph says to his brethren, Come near
to me, I pray you. And they came near, and 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. Joseph had
been able to reflect on things. 22 years is a long time to be
able to reflect on things, isn't it? And remember the first time
that his brothers came, they showed that they were grieved
for what they had did to their brother too. So he's had time
to reflect on that as well. And we've seen all through this
study that in the life of Joseph, which points us to our Lord Jesus
Christ, again, who was nailed to the cross for our sins, And
it was God the Father who sent him to preserve. Think of this
too. It was God the Father that sent
him to preserve the life of his elect. To give us eternal life. And to purchase our souls. So
again, Joseph is a type of Christ in this situation. And our Lord
Jesus Christ is right now seated on the heavenly throne. He's
not waiting to reign. He's sitting right now and he's
ruling and he's reigning right now. Right now. He's sovereign
monarch over all creation. He's king of kings and lord of
lords. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
reveals himself to us under the preaching of this gospel, what
does he do? He bids us to draw near to him,
doesn't he? Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy
laden. And I'll give you rest, amen, I'll give you rest. I'll
give you rest. He says, let not your heart be
troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me in the scriptures.
So by God's amazing grace and by the gift of faith that he
gives us, we come to him believing that by his substitutionary death
he preserved us, he bought us, he purchased us, and we trust
in his words. Because I live, ye shall live
also. We trust in those words, don't
we? Let's read verses one and two
again of Genesis chapter 45. then Joseph could not refrain
himself before all that stood by him. And he cried, Cause every
man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him,
while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. And he wept
aloud, and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard. Now
see in the text that when Joseph revealed himself to his brothers,
all the Egyptians were commanded to leave the room. All the Egyptians were commanded
to leave the room. They heard the tears of joy,
but they could not see what was going on in Joseph's private
chamber. So it is so with the Lord Jesus
Christ, beloved. So it is with the Lord Jesus
Christ. Who does he reveal himself to? His loved ones. His loved ones and all the others
are left. All the others are left. Those in spiritual Egypt hear
of the Lord's love for His own, but they cannot see it. They
hear of it, but they can't see it. We tell them about it, don't
we? But they can't see it, beloved.
They can't see it. They cannot understand the joy
in the heart of God's people when Christ reveals Himself to
us. My! They cannot understand it. They
hear about it, but they have no understanding. Can't see it. And all through these studies,
one thing has been stressed is this glorious God-honoring truth
that it was God who sent Joseph to Egypt. It's God who sent Joseph
to Egypt. And all that took place in the
life of Joseph was planned and purposed by our great God. including
the wicked acts of Joseph's brethren who sold him into slavery. That
did not catch God by surprise. Joseph told his brothers, Be
not grieved nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither, for God
did send me before you to preserve life. We know that God is not the author
of evil, but He allows things to occur. that His sovereign
plan and His will will be accomplished. Let's read verses 3 and 5 with
this in mind. All He has to do for natural
man to sin, all God has to do for natural man to sin is to
leave him alone, and they will plunge headlong into sin. People hear statements like I
just made, and they say, well, you're saying God's the author
of sin. No, I'm not. All God has to do is leave a
man alone, or a woman. Just leave them alone. They're
plunge headlong into sin. Again, I like what Brother Henry
says. What does God have to do for a man to go to hell? Just
leave him alone. Just leave him alone. What's God have to do
for a man to go to heaven? Everything. Everything. God restrains the wicked, beloved.
He restrains the wicked in this world. But His will will be accomplished,
His purpose will be worked out. Look at verses 3 to 4, or 3 to
5. And Joseph said unto his brethren,
I am Joseph, doth my father yet live? And his brethren could
not answer him, for they were troubled at his presence. And
Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you.
And they came near, and he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom
you sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved
nor angry with yourselves that ye sold me hither, for God did
send me before you to preserve life. Now let us always remember
as we're studying the Scriptures that everything that is written
in the Old Testament and the New Testament points to the Lord
Jesus Christ. And it's for our learning and
our instruction, the people of God's learning and instruction.
And the Scriptures point to Christ as the only source of salvation.
There is only salvation in and through the Lord Jesus Christ.
No one else. No one else. And like Joseph's
evil brothers, wicked and cruel hands crucified the Lord Jesus
Christ, right? But we know from Scripture that
it all occurred and happened according to God's own determinate
purpose. It was He that sent Christ into
this world. Why? To die. To die for the sins
of His people. I read something this week, kind
of perplexed me a little bit. And it was from a Sovereign Grace
person, and they wrote about how, well, what if Christ hadn't
died for me? That's impossible. Christ came to die for the sins
of His people. That was His purpose. That was His purpose, beloved. Scripture says He set His face
like a flint to Jerusalem. He knew what He must do. He willingly
came to die for us. He's God. What He purposed and
what He willed will be accomplished, beloved. There's no doubt. There's no doubt. If He had died
on the cross, nobody would be saved. The eternal covenant of
grace had to be ratified by His precious blood. And He knew that. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission for sins. He must die. He must. And the Father sent Him into
this world to save His people from their sins. And He willingly came again. And our great God and King did
that to preserve His people, to give them eternal life. It's
He who has saved us, the Scripture says, and called us with a holy
call, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior
Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and has brought life and
immortality and light through the Gospel. It's He who saved
us, beloved. That's the whole reason He came
here. And God's thoughts are not our
thoughts. We know that he said, we know that he said, that he
said, Father, if it be your will, have this passed from me. But
he said, nevertheless, thy will. He was resigned to God's will.
That's his humanity speaking. But he's God incarnate in the
flesh. Nevertheless, not my will be
done, but thine. I must. I must die for my people. My, my, it's amazing. All the conditions of the eternal
covenant were purposed and agreed upon by our great majestic triune
God, right? It's Jesus Christ who is the
Lamb of God. When was He slain? From the foundation
of the earth. from the foundation of the world.
It's all purpose. That which was purposed in eternity
must come to pass in time. It must. It must. It must take place. Christ must
come into this world, and His blood must be shed. He must lay
down His life to redeem His people, to make us acceptable in God's
sight. Otherwise, we have no way to enter into God's presence.
No way at all, except clothed in that perfect, spotless righteousness
of Christ. And our Savior knew that, beloved.
He knew that. My. Would you die for those who despise
you and reject you? who are enemies in their minds
towards you, would you die for someone like that? I don't think
any of us would. But Christ came into this world.
We're loved of him. He knows where his sheep, but
in our natural state, we despised him. We rejected him, his gospel. But look at the grace and mercy.
He died for us on Calvary's cross, beloved. It's marvelous. Absolutely marvelous. So by the
supreme sacrifice of himself, Christ our Savior abolished death
for us. But we did not know Christ when
we came into this world. We did not know the glorious
truths of the gospel. Everything we know now, we've
learned. He's revealed it to us. Brother Tim and I have talked
about that before. It's divine revelation. He must reveal himself or we
have no clue who he is. No clue at all. No clue of the glorious truths
of the gospel. No clue about who Christ is and
why he came to this world until our heavenly Joseph reveals himself
to us. Oh my, then, oh my. When we're born again of the
Holy Spirit of God, he gives us faith to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Everything changes, doesn't it?
Oh, my. And he brings us to life and
immortality to light through the gospel, doesn't he? All according
to his mercy and grace, because it pleased him to do so. Isn't
that amazing? Because it pleased him to do
so. So what a picture we have here
before us with Joseph revealing himself to his brethren. Let's
read verses 5 to 8 now. Now therefore be not grieved
nor angry with yourself that ye sold me hither, for God did
send me before you to preserve life. Only a man touched by the
grace of God can say something like that. Natural man would
never say anything like that. Look at that. Oh my. For these
two years hath the famine been in the land, and yet there are
five years in which there shall neither be earing nor harvest.
And God sent me before you to preserve life, preserve you a
posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it is not you that sent
me hither, look at this, but God. Look at that. He hath made me a father to Pharaoh,
and the Lord of all his house, and the ruler throughout all
the land. He gives all the glory to God the Lord. And a born-again, blood-washed
believer in Christ cannot help but be grieved and angry over
our own sin, and sin in general in this world. If Christ dwells
in us, we hate sin, don't we? We hate sin more in ourselves
than anywhere else. In Ephesians 4, verse 30 says,
And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed
unto the day of redemption. So how can we make a spiritual
application to these words which Joseph speaks when he says to
his brethren, Now therefore be not grieved nor angry with yourself. Think upon this. These words
reached the ears of Joseph's brethren after he had revealed
himself to them. It was after they had been told
by the sovereign ruler over Egypt that it was God who sent Joseph
to Egypt to preserve life. And it was after Joseph told
them not to be grieved nor angry with themselves. Clearly indicating
that he was not grieved or angry with them. He had freely and
fully forgiven them, beloved. He had freely and fully forgiven
them for what they had done. Now ponder this, when our Lord
Jesus Christ reveals Himself to us, He fills our minds with
perfect peace, doesn't He? And the peace that passes all
understanding, the Scripture says. In knowing that our God
is not angry with us anymore. And that anger from the Lord
is righteous anger. Because it's His law and justice,
it's His law that we've sinned against. It's Him who we've sinned
against. But in Christ, He's not angry with us. He's angry
with the wicked, we know that. But He's not angry with His people
in Christ. They've been freely and fully forgiven for what they
had done to Him. And who does He forgive us for?
He forgives us for Christ's sake, doesn't He? For Christ's sake. When one of God's lost sheep
experienced the miracle of the new birth, we're a new creation.
All by our Lord and Savior. All by the sovereign life-giving
power regenerated by the Holy Spirit of God. And now we battle
this flesh, don't we? We battle this flesh each day,
this body of flesh still with us. And we'll be plagued with
sinful desires and the proneness to wander until our Lord Jesus
Christ delivers us from this body of death. But oh my, we've
been forgiven, beloved. We've been forgiven of all our
sins in Christ Jesus our Lord. And help we who are the people
of God to understand that we not use the grace of God as a
license to sin. We not use the grace of God as
a license to sin. We're to hate sin, we're to fight
against sin. We're to put off the old man,
the flesh, and put on a new man. Colossians says this, and have
put on a new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image
of him that created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew,
circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor
free, but Christ is all, then in all. Put on therefore as the
elect of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercy, kindness, humbleness
of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another and forgiving
one another. If any man have a quarrel against
any, even as Christ forgave you, So also do ye. So how do we do that? How do
we do that? What Paul just told us? Well,
we do that by keeping ourselves under the preaching of the gospel.
Because the preaching of the gospel will keep our hearts and
minds on Christ. On Christ. And is a constant
reminder of the forgiveness of our sins. But we never ever use
the grace of God as a license to sin. We just do not do that.