I do like this story of Joseph. It
has a lot to say. Genesis 45, verses 1-8. Let me read the first eight verses
for us. Then Joseph could not refrain
himself before all them that stood by him, and he cried, It
calls every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with
Joseph while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. And Joseph wept aloud, and the
Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard. And Joseph said unto his
brethren, I am Joseph. Does my father yet live? And
his brethren His brothers could not answer him, for they were
troubled at his presence. That word trouble, they were
terrified. They were afraid, because they
remembered what they did to him. 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 you sold me hither. For God did send me before you
to preserve life. You talk about joy. This is what
I was talking about. You sold me, and in Genesis 50,
he says, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. He
could look through all the circumstances, all the third, fourth, and fifth
situations and circumstances that we have a tendency to blame,
or our blame ourselves, but when we see God meant it for good,
that brings peace and it does bring joy. God did send me before
you to preserve life. 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 you a 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." Now let me read something here and set
the pace, set the tone, because I can't word it as good as this
guy did. And he said, I am Joseph your
brother, whom you sowed into slavery, verse 4. What an interview
was this! In the first manifestation, the
governor of Egypt, or Joseph, made of himself to his brethren.
What a first manifestation! We are told that he wept aloud. His bowels yearned over them,
his brothers. He had long smothered in his
own bosom those he now manifests himself, and to every poor sinner
whom, by his grace, he makes partaker in the first resurrection,
of whom the second death hath no power. I am Jesus, your brother,
saith the adored Lord. But he does not add whom you
sold for worse than a slave. There is no upbraiding when we
look at Joseph and the type of Christ. There is no upbraiding.
There is nothing of our baseness and sins. And yet, we have all,
not only sold Christ, but by our transgressions, crucified
Him. Crucified Him. So this is what
I want to look at. I want to look at, I am Joseph,
Christ, your brother. We have a greater than Joseph
in this passage, and every scriptures point to Christ. So let us look
at this divine revelation of Joseph, our Christ, to his brethren. He revealed himself. They didn't
know what was going on. They thought he was dead. They
thought he was gone. As a matter of fact, they told
Jacob, their father, he's gone. He's dead. Quit grieving over
him. So the only way that these brothers, the elect, the sinners
for whom Christ died, the only way they'll ever understand the
gospel, they'll ever understand the Lord of glory and what He's
done on Calvary and what we are, is if, just like Joseph, He reveals
Himself. Now this is, people don't like
this. They say, I, and I got a Spurgeon,
a little quote, I've heard Luther say the same thing, I've heard
Bunyan, I've heard all these men say the same thing. But Spurgeon
said, there have been many souls in hell because of free will,
but not one in heaven. I mean, you talk to somebody
and they start saying, well, I've got a free will and I can
choose God, this and that. No, no, sorry, you're hell bound. I mean, it just cuts it to the
quick. And Luther has said the same thing. He said, if any person
ascribed to salvation of their soul ought to man's free will,
he knows nothing of the grace of God. And I could quote Bunyan,
and we could go, you know, Baxter. All these men, they all said
the same thing. But let us look here at this
divine revelation. This is how God saves sinners.
And I want you to notice the wording. I'm just gonna go down
here and look at the wording. Now this is Old Testament, but
the Holy Spirit, I think this is, to me it's obvious the way
it's worded. It's just so beautiful. Let's
look at it. Look at verse one. And Joseph
could not refrain himself Because he was emotional. He knew what he was going to
do. He knew what he was about to do. He was about to reveal
himself to his brother. He couldn't refrain himself.
And this reminds me of Proverbs, the Redeemer's delight. It says
we're with the sons of men. We're with sinners. Long before
time was, our elder brother was the lamb slain to absolutely
fetch his people from their iniquities, and in the fullness of time,
he sovereignly revealed this to us in a saving fashion. Galatians chapter 1, you don't
have to turn to it, Paul said, when it pleased God. who separated
me from my mother's womb and revealed Christ. That's what
it does. We don't have an understanding of what we are. They were not
terrified until they, Joseph, revealed himself. And that's
Zechariah. That's Zechariah chapter 12 and
13. It is not until every family
apart is mourning and weeping because the spirit of grace and
supplication works upon us. And in chapter 13, verse 1, then
there's a fountain open. This is the way of grace. As
Henry preached, oh my word, I don't know how many years ago at the
Crossville, Donnie Bell. I've got it outlined in my study
Bible. He's God's method of grace. And
he went right down. He says, now God's not bound
to this. But He often does this. So that's the first thing we
see, is our Redeemer's love for His people. Joseph could not
refrain himself. He says, he tells everybody,
he calls, second point, he calls everybody, look in verse 1, calls
every man to go out for Me. Calls everybody to go out. Our
Sovereign, basically He calls everybody to go out but the brethren,
whom He's going to reveal Himself to. everybody else leave. Our
Sovereign Redeemer has a people out of every kindred, tribe and
tongue and He must reveal Himself to them and no one else. Now
this truth rubs our nature wrong, it rubs against the grain but
nonetheless it is pure Bible doctrine and truth. He saves
whom He will and He's merciful and He's gracious The fact that
they did what they did to Joseph, and he doesn't have any anger
towards them. What have we done? We crucified
Christ, that first thing I read. And yet, we have not only sold
Christ, but our transgressions crucified Him. Yes. He shows us, it's not the person
sitting next to you, You, me, I crucify Christ. May God be true and every man
a liar and to God be all the glory in our salvation from first
to last. He caused everyone else to go
out from him. And then look at the next phrase,
and there stood no man with him. Look at Joseph. Christ did the
work by Himself. You see how this is worded? I'm
reading this and I'm like, oh my word. Boom, boom, boom, boom. There stood no man with Him.
The Holy Spirit of God will reveal Christ's person and His work
to whomsoever He will. And Christ will suffer, bleed,
and die all alone. No one assisted Christ when He
hung on the cross. In His redemptive work on Calvary's
tree, He by Himself has done all the work to secure eternal
salvation for His brethren. There stood no man with him while
Joseph made himself known unto his brethren." This is what he
does. And I'm so thankful he does.
People say, oh, they just get so livid about election. No,
if there's no election, there's no salvation. The gates to heaven
are shut. The gates of heaven are shut.
Now, election is not salvation. It's unto salvation. Christ is
salvation. But like Gary Shepard preached
the message at Don Fortner's 20, 30 years ago. He preached
on the harmony of the gospel. And that's what he was talking
about. Election, substitution, redemption, justification, it's
all in harmony with what Christ has done. That's our problem.
We start pulling things out, saying, well, this is more important.
I've never been a scriber to that. Oh, this is more important.
No, it's all in harmony. Because Christ is the Gospel. Christ is the Gospel. There stood
no man with Him. He by Himself. And what I think
is beautiful, and we could go to a bunch of scriptures to prove
all these different thoughts, but I will use this one. You
don't have to turn there. In 2 Samuel chapter 6 verses
3 through 8, you remember Uzzah? U-Z-Z-A-H, you remember him?
You remember that guy? They were bringing the ark back
from the Philistines, which is a picture of Christ, the ark,
the ark of God, you know, the table of Sheol, all these things
that are in the ark. And the oxen, they got the cart and the
oxen, the oxen stumbles, it says, and Uzzah thought the ark was
going to fall. So what did he do? Well, I'll
assist. What happened to him? The Lord
killed him right then and there. The Lord killed him. What shows
me, do not attempt to add anything to the finished work of Christ.
Not even put your hand up. Well, we don't have an imitator.
Don't do that. That's assisting. Well, I need to do something.
I remember Scott Richardson saying, Don't believe Christ, but don't
move a muscle. And if you believe Christ, or
if your children believe Christ, or if your neighbors, they're
going to say something. They're going to follow Him in
baptism. They're going to confess. They're going to do what the
Book of Acts says. They all had it in common. They
all fellowshiped. They gathered together. That's
what the believer is going to want to do. Do not attempt to
place our insignificant hands to the solitary work of Christ.
Well, let's go on. Look at verses 3, 4, and 5. And
Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph. Does my father yet
live? And his brethren could not answer
him, for they were terrified at his presence. He reveals himself. I don't even know if they knew.
It doesn't seem like it. I'm Christ. You thought I was dead. You thought
you killed me. You thought, you thought, you
thought. And when somebody comes in here, and you think a lot about Christ,
you think you know a lot about Christ, you've been taught wrong,
I'm not saying anybody here, I'm just saying if somebody comes
in who's free will Armenian or whatever, they thought Joseph was dead.
It's like a haze-eye. Well, I thought the man of God
would come out and clap his hands and put on a big show and cure
the leper. And he told me to go and go wash in Jordan. Now,
we got rivers back where I'm from that are so much nicer,
cleaner. And then the servant said, if
he'd asked you to do some great things, you'd have done it. Well,
just go do what he said. Believe on Christ and you'll
be saved. Oh, it's more complicated. That's
our problem. We think we know about Christ,
but when he reveals himself, verse 3, I am Joseph. I am. I am. I am that I am. This is how grace works in the
heart and soul. First we see who and what we
are. We're undone. We're vile. And
then He will show us His tender mercies. He strips us, then clothes
us. He empties us, then fills us.
He reveals to us that it is a fearful thing to fall in the hands of
the living God or consuming fire. And then what happens in verse
4 and 5? And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near. The
law said, stay away. You touch this mountain, you're
going to be thrust through with a dart. The Gospel, come. And that's why the Gospel believed
it makes people gracious. It makes us tender. There is
so much hatred and meanness in this world. But the Gospel, it's
not a weak, effeminate Gospel. It's not a spineless Gospel. It stands for the truth. Here
I stand, as Luther said, I can do no other. We stand for the
truth, but it's tender. Christ says, come near. You're troubled, and you should
be. You thought I was altogether
like yourselves, and I'm not. God is not that way. We thought
God was like us, and He'd wink at this sin and wink at that
sin. But then we see He's sovereign, and He's holy, and He's immaculate,
and He's majestic. And we're none of those things.
But after He reveals Himself to us and we're terrified, then the marriage begins. Sweet
and tender words of peace and grace and undeserved mercy. Look at verse 4, come near to
Me. Verse 5, be not grieved nor angry
with yourself. Verse 5, God did send Me before
you, not to kill you, but to preserve life. But to preserve
life. That's what we tell our children.
He's a consuming fire. If you're going to try to stand
on your own in front of Him, no. You stand with Christ between
you and He's taken all those bullets. He's taken all that
wrath. He's taken all that anger. Come near to Me. Turn to Psalms of Solomon chapter
5. I guess if I can read this without
getting too emotional. Psalms of Solomon chapter 5 and verses 9. People, you go
to the church all the time, you hear the same message, we kind
of understand what you're saying, God is sovereign. Psalms of Solomon
chapter 5. But then they say in verse 9,
these people ask us, and hopefully they ask us, what is your beloved
more than another beloved? Thou fairest among women. This
is the church. What is thy beloved more than
another beloved that you do so charge us? We tell our neighbors,
we tell our family, our friends, if you're not hearing the Gospel,
there's no hope. Come and hear the Gospel. Come and hear the
truth. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and you shall be saved. Why do we say our beloved is
more than this church up the street? They have their own beloved,
their self-made calves of gold, and then he goes down. My Beloved is white. His person
is white, ruddy. He's the chief among 10,000.
And we know all about our Beloved. His head, verse 12, His eyes,
verse 13, His cheeks, verse 14, His hands, verse 15, His legs,
verse 16, His mouth is most sweet. Yea, He is altogether lovely.
This is my Beloved and this is my friend. We ought to be able to know our
Beloved. whether we've met Him one day, or one moment, or twenty
years down the road. And that's the beauty of this
book. It's all about Christ. It's all about our Beloved. And
so, every time you look at it, look for your Beloved. Look for
your Beloved. My, my, my. Who can number the
love tokens? Or who can name all of His benefits
that He has towards His dear children? He makes Himself known
to His bride. And the third thing, let's look
at some closing truths that cannot be questioned. Closing truths
that cannot be questioned. Verses 7 and 8. God sent me before you to preserve
you a posterity in the earth and to save your lives by a great
deliverance. And the God, verse 7, In verse
8, but God. That's the closing. Things that
cannot be questioned. And God, and but God. To the
believer, God's everywhere. He is everywhere. I remember
Tommy Robbins talking, and he put it so eloquently, so well. He said, if there's anybody that
can enjoy the creation, it's the believer. We'll go down to
Gulf Shores, and you see that. Or even these hills in southeast
Missouri. You see the beauty. Why? Because
it's the hand of the creator. It didn't just pop and happen. Sorry children, your science
teachers are wrong. They're completely wrong. Evolution. No. Big bang? I don't think so. Climate change is getting warmer.
Well, I remember when I was in college, it was getting colder.
They had another name for it. I can't remember what it was.
Two theories. Now you don't have to talk about the other one. And God and what God? And God
sent to preserve salvation to all His elect. Verse 7, God sent
Me before you, He's talking to His brethren, to preserve you
a posterity in the earth and to save your lives by a great
deliverance. Is that you? Is that me? And
then lastly, verse 8, and so now, it was not that you sent
me hither, but God. But God. And he hath made me
a father, a pharaoh, and Lord of all. Lord of all. Who does
that sound like? That sounds like what Paul says
about Christ in Philippians chapter 2. Every knee is going to bow.
Christ is Lord of all and Lord over all. What a beautiful feature this
is in the Redeemer and how much even the love of Joseph falls
short of Jesus. And what endears it still more
is the peculiar attention the Redeemer manifests upon the occasion. if there be one of his brethren
more distressed and discouraged by reason of sin than another,
to him Jesus directs his manifestation more immediately." In the case
of Peter, after his fall. Jesus, having an account of his
resurrection, not only communicated to all, but Peter is mentioned
by name, go tell his disciples and Peter, as if knowing the
apostle might fear that having denied Jesus, that Jesus might
shortly deny him. No, saith Jesus, let Peter be
particularly told the joyful news to make his heart glad. And dost thou, Lord Jesus, speak
to our souls Do thou say to us, I am your brother? Are you not
ashamed to call us sinners, brethren? O thou unequaled pattern of unexampled
love, add one more mercy to the vast account, and let a portion
of it kindle a flame in our souls. We have indeed sold Christ for
a slave, nailed him by our sins to the cross, and put thee to
open shame. But since thou hast redeemed
us by thy blood, and bought the pardon of our sins so dear, and
now by thy triumph over death art become the firstborn among
many brethren, and exalted as a prince and a savior to give
blessings infinitely superior to those Joseph was exalted to
bestow on his brethren, behold, Lord, to thee do we come. Manifest thyself still, the forgiving
brother, and supply all our wants. Yes, blessed Jesus, thou art
he whom thy brethren shall praise, and all thy father's children
shall fall down before thee." And I close with saying this
in 1 Thessalonians 4, wherefore, comfort one another with these
words. I am Christ. your brother. Amen. Bruce, would you close
us?