It is so good to see all of you. I cannot tell you how thankful
I am to be able to be standing here talking to you. See you fellowship with you. It is by the grace of God that
any of us are here. We take way too for granted the
privilege to be able to meet together. Believe me, I'm so
thankful. I want us to take our Bibles
and turn with me back to Genesis. I want to preach out of Genesis
45. The last time we were in Genesis,
two and a half months ago approximately, I had started Genesis 45, the
first few verses in 45. But I want to just bring us back
and say a few things out of Genesis 44 and get our minds back, Lord
willing, to where we were. The brother of Joseph were on
their way home. They had come Egypt, they had
gotten some food, some corn, and they were on their way back.
They had Benjamin, their younger brother, with them. And Joseph,
who knew who they were, they didn't know Joseph, but Joseph
had his cup planted in Benjamin's sack. Nobody knew this except
Joseph, Joseph's servant. And Joseph's cup being brought,
I mean, his cup being placed in that sack and he was on the
way back and so Joseph sends his servant to go stop him. So they stop the sons He asked
him a question. He said, back in chapter 44 and
verse 15, Joseph said unto them, the sons,
what deed is this that you've done? What, or know you not that
such a man as I can certainly divine. I have the power to pass
judgment. Do you know who you're talking
to? What have you done? And of course they knew nothing
of it. And there was one that had a cup
placed in his sack. He's unaware of it. And so Joseph
has them all brought back. And so he's going to have them
hear what the charges are. And so he tells them that you're
a thief. One of you is a thief in this
group. And I'm going to find out who it is. And so Judah,
older brother of the men, he rehearses the whole situation. What had happened? He came near verse 18 of chapter
44. Judah came near unto him, unto
Joseph, after he had heard the charges. You guys have taken
something that belongs to me. So here's Judah, he comes near
unto him and he said, O my Lord, let thy servant, I pray thee,
speak a word in my Lord's ear, and let not thine anger burn
against thy servant, for thou art even as Pharaoh. Judah comes
and he says, listen, can I talk to you for a few minutes about
this situation? And so he begins to tell Joseph
what Joseph knows. Judah is going to try to explain
the whole situation. He starts back where his dad
was so reluctant to let that youngest brother go. And he told
him, he said, my youngest brother, Benjamin, this is the youngest
of all the children. And we've gone back and forth
and tried to work this thing out. You've told us that if we
don't bring our youngest brother, Benjamin, if we don't bring him,
that we're not gonna be able to get any more corn, we're not
gonna be able to see your face. And now, here's my brother, and
this silver cup's been found in his sack. And we realize something
of the consequences of this thing. And he told him, he said, I know
that he's the one that's bearing the cup, but listen, this is going to kill
my daddy. My daddy's not going to be able to make it. He's just
not going to be able to make it. And he said, I want to tell
you, he says in verse 32, he said, I know it was found in
Benjamin's sack. I know that. But he says in verse
32, chapter 44, thy servant became surety for the lad unto my father,
saying, if I bring him not unto thee, then I shall bear the blame
to my father forever. Now, therefore, I pray thee,
let thy servant abide instead of the lad, a bondman, to my
Lord, and let the lad go up with his brethren. He said, would
you hear what I have to say here? I'm just pleading on behalf really
of the heart of my dad. I'm pleading for my younger brother. I myself have made myself to
be surety for this boy. I know, I know it was found in
his sack. I know that. But I'm asking you,
I'm asking you, Would you have mercy and let me take the blame? Would you let me suffer in the
place of my brother? And then in 45, I looked last
time, I was in 45 and the first few verses there, Joseph has listened to the plea
of his brother, of his oldest brother. And he sees the situation
and he knows what's going on. He knows who these boys are.
He feels, I'm sure, the pain of his daddy. He's just listening
to the story being rehearsed that he's so familiar with. And the scripture says, after
he'd heard that story, Judah had who pled the case, verse
1 of chapter 45. Then Joseph could not refrain
himself before all them that stood by him. And he cried, because
every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him,
while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. He wept aloud,
and the Egyptians House of Pharaoh heard, and Joseph said unto his
brethren, I'm Joseph. Doth my father yet live? His
brethren could not answer him, for they were troubled at his
presence. Can you imagine here? They thought
Joseph had been dead a long time. Daddy's hurting. Daddy doesn't
know anything about this. Here, Joseph makes everybody
go out, except his brothers. He begins to bear his heart before
him. He says in verse 4, chapter 45,
Joseph said unto his brethren, come near to me, I pray you.
They came near, and he said, I'm Joseph, your brother, whom
you sold into Egypt. Now therefore, be not grieved
nor angry with yourselves, for that you sold me hither, for
God did send me before you to preserve life. 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. God sent
me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth and
to save your lives for save your lives by a great deliverance
for it. So now, it was not you that sent
me hither, but God. And he hath made me father, made
me a father to Pharaoh, Lord of all his house, and ruler throughout
all the land of Egypt." Now, here's what it is. His brothers
are in there. He's told them, he said, you're
a bunch of thieves. He couldn't stand it any longer.
His heart was just getting ready to bust. He sends everybody out
of the room except his brothers. He tells them, I'm your brother. I'm Joseph. And they couldn't
believe it. And he told them, he said, I'm the one that watched over
you, preserved you, and directed these things, but he said, wasn't
me, God did. Almighty God has given me some
direction here. And they heard what he said,
and the scripture now is where I want to pick up. I want to
pick up in chapter 45, in verse 9. After he told them, he said,
You didn't do it. You weren't the authors of what
you did. God Almighty directed all of
this for His honor and His glory and His praise. And He did this
to preserve life for you. And He tells them now in verse
9. Here's where we're going to pick up. I've entitled this message,
Dwelling with Christ. Verses 9 to 15. Haste ye. and go up to my father and say
unto him, thus saith thy son, Joseph, God hath made me Lord
of all Egypt. Come down unto me, Terry Nye. Almighty God had a remnant. Had a remnant there, had a remnant
there in Egypt. God's got a remnant all over. And God had a remnant that he
was gonna preserve. And all that was necessary for
their preservation was brought forth by providential dealings. God Almighty, providentially,
with the hand of his power, had moved all these things, directed
everything in Egypt, back home, all the lives, these boys, Now
he's brought them to this place. Here they are. They thought they're
caught as thieves and getting ready to have to pay the penalty
and Judah's going to stand for his brother. He was telling him,
he said, just going to kill my daddy. Then Joseph, my heart
just almost breaks when I think about this. Joseph comes up to his brothers
that thought that they were caught malefactors. And he said, I'm
your brother. I'm your brother. God sent me here. God has preserved
you alive. Beloved, let us remember something
here. God Almighty holds the government
of this world in his hand. And nothing comes about. Let me go ahead and just say,
I'm the one that needs to remember this especially. We're going
through a tough time. I look around in this world,
and I think the government, and I think this, that, and the other.
I'm gonna quote Brother Scott, who's running this show anyway?
Who's in charge? Who rules in the army of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth? And here's almighty
God that had ruled and reigned and brought these boys to this
place. What these boys had done in the
eyes of those that had been watching, it would appear as though these
boys were guilty But God was the one that orchestrated all
of this. He was gonna bring him, these
boys, to himself, to Joseph. It's a glorious picture how God
Almighty brings his people to himself. I've said this so many times,
and I think to myself lately, how in the world did I get in
Katy, West Virginia? Almighty God directed everything
and brought us together. How'd you get here? A lot of
you, y'all not, not everybody's from here. Some of us have come
from places that nobody would ever dream, but look how the
Lord has orchestrated all this and knit us together and given
us a heart for each other, love for one another. And here's Joseph
and he tells, These brothers come together and they think
they're going to be reprimanded and put under the penalty of
the law. And he tells them in verse 8,
he said, it was not you that sent me. You weren't the ones that put
me in Potiphar's house. You weren't the one that directed
all these things. Almighty God. Isn't that a comfort? Isn't it just sweet to realize
the Lord's ordering all this? The Lord has made me father to
Pharaoh and Lord of all his house, a ruler throughout all the land
of Egypt, the Lord himself. Now, we've got here a beautiful
picture now, how God has brought these brothers back together
Now, here's Joseph. Now he's talking to him. Up until
this time now, he's pretty rough on him. He had some pretty harsh
words to say about him. They were scared of him. They
told their daddy, Dad, you don't realize who we're dealing with.
This guy's tough, man. He's tough. He's told us he's laid down the
law. We can't do this. It got to a point where Benjamin,
unless Benjamin was there, they're not gonna get any more food.
And Judah said, I'll stand for him. I'll do whatever I gotta
do. But we can't go back there without Benjamin. And here it
is. Now Benjamin's caught. Now here
in the midst of what seems to be the most horrible situation
you could possibly think of. How in the world did we get in
this mess like this? How did we get in this situation? Now, here's Joseph revealing
himself. Couldn't hold his... I was reading
that and I was just looking at verse one, chapter 45. Joseph
could not refrain himself before them stood by. And I'm thinking
how little I know about what I'm getting ready to tell you.
I really don't know about what I'm getting ready to say. But
just looking at Joseph, as a picture of our Lord and Savior and how
the scripture talks about His love for His people. I've loved
you with neverlasting love. I've always loved you. I can't
even enter into the depth of His love for His people. And here's Joseph as a picture
of Christ. He couldn't refrain himself any
longer. He tells them, he said, I'm Joseph. Joseph was their savior, little
s, but a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, our savior. And he tells them, when he reveals
himself to them, he tells them, he says, back in 40, 45, he tells
them, he said, go down And he said, he tells them where they're
going to live. He told them, he said, I'm Joseph. I'm your brother. He says to
them in verse 9, haste ye, go up to my father and say unto
him. Now listen, here's something
sweet too. This is sweet. That a part of verse 9. Go up to my father and say unto
him, not the ruler in Egypt, not the
boss over all the corn that's to be given out. You say unto
him, thus saith thy son. I want you to go tell Dad. Would
you go tell Dad? Your son, Joseph, God made me
Lord over all Egypt. Come down unto me and tarry not. Oh, what sweet intimacy in those
words. Would you go tell Dad? come down
here where I'm at. Would you go get him? Bring him
here. Come down unto me. Don't tarry. Oh, when it comes to the sweetness
of the call of our Lord. Here he is, God almighty. God
in heaven and earth. Come unto me. He says, all ye
that labor, Heavy laden, you think those boys up until this
moment right here, you think that their hearts were heavy? I will give you rest. Joseph
wanted his father to be fetched. You go get him, bring him. Proverbs 13, 12 says, hope deferred
maketh the heart sick. But when the desire cometh, it's
a tree of life. The Lord had been pleased to
delay the revelation of who Joseph really was. He'd been pleased
to not let them know, the brothers, who that was. And the Lord knew
the heaviness that was found in the brothers. of Joseph. The Lord knew that. But here
we're seeing with all that heaviness that they went through, like
the heaviness that we go through in this life. We're walking in
a world and the Lord has promised us that we're going to have trials
and tribulations and we're going to have chastisements and all
this, but he's preparing us all for the glory that's coming. When that open revelation, Joseph
revealed himself to his brothers, and he told them, he said, I'm
Joseph. I can't even imagine. I'll go
ahead and say, I started to say, can you imagine? No, you can't
imagine. But just when we see him face to face, when we see
the Lord in all of his glory, We truly will say at that time,
half of it wasn't told me. Never realized. I just never
realized. Here he was, alive and well. Does the Lord not teach
us here something of his wisdom? To withdraw himself from us in
those times of wisdom? To cause us to yearn after him
and hurt after him Long for His deliverance whenever the Lord is pleased
to reveal Himself to us in reality. Oh, that day of blessed revelation. Joseph, your brother, says in verse 10 and 11, back
in, now in 45, Joseph tells his brothers, he
said, thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen. Thou shalt be
near unto me, thou and thy children, thy children's children, thy
flocks, thy herds, all that thou hast, and there will I nourish
thee. For yet these five years of famine,
lest thou and thy household and all that thou hast come to poverty. Joseph had longed for the presence
of his daddy, to be able to see him face to face, talk to him.
Oh, and the joy of being able to reveal himself to the one
that had thought his son to be dead all this time. And how now
Joseph elevated to a a position of authority, but it never erased
that precious relationship of father-son. Now, here we are
in anticipation of the glorious revelation of what Almighty God
has prepared for those that love Him, that will be revealed to
be his sheep, his beloved, his bride. What did these boys, what were
they going to have there in Egypt? What were they going to possess
in Egypt? Everything that was Joseph's. And for us, what is
the Lord promised us? Turn to Romans chapter 8 verse
16. Romans 8.16 Romans 8.16 The Spirit of self beareth witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God. Lord help me not to take that
passage of scripture that I just read lightly. Lord, cause me
afresh to remember that. That we're children of God. Neil,
I wish I could enter into that. Children of God. And if children,
then heirs. Heirs of God and joint heirs
with Christ. I've read that passage, I don't
know how many times. Lord, would you teach me that?
Something of it. I know in this life, I'm not
gonna, I'm not gonna see the fullness of it, I know, but Lord,
just something. Whatever you're pleased. And if children, then heirs,
heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we
suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together. Here was Joseph, being able to vent the desire
of his heart, to express to his brethren, I'm your brother. As our dad lived, see a lie. Showing them that which would
be theirs, there in Egypt, Joseph's desire about having his daddy
with him, to dwell in that land of Goshen, be near him. What
is the will of the Lord Jesus Christ? John 17, 24, what is
his will? I remember I'd read this passage
of scripture time after time after time, and every time I
read this passage of scripture, John 17, 24, I think of Rupert
Roddenbark. I'd read this scripture so many
times, and one day, Rupert and I was, we were just talking,
and Rupert told me, he said, he said, have you ever considered,
he said, John 17, 24. I said, well, I can quote John
17, 24. He said, yeah, but consider it again. Just, I mean, the emphasis
that he put on it. John 17, 24. Listen to the prayer of our Lord.
Father, I will that they also, whom thou has given me be with
me, where I am that they may behold my glory, which thou has
given me, for thou lovest me before the foundation of the
world. Here was Joseph expressing his
heart, telling his brethren, this is who I am. This who you
are. I'm your brother and you're my
brother and we're family. Here he is bearing his heart
to him. He said, stop closing these last few verses back in
Genesis chapter 46 says in verse 11, And there will I nourish thee,
for yet there are five years of famine, lest thou, thy household,
and all that thou hast come to poverty. And behold, your eyes
see, and 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 haste and bring down my father hither." Joseph's brothers
were blessed to actually see and hear Joseph talk to him and
express who he was, how he loved him, how he missed him, how kindly
he related to the situation. You go and tell him, And concerning
the things that the Lord has taught his witnesses, what is
the Lord revealed unto us? I want to look at a couple of
verses and I'll wrap this up. Acts chapter one, Acts one, verse
four to eight, Acts one. Here he was, he said, I want
you to go and you go back and you tell daddy, you tell daddy
what you've seen. Go back and tell him, you go
tell him. Tell him about what you've seen here. Acts chapter
1 verse 4 to 8, being assembled together with them, commanded
them that they should not depart from Jerusalem but wait for the
promise of the Father, which saith, He, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water,
but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost, not many days
hence. When they therefore will come
together, they ask of him saying, Lord, will thou at this time
restore again? the kingdom of Israel. He saith,
and he said unto them, it's not for you to know the times or
the seasons which the father hath put in his own power, but
you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come
upon you shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, all Judea,
Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Joseph told
him, he said, I want you to go back now. You tell dad everything
that you've seen. Tell dad about me, bring him
back to me. And then verses 12 and 13 back
in Genesis, chapter 45. And behold, your
eyes see, The eyes of my brother Benjamin, that is my mouth that
speaketh to you, you shall tell my father of all my glory in
Egypt, all that you've seen. And you shall haste and 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. after giving his brother's
instruction as to what they would say to their dad. You go back
and you tell him this. Is not that our instruction? Is that not what the bride of
the Lord Jesus Christ has been instructed to do? Is that not
the bride's prayer for her beloved husband, Savior, Lord, and Master? Let him, Song of Solomon 1-2,
let him, Joseph saw those boys and he just revealed himself
to them, started kissing on them, brothers, brothers kissing brothers. I think that's just the sweetest
thing, they just, they loved each other. Song 1-2, let him
kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for thy love is better
than wine. Beloved, we have truly been blessed
to have the Lord, number one, choose us unto himself. The Father who chose us, the
Son who redeemed us, Spirit of God who regenerated us, instructs
us. And these blessed truths that
we learn here set forth the love that Christ has for his bride,
and when we began to see the miracle of God's grace, how could
it be but for his grace that he showed mercy to somebody like
I am? You ever feel like that? Lord,
teach me these things afresh. Hold these things near to my
heart, for Christ's sake I pray.