I'm gonna ask you to take your
Bibles and turn with me to Genesis 45. Genesis chapter 45. I've been
looking forward to this chapter for a long time. This chapter begins with the
heartfelt revelation of Joseph. to his brethren. Last time we
were considering when Judah, Joseph's older brother, had begun
to bear his heart to Joseph, he was pleading on behalf of
his brother Benjamin. Judah had made himself surety
for the lad. He promised his dad. He said,
if I don't bring him back, I'll be surety for him. If I don't
bring him back, I'll bear the blame all my life. So Joseph, he began to listen
as Judah was laying bare his heart. Judah was telling Joseph
how If he didn't bring him back to
his daddy, he said, my dad's pain is going to be more than
he can bear. It's going to bring him down to the grave. It's going
to kill him. I can tell you right now. And Joseph listened patiently
as Judah was speaking to him. He just listened to the words
of respect and love for their dad and for Judah's hope of deliverance
for Benjamin, just telling Joseph, he said, I just can tell you
right now, my dad can't bear the loss of another son. Tell
him, he said, he's already had one boy that is gone as far as
my dad's concerned. And you know, we listened to
that whole situation. We listened to it as it, and
unfolds and here we're just getting ready to just see like a, I mean
just a happy family reunion. And it just, a beautiful, beautiful
picture of the unveiling of the Lord Jesus Christ. I think of
so many instances in the life of a believer. When a believer
first begins to hear and he's regenerated by the grace of God,
he's set under religion for so long and it's just dry, dead
religion. There's nothing, to me, there's
nothing that's more boring than just dry, man-centered religion. Bear through it, it's all you
do. There's no joy in it. But whenever the Lord's pleased
to open the hearts of His people, and they begin to see Him, and
this is, I've entitled this message, Joyful True Salvation. Joyful True Salvation. Regeneration. is the beholding,
the unveiling of the spiritual eyes, to see a person. It's not learning five points
of Calvinism. Like I said, five points of Calvinism,
anybody can quote them and give a definition of them, tell them
what they mean. I know a lot of people who've
got a very good definition of Calvinism. But life eternal is the unveiling
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a person. It's a person.
It's Christ. Paul said that I might know Him. Oh, that I may know Him. We worship
Him. We see Him. We hear His voice. Joseph is getting ready to reveal
himself to his brothers, and he's listening to that story,
and I just read it, and in my heart, I can just see the heart
of Joseph about to just burst. He's listening to his brother,
and it's like he's saying, okay, okay, okay. Verse one in chapter
45 said, then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them
that stood by him. Now, that word then, when I read
that word then, he listened. I don't doubt for one second
he's thought about what all he's wisely done for these brothers. He sent them back, put all their
money in the first time, sent them back. They got back to the
house and realized it was all there. And I thought, well, this
got to be an oversight. And he told them, when he came
back, he said, now, look, you got a younger brother. Don't
come back without your brother. And he thought about that. He
knew what that was going to do to his daddy. He knew all these
things, then he could not refrain himself. Everything that had
happened previously in the lives of his brothers was all providentially
ordered by the Lord, directed by Almighty God. Now, all that
suffering that these boys had gone through, I mean, they went
through some tough times trying to talk to their daddy. Tell
him, he said, I can't, I can't send Benjamin back. He said,
Dad, you don't get it. I'm telling you, he's not gonna
let us come in there. We don't have, and it was, I
mean, trial after trial after trial. He's bringing them to
himself. He's gonna bring them to him.
And after all of that time, he wouldn't reveal himself to them. Then Joseph could not refrain
himself before his brothers. Now the time was right. Now is the time. Why had Joseph
not revealed himself to his brothers? Why had he not? Well, because
of the good pleasure of God, we're going to see something.
We're going to be taught something. That salvation, true salvation,
is according to God's timing. Hold your place and turn with
me to Galatians 1, Galatians chapter 1. Galatians 1, I want
to read verses 13, 16. Galatians 1, 13. If you've heard
of my conversation, In time past in the Jews' religion, how that
beyond measure, I persecuted the Church of God, wasted it,
and profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in my own
nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of
my fathers. But when it pleased God, who
separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace
to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach him among the
heathen, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood. Why did the Lord wait until the
last hours to call a thief out of darkness? Why did he speak
to young Samuel so early? Why did he wait till I was in
my late twenties before I ever heard the gospel? Why did he
wait for you? Why didn't he call you before?
Because wouldn't he please God? I tried to mull that over a little
bit today in my mind, thinking, why would the Lord wait for me? Well, I can tell you what, In
my little feeble, ignorant mind, I tell you what I do. I reflect
back on some things that I went through, and I behold something
of the indescribable mercy of God that would take, I'm talking
about a nobody, I mean a nobody, out of the swamps of Louisiana,
and reveal Christ to me, why'd he wait that long? Because it
pleased him to. When it pleased God. For reasons
only known to the Lord, he calls his people when it pleases him. We will endure some things. I think about those boys suffering,
what they suffered. They're gonna be taught something.
They're going to reflect back on something. They're going to
reflect back on what they've done, and you will too, and I
will too. And he keeps us in the midst
of our ignorance and our ways. And all the while, we have no
idea that he's directing and guiding every step in the life
of his people. every step that they take divinely
directed by God. Ministering spirits sent to minister
to those who shall be the heirs of salvation. God knows his people. But Joseph could not refrain
himself before all them that stood by him. And then notice
also when Joseph couldn't refrain himself any longer. He ordered
everybody in his presence, except his brothers, to leave. True salvation is a personal
thing. It's personal. It's between the
Lord and his people. Between the Lord and his sheep. There's an intimate relationship
that takes place. It's a one-on-one. Everybody
else, y'all get out. He calls in verse one, middle
part, calls every man to go out from me. And there stood no one
with him while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. Hold your place and turn over
to Acts nine. That's what I'm saying, this is personal. When
God's gonna deal with one of the vessels of his mercy, he's
gonna deal with that person individually. Acts 9, verses 1-7, Saul, yet
breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples
of the Lord, went unto the high priest and desired of him letters
to Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he found any of this
way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound
unto Jerusalem. And as he journeyed, he came
near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him a light
from heaven. He fell to the earth. He heard
a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, Why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord?
And the Lord said, I'm Jesus, whom thou persecutest. It's hard
for thee to kick against the bricks. And he trembling and
astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord
said unto him, Arise, go into the city, and it shall be told
thee what thou must do. The men which journeyed with
him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. that day in Joseph's house. Nobody
knew really who Joseph was. His brothers didn't know and
the Egyptians didn't know. Nobody knew who Joseph was that
day but Joseph. Joseph knew who he was. And Joseph
was gonna reveal himself to his brothers. He told the rest of
them, y'all get out. until the Lord reveals Himself.
We don't know who He is. We don't know Him. Who art thou,
Lord? Look at verse 2, back in Ephesians
45. And he wept aloud, and the Egyptians in the house of Pharaoh
heard. True salvation is given unto
a people of the Lord's choosing from a heart of tender love and
compassion on the Lord's part. Jeremiah 31, 3, I have loved
you with an everlasting love. Joseph knew who his brothers
were. They did not know him and he
loved them. They were his family. And the
scripture says he wept aloud. He gave forth out of the margin
his voice in weeping. Oh, the tenderness that we have
seen in Joseph. And look at Joseph as a picture
of our Savior, as a picture of our Lord. We're learning something
here. What is true salvation? Well,
it's an intimate thing, personal. and it's from a heart of love,
affection. Affection first on his part. He loved us. We love him because
he first loved us. He wept. Turn back a couple of
pages there to Genesis 42, when Joseph, talking about him weeping,
when he heard his brothers, you know, one of the first times
when he was in there, they'd gotten that and they'd come back
And the brothers didn't know what was going on. They were
tore all to pieces. And so they're going to hide from him. They're
going to hide some of their feelings from him. They're going to talk
among themselves, you know. They don't want Joseph to know
he's Egyptian, you know. And so here he is, a Jew, understanding
Hebrew. And they're speaking in, as far
as their concern, in a language that he doesn't understand. Genesis
42, verse 24. After they were talking, well,
let's start at 21. Genesis 42, 21. They said one
to another, we are verily guilty concerning our brother. We saw
the anguish of his soul. When he besought us, and we would
not hear, therefore is this distress come upon us. And Reuben answered
them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against
the child, and you would not hear? Therefore, behold, also
his blood is required. And they knew not that Joseph
understood them, for he spake unto them by an interpreter."
He was going through an interpreter, you know, making them think,
well, he don't understand. This interpreter will speak in
their language, and they were thinking, He don't know what
we're saying. But he understood, he heard what
they said. And he turned himself about from them and wept and
returned to them again and communed with them and took from them
Simeon, bound him before their eyes. Here he was listening to
them confess. Why in the world did we ever
do that? How could we have done that to
him? Here he was crying out in his anguish, don't do this to
me. We wouldn't even listen to him. And now his blood's come
back to him. He required, and he listened
to that, and he just couldn't stand it. He couldn't stand it.
Then he told them, he said, after he left that first time, he said,
don't come back without your brother, Benjamin. All right,
here they come back. They're hungry. They're running
out of food. And they got Benjamin. And he's looking out there. He
sees them coming. They don't know he's looking. Genesis 43, 29, he just sees
them out there in the crowd. Genesis 43, 29, and 30, he lifted
up his eyes, he saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and
said, is this your younger brother of whom you spake unto me? And
he said unto him, God be gracious unto thee, my son. And Joseph
made haste from his bowels to adjourn upon his brother, and
he sought where to weep, and he entered into his chamber,
and wept there. Here again, his heart just overflows
with love. His heart just broken. He's bringing
his brothers. Boy, they're going through some
pain, some suffering. Oh beloved, this side of glory. We shall never perceive the loving
kindness and tenderness that the Lord has for his sheep. when his brothers didn't know
who he was. He'd see him and it would break
his heart. He'd just weep, so glad to see
him. Knowing what they were going
through, I hate to use myself so much, but
I think to myself, you mean to tell me even in the
pit of rebellion, that Almighty God would look upon this frail
vessel of his affection and mercy, when I didn't know him, didn't
care, and his heart would be tender toward me. I'm telling
you, that amazes me, that Almighty God would show mercy to somebody
like me. But again, he said, I've loved you with an everlasting
love. And even when I didn't know him, his heart was toward
somebody like me. He says concerning, turn over
to Song of Solomon 4. I love this passage of scripture.
Song of Solomon 4. I just read verse 9. Here he
is talking to the bride. Thou hast ravished My margins
is taken away. You've ravished my heart, my
sister. My spouse, thou hast ravished
my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck. The Lord speaks of being overcome
with joy, tenderness, affection. He said, you've stolen my heart.
Can that be? Can that truly be? Sure it is. He says it is. By faith we believe
Him. Does that not just break our
heart? How can one so vile in himself,
see in himself that there dwelleth no good thing? Lord, You would
say that I ravished your heart. But for those that he's everlastingly
loved, purged their sin by bearing their sin in his own body and
robing them in his righteousness, truly, as I said a while ago,
here in his love. Not that we love God, but that he loved us
and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. True salvation's
an intimate salvation. And it's a blessed, loving salvation. And then, true salvation, there
is an arresting realization of the one that we're dealing with. There's a reverential fear. There's
a respect and a humility before him. Verse three. Verse three
says, back in Genesis 45, and Joseph said to his brethren,
I am Joseph. Doth my father yet live? And
his brethren could not answer him, for they were troubled at
his presence. Oh, how quickly, I don't doubt
for one second, how quickly all the events that are taking place
that they confessed privately about, Joseph heard them, how
many times that they've seen all these things happening, and
they, all these years have gone by, and here he is now, this,
they don't really know how this is gonna go. He sent everybody
else out. And it's just Joseph and them. They've heard him before talk
harshly to him. He was rough with him one time,
rough. Bunch of spies. Dave took his silver cup. He tells him, I'm Joseph. That's
all he tells him. Dad's still alive? They don't
know, and they're scared. That's what it says. They were
troubled. They were troubled. Margin says terrified at his
presence. Oh, how perfectly does this not
bear out the attitude of God's people? Now, you that know him,
with the realization, when we realize something of what we've
done, not only done, but do, right now do, the way we have treated and mistreated, whenever it comes time to read
or come to worship. Have you ever struggled with
the flesh and just saying, I'm wore out. I'm just, oh man,
I just, you know, run all day. And I don't know, maybe I, how
about praying? You ever had time to, you know? How about reading, how about
reading the scriptures? Now let's just get on, you don't
have to raise your hand. I wouldn't. Have you ever struggled with
these things that just, you think, How could I be so insensitive? How could I be so disrespectful
to him? To him? What has he ever done
but good for me? How I thank the Lord. How many
times have I found myself trying to pray, Lord, thank you for
your long suffering. And I didn't say that just because
I wanted to use that word, I meant it. Thank you for your long suffering. Thank you for your kindness.
Thank you for your compassion. Thank you that you've not cast
me out. Lord, don't take your spirit away from me. Buddy, that
comes to my mind a lot. Lord, don't take your spirit
away from me. Lord, don't leave me to myself. Lord, don't give
up on me. Don't give up on me. They were scared. They were scared. I'm Joseph. I'm Joseph. They couldn't answer. You remember
when the Lord told his disciple Peter and some of his brethren,
they had been fishing all night. The Lord said, cast out into
the deep. Peter was going to explain to
the Lord that he was an aged, taught, experienced fisherman. And he said, Lord, we fished
all night and we've caught nothing. But at your word, I can almost
read that thing and it's like, all right, I'm being serious. I mean, that's how I read it.
I mean, I just see it's like he's just saying, okay, we'll
do it, but we've already gone through this all night. And it
said that they had to get some of the others out of another
boat to come over there and help them pull in that catch of fish. And the nets were starting to
break. And this is what Peter said after that. This is Luke
5, 8. Depart from me. Fell at the Lord's
feet. Depart from me for I am a sinful
man. I'm so sorry. What do you think
these boys thought? In the midst of realized guilt,
does the Lord not comfort us as only He can? Come unto me,
all you that labor heavy laden. I'll give you rest. Oh, what
a compassionate God we have. Here's these boys standing before
Joseph, and he's hearing them. He reveals himself to them, and
they're scared, and it says in verses four to eight, and I'll
stop after this eighth one. And Joseph, verse four, said
unto his brethren, come near to me, I pray you. And 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 that you sold me hither,
for God did send me before you. you to preserve life. For these
two years hath the famine been in the land, and yet there are
five 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 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. Here, in type and picture, the
Lord's words of kindness toward us, words that we need to hear
again and again and again. Because we're always aware, we're
always made aware of our frailty and our need of assurance, and affection. You know, you would think the Lord knows
I love him. Glenda knows I love her. I know
she loves me. But you know what, I sure do
like to hear it. You know, I tell young couples
when they're getting married, Few phrases that never runs out.
They never get old. Number one, I love you. I love
you. And mean it and show it. Here's
another one, never runs out. I'm sorry, I was wrong. Forgive
me. I'm telling you, he told him,
he said, come close to me. Come near to me. I pray you. Come close. Come close. The tenderness. I'm not going
to shove you off. He said, what you did, don't
be grieved. Don't be grieved. It was the
Lord that ordered all these things for your good and His glory during
all this famine. All these things that we're going
through right now. Whatever you're going through
right now, I've said this before. Whatever you're going through
right now, God has meant it for good. And it's going to redound
to your good in His glory. It's going to. Don't be grieved
or angry with yourself. And we are. We are grieved. Aren't
you grieved when you see how disrespectful? Don't be. Oh, it's so comforting
to know that God, by His power, brings good out of even our disrespectful
ways. Romans 8, 28, it's always Romans
8, 28. All, all things. And beholding the wonder of God's
kindness and mercy in the Lord Jesus Christ. And there our hearts
rest. We're broken hearted because
of what we see in ourselves, but how thankful we are for his
love, his love, tenderness. Joseph's brother's heart were
broken. They saw in themselves, truly,
that in their flesh there dwelt no good thing. Oh, but doesn't
the sweet balm of his forgiveness, that balm that heals the broken
heart is a constant reminder of His mercy and compassion based
totally on the good pleasure of Almighty God to send His beloved
Son into this world. Bear the guilt, pay the price
before the law of God, robe them in righteousness, forgive them
of their sins, and wash them, and wash them, and wash them
every day, every day. Wash the filth away. Through salvation is salvation
that is revealed to be all of grace. Through faith, that faith, that salvation that
is not of ourselves, it's the gift of God. Salvation. which were kept by the power
of God through faith ready to be revealed in the last time.
I pray God bless it to our hearts for Christ.