He's promised. Our great God
sovereignly rules over all things. And in Acts chapter 7, we see
the promise of the Lord Jesus. He says in Luke 21, we read the
verse before, but I just love it so much, and I think it's
such an important principle and promise to lay to heart. It says,
when persecution comes, They'll lay hands on you and persecute
you, Luke 21 verse 12, and deliver you up to the synagogues and
into prisons and be brought before kings and rulers for my name's
sake. And it shall turn to you for
a testimony. The opposition of men will turn
to you for a testimony. Settle it, therefore, in your
hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer. For I will
give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries shall not
be able to gainsay nor resist." This is exactly the situation
that Stephen was in. They couldn't gainsay or resist
the words that he said about the Lord Jesus Christ. But when
he comes, when he comes to give this remarkable speech before
this council of accusers of him, is actually speaking the very
words of the Lord Jesus Christ. That was what was promised. So
when we have the scriptures and we see these words from men,
we take them as the words of God and delight in them as the
words of God. And Stephen is led to outline
the history of Israel, and he respectfully speaks to these
men. In verse 2 he speaks to them
as brethren, they were fellow Jews, and he speaks to them as
fathers, because as Israel in those days was led by men, and
where the men went the congregation went. So if the king was a corrupt
king, the nation became corrupted. If the priest was corrupt, the
nation became corrupted. If the prophets were corrupt,
the nation became corrupt. These men stood in that place,
that place of responsibility and position. But also Stephen,
led by the Holy Spirit, speaks these words of the Lord Jesus.
He speaks of this promise. He speaks of the promise made
to Abraham that this seed, in verse 6, this seed should sojourn
in a strange land, and that they should bring them into bondage
and entreat them evil four hundred years. And the nation to whom
they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God. And after
that, shall they come forth and serve me in this place.' And
he gave him the covenant of circumcision. So Abraham begat Isaac and circumcised
him the eighth day. Isaac begat Jacob and Jacob begat
the twelve patriarchs. And so these, Stephen is speaking
of the actions and the life of the fathers of nation Israel. Every Israelite prided himself
on being born of this lineage. What a remarkable lineage they
had. Not a lineage that you could
be proud of in the flesh. Although the Jews had become
so, if they examined the beginnings of their nation, they would see
that God overruled the wickedness of their patriarchs rather than
honoured the faithfulness of their patriarchs. In verse 9,
And the patriarchs moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt.
But God was with him. and delivered him out of all
his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight
of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he made him governor over Egypt
and all his house. Now there came a dearth on all
the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our
fathers found no sustenance. But when Jacob heard that there
was corn in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. And the second
time, Joseph was made known to his brethren, and Joseph's kindred
was made known unto Pharaoh. Then sent Joseph and called his
father Jacob to him. and all his kindred, three score
and fifteen souls, seventy-five. So Jacob went down into Egypt,
and he died, and our fathers." I don't know that there's a more
poignant and moving picture of a type of the Lord Jesus Christ
in all the scriptures than there is of Joseph. It is just remarkable
how he typifies the Lord Jesus Christ. In your bulletin there's
an article that outlines 15 of them and I think you could add
a zero to that and still go searching and find more. It is just remarkable
how Joseph is a picture. He's a picture. Joseph was a
servant like Stephen. He was a faithful servant. And it's just extraordinary.
I keep thinking, isn't it remarkable in Acts that the Lord Jesus,
after His resurrection, had the most remarkable opportunities
to go back to the Sanhedrin and go back to Herod and to Pilate
and to prove to Himself that He was the Messiah. And He does. He does. He does through the
words of his servants. He does through the words that
he puts into the mouths of his servants. So there are these
men, these patriarchs. And there before Stephen are
these ones who are the fathers, the spiritual fathers, as they
saw themselves, of Israel. And yet the actions that they
were embarking on were the actions that the patriarchs embarked
on with regard to Joseph. The patriarchs moved with envy,
sold Joseph into Egypt, These men, they organised lying men
and they stirred up the people in chapter 6, verses 11 and 12
and 13, and they set up false witnesses. These men, these men,
these patriarchs, They sold, they were moved with envy, just
as the Sanhedrin was moved with envy. Pilate knew that they were
moved with envy. He says in Mark 15.10, Pilate
knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy. But there's that wonderful phrase,
isn't it, in verse 9, but God was with him. but God was with
him. It is just remarkable to see
the hand of a sovereign God achieving those covenantal purposes from
all eternity to work the salvation of his people. Joseph pictures,
pictures the Lord Jesus Christ and he's dealing with his brethren,
pictures the salvation of the elect of God, the Israel of God,
the great deliverance. He saves them with a great deliverance. It is just the most moving of
pictures. I'd like us to turn back to Genesis
41 and the following verses. We know that Joseph was a special
child. His mother, Rachel, was the one
that Jacob worked and laboured for, and Jacob and Rachel could
have no children. Other children were born to Leah
and to the maidservants, but none to Rachel. And Rachel, as
I said earlier, she cried out to God, cried out to Jacob, give
me children lest I die. And at the birth of Jacob, But
at the birth of Joseph is when Jacob begins his journey back
from Syria, back into Canaan. It's the time for him to leave
the barn, it's the time for him to go with that family to the
Promised Land. And Rachel has one more child,
she has another child called Benjamin. and she dies having
Benjamin. So these two particular children
were remarkably special. They were children of promise.
They were children of travail. They were children born out of
love, a deep and abiding love. They were children born in times
of adversity. And Joseph was deeply loved. Joseph's name means Jehovah has
added to me. Jehovah has added to me. We'll see later on the Pharaoh
gives him another name. And Joseph's brothers were moved
with envy. In chapter 37 they conspire against
him. They find And Joseph tells them
of his dream in chapter 37, they become envious of him. He dreamed
this dream that his mother and his father and all of his eleven
brethren would bow down before him. And in chapter 37 verse
11, his brethren envied him, but his father observed the same. Observe the sign. And Joseph. in obedience to his father's
command. Just keep thinking of Joseph
as a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'll mention many of
them, but I want you in your minds to see that this is a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the redemption of his brethren
and his family there is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ dealing
with sinners and how he draws them to himself. Sir Joseph followed
his father's commands in chapter 37 verse 12. The brethren went
to feed their father's flock in Shechem and Israel. Israel,
whenever Israel is mentioned we see Jacob as the prince with
God, the one who is in reference and in type the spiritual leader
of his people, the Israel of God. And Israel said to Joseph,
Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? Come, and I
will send thee unto them. And he said, Here I am. The Lord
Jesus Christ had a command from his Father to go to his brethren. And he said to him, verse 14,
Go, I pray thee, and see whether it be well with thy brethren,
and well with the flocks, and bring me word again. So he sent
him to the Vale of Hedron. But in verse 18, the brothers see him afar off. And they saw him afar off, even
before he came near unto him, they conspired against him to
slay him. And such is the response to the
Lord Jesus Christ, isn't it? When he was far off, they conspired
against him to slay him. From almost the beginning of
his ministry, they conspired against him to slay him. When
he went to his hometown of Nadlerus and preached himself as the sovereign
God and Redeemer of his people, The response of those people
who had known him for 30 years was to take him outside of that
town and throw him off a cliff. They saw him far off before he
came near to them and they conspired to slay him. And you know the
story, we won't look into all of it, but they planned to kill
him and Reuben stepped in to deliver him and their solution
was to put him in a pit. and to leave him to die, and
Reuben's plan was to come and rescue him later on. But then
they saw a company of Ishmaelites coming by, their cousins as it
were, coming by, and they sold him. They sold him. They drew him out and lifted
him out, verse 28, out of the pit, and they sold Joseph to
the Ishmaelites for 20 pieces of silver. and they brought Joseph
into Egypt. Ishmaelites bought him for 20
pieces of silver. I have no question that they
probably sold him for 30 pieces of silver, just like the Lord
Jesus Christ. And Reuben returned and he was
horrified to find that Joseph wasn't there. And they took,
verse 31, they took that coat, that coat of many colours, that
coat that represented that love of the father for this particular
son, that coat that represented in its colours the covenant of
God, that he was a covenant child. He, like his father, were heirs
of that eternal covenant. and they dipped it, they killed
one of the kids of the goats, verse 31, dipped the coat in
the blood and they sent the coat of many colours and they brought
it to their father and they said, all 11 of them did this, this
we have found, now know whether it be thy son's coat or no, and
he knew it, and said, It is my son's coat, an evil beast hath
devoured him. Joseph is without doubt rent
in pieces, and Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon
his loins, and mourn for his son many days. It was at least
another 15 years and possibly 17 years that Joseph had to live
in that state. And these patriarchs of Israel
had to live with that lie before their father and each other all
of that time. And you know the rest of the
story. Joseph, and I trust you'll go and read it, brothers and
sisters. I just think these next eight chapters are just the most
remarkable chapters in the scriptures. There are places in the scriptures
where you are just so moved, I trust you are moved, that it's
very hard to read them without weeping, weeping with Joseph. and being amazed, being amazed
yet again and again at the picture of the Lord Jesus Christ revealed
in Joseph. Here is Stephen standing before
these accusers telling this story. Here is Stephen pleading with
these people, praying for them, about to be killed for them,
and yet operating in love toward them. And yet Joseph, having
been treated like this, when you come to those stories later
on, he was just so moved with love and compassion. It's a serious
challenge to us, isn't it? We live in this world, this wilderness
world of the Gospel and we live with people who actively reject
the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we have not only
this pagan world, but we have this professing religious world
and it causes us grief. And it's so often And I can only
speak for myself, it's so often that we are so much less like
Stephen and Joseph that I pray that the Lord would continue
to give us something of the heart of Stephen and Joseph, because
we don't know where our brothers are at. These men, like the man
who stood there beside Stephen and took the clothes that man
saw, these men looked like the most unlikely candidates of sovereign
love and grace. They had nothing in them and
nothing about them. They were liars and murderers. They cared nothing for Joseph
and they cared nothing for their father at all. And yet, And yet,
brothers and sisters, we live amongst people who do that to
the Lord all the time and we have done so. We have been in
their shoes. We mustn't, when we read the
stories of the patriarchs in the scriptures, we mustn't if
the Lord would allow us to think that in any way I'm better than
them. in any way I wouldn't have done
those things. We mustn't allow ourselves to
think that somehow when that crowd, that crowd who had witnessed
the Lord Jesus for three years performing the most remarkable
things and speaking words that no man had ever spoken on this
earth, we mustn't, we mustn't allow the pride of the flesh
of our hearts to allow us to think that if I was there I wouldn't
have done that. We are no better There is in
the scriptures a great revealing of what man really is. But there is in the scriptures
in that great revelation of what man in his heart is, there's
a great revealing of a great salvation. That Joseph says to
his brothers, he was sent down here, he was sent to Egypt by
the hand of God and he was sent down there that there might be
a great deliverance. Only great sinners, only great
sinners need a great deliverance. Those who have something in themselves,
some little bit of righteousness, some things in this world to
cling to, will never appreciate a great deliverance. Those who need a great saviour
will find the Lord Jesus, typified by our Joseph to be a great saviour
and a remarkably gracious saviour. We know in this story that, as
it goes on, Joseph was sold because of the sins of the others, and
he was enslaved because of the sins of another, and then he
was imprisoned. because of the sins of another.
Potiphar's wife conspired against him. She is a great picture of
the lies of temptation, the lie of temptation and the lie of
sexual sin. And you know the story that he
then spent those years in prison, but he happened to be in the
prison that was attached to the king's court, and he was released. He was released, our great Redeemer. He was released because Pharaoh
with his dreams had no one else to turn to. You might remember
the story, Joseph interpreted the dreams and then Pharaoh had
these two dreams, the dreams of the seven ears of wheat that
grew up lush and strong and then seven scrawny ones came and devoured
them and then seven cattle grew fat and then seven scrawny cattle
came and devoured the fat ones. And Pharaoh turned to all the
magicians of Egypt and he could find no wisdom and discernment
among them. And I love what Joseph has brought
to him. He's brought out of jail, he's
cleaned up and taken off his rags and he's presented, dressed
again before Pharaoh. And Pharaoh describes a dream
to him. And Joseph answered, Pharaoh
and said, it is not in me. God shall give Pharaoh an answer
of peace. It was God who revealed that
to Pharaoh. And you know how Joseph interprets
the dreams and he reveals that the seven years are seven years
of plenty and the seven lean years will be years of famine
like the world hadn't seen ever before. And Pharaoh looks around
for a man, Joseph says his advice is, you find a man with wisdom
and discernment to put your house in order and to rule over Egypt.
And Pharaoh, Pharaoh says in verse 38, Pharaoh said unto his
servants, can we find such a one as this? Chapter 41, verse 38,
A man in whom the Spirit of God is. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,
Forasmuch as God showed thee all this, there is none so discreet
and wise as thou art. Pharaoh gave him a new name,
it's down there in verse 45, and the name means Revealer of
Secrets. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Revealer of the Secrets of God. He reveals the secret things
of the hearts of men when he meets them. He reveals God in
his true character. In chapter 41 we have this work. of this Revealer of Secrets.
In chapter 41, verse 25, the Revealer of Secrets warns of
the coming danger and urges Pharaoh to make provision for us. Just
like our great Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, he warns of
the things to come and he urges people to come to him. to find
salvation, to find security in the times that are to come. There are destined for this world
and destined for people troublesome times. There is one place of
refuge for the souls of people. Joseph is a counsellor. He's a counsellor. The Lord Jesus
Christ is called the wonderful counsellor. And in chapter 41,
Pharaoh said to Joseph, verse 41 of chapter 41, Pharaoh said
unto Joseph, See, I have sent thee over all the land of Egypt. He was set over all the land
of Egypt. He was to rule over all of Egypt
on Pharaoh's behalf, just as our Lord Jesus Christ rules over
all things. And he was stripped of his coat
of many colours by his brothers. and he was stripped of his covering
by Potiphar's wife, but now he's raised up and he's covered again
with the glorious apparel that Pharaoh brings to him. And the
Lord Jesus Christ is exalted to glory, isn't it? He's clothed
with the glory of God. He's clothed with glory and that
glory is seen both in His humiliation, that glory is seen in Him on
Calvary's tree, in Gethsemane's garden, that glory is seen in
the way He deals with His people in grace and mercy. and that
glory is seen by Stephen." That's why Stephen begins this speech
to the fathers, doesn't he? To these fathers, he said, the
God of glory visited Abraham. The God of glory visits his people. And his authority, Joseph's power
and authority is acknowledged by all men. And one day all men
will acknowledge and own that the Lord Jesus Christ is God
and ruler of all things. Joseph is given a wife by Pharaoh. Pharaoh typifies God the Father
in some ways, doesn't it? God the Father gave his son a
bride. that marriage was planned. Joseph
is now 30 years of age, verse 46. He's 30 years of age when
he enters into this public ministry and the Lord Jesus Christ was
30 years of age when he entered into his public ministry. Just
a few years later he meets his brothers and Joseph goes out. He goes out in verse 46 on a
mission from God, doesn't he? He went out from the presence
of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt and wherever
he went they bowed the knee, verse 43, they bowed the knee
before him and declared his exhortation. It's a remarkable hand of God
in Providence, isn't it? This one that's rejected by men
is actually esteemed and made glorious by a sovereign hand
of God. And there is, in that time, following
this exaltation of Him, there is this season of great plenty,
just as there was in the exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ in those
early days of the Church, there was this glorious, glorious outpouring. Tens of thousands of people were
brought to the Lord Jesus. This Gospel went with power.
The Lord Jesus Christ reigns and rules. But in the following
verse, in verse 11 of chapter 7, there came a dove over all
the earth. There is There is in the providence
of God a necessity for God's people to be brought to Him by
being made empty of everything they have in themselves. You've
got to remember that Jacob came back from his time with Laban
as a wealthy, wealthy man. He can give an enormous amount
of wealth. to his brother Esau to pacify
him and still be a very, very wealthy man. And he lived in
that land of milk and honey and he had prospered. And yet Jacob
is brought to a place where he is now a beggar. He might have
been a wealthy man, but he's brought to a place where he's
a beggar. And like Naomi, Jacob heard that there was corn
in Egypt. I love that description of that
Gospel coming to Naomi in the book of Ruth. Naomi heard that
the Lord had visited his people by sending them corn. There is
a necessity, there is a necessity for people being brought to the
Lord that there is a dearth. We keep wondering why people
don't respond. I talked to Norman about it earlier
today. You keep wondering why people don't respond to the simple
claims of the scriptures about who the Lord Jesus Christ is
and how radically, radically different the declaration of
who God is in the scriptures is from the religion all about
us. Again and again and again the
religion all about us, the religion that floods this world is a religion
that speaks peace to men, and speaks of exaltation and self-esteem,
and speaks of promises of God that belong to the particular
people, to particular people of God, and they make those promises
common and meaningless to all people. And there is nothing
in their message and nothing in their so-called gospel that
has any ability whatsoever to warm the hearts of men. God comes a second time. There is a second meeting. There is another time when God
moves in the hearts of His people. But that movement is always as
a result of a dearth. It's always as a result of a
great necessity. The great problem about people
is that they have no need. They have manufactured a gospel,
they have manufactured a refuge of lies and they repeat it to
themselves and they gather week in, week out to repeat it to
themselves that God is at peace with us, everything is fine.
One of the verses on the back of the staff toilet in Hebron,
where we were for those five years. And you got to use the
staff toilet in Hebron occasionally. But there was one of those clerks
there that had Jeremiah 29.11. You might have heard of it. It says, for I know the thoughts
that I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and
not evil, and to give you an expected end. So there it is,
I know the thoughts I have towards you, says the Lord. Everyone
read it, and I've seen it quoted, and I've seen it put on all sorts
of places, and it's always, in the circumstances that I've seen
it, there is always no defining of the pronoun. There's no defining
of the you. The you in that verse are those
who'd been sent to Babylon by the hand of God to preserve them
from the evil that was to fall upon Jerusalem. The you is a
particular people. The you are those particular
ones, the remnant, the Israel of God. For those, God has thoughts
that he thinks towards them, thoughts of peace and not evil.
And people don't even bother to go reading the rest of the
chapter, because down in the rest of the chapter from verse
21 on, he speaks of the false prophets. They prophesy lies
under them. And God is determined, His thoughts
towards these people is to kill them, to destroy them from all
the earth and to send them to hell. And yet the verse remains
hung on walls all over this world. It is. This religion, this religious
world wants to encourage people to speak peace to each other. But there is. There is a necessity
for God to bring a dearth, for God to bring a famine, for God
to strip people of their resources, to strip people of the things
that they can cling to. It's interesting, isn't it, that
the seven years 7 in the scriptures speaks of completeness, of perfection
and the sovereignty and the holiness of God. There is a perfect amount
of affliction. There's a perfect amount of sustenance
for the people of God in their Joseph and with their Joseph
and outside of their Joseph there's a perfect amount of affliction. But for some people that affliction
is an affliction that draws them in God's gracious dealings with
his people. It draws them in mercy. And so
the brothers come. They come the first time. Stephen
wants them to contemplate the second time. But they come the
first time and there is a beautiful description of that meeting,
isn't it? When they come that first time, Joseph meets them. And Joseph Our Redeemer meets
them. In verse 7 of chapter 42, they
are sent there. They are sent without Benjamin,
and Joseph is the governor. And Joseph, verse 7, chapter
42, he saw his brethren and he knew them. God sees our Redeemer,
our Saviour, sees his people and he knew them. But he made
himself strange unto them and spoke roughly unto them, and
he accused them of being spies. And Joseph, is moved. He's moved with compassion for
them and he loves them deeply and dearly despite all that they've
done for them. But Joseph speaks roughly to
them. When the Gospel came in Acts chapter 2 and in Acts chapter
3, the words of God came roughly to those people. There was no
mincing of words. They were openly accused of what
they really were, that they were the murderers and the betrayers
and the deniers of the God of glory. And God has exalted this
Jesus to be Lord and Christ and you've crucified Him. You've
betrayed Him. And they speak amongst themselves. And then in verse 24, they knew, verse 23, they knew not
that Joseph understood them, for they spoke unto him by an
interpreter, and he turned himself about from them and wept. He's so moved by his love and
his compassion. He's so moved by what he knows
is going to happen to them that he weeps. And he returned unto
them again and communed with them. And he took one of their
brothers. He accused them of being spies
and he took Simeon and he bound them before his eyes. And they
were sent back to Canaan with all their sacks full of corn
and with the money restored. And they come back and they empty
their sacks and they find their money is in it. And now they
come back and they meet Jacob and Jacob now sees that Simeon
is gone, but also the command of Joseph is that if you don't
bring Benjamin back with you next time, you will never get
any more food. You will die unless you bring Benjamin back with
you. And the famine got worse in chapter
43. And Judah stands as the surety
for Benjamin. We read these verses often. It's
the first mention of that word surety in the scriptures. Verse
8, And Judah said unto Israel his father, Send the lad with
me, for we will arise and go, that we may live and not die,
both we and thou, and also our little ones. I will be surety
for him. Of my hand shalt thou require
him, if I bring Him not unto Thee, set Him before Thee, and
set Him before Thee, then let me bear the blame forever." Such
is the promise of our Lord Jesus Christ to His Father, isn't it?
I will be surety for them, and I'll bring them, and I'll set
them before Thee, and if I don't do it, then let me bear the blame
forever. And Benjamin is sent back to
meet Joseph. And they were afraid when they
came back. And it was the steward of the house in verse 19 of chapter
43 that spoke to them. It's interesting, isn't it, that
Joseph stands as the Lord Jesus Christ in these pictures, but
he speaks peace to them through a steward. He says in verse 23,
peace be unto you, fear not, your God and the God of your
father has given you the treasure in your sacks. I had your money
and he brought Simeon out to them. And there is this remarkable
meeting. They got ready to meet Joseph,
and Joseph meets them at noon. And when Joseph came home, verse
26, they brought him the present which was in their hand in the
house, and they bowed themselves to him. to the earth. And he asked them of their welfare,
Is your father well? The old man that you spoke of,
is he yet alive? And they answered, Your servant,
our father, is in good health. He is yet alive. And they bowed
down their heads and made obeisance." And he lifted up his eyes and
saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and said, Is this
your younger brother of whom you speak unto me? And he said,
God be gracious unto thee, my son. It's such a moving story,
isn't it? And verse 30. And Joseph made
haste. for his bowels did yearn upon
his brother, and he sought where to weep, and he entered into
his chamber, and he wept there." True Christianity, true relationship
with God, is emotional and meaningful, and it's not hard-hearted. The
love of God reaches to the hearts of His people, It goes from a
broken-hearted Lord in communion with broken-hearted sinners. He made haste and He wept. But
He did it in such a way that they had no idea of who He was,
nor did they have any idea of His love for them, or His plans
for them, nor of their future. In verse 31, he washed his face
and went out and refrained himself and said, Step on bread. And then, before he reveals himself
this second time that Stephen refers to, he'd hidden himself
from them. And he sets this final test. Chapter 44. He commanded the
steward of his house, saying, Fill the men's sack with food,
so much as they can carry, and put every man's money in his
sack's mouth, and put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack's
mouth of the youngest, and his corn money. And he did according
to the word that Joseph had spoken. And soon as the morning was light,
the men were sent away, they and their asses. And when they
were gone out of the city and not yet far off, Joseph said
unto his steward, Up, follow after the men. And when thou
dost overtake them, say unto them, Wherefore have ye rewarded
evil for good? Is not this in which my Lord
drinketh, and whereby indeed he divineth, ye have done evil
in so doing.' And he overtook them, and he spake unto them
these same words. And they said unto him, Wherefore
sayeth my Lord these words? God forbid that thy servants
should do according to this thing. Behold the money which we found
in our sack's mouth, we brought again unto thee out of the land
of Canaan. How then shall we steal out of thy Lord's house
silver or gold? With whomsoever of thy servants
it be found, let him die. And we also will be my Lord's
bondmen. And he said, Let it be according
to your own words. And he with whom it is found
shall be my servant, and you shall be blameless. and they
speedily took down every man he sacked to the ground and opened
every man he sacked and he searched and began at the eldest and left
at the youngest and the cup was found in Benjamin's sack. And
they rent their clothes and every man laboured his ass and returned
to the city." I spoke of that need. There is
a dearth, there is a sovereign hand that brings the Lord's people
to the place where they will meet with the Gospel, where they
will meet with Joseph. the one who speaks peace to Pharaoh,
the one who will speak peace to them. But there is, in the saving of sinners, there
is a necessity of their being brought low. It's interesting,
isn't it, in the other occasions where they'd met Joseph, they
bowed before him. Thousands of people bowed before
the Queen. Year in, year out, thousands
have bowed before the Queen, and I reckon every single one
of them has gone away as proud as Punch. so pleased that they
had the opportunity to be in her presence and bow before her.
But you look at these men now. They had bowed and bowed. Verse 14, Judah and his brethren
came to Joseph's house, for he was yet there, and they fell
down before him on the ground. God will cause, by the hand of
Providence, by the revealing of sin, God will cause His people
to actually fall down before Him. There is a necessity in
this second time, isn't it? There is a reason for God to
bring people a second time. There is a necessity in it. There is in the hand of God a
revealing of the character of God, first in what he withholds
and then what he reveals to people. See, the people, his brothers,
they didn't know him, but in all these other occurrences,
they'd come down to Egypt. They'd come down to Egypt to
get corn. They'd come down to satisfy the needs of their flesh.
They'd come down because there was corn in Egypt. They were
ignorant of who Joseph was and they didn't really want him,
they just wanted what they could get from him. And such is so
much of false religion and fleshly religion. They want to have peace
with God but they don't want to meet the Prince of Peace.
They want to have forgiveness but they don't want the Forgiver.
They want to be clean but they don't want the Christ. They want
to have what He'll give them, but they don't want Him to rule
over them. But our God, our God will reveal
Himself in grace to His people. And Joseph didn't reveal himself
to his brothers until they'd come with a real sense of conviction. You turn over towards the end
of that chapter, there's a remarkable journey of these men, journey
of these men who were the fathers of Israel, the fathers of spiritual
Israel. There's a journey of these men
as they come to meet Joseph. And it was Judah who comes. And Judah before Joseph, he pleads
that covenant. And he says, and he pleads for
his father. in verse 29, and if you take
also this from me and mischief before him, this is talking of
Benjamin, you shall bring down my grey hairs with sorrow to
the grave. Now for when I come to thy servant
my father and the lad be not with us, seeing that his life
is bound up with the lad's life. Jacob's life is bound up with
Benjamin's life. And it shall come to pass, when
he sees the lad's not with us, that he will die, and my servant
shall bring down the grey hairs of thy servant our father with
sorrow to the grave. For 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. He repeats
the covenant promises that he made. Judah, of course, is the
one from whom the Lord Jesus came. 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. For how shall I go
up to my father, and the lad not be with me? Lest, per our
adventure, I see the evil that shall come upon my father. evil
that had come upon the Father because of the wickedness of
their sins. And it's at this point, this is the second time,
this is the second time, here's Stephen before these proud fathers,
these proud fathers who had every reason to be humbled, all the
evidence had caused them to be humbled before the Lord Jesus
Christ as He revealed in resurrection glory. that there is a second
time, there is a second time. For so many, I trust it's a word
of encouragement, for those who've come in some way to hear of the
Lord Jesus Christ, there is a second time, there is a visiting. It
may be painful and it's our job, I trust brothers and sisters,
when the pain comes that we see that it's a pain that has been
brought from the Lord and if He brings it, He will bring peace. It is His job to speak peace
to troubled hearts. It is not our task. We tell of
the Prince of Peace. Let the pain continue. If someone is under conviction
that comes from the Lord, it will be a painful process. They
will be brought down. They will be made to fall down.
They will be in a land of famine. And yet, in the midst of all
that, That is the place, the second time. That is where Joseph
reveals himself. Then Joseph could not refrain
himself. Joseph had witnessed all of this
and knew it all and conspired and planned it all. There he
was, just moved with love for them. Verse 45 is remarkable. And Joseph could not refrain
himself before all them that stood by him. And he cried, cause
every man to go out from me. See, when the Lord Jesus Christ
reveals Himself to His people, it is personal, intimate. That's why Judas, not Iscariot,
in John Chapter 14 spoke to the Lord Jesus Christ and said, why
are you going to, why is it that you will reveal yourself to us? and not to the world. There is
a special revelation. This was between Joseph and his
brethren. And Joseph made himself known
unto his brethren. And he wept aloud. He wept aloud. And the Egyptians and the house
of Pharaoh heard. The world will know The world
will know when the Lord Jesus Christ comes to his own. They will know in time that he
loves them with that everlasting love. He wept aloud and the Egyptians
heard. 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 to his brethren,
come near to Me." When our great Redeemer reveals Himself after
those trials of faith, He says, come near to Me. There has been
a revelation of covenant, come near to Me. When God reveals
Himself, when Lord Jesus reveals Himself, there will be a falling
down and there will be a trembling, but there will be a revealing
of Himself. And there will be a revealing of that everlasting
love for them who have been the rebels against Him. Rebels against
His love and rebels against His providence and rebels against
the glory of His blood redemption. Rebels against Him. come near
to me, I pray you." And they came near. He said, I am Joseph,
your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. And when he comes near,
having revealed himself through all these trials, you'll speak
peace to them. He speaks peace to the hearts
of his people, having brought them through these trials. Verse
5, now, therefore, be not grieved nor angry with yourselves that
ye sold me hither, for God did send me before you to preserve
life. See, Joseph knew the future.
There were two years of the famine and five more to go. He sent
me before you to preserve life. An outright redeemer in his saving
mercy brings all his people, all is forgiven. All is forgiven,
all of that that you meant for evil in the crucifixion of the
Lord Jesus Christ, God meant for good, for the glory of His
people, all is forgiven. They are reconciled, reconciled
by His work of grace and mercy and He kisses them to reveal
His love to them and He speaks peace to them. And he gathers
his family together. He gathers his family together.
All of them came down. He sent them back with wagons
to bring Joseph back. And Pharaoh says in verse 45,
verse 45, 19, he said, You take these wagons out of the land
of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring
your father and come. And when you come to him, You
regard not your stuff. You can't come to this Joseph
and bring any of the things of this world. He has no need of
them. He actually owns all of them. Don't regard your stuff.
So many people are caught up, aren't they? They need, by the
hand of God, to have their stuff taken away from them. Whatever
it might be, the stuff of their righteousness, the stuff of this
world, the stuff of their wisdom, God will take the stuff of His
people away from them. You don't need it when you come
into the care and under the care of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything. Everything is yours. Everything. He owned our Joseph. He owned
all the land of Egypt. And if you read on, you'll see
that as the family got worse, he owned all the land of Egypt,
he owned all the people of Egypt, all the cattle of Egypt, and
he even owned the people and the land of Canaan. He owned
it all. Our Lord Jesus Christ bought
this whole world. He owns it all and he rules it
all for the glory of God. There is a necessary dearth. There is a necessary bringing
of God's people to the place where they say, what shall we
do? We are now exposed before Him
and we see Jesus high and lifted up and you are made to see that
you are in His hands, in the hands of a sovereign God. The
call of the Scriptures, isn't it, and the promise in Acts chapter
2 was, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved. Verse 2, 21. Whosoever. I love
that it's a whosoever. And it's great, the beginning
of that sentence. It says, and it shall come to
pass. What's it? In the scriptures
is God's covenant purposes, God's sovereign purposes, God's eternal
covenant. It shall come to pass that whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord. Our plea, our plea as God's
witnesses and God's servants is to call on Him. You'll call
on Him when you need Him. You call on Him when this world
and all the things that you have in this world and all of your
religious righteousnesses are made to be a desert and a wilderness. See those who seek the Lord Jesus
Christ feel their need of Him. They had to go to Joseph or they
died. For so many people there is no
great need, but God creates a need in His people. And those who
seek the Lord Jesus Christ as He's promised will find Him. For they who seek Him will seek
Him continually, and they'll seek Him because they're in need,
they're in great need. For when they come to Him, they'll
find He who spoke roughly to them, to fall upon them with
kisses, with love, and with His words of peace. And He'll draw
them together. His whole family will be drawn
under His care and protection to live in the land of plenty,
in a world of family. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
we do thank You again for the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Heavenly Father, we, like the patriarchs, have treated the
Lord Jesus Christ as those patriarchs treated Him, and yet wonder of
wonders, in the midst of all of our rebellion and all of our
enmity against Him. He looked upon His children,
He looked upon His bride with vows of love and compassion and
understanding, for He bore our sins and counted them as his
own, and suffered infinite, eternal wrath for them, and bore them
all away. So now between him and their
souls There is nothing but love and peace. Heavenly Father, we
praise You for the glory of Your dear and precious Son. We praise
You for sending Him. We praise You for the willingness
of Him to come as our surety and to suffer all that He suffered
at the hands of men. We praise You, Heavenly Father,
that He comes and causes these people to come to Him a second
time. where He reveals Himself in His
glory, having stripped us of all of the props of this world.
Heavenly Father, it's a painful process, this stripping, but
in Your hands, in the hands of our Great Physician, We trust
that for ourselves, Heavenly Father, and for those we can
continue to pray for. May you cause us, Heavenly Father,
to have hearts that yearn for our brothers and sisters, hearts
that respond as Stephen did and as Joseph did to those that had
hurt him so much. And may in all this, Heavenly
Father, we find the Lord Jesus Christ. reflected in greater
glory because of his wonderful salvation for such great sinners
as us. Heavenly Father, we praise you
for that family that is gathered and must be gathered because
of this powerful and successful Redeemer, our Lord Jesus Christ. Help us, Heavenly Father, to
remember him In all situations, remember Him and His broken body
and His shed blood for us. But also, Heavenly Father, cause
us to hear words of peace from Him. Peace that He, the Prince
of Peace alone, can speak to His bride. We pray, Heavenly
Father, for His glory to be revealed yet again to His people, both
here and around this world, through the preaching and proclamation
of this glorious Gospel. We pray in His name. Amen.