The words that I desire to bring
before you this afternoon are from Genesis chapter 45, and
they are the last two words of verse nine. I'll read the whole
of the verse, but it's the last two words that have been especially
laid on my mind. Genesis 45, verse nine. 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. Tarry not. Tarry not. I've been quite worried,
really, about coming with this text. I have a Another text for
this evening, which is more on the subject, if the Lord keeps
it with me, of the Harvest Thanksgiving. And I have been quite concerned,
really, that this text is not to do with the Harvest Thanksgiving.
And as I was thinking about it, I thought, well, perhaps I should
start with the Harvest Thanksgiving text. And then I could have this
one this evening. But then I thought that is wrong
because this word means tarry not. It means it is a word of
urgency. And that's that's that's really
what's been on my spirit for the last two or three days as
I've been thinking about this. This text came after the other
one. And that sense of urgency has really been with me. And
I felt if it's urgent, I can't leave it till the evening. I
can't say that this is urgent. and then say, well, I'll leave
it to the evening just to please myself. So it did seem to me
that I've got to start with these words, these words, a message
of of urgency, a message of not waiting, of not standing still.
Terry, no. Now, I am I'm thankful, really,
that I I know practically nothing about about all of you little
bits, as you know, we saw you last year, but I don't know anything
about your circumstances. In some ways, it must be, I think,
it's easier to come as a visitor and preach from a text like this,
because I have no idea who it applies to. And so no one can
say that from my knowledge of them, that I have chosen this
text and I'm speaking to them. I know nothing about you. I don't
know why I'm preaching from this text. And as I said, I have been
tried about it. As I said, it felt not a, in
one sense, not a suitable text. I must preach from it and I do
pray that the Lord will apply it where it is needed to whom
that whoever he is speaking to the Lord will help you to receive
it. And may it be a blessing that it is an answer to prayer.
Now this word tarry It really is often translated to stand. If you look it up where it's
used, the Hebrew word throughout the Old Testament is often translated
standing. And you can sort of see how that
makes sense, really. It's where especially if you
think somebody just when they're standing there, they're not moving.
And especially where there's that sense where they shouldn't
be standing, they should be walking. or running or going somewhere. And instead of that, they're
just standing. And as we see this word in this verse, what
it means is don't just stand there when the Lord has spoken,
when the Lord has commanded. When the Lord has made plain
what his will is, when the Lord especially, I want to come on
to this, when the Lord has made plain what he has done for you,
when the Lord has spoken, when the Lord perhaps has answered
prayers previously, don't just stand, tarry not. I'm thinking,
I don't know if you can, sort of come with me with this
but I know that there are times sometimes when we have something
to do before us and there might be as it were legitimate reasons
why we can't do it or why we can't go or whatever it is and
then one by one those reasons are sorted out and then we come
to a point where there's not any reason why we can't do whatever
it is that we're supposed to do but we're still reluctant
and we're still as it were just standing there I think Moses
was like that a bit, really, when the Lord spoke to him at
the beginning of Exodus. You remember when the Lord first
came to Moses and said to him that he's got to go back to Egypt
and lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. And Moses had objections. He his first one was the the
Israelites will say the Lord has not appeared unto thee. that
you made it up or you're dreaming or you're deluded. That was his
first problem, as it were. And then the Lord gave him those
miracles of his rod being cast on the ground and becoming a
serpent, and then his hand being put into his bosom and then coming
out leprous, then going back in again and it then being made
whole again. And then he gave him another
sign to work if they still wouldn't believe him. And then Moses had
another objection. He said, O my Lord, I am not
eloquent, neither heretofore nor since thou hast spoken unto
thy servant, but I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue.
And the Lord answered that, and he said, Who hath made man's
mouth, or who maketh the dumb? or deaf, or the seeing, or the
blind. Have not I the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will
be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say." That
was a real promise that the Lord would be with Moses. And he was
saying, it doesn't matter that you can't speak, that you're
not eloquent, that you can't articulate things well. Or some
people can, can't they? They can really, as it were,
get under our skin in the way that they speak. Well, Moses
couldn't. He wasn't eloquent. Even after the Lord had spoken
to him, he still wasn't eloquent. But the Lord said, that doesn't
matter. I'll be with your mouth and I will show you what you've
got to say. And that's the only thing. And if I do that, then
there'll be no other. There'll be no problem, as it
were, in your speech. And then this is what I wanted
to come to. This is then Moses then said,
after those problems and difficulties had been taken away, he then
said, Oh, my Lord, send I pray thee by the hand of him whom
thou wilt send. And Moses still, he didn't want to go at that
point. There had been difficulties that he'd raised with the Lord,
and the Lord had taken them away. But he still, as it were, he
didn't want to go. And so there wasn't any of those, the difficulties
weren't in the way anymore, but Moses just didn't want to go.
And he couldn't really, as it were, he didn't have anything
else to bring before the Lord, but he was still reluctant. And
he really said almost something like, Well, O Lord, do whatever
thou wantest to do. It was almost a defiance, although
the words were words of acquiescence. And so I think Moses was a bit
like that. He was, as it were, tarrying.
And sometimes we can be like that. Again, it might be in something
else, as I said, in something simple. something if you like
in our Providence where there are difficulties and then they're
taken away but still don't want to do it still want to stay as
I am I still don't want my life to change I still don't want
to take the plunge as we sometimes say there's no difficulty there's
no reason why we shouldn't but if you like there's that inertia
isn't there of not wanting to do something and I believe that
that is we're in a place where we are then tarrying we're just
standing there There's no reason. We know where we're supposed
to go. That is what I am assuming this afternoon, that there are
those who know what they need to do, but they are tarrying
and not doing it. Well, may the Lord come and may
the Lord give us that desire to follow him. And sometimes
it might not be. There might be specific things
that we are afraid of or specific things that seem to us are impossibilities. But then when they're taken away,
we might have, if you like, more general fears and more general
doubts, as it were, almost like I said, the fear of the unknown,
a fear of change. And all this is unbelief. It
is not trusting the Lord. And so we are still, as it were,
lingering, lingering, standing still. Tarry not, tarry not. Think of Lot again going back
a little earlier. Lot at that time when the Lord
had that purpose to save Lot from that city of Sodom. And
the Lord sent two angels to save him. The Lord, as it were, had
his eye upon Lot and upon Lot's daughters. And he said that he
could do nothing until Lot was out of that city. We read that
account, don't we, of how the angels came and they spoke to
Lot and they warned Lot, but still he wasn't anxious to come.
And then in the morning, when the angels then, they hastened
Lot, they speeded him up. They had to chivvy him along,
as it were, and said, arise, take thy wife and thy two daughters,
which are here, lest they'll be consumed in the iniquity of
the city. unbelievably in one sense we
still read while he lingered while he lingered and that really
is another aspect of this isn't it because it can be that we
we do we are convinced that unless we know the lord jesus christ
that unless we are saved, that unless we are washed in the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ and saved from our sins, we can be
convinced that we will go into hell. We know that there's a
danger, as it were. And then we have those reminders,
don't we, of how our life can be taken away from us at any
moment. I do want to speak carefully on that, but you know what I
mean. And yet inside us, although we know that, although we daily
read, if we are interested in those things at all, we can daily
read of accidents on the road. We always think it's going to
be someone else, don't we, and not us. There's that sort of inbuilt,
as it were, thought within that it's always someone else and
not going to be us. Even though we know that rationally that's
not right and that's not true. And so we can, as it were, be
convinced of our danger. But just like law, we can linger. A lot lingered. Tarry not, tarry
not. And we read, don't we? Here we
read of the Lord's mercy. While he lingered, the men laid
hold upon his hand, upon the hand of his wife and upon the
hand of his two daughters. So there was one angel, as it
were, holding the hand of perhaps Lot and his wife and another
angel holding the hands in the middle of his two daughters and
almost as it were, pulling them out of the city. No good reason
to stay there. The only reason why they didn't
want to come was because they were afraid to trust the Lord.
It was unbelief. And they didn't want to change,
as it were. Because the angels had been clear about what the
dangers were. But the Lord's mercy was that he brought them
out in that way and that the angels took him by the hand and
his family and brought him out. And we read in verse 16 immediately
after that, immediately after we read how the angels, the men,
took hold of him by the hand and his wife by the hand and
his two daughters. Immediately the Bible then says,
the Lord being merciful unto him, the Lord being merciful
unto him, hurrying him away from the destruction of Sodom that
was coming, hurry him away, even against his will as it were,
because he would have tarried. Now that has been my concern
really in thinking about this afternoon and thinking about
this text. As I said, all I can say is how I felt really, that
there has been that sense of urgency on my spirit that I must
Seek to, as it were, bring before you and pray that the Holy Spirit
will communicate it to whoever it may be. Tarry not. I do want to spend a bit of time
now just looking at this chapter and especially looking at Joseph
as a type of Christ. And by type of Christ, we mean
somebody that the Lord uses to illustrate something or some
things about Jesus Christ, somebody that the Lord has used to show
us what Jesus is like. And that is what Joseph was.
And so I want to just look really just mainly from the chapter
that we read about some of the wonderful things that speak of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And don't forget, that in our
text, in the verse that our text is, the tarry not is speaking
about, it was spoken, it was a message sent to Jacob that
he would not tarry in coming down to Joseph. And Joseph, as
a type of Jesus Christ, the message is tarry not in coming down unto
me. If perhaps it is that the Lord
has spoken with you and there has been that, if you like, those
signs and tokens that the Lord knows you and perhaps you may
still be lingering, as it were, still afraid, as it were, as
what might happen if you speak to somebody else about what the
Lord has done in your hearts. Afraid, perhaps, of what other
people will say, perhaps in your family or I don't know or something
else. But if there is one like that, Then may the Lord, as we
look at this chapter as to what the Lord had done through Joseph,
may the Lord convince you of what the Lord Jesus Christ has
done for you, because that is the blessing in this chapter.
In a sense, I don't want to be distracted
from this. I don't want to distract from the message which I feel
I have been given. But in one sense, preaching about
in another sense from this chapter, it could be suitable for a harvest.
service because it speaks so much of how the Lord has provided
for Jacob. But I want to speak about that
spiritually, but I don't want to distract from the message.
I must not be distracted from the message that I feel I have
been given. So first of all, the first thing
I want to speak about in the beginning of this chapter is
the love that there was in Joseph to his brethren. and how that
shows us the love that Jesus has to his people. There are
two people in this chapter who extend an invitation to Jacob
and to his sons and to their families. Two people who say
come down, come and live in the land. One of them is Joseph. The other one is Pharaoh. Pharaoh
speaking of verse 17. Say unto thy brethren this do
you lay your beasts and go get you onto the land of Canaan.
The difference was I think Pharaoh must have been touched by the
account that he'd just seen and heard of and learnt of Joseph,
that he had a family and that they finally had been reunited.
I'm sure he was touched by that and perhaps that's how he was
speaking. But think of the difference between him and Joseph and think
about the love that Joseph had for his brethren. He knew them
before they knew him. They came in front of him. They
came and asked him for food before they knew him. But he knew who
they were. And if you look back through
the chapters before this, you'll see that on a couple of occasions,
Joseph was so moved with his love at seeing his brethren again
that he had to turn away so that he could go and weep in private
so that he wouldn't give himself away. And he couldn't. His love was so great that we
read in this first two, he wept aloud. and the Egyptians and
the House of Pharaoh heard. He loved his brethren. He had
such a love to them. He loved his father and that
and he loved Benjamin. And especially that comes across,
doesn't it? He he couldn't wait to ask. It was his father still
well for that reassurance, even though they'd just been speaking
about him. And earlier on, he asked about Benjamin and he asked
that they would bring him the next time they came because of
his love for Benjamin. That lovely, beautiful love that
Joseph had for his family as they came before him. Now, much
might be said about that, that runs all the way through. And
really, that love, as it were, is why Joseph immediately says
to them, come unto me, go and get your father. and bring him
and come unto me. You're hungry. You don't have
enough food where you are. But I have more than enough.
That hymn, I think 184 in Gadsby's, a fullness resides in Jesus.
Our head has been going through my mind really on this. And that
is really what Joseph is saying. I've got more than enough here.
I knew there was going to be a famine. The law told me I knew
there was going to be a famine. And there has been preparations
made. Whatever your needs are, there is a full, full barns of
grain and food for you. And so, Joseph, through love,
he sends that command, haste ye, that's to his brothers, make
haste and go to my father and then tell him, tarry not. Everything
that you need is here. I want to come back onto that
in a moment. It was done through love, wasn't it? And we see,
don't we, in verse 14, 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. That's a lovely verse, isn't
it? Lovely two verses. Joseph has
spoken to them. reassured them that he's not
going to take revenge for what they did. And then more than
that, though, it's it's not just his words that he's saying he's
not going to take revenge, as it were. But it's when when he
fell on Benjamin's neck and wept and then on their neck and wept
and kissed them, they saw his love for them. And that was what
really made the difference. And then so often the Bible doesn't
there's lots of details the Bible doesn't give us, but it just
gives us the ones that speak volumes. And after that, his
brethren talked with him. It loosened their tongues. They
weren't afraid of him anymore. They weren't afraid of what he
was going to do. And they communed with him then. They told him
all about themselves. They spoke without fear because
they saw his love. Oh, may that be. May we have
the faith to believe when the Lord Jesus Christ speaks to us
through his word. May we have that faith to believe
in his love. May we not doubt it. It is a
lovely picture. Think of that as it were being
released in prayer to speak to the Lord Jesus Christ, to pour
out your heart unto him, to not be afraid anymore of your sins.
They're there, but not to be afraid of them anymore. Now,
the second thing I wanted to speak about was their previous
sins were not a hindrance. And you'll remember that We go
back a few chapters. Chapter 42. And I think this
is the first time they come to see Joseph. And then Joseph insists
that they bring Benjamin to them. And he's put them in prison for
three days. And he's asked for a hostage, if you like. That's
probably what we would say. And then look at the effect that
that has on his brethren. They say we are verily we are
really, truly guilty concerning our brother. That's Joseph they're
speaking of in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought
us and we would not hear. Therefore, is this distress come
upon us? I haven't really thought about
this much before, but I have thought about it really as I've
been thinking about this service. their previous sins, how the
Lord used them. And there was two ways in which
the Lord used their sin against their brother. And as I speak
about this, I'm not in any way defending it. I'm not in any
way saying that it was necessary that they should sin so that
the Lord could do his work. Perish the thought, and far be
me from saying that, that sin is necessary, as it were, to
the Lord. I am not defending it in any way whatsoever. But
the Lord in his mercy used their sin in two ways. One of them
was for Joseph. And that we'll come on to in
a moment. That's what as he speaks to him in that chapter 45. And
that was really all the work behind the scenes that they didn't
know about. And Jacob didn't know about. Well, when he was
unknown to them were in the land of Egypt, preparing them food
and so on. That was one way. But the other
way was that that sin worked in the hearts of his brethren.
And that was the thing I hadn't really thought about before.
Because here we see in this verse that when they put Joseph into
the pit, and Reuben, I think it was, saved them from killing
him. And then when they sold him, the picture of that It seems
almost a very visual picture, seems to have haunted them ever
since. And they clearly, they feel the guilt of that. And what
they're saying now, because of all these bad things that come
upon us, it's because we're sinners. It's because of what we did to
Joseph. And they said, in that we saw the anguish of his soul.
Again, there's a little detail that speaks volumes, isn't it?
We don't read anything really, apart from the account of what
happened. is that Joseph was sold into
the hands of the Midianites. We don't read about his pleading
or his anguish, but it comes back here, doesn't it? And what
we see is that that sin that they had committed, the Lord
was using that and it was working in their souls and it was working
in their minds and it wouldn't go away. It couldn't, as it were,
it couldn't be forgiven. It couldn't be forgotten. And
it seemed like it couldn't be forgiven because Joseph, as they
thought, was dead. And so it was ever in their minds,
it would seem. And it came back at that time.
And it was clearly something that they often discussed.
And that's how it seems to me. And the next verse to that, Rubin
says, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child.
And you would not hear. Therefore, behold, also his blood
is required. It seemed to be something that
they had discussed, as it were, Reuben seeking to justify himself
in one sense. And I think this is why Joseph
said, don't fall out on the way. Don't go back to that sin anymore.
But that's so it was in their minds. But look at the other
thing that it did for them. And this is really all the work
of grace. When they, one of the tests that
Joseph gave to his brethren was, are they still jealous of the
father's favorite? Would they still be jealous of
a favorite? Do they still have that envy
and that jealousy and that, if you like, that hatred in their
hearts towards the brother? And he tested that with Benjamin,
didn't he? he when he insisted that he should be brought he
saw that their love for Jacob then in their reluctance to bring
him again and then we when he when they when they he was They
were brought, when they came back with Benjamin, we read there
that he took and sent messes unto them from before him, but
Benjamin's mess was five times so much as any of theirs. And
that would have, if they still had that same spirit, that would
have provoked them. Their soul Joseph, would they
do the same to Benjamin? But he tested them. And we see
that then when he then spoke about keeping Benjamin and sending
them back without Benjamin, what then broke Joseph down was when
I think it was Rubin said that Well, all the brethren, Judah,
sorry, came near and then explained the situation. And when he said,
what would happen to Jacob if they went back without Benjamin?
And he was willing to stay there instead of Benjamin for the sake
of Jacob and also for love of Benjamin as well. That attitude
had completely changed. And so it was Judah who said
in verse 33 to Joseph. 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 be not with me? Let peradventure
I see the evil that shall come on my father. Evil there means
trouble. It means that thought of Jacob
coming out, as it were, to see that they're all come home again.
and then realizing that Benjamin isn't with him. And he was afraid
that that would, humanly speaking, finish Jacob off. And that, it
was that sin, I believed, the grace of God using that sin that
they had done, working in them, that had brought them to this,
that changed their attitudes, as it were, to Benjamin. Because it had made them so miserable,
what they'd done to Joseph, they didn't want to do the same thing
again with Benjamin. That jealousy, that rancor and that envy was
taken away. And it was that that then really
broke Joseph down for the final time. And that's where we began
reading in chapter 45. Then Joseph could not refrain
himself before all them that stood by him. But that willingness
of Judah to stay and suffer, as it were, and be imprisoned
instead of his son Benjamin, who was his father's favorite,
who had been treated favorably by Joseph. So that sin, it worked
in one way, the Lord's preparation for Joseph, but it also worked
in the brethren. It worked in the brethren, and
the Lord used it, I believe, to change their heart. And so
we come onto this chapter 45, with having said all of that,
as it were, and then we see that that early sin, that sin from
their childhood and from their youth, that had been with them
all these years, Now it was truly forgiven. And it was against
it was a sin against Joseph. And again, here we see Joseph,
as it were, illustrating what happened to Joseph, illustrating
something about the Lord Jesus Christ, because our sins against
the Lord Jesus Christ. When we treat what he says with
contempt, as we do before the Lord works in our heart, when
we think he's got no relevance to me, when we're happy to, happy
as soon as the service finishes to get out, as it were, and go
and get on with our lives, when we treat him with contempt. But
then when the Lord, if the Lord begins to work in his mercy,
when we try and turn away from him, try and get away from it,
what then? And then when we sin. when we
sin, we are sinning against the Lord Jesus Christ. Because if
we are the Lord's people, every sin that we commit, or every
sin that we do by omission, is laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And he had to pay the punishment
of that. And so we're sinning against him. The brethren had
sinned against Joseph. And because they thought Joseph
was dead, how could that sin ever be forgiven? I hadn't thought
of putting it like this, but perhaps sometimes we might be
tried that the sins of our youth can't be forgiven. That they're
still there, as it were. Even perhaps where the Lord has
shown us his love and mercy, we still might be tried perhaps
sometimes about those sins of our youth. Something that, you
know, we did then, perhaps it still comes back. Or perhaps
it may be that that's how you are at the moment. You will try
that there's something that you have done or something that you
haven't done or what you are like. And can that ever be forgiven? Can a sin like that, can a person
like me who did something like that, can I be forgiven? To the brethren, it didn't seem
possible because how could they go to Joseph and say sorry if
he was dead? But you see how the Lord was working and they
came before him and they said to him, they didn't say anything
to him, but he knew what they had done, and he knew who they
are. And what did he say? And these are very precious words,
aren't they? They are really spiritual words.
Now, therefore, and he said, I am Joseph, your brother, whom
you sold into Egypt. That's what Jesus said to the
apostle Paul, wasn't it? I am Jesus, whom thou persecuted,
whom thou persecutest. But Paul could be forgiven and
Paul was forgiven. And I am Joseph, your brother,
whom you sold into Egypt. But you can be forgiven. And
what did he say? Now, therefore, be not grieved
nor angry with yourselves that you sold me hither, for 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 the 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. Again, there's a
real spiritual resonance to those words, isn't there? So now it
was not you that sent me hither, but God. And Joseph, as it were,
taking, giving forgiveness to his brethren, showing them that
the Lord had used even what they had done for their own good. And it is especially then, as
we read later on, how he then fell upon their neck. That was
the moment of, I think, when they were really convinced that
he did truly forgive them, when he displayed that love to them,
when they really believed that he wasn't going to persecute
them or put them in prison or get his own back for what they
had done. And after that, his brethren talked with him. So
that's the second thing. Do not tarry to come unto me.
There might be those sins, as it were, that you feel cannot
be forgiven, but there is forgiveness in the Lord Jesus Christ. Even
those ones that we think are impossible to forgive, there
is forgiveness with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the third
thing I wanted to mention in here is to come back to that
fullness that resides in Jesus, our head, as we see it really
set out in Joseph here. And Joseph explains, doesn't
he, that there is going to be a time, a continued time of famine. We've had the seven years of
plenty, and now that we've had two years of the famine, and
that's been bad enough. Let's be honest, they've run
out of food. I did flick back through verses to where the famine begins, the
end of chapter 41. You read there about the coming
of the seven years of dearth. Dearth means not having enough,
of having nothing. That seven years, that began
there. And it says, it speaks about,
it says the dearth was in all lands, not just in Egypt, but
in all lands, that's around there. A poor harvest, I wouldn't want
to say no harvest. because we are here this afternoon
to remember that the Lord's promise that he would give seed time
and harvest never fails. But we know, don't we, from our
own experience, we were talking earlier today about apples and
this year I think there's perhaps been a few less apples than there
have been in other years, but there's still been a harvest.
We can't say this year not a single apple has grown on a single apple
tree. Not a single fruit, a flower has been produced and then turned
into a fruit. We can't say that the Lord's
promise has not failed. Some years is more than others,
but it hasn't failed. But this dearth was in all the
lands. And then it describes about the how it was Egypt. The people didn't have enough.
So they started going to Joseph. But the famine was over all the
face of the earth. And Joseph opened all the storehouses
and sold unto the Egyptians. And the famine waxed sore in
the land of Egypt. And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph or
to buy corn, because that the famine was so sore in all lands,
including Jacob, including where Jacob was. And we're only in
year two of the famine, not even halfway through yet. Chapter
43, and the famine was sore in the land. And the Lord used this. He used that as it were, that
felt need that they had. And it's a really basic need.
They didn't have enough to eat. He used that to bring them down
to him. Food for thought there, isn't
there? The need that they had had already driven Joseph's brethren
to him. They didn't know that they were
coming to Joseph, but they had been driven there by the need
that the Lord had given them because of the famine that there
was in the land. And it was only after they'd
been to him that then this message comes to Jacob, haste ye and
go up to my father and say unto him, tarry not. Come down unto
me, tarry not. But it wasn't just the food that
Joseph had. It was that the way that it is
described and it is also the care that he will take over them.
And it is also that provision to meet all their needs. And
I just want to draw a few things out of that, how it came to me
really. And what we're speaking of here,
especially if there are those who, as it were, are tarrying
because there are Perhaps there are things that they don't know
how they will be sorted out if they speak or if they do what
the Lord has commanded them. Perhaps there are things they
don't know how it's going to work out or how that need will be
supplied. May the Lord give us faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ as we again, as we look at this, what it says
about Joseph. Now, Pharaoh's Pharaoh's message, which he sent. I want to just look at that.
No, sorry. I want to just look at what Joseph
said in verses 10 and 11. There was a place prepared for
them. I have to go through this quickly because the time is nearly
gone. But think of what the Lord Jesus said. First of all, I go
to prepare a place for you. In my father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. There
was a place prepared for them. Thou shalt dwell in the land
of Goshen. Then the second thing in that
verse 10, and this is a lovely, a lovely promise. Thou shalt
be near unto me, thou and thy children and thy children's children. Although that is speaking of
Joseph and it is thought that the land of Goshen was very close
to, I forget the name of the place now, it might be Memphis,
but I might be wrong on that, where Pharaoh's seat of power
was. It was close there, and in a
sense, literally, it just meant they would be close to Joseph.
But think about it spiritually. Thou shalt be near unto me. As
we look at those words, is there something in my heart and yours
that, as it were, goes out? I would love to be near unto
the Lord. to see his lovely face, to hear his voice more, to be
nearer to him as it were, to hear more of him. Thou shalt
be near unto me, thou and thy children, and thy children's
children, and thy fox and thy herd, and all that thou hast.
And there will I nourish thee. Now, I want to just, I don't
want to skip over that where it says, it doesn't just say
thou. It's not just you, as it were, but all of those that are
dependent upon you, all of the burdens that you carry. In this
case, it was all the people that you're responsible for, but also
your flocks and your herds as well. Everything about you, everything
that has a need, I will provide for. Do you have a big family? Yes, he did. It was a big family.
As we know, the Joseph's brothers were married,
having their children and so on. and especially speaking to
Jacob thou and thy children and thy grandchildren and all your
flocks and herds all of them bring them to me I can and I
will provide for them and that word nourish is a lovely word
isn't it it's better it's stronger than provide It is, it's not
just as it were there'll be enough to eat, but that nourishing,
when we speak of nourishing someone, there is that, almost like that,
that personal concern and love for them, that they should receive
everything that they need to nourish someone. It speaks of
a mother, as it were, nourishing her child. Thou and thy household
and all that thou hast, Joseph was saying, in case that
comes to poverty, but put it the other way around. Bring all
of that to me because I will nourish thee and all that is
thine. So if there are those difficulties,
if there are those burdens that you have, the things that you
don't know how to provide for, the things that are unresolved,
the things that you do not know how to deal with, may the Lord
give faith to know that in the Lord Jesus Christ, all of those
things are taken care of. Now Pharaoh really underlined
that message on the back of Joseph's one. He said on top of it that
you shall eat the fat of the land. Verse 20 he said regard
not your stuff. So don't worry if there's something
you can't fit on the wagons something that you would some household
necessity don't worry about it because all of the good of the
land of Egypt is yours. And that speaks again of the
Lord's provision for his people. Are we struggling, as it were,
perhaps in something at the moment, struggling perhaps at work or
at school or in your education or in your neighborhood or with
your health or something like that? And is that because you
are tarrying? The Lord knows. And also there
was then the journey wasn't there. And through Pharaoh, there was
provision made for that. He sent them back with the wagons.
The way would be too hard for Jacob, too old to walk all that
way. To make it easier, those wagons
were sent to make provision for him so that he could come, he
could be brought to Joseph. Now, finally, I want to just
come back to our text, Tarry Not, and just to look at it in
connection with the last part of this chapter. Because the
picture, as it were, moves now from being in Egypt back into
Jacob, waiting for them to come back in the land of Canaan. And
remember, Jacob had said when they set off, all these things
are against me. And that was really saying, God is working
against me. God has forsaken me. That was
really what he was saying. I don't think that's putting
it too strongly. All these things, because of These things are happening
to me. It must be that God has got a
message for me. And I've lost Joseph. I'm about to lose another
one. I'm going to lose Benjamin. I'm in a famine. Everything's
gone against me. God has, as it were, deserted
me. God has forsaken me. That's how Jacob was. Now imagine
him waiting for the brothers to come back, his children to
come back to him. And what was he hoping for? That 11 of them
would come back. That's what he was hoping for.
That Benjamin wouldn't be hurt or left behind. That none of
them would be hurt on the journey. They'd all come back and they'd
have some food for him. That's what he hoped for. But when they
came back, they had something to tell him. And the first thing
they said was, Joseph is yet alive and he is governor over
all the land of Egypt. He couldn't, Jacob couldn't believe
that. It said his heart fainted within him. I don't know if that
means literally that he fainted, it might have been, but it was,
the news as it were was so much more than he had expected that
he could not believe it, he couldn't take it in. And I believe that
sometimes it's almost as if we can't believe what the Lord Jesus
Christ has done for us. We can't believe that the Lord
Jesus Christ could be so kind and merciful to us. as it were,
that the Lord should have. We hear about the Lord, as it
were, working in the hearts of others and dying for their sins.
But then can we really believe? Can you believe that the Lord
Jesus Christ died for you and died for your sins as well? And
is that sometimes seen too much to believe? Surely it's presumptuous. Jacob could not believe it when
they said Joseph is still alive. and he's governor over all the
land of Egypt. And here we have a tarrying,
as it were. Jacob, he's standing, or he's
sitting, he might be unconscious, I don't know. But he's not going,
is he? He's not going, he's tarrying.
The message was tarry not. And then we read, don't we, when
he saw the wagons, another evidence, if you like, another token that
what they said was true. Faith rose up in his heart and
he overcame that unbelief. And we read the spirit of Jacob,
their father, revived. I think that's almost like the
spiritual life of Jacob revived. It doesn't just mean that he,
as it were, he regained consciousness again because he must have been
conscious to see the wagons. But his spiritual life revived,
that faith revived. Now, that is what I pray for
might be our portion this afternoon, that If there are those of us,
if you like, whose heart has fainted within us for whatever
reason. May the Lord revive our spirit
and revive our faith and to believe what the Lord has done. And then
you see Jacob or Israel, as we're reminded of God's promise to
him. It is enough. Joseph, my son,
is yet alive. Now here it is. Tarry not. I
will go and see him. I will go. That's the tarrying
not. It wasn't just that he said,
yes, I believe it. Joseph, my son, is yet alive.
So I'll do nothing. I'll remain here. I will go.
Joseph has sent me a message. Tarry not. Joseph has sent me
a message which says, come down unto me. Tarry not. And Jacob
said, I will go. And that may that be the response
that the Lord puts in our heart. Amen. by closing hymn for this afternoon's
services from Gatsby's hymn 1051 to the tune 861. Great sovereign Lord, what human
eye amidst thy work can rove, and not thy liberal hand despise
nor trace thy boundless love. Hymn 1151 to the tune 861. Okay. Lord, both you and I, amidst
thy works, can rove, can not. Thy will, O man, is mine, not
death's I bound, just mine. Of the kills the heav'ns reclaim,
On earth each burden'd cost, In language loud to men proclaim,
? And boundless glow ? ? No lesson need ? ? Revolving
year ? ? Repeats in various ways ? Rich thy provisions, Lord,
appear, The Lord shall shout thy praise. O fruitful fields and pastures,
tell, O man, and beast, thy care. The thriving gold thy breezes
fill, have used thee yet. But, O, what human eye can trace,
or human heart conceive, Reach the riches of thy grace, Impoverished
souls, we see. The never-lasting has not sped
its best beloved song. Dear Lord, please do bless all
that has been from Thee, and please forgive anything that
has been from anywhere else, and please take it from our minds
that there might be no hindrance to thy word. The grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the
Holy Ghost be with you all. Amen.