Last week we saw in the last
verse of Genesis 49 how that when Jacob had finished the prophecy
concerning his sons, He gathered up his feet. I can just picture
him there with his feet hanging off the side of the bed and saying
these things concerning his sons. And said when he'd finished,
he gathered his feet up into the bed and gave up the ghost.
It was just time to go. And then it says that he was
gathered, reunited with the saints of those that had gone before
him. And what a glorious thought that is. being with Christ and
His ransomed church in glory forever. We talked about that
in detail last week. Now in chapter 50, we see the
funeral of Jacob. and what followed. And for preservation
of time, I'll give attention to what transpired in the first
14 verses with just a few comments, and then camp out for the rest
of our time in verses 15 through 21. We see that when Jacob died,
Joseph threw himself on his father and wept over him. kissed him. No doubt this was a trying time
for Joseph. There's a great deal of difference
in being moved to tears and weeping. Many cry that do not weep. The Hebrew word weeping in this
verse denotes a moaning, a wailing, a lamenting, a passionate expression
of grief, sorrow, and great disappointment. Joseph loved his father and he
was heartbroken. It was a grievous loss, and yet
it was a gracious loss. You see, any time that the Lord
takes a believing sinner out of this world into glory, it's
a gracious act of mercy. It really is. It's an act of
compassion. Then we're told in verse 2 that
Joseph commanded or told the physicians who served him to
embalm his father's body. So Jacob was embalmed and I couldn't
help but to think about embalming in a spiritual way. As you know,
embalming is done to preserve a corpse and And in Egypt, this
was originally done with spices to preserve the corpse. And verse
3 tells us that this process took about 40 days. It says,
in 40 days we're fulfilled for him, for so are fulfilled the
days of those which are embalmed. Embalming is a process that should
remind us of our inward corruption, our corruption because of indwelling
sin. Do you remember what Martha told
the Lord Jesus Christ about Lazarus, her brother? He'd been dead for
four days. She said, Lord, by now he stinketh.
This corruption reveals itself in death. When a person dies,
rigor mortis soon sets in. There's a stiffening, a hardening
that takes place. And this is what got me to thinking,
those without spiritual life are cold and they're stiff to
the things of God. There's no life, no emotion,
no softness, no warmth. The dead have a vacancy in their
eyes. They have ears that don't hear. They can't speak. They can't
walk. They can't come. The dead have
no ability or will. They cannot come and they will
not come to Christ that they might have life. And what a picture
that is of our deadness and sin by nature. However, the believer
who dies in Christ is spiritually preserved. Scripture says so
by the Holy Spirit. Paul tells us several times in
his epistles that the believer is sealed, and that's the same
Greek word for preserved. God who hath also sealed us and
given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts, 2 Corinthians
1.22. He said in Ephesians 1, in whom you also trusted after
you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
in whom also after that you believed, you were sealed, you were preserved
with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance
until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of
His glory. And then in Ephesians 4, Paul
said, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are
sealed unto the day of redemption. You see, the Lord seals and preserves
the child of God in, by, and through the Holy Spirit, which
is the earnest, the down payment. You've heard that term earnest
money. We put down earnest money. It's
the down payment of our inheritance until our full redemption comes. And by full redemption, I mean
that when we receive our glorified bodies that are without sin.
Right now, we're perfect and holy and just in the eyes of
God, but one day that'll be fully realized when we receive the
glorified bodies that God gives us without sin. And what a day
that'll be. So in that sense, we're spiritually
embalmed, we're sealed and preserved in Christ when we die in the
flesh. And then in verse four, we're
told that when the period of mourning was over, that Joseph
approached Pharaoh's advisors and he said, please do me a favor,
speak to Pharaoh on my behalf. And in verse five, Joseph said,
tell Pharaoh that my father made me swear to him an oath And he
told me to take his body back to the land of Canaan and bury
him in a tomb that he had prepared or digged for himself. So he
asked Pharaoh's permission to go and bury his father. He said,
if you'll let me go, I'll return without delay. And in verse six,
Pharaoh agreed to Joseph's request and told him to go and bury his
father as he had made him that promise. So Joseph went up to
bury his father and he was accompanied, it says, by Pharaoh's officials,
all the senior members of Pharaoh's household and all the senior
officers of Egypt. And in verses eight and nine,
we see that Joseph also took his entire household and his
brothers and their households. They left the little children
and flocks and herds in the land of Goshen and were told that
a great number of chariots and horsemen accompanied Joseph. This was a big funeral procession. Jacob was, as you know, a supplanter
and a deceiver most of his life. But God gave Jacob a funeral
that was fit for a king. And child of God, you won't believe
the procession that awaits for you in glory. What joy there'll
be in heaven, the scripture says, over one sinner that repents
and comes home to the place that Christ has prepared for them
to forever be with him in glory. Then in verse 12, we see that
Jacob's sons did as he had commanded them. And his sons carried him
into the land of Canaan. and buried him in the cave of
the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field
for possession of a burying place of Ephraim the Hittite before
Mamre." And we looked at that last week. And then in verse
14, Joseph returned into Egypt, he and his brethren, and all
that went up with him to bury his father after he had buried
his father. And then that brings us to verse
15. Now, before we read this verse,
I want to remind you of what is written in Romans chapter
nine, verses 13 and 14. It's a scripture that you're
all very familiar with. You don't have to turn there.
Most of you know it by memory. It says, as it is written, Jacob
have I loved, but Esau have I hated. And then Paul says this, what
shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? God forbid. Now I want to ask
you a very serious question. I asked myself this question
in studying for this. If God hated you, would you claim
that there was unrighteousness with God? You think about that
for a moment. If God hated you, do you believe
that God would be doing what was right? Many still ask the
question that Paul foresaw that they would ask. And loving Jacob
and hating Esau, Paul said, you're going to say that God is not
being fair and God's not being right. You are going to doubt
the right of God, His right as God, by saying that there's unrighteousness
with God. You're going to ask, how could
it be fair for God to love Jacob and to hate Esau? How could it
be fair and right for God to love one and hate another? And you're going to claim favoritism.
And you know what? You'd be correct. You'd be correct. That's exactly what it is. There's
no doubt about it. Now, it's favoritism because
Jacob deserved to be hated the same as Esau. It's favoritism
because every single sinner, man, woman, child born of Adam,
ought to be hated. There's no reason for God to
love anyone by nature. So, for God to love anyone, it's
an act of favoritism. It's an act of mercy and compassion
and grace. If we have a true understanding,
now listen to this, if we have a true understanding of our sin,
and who our sin is against, who it's really against, we would
easily understand why God would hate us. We wouldn't call him
unfair. We'd confess that God is right,
that God is fair to hate us. We'd call him holy, just, and
righteous because that's what he is. God would be just to hate
us. He would be right to hate us.
It would be pure justice for God to hate us and punish us. Hatred and punishment from God
is what we deserve. And God has that right as God
to hate us and punish us if He so sees fit. And yet, it's His
right as God to have mercy on whom He'll have mercy, and grace
on whom He'll have grace, compassion on whom He'll have compassion,
and it's His right as God to harden whom He wills. And that's
why we rejoice in a sovereign God, that he would have mercy
on anyone, much less me. My, what a wondrous thought. And you know, when people argue
that God is not being fair and hating Esau, what they're really
saying is this. What they're really saying is,
how could it be fair for God to hate me? There's only one
reason, and one reason only, that a sinner would feel that
way, and it's called self-righteousness. Men and women think that they're
too righteous for God to hate. Now look at verse 15. I thought this was really a great
platform to discuss these things on. And when Joseph's brethren
saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph, now listen
to what they say. They say, Joseph will peradventure,
or perhaps, hate us, and will certainly requite us all the
evil which we did unto him. Joseph's brothers believed that
if Joseph hated them, That it would be a matter of justice.
That it would be a just and right thing. They said He would certainly
requite, and that word simply means return, that He would return
us all the evil which we did unto Him. Joseph would be justified
to return that evil to us. Joseph would be right and justified
to hate us. Now again, the question we need
to answer is do we believe that if God hated us that it would
be an act of justice? Would it be a just and right
thing? Note first that they believed
that what they did was evil. Now that's a hard word for an
unsaved man or woman to call themselves. It just is. A sinner, not so bad, maybe. Hard-headed. Doubtful, unbelieving. I can think of a lot of adjectives
that we might not have a problem with, but evil, that's not one
that a man or a woman likes to be referred to. And that's a
revelation of yourself that only God can show you. These brothers thought they were
in big trouble. Notice in verse 16, that they sent a messenger. They
did not come to Joseph themselves. They were scared. See, their
dad was gone. And undoubtedly, they thought
that their dad was the mediator of the buffer between Joseph
and them. Daddy's gone now. We're gonna
see the real Joseph now that daddy's gone. They didn't come
to Joseph themselves. They were under conviction. And
I'm telling you, when a sinner's under conviction, he or she's
afraid to come to God. Afraid they'll get what they
deserve. And that's why they had this messenger to come and
to say to Joseph, and I thought to myself, oh, that God might
enable us to confess these things. What a... A wondrous act of grace
and mercy for God to enable us to see ourselves as we really
are. Look at verse 17. They say, so
shall you say unto Joseph, forgive, I pray thee, the trespass of
thy brethren. All that the Lord might enable
us to confess that we've done evil unto Oh, that we might consider
our actions against God to be sinful and evil. That's what
they are. Joseph's brothers didn't excuse
their wickedness because of the favoritism that Jacob showed
to Joseph. And let's just be honest with
ourselves. When I look in the scriptures
and see the favoritism that Jacob did show Joseph, over the other
brothers. If I'd been one of them, I would
have been jealous too. If I'm honest, I would have to
say that I would have been just as full of envy and hatred right
along with them. It's real easy for me to stand
on this side of the Scriptures and say, oh, I wouldn't have
been that way. dealt differently with him, but
honestly, wouldn't it? There's no difference between
any of us when it comes to the heart. The heart is deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked. Your heart, my heart,
all of our hearts. No difference. No difference. Oh, that God might enable us
to take sides with him against ourselves. We say that often,
but it's true. And may we say with Joseph brothers,
we did evil against you, Lord. We did evil against you. But
don't give us what we deserve. Show us mercy. Don't requite,
don't return justice for the evil that we've committed. Show
us mercy instead. Now when someone commits a crime,
especially if it's against us or someone we love, we want justice
and rightfully so. But when it comes to our offense
against God, I don't want justice. I want mercy. I want mercy. Give me mercy instead. Lord,
substitute mercy for justice. And let's don't be like Adam
and play the blame game. Joseph's brother sure didn't.
Men and women have been playing the blame game ever since our
father Adam created it after his fall in the garden. We've
all become pretty good at it. The blame game. Have you ever
played it? Teresa and I have played it a
lot. I may be better at it than she
is. Adam blamed his sin on God for giving him the woman that
he gave him. And he blamed the woman for giving
him the fruit. He blamed everybody but himself.
And Eve, she caught on real fast to how this game was played.
She blamed the serpent for deceiving her. And ultimately, she blamed
God for allowing the serpent to be in the garden. You remember the story of Moses,
when Moses went up into the mountain to receive the commandments of
God, and as they come back down with the tablets, the Lord told
Moses, he said, oh, there's trouble in the camp. There's trouble
in the camp. and they had made that golden
calf. And when Moses confronted his brother Aaron, who, by the
way, made that golden calf, about making it, Aaron quickly remembered
how to play the blame game. And he first blamed the people
of Israel by saying, brother Moses, you know how these folks
are. They're just, they're set on
doing mischief. And then Aaron came up with one
of the most ridiculous statements ever made by a man in the scriptures.
It's almost humorous if it wasn't so sad, it would be. He told
Moses, he said, I said unto the people, whosoever hath any gold,
let them break it off. And they gave it to me. And I
cast it into the fire, and there popped out this calf. That's
what he said. You can read it yourself in Exodus
chapter 32. Exact words, I cast the gold
into the fire and there came out this calf. It just showed
up. My point is this, may God enable
us to take responsibility for our sin. like Joseph's brothers
did, and then beg him for forgiveness of it. The blame game is a game that
we'll always lose. In the confession of sin, there
is always an acknowledgment of sin in which the sinner takes
full responsibility. Lord, it's my sin. It's my evil. It's my fault. I can't plead
anything but guilty. How do you plead? What is your
plea? Guilty as charged. Lord, I'm
guilty as charged. May we say with David, against
thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight,
that thou may be justified, that you may be right, that you may
be just when you speak against me. and that you may be clear
when you judge me, that you be justified in declaring me to
be what I am, and that's guilty. Justified in everything that
God charges us of, because we're guilty of it. God is clear of
any wrong in his assessment of us. And there are some who even blame
God's sovereignty for their sin. How ridiculous is that? They
say, well, God is sovereign, so he could have kept me from
my sin. Really? Well, that's what they
did. They said, why doth he yet find
fault? For who hath resisted his will?
God's sovereign. I did just exactly what he allowed
me to do, so it must be God's fault. Paul responds to such thinking,
and he says, nay, no, no, no, old man. But, old man, who art
thou that replies against God? Confession that a true sinner
makes is, God, whatsoever you say about me, whatsoever you
do against me, it's justified. And that's what Jacob's brothers
did here. Our Jacob's sons, Joseph's brothers,
said. Did you notice their confession?
They said, we've done evil. We've done evil. For every transgression,
every disobedience, we deserve and should receive, the scripture
says, a just recompense of reward, Hebrews 2.2. They said, forgive
our trespasses in verse 14, verse 17. Forgive our trespass and
sin for evil we did unto you. And then in verse 18, we read,
and his brethren also went and fell down before his face and
they said, behold, we be thy servants. They bowed down unto
Joseph. They didn't say, we're gonna
let you forgive us. And you might say, well, that's
ridiculous. Why would you even say that?
Well, that's what religion does. You think about it. Religion
says, we're going to accept your forgiveness, God. We're going
to accept Jesus and the forgiveness that's found in Him. Isn't that
pretty much what modern day religion says? We're going to let go and
we're going to let God forgive. We're going to let God forgive
us. No sir, that's not the way it's
done. We bow down before our Lord,
like Joseph's brothers did, and we ask Him to allow us to be
His servants. Now that's the way that we approach
God. We acknowledge that He knows
what's best, and He does what's best, always. He always works
things together for the good of them that love Him and serve
Him. Oh, I want to be His servant, because He works things out for
my good every time. And as we saw not long ago, isn't
that what Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did? I thought about
their words quite a bit today. They said, if it be so, and they
knew it was. They said, if it be so, our God
whom we serve is able to deliver us, O King. And He's able to
deliver us from the burning, fiery furnace. And He will deliver
us out of thy hand, O King. So they knew their God. They
knew what He was able, capable of doing, and what He would do.
Do we know that? Boy, I hope we do. We ought to,
shouldn't we? We've heard this gospel long
enough to know that. We've heard who God is long enough
to know that He's able and that He's willing. But I love what they said after
that even more. They said, but if not, God still would do what's right. God's able to deliver us, God
will deliver us, but if He doesn't, we still trust Him to do what's
right. But if not, we'll still serve Him. We're not gonna bow
to your golden image, and you can throw us in the burning fiery
furnace, and you can turn it up seven times hotter, and He
did, but we're gonna trust Him. We're gonna trust him. Oh God,
enable us to trust you no matter what. You remember what Job said?
Job said, though he slay me, yet will I trust him. Though
I might die instantly on the spot, I'll die as a man that
trusted and believed God. Oh, for that kind of faith. Lord, help thou mine unbelief. I want to be a man of faith like
that. I'll die as a man who feared God, Job said. I'll die as a
man who worshiped God. Even if He kills me, I'm going
to trust Him. Under trying providence, under
sore afflictions, even under death itself, I'll trust Him
to do what's right and what's best. Samuel told Eli, he said, God's
going to kill your sons. He said, they're just wretched.
They're wretched boys. God's going to kill your son.
And Eli said, it's the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good.
Oh, for that kind of faith. Did you notice in verse 17 how
Joseph responded to all this? Look at the end of that verse.
And Joseph wept when they spake unto him. Joseph was heartbroken. He was heartbroken after the
kind and the gracious way that he treated them for 17 years. 17 years. They've been back reconciled
together for 17 years. He's thinking, would you have
such a low opinion of me as that? Joseph thought, do you really
think that as soon as our father died that I would take vengeance
upon you? Joseph thought, have I acted
in any way that would cause you to think or believe such nonsense? So let's ask ourselves this question. Has the Lord Jesus ever given
us a reason to doubt him? Huh? Has he? He's never given us a reason
not to trust Him. Never. Has He ever given us a
reason to think that He did not have our best interest at heart? Now I admit to you, there have
been times where I wasn't sure, but that was my own lack of faith. That was my own unbelief. And
now I look back on those same instances and I think, my, I
see now, He was with me. He was in that whole thing and
beautifully worked that out for my good and His glory. Oh, I could tell you some stories.
Joseph wept. But then after he wept, he began
to tell them the exact same thing that he told them 17 years before. Does this not prove our great
need of hearing the gospel Again and again and again. Oh, we've
just got to hear it. Got to hear it again. Tell me
again. Tell me the story of Jesus. Tell it to me again. John the
Baptist was in prison and he sent two of his disciples to
ask the Lord this question. Are thou he that should come
or do we look for another? You see, the strongest believer
at their best has many doubts. Oh, it's just so. Do you have
any trouble believing that John the Baptist would have these
doubts? We shouldn't. He's human just like we are. He was a human. You see, in God's
providence, he was now in prison. He had once had a multitude of
followers. Now he's alone in the dungeon. According to God's purpose, he
was in trouble. According to God's will, he was
in danger. You and I doubt too. I'm telling
you we would. And I'm sure probably the first
thing we'd say is, what in the world have I done to deserve
this? What hadn't we done to deserve this? The very one who had pointed
his finger to the Lord Jesus Christ on that day and said,
behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world,
now says, art thou He, or should we look for another? Man, I'm
telling you, we are up and down, aren't we? One minute we're on
the mountaintop believing, and the next minute we're down in
the valley shaking our heads going, is God forsaken me? But the Lord with compassion
and mercy and grace, He said, you go show John again. You go
show him again those things which you do here and see. Tell him
that the blind receive their sight. Tell him that the lame
walk. Tell him that lepers are cleansed.
Tell him that the deaf hear. Tell him that the dead are raised
up. Tell them that the poor have
the gospel preached unto them. In other words, tell him, I am
he. I am the great I am. Go tell John again. Go tell Larry
again. Go tell David again. Go tell
Clayton again. Go tell Paul, Eddie, Sharon,
Adele. Tell them again and again and
again. You see, we've just got to hear
it over and over and over. Faith comes by hearing, hearing
by the word of God. What does Joseph tell them? What
does Christ tell us? Well, look at verse 19. And Joseph
said unto them, fear not. How many times do we read that,
those two words in the scripture? And I guess the first thing that
comes to mind is why shouldn't we fear? You would think maybe
the question would be, why should we fear? But really, the first
thing that came to my mind is, why shouldn't we fear? Our sin
is against God and it's real. Just as their sin against Joseph
was real. Why should we fear not? Don't
we deserve to fear? Well, the first reason
we shouldn't fear is because the Lord said so. Isn't that the reason that we
give our children? They ask, can I go? Can I do? Can I have? And we say, no, you
can't. And they say, well, why not? And we say, because I said
so. And that's really the only answer that they need. If I'm
in charge and I'm the parent, because I said so ought to answer
good enough. Can what the Lord says be relied
upon? Can it be believed when our Lord
tells sinners to fear not, do we have any reason to fear? Now
really, that's, I want us to just think about that. We shouldn't
fear, first of all, because the reason for punishment's been
removed. We talked about that briefly
last time. You look up the word forgive
and your concordance, and the first definition that you'll
read is to lift off. That's what it means, to lift
off. That's how sin is forgiven. It's lifted off of us, and it's
put on Christ. Sin is lifted off the sinner
and placed on God's Son. Only God could do such a thing.
Only the one that we've offended can do that. Only God can remain
just and justify the ungodly, and that's the gospel. God the
Son took His elect's sin. He paid the penalty of our sin. God the Son satisfied the justice
of God and justified the sinner. What did you do in the process? Bleed. You don't do that very
well. If God lifts it off, I'm telling
you, it's gone, gone. If God puts it on His Son, did
His Son not bear it? Did the Lord say, I don't know,
let me think about this. No, sir, He made that covenant
before the foundation of the world. And all that the Father
give Him shall come to Him, and He'll by no reason, no doubt,
no way cast them out. You better believe it. And I'm
telling you, that's not just a saying, you better believe
it. It's a matter of life and death. Believing that is salvation. We don't have a reason to fear.
We stand before God without sin. That's reason enough not to fear. And that's hard for us to believe. That's hard for us to accept,
but it's true. Oh, that God might make that
real to our hearts. We have no sin, Christ took it
upon himself. And we're made the righteousness
of God in him. Now look at verse 20. Look what Joseph says, but as
for you, you thought evil against me, but God meant it. Now that
word evil takes in a lot. It means a lot. Adversity, affliction,
vexing, wicked, wrong, trouble, misery, you name it, it means
it. It has a broad scope. Joseph said, you thought all
those things, all that evil against me. And because you thought evil
against me, I was sold into Egypt. That was misery. Because you
thought evil against me, I was sold as a slave. And that was
so wrong. I was put into prison. How troublesome. I was unjustly accused. How afflicting. How evil. I was forgotten by those that
I helped. But all the trouble, evil that
his brothers brought on him, God was behind it all. We've
talked about that several times in this study. God sent him there
to Egypt. God was with him every step of
the way. We read it time and time again.
And the Lord was with Joseph. God caused Potiphar's wife to
unjustly accuse Joseph so that he'd be put in prison. God was behind that. God put
him in prison so that he might interpret Pharaoh's dream. It
just so happened, how lucky Joseph was, that the ring bearer was
in the prison at the same time and he interpreted his dream.
No, it wasn't luck. It was providence. It was the
will and purpose of God. God put him in the prison so
that he might interpret Pharaoh's dream. And then God put him on
the throne that he might feed the very ones who had thought
evil against him. God sent him there for good.
And the Hebrew word here for good is to be, is also used in
the widest sense. It means beautiful. It means
bountiful. It means best. It means precious. It means prosperous. It means
everything good. Everything is good. God meant
it for good. And then notice what it says.
To bring, to pass. This was a providential thing.
All things are. God brings all things to pass. We read in the scriptures, and
it came to pass. Why? Because God was behind it. The purpose of God is sure and
certain. God is sovereign even over the
wicked. He uses the wicked to accomplish
His will and His purpose. Now in closing, let me endeavor
to again show you the gospel. When the Lord Jesus Christ was
betrayed and he went through that mockery of a trial, and
that's what it was, the Jewish leaders, they meant it for evil.
They hated him without a cause. But God meant it for good. When
the Jews cried, crucify him, crucify him, they wanted him
dead. They meant it for evil, but God
meant it for good. They, with wicked hands, took
the Lord Jesus to crucify and slay Him, but ultimately it was
the sovereign God, it was His determinate counsel and foreknowledge
that delivered Christ up. And it was for the good of His
elect. When they beat Christ beyond
recognition, it said that His visage was so marred that He
didn't even resemble a man. When they scourged Him with a
whip that had bone chips intertwined, in the end of it. When they blindfolded
him, hit him, and struck him, and said, you're a prophet, tell
us who hit you. When they spit on him and placed
a crown of thorns on his head, and I mean they just didn't lay
it on there gently. They put it on his head and pushed
it down as those thorns dug into his brow. They meant all these things for
you. But God meant them for good. When they made him carry the
wood on which he would hang, when they nailed those spikes
in his hands and in his feet, when they thrust that spear into
his side, they meant it for evil. But God meant it for good. And when he cried, I thirst,
they gave him a sponge filled with vinegar. And they pulled up chairs to
sit and watch Him die. And I'm telling you, they meant
it for evil, but God meant it for good. What was the reason? What was
the result? We'll look at verse 20 again.
To bring to pass as it is this day, to save much people alive. That's why Christ died. Not to
save all, but to save much. And when Christ bowed his head
and died and said, it's finished, God's elect were saved. God's
elect were perfected forever. He offered one sacrifice for
sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God, and Christ,
by that one offering, hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.
That's the gospel. Look at verse 21. Now therefore,
fear ye not." That's my encouragement to you and to me tonight. Therefore, in lieu of all these things,
fear ye not. No reason to fear. We have no
reason to fear. Notice next what he says. He
said, I will nourish you. That word nourish means to make
provision. He is Jehovah Jireh, the Lord
who will provide. And he provides all that God
requires. And we say it all the time, don't
we? It's the truth. He provides all that God requires.
All that God requires, he provides. Say it however you want to, it's
the same. The Lord requires perfection, Christ provides it. The Lord
requires perfect righteousness. Christ gives it. The Lord, His
holy justice requires death if we sin. He who knew no sin was
made to be sin, and He died the just for the unjust. Every single
thing that God requires, He provides. God requires a new heart. Christ
gives it. A new heart will I give them,
God says. God requires faith and repentance.
They're a free gift in Christ. You're saved by grace through
faith. It's not of yourself. It's a gift of God. Do you see your sufficiency in
Christ? Friends, it's God that worketh
in you, both to will and to do His good pleasure. And again,
verse 21, notice that Joseph comforted them. My, do you need
comfort? There's only one that can comfort.
Christ. And notice that it says that
He spake kindly unto them. If you have a marginal Bible,
you may notice that that word kindly there literally means
He spoke to their heart. He spoke to their heart. The
Gospel is spoken unto the heart. The gospel addresses heart issues. The gospel addresses heart trouble. Religion is revealed pretty much
in three forms. I'm almost done. Free will. Man
wills himself to differ. That's what religion will tell
you. Secondly, reformation. Man changes and reforms himself. Emotionalism. Man has to have
an experience in order to be saved. But the gospel speaks
freely to the heart. It's with the heart that man
believes unto righteousness. Salvation is revealed in knowing
that the sinner is saved by the will of God, not his own will. Salvation is revealed in knowing
that it's God who makes the difference, a reformation that we make. Isn't
that right? Shake your head yes or let me
know. That's right. God makes the difference. Man is not saved by feelings,
but by grace through faith in Christ. I forget who said it years ago,
probably shouldn't repeat it, but somebody said, well, I went
to that service and felt something. And one old man said, it may
have been gas. Don't go by what you feel. Lord, nourish me. Lord, provide
for me. Provide all that I need and all
that God requires. I'm trusting Him to do that.
Aren't you? Let's trust Him to do it. Lord,
comfort me with your love and your mercy and your grace. Speak
kindly to my heart. I need that, don't you? Oh, doesn't
He speak kindly to us through His Word? And I'm telling you,
if He does, everything is gonna be well with our soul. It is
well with my soul. It is. I wish I could believe
it like I ought to. Lord, help my unbelief.