Verse one again, and Israel took
his journey with all that he had and came to Beersheba and
offered sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac. And God
spake unto Israel in the visions of the night and said, Jacob,
Jacob. And he said, here am I. And he
said, I am God, the God of thy father. Fear not to go down into
Egypt, for I will there make of thee a great nation. And I'll
go down with thee into Egypt. And I will also surely bring
thee up again. And Joseph shall put his hand
upon thine eyes." As we saw last time, and as we just read again,
Jacob begins his journey to Egypt No doubt this was a journey of
faith. I was thinking about that today.
That's what faith is. It's a journey. Men and women
who are by faith trusting in Christ alone for their acceptance
with God are sojourning through this life, waiting for that promised
rest found in that heavenly city that their Lord and Savior has
promised them. Joseph had made that promise
to Jacob. He told his brothers in chapter
45, verse 9, he said, 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, and thou shalt
dwell in the land of Goshen. And thou shalt be near unto me,
thou and thy children, and thy children's children, and thy
flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou hast, and there will
I nourish thee." Those who belong to Christ have his promise. He said, I go to prepare a place
for you. Isn't that a comforting thought?
I go prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that
where I am, there ye may be also." The book of Hebrews tells us
that by faith, Abraham sojourned with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs
of the same promise. And that same promise has been
given to you and I. And by faith, the children of
God doing the same thing. If we belong to Christ, we're
sojourning in this life, looking for that place that has foundation. And we know who that place is,
don't we? Not where it is. It's the solid
rock. It's the firm foundation upon
which we build our house that cannot fall. And to sojourn means
to stay somewhere temporarily. And that's what we're doing.
We're just passing through. We're just in this life, in this
world for a little while, passing through, just making it a temporary
dwelling place. And the older I get, the more
I endeavor to seek Christ and learn of Him, the more obvious
to me that that journey we are making is temporary. Like Jacob,
by faith, I'm sojourning closer and closer to the day that I
will see my Joseph face to face. And as it was with Jacob, and
as we just read, I way too often fear and have great concern over
what may lie ahead. My Lord constantly reminds and
assures me that He is God. God said, I am God. Boy, that
should be all the comfort we need. If we know who God is,
who the God of this Bible is, it should be. He said, I'm God
in control of all things, and He tells us not to fear. And
Him being God, we shouldn't fear when He tells us that. He assures
me that He'll go with me every step of the way. How often I
doubt that. get my eyes on circumstances
and things and take them off Him. But He says, I'll go with
you. He assures me that He'll make
me part of a great nation. He will put His hands upon my
eyes in death so that when I do awake in glory, I'll find myself
conformed perfectly to His image. And the Scripture says, unblameable
and unreprovable in God's sight. I love that. And it's faith in
his word that keeps me going. And that's why we meet together. That's why we're here tonight.
That's why we make preaching the gospel our chief concern.
That's why we refuse to forsake the assembling of ourselves together
as the manner of some is. We meet together to provoke one
another unto love for Christ. Just to hear you men pray sometimes
is such comfort to me. To know that we're not in this
thing alone, that we're in it together. To remind one another
that life eternal is knowing the only true God in Jesus Christ
whom He sent. We meet together and we hear
the glorious news of redemption and in doing so, we exhort one
another. And the scripture says so much
the more as we see the day approaching of our reunion with our Joseph,
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's coming, it's coming. Look
at verse five here in chapter 46. And Jacob rose up from Beersheba
And the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father and their
little ones and their wives and the wagons which Pharaoh had
sent to carry him. And they took their cattle and
their goods which they had gotten in the land of Canaan and came
into Egypt. Jacob and all his seed with him,
his sons and his sons' sons with him, his daughters and his sons'
daughters and all his seed brought he with him into Egypt. Now in
the following several verses, we have the names of all those
who came with Jacob into Egypt. So I won't take the time to try
to read them. And I do say try to read them,
because some of those names are pretty hard to pronounce. But let's move on down to verse
26. Look at verse 26. And all the souls that came with
Jacob into Egypt, which came out of his loins, besides Jacob's
sons' wives, all the souls were threescore and six. And the sons of Joseph, which
were born him in Egypt, were two souls. And all the souls
of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were threescore
and 10. And he, Jacob, sent Judah. Now remember, Judah's a surety.
He sent him before him unto Joseph to direct his face unto Goshen. And they came into the land of
Goshen. I'm gonna title this message
tonight, The Blessing of Grace in the Land of Goshen. The Blessing
of Grace in the Land of Goshen. The name Goshen here means approaching
or drawing near. It also means pouring forth. And I thought that's very appropriate
as we've seen so many times, the names and the scriptures
mean something. You see, it's in the land of
Goshen that Jacob and his family are approaching and drawing near
their savior, Joseph. And I call him that on purpose.
And it's in the land of Goshen that Joseph will pour forth all
his blessings upon the sons and the daughters of Jacob. Make
no mistake about it, Joseph is their earthly savior in a sense,
and that's why he so beautifully pictures our Lord and Savior.
If not for Joseph, they would all be dead. Now, I know that
it was God working through Joseph, But if it wasn't for Joseph,
they wouldn't be here. God made him Lord over Egypt
for that very reason, to save them alive. Look over at chapter
50 with me, if you would. Look at verse 20, chapter 50. Speaking to his brothers, Joseph
said here in verse 20, but as for you, speaking of what they
had done to him, sold him into slavery. He said, but as for
you, you thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good
to bring to pass as it is this day to save much people alive. Don't you think he wasn't an
earthly savior to these folks? Verse 21, now therefore fear
ye not, I will nourish you and your little ones. And he comforted
them and spake kindly unto them. What a picture of Christ this
is. If not for Christ, there would
be no hope of redemption, no hope of eternal life for any
of us. We would have all died in our
sin. And I think about what's written
in the book of Acts, him being Christ, being delivered by the
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and by
wicked hands have crucified and slain. And then just a few verses
later, it says, therefore, let all the house of Israel know
assuredly that God hath made this same Jesus, the one that
they took with their wicked hands and crucified. that God made
this same Jesus, whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now here in Genesis chapter 46,
verse 28, we see Jacob and his family coming into the land of
Goshen. And I don't know that we'll get
into it tonight, probably not, but maybe the next study. And
I can't wait. I can't wait to show you how
beautifully Goshen pictures and represents the Lord Jesus Christ.
But in verse 29, and Joseph made ready his chariot, and he went
up to meet Israel, his father, to Goshen, and presented himself
unto him, and fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while. Every time I read that verse
and preparing this message, I got a bit emotional. Jacob sees his
son Joseph for the first time in 22 years. He's been away from
him more years than he's been with him. And here the father
and the son, they meet again in happy reunion. There's something
about that move. I love to think about that meeting.
I can just see Jacob's face as Joseph arrives in that kingly
chariot. I can just see Joseph fly off
that chariot, running to greet his father, and I can see Jacob,
a 130-year-old man, the best he can, running to greet Joseph. I can just see that. And when
they come together, we're told that Joseph falls upon his father's
neck. I can see that so vividly. Falls upon his father's neck
and wept on his neck a good while. This was a special, special meeting. And again, when I read this,
I can't help but to think about that prodigal son and his father. When that boy got out of the
pig's pen and came to his father, the Word of God says when he
was a great way off, his father saw him. You know what, I just
believe He was looking for Him, don't you? He saw Him and He
had compassion and He ran and He fell on His neck and He kissed
Him. And you can't read and consider
these two stories and not know and realize that God is a God
of emotion. God loves and God hates. God
laughs and God weeps. The Scripture says Jesus wept.
God joys and rejoices, and God grieves and sorrows. God's pleased,
and God is disappointed, and God has compassion, and He has
indignation. God is patient and long-suffering,
but in the days of Noah, it repented the Lord that He'd made man upon
earth, and it grieved Him at His heart. Religion has made
God so pathetic they paint Him as helpless and dependent and
in need. But let's don't ever, ever lose
sight of the fact that God is a God of emotion. Just because
He's sovereign, let's don't make Him harsh. Let's don't make Him
unemotional, unfriendly, or unsympathetic. Just because He's not pleading
and begging sinners to let Him have His way with them, let's
don't portray Him as hard and insensitive. Is it not the Almighty
God that said, come now and let us reason together? He said,
though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow.
Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Was it
not God that said that? Is it not the sovereign, all-powerful,
creative that said, as I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure
in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his
way and live? Turn, turn, turn from your evil
ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel? Oh my, what a compassionate
God. Does that sound like a God that's
insensitive and unemotional and unsympathetic? Whatever emotions
that we have, we got them from Him. And we see stories in the
scripture like the one here of Joseph and Jacob. Did our Lord
not say these things testify of me? What a picture this is. Seeing then that we have a great
high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of
God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not a high priest
which cannot be touched. with the feelings of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin.
Let us therefore come boldly into the throne of grace that
we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."
Does that sound like an insensitive, unsympathetic God to you? One
that we can come into his throne of grace and find the help and
mercy that we need? You see, dear friends, true love
must show emotion. And earlier today, I just got
lost in the thought of us one day soon seeing again those whom
we love that have gone on to be with Christ. I'm just thinking
about Joseph and Jacob not seeing each other for so long. I thought
about your mama today, Linda, one day soon. It's not going
to be long from now. You're going to see your mama
again. I'm going to see Ms. Coleman again, and that just
thrills my soul. I thought about Winford and Betty
today. Clayton and Jeff, your dad's
been gone 28 years or so, close to. Hard to believe, isn't it?
And your mama. One day, you're going to see
them again. Owen and Evelyn. I'll get to
see my friend Clara East again. This is real. Sue, you'll get
to see your husband. Daniel, you'll get to see your
dad. And I'll get to see my pastor again, Maurice Montgomery. But
none of that, I'm telling you, none of that will compare to
seeing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ face to face in all His
glory. Can you imagine that? What a
day that'll be. Folks sing that old song. That
will be a day. When my Savior I shall see. When
I look upon His face, the one that saved me by His grace. And
forever I'll be with the one who died for me. What a day. Glorious, glorious day that'll
be. When Joseph's brothers first came to Egypt to buy corn, Joseph
saw them, but he made himself," the scripture says, strange or
unknown to them, and he spoke roughly to them, remember? But
he did so out of love. And folks don't understand that.
Why did he speak roughly with them? They were still lost. They
were still unrepentant. They were still unbroken. They
were going to have to be broken. They were going to have to be
made sorry. Why? So that grace in the land
of Goshen may take place. So that they could be right where
they are in this account that we're reading. Believing parents. They pray for their lost children
and they say things like, Lord, break their hearts. Break their
will. Break them. Lord, send them trouble,
send them grief, send them pain. And some might say, well, that's
a strange way to pray for your children. That's a little rough. Not if it breaks them. Not if
it causes them to see their need of Christ, it's not. No, sir. When we were yet without strength,
the scripture says, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Lord, cause my children to see
that they have no strength. Make them totally dependent upon
you. Cause my loved ones to see they
have no righteousness, that they have nothing to offer God that
would commend them to Him. Cause them to see that they have
no ability. They can not come. And they will
not come. Make them see it. Oh, that's
my prayer. And if that sounds rough, I'm
sorry. But if it shuts them up to Christ, then it's the best
thing that could ever happen. You know, by nature, we're all
ungodly. We're all unbroken. We're all
unthankful. We're all unrepentant. We're
un-everything. until God divinely intervenes
in our lives. And you know, I just can't help
but to think that somebody somewhere was praying for me. Maybe they were saying rough
things like, Lord, deal with him hardly, harshly, if it brings
him to Christ. So be it. You know, in Genesis
chapter 42, God brought Joseph's brothers to that place of sorrow.
And they said, we're very guilty concerning our brother in that
we saw the anguish of his soul and he besought us and we would
not hear. Therefore, is this distress come
upon us? And Joseph was there, but they
didn't know that he spoke in the Hebrew tongue. And the scripture
says he turned around and wept. And they were tears of joy because
he saw that God had broken their hearts. Oh, I'm telling you,
if God would be pleased to break the hearts of my children and
cause them to see their need of Christ. Our Lord said, I say
unto you that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner
that repents. More than 99 just persons which
need no repentance. And because of their repentance,
we see this great blessing of grace in the land of Goshen. They repented. Look at verse
30 in chapter 46. And Israel said unto Joseph,
now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art
yet alive. If I've seen the face of grace
in the Lord Jesus Christ, friends, then everything is gonna be okay. Everything's gonna be okay. Let
me die in peace. Joseph will put his hands upon
my eyes. And isn't that what old Simeon
said when he saw the Lord Jesus? It had been revealed unto him.
You remember that story, don't you? I used to love to hear Brother
Montgomery tell that. He talked about that a lot. It
had been revealed to that old man that he wouldn't see death
before he'd seen the Lord's Christ. And the Spirit of God brought
him into the temple that very day that Mary and Joseph had
brought the baby Jesus in for them to present Him to the Lord,
which was the custom of the law. And Simeon, he saw that baby,
and he took Him in his arms. And he blessed God, and he said,
Lord, let thy servant depart in peace according to your word,
for my eyes have seen thy salvation. You see, salvation's in a person.
Boy, doesn't that prove it? He said, my eyes have seen thy
salvation. Jesus Christ is salvation. And again, how Joseph so beautifully
pictures our Lord here. Jacob said, let me die. I've
seen the Son, I've seen the Son. Have your eyes seen Him? Look
at verse 31. And Joseph said unto his brethren
and unto his father's house, he said, I'll go up and show
Pharaoh and say unto him, my brethren and my father's house,
which were in the land of Canaan are come unto me. And the men
are shepherds, now pay close attention to this. And the men
are shepherds, for their trade hath been to feed cattle, and
they have brought their flocks and their herds and all that
they have. And it shall come to pass, he's telling his brothers
this, he said, when Pharaoh shall call you and say, what is your
occupation? that ye shall say, now this is
what you need to say to him when he does, thy servant's trade
hath been about cattle from our youth until now, even now. Both we and also our fathers,
that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen, for every shepherd
is an abomination unto the Egyptians. Here and in this next chapter,
we see the intercession of Joseph for his family to Pharaoh. And
what a picture again this is of Christ interceding for his
people. Joseph in all his power and his
glory is not ashamed to call them brethren. Did you notice
what Joseph said about how Pharaoh and the Egyptians felt about
shepherds in verse 34? The occupation of a shepherd
was an abomination unto the Egyptians. In the eyes of the Egyptians,
Joseph's brothers were the scums of the earth. The word abomination,
that's a strong word. It means despicable, detestable,
atrocious, repulsive, disgusting. But Joseph's not ashamed to call
them brethren. That's what Hebrews chapter 2
says about Christ concerning us. He's not ashamed to call
us brethren. It's despicable and it's disgusting
and atrocious as we are. Now Joseph has told his brothers
what is about to happen and then we see in chapter 47 that that's
exactly what happened. As I considered that, I thought
about that Samaritan woman that we've been talking about on Sunday
morning that said of Christ, He told me all things concerning
myself. Joseph's telling his brothers
what's going to happen before it even happens. Look at verse
1 of chapter 47. Then Joseph came and told Pharaoh,
and said, my father and my brethren and their flocks and their herds
and all that they have are come out of the land of Canaan. And
behold, they are in the land of Goshen. And he took some of
his brethren, even five men, he took five of his brothers
and presented them unto Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said unto his brethren,
what is your occupation? And they said unto Pharaoh, thy
servants are shepherds. both we and also our fathers. Now Joseph didn't tell his brothers
to hide what they were. Matter of fact, he encouraged
them to tell Pharaoh what they were. He actually encourages
them to tell Pharaoh that they're shepherds. And Pharaoh asked
Joseph's five brothers, what's your occupation? That's a pretty
common question when we meet folks for the first time. What
do you do for a living? But Pharaoh says, what's your
occupation? And our Lord never tells us to hide what we are,
and he never hides what we are. We've seen that so clearly in
the study of Genesis. He didn't hide Abraham's shortcomings.
He certainly didn't hide the sins of Lot, did he? didn't hide
the flaws of Isaac, and he certainly didn't hide the sins of Esau
and Jacob. Yet in Hebrews 11, verse 18,
it says that God's not ashamed to be called their God. Joseph's
brothers don't deny what they are. And they not only say that
we're shepherds, but they say we and our father and our grandfather
and our great-grandfather, we're all shepherds. You know, the
child of God never denies what they are. Never denies what they
are. They readily admit that they're
sinners. They'll admit that their father
was a sinner, that their grandfather was a sinner, their great-great-grandfather,
all the way back to Adam, sinners. We're gonna be made to confess
what we are before God. What a picture this is. And the
amazing thing is, is that the Lord Jesus Christ is not ashamed
to call us brethren. And God's not ashamed to be called
our God. Now, what do you think would
have happened if Joseph's brothers had gone before Pharaoh without
Joseph? Think about that. It's Joseph
that presents his five brothers to Pharaoh. They don't present
themselves. If they had, it would have been
disastrous. And isn't Christ our one mediator
between God and man? Christ is the one that intercedes
for us. Christ is our advocate with the
Father. He's the one that presents us
before His throne, washed and cleansed in His blood. It's Christ
that presents us unto God. To present ourselves before God
would be disastrous. You see the picture here? Well, I'm about out of time,
but I do want you to see this, and we'll talk about this more
next time. Look at verse four here in chapter 47. And they
said, moreover unto Pharaoh, for to sojourn in the land are
we come, for thy servants have no pasture for their flocks.
For the famine is sore in the land of Canaan. Now therefore
we pray thee, let thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen.
And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph saying, thy father and thy brethren
are come unto thee. The land of Egypt is before thee
in the best of the land. That's Goshen. The land of Egypt
is before thee, and the best of the land. Make thy father
and brethren to dwell in the land of Goshen. Let them dwell.
And if thou knowest any men of activity among them, then make
them rulers over my cattle." Joseph's brothers were accepted
of Pharaoh for one reason and one reason only, for Joseph's
sake. We're accepted for one reason
and one reason only. were accepted for Christ's sake.
Don't ever, ever forget that. Despicable shepherds would never
have been allowed in the presence of Pharaoh. No, sir, you can
forget it. They were an abomination to the
Egyptians, those scummy shepherds. You would have never got into
the presence of Pharaoh. And I'm telling you, despicable
sinners would never be allowed in God's presence. And Pharaoh
not only gives these despicable shepherds the land of Goshen
to dwell in, he puts them in charge of all his cattle and
sheep. Why? Because he likes them? No, no,
no, no. He loves Joseph. That's why. That's the gospel. God loves
and forgives us for Christ's sake. Well, next time, the Lord
willing, we'll see the wisdom of Joseph behind all this. And
it's absolutely amazing how he continues to picture Christ,
who is our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, and our redemption.