Joseph has revealed himself to
his brothers and now they're heading back to Canaan to let
their father Jacob know that Joseph is alive. Let's read a
few verses beginning in verse 17. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,
say unto thy brethren, this do ye and laid or load your beast
and go and get you into the land of Canaan. and take your father
and your households and come unto me and I will give you the
good of the land of Egypt and you shall eat the fat of the
land. Now thou art commanded this do
ye, take ye wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little
ones and for your wives and bring your father and come. And also
regard not your stuff for the good of all the land of Egypt
is yours. And the children of Egypt did,
excuse me, the children of Israel did so. And Joseph gave them
wagons according to the commandment of Pharaoh and gave them provision
for the way. To all of them, he gave each
man changes of raiment. But to Benjamin, he gave 300
pieces of silver and five changes of raiment. And to his father,
he sent after this manor, 10 asses laden with the good things
of Egypt and 10 she-asses laden with corn and bread and meat
for his father by the way. So he sent his brethren away
and they departed and he said unto them, see that ye fall not
out by the way. And they went up out of Egypt
and came into the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father. and
told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he's governor over
all the land of Egypt. And Jacob's heart fainted, for
he believed them not." Now, we'll finish the rest of this chapter
after I make a few comments, but in reading this, I thought
Jacob must have thought, how could this be? For 22 years, Best I can figure. In Jacob's
mind, Joseph was dead. He had played that scenario over
in his mind over and over again. The colors of that blood-stained
coat is etched in his mind forever. He's been sold a bill of goods. You know, false religion has,
and still is, selling sinners a bill of goods. Men and women
are being lied to about God. Let's just be honest. We're not
telling the truth about God. About Christ and about themselves.
Preachers today proclaim a God that wants to save. They preach
a Christ that's trying to save. And men today buy into that lie
of an insufficient Savior. Nothing insufficient at all about
Christ. He's able to save to the uttermost. And in doing so, they preach
a Christ that for all practical purposes is dead. He has no power
to save. He only makes salvation possible,
but He's dependent on the sinner. But I'm telling you that Christ
is alive and well. He's ruling and He's reigning
in heaven among the inhabitants of the earth, just as Joseph
was in Egypt. Jacob didn't know that. There's
a lot of folks that don't know that Christ is ruling and reigning.
And the issue is not if Christ can save. The issue is has Christ
revealed himself to you? Has Christ saved you? Men and women have been lied
to just as Jacob had. For over 20 years, Joseph's brothers
had buried his memory. They had convinced their father,
Jacob, that even though they missed him, but as a family,
they would make it through together. Dad, I know it's hard for you
to bear. We'll lean on one another. We'll
get through this thing together. Well, there's a will, there's
a way. That's what religion does, isn't it? It lies about the true
existence of God. They try to convince sinners
that they'll get through this life by leaning on one another. They say, well, there's a will,
there's a way. We'll make this work. Joseph's brothers took
the coat, the covering of the one whom Jacob loved, and they
held it up before him. And that's exactly what Man's
free will religion does. They hold up Christ's coat of
righteousness, but then they smear it with a work done by
their own hands. And that's what Joseph's brothers
did to his coat. They smeared it with their hands. They put goat's blood on it and
they smeared it. In false religion, they do the
same thing. They offer up a righteousness
that they claim to be the Lord's. But it's a self-righteous work
mixed with an unsanctified offering. And it's no more than just an
offering of free will. A free will offering that is
no more effectual than the Old Testament blood of bulls and
goats that could never take away sin. And I'm telling you, Satan
is so subtle. He disguises himself as an angel
of light, which is a messenger of the gospel. An angel's a messenger,
and of course, light represents the gospel. And he portrays Christ
as a defeated savior. And in doing so, he endeavors
to convince sinners that they can provide for themselves a
righteousness of their own that God will accept. And apart from
God's grace, it's not hard to convince men and women to believe
a lie. Turn back to Genesis chapter
37. Hold your place here. Let me
show you this again. Look at verse 31, Genesis 37. Not hard to convince
men and women to believe a lie. In verse 31, it says, and they
took Joseph's coat and they killed a kid of the goats, and dipped
the coat in the blood, and they sent the coat of many colors,
and they brought it to their father and said, this have we
found. Now know whether it be thy son's
coat or no. And notice this, and he, Jacob
knew it, and said, it is my son's coat. But notice what he says
after that. He says, an evil beast hath devoured
him. Joseph is without doubt rent
in pieces. Now all the brothers did here
was show him the coat. They didn't say that a beast
had devoured him. They just asked the father simply,
is this your son's coat? And Jacob came to his own conclusion. Immediately, he thought the worst. And by nature, we do that a lot. We think the worst. I'm so guilty
of that. He said, that's Joseph's coat. He must have been devoured by
a wild animal. You know, it's just not hard
for Satan to easily lead men astray. They come to their own
conclusions about things rather easy. It's very easy for the
natural man-woman to assume things. The natural man receives not
the things of the Spirit of God. They're spiritually discerned. He can't know. Very easy for
men and women by nature to assume that they can do something good
that God would accept or that would obligate God to save them. But God's not impressed by anything
that we do. We need to get that out of our
minds right now. Now, Jacob serves well, I believe,
as a picture of the doubting soul. Sin's crippled our ability
to believe. Unless God gives us faith in
Christ, we'll never trust in him alone. The natural man will
always attempt to do something that'll accredit salvation to
him in some way or another. And back here in Genesis chapter
45, his sons told Jacob that Joseph was alive. And I'm telling
you, that news seemed incredible to him. And you just try to put
yourself in his place after 22 years of thinking your son's
dead to be told that he's alive. And then they added this. They
said that Joseph was governor over all Egypt, verse 26. And they told him saying, Joseph
is yet alive and he's governor over all the land of Egypt. And
Jacob's heart fainted for he believed them not. I can just hear him. No way.
There's just no way that's possible. That's too good to be true. Have
you ever said that? It's just too good to be true.
I know that we've all said it. Jacob had so long believed that
Joseph was dead that he just couldn't wrap his head or his
heart around the possibility of him being alive. The thought
that Joseph was alive was just too good to be true. How many
times have you thought that about things? And how many times have
we said, if it sounds too good to be true, then more than likely
it is. And most of the time it is. 99.9% of the time, something
sounds too good to be true, it probably is. But you know, there's
another side to that. There are many today who've seen
something of God's mercy and grace, yet they still find it
extremely difficult to believe that Christ would have mercy
and grace on them. They have no trouble believing
that Christ died for others but for them. It just seems too good
to be true. Well, is it? The Word of God
plainly teaches that God has mercy on whom he'll have mercy. If God determines to have mercy
on a sinner, He'll have mercy on him. And who hath resisted
His will, if God has mercy on a sinner, they'll come to Christ. Many seem to think that when
it comes to them, the salvation is too good to be true. But I'm
telling you that redemption in Christ is not too good to be
true. It's both good and true. But
many seem to think that. They think that there must be
some hidden condition, but there's not. They think that there must
be some concealed stipulation. When they say something is too
good to be true, what they're saying is that it's so excellent
that it defies belief. It's nothing less than a skeptical
view of something wonderful. And most of the time, we think
that something good and pleasurable cannot be as good as it seems.
But I'm telling you that salvation is not so. It's both good and
it's true. I have no doubt. I thought about
this over the last couple of days. I have no doubt that for
120 years, as Noah built that ark that men mocked him. You
know they did. You know they did. What are you
building? I'm building a boat. Well, what's
a boat? Well, it's something that floats
on water. Well, where is there that much water that a boat is
needed? Well, God said that he's going
to rain and flood the earth. Well, what's rain? They hadn't
had rain up until that point. Well, God's going to cause water
to fall from the sky, and he's going to cause water to come
up from the ground, and he's going to cover the earth, and
he's going to drown all flesh. And everyone that gets into this
ark that I'm building will be saved from the wrath of God to
come. And for 120 years, Noah, the
New Testament says a preacher of righteousness, told folks
that, but nobody believed him until it started to rain, until
it started to flood the earth. And as the waters filled the
plains and covered the trees and rose above the mountaintops,
nobody was laughing then. And when the floodwaters finally
began to descend and the ground could be seen again, do you suppose
that any of the eight that were in that ark thought, this is
too good to be true. It might have seemed too good
to be true, but it was both good and true. And that's the way
that the mercy and grace of God is. The Lord told Abraham to
offer up and sacrifice his son, his only son, the son that he
loved. So he wakes up early one morning,
and he and his son take off on a journey. And when they reach
the base of Mount Moriah, where God told him to go, Abraham took
the wood for the burnt offering, and he laid it upon Isaac's shoulders. And he took the fire in his hand
and a knife, and they went up that mountain both together. And you know the story well.
Isaac said, Dad, I see the fire in your hand, and I've got the
wood on my back. But where is the lamb for offering?
And Abraham said, my son, God will provide Himself a lamb for
burnt offering. And when they get to the place
where the sacrifice is to take place, Abraham builds an altar.
And he lays the wood in its place. And then he binds Isaac. And
he puts him upon that wood. up on the altar and he stretched
back his hand with that knife in it to slay his son. And the
angel of the Lord said, Abraham, lay not your hand on the lad.
The scripture says that he'd look and there was a ram caught
in the thicket. I just wonder when Abraham and
Isaac saw and heard that ram, do you suppose they thought,
wow, that's too good to be true. By nature, that's the way that
we think. But it wasn't too good to be true. It was God showing
mercy and grace to His own. Think about Israel caught between
the Red Sea and Pharaoh's army. In Exodus chapter 14, the scriptures
say, When Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted
up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them.
And they were sore afraid. And the children of Israel cried
unto the Lord. How are they going to get out
of this? Moses said, fear not, stand still
and see the salvation of the Lord, which he shall show you
this day. Well, that sounds good. That
sounds good, but really, it sounds a little too good to be true.
How is God gonna pull this off? And then we read in the scriptures,
and the waters divided and made the sea dry land and the children
of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground.
And the waters were a wall unto them on the right hand and on
their left." Well, that's just too good to be true. No, it's
not. No, it's not. With men, it's
impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. Do you suppose when the manna
fell from heaven, they thought it was too good to be true? Do
you suppose when water came forth out of that rock, that they thought
it was too good to be true? Do you suppose when Rahab hung
that scarlet cord in her window, Joshua saved her alive in her
father's household. You think she thought that was
too good to be true? Ruth and Naomi, poor and destitute
and hungry, their only hope, their only hope, is to be redeemed
by a near kinsman redeemer. And when Boaz redeemed Ruth,
do you suppose she thought to herself, this is just too good
to be true. But it wasn't. Because God knows
how to take care of His own. God can do anything. He can do
anything. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? And Job said, I know that thou canst do everything. Everything he does is good, and
everything he does is true. That leper, he came to Christ. He said, Lord, if you will, you
can make me whole. He knew that he could. I know
you can, but will you? Or is it too good to be true?
The Lord said, I will, be thou clean. Bartimaeus sat down and
shut up. No, sir, not going to do it.
Not going to do it. I'm going to cry louder till
the Lord hears me. And the Lord stood still and
commanded them to bring Bartimaeus forth. The Lord asked, what will
that I should do unto thee? And Bartimaeus said, Lord, that
I might receive my sight. Now, I'm certain that there were
some there that day that heard Bartimaeus' request to the Lord. And I'm sure that someone probably
said, that blind beggar wants to receive his sight. I'm sure
somebody responded, he doesn't want much, does he? But the Lord
said, go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately
he received his sight and followed Jesus in the way. And I'm telling
you, you can go right on down the line. The impotent man at
the Pool of Bethesda. The woman who was bowled over
and couldn't see anything but her own feet. the man with the
withered hand, the woman with the issue of blood, that maniac
of Gadara. They all thought that their deliverance
was too good to be true. So we can't blame Jacob for his
doubt here. When I first heard the gospel
of God's grace, I thought it was too good to be true that
Christ would die for such a one as I. When they told Jacob that
Joseph was alive, we're told in verse 26 that his heart fainted,
for he believed them not. And I don't suppose there's anything
that brings faintness to the heart more than unbelief. The
Hebrew word for fainted here means sluggish. Nothing makes
us more sluggish to spiritual things than unbelief. But look
at verse 27. Jacob begins to hear some things
here concerning his son. This is just beautiful. That's
how faith comes, isn't it? Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the word of God's son. And in verse 27, it says, and
they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto
them. And what remarkable words they were. Here the brothers
also, we're not told this, but it's pretty obvious that the
brothers had to come clean with their father. They had to fess
up to what they had done and what they'd hidden for all these
years. But they didn't mind now because they had good news. Father, we've done some horrible
things, but Joseph has forgiven us for what we've done. He told
us not to be grieved or angry with ourselves. And He traced
and He showed us God's providence in all these things that had
occurred. He told us that God sent Him
to Egypt to save lives. We didn't sell Him into slavery,
even though we did. That wasn't God's purpose. God
sent Him to Egypt to save lives, including our own. He told us
that God allowed our evil to be used for good. by preserving
the future generations of our family. And I can just imagine
that Jacob, I can just see this, I can see Jacob just smiling
from ear to ear, thinking to himself, that sure sounds like
Joseph. That sure sounds like my son
Joseph. He always lived in the fear and
in the love of God. And Joseph revealed not only
Himself to His brothers, but also the will of God to them.
And what a picture this is of our Lord Jesus. He not only reveals
Himself to His brethren, but He reveals God and God's will
to His elect. He came to teach us of His Father. His Spirit bears witness with
our spirit that His Word is true. And Joseph's words to his brothers
glorified God, and Christ's words to us glorified God, His Heavenly
Father. Joseph had told them how He intended
to do well by them. Father, He's going to give us
the best land around Egypt called Goshen. Father, Joseph said that
He's going to be responsible for our care and our nourishment
and our provisions. And our Lord Jesus has said the
same concerning us. Tenderly he calls us to come
unto him that we may find rest for our souls. There's something
about the way that our Lord speaks to his people. He penetrates
our hearts with assurance and comfort, doesn't he? I think
about those two men on the road to Emmaus. They said, did our
heart not burn within us when he talked with us by the way
and while he opened to us the scriptures? And they told Jacob
how Joseph had told them of his position and his power. Father,
he told us to go up to my father and say unto them, thus saith
thy son Joseph, God hath made me Lord of all Egypt. Come down
unto me, tarry not. Verse nine. And as Jacob continues
to hear these things, his heart begins to change. He begins to
believe, faith rises up within him. In verse 13, he said, and
ye shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt and of all
that you have seen, and ye shall haste and bring down my father
hither. I think about our Lord and how
He assures us of His power and authority. He tells us that God
has given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal
life to as many as the Lord God had given Him, John 17 too. He tells us how that all power
is given unto Him in heaven and in earth, Matthew 28, 18. And
I'm telling you, I was moved today when I thought about how
these sons of Jacob must have said, look out here, Dad. Look
out here. Verse 27 says that Jacob's spirit
was revived when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry
him. Joseph looked out on that caravan of royalty, that kingly
entourage of wagon after wagon after wagon. They weren't just
ordinary wagons either. These were royal wagons. They
had the, I can just picture the seal of the king burnt in the
side and painted into that finely crafted wood. And these weren't
just normal horses that pulled these wagons. They were the best
of the best. They were thoroughbreds. And
there wasn't just a few wagons either. There was wagons. after wagon, after wagon. Well,
there's 70 people in the family to bring back. It takes a few
wagons to haul that many, enough to return nearly 70 people back
to Egypt. The finest wagons and horses
upon earth. Wagons with, I like what my friend
Arvin Pruitt said concerning this verse. He said, wagons with
plush purple velvet seats fit for a king. That wasn't all. He sees 10 donkeys loaded with
the good things of Egypt. He sees another 10 she-donkeys
loaded with corn, bread, and meal. And he's thinking, my,
who's behind all this? This is my son, Joseph. These wagons were sent to fetch
them. Isn't that what our Lord sends
to fetch us? Wagons and wagons of grace. Wagons and wagons full of His
promises. Wagons and wagons of accomplished
redemption. Well, that sounds a little too
good to be true. Well, it's not. Well, what do I have to do? Just
get in the wagon. Just get in the wagon. Just hop
on board. Just sit back and rest and ride
all the way to Joseph. Well, let me get some stuff together.
Nope. Don't need to. Don't need it. You won't need it. It don't mean
anything. When you get to Egypt, Pharaoh is going to give you
the best that Egypt's got. Just leave it all. Well, why
would Pharaoh do these things? Do you think maybe Jacob might
have thought that? Why would Pharaoh do all these
things for us? Only one reason. Pharaoh loves
Joseph. And because of that, Pharaoh
loves you. Dear sinner, there's nothing in you, nothing in you
or me that would cause God to love you except the Lord Jesus
Christ. The riches of God's glory is
Christ in you, the hope of glory. Well, all that sounds good. Maybe
a little too good to be true. But it's true. It's true. And it's not just true, it is
enough. Look at verse 28. In Israel,
Jacob said, it is enough. It's enough. I'm convinced. Joseph, my son, is yet alive. And I'll go and see him before
I die. You know, friends, time is short. If we live to be a
hundred, the time's still short. Every child of God longs to see
Christ, and they long to see Him now. That's just a desire
that the Lord puts in His people. And yes, I know that now we see
through a glass darkly, but then we'll see Him face to face. But
I want to see Him now, even if it is darkly, don't you? Now
we know in part, but then we shall know even as we're known.
I want to know Him now. And you must see Christ now if
you are to see Him then. And you must know Christ now
if you're ever to know Him and be with Him forever. You see,
these things I've heard, these things I've seen, and wagons
and wagons and wagons of them I've seen. I see that it's enough,
don't you? Christ is all I need. Oh, Lord,
give me Christ. I came tonight to see Him. I
know you did. And I'm going to come back again
to hear His words and to see His face. And I know that it's
enough. It's enough. He's all I need. Christ is all in all.