The 45th chapter of Genesis is
pretty much about revelation. After so long a time, Joseph
finally reveals himself to his brethren. He brings them to repentance,
as we've seen. He causes them to see and become
sorrowful for the treatment of him so many years ago. Best I
can calculate, it's been 22 years since they sold him into slavery.
He was around 17 years old when they did. He was 30 when he stood
before Pharaoh to interpret Pharaoh's dreams. That's 13 years. And then seven years of plenty
had passed, and they, as we'll see in this chapter, they're
two years into the seven years of famine. So that's nine more
years that's gone by. So now Joseph is nearly 40 years
old, 22 years have passed. And that's significant only because
for 22 years, his brothers had lied to their father Jacob about
what had happened to Joseph. For 22 years, these men had justified
what they had done. Best I can tell, for the most
part, they had successfully erased from their minds their evil actions
against Joseph. As I said, he had served 13 years
in slavery and in prison, but they'd moved on with their life.
They had started families. For them, they had lived a relatively
normal life until God sent a famine. They began to be in need. And
I think about what our Lord said, often those that are well have
no need of a physician. And it's true that those that
are full have no need of food. But a sick man has need of a
physician. And a hungry man has need of
food. And a needy man has need of Christ. So by the sovereign providence
of God, they head to Egypt to buy corn. We've studied this
to pieces. They head to Egypt to buy corn,
and that man that they had despised and rejected is the very man,
in the providence of God, that he's the very man, their brother,
that they now stand before. And if they're gonna be fed,
if they're gonna have life, sustained life, they're gonna have to deal
with him. They didn't know who he was until
now, this 45th chapter. And Joseph, their brother, reveals
himself to them. He cries, I am Joseph, your brother,
whom you sold into Egypt. Not just any man named Joseph,
as we mentioned last time, but Joseph, their brother. Joseph,
the one that they hated and despised and rejected. Joseph, the one
that they had desired to kill. Joseph, the one that they sold
into Egypt, now the one that they stood before, that Joseph,
the one with whom they have to do. And Joseph, in plain view,
had for almost a year now, dealing with his brothers, had successfully
hidden himself from his brothers. And as if we've already seen,
the 45th chapter of Genesis is about forgiveness and great lessons
Forgiveness learned, but it's also about revelation. God revealing
Himself to us. If you and I are ever gonna be
saved, if we're ever gonna come to the knowledge of the truth,
if we're ever gonna truly see our need of Christ, it's gonna
have to be through divine revelation. Turn, if you would, to Galatians
chapter one with me. Hold your place here and Genesis,
we'll come back to it. Galatians chapter one. I want
to read a few verses here, beginning in verse 11. Galatians chapter one, verse
11. Paul says, I certify you brethren
that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. You see that? This gospel is
not after man. He said, for I neither received
it of man, neither was I taught it by man, but by the revelation
of Jesus Christ. Now, if you're truly taught the
gospel, if you ever truly learn the gospel, if you ever believe
and rest in the gospel, it will be by the revelation of Jesus
Christ. Verse 13, for you've heard of
my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that
beyond measure I persecuted the church of God and wasted it,
and profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine
own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of
my father. but when it pleased God, who
separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace."
Why does God call His people by His grace? Why does God intervene
and interfere in His people's lives? Why did God disrupt and
butt into my life? Verse 16, to reveal His Son in
me, to reveal His Son in me. And Paul adds in the last part
of the verse, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood. Now
Joseph's brothers conferred with flesh and blood, but Joseph was
no ordinary or average man. He was a powerful man. He was
a ruler, the ruler of Egypt, second in control and power only
to Pharaoh. And the one with whom Joseph's
brothers find their lives in the hands of was the very one
that they had dealt treacherously with. And no wonder they were
terrified. And how close is the comparison?
We've seen it so many times in the picture of the chosen sinner
and their brother. The Lord Jesus Christ, when God
reveals his son to his elect people, they know immediately
that they're not conferring or conversing. That's what that
word means with flesh and blood, but with God almighty. It was not the case in the experience
with Apostle Paul. In Acts chapter 9, it records
the event. You can read it. Paul journeyed
to Damascus. We all know the story. And suddenly
the scripture says, there shined round about him a light from
heaven. Well, from where did that light
shine? From heaven. From heaven. Paul was disrupted. He was stopped in his tracks.
by a divine intervention. And child of God, so were you.
And so was I. I'm so glad that God stopped
me in my track. I was heading to hell on a fast
track. You know the rest of the story.
Paul fell to earth and he heard a voice saying unto him, Saul,
Saul, why persecutest thou me? And Paul asked the question.
He said, who art thou Lord? And the Lord said, I'm Jesus
whom thou persecutest. And in Genesis chapter 45, Joseph's
brothers stand before the one whom they persecuted. And he
says, I'm Joseph. I'm Joseph, whom you sold into
slavery." The beautiful thing about this is that, as we know,
Joseph dealt graciously with them, just as our Lord did with
Paul and just as our Lord does with us. What a gracious Lord
we have. You know, it was Joseph's purpose
and intention to be gracious. He determined long before to
be gracious. brings them to repentance in
order to forgive them, in order to show them mercy. And that's what our Lord does.
He shows us our sin so that we might desire His mercy. And I'm
telling you, we'll never, we said it in the beginning, a hungry
man desires to be fed and a needy man desires to have Christ. He shows us our sin that we may
desire Him. Now, back in Genesis 45, in verse
5, Joseph says, don't be grieved. Don't be angry with yourselves.
You sold me, but God sent me. And isn't that the same in our
case? We sold ourselves into sin. Paul said, you're sold under
sin. We sold ourselves into sin, but
God sent his son to redeem us. God was behind it all, and we
just read it. Paul said, when it pleased God
who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace. When the Lord revealed himself
to Paul that day on the road to Damascus, his divine intervention
had been appointed by God before the foundation of the world.
And you know, so many times I think we just kind of get in the routine
of saying that and thinking before the foundation of the world,
before the foundation of the world. But isn't that a remarkable
thought? That before I ever was, God set
his affection upon me. Before you ever were a child
of God, God determined to love you, chose you by his grace,
called you into the glorious light of the gospel. And he gets
all the glory and the honor for it. We can't take any credit
in it because of that. And I love how Joseph is a type
of Christ here. I love how Joseph tells his brothers
in verse five, he said, God sent me to preserve life. In verse seven, he says, God
sent me to preserve your posterity. God sent me to save your lives
by a great deliverance. Well, my deliverance was a great
deliverance. Our salvation, our deliverance
is great salvation. It's not limited, it's not partial. So many folks make salvation
a cooperative effort between God and sinners. They say, well,
God's done all He can, the rest is up to us. God makes salvation
possible, we've all heard those sayings, and man's got to complete
that transaction. In other words, man adds his
will to God's will. Man adds his work to God's work. So it's a collaborative effort.
It's a collaborative work. No, sir, it's not. God determined
to save me before time ever was, before I ever done any good or
evil that the purpose of God, according to election, might
stand. That's what the scriptures teach. Salvation is achieved
and it's accomplished solely by the finished work of Christ
on the cross of Calvary. And it's a great, It's a great
deliverance. You see, only a great salvation
can avail for great sinners. I need a great Savior because
I'm a great sinner. Our sin was great. Our guilt
was great. Our need is great. Nothing less
than a great deliverance will be of any use to any of us. How
shall we escape, Peter asked, if we neglect so great salvation? Well, the answer is we won't,
if we neglect it. There's only one way to be redeemed. Peter said, for as much as you
know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver
and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. As of a lamb
without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained,
predetermined, ordained before time ever was, before the foundation
of the world. Joseph didn't just reveal who
he is here. He reveals his glorious attributes. Look at it with me. In verse
8, he says, God sent me here. God made me a father to Pharaoh.
And as I tried to explain last time, the word father means a
principal, a chief, one dominant, one prominent head over all. Joseph said, God made me Lord.
The word Lord means sovereign, means controller, means master.
He said he made me Lord over Pharaoh's house. God did that.
God made me a ruler, he said, throughout all the land of Egypt.
And what a picture here. Christ reveals his glorious attributes
and character to his chosen people. He's the sovereign Lord. He's the chief master of all
things in heaven and in earth. He said himself, the Father loveth
the Son and hath given all things into His hands. I'm glad that
all things are in His hands. The greatness of Christ was revealed
to the psalmist. He said, for I know, it's been
revealed to me, that's how I know, that the Lord is great and that
our Lord is above all gods. And whatsoever the Lord please,
that did He in heaven and in earth and in the seas and in
all deep places. The greatness of Christ is gonna
have to be revealed to any and every saved sinner. Again, stick
your marker here. Look at Ephesians chapter one
with me. I know you're familiar with these
verses, but my, they're just so glorious. Let's look at them
together. Ephesians chapter one. We refer
to this passage often. Look at verse 17 with me. I'll
give you a chance to get there. Again, Paul says that the God
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto
you the spirit of wisdom and revelation. There's that word
again. And the knowledge of him. God's
got to reveal to you these things. Verse 18, Ephesians 1, the eyes
of your understanding. Being what? Enlightened. That
you may know. What is the hope of His calling,
and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints?
And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe
according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought
in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at
His own right hand in the heavenly places? These things have to
be revealed to us. We have to be given this knowledge. Our understanding has to be enlightened. God has to shine these things
into our heart before we'll ever believe them. Why? So that we
might know Christ. So that we might have hope in
Him. Do you have hope in Christ? Because God revealed to you that
he's your only hope. Oh, so that we might see his
riches. Look at that, those verses again, that we might have his
inheritance, that we might experience his exceeding greatness, that
we might feel his omnipotent power. If Joseph hadn't revealed
himself to his brothers, they would have never known him. And
if the Holy Spirit doesn't reveal and show us the things concerning
Christ, we'll never know them or him. Now it's God that must
reveal these things to a sinner. Then why do we preach? Because
preaching is the ordained means that God uses to reveal Christ,
his glorious son, to chosen sinners. It pleased the Lord by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Now Joseph has revealed
himself to his brothers and now he desires to reveal himself
to his father. How is this revelation going
to come to his father? Well, the same way it comes to
all of us. By the telling of some good news.
Isn't that what gospel preaching is? It's the proclamation of
good news. Those who have the good news
revealed to them, well they want to tell others. the good news
that they've heard. What a picture we have of that
here in Genesis 45. Look at verse nine. Joseph says,
haste ye and go up to my father and say unto him, thus saith
thy son, Joseph. God has made me Lord of all Egypt. Come down unto me, Tarry not.
We who have been made to know, we who have been enlightened
and shown the things of Christ, we make haste to tell others
about the Lord Jesus. Why? Because serious business. Time is short. It's crucial.
We tell them that he's sovereign, that he's Lord over all. I serve
a Lord who's in control of everything. God made him Lord over all. He's
rich unto all that call upon him, Paul said in Romans 10.
Look at verse 10 here. He says, thou shalt dwell in
the land of Goshen. Now the land of Goshen was a
valley outside of Egypt that was about 40 miles long. And it was highly suitable for
cattle, which as you know, Jacob and his sons, they were shepherds. It was really a conducive place
for that. The beautiful thing here is that
we see that Joseph is making provision for his brethren in
this world. Christ does the same for his
people. God providentially and he sovereignly provides for his
people in this world. I've said this before and I sincerely
mean it. Some may say, well, I think you're
taking it a bit too far. I don't think you can take it
too far. There's a GE plant here in Madisonville, and I know it's
here for many natural reasons. But I am convinced that the chief
reason there's a GE plant in Madisonville is because God is
providing Daniel Montgomery a way to provide for his family. And
it's the same that can be said about the college with Eddie
and the hospital for Lou Anne, Carhartt for Chris Cothran, Somebody's
going to buy a house because Clayton and Jeff have one to
sell. That's just a fact. God is going
to take care of his own. He's going to take care of his
people. There's a church in Madisonville, Kentucky. I had someone today,
a fellow that's doing some painting. He said, so-and-so asked where
your church was. And I told him where it was.
And he asked the name of your church. And he said his wife
was from Madisonville, but she'd never heard of that church. Well,
join the club. There's a lot of folks that hadn't.
But God purposed this church to be before time ever was. Because some of His people were
here. And this church exists for God's
glory and for their good. God's people's good. He's still
calling sinners to Christ. Look what Joseph said in verse
10. He said, and thou shalt be near
unto me. God gives us a place to come
worship. God gives us a church where we
can be near him. That's why we're here tonight.
You're not here to hear me try to bring an exquisite sermon. If that's the reason you're here,
you're going to be disappointed. God gives us a place where we
can come and spend time and fellowship with him, with one another. A
place where we can be with His people. And God says to His elect,
thou shalt be near unto Me. He's gonna see to it. He's gonna
see to it. He said, Joseph said, thou and
thy children, and thy children's children, and thy flocks, and
thy herds, and all that thou hast. Brothers and sisters, let's
never ever take this place of worship for granted. Let's don't
do it. May we always be found meeting
together to be near our Savior. Have you ever paid close attention
to that passage in Hebrews 10? And I'm speaking of that passage
that talks and exhorts us not to forsake the assembling of
ourselves together. You know, the reason given for
us, I won't turn you there, but the reason given for us not to
forsake meeting together, There's several reasons given if you
look at a couple, three verses there. We meet together, the
writer says, to consider one another. That word means discover
or observe. We come together. When we come
together, like tonight, we observe and we discover how God is working
in each other's lives. We see how God is doing miraculous
things among our brothers and sisters. When I see someone have
an interest in Christ that never had an interest before, the writer
of Hebrews said, we come together to exhort, to encourage one another. Every time I come here and have
time together with you, I'm encouraged. Isn't it encouraging to know
that we have brothers and sisters that love us and are praying
for us and wanting the best for us? We come, the writer says,
to provoke one another unto love. Love to stir up, to rekindle
the love for Christ and our faith in Christ, to exhort one another
unto love, love for God, love for Christ, love for one another.
To encourage one another unto good works, he said. so that
God might be glorified, so that the gospel might be loved and
embellished, that our faith might even be evidenced by the world,
so that the world might see and know that God knows, loves, blesses,
and keeps those that are His. Joseph said, go tell my father
that in the land of Goshen, look at verse 11, that I will nourish
thee there. I get some real nourishment here
in my Goshen. He says, go tell my father that
I'll provide for him, that I'll see that he has what he needs
for life. I'll care for you and I'll care
for you and yours. And that's what the gospel promises
God's children. That's what Christ promises.
Peter said, cast all your care upon him for he careth for you. We cast all our care upon Christ
because He careth for us. And I've said this many times,
but understand that that doesn't just mean that He cares about
us, though He does. That means that He cares for
us. He's our caretaker. He's our
caretaker. You know, there's nothing more
beautiful than to see one care for someone that they love that's
sick and that's dying. I've seen that with you too.
I've seen how you care for clarity. It's the most beautiful thing
you'll ever experience. And that's what Christ promises
to be to us, a caretaker. He said, I've got a place for
you, and He said, I'm going to nourish you there. I'm going
to take you. I'm going to provide for you. I'm going to see that
you have everything you need. Joseph said, there's five more
years of famine. I'm gonna see to it that you
and your household and all that you have are nourished and provided
for and that you don't come into poverty. Well, if I belong to
Christ, I'll never come into poverty, not spiritual poverty.
What did our Lord say? He said, let not your heart be
troubled. Oh my, we got troubled hearts, don't we? We get so troubled
about so many things. He said, look, don't let your
heart be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also in me. He
said, in my father's house are many mansions. If it were not
so, I would have told you. And he said, I go to prepare
a place for you. Isn't that what Joseph's saying
here? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I'll come again
and receive you unto myself, that where I am, that you may
be also. That's what Joseph said. I've
got a place for you in Goshen. I want you to be near me. I want
to be near you, and I want you to be near me. And all I can
say is what a gospel, and what a God, and what a Savior. Christ
will provide a place for us. We have a Goshen, friends. Christ
desires to be near us. He said, where I am, you shall
be also. That's what makes heaven heaven,
isn't it? Being with Him. Christ will sustain us with His
living bread and His living water. We're not gonna go hungry. We're
not gonna go thirsty. He's gonna see to it that we
prosper even as our soul prospers. And He does all these things
in the midst of a spiritual famine. There's a famine all around us. Everywhere you look. Everywhere
you look. Look at verse 12, I'll try to
hurry. And behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother
Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you. And you
shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that
you've seen, and you shall hasten, bring down my father here. Beloved,
the saints of God are the eyes and the mouth of our Lord and
Savior. We testify to the things that
we've seen and to the things that we've heard. We tell of
Christ's wealth and His riches, His grandeur and His dignity,
His power and His authority. That's the way God ordained it
through the preaching of the gospel. We tell others what we've
seen of the glory of our Lord and Savior and we haste to bring
them to Christ. Oh, come to Christ. We see the
urgency of the matter of salvation. We understand that time is short
and the issue is urgent. Won't you come to Christ? Come
to Christ and live. And this isn't secondhand information.
Isn't that what John the Beloved said? He said, that which was
from the beginning, which we have heard, which we've seen
with our eyes, which we've looked upon, and our hands have handled
the Word of Life. It's not second-hand information.
He said, for life was manifested, and we've seen it, and we bear
witness, and we show unto you that eternal life, which was
with the Father and was manifested unto us. This is from firsthand
experience, what we tell folks. That which we've seen and heard,
declare we unto you, that ye may also have fellowship with
us. And truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with
His Son, Jesus Christ. You know, I often think about
John the Baptist when he's in prison. You know, all the interest
in him, and at one time there was a bunch of it. Folks came
from all around to see John in the wilderness. Now he sits in prison. He's all
alone. Truly, Christ has increased,
but John has decreased. That's what He said, remember?
He said, He must increase, I must decrease. God caused that to
happen and now He sits in prison all alone. But while He's in
prison, He hears of the works of Christ. So He sends two of
His disciples out to the Lord and He says, Art thou He that
should come? Or do we look for another? You
know, man at his best state. is full of doubt and unbelief.
We just are. Our constant prayer should be,
Lord, I believe, but help thou my unbelief, because we've got
plenty of it. The Lord said to John's disciples,
he said, go and show John again those things which you do hear
and see. And that's what we do in preaching.
We're just telling sinners what we see and what we hear. Go tell John again that the blind
receive their sight, and that the lame walk, and that lepers
are cleansed. Go tell John again that the deaf
hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel
preached to them. Tell him again. And I need to
hear that again and again, don't you? That's why we come. Tell
me again, tell me again. Okay, verse 14. And he fell upon
his brother Benjamin's neck and wept, and Benjamin wept upon
his neck. And moreover, he kissed all his
brethren and wept upon them, and after that his brethren talked
with him. I'm gonna spend more time on
that next week. His brethren talked with him.
And the fame thereof was heard in Pharaoh's house, saying, Joseph's
brethren are come. And it pleased Pharaoh well and
his servants. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,
say unto thy brethren, this do ye, laid your beast and go, get
into the land of Canaan and take your father and your households
and come unto me and I'll give you the good of the land of Egypt
and you shall eat the fat of the land. And now thou art commanded
this, do ye, take you 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 Israel did so. And Joseph gave them wagons according
to the commandment of Pharaoh and gave them provision for the
way. And as I said, I had hoped to
get through the chapter nine, but there's just too much here
to cover. So let me leave you with one last thought. Have you
considered what grace it took for Joseph to forgive and to
save his brothers instead of seeking revenge? Man, I'm telling
you, that took grace. That took grace. through all
his trials, and he went through plenty of them. Joseph maintained
his own innocence. He never once, not one time though,
did he expose the sin and guilt of his brother, or Potiphar's
wife for that matter. Never once defended himself,
never once tried to expose their ill against him. Of our Savior,
Peter said, who, when he was reviled, reviled not again. When
he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him
that judgeth righteously. My, we think about all that was
done to our Lord and Savior, and he reviled not. He spoke
not a word. You know why? It's the most glorious
thing you could ever consider. He didn't speak a word for me.
He didn't revile against those that reviled him because I was
guilty. He was working out a perfect
righteousness for me. And as a result of this, Pharaoh
didn't have to overcome any prejudice or any anger against Joseph's
brothers. And there's a real lesson to
learn there. Silence concerning the sins of others makes their
restoration a much easier process and task, doesn't it? And I think
Peter's words here again apply very well. He said, and above
all things, have fervent charity, love among yourselves, for charity
shall cover the multitude of sins. He said, use hospitality
one to another without grudging, as every man hath received the
gift, even so minister the same one to another as good stewards
of the manifold grace of God. Let's don't expose our brothers
and sisters' sin. Let's cover them if we can. That's
what love does. The wise man Solomon said, hatred
stirs up stripes, but love covers all sins. I have no doubt that
Joseph consulted with Pharaoh before he asked his family to
come to Egypt. You know he did. He was just
that kind of man. being the kind of man Joseph
was, I'm sure that he okayed all this with Pharaoh before
promising his brothers the land of Goshen. So it's no coincidence
then that Pharaoh confirmed Joseph's offer and even extended the generosity
of Egypt's finest, even went above what Joseph had promised.
Pharaoh said, not only that, take all these wagons and don't
worry about anything you got. Just forget about your stuff
and come on back. We'll give you everything you
need. But don't make any mistake about this. The fact that Pharaoh
offered more than what Joseph had promised was based upon one
thing and one thing alone, his love for Joseph. Pharaoh loved
Joseph, no doubt in my mind. May we never forget that God's
love, mercy, grace, and redemption to us is based solely upon His
love for His beloved Son. We come to Christ in the words
of that hymn writer, just as I am. We come to Him, just as
I am, without one plea of any personal righteousness. But He
cannot and He will not accept us that way. Not if he's gonna
remain just and righteous, he can't. It's gotta be perfect
to be accepted. In order to remain just, God
can by no means clear a guilty sinner, and that's why Christ
died the just for the unjust so that he might bring us to
God. And that's how our Lord remains
just, remains a just God, and at the same time proves himself
to be our Savior. God chose us in Christ. God loves
us in Christ. God accepts us in Christ. No
other way but in Christ. God's love for sinners comes
at a great price. And the one who loves us is the
same one who willingly paid that price. And that's what makes
this gospel of ours so beautiful. By his own blood, he entered
once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for
us. It's free to us, but it cost
him everything.