Turn with me to Genesis 45. Genesis
45. Joseph has now made himself known
to his brethren. And he gives them instruction
to carry the good word, the good news that he is now glorified
and exalted in Egypt. And they're to take this word
back to their father, Jacob. And let's just back up before
a text in verse 13. Verse 13, he said, and ye shall
tell my father of all my glory in Egypt and of all that ye have
seen. And ye shall haste and bring
down my father hither. That's very much like our Lord
said in Luke 24, when he was speaking to his disciples,
the risen Savior resurrected from the dead. And he declared
to them, you know, how that in verse 46, that it was written
that it behooved Christ to suffer, right? Joseph suffered, it behooved
him to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day. He's risen. He's risen. God has testified that this is
his son and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached
in his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem. And,
verse 48, ye are witnesses of these things. And so he instructs
his brethren to go and be witnesses of what they had seen and heard
of the glorification of Joseph, and to bring that word back to
his father Jacob. And then we saw these beautiful
words last time as well, how that Joseph fell upon his brother
Benjamin's neck and wept, and Benjamin wept upon his neck. Moreover, he kissed all his brethren
and wept upon them, And after that, his brethren talked with
him. And we considered how Joseph's
kissing and weeping upon his brethren, how it pictures the
care and the tokens of love that our Savior gives to his people
with his kisses. He gives His Holy Spirit. He
gives life. He gives light and understanding
to His people to know what He has done for us. What He has
mercifully, graciously done for us in that weeping, how it's
a picture of intercession. How He intercedes for us with
the Father. How He pleads for us with the
Father. And even Benjamin weeping, how
that we intercede with our Savior for one another. And we see that
sweetness there, that love expressed in the kisses and weeping here. And you can imagine how it must
have assured their hearts of the genuine love, the sincere
love of Christ for them. What a sweet and gracious picture
where Joseph's saying, hey, there's no ill will here between us. And what you did, I don't hold
it against you because I see the gracious hand of God in this
to save many people as it is this day to deliver us from this
famine. And so this was a good thing. And after the kiss, and after
the weeping, after that, at the end of verse 15, we're told,
then his brethren talked with him. Again, a picture of how
our Lord is gracious to us, to minister this salvation to our
hearts. And afterward, that's when we
begin to speak with him. That's when there's fellowship
and there's a union there and we begin to talk with our Lord
and speak with Him finally. It was severed, now it's restored. There's a reconciliation there
between us. And just as Joseph took the initiative
with his brethren, that's what our God does for us. He always
takes the initiative with the sinner. He always is gracious
to that sinner. and draws that sinner near to
himself, and then there's fruit produced unto God. Now, the remainder
of this chapter then, it begins with a view into Pharaoh and
his house here. And Pharaoh says he's going to
give further aid to Joseph's brethren to fulfill the commission
that Joseph has given to them. Pharaoh and his house, they're
going to give further aid here. So this is our text beginning
in verse 16. 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 so here is a picture. When
these brethren picture the election of God, they picture the people
of God being brought to light, brought to an understanding of
who Joseph is, and what he's accomplished, his exaltation,
his glory, and who he is. And they believe. They're talking
with him. They're reconciled to Joseph
now. And what does it do? It delights Pharaoh's house. Pharaoh and all his house are
rejoicing in this, and it reminds us of the joy in heaven when
one sinner is converted to Christ. We could cite the whole of Luke
chapter 15 to amplify that verse, but I'll just read what our Lord
said response to the Pharisees and scribes murmuring that Christ
received sinners and ate with them, in Luke 15 verse 4 through
7, our Lord asked, What man of you, having an hundred sheep,
if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine
in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost until he find
it. And when he hath found it, he
layeth it on his shoulders. Meaning he's bearing the whole
weight of that sheep that was lost. He's carrying that sheep
that was lost and bearing it on his shoulders. And when he
cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors, saying
unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was
lost. And he brings that sheep home.
with him, bearing it on his shoulders. I say unto you that likewise
joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth more than
over 99 just persons which need no repentance." And so, there's
this this rejoicing that we see and understand that heaven rejoices
when the Lord finds his lost sheep and brings them to light
and salvation and truth in the Lord Jesus Christ and we see
the shoulders of him who bears his lost sheep and brings them
home undertaking all that is necessary for that lost sheep
to be brought home. It's a picture of what our Lord
does for us in making full provision for us. He bears us on his shoulders. He undertakes to do for us to
get us home safely all that we need. all that we need. He's
not walking behind them and shooing them on and whipping and beating
them. He's carrying them. He's bringing
them home. Now, verse 17 and 18. Pharaoh
said unto Joseph, so here's Pharaoh speaking now, say unto thy brethren,
this do ye, laid your beasts and go get you unto the land
of Canaan. Now, this is beginning. One thing
that we're gonna see here is a view into the body of Christ
and the members of Christ's body and what he does for us. So we're
gonna see this picture here. And these beasts are a picture
of what the Lord has done in putting many members into his
body here. And take your father and your
households and come unto me. And I will give you the good
of the land of Egypt, and ye shall eat the fat of the land. And so these words of Pharaoh
here serve as the word of God that we have, which speaks of
the promises of God. that call us and draw us to Christ
with understanding and light of what He's done, of His promises,
of His sure and certain promises to bring us into the inheritance
of Christ. That word pictures the Word of
God. So first of all, all that come
unto the Father by the Lord Jesus Christ, they're favored of God. Just as it pleased Pharaoh, so
the Father is well pleased with all who come to him in Christ.
This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. you that come
by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He tells you, his word is, I'm
well pleased with you that are coming to me in Christ. You've
heard my word. You believe my word. You believe
my son whom I've sent to save my people from their sins. That's
why the Father is well pleased with you that come in him. You're
not casting him aside. You're coming to the Father by
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. You've received him. And so Pharaoh
here says, I promise great help to your family. I promise great
help to them to help them come to me. And when they come to
me, I'll give them everything. I'll make with them the sure
mercies of David. I'll establish my covenant of
grace with them, not because of their works, but because it
pleases me to do it, to glorify my son. And then second, such
is the promise of Christ to us who venture wholly upon him,
meaning you're trusting him completely. All right, if you ever are trying
to cross a creek and you lay down a branch across it, and
you're going to walk on that branch with all your weight,
you're resting wholly upon the weight of that branch to hold
you up. If you don't trust it, you're going to get another stick
to kind of go across that branch and hold yourselves up. But that's
not how we come to the Father in Christ, with Christ plus our
works. We come on Christ alone, trusting
him entirely to bring us to the Father. Entirely trusting all
our weight upon him. Our Lord said in John 6, 39 and
40, this is the Father's will which hath sent me. that all
which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise
it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the sun and believeth on
him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the
last day." And so, he's saying the will of God is that I should
lose none whom he's given me. That means he's providing everything
that you need. He's not leaving it to your hand. He's not leaving it to your wisdom.
He's not leaving it to your righteousness. He's not leaving it to your goodness
or your abilities. He's providing everything. Otherwise,
we'd be lost if we're honest. We would be taken out. We would
fall out by the way. And so the good of the land and
the father of the land that we feed on is the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who we feed upon is the
Lord Jesus Christ. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh
my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the
last day. For my flesh is meat indeed,
and my blood is drink indeed. And so in giving the son to provide
everything for you, the father spared no expense. He didn't
hold anything good back from his people. Everything that we
need is given to us in Jesus Christ, the son. And so we have
God's word. We have his promise of full grace. to bring us safely to himself.
That's the picture here, that we are being brought to that
land of goodness where our Savior dwells, where he's exalted on
high and glorified. We're being brought to that,
and we have the word of God testifying that everything you need, I give
you. I give you. the prophets came,
what were they chastising the people with? They were saying,
you've departed from the Lord. You've turned from the Lord to
your own ways. God isn't sending us to our own
ways to figure it out. He keeps turning us to Christ,
to come to Him in Christ, to believe Him. Continuing then
in verse 19, now thou art commanded this do ye. This is the word of God. The
word of God which is given to us. This is the word which we
spread to the people, for the people to hear. Why? For the obedience of faith. We
come by faith, for the obedience of faith. Take you wagons out
of the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives
and bring your father and come. This is a picture of the provision
of God. He's saying, I'm giving you my
word. I'm giving you pastors. I'm giving you an understanding
of the mystery of God revealed in the gospel, which was hid
from the world from the beginning, but is now made known unto you
through the preaching of the gospel. I'm giving you wagons.
I'm giving you everything you need to bring you safely to me,
to where I am. I've given you my son. He's testified
of these things. He faithfully served me in everything
that was necessary. It's all been done for you. Take
these wagons. Take this hope of salvation and
go and retrieve my people. Preach this word. Declare this
word. Bring your family. Bring your
friends. Bring those that you have any
influence over. Encourage them to come and hear
the word. To hear the word. Don't decide
for them, well, they're too bad or they're too wicked. Don't
make that decision. Let them say no. You just tell
them, come. Come and hear. And we bring our
Father in a sense of our old man, praying, Lord, help me to
hear. Help me to hear because I'm so
thick and hard-hearted and deaf and foolish. Lord, help me to
hear. And teach me, have mercy on me,
Lord, lest I fall away, right? Because we know what we are in
the flesh. If it were possible, we would do it. Thankfully, it's
not possible. And so we pray and ask that the
Lord bless his word to those who hear and come, and ourselves
included in that. that we would be fed and encouraged
and helped in the way. Paul said it this way in Romans
16, verse 25 and 26. Now to him that is of power to
establish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of
Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery which
was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest
and by the scriptures of the prophets according to the commandment
of the everlasting God made known to all nations for the obedience
of faith." That's what's being testified to us in Moses, this
book, and the other four that he wrote, and all the prophets,
they're testifying to us of Christ. These are the wagons, as it were. This gospel is the wagon that
we go and bring our wives and children and our father, we bring
that to hear the gospel and pray the Lord bless it. And He strengthens
us and gives us wisdom, gives us His Spirit, gives us understanding,
gives us light, helps us through our dark times, carries us all
the while that we need it, teaching us, correcting us, keeping us,
blessing us, and sending us various trials and afflictions all for
our good. They're all the wagons that are
bringing us to Him. To Him. Verse 20 now. Also regard
not your stuff, for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours. And so in a spiritual sense,
your stuff is your works. Don't regard your works as justifying
you with the Father. I've provided your justification
in Christ. And we're told in 1 Corinthians
1.30 that of God is Christ made unto us wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption. Everything, everything that we
need to stand faultless before the throne of God is freely given
in the Lord Jesus Christ. So those works that we think
are necessary for our justification and to get ourselves back on
track Look to Christ, cry out to him for mercy, and follow
him. Go to where his word is heard,
but trusting him for your sanctification, for your justification, for your
redemption, for your all. And so, don't trust your works
to justify you. Don't trust what you're doing
to merit favor with God. Trust Christ, who merits our
favor. For by the deeds of the law,
there shall no Let's be justified in His sight. Now, by all means,
fear Him, hear Him, serve Him with rejoicing, obey Him from
the heart by His grace and power, but keep moving forward, leaving
behind that form of dead-letter religion that you once trusted
Him, and just keep looking to Christ. Keep pressing to Christ.
Because we all can look behind us and see folly. We all can
look behind us and feel shame for the things we did, the things
we thought, the things we said to people, the things we thought
were our righteousness. Every one of us can look back
and say, I can't believe I did that. And yet I did. And we all
feel it. But don't let that turn you out
of the way. You just keep looking to Christ
and keep pressing, pressing to Christ. because he's our salvation
and he uses those things to teach us to be empathetic and caring
and merciful to others. Just as God's been merciful and
caring and generously gracious to us, that we would be generous
to others as well. Paul said this in Romans 3, 24
through 26, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in His blood, right, to turn His wrath from us because
He put it on Christ. He turned it against Christ to
declare His righteousness for the remission, the forgiveness
of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. to declare,
I say at this time, his righteousness, that he might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." And let your heart
delight in our Lord Jesus Christ, and go and love people, and be
kind to others, and understanding, and patient with them, to just
Have that opportunity to preach, to declare why you're so thankful
and rejoicing and glad in Him. It'll do a whole lot more than
correcting them in little finite things. They'll be blessed as
you've been blessed. Just to hear how wonderful Christ
is, how wonderful He is. Therefore, all our boasting is
excluded by what law? The law of faith, because we're
accepted of God, not because of something I've done, and not
disqualified because of something I've done, but am received by
the Father for Christ's sake, for his sake. Therefore, we conclude
that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. It's the obedience of faith that
our Lord works in his people. Romans 6, 17 through 18, but
God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin, even in religion. Just look back what we did in
religion. Even in religion, we were the servants of sin, but
ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was
delivered you. So that we're doers of the word
by faith, by faith. Being then made free from sin,
ye became the servants of righteousness." And that's what these brethren
are made servants, saying, take these wagons and you go back
home. Tell everybody, leave your garbage.
And you just hop on these wagons, and we're going back to Joseph,
where he's glorified. And we'll have the best of the
land. And that's what we do. We feed on Christ. We feed on
these promises. We encourage one another and
help one another going to our Joseph, to our spiritual Joseph,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, our text here tells us,
we see this obedience, verse 21, and the children of Israel
did so. They did it. And Joseph gave
them wagons according to the commandment of Pharaoh and gave
them provision for the way. Just as we see, as it's testified,
that this Jesus, that through this man, has preached unto you
the forgiveness of sins. That's a wagon, brethren. And
all that you could not be justified by the law of Moses, well, you
are justified in Christ. That's a wagon, brethren. This
is what's encouraging us, and strengthening us, and helping
us get there. Because otherwise, we'd fall. and we'd perish, right? And so we're bound to give thanks
always unto God, brethren, for you, brethren, beloved of the
Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you unto salvation
through sanctification, separating you apart by the spirit and belief
of the truth. To hear this word, to be taught
this word, to receive this word, to be rejoiced by this word,
and to trust him. And whereunto he called you by
our gospel to the obtaining, to the obtaining of the glory
of our Lord Jesus Christ, just like this family of Jacob's going
to obtain the glory of Joseph. They're going to receive that
being brought and carried on these spiritual blessings, these
wagons and provision for the way. Additionally, now verse
22, To all them he gave each man changes of raiment, but to
Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and five changes
of raiment. And so these garments serve as
a picture of the garments of your salvation, which is given
to you, brethren. The filth of this flesh is washed
away and you bear, now you wear the righteous robe, that white
robe of the Lord Jesus Christ which is given to cover your
nakedness and has put away your filth. It testifies that we are
new men before the Lord Jesus Christ. We see a picture of this
substitution for us of Christ in Zechariah chapter 3, verse
3 and 4, where it says, Joshua was clothed with filthy garments
and stood before the angel. That's us by nature, clothed
in filthy garments, full of sin, full of wickedness, full of evil.
And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him,
saying, take away the filthy garments from him, And unto him
he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee,
and I will clothe thee with change of raiment. And so it speaks
of our substitution by Christ to interpose his blood, to wash
us of our sins, and to clothe us with his righteousness. It
pictures that these men were new men in Joseph's eyes. They're
new men. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new, new. They had these fresh, clean garments,
born again, born again by his spirit. And this beauty of these
garments will also serve when they get home and they stand
there in these garments telling them of Joseph's glory. Boy,
you guys look wonderful. Yeah, thanks to Joseph. And the
hope is that we're testifying of the beauty of Christ. And
we don't have much, but we're thankful and rejoicing in Christ. Maybe you can't explain everything
and drill into all the doctrine, but you know what Christ has
done for you, a sinner. now that he's put away that vain
hope that we once had and given me strong assurances of comfort
and peace and his word of promise that he is providing everything
that I need. And that as he's begun that good
work in you, he'll complete it until the end. Philippians 1.6,
he'll do it completely, entirely for you. And we see also here
these changes of Raymond, signaling two changes, right? There's two.
And to Benjamin, he gave five, five changes. And we saw that
same two numbers back in verse six. Two, two years of famine,
and five yet more. And what do we see for the number
two and five? Two pictures, there's a union. They are joined again as a family
to Joseph, two garments, and Benjamin 5, a picture of grace. Benjamin is a picture of our
precious soul, which is most precious and dear to us. It's
eternal. And the Lord gives grace upon
grace upon grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust Him. Believe Him. I know how foolish
we are, and how doubtful we can be, and we get turned away, and
we're so ashamed of our own sin and our own filth, but remember
His Word. Grace, grace, grace. You keep looking to Christ. Keep
trusting Him. Verse 23. And to his father he
sent after this manner, ten asses laden with the good things of
Egypt, and ten she-asses laden with corn and bread and meat
for his father by the way." It's just like when Abraham sent the
ten camels loaded with the good things of Canaan to go and seek
a wife, a bride for his son Isaac, right, and provided everything
to show her the glory that is Isaac's and to bring Rebecca
safely back through the desert with all those good things and
provisions. That's what the Lord has done
here for his people and it shows us, you know, and speaking of
Jacob especially, it's a picture of the body of the church that
the Lord has brought us together to help one another, to support
one another, to be a comfort and a help to one another as
a body with different members that do different things, all
serving the greater good of our Lord. Turn over to 1 Corinthians
12 and let's see this. 1 Corinthians 12, and we'll pick
up in verse 18. It's good to be reminded that
we're a body, and the Lord has brought us together. He's assembled
us. He's gathered us together. And
to be mindful of the blessing of what it is to be in a body
of the Lord's people. 1 Corinthians 12, 18, but now
hath God set the members, every one of them, in the body, as
it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member,
where were the body? But now are they many members,
yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the
hand, I have no need of thee, nor again the head to the feet,
I have no need of you. Nay, much more, those members
of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary. And
those members of the body, which we think to be less honorable,
upon these we bestow more abundant honor. And our uncomely parts
have more abundant comeliness. On my body here, that's where
the suit is. You see my hands and you see
my head, but those parts that you don't want to see, they're
covered over with more abundant honor, more beautiful. For our
comely parts have no need, but God hath tempered the body together,
having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked. That
there should be no schism in the body, but that the members
should have the same care one for another." So here's the whole
presence of the body is here with you because it's all properly
cared for. And that's a picture of the whole
body here. It's one body that the Lord has
put together. And so these blessings sent with
Joseph's brothers, they're given to help what? From the youngest
to the oldest. And all that have need, all that
whose knees are hurting and their bodies are feeble and they just
don't have the stamina to make it, oh, they're gonna make it
being carried on those wagons, being provided for. And those
that can walk are gonna walk. And so he's gonna bring his people. Continuing verse 24 now, Genesis
45, 24. So he sent his brethren away,
and they departed. And he said unto them, see that
ye fall not out by the way. You can imagine that it's possible
that as these brethren are making it out of the city, and they
look, and Joseph doesn't send anyone behind them. They're getting
in the clear more and more that it's possible they start talking.
And they might assign blame and accountability to certain brothers
who really wanted Joseph out of there. They might look to
Judah and say, you're the one who arranged this whole thing,
you know. And what are we going to tell dad now about this? And
they could start fighting and bickering and getting into it. And that would be, what, a falling
out, by the way. And if they don't continue in
this and work together, they could perish in the land of Canaan
there in the famine and never make it back to Joseph, never
make it to the place where they've been promised to go to. And so
Joseph's telling him, trust, right? Trust that I'm telling
you. I'm not holding anything against
you. That's what he's saying. I'm not bringing nothing up.
I'm not going to embarrass you in front of your father, Jacob. I'm not saying nothing about
it. We're just moving on. Just come on. Just make it back. Don't fight and fall out by the
way. Paul, when writing to the Corinthians,
they were having fightings and debates and vying for a greater
part in certain things, as it were. He told them, there's a
lot more at stake. Just forgive. If anybody's sinned
against you, forgive them. Because there's much greater
things at stake here, as a body, to what we're called to do in
this world. There's much greater things than falling out over
mild things. We don't need to assign blame
of who's right, who's wrong, who's more right, who's more
wrong. It's not needed. There's such a better calling,
a higher calling to just serve Christ in love and to preach
this word and send this word out, these wagons and provisions
to bring home the people of God. As Paul said, forgive lest Satan
should get an advantage of us for we're not ignorant of his
devices. And we've all seen it. We've all seen it in the body.
At various times, we've seen how things get ripped apart.
and damage is done, and people are hurt, and there's just a
falling out by the way. And if you insist on falling
out by the way, Joseph's saying you might not survive the famine,
and you may not make it. Just trust that the Lord has
put you together, and keep laboring together, and just keep sending
out these wagons and provisions to bring home the body. Verse
25 and 26. 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 is governor over
all the land of Egypt. And Jacob's heart fainted, for
he believed them not." There's a similitude there in our preaching
of the gospel. We declare The Lord Jesus Christ
is exalted. We're witnesses of these things. And the natural man hears and
believes it not. Can't believe it. To our natural
heart, it seems impossible that God would do this thing for us. and sending his son to obtain
our redemption, apart from our works, and to bring us safely
to himself. But to assure us, he gives his
word. He gives his word with these
tokens of his spiritual blessings, of his blessings, these wagons
and all the provision that is seen. Look at verse 27, they
told him all the words of Joseph. which he had said unto them,
and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him,
the spirit of Jacob their father revived. It's just a picture
of how the Lord raises us up from the dead, testifies, shows
us the testimony of these wagons, of these provisions, and faith
is given. Faith meets that word and receives
that word and rejoices in what the Lord has done, verse 28,
and Israel said. He had been called Jacob. now
he's called Israel, said, it is enough. Joseph, my son, is
yet alive. I will go and see him before
I die. And I don't think that name change
was an accident. Jacob was in unbelief, but the
Israel of God hears. You that are circumcised in heart,
you that hear by His grace and power, that's where faith is. And the new man, born of His
grace, it's a miracle. And we see his miracles, and
we receive his provision in wagons. All right, he's not a Jew which
is one outwardly, but he is a Jew which is, or neither is that
circumcision which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew
which is one inwardly. And circumcision is that of the
heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is
not of men, but of Romans 2, 28 and 29. So hear the Word of God testifying
to you of the glory of Christ, who promises, I'll lose none
whom my Father has given me. And I've provided everything
that you need to bring you safely to be with me. And you'll feed
upon good things, the Lord Jesus Christ being satisfied wholly
in and by Him.