Let's turn to Genesis chapter
50. Genesis chapter 50. Let's begin reading in verse
15. When Joseph's brethren saw that
their father was dead, they said, will peradventure hate us, and
will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him. And they sent a messenger unto
Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying,
So shall you say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the
trespass of thy brethren and their sin. For they did unto
thee evil, And now we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants
of the God of thy father. Look at verse 18. And his brethren
also went and fell down before his face, and they said, Behold,
we be thy servants. Now I realize that we're going
to leave here in a little while. And we all have been refreshed
and renewed this weekend by the Spirit of God. And you don't
think right now this could happen, but we know in a little while
something will happen. Some act of God's providence
will come along. And because we have an old nature
that's nothing but fear and doubt, we'll have some fears and doubts
creep up, begin to overtake us, take us into captivity, and there
we'll be. That's what happened with these
brothers. Their father died by God's hand
at God's appointed time, just like our trials come at God's
appointed time. But when it did, it threw them
into a tailspin. Here they are, fearful, doubting.
And these boys, they're like us. This is our story. They rejected
Joseph, threw him in a pit, sold him into slavery. But then when
Joseph was exalted over all in Egypt, And God worked it, drew
them to Joseph. They came, bowed down, asking
mercy. And Joseph freely forgave them,
showed them mercy. That's our story. It'd been over
17 years now that Joseph had showed these boys nothing but
love and grace and mercy. Put them in the land of Goshen,
gave them the best that could be. And when their father died, they
said, Joseph's going to start hating us and he's going to go
back and requite all the evil we did to him and take vengeance
out on us. They feared Joseph's love would
change. You know why we fear that? Because
our sin nature is nothing but change. That's all it is. Nothing but shame. But God is
not. God's not like us. He said, I've loved you with
an everlasting love. Everybody God loves, he loves
everlastingly. He never stops loving his people.
And therefore, he drew us in loving kindness. Paul said, height
and depth and He listed that big long list of things. He said
nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which
is in Christ Jesus. They feared Joseph going to take
vengeance because of their cruelty towards him early in life. You
know why they feared that? Our sin nature is nothing but
vengeance. Paul said in Titus, he said,
for a long time we lived in malice and envy, hateful and hating
one another. That's what our sin nature was.
Carnal mind is enmity against God. But God's not like us. God said, let the wicked forsake
his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return
unto the Lord and to our God. What would we do? What would
we do if a man came to us and begged mercy after he treated
us so evil? Our sin nature is to take vengeance.
But God says, come to him and he will have mercy upon you.
And he will abundantly pardon. God said, for my thoughts are
not your thoughts and my ways are not your ways. Don't hesitate to come to Christ. Don't hesitate to come to him.
You see your sin? You see how wretched you are?
You see how great your sin is? That's the only kind of person
that he receives. Come to him. He will abundantly
pardon. Don't think the way that we think.
He'll abundantly pardon. I've been in New Jersey now for
nine years. And in that time, I've preached
over 1,100 messages. 1,100 messages. I've preached Christ.
I've tried to go line by line, verse by verse through the scriptures,
reading the Word of God, preaching the Word of God. And some have
heard every message I've preached and still don't believe. Why
is that? Because our nature is so opposite
to God. We cannot and we will not believe
God's Word until God causes us to believe Him. But he said,
God is not a man that He should lie. God's not a man that He
should lie. Neither the Son of Man that He
should go back on His Word. He doesn't have to repent. He
doesn't have to change anything He said. If He said it, He'll
do it. If he purposed it, he's going
to bring it to pass. Who's a God like our God that'll
tell you in Scripture what he's going to do? And then you just
go through Scripture and watch him do everything he said he
would do. We can't do that. You can't do that. I can't do
that. We make our plans. We have to say if it's the Lord's
will. But he can make his plan and do exactly what he promised.
He's God. He's not like us. But what does
Christ do when we fall into this fear and this doubt? What does
He do? Does He cast us out? We see a type here of what He
does. Look there in verse 17. Joseph
wept when they spake unto him. Scripture says this about our
Lord. He's merciful and He's gracious,
slow to anger, Plenteous in mercy. We need plenty of mercy, don't
we? Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth
them that fear him, for he knows our frame. He knows that we are
but dust. He knows us. He knows us. He knows He knows that we can't
free ourselves from that fear and that doubt. He knows we're
dust. He knows we don't have the strength
to free ourselves from the captivity we're brought into by our old
sin nature. Who can? Who's the only one that
can? Paul said, O wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? He said,
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now what I want to
show you today is God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, is the
only one who can deliver us and cast out fear so that we're able
to rest in Christ. He's the only one that can do
it. John said, perfect love casteth
out fear. I was thinking of preaching this
message already, and we passed that church building on the way
to the park yesterday. Did y'all notice they had a sign
out there that said, perfect love casteth out fear? I saw
that. Melinda said, are you preaching
on that? I said, yeah. Perfect love casteth out fear. Well, God is love. Christ is
love. And he's that perfect love that
cast that fear out. We see here in type in the three
things that Joseph said to his brethren how Christ casts fear
out of his people. How he subdues our old nature
and renews the inward man. First of all, Christ reminds
us who he is. Verse 19, Joseph said unto them,
fear not, for am I in the place of God. He told them who he was. Christ tells us who he is. Secondly,
Christ reminds us that God is absolutely sovereign in every
aspect of our salvation. Verse 20, but as for you, you
thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good to bring
the past as it is this day to save much people alive. And then thirdly, Christ nourishes
our inward man and makes his word effectual in our new heart. Verse 21, Now, therefore, fear
ye not, I will nourish you and your little ones. And he comforted
them and spake kindly unto them, or as the margin says, spoke
to their heart. Spoke to their heart. Now, first
of all, Christ casts fear out. He subdues that old, fearful,
doubting sin nature in us by reminding us who he is. Joseph
said there when they came to him, he said, fear not. He said,
am I in the place of God? And what he's telling them there
is, I'm not the judge. I'm not the judge. I'm just Joseph.
I'm not the judge. I'm not, it's not my place to
take vengeance on you. He told them who he was. Well,
when we start fearing and doubting, Christ teaches us, reminds us,
he is the judge. He reminds us who he is. He is
the judge. Turn over to John chapter 5.
John chapter 5. Look at verse 22. I love this thought, you know,
that Christ is the lamb. Christ is the high priest. Christ
is the judge. He's the prophet, the priest,
the king. He's the judge. You heard it said that He's the
judge and the jury. Well, He's the judge and the
jury. Watch this now. Verse 22. The Father judgeth
no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. that all
men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He
that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father which is in him.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, that's Christ speaking now, he
that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting
life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from
death unto life. Brethren, that's the judge talking. That's the judge talking. He
says that whoever believes on him that sent me, here's my word,
and believes on him that sent me, he won't come into condemnation. He knows. He's the judge. He
knows. It's his place to sentence one
to condemnation. He knows who will and won't come
into condemnation. He knows who his people are.
And God has appointed a day in which he will judge the world
in righteousness by that man. And he's given us assurance he
will because he raised him from the dead, set him down at his
own right hand. He's the one we're going to come
in contact with. He's the one we're going to face
one day. And he's the judge who knows his people, who laid down
his life for his people. And so when he comes to us, the
all-knowing, all-powerful judge, he discerns exactly what we need. I've heard several people after
yesterday's message, I heard several people come up to me
and tell me why that message was good for them. And they all
had different reasons. Now if I had tried to preach
that to you, I'd have bumbled it and never been able to apply
it to you. But I just stand up, preach God's word, and he applies
it however it needs to be applied and it fits your need and your
need and your need and your need. He discerns what we need. And
you know what we always need? We need the one thing needful.
One thing needful. All these things that Joseph
is saying to them, everything Joseph is saying to them is the
exact same word he said to them the very first time he revealed
himself to them and had mercy on them. You know what we need? We need to hear Christ reveal
himself over and over again and hear this gospel over and over
again. Somebody, I believe it was Martin
Luther, said we need to hear the gospel every day because
we forget it every day. That's why we need to come hear
the gospel over and over. That's why he chose to save through
the foolishness of preaching. We need to hear him all the time,
over and over and over. And when he speaks into your
heart, brethren, he reminds you that he's the substitute. He's
the successful savior. That ends my fears when I hear
Christ is the successful Savior. I don't get any comfort hearing
about a Savior who needs me to help Him, but a Savior who does
it all, that Savior gives me confidence. And because He went
to that cross and He took my sin and took the sin of His people
on Him, And he bore that sin and he paid the wages of sin.
He died that death on that cross. God, he says to us now, and it
reminds us, fury is not in God anymore towards his people. Not
at all. God says this, for the sake of
Christ, God says, I, the Lord, do keep my vineyard. And I will
water it every moment, lest any hurt it. I will keep it night
and day. Fury is not in me. Turn over
to Isaiah 51. This will bless your heart right
here. Isaiah 51. This is so good. I read this
a lot. Isaiah 51 verse 22. Listen to this. Thus saith thy
Lord, thee Lord. Don't you like that? Thus saith
thy Lord, thee Lord, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of
his people. Behold, I have taken out of thine
hand the cup of trembling. Even the dregs of the cup of
my fury thou shalt no more drink it again. But I will put it into
the hand of them that afflict thee. What did John say? If any man sin, when you sin,
that's what he said, when you sin, when you fall into fear
and doubts and that old nature takes you into captivity, just
remember this, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
the righteous. That's right. I heard a good
illustration years ago and a couple weeks ago when I was in Danville,
Gabe's father, Marvin Stoniker, and I were talking and he reminded
me of this and we got to talking about it. But when we were, Gabe
and I were sitting under Brother Marvin, our pastor, he was, he
went to court with a fellow, a fellow named Jay Bird, you
remember that? He went to court with him and
he was sitting there in court and there was a bunch of folks
in the courtroom that were there to you know, come before the
judge. And these folks were gonna try to represent themselves.
They didn't have a lawyer. And they would go up to the judge,
and the judge was just putting a hammer down on them. I mean,
just, you don't speak my language, you don't understand the law,
don't come before me ever again. And he was sending them out of
there, telling them that, I mean, he was just one after another.
And Marvin said, I was getting a little worried for Jay Byrd.
And all of a sudden, that judge called his name. Marvin said,
I was just thinking, oh, no. And about that time, a man stood
up between Jay Byrd and that judge and said, I represent that
man. And that judge said, we'll talk
afterwards. We have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the judge. He's our
advocate and our judge. That's good news. We know when
the judge tells you the case is dismissed or you're innocent,
you're not guilty, you don't argue with the judge, that's
it. Well, sinner, when you doubt and fear, remember this. He says,
your case is settled. You're not guilty. There's no
condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. That's what
he reminds us of. Now, secondly, Christ reminds
us that God is sovereign in our salvation. He says there, verse 20, as for
you, you thought evil against me. But God meant it under good
to bring the past as it is this day to save much people alive. Joseph says, way back there when
you rejected me, way back there when you stripped off my coat
of many colors and threw me in that pit, sold me into slavery,
you meant it for evil. You thought evil against me when
you did that. Brethren, when the prince of life came to this
earth and took human flesh, we thought evil against him. We
despised him and rejected him. When you look at that and you
say, well, I wasn't there. You just know that's your nature
and my nature. And that's what we did. We despised
and rejected him. We nailed him to a cursed cross. And if you want proof, just think
how long we went rebellious thinking evil against him. And all our
days of rebellion thinking evil against him. But God is sovereign
in the salvation of his people. Even though you thought evil
against him, God meant it under good to bring to pass as it is
this day much people alive. God is so absolutely in control
of every aspect of the salvation of his people. that everything
in providence has been running exactly according to God's eternal
purpose from before the foundation of the world. Everything. He
blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ. according as He chose us in Him
before the foundation of the world. If He chose a Redeemer
before the foundation of the world, He already knew sin was
going to enter in. If He coveted and set up a Savior
and a people to be saved, He already knew sin was going to
enter in. That didn't take Him by surprise. God's been working
His eternal purpose from eternity. And in him, we have an eternal,
we've received an eternal inheritance being predestinated according,
according, let me read it. According to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. Nothing that comes to pass is
out of his power. That just comforts me. But I
need to be reminded of it. I have to. Christ our prophet
causes you to hear this gospel and causes you to be reminded
he's in control of everything. The devil can't do anything without
his permission. The devil couldn't enter the
garden without his permission. But he allowed that and he allowed,
he permitted Adam to fall in that garden and to plunge us
into spiritual death. You know why? to glorify His
name in the salvation of His people. He did it to give Christ
His Son all preeminence in the salvation of His people. All
we want is Him to be glorified. And if that's His purpose, I'm
happy with it, aren't you? I'm happy with it. God raised
up the devil for the same reason He raised up Pharaoh. He said,
I raised up that I might show my power in thee and that my
name might be declared throughout all the earth. The devil was
raised up for Christ to bruise his head. Scripture says, for
as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood,
he also himself likewise took part of the same. That, here's
the reason. that through death he might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver
them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject
to bondage. That's telling us that the reason
God allowed sin to enter in is so Christ could come and destroy
the devil and put away our sin and call us and cause us to glory
in him alone. That's why he did it. And everything
that's happened since then has been running right on track according
to His eternal purpose and nothing has been outside of His purpose.
And the best place, like everything else, the best place to see that
is to look to the cross. To look to the cross. The scripture
says of a truth against thy holy child Jesus whom thou has anointed
both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people
of Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand
and thy counsel determined before to be done. What did he determine
before to be done? To bring to pass as it is this
day to save much people alive. This is the Father's will which
has sent me that of all which he hath given me I should lose
nothing but should raise it up again at the last day. He came
to declare God just and justifier. That's what he accomplished.
He came to bring in an everlasting righteousness, justifying his
people, and making us holy. That's what he accomplished.
He came into this world to free us from sin, death, and hell.
That's what he's accomplished, and that's what he shall accomplish.
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. Thank God. We can hear him say, I've glorified
thee on earth, Father. I've finished the work you sent
me to do. Away with this helpless Jesus.
I don't know who that is, do you? My Lord Jesus is the successful
Savior. Every aspect of salvation has
been in His hand. God put it in His hand before
the foundation of the world, and Isaiah said, He shall not
fail until He's finished it, and He's finished it. So when
you fear, brethren, and you doubt, remember this. If when we were
enemies, if when we were thinking evil against Him, He reconciled
us by the death of his son. Much more than being now reconciled,
he shall save us by his life. When we thought evil against
him, if he sent his son and laid down his life for us, now that
he's redeemed us, he's sure not gonna let us go now. I'm so glad
for that. Now, none of this would do us
any good whatsoever if it wasn't for this last thing. Christ makes
his word effectual in our new heart. We need that new man to
be renewed. If that old man's going to be
subdued, that new man's got to be renewed. And here's what he
does, verse 21, he says, Now therefore, fear ye not, I will
nourish you and your little ones. And he comforted them and spake
kindly unto them to their heart. Christ is our judge, he's our
prophet, he's our priest, and he's our king. He said, no man
knows the father but the son, and he to whom the son will reveal
him. And that's not just in the first
hour. That's every time you see a glimpse of God and you see
Christ and you rejoice every single time. That's not of me
and you. That's not of the preacher. That's of God. That's the only
way we ever rejoice in him. And he continues over and over
and over renewing us and showing us him just like he did in that
first hour. God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, shines in our hearts to give us a knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus. And when he
does that, brethren, you know, it's not your circumstances that
matter. It's not your condition that
you're in that matters. You know, we get to thinking,
well, if I just wasn't in this place, or I just wasn't in this,
this just wasn't happening, I'd be all right. They were in that,
they were in that ship, you know, and the waves were tossed and
all that, and Christ said, peace be still, and everything became
a calm. You remember that? Well, you
could be still, the waves could be raging, and if Christ says
peace be still to the heart, it's going to be still. It's
going to be at peace. And it don't matter what the
waves are doing. And that's the one who gives
you peace. And when he speaks this peace, it don't matter what's
going on. It don't matter if you're sick.
It don't matter if you've fallen into sin. It doesn't matter if
you're doubting and fearing. Whatever's happened when he speaks
this peace into your heart and you behold him all over again,
that's when you start to sing again. Be still my soul. Be still my soul. Be still. The wind and the waves, they
still know. His voice that ruled them when he walked below. My
God does undertake. Just my soul be still. That's how he reveals who he
is. He reveals to you every aspect
of your salvation is in the hand of the sovereign God. And he
makes the word effectual in your heart. To him be the glory. Amen.