Turn to Genesis 42. Genesis 42. Now I have set the conference
date. May the 3rd and the 4th. I'm
doing it a little different this year. I'm going to have Paul
Mayhem preach Friday night. Gabe Starnaker is going to preach
Saturday morning. And then we'll have a lunch.
And then we'll have our regular service. I'm going to let them
go on back so they don't have to try to line somebody up, because
I think Paul goes somewhere. I think he's going to Dingus
the next weekend. This way they can go back home. Then we'll
have our regular service here. No Bible class. But we'll have
our regular service and and I'll I'll bring the message and we'll
still have a dinner afterward just in case some people do come
and stay. Or Sunday. But that's what I
plan on right right there. I think that's I just told him
I wanted the easy one this year. I just wanted something that
was just comfortable and easy to do. Oh, is he? Well, great minds
think alike. Yeah, I just thought I'd just
have one, one service, one speaker, let him develop the message and
not feel that pressure of having to hurry up. All right, let's
look at Genesis. Chapter 42 through 45. I'm going
to just touch on different verses as we go along through this. And the title is Joseph reveals
himself to his brethren. This is the whole purpose of
God sending Joseph ahead of them, that he might save them and make
himself known to them. And they willingly bow down to
him. So let's look at this. The first scripture that came
to my mind, though, before getting into Genesis is Psalm 24, 1. It says this, The earth is the
Lord's, this is His, and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell
therein. And the reason I read that scripture
is this. God created this world for the
purpose of redeeming a people and conforming them to the image
of his son. That's why God created the heavens
and the earth, that he might make a people just like his son,
Jesus Christ, that he'd populate that new earth with a people
like the Lord Jesus Christ. And God uses everything in this
world. everything in this world to accomplish
his eternal purpose which he purposed in christ before the
world began he makes everything in this world serve his eternal
purpose and that's a saving of a multitude of sinners by the
lord jesus christ and populating that new earth with those people
that's the whole reason this exists it's for no it's not it
doesn't just it doesn't exist so we can live on it and live
out a life 70 years or whatever and then die. That's not what
it's about. It's about having a people redeemed in heaven just like Jesus Christ. And everything in this world
serves that purpose. God holds power over every heart
in order to fulfill His purpose. Listen to this in Psalm 105 25.
He turned their heart, God turned their heart to Hades people. I'm not going to argue with the
Word of God. I don't know all the mysteries behind what God
does. I don't know. I don't even come close to knowing
the mysteries of providence. But God, it says in Psalm 105,
25, He turned their heart, the heart of the Egyptians, to hate
His people and to deal subtly with them. God did that. I do know this, all God has to
do is just leave them to themselves. You remember Pharaoh died, then
another Pharaoh rose up, it says, that did not know Joseph? And
then that's when the trouble happened. But in chapter 41,
verse 57, the last verse, it says, the famine was sore in
all the lands. The whole world, the Word of
God says, lies in wickedness. It says, by one man, sin entered
the world, and death by sin, and death passed upon all men,
for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The
famine of sin is over this whole world. we'll see that it's also
in canaan it's in god's elect it's in his elect now in chapters
42 through 45 joseph here is a picture of the lord jesus christ
saving his brethren revealing himself to his brethren in this
story we see through joseph we see the lord how the lord knew
his brethren before they knew him They didn't even recognize
Joseph. But Joseph knew then. He knew
then. We see how the Lord brings his
brethren to face and admit their guilt. They have to say for the
first time, guilty. We're guilty of our brother's
death. We're guilty. And we see how Christ reveals
himself to his brethren through the way Joseph revealed himself
to his brethren. He put everybody out. All the
Egyptians, he put everybody out. He put the world out. See, the
world doesn't understand. The world doesn't understand
this. The world doesn't understand. When you talk about salvation
by revelation, the world does not understand. They think you're
getting some kind of vision. No, the Lord just makes himself
known to you through his word, by his spirit. And you see, you
see. And we see how he blesses them
above measure. Now in chapter 42, we see the
providence of God in fulfilling His eternal decrees. We see His
providence in the weather, He withheld the rain, and then the
crops failed, all for the purpose of bringing Israel into Egypt
and bowing down to Joseph and serving Him. That's what it's
for. We see in this narrative how
God works all things after the counsel of His own will. In verse
2 here, it says, Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt.
Jacob heard some good news. They were in a famine. They were
starving. They had ran out of food. They
had no more food. And Jacob heard there was corn
in Egypt. He heard the good news. And I
tell you this, he acted on it. Jacob acted in faith on the report. WHO HATH BELIEVED OUR REPORT,
THE MESSAGE OF GRACE, THE MESSAGE OF CHRIST, THE MESSAGE OF SALVATION? WHO HATH BELIEVED IT? That's
what Isaiah said in Isaiah 53, verse 1, AND TO WHOM IS THE ARM
OF THE LORD REVEALED? Well, Jacob heard the good news
and he acted on it. He told his sons to hurry and
get down to Egypt, so that they may live and not die. That's
what he says there in verse 2 at the end of it. He says here,
Get you down thither and buy for us from thence that we may
live and not die. Our need of Christ is urgent. This thing of a need, our need
for Christ, is not something that's just casual. It's not
just a casual thing. It's urgent. Give me Christ,
the bread of life, get down to Egypt and buy corn, bread, food. Brethren, our need of Christ
is urgent. If they don't go down to Egypt and buy food, they're
gonna die. If we don't have Christ, we're gonna die. We're going
to perish. That's what he's saying. We're
going to perish. We'll perish in our sins if we do not have
the Lord Jesus Christ. And so Joseph's 10 brethren in
verse 3, I think it's interesting that it doesn't say Jacob's 10
sons. It says Joseph's 10 brethren. His 10 brethren went down to
Egypt. This is the first stage of salvation, being brought down. being brought down the famine
was in all the land it was in the land of Cain it was in God's
elect they were children of wrath even as others and they have
to be brought down we have to be brought down don't we we are
so proud by nature his brethren when Joseph told them the dream
that they would bow down they were so angry at him that they
put him in a pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites and then they
to Egypt They were so proud. We're not going to bow down.
Who do you think you are? Who do you think you are? The Jews
said, we'll not have this man reign over us. That's what Joseph's
brethren said. They said, well, you're not going
to reign over us. We're not bowing down to you. Oh, yes, you are. Every knee's going to bow. Isn't
that what Pharaoh said we looked at last week? Every knee bow.
Every knee is going to bow to Jesus Christ. Every knee. How
many billions of knees are there? How many billions of people have
lived on this earth? Every last one is going to bow
down their knee to the Lord Jesus Christ. Like it or not, they're
going to. They're going to. And Joseph,
when they go down there in the land of Egypt, we see in verse
six, we see that Joseph is governor over all Egypt. They didn't know
that at the time. There was a time that I did not
know that Jesus Christ ruled and reigned over all things.
I didn't know that. When I was growing up as a teenager
I didn't know that the Lord Jesus Christ ruled and reigned over
all. I didn't know that. And they
go to Egypt, and this Joseph, whom they don't recognize at
first, he's over all Egypt. You know, it says in Isaiah 9,
6, that the government, the government of the world, the government
of the church, shall be on his shoulders, the shoulders of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The government of all things,
all people, has been laid on the shoulders. The responsibility
goes to Jesus Christ. As a king, he has the responsibility
to rule over all, to govern over all. And our Lord has been doing
that long before you and I came along, long before we came along. You know, it says over in John
17 that all, he said, all power over all flesh is given to me
for one purpose, one purpose, that I should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given me. He's been given the government,
the power, the authority over every human being, over everything
that moves, over all principalities and powers, that He may give
eternal life to everyone whom the Father gave to Him. Now in verse 7 and 8, Joseph
knew his brethren before they knew him. Look in verse 8. Well,
I want you to look back here in verse seven first. And Joseph
saw his brethren and he knew them, but he made himself strange
to them and spake roughly to them. You said, we're going to
get to this in a minute. That's conviction of sin. He's
going to convict them. He's going to bring them to a
point of saying guilty. You know, I think when we first
hear the gospel, and I know this from my own experience, when
I really first heard the gospel, it wasn't an experience of peace.
It was an experience of conviction, of guilt, a guilty. I'm in trouble. I was disturbed. I didn't get peace. I didn't
get peace for some time. I mean, it was a time, a long
time had gone by. And the Lord gave me that scripture.
He that comes to me, I will in no wise cast out. And that gave
me peace. I knew the Lord wouldn't cast
because he said so. He said so. I take him at his word. All that
the Father giveth to me shall come to me, and him that cometh
to me, I will in no wise, for no reason. Cast him out. I won't do it. And he said to
them, whence come ye? And they said, from the land
of Canaan to buy food. And verse eight, and Joseph knew
his brethren, but they knew him not. This is such a clear picture. Our Lord knew us long before
we knew him. Long before we knew him. salvation it's it's listen salvation
is not it's not the lord sitting by and waiting to see who's going
to accept him who's going to uh who's going to accept him
as their personal that's not salvation he knew he knew his
brethren before creation every one of them every last one of
them he knew them by name his brothers and sisters he knows
he knows them that's what the bible teaches But in verse 21,
we see this, they must be convicted of their sins before they're
given a real revelation of their salvation by Joseph. They've
got to confess it. In verse 21, and they said one
to another, the latter part of that verse, in verse 21, and
they said one to another, in the middle of the verse, we are
verily guilty concerning our brother. We're guilty. You know,
the hardest thing to get anyone to say is guilty. That's the hardest thing to get
anybody to say. Without blaming somebody else,
without laying it on somebody else or so-and-so, no. David said, against thee and
thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. God has
to bring us to the point Through the preaching of the gospel,
he has to bring us to the point where we cry guilty and not blame
anybody else. Don't blame mom and dad. Don't
blame your environment. Don't blame your upbringing,
the way you were raised. No, it's me. It's me. I'm guilty. I'm guilty. We are
verily, truly, guilty concerning our brother God has found us
out that's what he said God has found us out and we're guilty
but notice here in verse 24 joseph joseph loved his brethren he
loved them you know when you're undergoing a real conviction
of sin you don't feel as if God loves you do you you don't feel
like God loves you you feel you're the last one God would love you
really do you believe he you're the last one God would love but
listen in verse 24 and he turned himself that is Joseph turned
himself about from them and wept and returned to them again and
communed with him this shows us the heart of The heart of
our Lord Jesus Christ, even while He's convicting us of sin, just
like that Syrophoenician woman, He doesn't give her one encouraging
word, but all the time, all the time He's speaking to her and
He's giving her these rough words. It's not right to give the children's
bread to dogs. But all this time, He loves her.
His heart yearns for her. That's the heart of our Lord
we see here in verse 24. And then look here, Joseph blessed
them before they even knew him in verse 25. Then Joseph commanded
to fill their sacks with corn and to restore every man's money
into his sack and to give them provision for the way. And thus
did he unto them. He blessed them before they even
knew him. Brethren, we were blessed of
God long before we ever knew him. You know, we were given
all the blessings of salvation. We were given all
these blessings in Christ before we ever knew Him, before the
foundation of the world. Listen to this scripture, Ephesians
1, 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as He has
chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world. We received these
blessings before creation, the blessing of election, ADOPTION,
ALL THESE BLESSINGS, JUSTIFICATION, ALL THESE BLESSINGS WE RECEIVED
IN CHRIST BEFORE GOD CREATED THE FIRST THING, ACCORDING AS HE HAS CHOSEN US
IN HIM BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, THAT WE SHOULD
BE HOLY AND WITHOUT BLAME BEFORE HIM IN LOVE. THEN IN CHAPTER 43, I WANT YOU TO SEE THIS, I'm just
giving you things that jumped out at me. I read this over two
times, and I was scribbling out on paper things that were just
jumping out at me, and that's what I'm giving you, things that
just jumped out at me. Now, when Jacob saw that there
was corn in Egypt, Jacob said to his, oh, wait a minute, I
said 43, didn't I? 43 and the famine was sore in the
land and it came to pass when they had eaten up the corn which
they had brought out of Egypt their father said to them go
again buy us a little food the Lord keeps them coming the Lord
keeps them coming you know the Lord kept you coming didn't he
a Conviction of sin you felt guilty you felt the guilt of
your sin But you kept coming The Lord keeps his people coming.
He knows how to keep you coming. He knows how to keep you, your
interest. He knows how to do this. And
then I can hear in verse seven, well, verse six, and Israel said,
wherefore deal ye so ill with me as to tell the man whether
you had yet a brother. And they said, the man asked
us straightly of our state and of our kindred saying, is your
father yet alive? Have you any, have you another
brother? And we told him according to the tenor of these words,
could we certainly know that he would say, bring your brother
down? It just stood out to me there
in verse seven, how the Lord searches the heart. He searches the heart and he
makes us to confess. He makes us to confess our sins.
Only God can search the heart joseph knew he knew what he was
doing, but they didn't they didn't And in verse 16 through 22 and
They take they are taken into joseph's house And they don't know if they're
gonna live or die They don't they don't know if they're gonna
live or die. They're taken into his house and they're concerned They don't
know if they're gonna live and die There's one thing I know, when
we come to hear the gospel, and the Lord has convicted us of
our sins, we realize this, mercy is sovereign. Grace is sovereign. He can forgive me or not. They
didn't know what was gonna happen. If you read there in verse 16
through 22, they didn't know what was gonna happen when he
took them into their house. They didn't know if he was gonna kill
them or not. They didn't know that. Mercy
sovereign. That's it. I tell you everyone
whom God saves everyone whom he saves He makes them to know
that his mercy his grace is sovereign. His salvation is sovereign We
don't take that for granted You know how many he has passed by?
And called you and gave you faith Revealed himself to you He hasn't
done that to everyone. You know, Paul said in one place,
all men have not faith. But if you have faith, God gave
it to you. Sovereignly. Sovereignly. Before having done any good or
evil, God Almighty chose you to be His. You're mine. You're mine. And look here in verse 30, Joseph
loved his brethren and he meant nothing but good to them. And
it says in Joseph made haste for his bowels did yearn upon
his brother in verse 30. He meant nothing but good to
them. They were they were in doubt, but Joseph was never in
doubt. Joseph knew his intention all along was to do them good. He was to do them good. And in
verse 33 at the end there it says, and the men marveled one
at another. They marveled at the way Joseph
was treating them. They marveled at what they saw.
God's grace is marvelous. It's marvelous. Then in chapter
44, we see more blessings. He commanded,
in verse 1, He commanded the steward of his house, saying,
Fill the men's sacks with food as much as they can carry, and
put every man's money in his sack's mouth. Put every man's
money there. There's more blessings than they
can hold, more than they expected. They didn't expect that. Fill
the men's sacks with food. Salvation is a free gift of God.
It's the free gift of God. You can't purchase it. Salvation
can't be bought. God's favor can't be bought.
He said, give them their money back. You're not going to buy
Joseph's favor. You're not going to buy the favor
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We can't do that. Salvation is
a free gift of God. His favor can't be bought. He
loved us with an everlasting love without any consideration
of our merit. We didn't have any. How can you
consider something you don't have? We don't have merit. Demerit's
what we got. We don't have merit. But in this
chapter, Judah is made to have a, he gives a full confession. He tells of Jacob, he tells of
Benjamin, he tells how he's a surety, how it's gonna bring Jacob down
to the grave in gray hairs if Benjamin doesn't go back. HE
IS BROUGHT TO MAKE A FULL CONFESSION, AND AFTER HE MAKES THIS FULL
CONFESSION, IN CHAPTER 45, JOSEPH REVEALS HIMSELF TO HIS BRETHREN,
AFTER THIS, THEY'RE BROUGHT DOWN TO EGYPT, GOD BRINGS THIS FAMINE,
THIS FAMINES OF GOD, IF THERE'S A FAMINE IN THIS LAND, IF THE
RAIN DOESN'T, IF IT DOESN'T RAIN, AND WE HAVE A FAMINE OF FOOD,
GOD DID THAT, AND GOD DID IT ON PURPOSE, THERE'S A REASON
FOR Everything happens. God is God is the author. He's
the first cause of God's the first cause of. One man said once, and I told
you this before, but one man said to a lady whose son died,
he said, God didn't do this, he said, the devil did this is
what he told her. No, the devil did not do that.
God took your son. Eli said, it's the Lord, let
him do as he will. Let him do as he will. Even a little bird,
he said, doesn't fall to the ground without your heavenly
Father. He gives life and he takes life. That power is not given to anybody.
That belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. But in verse one, then
Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by
him. And he cried, cause every man to go out from here, from
me. I've told you this before. There
comes a time when it's you and the Lord. You know, you hear
preaching. You've been here many times.
You've heard preaching and one day, one day, it's you and the
Lord. It's the Lord and the woman at
the well. sends his disciples away. There's a time when it's
not me no more preaching. It's Christ. It's Christ. It's him speaking. And there
stood no man with him while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. You see, first of all, I cannot
reveal Christ to you. I can preach Christ to you. I
cannot reveal him to your heart. I cannot give you an interest
in Christ. I'm just a herald. All I do is
proclaim. I proclaim the gospel. I preach
Christ and him crucified, but only God could only God can reveal
himself to the heart. Only God can do that. Salvation
comes by revelation. They did not recognize Joseph. They didn't know it. They didn't
know it. The one whom they hated, they
didn't know it. But he knew them. These are my brothers. These
are my brothers. And this verse captures the heart
of our Lord for his brethren. Oh, how he loves us. I can't
put that into words. It's divine love. It's love that
passes all understanding. It's divine love. And Joseph
says here in verse five and seven, this is beautiful. God sent me
before you to preserve life, to preserve life, your life,
not just life, but your life particularly. You know that this
world right now lives because of God's people in it. That's
the only reason. That's the only reason the whole
world stands right now. The only reason that sun is shining
right now on those who hate God in this community and all over
this world is because God has a people here at Bethel Baptist. A handful of people. There's
not a great multitude here. There's a handful of sheep here.
A handful of sheep. And yet all this, all this that
we see every day and the blessings of every day is because of you.
It's for you. God sent Joseph down to Egypt
to save his brethren alive. That's why. You know, Christ
is said to be the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
He was set up in the covenant of grace to be our savior, our
redeemer. THIS ALL TOOK PLACE LONG BEFORE
WE CAME AROUND. AND HE SAYS THERE IN VERSE 7,
TO SAVE YOUR LIVES BY GREAT DELIVERANCE. CALVARY, CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIFIED,
IS OUR GREAT DELIVERANCE. HE IS OUR GREAT DELIVERANCE. HE IS. God sent me before you to preserve
life and to save your lives by great deliverance. And it gives him some comfort
here. Look in verse eight and nine in chapter 45. So it was not you that sent me
here, but God. Who really sent Jesus Christ
to the cross? Who really did that? God did. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, God sent his Son to the cross, that you
and I might have a great deliverance. It is not you that sent me here
but God, and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh. and Lord
of all his house and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.
Egypt represented the world at that time. Christ has been made
ruler over all the world for your sakes. Hast ye and go up to my father,
and say to him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me
Lord of all Egypt. God hath made me Lord of all
Egypt. And notice there in verse 10
to 11, I'm gonna wind this down. How near we are to God in Christ. And thou shalt dwell in the land
of Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto me. I thought of that
scripture over in Ephesians. You who were far off were made
nigh by the blood of Christ. We have been made nigh unto God
through the Lord Jesus Christ. And verse 11 shows this, that
we are taken care of even in this world. And there will I
nourish thee in the land of Goshen. There will I, I'll take care
of you. I'll take care of you. there's five more years of famine
there's only been two years gone by and he says there's five more
years of famine but don't you worry i'll take care of you however
long we have to live in this world god will take care of you
he'll take care of us oh if we could just live out our lives
realizing that the lord will take care god will take care
of you but he says this in verse 13 go tell my glory And you shall
tell my father of all my glory in Egypt. Go tell my glory. That's
what I'm doing right now. I'm telling of the glory of the
Lord Jesus Christ, who sits on the throne and rules over all
things for us. He's near us, and he will provide
for us. He has provided for us all that
we need spiritually. In him, you're complete. He'll
provide for us what we need throughout our life. And in verse 16 through
19, They are blessed because of Joseph, and you and I are
blessed for Christ's sake. It says, 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 I
thought how the angels, it says, rejoice in heaven over one sinner
that repents. Do you know the angels rejoice
over you? They do. And you go on down and read that,
and you'll see that they were blessed for Joseph's sake, and
we are blessed for Christ's sake. And I love what he says in verse
20. Regard not your stuff. He said, don't you bring your
stuff. All things are yours in Christ.
God doesn't need your stuff. God doesn't need my stuff. I
love that statement. Regard not your stuff. Everything's
provided for. Don't you bring anything? God
the Father doesn't need our stuff. Christ is enough. In Him you're
complete. He's made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. Regard not your stuff and look at it. Look at what
you have as just that stuff. It's just stuff. That's all it
is. When my dad passed away, he had
a bunch of stuff. And me and my brothers and ancestors,
but a lot of me and my brothers, we were like, you want this? I don't know where no place to
put it. I don't need it. I've got two or three of those.
It's just like stuff, just so much stuff. We don't really need
it. But I'm going to close with this. It sounded too good to
be true. salvation one of the reasons
salvation has to be a gift is because it sounds too good to
be true a new heaven new earth we're in dwell righteousness
no more tears no more sorrow no more pain and verse 26 they told jacob
they told jacob 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. It's too good to be true. All
these years, he believed Joseph was dead. Then all of a sudden,
he finds out he's alive. The Lord Jesus Christ is alive. He's alive and well. He's purchased
our salvation. We have a great deliverance.
We have life in Christ. We have forgiveness. We have
everything. All things are yours. We have a great future. Telling
somebody called me yesterday, I can't remember, Paul, I know
he's one of them, but I can't remember who told this to me.
I told him, I said, we have a great future. We have a great future. And if God didn't give us faith,
if he did not work faith in us, we wouldn't believe it because
it's too good to be true. It's too good to be true. But
it's true. It's true. Believe it. Believe
it. All right.