Genesis chapter 50. Now I'm not going to read all
of this, but I am going to pick up on verse 15. Let me read starting at verse
15. And when Joseph's brethren saw
that their father was dead, they said, Joseph 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.' And
Joseph wept when they spake unto him. And his brethren also went
and fell down before his face. And they said, Behold, we be
thy servants. This is the very thing they said
they was not going to be. And here they are years later,
willingly, willingly servants. And Joseph said unto them, Fear
not, you have nothing to be afraid of, for am I in the place of
God. But as for you, you thought evil
against me. You know, we're not gonna diminish
the evil of what you did. What you did was evil. But God
meant it unto good to bring to pass as it is this day to save
much people alive. Now, therefore, fear ye not,
I will nourish you. I'll take care of you, and I'll
take care of your little ones. and he comforted them and spake
kindly unto them over my margin." It says he spake to their hearts.
He wasn't just speaking. I've learned this in preaching.
It's one thing to stand up here and inform, give out information,
but it's a whole other matter to speak from my heart to your
heart, from where I live to where you live, from the scriptures. And he says here, he spake to
their hearts. And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he
and his father's house. And Joseph lived 110 years. And
Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation, the
children also of Makar, the son of Manasseh, were brought up
upon Joseph's knee. And Joseph said unto his brethren,
I die. And here's good news. and God
will surely visit you and bring you out of this land into the
land which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to the
promised land. And Joseph took an oath of the
children of Israel saying, God will surely visit you and you
or ye shall carry up my bones from hence. So Joseph died being
110 years old and they embalmed him and he was put in a coffin
in Egypt. So here in this chapter, which
we will finish up Genesis this morning, Jacob dies and they
mourn over the loss of Jacob. We see that in his first 14 verses. There's nothing wrong with mourning
over the loss of a loved one. There's nothing wrong with that
at all. It's when we mourn excessively over them that we take a little
too far. But there's nothing wrong with
mourning over the loss of a loved one. I caught this this morning
when I was reading in verse 10. And when I was in my study, and
they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan,
and there they mourned with a great, very sore lamentation. And he
made a mourning for his father for seven days. Seven days. You know, there's just something
about, and I'm just gonna say a few things about this, but
there's something about a proper mourning that has a healing to
it. There just seems to be a healing
to it. And people should be allowed to mourn a proper time when they
have a loss of a loved one. You know, it's not like just,
well, just, you know, pick yourself back up and let's go on. You
know, that's a difficult time. And here, they take seven days,
and then they move on. Now, Jacob made Joseph promise
that when he died, over there in chapter 49, 29, that when
he died, that he would bury him with his people in the land of
Canaan, that is the promised land. It's a great joy to know
that when believers die, They are gathered with their
people in glory. There is a multitude of sinners
saved by grace that's in glory right now. They are our people,
our family. And when we die, this is so real. This is something, when I read
the scriptures and I look at things like this, I try to get
a hold of the realness of it and not just read it and then
say, well, this is what I'm gonna give to you this morning. I try to get a hold of the realness
of what I'm reading. There's a family of people that
I'm gonna be gathered with in a little while. I mean, in a
little while, all of us are gonna be gathered with them. in glory
around the throne of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jacob here is gathered
with his people. And as I read at the end of it,
Joseph gave his sons the same charge. You carry me up, when
God visits you, you carry me up out of this land. I'm gonna
be gathered with my people there in the promised land. That's
just a type, that's just a type. But I tell you what, there's
a reality to the type. That's in glory. That's at the
throne of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's very, very, very real. Now, verse 15. And when Joseph's
brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, uh-oh, uh-oh, we're in trouble. Joseph will
peradventure, hate us now. and He's going to certainly requite
us all the evil which we did unto Him. First of all, they
knew, and everyone whom God saves, you know you deserve to be punished,
don't you? You know that, you know you deserve
punishment. And here they say, Jacob, our
father is dead, and they remember what they did to Joseph, and
they said, Joseph! is now going to requite us. He's
going to demand of us punishment for what we did to him. There's
a few things I see here. First of all, unbelief. Joseph had taken care of his
brethren for 17 years, and now they are suspicious of him. They
are suspicious of His love to them all during their time in
Goshen. We never read of a time when
Joseph did something that would make them suspicious of him at
this time. We never read of it. We so often
suspect our Lord's love to us, don't we? Isn't that sad? It's sad that we often suspect
His love to us. because of circumstances. Something unfavorable comes along
and we think, he loves me not. Something favorable comes along
and we think, he loves me. We think if it's unfavorable,
he loves me not. If it's favorable, he loves me. How feeble is our understanding
of God's love to us? How feeble. God's love has nothing
to do with what I do and what I don't do. It never has, and
it never will. My doing something or not doing
something never caused God to love me. God has loved me. God has loved you. If we are
in Christ and we believe the gospel, it's evident God loves
us. That being so, He's loved us
because He would love us. It's called an everlasting love. There's nothing we did to merit
it. Nothing we could do to merit it. If anything, we demerited
it. That's for sure. If anything,
we demerited it. But He loved us because He would
love us. He loved us because that's who He is. That's just
like Him. Joseph's brethren began to remember
their sins against their brother, and they thought now he's gonna
get even, and it's evident they did not really understand the
real character of Joseph. And when we began to doubt our
Lord's love to us, it's because we don't really understand the
real character of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is God. Fear and doubt comes from a lack
of really, truly knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. The wrong
kind of fear. Unbelief always breeds the wrong
kind of fear. It always makes us think... Unbelief
will always, always, always make us think the worst of Christ.
It will always make us think the worst. But there is a positive in this.
I see something here again, and I think several weeks ago we
looked at this matter of repentance, but we see again the true nature
or something of the true nature of repentance. Remember this, repentance is
a lifelong act just as faith is. Faith is a lifelong act,
repentance is a lifelong act. And here we're gonna see something
of it. First of all, they acknowledge that what they did to Joseph
was evil and deserves punishment. I realize now, after 40 plus
years have gone by, I realize more, I do believe this, I realize
more now of the punishment that I really deserve than I did 40
years ago. I realize more now the evil of
my nature more than I did 40 years ago. I realize it. And you do too. You believe the
gospel, you realize, you realize now more of what you are than
you did when you first believed. I distrust myself a whole lot
more now than I did 40 years ago. I say more now, Lord, don't
leave me alone. I pray more now, as David said,
let no sin have dominion over me. Let no sin, because I know
how deceitful something now, I know something more of how
deceitful the heart is than I did years ago. And I think that's what happens
in true repentance. And true repentance, you know,
we have repented, we are repenting, and we shall repent. It's like
we have been saved, we're being saved, and we shall be saved.
Repentance is something that grows as faith grows. I assure
you, if faith grows in Christ, your repentance will grow right
along with it. And your heart will be more tender
toward sinning against the Lord than it was years ago. True repentance has to do with
what I have done to the Lord Jesus Christ. I have to say, when I first believed the gospel,
and I believe this is pretty much the way it goes, When I
first believed the gospel and heard the gospel, I was troubled
over my sins, my conduct, which was bothering me more than anything,
was my conduct and things that I've done, you know, things like
that. And I believe the Lord uses, He'll use things that we
have done to bring about true repentance. But true repentance,
when it's real, when it's of God, it comes down to what I
have done to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's what I've done to him. It's what I have done to Christ.
I'm just as guilty of hating, you know, we are just as guilty
of hating Christ as the Jews were in that day. We're just
as guilty of putting him to death as the Romans were in that day.
just as guilty of it. We're going to see this in the
next message, in the morning message after this one. We're
going to see a little bit of that. How he is turned over to the
high priest and says that he shall be mocked by the Gentiles.
They're going to have a hand in this too. That's us. That's
us. We hated him too. All of creation,
Jew and Gentile, now I'm talking about Jew and Gentile, I'm talking
about people. Jew and Gentile hate God. They hate God. That's a strong word, isn't it?
But that's so. I said that to a man one time.
I said, you hate God. And I've said a lot of things
to this man, because we worked together. We talked back and
forth and stuff. And I never, ever made that man mad until
I told him one day he hated God. And that made him mad. Because when I told him who God
is, he didn't like it. He didn't like it. That was not
his image, his imagination of God. You know, God is who He
is. He's not who I think He is. He's
not who I want Him to be. He is who He is. And when we
preach Him as He is, That's when the real hatred and enmity of
the human mind and heart comes out, when God is set forth in
His glory. And we are just as guilty now,
as I said, as the Jews and the Gentiles were back then, of hating
the Lord and putting Him to death. But true repentance, true genuine
repentance, is first a changing of the mind toward God, and it's
a recognition that all my sins, all that I am, is against God,
who is Jesus Christ. And then true repentance brings
a real sense of guilt. When you realize who He is, what
you are, what you've done, it brings a real sense of guilt.
See, when God first called on Adam in the garden, one of the
first things Adam did, he said, the woman you gave me. He tried
to pass that guilt off. He didn't only throw his wife
under the bus, but he tried to blame God for giving him that
woman, the woman you gave me. That's the problem. So true repentance here, it brings
real guilt, and real guilt brings real fear. It brings some real
fear of punishment. It brings real acknowledgement.
And you realize, you realize you deserve, you deserve to go
to hell. Now you'd be hard-pressed to
find somebody, even in prison, that would say they deserve to
go to hell. That takes a powerful work of God. It takes a powerful
work of God. And then true faith and true
repentance always comes to the Lord Jesus Christ. Always. See, they came to Joseph. They
realized what and recognized again what they had done to Joseph. And they realized Joseph had
the power over them. And they realized that Joseph
could put them to death if he wanted to and be just in doing
so. But this recognition, this knowing and
understanding of what they have done And when God gives that
to me and you spiritually, it brings us to Christ. It doesn't
run us away from Christ. It brings us to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Because you look over here in
verse 17. Well, first they go to verse
16 and they sent a messenger unto Joseph saying, thy father
did command before he died saying, so shall you say to Joseph, forgive. Oh, he said, forgive. This is
what we need. Lord, forgive me. Forgive me. Have mercy on me. I don't deserve
what I'm asking for. Have mercy on me and forgive
me. This is evidence of a broken
heart. When you really seek for forgiveness, it's evidence of
a broken heart over sin. And that broken heart drives
us to the Lord Jesus Christ. Just like that publican that
smote upon his breast, Lord, be merciful to me, the sinner.
The sinner, Lord, be merciful to me. Knowing that the Lord Jesus Christ
is the only hope we have, he's the only hope any sinner has,
is that he'll have mercy and forgiveness. And notice here also, I just
read this, they come on the command of their father Jacob, their
father and his father. You notice that? It's their father,
it's also Joseph, it's his father too. There's a relationship here. And they said that, our father
Jacob said before he died, you go to Joseph and you ask for
forgiveness. Who are we commanded to go to
for mercy and forgiveness? The Lord Jesus Christ. The Father
says, go to Christ. Go to Him. Go to my Son. Scripture says, no man comes
unto the Father except by the Son. Go to my Son. You need forgiveness? Go to Christ. I need it. I need it every day.
Go to Christ. Go to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And notice in verse 18, they fall at His feet. And this is
right where we belong, at His feet. You'll never be lifted up until
you fall at His feet in utter submission to His authority. I was listening to a person speak
here a week or two ago, They kept talking about accepting
Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. Not one time was there anything
mentioned of the Lordship of Christ. the authority of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Not once was anything said of
His authority, and His sovereignty, and His power, and His kingship,
His Lord. No, it was all about accepting
Jesus as your personal Savior. Well, they didn't go in there
and accept Joseph as their personal Savior. They went and fell at
His feet. knowing He had the power to forgive
them, and He had the power to put them
to death. He could have given them a death
sentence. They knew that. And I believe
that is one of the very things missing in today's preaching. The Lord Jesus Christ has the
power to save, yes. but he has the power to damn.
And every person is in his hands. He said in John 17, Father, you've
given me power over all flesh. That I should give eternal life
to as many as thou has given me, but he has all power over
all flesh. They bowed at his feet. I like what A.W. Pink said. He
said, only at a sovereign throne will we worship God. All others
we will bargain with. All others we'll bargain with.
But at a sovereign throne, we will fall down and for the first
time, we will worship God. They fell at his feet. They recognized
his power and his authority over them. And then we see here Joseph's compassion. They came and in their heart
and mind they knew what they had done to him was evil. They
knew he had the right to forgive them, and that he had the right
to condemn them. And they fell at his feet. And
it says back in verse, I believe it's verse 17. Yeah, toward the
end of it, and Joseph wept. It broke his heart. You know,
what I can see here is that when they came with that attitude,
they had the wrong attitude. They thought, he's going to kill
us. And what broke Joseph's heart was that they misunderstood him. They never saw his real character.
It's like, I've taken care of you for 17 years in Goshen. I mean, you've been taken so
well care of, and you'd think this of me. You'd think this of me. He wept, but he also wept, no
doubt, out of love to them. Out of love to them. These are
my brother. Yes, you did evil, but God meant it for good. Joseph
loved his brethren. He loved his brethren. His love to them had not changed.
You know, with Joseph being a type of Christ, in all the types in
the Scripture of the Lord Jesus Christ, Joseph being a type,
you never read In the scriptures, not one negative thing about
Joseph. That's one thing you never read
about Joseph. There's not one negative thing ever said about
Joseph. He represents the Lord in his
perfection. He loved them. He loved them
and he wept over them. He felt for them. He had compassion
for them. You remember at the grave of
Lazarus, Martha Mary, and it says that Jesus wept. He felt, and I believe this. I like what Matthew Henry said.
Matthew Henry said he felt everything he took away. He felt everything
he took away. That's one of the best statements
I've ever read. But I also believe that he felt their heart, their
sorrow. He felt their sorrow. He felt
it. We have a high priest that can
be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Joseph was touched
that they felt what they felt, and he felt what they felt. Now, back to verse 18. Another
mark of true repentance here. They said this, "...we be thy
servants." Willful submission. Everyone whom the Lord saves
willingly follow Him. They are willingly His servants. Everyone whom He saves. And Joseph's message to his brethren
is this, in verse 19, Fear not. He felt their trembling heart. He knew they were afraid. It's
written all over them. They're falling at his feet. And he's
saying to them, Fear not. You have nothing to be afraid
of. You have nothing to be afraid
of. You're my brothers. You're my brethren. We have the same
Father. Think about that. Christ said
in one place, I go to my Father and your Father. We have the
same Father. God the Father, who is a Father,
God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ is our Father also. You
have nothing to fear not. Fear not. Joseph never brought their sins
up for what he did to them. He didn't say, I know, but he
didn't do it. He just said, fear not. Our sins are all gone. We have
nothing to fear. And in verse 20, and as far as
you are concerned in what you did, yes, you meant it for evil.
You know, God knows the heart. Christ knows our heart. You meant
it for evil, but God meant it for good. That doesn't make it less evil
because God meant it for good. That doesn't make it less evil.
But it does show God's grace to sinners in Christ, and God's
power to rule and overrule all things for our good. What happened
to the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's tree, Jew and Gentiles meant
it for evil, but God meant it for good. He meant it for our
salvation and His glory. It is through the death of the
Lord Jesus Christ that God has saved much people alive. Heaven is filled with an innumerable
company of people. And there in verse 21, he says
again, fear not. You know, that's worth repeating,
isn't it? How many times have we been told to fear not, and
we leave here, and it's not, we no more get out the door,
and we fear again. You know, where we start to fear
of this happening or that happening. And the Lord says again, Fear
not. Every time we come back here,
fear not. We go out there, we fear. Come
back here, fear not. You're gonna be told that till
we die. We have to be told that till we die. Here's a promise in verse 21. And our Lord, this is a spiritual
promise to the Lord's people. I will nourish you and your little
ones, I'll take care of you. I'll make provision, provisions
for you. You know, one of the names of
God is Jehovah Jireh. The Lord will provide. Who is
really providing for you right now? Who's really providing? The place
you work? Who provided that? God provides all things. All
things are His. All things are His. He provides
all things. The Lord will provide. I will
nourish you. I will take care of you. If we could just get
a hold of that. I will take care of you. In one
place He says, I'll care you even to your old age. He will provide all that we need
and all that is required. He has provided for us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. He's provided
all that we need to stand before God. Shall He not provide all
we need here? He will. The Lord will provide. And last of all, in verse 21,
and He comforted them and speak kindly to them, speak to their
heart. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith the Lord God.
Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. Tell her the warfare is ended. I'm not upset. Everything God, everything He
does and will do with His children is never because He's upset.
When He chastens us, It's never because he's upset. It's out
of love. He corrects us out of love. Whom
he loves, whom the Lord loves, he chastens. He chastens. We often think, well, he must
not love me. You know, this is pretty severe. No, he loves you. He loves you. Job, everything was taken. Did God do that because He was
upset with Job? You and I know He loved Job.
He loved him. He loves us no less. He loves
us no less. He comforts His people. with words of kindness. He speaks
to their heart. He speaks from His heart to their
heart. He's not speaking to His brothers
like He would speak to the Egyptians that were just made His servants. This whole world serves God.
Everybody in this world serves God. Not willingly, but they
do. But there are some who serve
Him willingly. But He speaks to His brothers in a special
way than He speaks to His servants that are over there just doing
things around the house. He speaks from His heart to their
heart. You're my brothers. You're my
family. And He speaks comfortably to
them. Listen, the Lord speaks words of comfort to us, but not
only does He speak words of comfort to us, but He actually gives
us the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. The Comforter. Think about that.
His name is the Comforter, and He dwells in you. You are sealed with Him until
the day God takes you out of this world. You have the Comforter
in you. And then he says there in verse
24, the Lord will surely visit you and bring you out. He said,
I nourished you, I took care of you. He's speaking words of
kindness to them. And he gives them this promise,
the Lord's going to visit you and bring you out of this land,
out of this world. And to a land which he swears Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, the promised land. The Lord will surely come
and get you and take you home. He'll take you to the promised
land. Do you really want to go? Do you really want to go? There are some that don't want
to go. They don't want to go. I'm not saying that just because
a person doesn't want to die they're lost, but I'm just saying
that we do want to go home. We do want to go home. This is
not home. And the older we get in Christ,
the more we realize this is not home. And the Lord will surely
visit you. One by one, if I don't die first,
if I don't die first, one by one, the Lord is going to visit
you, take you home. I'm going to do the funeral,
and then the next, and then the next, and then He'll take me, But that's good news, isn't it?
That's good news. That's not sad news. That's good
news. All right.