Now go back to Genesis 43 with
me. Thank you, Sherry. Thank you,
John. We do not take what you do for
granted. Genesis 43, and we're going to
be searching the Scriptures. We're going to look at Scriptures
in Old and New Testament, mostly in the Gospels. Luke, so if you
want to go there. But in the volume of the book,
it is written of Christ. That's why God wrote this book.
And oh, the unsearchable riches of Christ. Precious, more precious
than gold. And David said, I found Your
Word and it was precious. I hope the mere reading of that
was like fine gold to you. Honey. Sweet. Every book from
first to last, from Genesis to Revelation, is about demand. Christ Jesus. In Hebrews 2 it
says there, because this is life eternal that they might know
Thee, the only true God. What God says. One thing He says
to all human beings. One thing that God has said to
all human beings. This is my beloved Son. Here
be Him. Come to Him. That's it. And so
in the volume of the book it is written of Him. God wrote
this book. It is most certainly His book. It is just too marvelous for
a mere man to write. But in Hebrews 2 it says, God
has put all things under His feet. Listen to how this relates
to our story. God has put all things under
Jesus Christ's feet. In that he put all in subjection
unto him, he left nothing that's not put unto him, like Joseph.
But now we see not yet all things, like Joseph's brother. They don't
see this yet. But we see Jesus, the man, made a little lower than the
angels. Why? For the suffering of death. We see him crowned
with glory and honor. that by His grace, by the grace
of God, He should taste death for every man, every son, for
it became Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things,
in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their
salvation perfect through suffering. And both He that sanctifieth,
they that are sanctified, all are one. And for this cause He
is not ashamed to call them Brethren, for this cause Christ hath said,
I am coming to this world. Why? For these sinful brethren
of mine. When you listen to that, I'd
love to read it all over again, because it's just the summary
of this whole story of Joseph. You know our Lord preached from
this. You know Paul preached from it. When he preached all
night that time, I bet you he preached the story of Joseph. And we're just going to look
back, okay, at the man, Joseph, and see how he represents the
man, Christ Jesus. The whole story from first to
last is the story of the man, Joseph. And it's a story of how
God predestined him to reign and rule, to save his brethren,
how that God sent him And though he was despised and rejected
by these brethren..." Now, you've heard all this before, but it's
not grievous to me to say it again. And this is salvation. This is the story. Though they
rejected and despised him, and they thought he was dead, and they didn't give him a thought
for years, he's not dead. He's enthroned. reigning and
ruling at that very time over them. And they don't know it,
but they're going to know it. They're going to be brought to
Him in the providence of God, in the mercy of God, in the grace
of God. Every one of these sons of Jacob
are going to be brought to His feet in fear and trembling. They didn't know Him before. They hated Him before. They didn't
know Him. They thought He was dead. He's
not dead. All right, let's look at the
man, Joseph. Now, first he's seen as a child
born. Genesis chapter 30, go over there.
He's first seen as a child that is born, the son of a barren
woman. And remember, our Lord Jesus
Christ said, they are they which testify of me. In the volume
of the book, it's written of me. Lo, I come to do thy will,
O God." What's that? Save the sons of Jacob. In chapter
30, verse 22, it says, God remembered Rachel. God hearkened to her
and opened her womb. And she conceived and bare a
son and said, she said, God hath taken away my reproach. And she
called his name Joseph and said, the Lord shall add to me another
son. Well, there was a son born many
years later. A child was born, but the Son
was given. Born of a virgin. A virgin shall
conceive and bear a child, and she will call His name Immanuel. God with us. He'll save us. God our Savior. Sent to take
away our reproach. The reproaches of them that reproached
me, Christ said, fell on me. Are you with me? Is God with
you? I should say, right now. This
is His words, not mine. I'm just repeating it. Call His
name Jesus. Why? He shall save His people
from their sin. Joseph means adding. If you're
put in the Kingdom of God, if you're added to the Kingdom,
it will be by Jesus Christ. That's why. It will be for Christ's
sake, like old Mephibosheth. And Luke 1, and he's sent to
reign. Joseph was born. This man was
born to reign. And in Luke 1, I'll not have
you turn there, but it says, this one is sent to reign over
the house of Jacob. I think it was Simeon. No, the
angel said to Mary, this one shall reign over the house of
Jacob. Their elder brother. And of his
reign there be no end. Oh my. The next time we see Joseph,
chapter 37, is as a young boy. Chapter 37, go over there. We're
leading up to chapter 43. The next time we see Joseph,
he's a young boy. Verse 12. It says, his brethren
went to feed their father's flock in Shechem. And Israel said unto
Joseph, he's the youngest son, he's about seventeen, he said,
Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? Come, I'll
send thee unto them. He said to him, Here am I. And
the father said unto him, Go, I pray thee, see whether it be
well with thy brethren, well with the flock, and bring me
word again. So he sent him. He sent him to
the brethren. He sent Him to these sorry sons
of Jacob. They weren't asking for Him.
They weren't calling for Him. But the Father in mercy and grace
and in love to His sons sent Him. Let's see how they were
doing. In Luke chapter 2, I do want
you to see this. Luke chapter 2. The story the
next time we see our Lord Jesus Christ is as a young boy. Twelve
years old. In chapter 2 of Luke's Gospel,
beginning with verse, you know the story, verse 41. Oh, how
every word is God-breathed. Chapter 2, verse 41. Now, his
parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. You know, they were too poor
to have a lamb. They didn't have one. They were too poor. Do you remember?
They were just poor. And they took a turtle dove,
a pigeon or something. They had a lamb. They had THE
lamb. And it came for the Passover.
God sent the lamb. Verse 42, And we was twelve years
old, and went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feet.
Our Lord was destined for Jerusalem from the day He was born. Because this is the son of David.
It's going to rain over his house. Go over to verse 46 now. Now,
they were going back home, Mary and Joseph, and verse 46, after
three days they went looking for him, and they found him in
the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing
them and asking them questions. Twelve-year-old boy. They were
amazed, astonished. They all that heard him were
astonished at his understanding and answered. And oh, their astonishment
grew as the years went by until they all said, no man speaks
like this man. Well, Joseph and Mary, and Mary
said this in verse 48, "'Son, why hast thou dealt with us?
Behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.'" Thy
father. Small f. See that? Thy Father
has sought thee. He said unto them, How is it
that you sought me? Wished ye not? Don't ye know
that I must be about my Father, capital F, business. I am here
on business. The Father hath sent me on business. From a child, he came sent by
the Father. What was his business? What was
his mission? What did the Father send Him
to do? Well, like Jacob said to Joseph, go see about your brethren and bring them what
they need. So that's when we see Him. And
our Lord was sent by the Father, sent by Him to save His people
from their sins. That's what His name means. Save
the Father's children, given to Christ in a covenant, sent
to fulfill the law, just as Joseph was well-pleasing to the Father,
the Father's favorite. God Almighty said of His son,
30-year-old son, He said, I am well-pleased. Sent down here
to fulfill the law, to be well-pleasing in God's sight, to be made sin,
to be made a curse under the law, To provide all for His brethren,
sinful brethren, not just bread, but provide Himself, the Lamb
of God, that took away their sin. Become their righteousness.
Become their redemption. Their blood, their sin offering. To die as their Lamb, to shed
His precious blood. You remember Joseph's coach?
Covered with blood. Our Lord's robe was. His body,
He was covered with blood. And then He's going to rise though.
He's not dead. He was sent to die alright, but
He's sent not just to die, but to live. To live forever. Eternal
covenant head. To reign and rule. The government upon His shoulders. To dole out mercy. To all His
works but especially. to his son. But they despised him, and they
rejected him. Scripture says he was in the
world, and the world was made not by him, and the world knew
him not. He came unto his own, and his
own received him not. The next time we see Joseph here,
he's in a pit. Look at verse 18. Verse 17, oh my, the man said,
your brethren are in this place, Dothan. So Joseph went after
his brethren. And he found them. Did not Christ
say that he as the good shepherd would leave the ninety and nine
and go searching for his sheep? And after he finds them, he finds
them. And verse 18, when they saw him
afar off, Before He came near unto them, they conspired against
Him to slay Him. They said, here's this dreamer.
Come now, let's slay Him and cast Him into a pit. Does not the Scripture say, we
all did despise Him, turn away our faces from Him? Doesn't it? We saw no beauty. We saw Him,
but saw no beauty in Him we should desire. Didn't believe Him. Isn't
that right? That was me. Maybe there's somebody
in here now. And what I hope and pray is that
you'll see Him right now, today. And they cast Him into a pit. And
verse 28 says he was sold to some Midianite merchantmen and
Ishmaelites who were wild men. You remember our Lord said that
about Ishmael? His hand would be wild, it would
be against every man. And when they sold Joseph for
20 pieces of silver to these Ishmaelites, I guarantee you
these men abused him. They brought him out of that
pit. He was bound. And there's no mention of him
saying a word, is there? Joseph didn't say a word here in our
text. And he was bound. And they brought him out of that
pit. And these Israelites abused him. And they saw him taken away. And as far as his brethren knew,
he's dead. And Isaiah 52 says this about
our Lord. Psalm 52, Isaiah 52 says about
our Lord, His visage. Let me read it to you just as
it's written. I don't want to miss that. It
says that, My servant shall deal prudently. Joseph was so kind. He was so merciful. He didn't
deserve any of this. Our Lord is a man of mercy and
grace and kindness and love. He said, what good works do you
stone me? I said, no, we don't stone you
for good work. We stone you because you're a man. You said you're
God. You're just dreaming. No, no. He'll be exalted. My servant
will be exalted, he'll be extolled, he'll be very high." And God
says, they were astonished at him, his visage was marred more
than any man, his form more than the sons of man, because he was
abused. Why? Well, He came forth as a
tender plant, as a root out of dry ground. He had no form or
comeliness. When we see no beauty we should
desire, He despised and rejected of men. A man of sorrows, acquainted
with grief. We hid as it were our faces from
Him, not worthy of our notice. We did other things. He was despised. We esteemed Him not. But surely,
He's borne our griefs, carried our sorrows. He did esteem him
stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But no, he was wounded
and bruised for our transgression. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. Oh, we like sheep
have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way, but the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. He
was oppressed, he was afflicted, but he did not open his mouth.
Brought as a lamb to the slaughter, as a sheep before her shearers,
he opened not his mouth. Christ would come to Calvary,
would come to the judgment, and He was made sin for His people,
made guilty, became us. So He opened out His mouth to
take what we deserved, though we didn't give Him a thought. And then He was taken from prison,
bound. Our Lord was bound like a lamb
that's bound to the altar. He was bound and then nailed
to the cross. He was cut off from the land
of the living. Why? Why did Joseph come? To save
these brethren. Why did Christ come? To save
my people. For the transgression of my people
was He stricken. They put Him in a grave. He did
no violence. There was no deceit in His mouth.
Yet He pleased the Lord to bruise Him. God put Him to grief. And
when he'll make his soul an offering for sin, he'll see his seed.
Now you put this together. He's going to see his seed. He's
going to prolong his days. The pleasure of the Lord will
prosper in his hands. He'll see the travail of his
soul and be satisfied. By his knowledge, my righteous
servant will justify many. He's going to bear their iniquity.
And I'll divide him a portion with the grave, and he'll divide
the spoil. He poured out His soul unto death,
numbered with the transgressors. He bared the sin of many and
made intercession for the transgressors." A much greater story than Joseph's.
A true story. The next we see of Joseph is
the Lord on a throne. When they saw him last, he was
in a pit. Bound. Carried away. Beaten. Bloody. Carried away. And they thought He was dead.
And the next time they see Him, it's high and lifted up. Look,
chapter 41. Look at Genesis 41, verse 33. Look at this. Genesis 41, verse
33. It says, Pharaoh said, let's
look out a man, discreet and wise, and set him over the land
of Egypt. Verse 37, the thing was good
in the eyes of Pharaoh and all his servants. They said, can
we find such a one as this, a man in whom the Spirit of God is
without measure, one discreet and wise? And Pharaoh said unto
Joseph, you're the one. God has showed thee all this.
There is none so discreet and wise as thou art." That's what
the Lord over all said to Joseph. And that's what God over all
said of Christ. And look at verse 43, And so
Pharaoh made him ride in the second chariot which he had.
And they cried before him, bow the knee, every knee bow. And Pharaoh made him ruler over
all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I
am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand
or foot in all of Egypt, your head over it all. I have made
you Lord over all, second to none with me, the man. Isn't that what the Scripture
says of our Lord Jesus Christ? God hath made him Lord over all. Christ said, all authority is
given unto me in heaven and earth. He prayed to the Father, as thou
hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given him. It's blasphemy. That's why we
always say this. It's the worst kind of blasphemy. It's what all false religion
is saying today. When they say, make Jesus Lord,
that's not an error in doctrine, it's blasphemy. It's to bring
Him down. It's to make man Lord over his
own soul. It's to make a worthless, hell-deserving,
wrath-deserving, God-hating, Christ-hating, who cares nothing
for the Son of God all His days. whom God feeds and clothes and
is merciful to all his days, and he doesn't give God a thought,
and some preacher stands up and says, Jesus wants to save you.
Won't you let him? Did you hear anybody saying that
around Joseph? Did you hear Joseph Stewart saying
to those sorry sons of Jacob? Now Joseph just wants you to
come in. He wants you so bad. And he's Lord over the people.
He can't be Lord unless you let him be Lord. Would you let him
be? It's the opposite. He spoke roughly to these sons.
They needed to be spoken roughly to. And this is the message to
every son of Adam. God's not in love with everybody.
God is angry. Why? Why is He angry? You know
why he's angry, because such were some of you. All our days,
me, I spent my years, I could care less if Jesus Christ came. I heard it. I heard the message
as a boy. And I left. I'm not interested.
I'm not interested. I don't care if Jesus Christ
came, but he's your Lord and your breath is in his hands.
I don't believe that. I'll go on my merry way." And
oh, so many things I went through, he literally, like that lunatic,
the Lord literally dashed me to the ground. Till he finally brought me, like
that prodigal son, to a place where I'm in a pit. I'm in the
pit now. I'm in the hog pen now. This whole story, you see, is
bringing these sorry sons of Jacob to the point that they
see they're guilty. They don't deserve to live. But God, who is rich in mercy... See, we don't go around telling
everybody, God loves you. They don't need to hear that.
They don't need to hear that until they think that, why would
God love me? Until they think, there's no
way He could love me. This message is for those that
think, there's no way He could love me. These sons of Jacob
are brought to the point where when they find out it's Joseph,
they think, He's going to kill us all. That's what they came to. He's
going to kill us all, even in the end. When Jacob dies, they
all say, now he's going to really get us. Remember that? No. He's not like you. And the next time they see him, he's as a lord on a throne. And
chapter 42, over there, they see him as their judge. Chapter
42, verse 7, it says, Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew
them. Oh, how much is in those words.
He knew them. He knew them. They don't know
him. He made himself strange unto them. God is a God who hides
himself. You can't find out God. Nobody
can know God unless God reveals. Nobody can know Christ unless
the Father reveals it. Isn't that what Christ said?
And He spake roughly unto them. That's how God, that's how, when
I heard the Gospel, when you first heard the Gospel, that's
how you heard it, didn't you? It's not peace, peace. There
is no peace. There's no peace with a rebel
against God. That's not what we hear. That's
not what we need to hear. He spoke roughly to them. Where
are you coming from? What are you doing? You're here
to buy food, aren't you? That's it. No, you're spies.
Joseph knew his brethren, verse 8. They didn't know him. They
didn't know him. And the way that men speak of
the Lord, the King of kings and Lord of lords, the way that men
refer to Him merely as Jesus, But even when they find out he's
Joseph, you know what they're going to call him? Lord. And the way that men refer to
him tells me they don't know him. They don't know him. In
verse 7, it says that he spake roughly to them. Verse 17, I've
got to hurry. And he put them all in ward together.
And down in verse 21, they all said, we're guilty concerning
our brother. We're guilty. You know, God uses
the law in the preaching of the gospel. You preach the law first.
Yes, you do. You preach the law. The whole
book of Romans is a story of salvation, justification by faith.
It begins by saying how we've all sinned and come short of
the glory of God. All broken the law. Doesn't it? Whatsoever the law saith, it
saith to them under the law of every mouth may be what? Stopped. And every soul become guilty. Chapter 44. Go over there real
quickly. Chapter 44. Look at this, verse
14. Joseph said through this interpreter,
verse 15, what have you done? Don't you know? I can divine,
I can do whatever I please. And Judas said, What shall we
say unto my Lord? What shall we speak? How shall
we clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity
of thy servants. Behold, we are my Lord's servants. You've found out our iniquity. We have nothing to say. Isn't
that what Job said when he said, I've heard of you, now I see
you? I put my hand over my mouth. I have nothing to say. Didn't
David say, against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this
evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou
speakest and clear when you judge me? Do you know that Acts 17 says
that God hath appointed a day in which He will judge this world
in righteousness That man whom he hath ordained, and he gave all men assurance
that he was raised from the dead. He is not dead as most men think
he is. He is alive. Christ said that
in the Revelation. He said, I am alive forevermore.
I am he that was dead, and behold, I am alive, and you are in my
hands. to do with as I plead. Don't
you know I certainly may divine? I'm God. I do what I plead. I have the keys of hell and death,
he said. But, he said, come on now. Now, the next time they see Joseph, chapter 43, they're filled with
fear. Do you see this? The Lord has
brought these men to the point where they fear the man. And everything they say about
him is the truth of the Gospel. Judah said in verse 3, "...the
man did solemnly protest unto us, saying, You shall not see
my face, except your brother be with you." Didn't God say
that to us? No man can come unto God but
by Him. Didn't He solemnly say this? Didn't our Lord say this
to all people? No man cometh unto the Father
but by Me. Didn't he say that? Didn't he
solemnly protest that? Didn't he say to his disciple,
go into all the world and preach the gospel? And he that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved. And he solemnly protested that
he that believeth not, is not baptized, won't be saved. If
they're ashamed of me, If these brothers show any sort
of pride, it's going to fall on them. Right? And they knew
that. And they all knew this. The man
solemnly told us this, and they believed him. To a man, all these
sons believed him. The man said this. And so they
all did this. In Acts chapter 2, after Peter
preached that, You men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth,
a man approved of God by signs and wonders and miracles, you
have taken with wicked hands and crucified the Lord of glory,
but did what God determined before to be done. Why? To save much
people alive. And this one you've crucified,
God has made him Lord over all." And Peter sat down. I'm not begging
anybody to do anything. I just told them who Christ was,
what He did, why He came, and what they did to Him, and where
God put Him now, and they're in His hands, and they're all
3,000 people, hearts, smitten and trembled and came to the
preacher and said, what shall we do? And Peter said and the
Apostle said, repent and be baptized, every one of you, for remission
of your sins, in the name of Jesus Christ, for remission of
your sins. Every one of you. Every one of you doesn't do it.
The man did solemnly protest. He told us, why would you not want that? It says, those that gladly received
His Word. Is that it? Repent, believe on
Christ, confess it, that's it. Don't have to bring a gift. Remember,
they brought all this stuff. Maybe it's an oversight. No,
this is no oversight. He said one thing, bring the
Son, that's it. Kiss the Son, bow to the Son,
confess the Son. If you don't, He's not going
to confess you. Why wouldn't you? He's fed you and clothed
you and done all this for you all your life. Why wouldn't you? So he said, I'm glad you received
His Word. Is that it? Yes. You're baptized. Do you know the next time they see
Joseph? He said, come here. I'm Joseph." The one they thought they were
going to die at the hands of said, I'm your father. I was
going to read all that, but I thought then, I'm going to get to that
later. I've got to say something. Oh,
read it for yourself in the next chapter. Read it for yourself
where Joseph reveals himself to them. Oh. He wept. He said, come near. He said,
oh, you... Don't be mad at yourself. Kelly,
he said, don't be angry at yourself. God did this. Man, if you hear this, then nothing
moves except something bad. You haven't seen the Son yet.
They hadn't seen the Son. When these brethren finally saw
Joseph, they bowed. Every time they saw him, they
bowed, they bowed, they bowed. And then when Joseph finally
spoke peace to them, he said, I'm your brother. They were all
weeping. And then the father saw, did
you go ahead and read that, where Joseph and Jacob got together
and it says, they wept a good while. A broken heart's got to. Christ
said this. He said, what shall I liken the
children of this generation to? He said, we've piped unto you
and you won't dance. No joy, no rejoicing, and sin's
forgiven. What criminal could hear this
message of, hey, you're about to die, but the King said, set
you free? What? How do you think Moravius
responded to that? There's a fellow dying for you,
and you're free to go. What? Christ said, we've mourned and
you haven't lamented. He said, but wisdom justified of
her children. Boy, God's children do. When
they hear a pardon from sin, a peace that endureth, free pardon,
without works, without money, without price, let's dance. Dance
before the ark. And David said, I'll be more
vile if you don't like it. And boy, when they hear about
what their sins have done to Christ, hung Him on that tree,
they're angry at themselves. They hate themselves. They hate
the sin that put Him there. And they weep over their sins.
But it's a weeping of joy and sadness. It's a mixture of the
two. Have you seen the Son of God? I hope and pray that you have.
Alright. Stand with me. I'll dismiss this
in prayer. Our Lord, our God, our Savior,
Jesus Christ, who hands our breath is in all our ways, in our children,
in our children's children, in all things, now who has the keys
of hell and death at thy side. We tremble, we fear. Who would
not fear the Lord, who hath set the sand for a bound for the
powerful waters of the sea, and said, Come no further? Thou who
hast set our bounds that we cannot pass, bounds we do not see, and
appointed unto us once to die, and after that to judgment, to
stand before thee, a judge of all the earth? Who would not
fear thee? Who would not call on me for mercy except the blind
man, except the dead person? Oh Lord, quicken the dead, raise
the dead by this gospel. Open blind eyes. deaf ears, open
them to hear the voice, both of warning and of promise. Open the mouth, loosen the tongue
to call upon Thee in the day of salvation for mercy. For Thou
art a God ready to pardon. Plenteous in redemption. Delights
to show mercy. That's why you sent Christ, the
Son, to save the likes of us. Oh Lord, do this for someone
else. Do this for me, I pray. I haven't arrived yet. I haven't
obtained yet, but this one thing I want to do, press toward the
mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Make it so with every person
in this room, Lord. Reveal Yourself to them, we pray. Reveal the Son in us, we pray. For Thy glory, Thy honor and
the salvation of Thy people and the glory of Thy Son, we ask
these things. Amen. You're dismissed. Thank you.