Thank you, buddy. All right, back to Genesis 46
now. Anybody like a copy of that hymn? We'd be glad to give you words
to it. Words are tremendous. And once again, this is another
beautiful portion of scripture which testifies of Christ. They are
they which testify of me, Christ said. I looked for some help in preparing
this message, but found none, at least not with Matthew Henry. didn't say anything. Dr. Gill didn't say anything. So I went to the great physician,
the doctor, and I believe he gave me something. Four principal
characters here in this story. Four principal characters. There's
Jacob, and he will represent us, the sinner, comes to Christ. Then Joseph will be, will represent
the Lord Jesus Christ. Pharaoh will represent God the
Father. And then Judah, but I'll not tell you who Judah
will represent. OK, we'll see. Maybe you'll know for yourself. I may ask you later. All right,
the title of this message is Jacob and Joseph reunited. And I believe this is a type
of believer rejoined with Christ. Now, in the story up until now,
Joseph had revealed himself to his brethren. Back in chapter
45, you remember, Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. And they now knew him. His brethren
knew Joseph. Joseph communed with them. Joseph
talked personally with them, assured them of his love for
them, of his care for their welfare. And Joseph made many promises
and commands to them. He loaded their wagons up. filled
their sacks at first, and now he loads their wagons, gave them
chains of raiment, and sent them on their way, sent them away
to the rest of the family, to gather
the rest of the family and return unto him. And he solemnly charged
them in verse 24 of chapter 45. As he sent his brethren away,
and they departed, he said unto them, See that ye fall not out
by the way." He gave that one solemn charge. And if you recognized it as I
said those things, this is all a picture of Christ who has revealed
himself to us, us sons of Jacob. Our elder brother, Christ is
called. has revealed himself to some
sons of Adam who are sons of Jacob. He was sent by God before
us to save us and is now seated on the throne in glory where
he awaits our reunion when we will be reunited with our elder
brother. And he has revealed himself to
us. He has communed with his brethren,
with us. He has communed with us through
his word. He has spoken to us. He tells
us of his love to us. He reaffirms his providential care for us, allays
our fears concerning all our needs. He said, Then we met.
Then he gives many promises to us and commands to us. He gives commands to us. He has
loaded our wagons, filled our sacks, and loaded our wagons. He has met our every need. He has given us changes of rainbow,
a righteousness, a perfect righteousness. He sends us out into the world.
Christ has sent us out into the world. He said, You are the salt
of the You are the light of the world. He says, You're witnesses
unto me. And he especially sends us to
our own household and tells us to go tell what great things
the Lord hath done for you. And he says, You'll come back. Come on back. He solemnly charges
us just like Joseph did to his brethren. See that ye fall not
out by the way. like we saw in Hebrews 4 just
two weeks ago, how that we should not let these things slip. We
should give them more earnest heed to the things that we've
heard. What things? Promises from the Lord himself,
commands from him, from Christ himself. and see that we have
heard such thing, we should give them more earnest heed, lest
we let them slip and fall out by the way. He says to us, hold
fast the beginning of your confidence, steadfast unto the end. And he
says, Come unto me. To whom coming? Keep coming.
Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened.
Come unto me, and I will receive you to myself, that where I am,
there you may be also." Just like Joseph, just like Joseph.
All right, look at verse 1 now. Let's begin there. And Israel
took his journey. He took his journey. Everyone is taking a journey
somewhere, a pilgrimage. All human beings, to some degree,
are pilgrims here, sojourners. All human beings have here no
continuing place. We all go to the grave and then
walk. It's appointed unto man once
to die and after that to judgment. But believers are especially
strangers and the scripture says pilgrims, sojourners. We're pilgrims here. We have
a goal, a pursuit, something we aim for. What is that? What
is yours? What's your aim in this life? It would be especially appropriate
to ask young people who have not yet been established, if
you will. Ask them, what is your goal?
Where are you headed? What do you look for? Listen
to the psalmist David, and he said this from a young man. David
was just about 16 years old when he went to fight Goliath. And
he said, is there not a cause? David knew something of his God
as a young 16-year-old boy. It's not impossible. Listen to
the psalmist David. He said, there's one thing I
have desired of it. One thing have I desired of the
Lord, and that's what I'm going to seek after. That's where I'm
headed. That's what I'm pressing toward.
That mark, that goal, that aim. I'm a pilgrim, I'm a sojourner,
and I'm headed in one direction. What is that? That I may dwell
in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. Dwell in
the house of the Lord. Now, people, all the days of
this life, the house of the Lord is right here. What do you do
there to behold the beauty of the Lord? and inquire in his
temple, and this is just, this is a foretaste of glory divine,
and if you enjoy these things of this house, then think what
it'll be like there. And that's truly, that's the
house, that's the city, the heavenly place that we look for. Now everybody's
taking their journey. Jacob's journey was to see Joseph. Jacob's journey was to see Joseph. I have one thing that I desire.
I want to see Joseph before I die. And the believer, the true believer,
is a lover, more than anything else, is a lover of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And the thing he or she wants more than anything
else is to see Christ. Not heaven, not Peter, not Abraham. Christ. To see him. Well, they
came to Beersheba. Look at verse one. Israel took
his journey with all that he had. He rounded up everybody
he had. He didn't leave anybody behind.
He came to Beersheba, and he offered sacrifices unto the God
of his father Isaac. Beersheba, if you remember, is
the well of the earth. The well of the earth. He came
to this well, and this is the place where Abraham worshiped
and the place where Isaac worshiped. Beersheba. And it says he offered
sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac. Now, Beersheba
was only sixteen miles down the road, Terry. How far is Floyd? Well, close. He didn't get sixteen
miles, Terry, until he stopped to worship. He was headed to
see Joseph, but he didn't get sixteen miles down the road.
He said, Stop. We're going to worship. He stopped to worship. He's not willing to go far without
giving thanks to his God without seeking God's face, and neither
should we. Neither should we be willing
to take a step without seeking God's faith.
He was a worshipper. Jacob was a worshipper of God,
and so is every son of Jacob. So is every son of Abraham. Every
true Jew, as my pastor explained Sunday morning, a true Jew, a
true son of Abraham, the true seed of Abraham. is a worshipper
of Christ, a true worshipper. And he or she, every son of Jacob,
is first and foremost a worshipper of God. The God, you notice there
it said, The God. Not a God, The God, the only
true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And a true
son of Abraham, a true son of Jacob, seeking God first and
his righteousness. That's what our Lord said. Seek
you first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all
these things will be added unto you. So Jacob's a good example,
isn't he? He didn't get far until he stopped.
Stop what we're doing. We're not taking another step
until we worship God. Now seek God's face and seek
God's blessing on this pilgrimage. And if you want to know God's
will for you, you've got to place so much emphasis on what we're
doing right now. Emphasize it over and over and
over again. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by what? The Word of God. How does God
speak to his people? How does God make his will known
to his people? How does God lead, guide, and
direct his people? How? How does God comfort? How does God encourage? How does
God instruct? How do we grow? How do we mature? How do we become stable? How
do our personalities and our souls and our hearts and minds
become fixed and settled and grounded and not moved away and
not tossed to and fro and cast down? How? How does God do all
these things? not signs and wonders and miracles,
to the Word. This is it. And I place so much
emphasis. You think I'm... Well, you don't.
I really don't think you do. But some people may think that
I overly emphasize this and that I'm just trying to get
people to come to church for my sake. Not so. Not so at all. I've said this before, I'm just
trying to be faithful in a few things and tell you where your
help is, where your help is. And there's no reason for anybody
to go hungry, not when there's a full table spread all the time,
no reason. And if we do, it's our own fault.
Get up to the table. My parents used to tell me and
force me to eat my green beans. I did not like green beans early
on, and they used to force me. And now I like green beans, and
they don't have to force me. As a matter of fact, I grow them.
We can them, and I look forward to eating them. And the Word
of God. And there may be a time when
they force me to come hear the Word of God, and I didn't come
on my own so-called free will, but now I have been made willing,
the day of His power. And it is not by constraint now,
but it's willing. I'm willingly here, doing what
I want to do. All right. And I say that to
young people. You keep seeking the Lord, and
He'll make it precious to you. You want to know God's will?
Seek his face? Where? In worship, in the Word. For
lack of a better word, chances are you're going to hear it here
before you'll hear it at home studying it for yourself. That's
just, that's, what's a better word? Chances are. The scripture
does say, though, the lot is cast in the lap. You know, we're
given a choice. You can go to church or not go
to church, so to speak. Come worship, not come. Given
that choice, there aren't lots of cats in the land, but the
whole disposal in there is of the Lord. And the promise of
God is where two or three are gathered, that's where I'm going
to be. And I'm confident, I'm quite
confident that we have that number nearly every time we meet together.
I've been a part of it. All right, verse 2. So he came,
he offered sacrifices unto God before he got far down the road.
And how do we come to God? What sacrifices do we offer?
Well, the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, but chiefly
we come to God by faith in Christ, which is the only sacrifice God
will accept. His blood, his righteousness.
All right, verse 2. God spoke unto Israel. See, Israel
sought God's face and God spoke to him. And seeking me, you shall
find me when you search for me with all your heart." And God
spoke unto Israel in visions of the night. God doesn't speak
in visions anymore, as I just said. He speaks through this
Word. And God spoke and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I. Now, why didn't he say Israel? Well, I believe this is, he's
reminding him, once again, he's reminding old Jacob of where
he came from, of what he was when God found him, and the pit
from which he was digged, and the God who elected him, the
God who chose him, the God who provided for him. Jacob was now
a hundred and some years old. And his name had been Israel
for a while now, and he had grown a little bit in grace and the
knowledge of his God. He had matured a little bit.
He knew a little bit now, John. He was an old patriarch now,
an old saint now, and God said, He recognized that name, Joe.
I don't think he ever quite got used to Israel, like us. You know, some people are quick
to call themselves saints. Oh, I'm a saint, I'm a saint.
Or a Christian, you know. I'm a Christian, but damn, I'm
not so quick and not so presumptuous to take that word, that title
upon this old son of Jacob. Are you? I'm not used to it yet. What's your name? Jack Sinner.
Sinner. Jacob. And I believe he said
it twice. You notice he said it twice?
Jacob. Jacob. I believe he said that in love
and affection to him. One writer said he merely said
it to wake him up. And God has spoken once, yea,
twice to us. But I believe it's in love and
affection, like our Lord said to Peter. Remember, he changed
his name to Peter, and he said, Thou shalt be called Peter, and
upon this rock I will build my church. His profession that is. And then a while later, Joe,
he said, Simon, Simon. And Peter has got all boasting
and bragging and all, you know, beside himself. Our Lord said,
Stan. Stan. As an affectionate term,
Simon, Simon. Don't you remember where you
came from? Remember who you are. Remember
the pit from which you were dug. All right, verse 3. And he said,
I am God. Jacob. Jacob. I am God. The God of thy father. Fear not. Fear not. to go down into Egypt, for I
will there make of thee a great nation." And over and over again in the
Scripture, perhaps the reason I like Isaiah so much is because
over and over again our Lord reminds us of who he is. He says, In your own reading of Isaiah,
you've noticed that yourself. He said, I'm the Lord. There's
none else. I'm God. There's none beside
me. He says it over and over and
over and over again. Why? Because I need to be reminded
of that constantly. I need to be constantly reminded
that God's God. He's on the throne. And he speaks
peace to me, too. He says, fear not. As I pointed
out to you before, The thing our Lord said to his disciples
more than anything else was, Fear not. Fear not. Fear not, because he knows our
frame. I'm so glad. This is one of our
favorite verses, isn't it, Nancy? Psalm 103, 13, Like as a father
pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. He knoweth our frame with dust. We're flesh. He knows that, and
he keeps affirming, reaffirming it to us in the Scriptures. I'm
God. Remember that. I'm God, and you're in my hands,
because we're fearful, unbelieving flesh. Now, Jacob was an old
man now, wasn't he? As I said, he was a hundred and,
well, let's say he died a hundred and forty He was a hundred and
forty some years old and he was in Egypt seventeen years, so
he was a hundred and twenty some years old by now. An old man,
but he was still fearful evidently, wasn't he? Charles, do you think if you
lived another fifty years you'd be afraid of anything? Yeah, she will. Yeah, he will. You'll still be free. This man's
an old man, but he's still fearful. He's still a man. He's still
a man. Some of them before him, one
of the brethren and I were talking the other day, they would have
called Jake, Noah, or what's his name? Methuselah. would have
said, that young Jacob, he doesn't know much. Those young bucks,
they don't know much. I think they know everything.
Hunter has been a young man to him when he was 120 years old.
No matter, he was old, but he still needs God to remind him
of who he is, who God is and who he is, and for God to reaffirm
his covenant to him. And no matter how old we become,
70 years old. No matter how old a believer
gets, he's still a fearful sinner and needs to hear his God declared
to him over and over and over again. Right? Do you ever grow
tired, Charles, of hearing God declared as God? I can't think
personally of anything that rejoices my heart More than that, than
to hear a man stand up and say, God is God. That thrills me. That's my comfort. That's my
hope. That's my peace. And along with that is Christ
is my, my savior. And the gospel, that's the gospel
reaffirmed to your heart. That's a covenant that God made
concerning me with his son concerning me. That's the covenant. The
gospel reaffirmed to me. And no matter how old we get,
Charles, those are the two things we need to hear over and over
until the day we die. Right? I'm God, and I made a
covenant with my Son concerning you, and I'm going to keep it.
I'm going to keep you. And that's what he says in verse
3 and 4. He says, I fear not to go down into Egypt. I'll there
make of thee a great nation. I will go down with thee. into
Egypt, I will also surely bring thee up again, and Joseph shall
put his hand upon thine eye." If you want to turn, turn over
to Ezekiel with me. This is a passage of Scripture
that you may know, but you might want to mark it in your Bible
and read it later on. One of my favorites, Ezekiel
36. Ezekiel 36. along with Ezekiel 37, the dry
bone, and 16, Ezekiel 16, child in the field. But Ezekiel 36,
look at this. Did you notice how the Lord back
there said to Jacob, he said, I will make of thee a great,
and I will go down with thee unto Egypt. I will also surely
bring thee up again. Joseph shall. Ezekiel 36, look at verse 24. I will take you from among the
heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring
you into your own land. Verse 25, I will sprinkle clean
water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your filthiness.
From your idols will I cleanse you. I will cleanse you. Verse
26, a new heart also will I give you. A new spirit will I put
within you. I will take away the stony heart
out of your flesh. I will give you a heart of flesh.
I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes,
and you shall keep my judgment. build the ruined places, plant
that was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken it,
and I'll do it." The last line of verse 38, and they'll know
that I'm the Lord. When it's all said and done,
it's because I said it, and it was done. When it's all said
and done, they're going to know I did this. I will, I will, I
will, and you shall. And that's what a sinner needs
to hear. That's just what the doctor ordered. All right, looking
back at the text in verse 4. He said there, did you notice,
he said, Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes. Joseph shall put his hand upon
thine eyes. Now in the context here, he's
assuring Jacob that Joseph is alive. You heard it? Jacob, you heard it from some
witnesses. They said they saw him. You're
going to see him when you're alive. Joseph's alive. God said it. He's alive and well. And he's going to touch you.
He's going to touch you. And that's a picture of Christ. We've heard it by the hearing
of the ear. And someday these eyes shall
behold him," Job said, not another, but these eyes. I know my Redeemer
liveth, but one of these days, though worms destroy this flesh,
these eyes are going to see him, because he's alive, and he's
going to touch me. He's going to touch me. Son,
come on in. He's alive. And he'll see you
to your death. That's what he's saying to Jacob
here also. Joseph will see you to your death. He's going to comfort you in
your deathbed. And I love that verse of Scripture
that says he gave up his beloved sleep. Jacob died in Joseph's
arms. He died in Joseph's arms. And
Joseph, as the custom was, closed his eyes. And he giveth his beloved
slave, and Christ giveth his beloved slave. The scripture
says he'll make your bed in sickness, and he'll make it in death too.
Never seen a believer yet die in agony. Never. I've seen a few die, and
somehow they've always gone out with a smile on their face. I
believe because Christ laid his hands on their eyes. Boy, he
opened those blind eyes, didn't he, Nancy? Like he laid his hand
on Bartimaeus and the rest of them and anointed their eyes.
Boy, when he closes these eyes, when he touches these eyes, boy,
when they open the next time, they're going to see him. All
right, verse 5 and 7. We'll see him. That's the first
thing we're going to see. It's him. Verse 5 through 7,
Jacob rose up from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel carried
Jacob, their and their little ones, and their wives in the
wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry them. And folks, we're
going to go on our way, on our journey, on our pilgrimage in
the things that God has provided for us. And they took their cattle
and their goods which they had gotten in the land of Canaan,
which God provided, and came into Egypt, Jacob and all his
seed, and his sons, and his sons' sons with him, his daughter and
his son's daughter, and all his seed brought he with him into
Egypt. Jacob rose up. He was encouraged. Now, God spoke
to him. Go on, Jacob. I'm with you. Now,
he's an old man. He's an old man. He's set in
his ways. He was now ready to die. He was
living in Canaan, the promised land. He was ready to stay. Now,
God says, get up and go. And he was fearful. as we would be fearful of the
unknown. And God came to him. Fear not,
I'm with you. Wherever you go, I'm with you.
Fear not. So he got up in courage. There's
a long journey from Canaan. Look it up in your Bible map
sometime, how far it is. And they went in wagons. That's
not a station wagon. That's a wagon wagon. A couple
of big Belgians pulling, and they don't move fast. Or donkeys,
or mules, or oxen, or whatever. Plodding along. Were we ever
going to get there? Oh, I want to see Joseph. God
said I would. Months passed. This appears to
be just a short time now. It's months. A long time passed. Are we ever going to get there?
Oh, my back's killing me. But God said, I'm going to see
Joseph. And that's how he encouraged himself. And the same thing holds
true for all of us Pilgrims. Right? It's a long journey. Joe?
Joseph? You're fifty-some years old.
Fifty-five. Fifty-six. How old are you? Doesn't matter.
Old. Old. But you've got a ways to
go, maybe. You live as old as Charles there. You've got a ways
to go, and the journey might be long. And God said, You will
see, son. Encourage yourself in that. You've
got a ways to go, and that's how you go. Kept him on that journey. That was, he had an eye to see
Joseph. And what does Hebrews 12 say? Let us run with patience
the race that is set before us. How? Looking under Jesus. Looking under him. So Jacob left,
and it was a long journey for this old man. Long journey. Is he going to make it? He made it. And he saw Joseph. Now look down at verse 27. This
is good. Verse 27, it says, The sons of
Joseph, which were born him in Egypt, were two souls. All the
souls of the house of Jacob which came into Egypt were three score
and ten, seventy. Just a big crowd, wasn't it,
that came. And God said back in chapter
15, let me just remind you. God said back in chapter 15,
He said to Abraham, He said, Look toward heaven. Abraham didn't even have a son
yet. I want to remind you now of these
humble beginnings. God called Abraham back in chapter
15. He said, Abraham, look toward
heaven and see the stars. Can you number them? So shall
thy seed be. You won't be able to number them.
Let me read it to you exactly. He said, Look now toward heaven,
and tell the stars, that thou be able to number them. As he
said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And Abraham believed in the
Lord, and he counted it to him for righteousness. And he goes on. You might want
to go back and read that again, because he says to him, They
are going to know of a surety that I see that there shall be
a stranger in a land that is not theirs. Now this is, Stan, this is a
couple hundred years previous, a couple hundred years before
Jacob. Your seed will be a stranger
in a land that's not theirs, and serve them, and they shall
afflict them four hundred years. And that nation whom they serve
I will judge, but afterward they'll come out. And thou shalt go to
thy fathers in peace. And they'll come hither again.
They're coming back to this land. Seventy souls, not counting daughters. Seventy souls. Two hundred years
later, coming out of Egypt, well, four hundred years, coming out
of Egypt, six hundred thousand Israelites. God's word is true, isn't it? 600,000. Out of 70. Out of what? Abraham. Abraham, you're going to have
a son. And you're going to be the star. OK. 600,000. 600,000. All right.
Jacob comes to Egypt. Here he comes. What a reunion. Verse 28. Verse twenty-eight says he sent
Judah before him unto Joseph to direct his face unto Gosheh. Now, who do you think Judah represented? He said that Jacob's the sinner,
Joseph's Christ whom he's coming to. Pharaoh's the one that sent
for him and established Joseph on the throne to whom Joseph
was sent before. Who would Judah represent who
goes before to point the way? Good, somebody's with me. It's the Holy Spirit. Judah represents
the Holy Spirit. Turn over to John 14 with me.
John 14. This is more Bible study tonight
than anything. John 14. And mark this place. We're going to come back to it
again. John 14. It says that Jacob sent Judah
before him and that Joseph to direct his face unto Goshen. Look at John 14, verse 1, and
see if you can't catch the similarity. Let not your heart be troubled.
Fear not. You believe in God, believe also
in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. You remember where Joseph said,
Come on back. Come on back. you're going to dwell with me.
If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place
for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I'll come again
and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may
be also. And whither I go, you know, in
the way you know." Thomas said, we don't know where you're going,
and how can we know the way? All right, Christ said, All right, I'll send somebody
to show you the way. Verse 16, I'll pray the Father,
and he'll give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever,
even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because
it seeth him not, neither knoweth, but you know him, he dwelleth
with you. Judah was with him, wasn't he? He was right with
him. He shall be in you. He's one of you. Look at chapter
16. No, wait a minute. Look at verse
26. Chapter 14, 26. The Comforter,
which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name,
he will teach you all things and bring all things to your
remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Chapter 16 now. Turn over there. Look at verse
13. Chapter 16, verse 13. How be it when he, that is, the
Spirit of truth has come, he'll guide you into all truth. No, we don't know the way. I'll
send somebody to show you the way. He'll guide you into all
truth. And he'll speak, he'll show you
things to come. Isn't that remarkable? Isn't
that remarkable? God reconfirming his work. Now mark that, okay, and go back
to the text. Mark John 16. Go back to the text. A few more
minutes. So they came to the land of Goshen. They came to the land of Goshen. And Joseph was preparing to meet
them. He prepared to meet Jacob. Joseph
was preparing when they left. Ever since he sent them away,
Joseph was preparing to meet them. Did you hear me? I said, ever since he sent them
away, Joseph was preparing to meet them. And Christ said the same thing.
Nearly 2,000 years ago, Christ went back to the Father, and
there he dwells at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
But he's preparing to meet you, Terry Kensler. He's preparing
to meet you. He'd been preparing from that
day. He's preparing a dwelling place for you. And he said, I'm
going to come again and get you, that you may be
where I am. And Joseph, look at verse 29.
Joseph made ready his chariot. He made ready his chariot. Joseph
coming in a chariot to meet That ring a bell with anybody? Psalm
104, verse 3 says, He maketh the clouds his chariot. He maketh the clouds his chariot. And you remember that verse in
Revelation that says, Lo, he cometh. Can you quote the rest
of it? With clouds. He cometh in a chariot,
John. It's coming in a chariot to meet
us. What's that? Clouds. And that's what he said
in 2 Thessalonians, wasn't it, John? He said, the Lord shall
ascend, descend, and shall meet us in the cloud. And we shall
gather his people together with him in the cloud. And we'll go,
and there shall we ever be with the Lord. He prepared his chariot. Behold, he come. And he presented
himself unto Jacob. Look at verse twenty-nine, "...he
went up to meet Israel his father, to Goshen, and presented himself
unto him, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation." God has
presented Christ unto us. But he, oh, the next time we
see him, oh my, we'll see him as he is. And it says he fell
on his neck and wept on his neck a good while. And it's only fitting
that our Lord gave that parable of prodigal son, and the father
saw his son a long way off, and ran to meet him, and fell on
his neck, and wept." Weeping. A good while. A good while. They didn't have much to say.
They were too busy, just too overjoyed, seeing one another.
It says a good while. It means a long time. Now in heaven, there's not going
to be any more tears. If there was, there'd be a river
of them, wouldn't there? And not tears of sadness, but
tears of joy. You ever cry tears of joy? Huh? And laughter. You ever cry when
you... I have that affliction. Whenever
I laugh a lot, I cry. My eyes just water. Laughter. If there were tears, there'd
be a river of them, wouldn't there? But tears of joy. and
tears of laughter and happiness of that. But there are no more
tears. But there is going to be silence
for the space of thirty minutes as we see him. He's going to
fall on our necks and embrace us. And we ain't going to have much
to say, Stan. Words. Have you ever seen somebody unseen
in such a long time? They just aren't sufficient.
They don't do justice. And when you see somebody you
haven't seen for a long time and long to see, words aren't
necessary. They aren't necessary. There's one I'd long to see.
Oh, my. And he longs to see me. My, my. More than I do him, even. All
right, look on, read on. The Israel said unto Joseph,
Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art
yet alive. And you remember Simeon, don't
you, in the temple? God promised that he would not
die until he had seen God's Christ in that day when Mary brought
that child into the temple and that old man. Plucked her, plucked
that baby out of her arms and said, I can die now. I've seen thy salvation. I'm
ready to go. Ready to die. I've seen God's
Christ. And that's what Jacob said. Let
me die now. I've seen thy face, because thou
art yet alive. And you know, we're going to
see, when we see Christ, we're going to say the opposite. Now
I'm ready to live. I was dead while I was at you,
and now I'm ready to live for eternity with you. I don't ever
want to die now. I want to stay with you." All
right, verse 31, "...and Joseph said unto his brethren..." Now,
this is real interesting. Are you with me? Still with me?
These following verses now, I don't know if you know the meaning
of them or not, but here I believe is what they mean. "...Joseph
said unto his brethren..." and unto his father's house." Now,
I'm going to go up and show Pharaoh and say unto him, My brethren
in my father's house which were in the land of Canaan are coming
to me. Now, back to John 16, if you still have it. John 16.
Got it there? Joseph said, I'm going to go
to Pharaoh. I'm going to go to Pharaoh and
show Pharaoh and say unto him, My brethren in my father's house
are in the land, they're coming to me. They're with me. John 16, verse 15 and 16, he
says, All things that the Father hath are mine. Verse 16, A little
while you shall not see me, and again a little while you shall
see me, I'm going to the Father. Verse 27, The Father himself
loveth you. Why? Because you love me. And
I believe that I came out from God. Now, John 17. Look, I love
this verse, and it'll take on more meaning to you now, John.
Look at verse 24. John 17, 24. Father, and this is just what Joseph
said to Pharaoh. Pharaoh, my brethren are here,
my dad's here, they're all here, and I want them to stay here.
Father, Christ says concerning us, I will, that they also whom
thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold
my glory." I want them with me. They're
mine. All mine are thine, and thine
are mine. And Pharaoh said that, didn't he? We're going to see
that later on. Pharaoh was glad to see Joseph's
kin. Joseph's kin. Joe, you've got
a good name, you know? For the last several weeks, you've
had a good name. If anybody can enter into this,
you could. I like that name. I like that man. There's a greater
than he right here, and a greater than we up there. Greater than
he. My brother and my father's house,
they're coming to me. All that the Father giveth me
shall come unto me, and him that cometh unto me I will no wise
cast out. Pharaoh said, I won't cast them
out if they're yours. All right, now read on. And he's
going to say the men are shepherds. Their trade hath been to feed
cattle. They have bought their locks, their herd, and all that
they have. It shall come to pass when Pharaoh shall call you and
shall say, What is your occupation? That you shall say, I serve as
trade hath been about cattle from our youth even until now,
both we and also our father, that you may dwell in the land
of Goshen. And that's where you're going to dwell. Every shepherd's
an abomination on the Egyptians. The Egyptians didn't like shepherds,
cattle or sheep, whatever. They just didn't like them. They
thought they were lowly and worthless. Maybe it had something to do
with Abraham causing all that trouble years ago, deceiving
that fellow, you know, and multiplying and causing problems. Well, what
does this represent? Well, I believe, I believe it
represents us being brought to God. Now, being brought to God,
how are we to present ourselves to God? How are we to present
ourselves before God Almighty? What's your occupation? What
are you? What right have you got to come in here? What are
you? I was born a sinner. I always
have been a sinner. My children are sinners. That's
all we've ever done is sinned. What are you? Well, I'm a sinner. I'm a good person. Well, I've
preached and prophesied. I've cast out devil and did many
wonderful works. You know, I'm a saint now. You can't come in here. You can dwell
here if you're a shepherd. if you're a sinner. You see that?
I believe that's what that means. If you're, John, you can dwell
in this land. Now sinners are an abomination
to God. Sinners are an abomination to
God. But if you come by Joseph, you can dwell there. You can
stay. They hadn't wanted sinners up
to this point. They could defile the land, or shepherds up to
this point. I told you earlier, Joseph changed the rules, didn't
he? He was one of these shepherds,
wasn't he, John? He was one of these shepherds.
Christ was made sin for us, who knew no sin, and went before
us. Who are these? Sinners. But they're mine, and
I've made them righteous now, and you receive them on my behalf.
But we never have done this before. But for Joseph's sake, bring
them in. Bring them in. And they never
ate with the Egyptians before, but they were going to now, weren't
they? All because of Joseph. All right. Well, I hope that's
been a help to you. Stand with me. Our Heavenly Father, we thank
you for opening your Word to us a little bit, just like opening
the lid of the ark and just letting us see a little bit, or peeping
through the veil of that Holy of Holies and seeing a little
bit, just a glimmer of light from that Shekinah glory. Our
eyes are not able to behold it now fully. Many things you have
to say unto us, we're not able to bear them now. But someday
we shall see, we shall behold him, and all questions will be
answered. We'll behold him, we'll know
as we have been known. But now, we're content with a
little bit of light. a little bit of light, just a
taste, which is a foretaste of that glory divine. And we ask
that you would continue to give us a portion of your Word, feed
us from it, just a morsel here and there, a few crumbs from
the Master's table from thy Word. Thank you, our great Lord and
Master who sits on the throne of heaven. Thank you. And we look forward to that day
when you shall come. We shall meet you in the clouds
and go to be with you forever. A joyful reunion. And until that
day, lead us, guide us, direct us by your Holy Spirit, whom
you sent to be with us and never to depart from us. Guide our
steps. Let us consult him. Let us seek
his face in all that we do. and see that we fall not out
by the way, by your power and by your grace, we pray in Christ's
name. Amen.