I want to talk to you tonight
about living or dwelling in Goshen. Living or dwelling in Goshen. I read that to you here in Exodus
chapter 8. The Lord says in verse 22, if
I may read a portion of this again, the Lord says, and I will
sever in that day the land of Goshen in which my people dwell. dwelling in Goshen. The children
of Israel lived in Goshen in the nation of Egypt. Egypt represents
the world. And of course, Israel represents
the true people of God. That's not to say that all of
national Israel were believers. Most of them were not. but they
represent, they do portray the true church of our Lord Jesus
Christ that He redeemed by His blood. They represent all of
the children of God of all ages. We travel through this world.
We're traveling through Egypt. Egypt represents the world. And
the land of Goshen represents that city of God where the Lord
dwells and therefore where his people dwell. Goshen represents
that location where God took care of his children. And in
that sense, wherever the people of God are, wherever you live
in your house, in your location, and those who are watching this
tonight, wherever you live, that is for us the land of Goshen. We're the true Israel of God. And the Lord says He will be
in the land of Goshen. He is always with His children. The thing that the Israelites
had to constantly be reminded of was that the Lord was with
them. He had seen what was going on. The Lord heard their cries and
their cries to the Lord came from the work of the Spirit of
God within their hearts, leading them to cry out to the Lord in
their time of trouble, in their time of difficulty. And the Lord arranged for them
to live in the land of Goshen. They didn't have to cross the
Nile River to get there. You'll remember that they arrived
in the land of Goshen because of a series of events that God
himself put into motion directing all things that happened. Joseph
had been exalted. but only exalted after he had
been humiliated, after he had been brought low. And of course,
Joseph is a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. He humbled himself
and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross of
Calvary, in order to save his people from their sins. And having
been obedient to the Lord, having stooped down so low, as to suffer
the pains of death, the pains of being forsaken by God as a
reward for his accomplishment of the work of redemption, God
the Father exalted him and gave him a name which is above every
name. And Joseph pictures our Lord
Jesus in that he was brought low and then he was exalted. And after he was exalted, he
entertained his brothers. His brothers came to buy food. And we have worked through that
story in the book of Genesis, so I won't rehearse that to you
again. But Joseph revealed to them who
he was. And Joseph said to them, you're
going to live in the greatest area of the nation of Egypt. You're going to live in the land
of Goshen, Goshen. Go back with me to the book of
Genesis and go back to chapter 46. And let me tell you this, I read
there to you from Exodus chapter 8, where the Lord made a difference. It says the Lord made a division. A division. The word division,
and I probably should have kept you there in Exodus just a couple
of minutes longer, if you want to hold your place in Genesis.
Go back over to Exodus chapter 8. Let me just show you this
one word. God said in verse 23 of chapter
8, and I will put a division. If you did a little word study,
and you can do a word study as easily as I can, you just get
your good concordance, Strong's concordance is a good one, Young's
concordance or Cruden's concordance, and do a little word study, and
you'll find that the root word for division is redeem. It's used well over 50 times. The root word is used over 50
times in the Old Testament. It is translated as redemption
or redeem or ransom as in the book of Job where the Lord says,
release him from going down to the pit. I have found a ransom.
You see, the great difference between Israel and the Egyptians
was redemption. which is a work that God would
do on their behalf. He didn't redeem the Egyptians. He didn't redeem the Amorites. He didn't redeem the Moabites.
of all of the people of earth, and we'll see that as we get
to the last, the tenth, the plague, the death of the firstborn. We'll
see it more fully. Of all the nations of the earth,
God only provided and appointed the Passover land for Israel,
for His people, because redemption is specific. It's not in general. It's a particular work that God
did for his people. And so he says here, I will put
a division between my people and thy people. Our Lord Jesus
Christ did not redeem the whole world. He redeemed his people. He paid the ransom that we owe
to the justice of God. Now go back over with me to the
book of Genesis now. And we've studied, of course,
the book of Genesis quite thoroughly. But as we go back to, let's see,
I jotted a verse down here I wanted to read to you. Chapter 45, I'm sorry. Chapter
45. Here in chapter 45, Joseph reveals
himself to his brethren. Chapter 45 verse 3, And Joseph
said unto his brethren, I am Joseph. Doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer
him, for they were troubled at his presence. And Joseph said
unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came
near, and he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into
Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved
nor angry with yourselves that you sold me hither, for God did
send me before to preserve life. For these two years hath the
famine been in the land." There are five years left. In the land
there shall be neither earing nor harvest. And God sent me
before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth and to save your
lives by great deliverance." And you can see the pictures
of our Lord Jesus Christ here. They're very plentiful. They're
abundant in setting forth our Redeemer, the Savior. God sent
him to save his people by great deliverance. There's no greater
deliverance than that. sacrifice of our Lord Jesus. So look at verse eight. So now
it was not you that sent me hither, 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. Haste ye, and go up to my father,
and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph. God hath made
me Lord of all Egypt. Come down unto me, tarry not. Thou shalt dwell in the land
of Goshen. Thou shalt dwell in the land
of Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto me. The word Goshen
means drawing near. You see, here's what Joseph is
saying to them. You're gonna have the finest
location in all of Egypt, and that which is going to make it
especially wonderful, I'm drawing you near to me. And is that not
a picture of effectual grace? The Lord draws us to himself. Our Savior said there in John
chapter 6, He's talking about no man can come to me except
the Father which hath sent me do what? Draw him. Draw him. And He says, I'll raise him up
at the last day. Joseph said, I'm going to make
sure that you live and dwell and abide in the land of Goshen
near me. And I tell you, all of the people
of God, wherever we live, It is though we're in the land of
Goshen because the Lord is there. And this is what ought to encourage
all of the people of God. Whatever your situation, whatever
your difficulty, whatever the pleasantness, whatever the sorrow,
whatever the joy, whatever the distress, whatever the tribulation,
whatever the cheerfulness, the Lord is with you. He said, I'll
never leave you, I'll never forsake you. We all in that sense live
in the land of Goshen because Christ has drawn us unto himself. And he says, I'll be with you
to the end of the age. To the end of the age. You see, here's what the Lord
did. He hid his church in the Old Testament in the land of
Goshen. He hid his people there. And
the words of Isaiah 27 verse 3 are very appropriate. The Lord
said, I the Lord do keep it, that is, I watch over that city
every moment. Lest anybody hurt it, I will
keep it night and day. And so the Lord keeps the city
of Goshen. Oh, there were surrounding storms
that fell upon the land of Goshen, but Israel wasn't harmed by the
storms. The Lord turned the waters of
the Egyptians into blood, but the Lord converts the water into
the wine of the gospel. When the Lord sent the plague
of flies which filled all the houses of Egypt in the land of
Goshen, there was none. It was like an invisible barrier. You couldn't touch it. You couldn't
see it. You couldn't feel it. But there
was a division. There's a redemption there. There's
protection there that the Lord provided for His people that
He didn't provide for the Egyptians. And I tell you, people of God,
there is an invisible barrier all the way around you. You can't
see it. You can't touch it. You can't
feel it. You can't smell it. Your physical
eyes shall never behold it, but nevertheless there is an invisible
barrier around you because you are the children of God. And
the Lord says to us, as Joseph said to Jacob and his brethren,
you're going to live near me. Isn't that a sweet thought? The Lord says, you're going to
live near me. And He visits us every day. And one of these days, He's just
going to take us to His house. Spurgeon relates the story in
the book of Genesis where an Enoch walked with God, and he
was not, for God took him. Spurgeon says he imagined it,
that Enoch and the Lord walked in fellowship every day. And
then Enoch would say, it's getting late in the day, and I must go
home. And Mr. Spurgeon said, he said,
I just imagined it this way. He says, one day, Enoch walked
with the Lord, and Enoch said, I must go home. And the Lord
said, it's closer to my home than it is yours. Just come on
home with me. And that's what's going to happen
to us one of these days. He dwells with us here. He really
dwells with us. It's not fiction. It's not a
fable. It's real. And one of these days
the Lord's going to say, it's time for you to leave the land
of Goshen down there and come to my home in heaven above. In all the trials of life, the
Lord is with His children, and He will never, ever leave us. So understand this. The difference
between Israel and Egypt was a difference God made. And in this matter of redemption,
in this matter of salvation, the forgiveness of sins, Being
made the righteousness of God through the substitutionary sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is all the work of God.
You think about Jacob and his sons. Joseph, of course, is in
Egypt already. But you think about Jacob and
his family. They're in the land of Canaan. this placement of them in the
land of Goshen. What did they have to do with
that? Was this their work? Was this
their idea? Was this their solution to the
difficulty of the famine? No! It's Joseph, it's Joseph
who comes to the rescue. Joseph, a picture of our blessed
Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, He saw us in our dilemma and
He came to our rescue. It wasn't that we went to Him,
He came to us. It wasn't that we sought Him,
He sought us. It wasn't that we were drawn,
we drew ourselves to Him, but rather He drew us to Himself
just like Joseph. Said, you're gonna live near
me. I'm drawing you near unto me. Are you close to the Lord?
Well, if you're a believer, you are. Well, how close is he? Closer than your breath. Nearer, so nearer I cannot be. For in the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ, I'm as near to God as he. Now you think about
that. I'm as near to God as He. So
the difference between Israel and Egypt was a difference God
made. And the same is true with the Israel of God, that is, the
elect of God in Christ Jesus. They were a chosen people, so
are we. They were chosen to physical
blessings, we were chosen to spiritual blessings. They were
a covenant people. God made a covenant with Abraham.
We're a covenant people. God made a covenant within the
Trinity, the Father, Son, and Spirit. The Father choosing,
the Son redeeming, the Spirit of God calling and quickening
and revealing and guiding and teaching and instructing us in
all the things of Christ Jesus. They were a redeemed people. Redeemed out of Egyptian bondage
by the blood of the Passover lamb. Saved. Saved from death. You who are the Lord's people,
you are a saved people. Delivered. Delivered. The judgment
of God will never come to you. You say, well, I get sick sometimes. That's not judgment. That's not
penal suffering. All the penalty for our sins
has been suffered in our blessed substitute. He's the one who
endured the agonies of the wrath of God. The fullness of the wrath
of God was felt in his holy soul. And because he bore our judgment,
there is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus.
And when you get sick, that's not the judgment of God. God
has no judgment for his people. God has no punishment for his
people. You say, well, the Lord does
chastise his people. That's not punishment. That's
not punishment for our sins. That's the Lord teaching us.
That's the Lord instructing us. And we're not prepared. We can't
say every sickness is, that's chastisement. I don't know that.
I don't know the mind of God in sending things to us. I know
that everything he sends to us is good for us and instructive
for us. These were a blessed people.
They can't be cursed. You remember King, what was his
name? Balak of the Moabites? He saw
the devastation of one of the enemies of Israel, the Amorites,
and he feared that his nation would suffer the same fate. So
he hired a false preacher. They're always for sale. They're
always for sale. He hired Balaam because he believed
Balaam had power to pronounce a curse upon people. So he hired
him. He said, I want you to curse
Israel. But he couldn't do it. God wouldn't let him do it. In fact, Numbers chapter 22,
verse 18, Balaam said, if Balak would offer me his house full
of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord
my God. I cannot curse those whom God
has blessed. There can be no cursing of the
people of God. Because our Lord Jesus was made
a curse for us. He redeemed us from the curse
of the law. Galatians 3.13 says that. And they were a people who were
called out of cruel bondage. Not by their power, but by the
power of the Lord. Oh, there's a whole lot of them
in Egypt, in the land of Goshen. But they had no ability to liberate
themselves. That's gotta be of God. Here's what I'm trying to impress
upon you. They were different. And we're
different. We're different. Now at first,
There doesn't appear to be any difference between the people
of God and those who will never believe the gospel. And there
is no difference because all have sinned and come short of
the glory of God. But the difference will eventually
be made known. It will be made known that this
group over here is a redeemed people. God made a division. God saved them. God made them
righteous. God put away their sins. They
just don't know about it yet, but they'll be informed in conversion. How did the Jews wind up in Goshen
in the first place? Because that's where God put
them. And the reason you're in the family of God, make no mistake
about it, It's got nothing to do with your decision. It's got
nothing to do with your faith. It's got nothing to do with your
repentance. The reason you're in the family
of God is because He put you in the family of God. You are
predestinated to be adopted into His family. Why are they in Goshen? To be close to Joseph. Why are
we in the family of God? Why are we in Goshen? Be close
to Christ. He drew us in. Did you know that
the city of, turn to Exodus chapter one. Did you know that the city
in which they lived, or the territory in which they lived, Goshen,
had a treasure city in it that the Israelites had to build. Look at Exodus chapter 1 and
verse 11. Therefore they set over them
taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built
for Pharaoh treasure cities. Now watch this. Treasure cities,
Python and Ramses. Now back up to Genesis 47 in
verse 11. 47, 11. Now we know these people
are going to be living in Goshen. So it says in verse 11, and Joseph
placed his father and his brethren and gave them a possession in
the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Ramses,
as Pharaoh had commanded. That's where they're gonna live.
And it's called a treasure city over here in Exodus chapter one.
They're in a treasure city. You know what the treasure is?
You know what the treasure is? It's a treasure city. Ramesses
is a treasure city. If the treasure is our Lord Himself
in the midst of the city, there's the treasure. Now, I know we're
called the jewels of the Lord. We're His precious treasure. But the Gospel of Christ Jesus
is said to be that treasure that's hidden. The fact that the Lord was with
them, that made it a treasure city. Oh, people of God, we live,
we dwell in a treasure city. Because you see, the Lord is
with us. That's what makes it a treasure. To you who believe, therefore,
he is what? Precious. And God called him
elect and precious to him. Our Lord Jesus is the treasure
of the city of Goshen, Rameses. And I'll tell you this, Goshen
was regarded by most Egyptians as scarcely worthy to be called
a part of Egypt. Quick, turn back to Genesis 46. Look at Genesis 46, 34. Verse 33 says, It shall come
to pass, Joseph talked to his brethren, when Pharaoh shall
call you and shall say, this is chapter 46, What is your occupation that
ye shall say thy servants trade hath been about cattle from our
youth even until now, both we and also our fathers, that ye
may dwell in the land of Goshen? For every shepherd is an abomination
unto the Egyptians." Goshen was regarded, even though it was
A very fertile land, watered by an arm of the Nile River. There was kind of an offshoot
of the Nile River that ran through Goshen. It was a very fertile
land. It was wonderful pasture. Wonderful
pasture. But the Egyptians, they didn't
think too much of it because that's where the sheep and that's
where the cattle were. In fact, read down further and
look in chapter 47. Look at verse 5. I'll just read
this to you. And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph,
saying, Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee. The land
of Egypt is before thee. In the best of the land, make
thy father and brethren to dwell. In the land of Goshen, let them
dwell. That's where they're going to
live. And if thou knowest any men of activity among them, then
make them rulers over my cattle, because that's where I got my
cows over there. I've got my cattle. I've got
my flocks. I've got my animals grazing in
the pastures of Goshen, even though the Egyptians despised
the shepherd. And I tell you, the world despises,
number one, the shepherd. of the sheep, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And number two, they despised
the under-shepherds of the great shepherd. That is, those who
preach the gospel. They have no time for them. They
have no patience with them. And they don't want to hear what
they have to say. And I'll say this, two more things. Goshen was near the border wasn't
far from the border of Palestine. They were ever so close to the
land of promise. And you and I, who dwell in the
land of Goshen, we're never very far from our true homeland. And before long, we'll all be
there. It's just a breath away, and we'll go home. And then let
me give you this in the last place. Go back to Exodus 8. Goshen was the land where divine
judgment did not fall. Chapter 8, verse 22, I shall
read again, and I will sever in that day the land of Goshen,
in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there. To the end that thou mayest know
that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth. And then chapter
nine and verse 26. This is concerning the hail and
fire mingled with the hail. Verse 26, only in the land of
Goshen, where the children of Israel were, Was there no hell? There's no judgment to the people
of God. Judgment can't come to us. It's like the Lord, like a mighty hunter had a quiver
full of arrows and he put one arrow after another in his bow
and shot it into the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ. until
there were no errors left." There's no error for you. There's
no judgment for you. There's no condemnation for you.
And so we read, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's
elect? There are no charges against
us. Because all charges have been paid, all the penalty for
sin has been endured. There is therefore now no condemnation,
no penalty, no judgment to those who are in Christ Jesus, who
walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. Say, where
do we live? We live in Goshen. We live in
Goshen, don't forget that. We're near to the Savior because
he has drawn us to himself. Isn't this a sweet gospel? What Joseph did for his brethren,
Christ has done that and infinitely more for all of his family. And there's an invisible barrier
around us. Nothing can harm you. Don't worry
about it. What about this, that, or something
else? Can't harm his soul. It's all right. It's all right. We're in the land of Goshen.
We dwell in Goshen. Let's sing a closing song.