I'm starting a live stream here
too, and I hope that you all can see me and hear me. This
is a very unusual situation. I've never been like this, and
neither have you. I do miss, I felt like getting
up, getting ready to go to church, go to services because we've
done it so much over the years. And it really feels strange not
being able to go. But let me tell you how much
I love and appreciate all of you. And this is something we
couldn't have done several years ago, that we could have met like
this. and worship together by these
means. And I'm very, very thankful that
God has provided us these means. And it's been a wonderful, wonderful
thing. And I hope I'll be able to preach
and make myself understood this way sitting here at my desk in
my office. But I do want to tell you how
much I love you and appreciate you. And you're getting up to
listen to us this evening. And I just wish we all could
meet together, but maybe soon. Maybe soon we'll be able to.
Now if you've got your Bibles handy, turn to Genesis chapter
42. Genesis chapter 42. And I want
us to look at that something Joseph knew and
we didn't. It's like our Lord Jesus Christ.
He knows. He knew us when we didn't know
Him. And so, we're continuing with
the Old Testament pictures of Christ. And so, in Genesis chapter
42, in verse 8, it says, And Joseph knew his brethren, but
they knew him not. Joseph knew his brethren, but
his brethren knew him not. Joseph came out of great tribulation,
great tribulation, to ascend the throne, to go from the prison
to the palace. He's now ascended to the highest
place of privilege and honor. And like our Lord Jesus Christ,
he was despised by his brethren. and exalted by Pharaoh to be
his own right hand. And our Lord Jesus Christ was
despised and rejected, a man of sorrows and acquainted with
grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from Him. And oh, and
I tell you, God exalted His blessed Son to His right hand, and He's
the King of kings. And when Joseph, in his humiliation,
He is so despised and rejected and our Lord Jesus Christ while
he is on this earth he was despised in his humiliation coming down
and assuming human nature. You know it says in Luke 19.14
that they sent messengers to him and said we will not have
this man to reign over us and one thing that they said was
we know who he is we know who he is he can't be god he can't
be the son of god he's the carpenter's son so he was despised as a man. Now I want to read verses 1 through
5 of Genesis 42 and bring a message here and we'll see the Lord Jesus
Christ clearly and plainly I believe. Now when Jacob saw that there
was corn in Egypt Jacob said unto his sons, Why do you look
one upon another? And he said, Behold, I have heard
that there is corn in Egypt. Get you down there, and buy for
us from this, that we may live, and not die. And Joseph's ten
brethren went down to buy corn in Egypt. But Benjamin, Joseph's
brother, said Jacob not with his brethren, for he said, lest
peradventure might befall him. Just ten men went. Joseph was
missing and Benjamin was the baby, the son of his right hand. And the sons of Israel came to
buy corn among those that came, for the famine was in the land
of Canaan. Now Joseph was unknown by his
brethren, but Joseph knew all of his brethren. He recognized
them. He knew who they were when they got there. And so he knew
his brethren. He is their kinsman, they didn't
know it. He was their Savior, they didn't
know it. He was their Redeemer, and they didn't know it. And
as long as He remains unknown to them, His dealings and how
He deals with them is very mysterious. And that's the way our Lord Jesus
Christ dealt with us, our kinsmen, our Redeemer, our Savior, until
He makes Himself known to us and His ways and His dealings
with us by the Holy Ghost seem strange, seem mysterious. But
first of all, look at the attitude that Joseph assumed when he saw
his brethren. Down in verse 23, It said, and
they knew not that Joseph understood them. They were talking among
themselves. And Joseph, it said, they knew
not that Joseph understood them, for he spake unto them by an
interpreter. And that's the way it is with
us. Before they were reconciled to him, he couldn't talk to them
as brothers, as friends, face to face. He was the ruler. He was the one ruling over them. And he understood everything
there was about them. But yet they did not know him.
So he used an interpreter. And Job said this in Job 33.23.
He said, If there be one messenger among a thousand to show him
his uprightness, to show the Lord Jesus Christ his uprightness,
And you know the only way we can understand God and understand
His Word and ever be known by God and know God is through the
Holy Ghost. He's the interpreter of our Lord's
dealings with us. In John chapter 16, if you want
to look there with me, in John chapter 16, look what it says
over here. Look with me at it. John 16,
talking about we wouldn't, you know, The Holy Ghost is the interpreter
of our Lord's dealings with us and for us. Because we wouldn't
have known if He hadn't taught us. Our Lord Jesus said in John
16, 12, I have yet many things to say unto you. I've got a lot
of things to say. I've got a whole Bible of things
to say unto you. But you cannot bear them now.
You're not able to get it. You can't understand it. How
be it when He When He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will come. When He, the Spirit of Truth,
is come, He'll guide you into all truth. We can't go into truth. We can't find truth. We don't
know truth. He has to guide us into the truth. And He'll guide us into all truth
concerning Christ, concerning God. For He shall not speak of
Himself. The Holy Spirit of Truth shall
not speak of Himself. But whatsoever he shall hear,
that shall he speak, and he'll show you things to come, and
he shall glorify me. For he shall receive of mine,
and shall show it unto you. And all things that the Father
hath, they are mine. Therefore said I unto you, therefore
said I that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto
you. He has to be the one to take
the sayings of Christ, the Spirit of Christ, the knowledge of Christ,
the glory of Christ, and he has to show us unto them. And we
don't know the truth unless he guides us into the truth. And
while we were strangers to him, as these men are strangers to
Joseph, Joseph knows them, and he's a stranger to them. And
we're strangers to our Lord Jesus Christ, and before he deals with
us in grace and mercy, he can only deal with us as a ruler,
not as our brother. But I tell you beloved we should
be thankful that he's pleased to speak to us in any way at
all But look at the way he speaks first the first way he speaks
to him look here in verse 7 Genesis 42 7 and Joseph saw his
brethren and he knew them and but made himself strange unto
them, and spake roughly unto them. And he said unto them,
Whence come ye? And they said, From the land
of Canaan, to buy food. And down in verse 9, look what
he says, And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of
them, and said unto them, Ye are spies, to see the nakedness
of the land. Ye are come. Now he spake roughly
with them, you think now he'd be so happy to see him so glad
to see him but no he spake roughly to him and in the margin he said
he spake hard things to them and that's the way our Lord Jesus
Christ did and he spake roughly unto them and that's the way
God does with us he speaks pretty rough to us at the beginning
You know our Lord Jesus Christ when He was preaching and He
said, except you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you can have
no part of me. And He said, I am that true bread
which came down from heaven. And they said, this is a hard
saying. Who can hear it? And our Lord
Jesus said, it's the Spirit that gives life. It's the Spirit that
quickens. The flesh profits nothing. And it's like when our Lord preached
to Nicodemus, and he came to him by night. Nicodemus didn't
understand what our Lord Jesus Christ was saying. And he told
Nicodemus, he told Nicodemus, if I told you of earthly things,
how will you understand heavenly things? And he spoke rough. And then the woman at the well,
when he met the woman at the well, he spoke hard things to
her. He said, go call your husband. I don't have a husband. And our
Lord Jesus said, you told the truth. He knew her alive. And He spoke hard things to her. Go call your husband. I don't
have one. You've had five. You've had five. And so our Lord
speaks hard things to us to get our attention. I mean, beloved,
you know, He speaks pretty hard things to us. When we first hear
the Gospel, they are indeed hard things to find out how sinful
we are, to find out how holy He is, to find out how sovereign
He is, and to find out that He has an election of grace. All
those were hard things. And unless He speaks hard things
to us, we'll never listen until He gets our attention. And He
will get a man's attention. And when He's got your attention,
He'll have it for the rest of your life. But the thing He has
to do is He has to bring His brethren to a sense of their
sinfulness. A sense of their sinfulness.
They don't know Him. And they don't regret what they
did to him. They're not sorry that they sold
him into slavery. They're not sorry that they took
him from his father. And a soul, I tell you this,
beloved, a soul will never love and appreciate forgiveness till
they have something to be forgiven of. And that's men's problems. They don't have anything to be
forgiven of. But it's like that woman that
wore the feet of our Savior with her tears and dried them with
the hairs of her head. Our Lord Jesus said, her sins,
which are many, are forgiven. For he that is forgiven of much
loves much. And I tell you only the people
that love and appreciate being forgiven is those who have need
of forgiveness. And I want you to notice not
only does he speak roughly to them, But I tell you what, he
spoke roughly to them and said, oh, spoke roughly to them and
called them spies. They said, you've come here to
spy out the land. You've come here to see our nakedness
here. But oh, after Joseph dealt with
them this way in their speech toward them, look what happened
in verse 21. Look what happened in verse 21. And they said one to another,
We are truly, verily guilty concerning our brother, in that he saw the
anguish of his soul when he besought us. Therefore is this distress
come upon us. And Reuben answered them, saying,
Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child?
And you would not hear. Therefore, behold, also his blood
is required. And oh, beloved, I tell you what,
this is what happened when now Joseph dealt with them. And this
is how it is when God deals with us when he has come. When the
interpreters come, when the Holy Spirit comes, the first thing
He does is He convinces of sin. That's the first thing He does
is convince a man of sins. And He did His work here. They're
convicted. They know they're guilty. But
that's not the way they started out. Look back over in verse
11. Look how they first started out
talking to Joseph. And the way we start out talking
to our Lord Jesus Christ and acting this way. And they said,
verse 11, we are all one man's sons. We are true men, honest
men, good men. That's what they're saying to
Joseph. That's what we say to God. Oh,
we're not no spies. We've not done any of those things.
We're good men. We're true men. And he said unto
them, No, but you have come to see the nakedness of the land
you are come. And they said, Thy servants are twelve brethren,
the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. And behold, the youngest
is this day with our father. And listen to this, and warn
he is not. They did not know what they had
done. They did not know their standing
in the one's presence whom they had so mistreated. And Joseph
said unto them, That is, that I spake unto you, saying, Ye
are spies. And he said, Hereby you shall
be proved by the life of Pharaoh. You shall not go forth from here,
not go forth hence, except your youngest brother comes down here. Gotta bring your youngest brother
here. Send one of you and let him fetch your brother, and you
shall be kept in prison, that your words may be proved, that
you may show to be telling the truth. whether there be any truth
in you. That's the thing God says. Is
there any truth in you? Or else by the life of Pharaoh,
surely you're spies. And he put them all together
in ward for three days. He put these men in prison. He
sent them in prison. He locked them up. He'd come
to make them understand what an awful wretch they were. And
now, beloved, then they says, yes, we're guilty. They're in
jail. They're in prison. And they're
talking this. And that's the way it is when
Christ comes. And the Holy Spirit comes. Now
their sin is before them. Now they've got no place to hide. Now they know what are we going
to do. And sin is made exceeding sinful to them now. Especially,
especially in the presence of the one to whom against they
sin. Oh, His blood is required of
us now. Oh, His blood. We're surely guilty. God's opened their heart to Joseph.
Their heart's been opened now. And He bound them in prison.
Well, how long did He leave them in prison? Until it was time
for him to let them go. Until he appointed their freedom. And when he did set them free,
they would surely, surely appreciate being set free, and all listened. This is a blessing. So I tell
you what, Joseph, the way he spoke roughly to them, then put
them in jail, put them in prison, and I tell you, God brings us
to the prison house of sin, and we can't get out. We can't get
out. The only person can let us out
is like Joseph let his brethren out. Only Christ can save us
from prison. He comes to set the prisoner
free. And I tell you, here's the only
way that they're going to be saved. The only way they're going
to be saved is by a substitute. They're going to be saved by
a substitute. And that's what Joseph says to
them. He said in verse 15, He said, You will not go forth his,
except your youngest brother comes here. Send one of you,
just one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and you shall
be kept in prison. And then, beloved, then he says
there in verse 17, put them all in prison to three days. And Joseph said unto them the
third day, this do and live, for I fear God. If you be true men, look what
he says, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of prison,
the house of your prison, though you carry famine in the houses. But he said, look what else he
said there in verse 20, but bring your youngest brother unto me. So shall your words be verified
then, and you shall not die. The only way you're not going
to die. The only way in the world that you never come into my presence
again. The only way in the world I'm
going to accept you is for you to bring your younger brother
to me. I want him set before me. I want to see. And if you're
going to leave somebody here, and somebody's going to stay
here and you're going to bring him back and if you don't, you'll
die. Surely you'll die unless he comes
and you bring him back to me. And this is exactly the way salvation
is. It's by a substitute. It's by
one taking the place of another. And beloved, our Lord Jesus Christ,
bless His holy name. When God called us to give an
account before Him, And we were so bound by sin, bound by guilt,
bound by our wretchedness, that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself
bore our sins in His own body on the tree and took our sins
upon Himself. And beloved, God says now, because
He bore our sins, now we can approach God. Now we can live. Now we've been delivered. Now
we've been saved. How? By a substitute. God said He would provide Himself
a Lamb, and that Lamb was His own blessed Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And thank God, thank God that
He Himself put Himself between us and God. And now, beloved,
because of His blood, His death, He went before God. And when
He died, we died. When He was buried, we were buried.
When He arose, we arose with Him. And when He ascended on
high, we ascended on high with Him. But this is what Joseph
says, except you bring your younger brother to me, You're going to
die. You're going to die. But then,
but they came back. They came back. And look, look
what a blessed, blessed privilege happened when they came back.
In verse 43, in chapter 43, in verse 16. They came back. They came back. And look what
it says here in verse 16. And when Joseph saw Benjamin
with them, they brought the substitute. They brought the one he said
to bring. They weren't going to go back
down there. They told their father Joseph. We're not going back
down there. We can't face that man. He told
us if we didn't bring our little brother, didn't bring our youngest
brother, we couldn't go. We'd die. And if we stay here,
we're going to starve to death. So I tell you, Joseph said, oh
my, you're going to take me to my grave, taking my youngest
son with me. And I've already been bereaved
of one. Taken one's been taken away from
me, even Joseph. And oh my, so if you send Benjamin
down there, oh how am I going to, what am I going to do if
he don't bring him back with me? And then in verse 16 again,
when Joseph saw Benjamin with them, oh my, he did just, they
did what he said. We brought Benjamin, our beloved,
that's the son of the right hand. That's what Benjamin was, he
was the son of Jacob's right hand Christ our Lord is the son
of God's love the son that sets right now at the right hand of
God with all power and authority vested in him and then look what
he said after they brought Benjamin to him he said to the ruler of
his house Bring these men home. Bring them home. You notice he
didn't say now listen you fellas go by my house is over here.
You go over there and find it. He says you bring them home.
And the only way we're ever going to get home, the only way we're
going to get in the presence of Christ is to be brought brought
and he brought us to himself. He brought us to himself. He said bring these men home,
slay and make ready for these men shall dine with me at noon. Oh, they went from being scared
to death without bringing Benjamin when Joseph saw Benjamin. They've acknowledged their sins
and said, Oh, we're guilty. Oh, we're guilty. God's found
out our iniquity. Now what grace, what grace Joseph
is showing them. Now they're going to be brought
into Joseph's house. He's the Prince. He's the Exalted
One. He's the Savior. He's the One
that's got all the food. He's the One that's got all the
authority. And He says, you come home and you dine with Me. And I tell you, our Lord Jesus
Christ, He told His disciples when they were on the sea fishing,
and He asked them, said, have you caught anything? They said,
no Lord, we don't have anything. Have you had any food? No, no.
And they saw a fire. and coals on the fire, and fish
on the fire, and some bread. And our Lord Jesus Christ said
to them, Come and dine. Come and dine. And that's the
way it is with our Lord Jesus Christ. What grace! These men
went back fishing, Peter and John and James, and all of them
went back fishing, went back to their old professions. But
Christ called them, Come with me. Come! Come and dine. Sit down here and eat. And that's
what East Joseph is telling these men now. You've done, you've
brought that substitute. You've brought that one that
I wanted to see. And God says when you brought
the substitute, when we come before Him with the blessed name
of Christ, with the precious blood of Christ, with the righteousness
of Christ. Oh, we didn't have nothing. But
he said, come and dine, come and dine, come and dine. Oh, what a blessed, blessed thing
it is to come and dine and be with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
look, look at Joseph's compassion and our Lord's compassion. You
know, Three times we find Joseph weeping. Three times we find
Joseph weeping. And our Lord Jesus Christ, He
wept. But let me show you the three
times that He wept. Here in Genesis 42 and verse
24. And He turned from Himself when
He spake by an interpreter. He turned Himself about from
them and wept. and wept, and then turned to
them again, and communed with them, and took from them Simeon,
and bound him before their eyes. But he turned himself and wept.
Oh, he had compassion on them as they stood before him. Look
in chapter 43 and verse 30. And Joseph, Joseph made haste
For his vows did yearn upon his brother, and he saw where to
weep, and he entered into his chamber, and he wept there. But all look in chapter 45 and
verse 2. And Joseph, he wept aloud, and
the Egyptians in the house of Pharaoh heard. And oh, he had
such compassion, the way his brethren had treated him. But
he still had such compassion on them, he wept for them. And
our Lord Jesus Christ, when he stood before Lazarus too, the
scripture says that he wept, that he cried. And then when
he stood over Jerusalem, and he wept over Jerusalem, said,
How often would I have gathered you, as a hen doth gather her
chicks, but you would not. So to think about the compassion,
how many times did our Lord Jesus Christ say, when he looked on
the crowd, He had compassion, and he fed them, and he healed
them, and he took care of them. He said, they're like sheep not
having a shepherd. And oh, even when he was speaking
roughly, there was tenderness in his heart, because he turned
around where they couldn't see him, and he wept, and he wept. Now I'm not saying that our Lord
Jesus Christ weeps over us, but he wept over men while he was
on this earth. And I, when I do know this, that
He has an incredible, His compassion, His compassions fell not, they're
new every morning, and His mercies are new every morning. And all
the compassion that Christ has, that compassion means to be able
to have a, enter into the feelings of another, passion. And it means
to come in to the passion of another, the feelings and the
hurt and the anguish of another. And so when he was speaking roughly,
there was tenderness in his heart. Oh may God give us compassion. Give us compassion when we see
people in need. When we see people hurting, God
give us compassion. Paul said, you know, I've told
you that they are, I tell you, even weeping now, even weeping,
he said, that there's men who are the enemies of the cross
of Christ. He wept over that. He didn't
rejoice in it. He wasn't angry. And I'll tell
you something, beloved, love will always win. Love will always
win. Always come out. And love will
never fail. and it's the one blessed thing
you know the thing that broke our hearts more than anything
our hard hearts was to find out by the Holy Spirit find out from
our Lord Jesus Christ to find out from His Word that He loved
us with an everlasting love and with cords of loving kindness
He drew us oh what a blessed thing that we didn't love Him. We didn't even know Him. But
He loved us before we ever were. And then when the time of love
come, He spread His skirt over us. And in His comeliness, His
beauty, we were made comely. And all beloved had loved us
with an everlasting love. And Hosea says this, he said,
I will love them freely No, they'll not have to do anything. They'll
not have to do anything to cause me to love them. They can never
do anything to cause me to love them. They can do a thousand
things to keep me from love, but there's nothing they can
do to ever keep me from loving them. And once He loves us, and
to find out that it was love that caused Him, He loved having
loved His own, and having loved His brethren, He went to that
cruel cross and bore our sins. And all is because He loved us.
And beloved, hold to love us freely. And He'll never stop
loving us. And he loved us long, long, long. And that's what broke my heart.
And it still breaks my heart to think that I could sin against
such blessed love as the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I want you
to notice now that he gained a victory. Joseph, he gained
a victory over his brethren. And he got what he wanted out
of them. Now see, look down here in verse 44 and chapter 3 verse
33 Do you know the story about Jacob? I mean Judah Judah is
the one who stood here Judah was the one who was talking and
back up in verse 14 there He fell on the ground before Joseph
And he said this You keep me He said in verse 33 Verse 31, it shall come to pass
that the lad is not with us that he will die, talking about his
father Jacob, and shall go down with his gray hairs unto the
sorrow, to the grave. For thy servant became surety
for the lad unto my father, saying, If I bring him not unto thee,
then I shall bear the blame to my father forever. Therefore
I pray thee, let thy servant abide as to the lad, a bondman
to my Lord, and let the lad go up with his brethren." See, Judah
was the one who sold the Lord Jesus Christ. Judah is the one
who ended up mistreating the young man. It's said in Genesis
37, In verse 26, And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit
is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood? Come,
let us sell him to the Ishmaelites. And let not our hand be upon
him, for he is our brother, and our flesh. And his brethren were
content. And now this very Judah is saying,
I told my father I'd be surety for him. I'd be sure to, for
I stand good for Him. I would pay, and if He does not
get to go home and go back to the Father, go back to my Father,
then let me bear the blame. And that's the way our Lord Jesus
Christ was. He, He was our surety. He bore the blame for everyone
that the Father gave Him. He blew, took the blame for everything
that we ever did. But you know after He took the
blame, you know what happened? We are now blameless, harmless,
undefiled. We are blameless and holy without
blemish before Him in love. And that's what He said, let
me abide that stood in the land. Let me be a bondman to my Lord.
And that's the way Christ was. He became a bondman to His Father
and stood good as our surety. the guarantee that we'd all be
saved and brought home. And what a change, what a change
took place in Judah. He is the one who persecuted
his brother, sold him, and is now willing to be a bond slave
in his brother's stead. What's happened? What's happened
to him? What changed him like this? The
way Joseph acted. Joseph being exalted. Joseph
having all the authority. Joseph having all the power.
That's what changed Judah and made him willing to be a bond
slave. And our Lord Jesus Christ on
His throne works this change in His people, works and makes
us new creatures in Christ and calls the love of Christ to constrain
us. And I tell you, that's what's
happened. We had such a change because Christ sat on His throne,
gave us a new heart, gave us a new nature, because He stood
good for us. And He Himself said, Father,
if they don't get to come home with you, If you don't come home with us
and come home with Him, then let me bear the blame. And for
everyone whom Christ does not take the glory, He'll bear the
blame. And do you reckon one for whom
He bore the blame for will not be able to go home? Oh yes, we'll
all be able to go home. And I pray, dear sisters and
brothers, my dear beloved, oh how I wish we could come in tonight,
but we couldn't. But I hope that message was a
blessing to you. I hope it was an encouragement
to you. I hope it taught you something and showed you something
about our Lord Jesus Christ. But let's bow our hearts together
and let us pray. And then God willing, I'll see
you Sunday morning doing the same thing here, preaching again
Sunday morning. Let's bow our hearts together
and pray. Our Father, O our gracious Father in heaven, how blessedly
glorious you are, how gracious you are, how tender you are. And Lord, forgive us that we never prayed before the
service began. But Lord, we do pray for our
brethren among us who are frail and weak, And Lord, we thank
you for those who have listened tonight. Pray that you is pleased
to bless their hearts. Bless their understandings. And
Lord Jesus, I know we'd all love to meet. And Lord, at your time,
we'll be able to. But oh Father, we pray again
for our nation, for our country. Have mercy upon it. We're sinners. We're a nation of sinners. We're
a nation that's Forgot you, but Lord you rule and you reign. And we ask for you to have mercy
as we confess our sins of the nation, the consents of our leaders,
the sins of the religious world. God have mercy on them and forgive
them. God bless our dear brethren.
Bless every ward, bless every home, bless every heart, bless
every family. who ask these things in Christ's
name. Amen. Did you hear what Jesus said
to me? They're all taken away, away. Your sins are pardoned and you
are free. They're all taken away. They're all taken away away they're
all taken away away they're all taken away away my sins are all
taken away our sins are all taken away my sins are all taken away
Good night and God bless you. See you Sunday Lord willing. You wouldn't believe how many
people. My goodness, you wouldn't believe
how many people was on there. Oh my, my goodness, it lasted
40 minutes. Is it off? How many were on there? people from Vermont, there's
people up in Asheville, there's people everywhere, I mean their
names just keep coming up. Their little hearts keep coming
up through there. It's astronomical how many people are on there.