In chapter 45, Joseph, continuing
through Genesis, Joseph, he reveals himself. He makes himself known
to men who hated him, despised him, and sold him into slavery. And he revealed himself to them. You know, they sold him, cast
him out, made some money off of him. And they done him just
like they did our Lord Jesus Christ. They said, we will not
have this man reign over us. We will not have Joseph reign
over us. Well, we'll see. We'll see. We'll see. And there, you know,
the scriptures tells us you know that they shall look upon him
whom they have pierced, and they shall have great sorrow, and
born for him as an only son. And when he reveals himself to
them, he appears now as their ruler, as their sovereign, as
one who holds their life in his own hand. In his own hand. And when they see him whom they
pierced, they confess their sin. and they acknowledge him as their
brother and own him as the Lord. That's the only way they can
acknowledge him now. He's the Lord. He's Lord over Egypt. And then they go, then they go,
these brethren do, they go forth to proclaim the glad tidings
of his resurrection. They said he's dead. Find out
he's not. And they go and tell of his glory.
And they say, Joseph is alive. That's what they go tell me.
And not only is he alive, but he rules down there in that land.
He rules over everything down there. He rules over everything. Now I want to go through this.
We'll just go through it as we go through it here and see what
the scriptures say to us. It says here in verse 1, Genesis
45. Then Joseph could not refrain
himself before all them that stood by. And he cried, cause
every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him
while Joseph, now watch this, while Joseph made himself known
unto his brethren. They'd been down there for a
while, they kept some of them in prison. And you know, they
did not know who he was. How in the world are they going
to find out who he is? He's got to reveal himself. He
made himself known. And it's just him and his brethren.
Do you know who it is that he makes himself known to? Just
his brethren. Who does Christ make himself
known to? His children. His elect. And that's always
been that way. No one could reveal Joseph to
them but himself. If anybody else went to them
and said, listen, that's Joseph. You know who that is? That's
Joseph, your brother. They wouldn't have recognized him. They wouldn't
know. The only one who can make himself known to them is Joseph
himself. And the only one who can make
himself known to us is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. In him
is the fountain of life and in his light we shall see light. And if he don't reveal himself,
men won't know him. They won't know him is what I
was talking about this morning. that if Christ don't reveal himself,
don't make himself known, men will sit their whole lives in
a Baptist church or a Methodist church or a Pentecostal church
and never know the Lord. But if he's like these men, they
was down there for a good while. And they didn't know who Joseph,
they were scared to death of Joseph. And then he said he made
himself known. And watch this, to his brethren.
And our Lord Jesus Christ has revealed himself and soon shall
reveal himself from heaven. Soon shall reveal himself from
heaven. You know, Walter Gruber said down there, he said, you
know that the gospel says that the gospel has to be preached
all over the world. When it's preached all over the
world, then shall the end come. And as far as I know, there's
not a corner on the face of this earth where the gospel is not
preached. Now, And I'll tell you how I
know that's so. Because there's so many grace
preachers on Sermon Audio. And there's so many CDs sent
out. And there's so many messages
going out. When we were down in Mexico,
they were streaming those meetings all over. And lots and lots of
people watching in the United States, watching in Mexico, watching
in Canada, all over. And so see, beloved, and that's
why the Lord Jesus makes himself known. But he said that our Lord
Jesus is going to soon reveal himself from heaven. And when
he reveals himself from heaven, you're talking about looking
upon somebody whom they pierced and mourned. This world's going
to look on him and say, Oh, what have we done? that Jesus said,
let his blood be on us. Oh, they'll regret saying that.
They've regretted it, and they'll certainly regret it when they
face the Lord Jesus Christ, when they said, let his blood be on
us and on our children. And I'll tell you, beloved, it's
the, and I tell you, not only was it a revelation of Joseph
made to himself to his brethren, but it's a revelation of one
who was rejected. He was rejected. He's looking
at men that hated him, rejected him, despised him, and sold him. And look at him right square
in the eye. And looking at him. And he made Joseph, made himself
known. to his brethren, to his brethren. And not only was it the revelation
of one who was rejected, it's the revelation of a guilty past.
Look what it said here in verse 3. And Joseph said unto his brethren,
I am Joseph. Doth my father yet live? And
listen to this now. And his brethren could not answer
them, for they were troubled at his presence. The margin says
there's terrified. Why would they be afraid? Why
would they be afraid? This man's got life or death
in his hand with these men. And they were terrified, troubled
at his presence. And they were troubled over what?
What they had done. What they had done to him. How
they had treated him. How all the things that they
had done against him. And they're standing there and
he says, I'm Joseph. And when they look at him, they
said, this is the one we rejected. This is the one we told our daddy
he's dead. This is the one that we despised. This is the one we put in the
pit. This is the one that we sold. Now I'd be scared to death too.
And that's, and I'll tell you what, here's the thing about
it, when Christ first starts making Himself known, and when
He really makes Himself known, When he makes us really know
the first time that we ever seen and knowing. I'm going to tell
you, almost if I was a Batman, I'd say it this way. When we
finally seen Christ and who he was and our self in light of
him. When he really understood that who he was and who we are. We was like Mephibosheth. Oh
Lord, why lookest thou upon such a dead dog as I am? That's our
first reaction. I said, Lord, how in the world
could you have mercy on somebody? I've got no right to ask you
for anything. I remembered vividly. I have
no right. The way I've treated you and
the way I've lived in this world, I've got no right to ask you
to do anything for me. But if you will, if you will,
would you have mercy on me? And the burden lifted. But that's
the way it is. And that's what Joseph and them
guys was. It's the revelation of a real brother, of a real
kinsman. And he said, I'm Joseph your
brother. Now you keep this and look with
me over in Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 11. Look at this with me. This is such a blessing over
here. Hebrews 2.11. Look what it says about what
our Lord says. Hebrews 2.11. Oh my! Oh our Lord Jesus Christ is a
brother born for adversity. And I'm Joseph your brother. Look what he says here now. In
Hebrews 2.11. For both he that sanctified and
they who are sanctified are all of one. Now listen to this. For
which cause he is not ashamed to call him brother. He looks at us and says, I'm
not ashamed to call you my brethren. Look what else he says here.
Say, I will declare thy name unto my brethren. He's talking
about God. I'll declare thy name unto my
brethren in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto
thee. Christ calls us his brethren.
And I'm not ashamed to call them brethren. He's a firstborn among
many brethren now back over here in Genesis 45 And oh, it's a
revelation of grace. Oh what grace it is. Look what
it says down there in verse 4 Excuse me verse 5 and Joseph
says now therefore be not grieved nor angry with yourselves That
you sold me here for God to send me before you to preserve life.
Now you're talking about a revelation of great grace. He said those
fellows was terrified. They was troubled. And they was
grieved. And they was worried. And they
was afraid. And they said, oh what have we
done? What have we done? What have we done? And Joseph
said, don't do that. Don't do that. Don't grieve over
what you've done. Don't be angry over what you've
done. And he's willing. Here's what he's saying to them.
Forget what you did to me. That's what he said. Forget what you did to me. Forget
the past. Forget what's happened. That's
what he's saying. And what did our Lord Jesus Christ
tell us? He says, when he cried out, it
is finished. What does that mean? That means
everything that was against us, everything that God would hold
against us, everything that needed to be done to save us for eternity
and save us in every way possible, Christ did it. And then he said
this, God said, I'll make a new covenant with him. And this is
the one I'll make with him. Their sins and iniquities, I
ain't gonna remember them again. Oh, that's what's going to happen.
Oh, I remember them. God said, I don't. The only time
we remember our sins is when we think of something
or do something. But here's one thing about it.
God forgot them. He don't remember them. In fact,
He said, I cast them things behind my back. And he said, Oh, in another place,
I cast him into the depth of the sea. And you go over in Revelation,
and the scripture said he'd get away with the sea. So they go. And oh my, what a... We have no sin. God can't remember
something don't exist, and our sins exist no more. Why? Christ
bore them away. They don't exist anymore. Christ
did away with all of them. And that's why he says, you know,
Christ said I was full of grace and truth. And he gives grace
for grace. Grace for grace. And then, oh,
look what happens down here in verse 9. Joseph gives him a message. He said, oh, listen, don't, don't
just, the past is over. The past is done. God sent me
down here to save you. That's what he sent me for. And
he says now, and he says in verse 9, he gives him a message. He
said, Haste ye, and go up to my father, and say unto him,
Thus saith thy son Joseph. They're going in Joseph's name.
They're going in Joseph's authority. Say unto my father, thus saith
thy son Joseph, God has made me Lord over all Egypt. Come
down unto me. And don't wait on it. Just get
out of here as quick as you can. Oh my. They've been reconciled
to their exalted brother. The one that's kingly. And he
tells them, haste, get up, get up, get up and go and tell my
father that it's Joseph. And that's what happened to that
woman at the well. When the Lord Jesus made Himself known to her,
she said, I know that when the Messiah cometh, He'll tell us
all things. He said, I just speak unto thee
and thee. She throwed that water pot away. She forgot water. She forgot taking it to the house.
And she went running into town and said, come see a man. What's
so special about him? He told me everything about myself. He told me things that nobody
knew. That Gadarene maniac, he got
Lord clothed him in his right mind. Clothed him. And the Lord Jesus walking away,
He said, Oh, you got behind him, you go follow him. He said, No,
no, don't do that. You go home and tell them what
great things the Lord has done for you. And that's what Joseph
is saying. You go down there and you tell
them, Joseph got a message for you. I got a message for you. And then look what he tells them
to do down here in verse 25. He told them to proclaim that
he's alive. And they went up out of Egypt
and came into the land of Cana unto Jacob their father. Now
listen to this. And told him, saying, Joseph
is yet alive. Now watch what happens. And he's
governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob's heart fainted,
for he believed not. He believed not. Oh, to his brethren
and to his father, he'd been dead for years. He'd been dead. He didn't exist. They got over
grieving over him. And then all of a sudden they
run down there and say, Joseph's yet alive. Jacob said, oh no,
that can't be. That can't be. Oh my. And then look what else he tells
them up here in verse nine. That you and I told him, you
know, that he is exalted, may be Lord over all Egypt. Look
what he says here in verse 13. And he says, you tell, tell my
father, Listen to what he tells them now. You shall tell my father
of all my glory. When you go down there, tell
my father all my glory. And of all that you've seen. And then you all hurry. You hurry
up there and hurry right back down here. You go tell them the
glory that you see. The glory that God's given me.
And you go tell them. You go tell them. Everything
that you see. All the wealth and all the power
and all the glory. And all the authority. And all
the riches. And all the things that's mine
that I've got control over. And you tell him, you tell him
that. And I tell you all he had the
keys of all the treasures of Egypt. And they hung on his girdle. And our Lord Jesus Christ has
the keys of hell and death on his girdle. He's the Alpha and
the Omega. And the fullness of the Godhead
dwells in him bodily. And all the treasures All the
treasures of God's wisdom and all the treasures of God's knowledge
dwells in our Lord Jesus Christ. And I tell you, beloved, that's
what we run around telling people all the time. We tell people
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we ain't even touched
that. We ain't even got close to the
hymn of the glory yet, Gary, telling about the glory of Christ.
We just have to say the same things over and over and over
again, and every once in a while God blesses it to our hearts. And He gives us just a glimpse,
just a glimpse of His glory. And that just a glimpse keeps
us going a long time. Don't it? He keeps us going for
a long time. Do you know why we go to meet
in all times? We might see some of His glory.
We might see some of that shining glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. And every once in a while, He'll
open our eyes and open our hearts and we see it. And oh, how it
blesses our hearts. And oh my, He said, you go down
there and tell them you know that all the glory and all the
riches that I have, And tell of His glory and tell what you've
seen. And that's all we do. That's what God told us. That's
what the Lord Jesus told Saul of Tarsus. You just go and you tell what you've seen,
what you've heard. And the God of our fathers said,
Joseph, get at it. And that's what he went and done.
And then look what else he says to them. There in verse 9 again.
He proclaims His willingness to receive them. He said, Haste
ye, go up to my Father and say unto Him, Thy son Joseph hath
made me Lord over all. And look what He says, Come down
to Me. You go up there and tell Him
to come here. And that's why we tell folks, Come to Christ. Come unto Him. Our Lord Himself
said that, Come unto Me. How many times in that great
day of the feast he said, if any man's thirsty, let him come
unto me. If any man's heavy laden, let
him come unto me. And that's why we keep coming
and over in 1 Peter there, I think it's chapter 2, to whom coming?
You read that last week, to whom coming? To whom coming? We came to Christ at first. We come to Christ continually. We have come, we are coming,
and we're going to keep on coming. To whom coming? We're just coming,
coming, coming to Christ. Continually coming to Christ. And oh listen, He has the ability
and the power to meet all of their needs and to do for them
what only He can do. And then He told them to go down
there and He said, I want you to tell my father this too. To proclaim to him all his power
to supply all their need. Look what he said here in verses
10 and 11. You go down there and tell him I've got the power
and the ability to supply all you need. He said, and thou shalt. He said, look what he tells him.
He says, told him what, when you go down and tell your daddy,
you tell your daddy, tell my father, you're going to dwell
in the land of Goshen. And thou shalt be near unto me.
Oh, you're going to come close to me. And not only you, but
all your children. And your children's children,
your grandchildren, my grandchildren. You know your grandchildren are
going to be here. And all your flocks and your
herds and all that you have. I've got the power and the wealth
and the ability to take care of everything that you've got.
And listen to what he says. And there will I nourish thee. I'll nourish you. I'll take care
of you. When you went out, our Lord Jesus
asked His disciples one time. He sent them out. He said, don't
take no purse with you. Don't take no script with you.
Just go. And they all came back. He said,
when you went out, did you lack for anything? And they all said
nothing. And that's what he's telling,
your children, your children's children, and you got all kinds
of things that has to be fed and took care of and your cattle
and your sheep and all that. He said, listen, I'll take care
of everything you've got. Down to your cat and your dog.
That's what he said. I'll take care of everything.
And not all that, but I'll nourish them. I'll see that everything
they need, you'll have it. You'll have it. Oh my. Now look what happens here now.
How did Jacob react when he received the message of his son? And I tell you the same way all
of us receive the message of the gospel until God does something. He says there in verse 26, look,
the first thing he did was doubt. And they told him, saying, Joseph
is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And
Jacob's heart fainted, for he believed them not. Jacob's heart fainted. For he
believed them not. I want you to look at something
in Acts chapter 17. He believed them not. Oh my. And that's the way we are. Here
look at Acts 17. In verse 32. Look what he says
over here. Oh, this is the way everybody
reacts. Oh, this is the way they do.
Now, I tell you, when they were told Joseph is yet alive, Jacob's
heart just stopped in him. He just fainted. He just, he
said, this can't be true. Just can't be true. Look what
he said here. Paul was preaching in Athens
and look what he said. And when they heard of the resurrection
of the dead, listen to what happened. Some mocked. And others said,
we will hear thee again in this matter. And that's what some
mocked, and that's the way Jacob was. He said, it is unbelievable.
This can't happen. And I tell you, that's why when
Paul was preaching in that hard house when he was in prison,
he said, some believed, some believed not. And that's the
way it is. His brother believed, but the
daddy didn't when they got down there. But now look what happens. Look what it took to cause him
to believe. Back over here in Genesis 45. Look what happens
in verse 27. Oh, his heart fainted, for he
believed them not. That's the same thing with the
Lord Jesus Christ revealed himself to those fellows on the Damascus
road. They went back and told him. And they said, oh no, no,
no. We just don't believe. And about
the time they said that, the Lord Jesus is standing right
in their midst. But look what it says here now. And verse 27,
and they told him all the words of Joseph. That's the first thing
you got to hear. You got to hear what Joseph's
got to say. You got to hear what Christ's got to say. The words
of Joseph. Which he hath said unto them, Don't tell no more
than what I said. And that's the way we are with
the gospel. Now listen to this. And when he saw the wagons which
Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father
resigned. He looked and he said, Boy, look
at the wagons here and all this food and everything. And this
is what he sent to carry me on me. They told him the words
of Joseph. And then when he looked in that
wagon, he saw the wealth. And he saw the graciousness of
Him in giving. Look what he sent down to him.
Look back up in verse 22 and 23. This is what he sent down
there to his father. He gave all of them a change
of raisin, a hundred pieces of silver, and five changes of raiment. And to his father he sent after
this manner. Oh, he done wonderfully to his
brother, but to his father. He sent ten asses laden with
the good things of Egypt, ten she-asses laden with corn and
bread and meat for his father. Well, he got down there and he
saw that wagon and everything that's in it and he said, oh
boy, Joseph sent all this to me? Oh, he just saw it. And boy, I just blessed his heart.
And look what he says in verse 28. And Israel said, it is enough. It's enough. That's enough. I
don't need to hear no more. That's enough. Oh, that's the
way it is with us. It's enough, ain't it? What Christ
has done for us is enough. It's enough. What He gives us
is enough. I've said over and over again,
if God's blessed anybody more than He has me, I've yet to meet
them. But it's enough. It's enough. And oh, he says,
listen here. And Joseph, my son, is yet alive. And he said, I will go and see
him before I die. Oh, when he seen him, his faith
said, I got to go to Egypt. I got to go see my son. And Joseph is yet alive. And
all his faith moved him to go. Now look what they possessed
over here in Genesis 47. In verses 11 and 12. When they
got down there. When they got down there. We'll
deal with some other things next week. But when they got down
there, look what happens. Verse 11 and 12. And Joseph placed his father
and his brethren. Now see, Joseph put them there
now. I make my sheep to lie down in good pastures. and Joseph
placed his father and his brethren and gave them they didn't earn
it you see he gave them a possession in the land of Egypt in the best
of the land in the land of Rameses as Pharaoh had commanded and
Joseph nourished his father and his brethren in all his father's
household with bread according to their families He gave them
the best that there was in Egypt, and he went down there and took
care of them just like he said he would. I told you I'd go take
care of you. They got down there, and sure
enough, Boy, there ain't much to this place. Listen, wait till
I take, let me be taking you to where I'm going to put you. And them folks were just, somebody
was there all the time bringing them something. That's the way
Christ is with us. He just keeps bringing us things.
He keeps bringing out of His treasure, keeps bringing us these
wonderful things of the gospel, of His blessed grace. Amen. Oh, our Father. Oh, blessed,
blessed, blessed Savior. Oh, you let us, let us enjoy
your presence again today. Oh, Lord. All we can do from
the depths of our heart and soul is say, yes, Lord. Oh, Lord,
how glorious, how gracious, how kind, how wealthy, and how you
abundantly, abundantly abundantly give us so much in this world
and Lord you've prepared us a place and Lord we long to go and be
with you but Lord you have you've nourished us You've took care
of us and we have not wanted for one good thing from your
blessed hand. And we thank you and pray your
blessings upon the saints of God here tonight. And we pray
for Bill and Dorothy as they go through this great fight of
affliction that you'd be with them and strengthen them and
hold them up and keep Bill's body strong. and keep Dorothy's
spirit up. Lord, we thank you for her. Pray
for Gary that you would raise him back up, that he could get
up and move again. Lord, we trust you to do these
things to your glory and their good. We ask it in our Lord Jesus
Christ's name. Amen. Amen. I'm gonna tell you,
let me show you one thing before we go home. First Peter, chapter
one. You talk about how that they
got, they had wealth down there. But look what our Lord's give
to us. You think Joseph took good care
of those fellas. And our Lord has us. But look
what God's prepared for us over here in 1 Peter 1. I want you
to see this. Just two verses of Scripture.
Verse 3. Blessed. Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Which according to his abundant
mercy Hath begotten us again given us a living hope Gave us
life and a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead Joseph is yet alive Christ is alive and look what
he did to us now according to his abundant He gave us inheritance
Oh my. This is an incorruptible inheritance.
It's undefiled. It will never fade away. And
it's reserved where? In heaven. For who? You. Alright. Amazing Grace that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind, It was grace that taught my heart
to fear, and grace my fears relieved. I first through souls and shares I have already
come. Tis grace that brought me safe
thus far. will lead me home. Now listen, when we've been there
10,000 years, bright shining, Good night, God bless you, and
I'll see you Friday evening. I know Kathy Bell's at home,
but she's doing better too, ain't she?