I want to talk about when Joseph made himself known
to his brethren and the subject tonight is Christ made known
to his brethren and how Joseph made himself known to his brethren
after he had been sold into Egypt and how he came about to make
himself known to them is the way it pretty much goes the way
that Christ made himself known to us. But let me read a few
verses in chapter 45. But then Joseph could not refrain
himself before all them that stood by him, and he cried, Cause
every man to go out from me, and there stood no man with him
while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. And he wept
aloud, and the Egyptians in the house of Pharaoh heard. And Joseph
said unto his brethren, I am Joseph, Doeth 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 be not grieved nor angry
with yourselves that you sold me hither, for God did send me
before you to preserve life. For these two years hath the
famine been in the land, and yet there are five years in the
which there shall neither be earring nor harvest. And God
sent me before you to preserve a posterity in the earth and
to save your lives by great deliverance." Now as the scriptures has a lot
to say about our Lord Jesus Christ being our brother many things
about our Lord Jesus being our brother. He's the firstborn among
many brethren as I talked this morning about our adoption and
then by our new birth. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the
firstborn among many brethren. He's the one with the rights.
He's the one with the power. He's the one with the authority.
He's the one who has all the inheritance. Then in Hebrews
2 11 it says you know that he is not ashamed Since he that
sanctifies and they that are sanctified are all of one for
which cause he's not ashamed To call us brethren and again
I will declare thy name unto my father or saying aloud in
the great congregation Thy name and then Proverbs said he's a
brother born for adversity and here Joseph is a type of our
Lord Jesus Christ And Joseph is more a type of Christ in the
scriptures than any other person in all the scriptures. So many
ways he's a typical of our Lord Jesus Christ. But his brothers
is like us. His brothers is like us, the
way they treated Joseph. That's the way we treated our
Savior. We didn't know Christ. And we sold our Lord Jesus, they
sold Him into slavery. And our Lord Jesus Christ became
one with us and bore all of our shame and guilt to save us. But I believe that the gospel
of grace and of the full free salvation for all His elect people
It's pictured here because it says there in verse 1 of chapter
45, Joseph made himself known to his brethren. Now, turn over
to Genesis 42, and that's where we're going to start. You know,
Joseph is a type of Christ, and we're like his brethren. We mistreated
our Lord Jesus so awful. We hated him without a cause.
Hated him without a cause. First thing I want you to notice
is that his brothers dwelt in a land of famine. Look what it
says here in verse 3. Excuse me, verse 2. And he says, Behold, Jacob's
talking to his brethren, his sons now. 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. I mean, you know,
if they stay there, when they know that there's corn down in
Egypt, they're going to die. And then it says, and Joseph's
ten brethren went down to buy corn in Egypt. And then it says
in verse 5, and the sons of Israel came to buy corn among those
that came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan. They'd
been brought to the place where there's nothing left to sustain
them. And if they stayed in that land of famine, that land where
it was dry and where there's nothing to eat, all they could
do was just die. And ain't that the way it is
with us if we stayed where we was? And that loaded bar stayed
in a place where there was nothing to eat, stayed in a place where
there's no bread from heaven. And I tell you what, when we
find out that there's bread somewhere for us to go get, then that's
where we're going to go. If we stay where we are, we're
going to die. So that's the situation. And then his brothers wanted
to pay for what they're buying. They went down to buy. It says
there in verse 3 of chapter 42 again. And Joseph's 10 brethren
went down to buy corn in Egypt. That's the first thing we start
doing when we start going to try to find out, you know, get
out of the land of famine we're in, the awful place we're in.
We want to go buy. And buy is mentioned five times
in these first ten verses. Buy, buy, buy. That's the natural
man. He goes to the only place there
is with food and the only one who's got this bread, the only
one who has anything to give, and he, when he gets there, he
wants to purchase it. The natural man cannot grasp
receiving a gift from God. He feels like he must pay for
it. He must earn it. And ain't that the way me as
natural men are? They just cannot grasp the idea
that something has to be given to them. They want to buy. I
want to pay for this. And that's a good thing as far
as being an honest person in this world and not taking anything
from anybody. But when it comes to dealing
with God, We have to come with empty hands. And I tell you,
men must say, I gotta earn it. You know, I don't believe that
God only gives to those who give to Him. And God's only good to
them who's good to them. Be the best you can. One of Herman's
uncles died years and years and years ago. And the preacher got
up and all he preached about him was how good a man he was and how
good his works was. That's all He said about how
good He was and how good His works was. And men don't go to
heaven. Men don't save by their good
works. They're saved by the work of Christ and what He did. And
we want to buy. They want to tell folks that
yeah, he got, send up them good works so you can build you a
mansion in glory. Get them bricks laid up up there.
So, you know, do this and you'll get another brick. Do that and
you'll get another brick. That's what these fellas, they
go down there with money in their pocket. They just can't grasp. It's like Naaman. He heard, you
know, that there was a prophet in Israel. And he had this leprosy. He's a great general. He is somebody. He's the general over the Syrian
army. I mean, he is somebody. He got
thousands of men under him. And he heard that there's a prophet
down in Israel. that could heal him of his leprosy.
Well, he got him a couple of horses and donkeys, and he loaded
them up with money, loaded them up with all kinds of clothes,
loaded them up with all kinds of gifts, and he went and pulled
up to that prophet's house. Walked out there in his big old
uniform. Some of them even had medals
down to here. He said, go in there and tell
that prophet, man is out here. And I've got, tell him I've got
all this silver and I've got all this gold and I've got all
these gifts and I've got lots of clothes. I'm going to dress
him better than he's ever been dressed. He yelled out, I'm giving
him a thousand dollar suit. You know what that prophet said? Go and tell him. He didn't even
come out of the house himself. He sent his servant out and said,
you go tell that fellow. You go tell Nehemiah, strip off
his clothes, get down to the river Jordan, take off his clothes,
and get in that Jordan, and he got to go under that water seven
times. And he'll come back again clean.
Oh, man, and you know where you thought, boy, oh, that's the
best news I've ever heard. All I got to do is take off my
clothes and get in the river and go down seven times. That's
it. You think, man, that's wonderful.
He gritted his teeth and said, who in the world do you think
he's talking to? And he is fixing to leave. He
is angry. One of his fellas riding along
with him said, Master. He said, if he would have gave
you a great, great big thing to do, gave you an army to fight,
a battle to fight, or demanded a lot of money, he said, you
could have done that just like that. But boy, this is an easy
thing for you. He thought about it. But that's
the way man is. When he's confronted with the
only way of being saved, first thing he does is get mad. Gets
upset. I did, didn't you? Most of us
did. No, listen, that prodigal, even
when he came home, when he came home, instead of saying before
his father, Oh, father, forgive me, please forgive me. You know
what? He come home and said, father,
make me as somebody that you pay. I'll be a hard servant. I'll be a hard servant. And all
his brothers wanted to pay for what they had. And then they
had self-righteousness. They had a very self-righteous
attitude. Look what it said in verse 7 of chapter 42. And Joseph
saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange
to them, and spake roughly unto them. And they said, He said, where
come you? And they said, from the land
of Canaan to buy food. And Joseph knew his brethren,
but they knew him not. Oh, listen, our Lord Jesus Christ
knew us before we ever knew Him. And listen to what it said, and
Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed. And do you
know what he said to them? You are spies to see the nakedness
of the land, have you come out? And oh, listen, he spoke roughly
to them. You're spies. I mean, he's speaking
tough to them. And oh, and here's, you know
what they answered to him after he spoke roughly to them? Said,
you come here and you're spies, you come to see the nakedness
of the land? You know what they said to him? Look what they said
in verse 11. We're all one man's sons and
listen to what they said to him. Say self-righteous. We're true
men. We're true men. We're good men.
We're honest men. We're not spies. That first thing
they told him when he started dealing with Hollywood. Well,
we're good men. We're true men. We're honest
men. Oh, we're not down here to do
nothing. You know, we're the best. Listen, we're all one man
sons and we're good men, true men, honest men. And all beloved,
but I tell you, Joseph spoke roughly to him. He said, you're
spies. This is God's way. He begins to wound before he
heals. And the Spirit speaks roughly, roughly to us sometimes. But oh, the natural man don't
want it. I'm not totally depraved. You accuse us falsely. They said,
we're true men. We're true men. And then look
what happens here in verse 17. And oh my! Well, let's go back here and
said in verse 13. And they said, Thy servants are
twelve brethren, the sons of one man, the land of Canaan.
And behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one
is not. And that one that's not is Joseph. And Joseph said unto
them, This is what I spake unto you, saying, You spies. And he
said, Hereby you're going to be proved. We're going to prove
you. We're going to try you. By the life of Pharaoh, you'll
not go here until you bring your youngest brother down here. Send
one of you and let him fetch your brother, and you shall be
kept in prison, that your words may be approved, whether there
be any truth in you or not." We're going to find out just
how honest you fellas are. We're going to find out if you
fellas got telling us the truth, whether you're spies. Joseph
knows exactly what's going on. And he put them all together
in ward three days. Oh, He puts all of His brothers
in jail, puts them all in prison for three days. And this wasn't
unjust. No, no. It was exactly what they
deserved. And that's why when the Spirit
comes, He convinces us in. He puts them in their proper
place. They're talking about being true men, talking about
being good men. He puts them in their proper
place, the place of shame and condemnation. And that's the
way of God's dealing with men. He's going to put us in our proper
place. He's going to put us where we deserve to be. He's going
to put us down in the dust. It's like Saul that tosses us
on the Damascus road. Oh, he went with hatred in his
heart for Christ. But I, Lord Jesus Christ, knew
him. That's why Paul said, would it
please God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me
by His grace? He'd always separated from his
mother's womb, but he didn't know that until he was struck
down on the Damascus road. Oh, this idea that Jesus is standing
just waiting to let you into his, you to let him into your
heart and all that. I mean, he'll put you in the
place where you're supposed to be. He'll put you in prison and
the prison of conviction and sin and make you understand.
Try, he gonna prove you to see what you are. Now his brethren
are now smitten in their conscience. And oh, he told them there in
verse 17, verse 18, Joseph said, this is the third day, this do
and live, for I fear God. He said, if you're true men, let one of your brethren rebound
in the prison and go and carry the corn for the famine in your
house. But bring your brother, youngest
brother to me, so shall your words be verified. And listen
to this, and you will not die. And they did so. And look what
they talked about on the way now. And they said one to another.
They're smitten in their conscience. They said one to another we are
really really truly guilty concerning our brother In that we saw the
anguish of his soul when he besought us and we would not hear Therefore
is this distress coming upon us? Oh my Concerning our brother. That's the first thing they said.
We're guilty. We saw the anguish of his soul. We saw him begging. We heard
saw the agony, the travail of his soul. And then he asked us,
please don't do this to me. Don't do this to me. Don't treat
me this way. We wouldn't listen to Him. And
you know what they said? That's why we're in all this
trouble. That's why we're in all this trouble. They weren't
guilty. They were guilty, but they weren't
guilty yet before God. They had been brought guilty
before God. God begins His work. And when
He starts His work, He's going to bring a person till they'll
confess their sin, their weakness, their guilt, and all the shame
that they put our Lord Jesus Christ through, they'll confess
it before Him. And then look what happens. Joseph
makes it known, delivers it by His grace. Look down at verse
25. Then Joseph commanded to fill
their sacks with corn and destroy to restore every man's money
into his sack and give them provision for the way and thus he did unto
them. Oh, you notice there said he
commanded to fill their sacks with corn and put every man's
money back in there. Put every man's money back in
there. Thus he did unto them. And you know what he's teaching
them right here? You can't buy the bread. You can't buy it. If you get it, it's going to
be given to you. Don't need your money. Don't
want your money. Your money will not spend here. He said, come
ye, one of the preachers last week used that verse of Scripture.
Come ye and buy wine with no price. Come ye and buy milk with
no money. Come ye and get bread. Won't
cost you nothing. And that's what happens here.
By grace are you saved through faith and that none of yourselves.
Old Simon Magus, after he saw the apostles laid hands on him
and receiving the Holy Ghost, he walked up to Simon Peter,
reached in his pocket, said, here's some money. Give me this
gift. And boy, Peter turned on him
and said, oh, you wicked one. gift of God may
be purchased with silver and gold, your money perish with
you. And oh beloved, his brethren,
I tell you what, they found a brief respite, but oh, don't bring
me your money. And look in verse 26 what it
said, and they laid their houses with corn and departed then.
Oh, they thought, boy, I tell you what, we've got a brief respite
here. Now they're going home, they've got plenty of corn. All
is well. Their mind is at rest. They don't
feel... They got out of the way from that man that spake right
before. They got away from that fellow that put them in jail.
They got away, and they got some corn, and they're going home.
Everything's alright. Their guilty conscience is not
bothering them anymore now. But I tell you something, they
hadn't been reconciled to Joseph yet. So they haven't been brought
to a true rest, and they will be. They were just enjoying a
temporary relief. Their peace is false, but it
won't last long. And their superficial peace was
gone so good, so quickly and disturbed. Look what it says
in verse 27, 28. And as one of them opened his
sack, To give his ass some profender in the end. Go give him some
corn. He aspired his money. Behold, it was in his sack's
mouth. And he said unto his brethren, My money is restored, Lord, even
in my sack. And their heart failed them. And they were afraid, saying
one to another, What is this? Now listen to this. That God
hath done unto us. Oh my, their peace didn't last,
they didn't get to the end of their first day and got there
and their heart fell. What has God done on us? What
has God done? This money is in our bag. This
money is in our bag. How did this happen? God will
not allow a soul to rest until it rests in His blessed Son.
And oh my, now look down here in chapter 43. Oh my, they're
in trouble. They're in trouble. Hey, oh,
they got to go home with their money. And money hadn't been
taken out of their bags. They said, oh, what are we going
to do now? And this says in chapter 43, verse 1 and 2, and the famine
was soaring the land. And it came to pass, when they
had eaten up the corn which they had brought out of Egypt, their
father said unto them, and go buy us a little food." Oh my! Oh my! The hunger gets greater
and greater and greater in whom God's dealing with. When God's
dealing with a man, dealing with a woman, He's going to bring
them. And that's what I try to say this morning. There's people
here that's under conviction. There's people here that the
Lord's dealt with. There's people here that's been brought to the
end of themselves. They haven't been brought there
yet. And you know why I know they haven't been brought there
yet? Because they haven't confessed. They haven't confessed before
God. They haven't confessed before
They haven't confessed their faith in Christ. They haven't
confessed, I need Christ. They haven't said, oh, listen.
And when God is dealing with a man, He's going to bring him
to the place where he is brought down to sore famine and he got
nowhere to go, but right back where he got his corn and tartlet.
And the famine continues. And I tell you, God is just going
to keep bringing and bringing. And when He brings a man to the
end of himself, I'm going to tell you my experience, just
a little bit of it. I made a religious profession
on an altar in a tent in Maria City, Ohio. Amongst a bunch of tongue-speaking,
wild-haired, wild Indians. I mean, as wild as wild. And I didn't even know them. And I had that experience. And
then I began to read the scriptures. And then I come and I went through
all my religion, but when I started seeing the gospel, started seeing
the truth in Christ. Every time you reach to get something
to hold to, some experience you had, God take it away from you.
You run and go back to your legalism and how good you were, He'll
take it away from you. Talk about how much you gave
and how much you gave to the cause of Christ, He'll take that
away from you. You don't talk about your ministry
and what a good ministry you have. He took that away from
you. Then you start talking about, you know, oh Lord, I've people
that I've won to Jesus. Oh, He takes everything you ever
run to. He reaches and gets it until
you ain't got nothing else to reach for but Christ. Now ain't every one of us done
that. We rest and got a hold of something, try to hold on
to it. Whoa, that's one of the last things we hold on to. You
know what it is? Somebody we love. And we say, now if this gospel here
is true, what does that say about my mother, my father, my brother,
my sister that died? And that's the last thing that
you've got to let go of. Well, whatever my mother, my
father, my grandma, my grandpa, whatever they did, that's over
and done with. All I know is that I've got to
have Christ or I'll perish and die. Because I cannot change
what happened to them under no circumstances. God is just God
and He'll do what's right to every soul on this earth. I mean,
that's what He's doing to these fellas. So that's what I said
this morning. If you know Christ, You'll not
run to something to grab hold of. Ain't that right? We quit grabbing
a hold of anything but the Lord's. You know, we were like Mary.
We wanted to just be at that one place, sitting at His feet.
Oh, we want to be, you know, we want to embrace Christ. If I reach to get anything, it's
going to be Him. I ain't got nothing else. He
took everything else away. Has He taken everything away
from you? Took every experience? Took every false hope? Took every
false profession? Took every hope of prayer? Of
giving? Of tradition? Has He took everything
away from you? He got to take everything to
you and left with nothing but Christ Himself. And oh, what
a blessed place to be. That's what they said. After they get on the Mount of
Sin's figuration, there's Peter, James, and John. Oh, Simon Peter
jumped up and said, oh Lord, what a good thing for us to be
here. Let's build us three tabernacles. One for Moses, one for Elijah,
and one for you too. God's glory come down in a great
cloud and the voice spoke out of it. That's then Moses and
Elijah and our Lord Jesus Christ in their glory. That cloud came
down. That big booming voice came out
of that cloud and said, this is my beloved son. Hear ye him. The cloud lifted and they lifted
up their eyes and there was nobody left but the Lord Jesus Christ. Huh? And that's the way it is.
We forget we got out from under that log. And the prophets all
they got to say to us is what they said to the Lord unto him.
All the prophets give witness. And I tell you what, God bring
you to the end of yourself. And I still ask him to do that
for me yet. I still ask him, please, please,
please, whatever you do, don't leave me to myself. Don't leave
me to my devices. And oh, and so the famine continues. There's no relief without going
back down to Joseph. And oh, look what happens. His
brother still manifests the legal spirit. Look down at verse 11
here of chapter 43. And their father Israel said
unto them, If it must be so now, do this. Take of the best fruits
in the land, your vessels, and carry down the man a present,
a little balm, a little honey, a little spices, some myrrh,
some nuts, and some almonds. And take double money in your hand. And the money that
was brought again in the mouth of your sacks, carry it again
in your hand. For adventure it was an oversight. And take also
your brother, and rise, and go unto them again. And God Almighty
give you mercy before the man, that he may send away your other
brother. And Benjamin, if I be bereaved of my children, I am
bereaved. And the men took that present, they took double money
in their hand, and Benjamin rose up, went down to Egypt, and stood
before them. They went down there with a heapsight
more than they took the first time. They said, surely, surely
this will impress this fellow this time. Surely, surely we're going to
get his attention this time. Oh my, they're going back to
Joseph. They're still going to go down there and going to try
again after all they went through. They're going down there with
double money and lots of gifts, more gifts. But Joseph is over
all of Egypt. What does he need from them? What does he need? Does he need
their gifts? He has everything. Does he need
their money? He sits on the throne. And then
look what it said in verse 16. And they went back down to Egypt
and look what it said in the last part of verse 15. Stood
before Joseph. And when Joseph saw Benjamin,
That's the one he hadn't met. With Benjamin with him, he said
to the ruler of his house, bring these men home and slay and make
ready, for these men shall dine with me at noon. Now, do they
think, boy, we've got it made now. We're going to go dine with
this fellow. And so it is with Christ. He's
the one who spreads the feast. Come, and he said, all things
are now ready. So these fellows are happy again.
Look what it says down in verse 33. These fellows are so happy
again. Down chapter 43 verse 33. And they sat before him, the
firstborn according to his birthright, to the youngest according to
his youth. He set them by the way they was born. Firstborn,
next one, next one, next one. And then look what he said. And
the men marveled one at another. They just looked around and wondered,
what's going on here? He mistreated us so bad. Next
time, here he is. He's setting us at his table. And he took and sent messengers
unto them before him. Listen to that. Now they can't
eat in his presence. You know, he's going to make
them. And he'd sit in messes under them from before him. But Benjamin's mess was five
times so much as any of theirs. And they drank and were merry
with him. Oh, they drank and were merry
with men. What is man? What is man? Sitting here before
the one that their lives is in his very hand. They had put him in, they'd been
put in prison, they'd already forgot about him. They forgot
about the money being put in the shack. They forgot about
how roughly he spoke to them. And they thought everything's
gonna be alright. There's always a calm before everything gets
rough. God let you, thank you, you're
gonna be alright. And then look what it says, verse
40, chapter 44, 1 and 2. And he commanded the steward
of his house, saying, Fill the men's sacks with food, as much
as they can carry. And put every man's money in
his sack's mouth, and put my cup, look what he's going to
do now, put my cup, the silver cup, the one that I drank out,
the silver cup, in the sack's mouth of the youngest, and his
corn money. And he did according to the word
that Joseph had spoken. Oh, Joseph's going to bring his
brethren right out into the light. And all that servant did according
as Joseph spoke. And that's what the Holy Spirit
does. He comes and speaks according to what our Lord says. See, the
issue of his brother's hatred, the issue of his brother's deceit,
the issue of his brother's betrayal, it's got to be settled. There
can be no fellowship, there can be no communion of heart until
there's a full confession of guilt made. And this is what
Joseph has in view. And this is what Christ has in
view. He'll give you the things, sometimes you'll think everything's
going to be alright, I'm going to be alright with the Lord.
But all his brethren At last their true place has come before
God they were in Joseph's presence and didn't know him and it says
and they Had been married before him Now look what happens Look down verse 4 Verse 3 of Genesis 44 and they
and as the morning light come the men were sent away in their
asses and when they were come going out of the city and yet
not far off hadn't gone far Joseph said unto his steward up follow
after the men without doest overtake them wherefore say unto them
wherefore have you rewarded me evil for good Is not this it in which my Lord
dranketh and whereby indeed he divineth ye have done evil and
so doing? And he overtook them and spoke
these same words unto them. Overtake them. Why have you rewarded
evil for good? He spake the very words that
said unto them. And look what these four men,
look where they're brought to now. Talking about Joseph being
made known unto his brethren in Christ being our brethren
making himself known to us Look what these poor men look well
not poor man. These men look what they say
In verse 12 No, look what it says in verse
8 behold the money which in which in we found in our sacks mouth
We brought again of the out of the land of Canaan. How should
with them we steal out of our Lord's house silver or gold With
whomsoever thy servant should be found both let him die and
we also be my Lord's bondman And he said now also let it be
according to your words. I He with whom it shall be found,
be my servant, you shall be blameless. Then they speedily, got really
hurried, got so quick, took down every man his sack to the ground
and opened every man his sack. And he searched and began at
the eldest, left at the youngest, and the cup was found in Benjamin's
sack. Then they rent their clothes
and put everything back on their ass and returned to the city.
Oh my. What are we going to say? What
are we going to say? Oh, their time has been found
out. How shall we clear ourselves? Look what they went on down to
say. Oh, my. He said, Judah said, Oh, they
and his brethren came to Joseph's house and he was there and they
fell before him on the ground. What deed is this that you've
done? What's it not that a man as I can certainly divine that
I know exactly what you're doing? I know what you did before you
did it. And look what they said, and what shall we say unto my
Lord? How shall we speak? Or how shall we clear ourselves?
How are we going to clear ourselves? God, and they finally been brought
to the place, they didn't say Joseph, but God, has found out
the iniquity of thy servants. Behold, we are thy Lord's servants,
both we, and also with them who the cup is. They've been brought
to the place where they said, how should we clear ourselves?
God has found out the iniquity of all of us. David said, Oh
Lord, it's against you only that I sin. And how blessed is this? What a change from being true
men to being found out and say, God has found out our iniquity. God has found it out. It went
from being true men to God finding out their name. This is God's
way. This was Joseph's intent. Bringing them to own their guilt. To admit what they had done.
Unable to clear themselves. And now look what happens over
here in chapter 45. They've been brought guilty. They've been
brought to confess. They've been brought to say,
we'll be your servants. will be your servants. We've
got nothing to say. We've been found out. God has
found out our iniquity. Not you, Joseph. God has. And
then Joseph could not refrain himself before them all. After their brothers had done
their guilt, He said, cause every man to go out from him, and there
stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto
his brethren. It's just him and his brethren. It'll be us along with our Lord. And he made himself known particularly
to his brethren. And oh listen, Joseph said unto
his brethren in verse 3, I am Joseph. Oh my, I am Joseph? Doeth my father yet live? And
listen to what he said. And his brethren could not answer
him, for they were troubled at his presence. You would have
thought the first thing they said, Oh, Joseph lived, Joseph
lived. But they're scared to death.
Terrified. What are we going to say? Here's
Joseph. We left him in a pit. Then we
sold him for some money when we saw some way to make some
money. We sold him into slavery. Oh my. Now come nothing between
us and Christ. And then look what Joseph says
to them now. They were troubled and they were
scared. They couldn't answer him, couldn't
say anything. And Joseph said to his brethren, listen to this
now. Come near to me. Come near to me. I pray you come near to me and
look what they do. I believe you fellas just You
know, they they come near to me. They came near to Joseph.
They came near and He said I am Joseph your brother whom you
saw Indeed you whom you sold for 30 pieces of silver I'm your
brother and all listen and what a message he gives them down
in verse 7 and Oh, the distance is done away with now. He says,
come near. There's nothing to keep us. They've
owed their guilt. They've done, you know, they
came down. And then look what he says to
them. What a message. God sent me before
you. God sent Christ before us. God sent Christ before us to
preserve you of posterity in the earth. to let you live, to let you have
children, to let you be blessed, and listen to this, and to save
your lives by great deliverance. And ain't that what our Lord
Jesus Christ done for us? Has he brought you to that place
where you know he said, come unto me, come near to me, come
on, come on, Come here. Don't be off. Don't stand off. Come near. You
know your guilt? You know what you've done? You
know that it was you that was responsible for the
death of Christ? Your sins, your guilt, your shame,
mine? Oh Lord, I'm guilty. Guilty,
guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty. Well, come near then. Come on. Come right up here. I'm your
brother. I'm not ashamed to call you brother. Oh, may Christ bring you to that
place where you don't come back. You come with this idea that
I'm going to pay. And then you realize He's got
it all anyway. What can I bring? In my hands
no price I bring, simply to Christ I pray. Our Father, oh gracious, gracious
God, oh our Lord Jesus Christ, oh thank you for bringing me,
bringing me to the place where I have nowhere to go but to you. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for bringing
others here to the place where we have nowhere to go but to
You. We're like Simon Peter, to whom shall we go? You have
the words, words of eternal life, the words of life itself. So,
Lord, we offer You nothing tonight because You own it all. You own
us. You've done bought us. And we're
willingly your servants. Oh, we're so willingly your servants. Thankfully your servants. Joyfully
your servants. Oh, we bow before you. Oh, we offer nothing but you. Oh God, we offer nothing
but you, Son. Oh, bless your holy name. do
your work in this place, to your glory, to your glory, the praise
of the glory of your grace in your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Let's turn to 126
in the Hebrew. Stand together. 126. Let's stand
together. Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let
me hide myself in Thee. Let the water and the blood from
Thy wounded side Be of sin the double cure. Save from wrath and make me pure. Could my tears forbear? thou alone in my hand no price
I bring simply to thy cross I cling while I draw this fleeting breath
when my eyes shall close and behold the old thy throne,
rock of ages, cleft for me.