They make grace to be conditional.
God will give you grace when you believe. God will give you
grace when you repent. They make salvation conditional.
And we say free grace because that means there's no conditions
on salvation. All the conditions for a sinner
to be saved was accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ. Our
salvation was accomplished for us completely outside of ourselves,
entirely objective. And that's what the gospel does.
It tells you what you need to do. It tells you what Christ
has done. And what has to happen is God's got to give you faith.
You ain't got it. And only grace can give you faith.
And Christ is the only one who can grant repentance. And that's
why we use the term free grace. is because there's no conditions
on salvation. Christ has met them all. And you can rest in that. I don't
have to do a thing. But believe, trust Him, look
to Him. And I couldn't help do that had He not come to me first
and brought me to believe. And that's what I'm going to
talk about again today. I'm going to say the same, I'm going to hit
that same old string. I preached on this a couple of
weeks ago, but I wanted to continue on Christ being our brother.
And today I want to talk about Joseph's revelation of himself
to his brethren. Now what we have here in the
verses I read is Joseph's ten brethren. These are the ones
who despised him, hated him, and rejected him. Now Joseph
had revealed to them that they would one day be under subjection
to him. He had done told them that. He
had made that known. Look with me back over in chapter
37 here of Genesis. Just a moment. Chapter 37. This is why they
hated him and they rejected him. They would not have this man
to reign over them. And yet he had done told them
that not only him, but his own father and his mother would one
day have to bow to him. And look what it says here in
verse 5 of Genesis 37. And Joseph dreamed a dream, and
he told it his brethren, and they hated him yet the more.
And he said unto them, Here I pray you this dream which I have dreamed.
For behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheep
arose, and also stood upright. And behold, your sheaves stood
round about, and made obeisance to me, to my sheep. And his brethren
said unto him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? Or shalt thou
indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more
for his dreams and his words. What thou, Lord, tell the Pharisees?
Except you believe I am he, you'll die in your sin. He said, you're
of your father the devil. Oh no, we're not born of fornication.
Abraham's our father. He said, if Abraham were your
father, you'd do the deeds of Abraham. You'd believe me, for
Abraham believed me, and before Abraham was, I am. And then look
what happens now. In verse 9, And he dreamed yet
another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I
have dreamed a dream more. And behold, the sun and the moon
and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. And he told it to his
father and to his brethren. His father rebuked him and said
unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall
I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves
to thee, to the earth? He then told them they would.
And they do. Just like our Savior. Now back
over here at our text. So here you see Joseph had to
reveal to them, made known to them, that one day they would
all bow down to him and be under subjection to him. Everything
they got they'd get from him. And then Joseph brought his brethren
to own their own guilt and inability. This is one thing Christ does.
He brings us to own our own guilt and inability. Back over here
in Genesis 44 and verse 14. And Judah and his brethren came
to Joseph's house, For he was yet there, and they fell before
him on the ground. He told them they were going
to do this. And Joseph said unto them, What deed is this that
ye have done? Watch ye not that such a man
as I can certainly divine, or make reveal, and make to be known? And Judah said, What shall we
say to my Lord? What shall we speak? Or how shall
we clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity
of thy servants. Oh my, they had on their guilt
and how are we going to clear ourselves? We can't clear ourselves.
What are we going to do? What are we going to do? Now,
let's go back over here in chapter 45 and go through a few things
here this morning. Then Joseph could not restrain himself before
all them that stood by him, and he cried, Cause every man to
go after me, and there stood no man with him, while Joseph
made himself known unto his brethren. Here we see Joseph Revelation
of himself. It says Joseph made himself known. Well, who did he make himself
known to? His brethren. His people. His own brethren.
Now let me tell you something, beloved. No one could reveal
Joseph to his own brethren but himself. Nobody else could do
it. Anybody else would have come
up and said, that's your brother Joseph. No, no, that's not true. The only person who could make
Joseph known to his brethren was Joseph himself. He's the
only one who could reveal himself. You see, there was a time, you
remember, it said there that he knew them, but they knew them
not. No one knew they were his brother, but him. Pharaoh didn't
know it. The servants didn't know it.
Nobody else in Egypt knew it. The only person who knew it was
Joseph himself. And Christ has brethren in this
world. He's not ashamed to call them
brethren. And He knows where every single
one of them is, and the only way in the world they're ever
going to know who He is, for He to reveal Himself to them.
Now ain't that right? And oh, beloved, look over here
in John 8, keep Genesis, look in John 8, 59 with me just a
moment. You know, I, Lord Jesus, to hide
Himself at will from people. You remember one time they came
to take him, go throw him over a cliff. And he just went through
right the middle of them and they didn't know where he went
and how he got there and how he got out from among them. And
then people could be looking at him and not see him. He could
just hide himself to them just like that. And that's what happens
to Joseph. Joseph hid himself. And all everything
that God has is hidden in Christ. All that Christ is, all that
He did, is hid until He reveals it to His brethren. Look in John
8.59. Then they took up stones to cast
at Him, and Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple. How
do you hide yourself and travel at the same time and walk? And
everybody looking at you. Everybody got stones getting
ready to stone you. And all of a sudden they're looking
at Him and He ain't there anymore and still He's walking out of
the temple. He hides himself. He can blind a man. He can make
a man not see until he mills for them to see. Ain't that right? Our fine Lord Jesus said, I thank
you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid,
hid what? Christ. Hid the gospel. Hid the wisdom of God and the
power of God. Hid these things from the wise
and prudent. And what's this? And revealed
them to thieves. Oh, beloved, listen, I want to
show you another verse. Look in 1 Corinthians 2.7. This
is, you know, all the treasures of wisdom of God's hidden in
the Lord Jesus Christ. The treasures of wisdom is hidden
in Christ. Everybody thinks they know the
right way. Everybody thinks they've got the world by the tail on
a downhill drag. Everybody thinks they've got
the answer. But I'm telling you something, beloved. Everything is hid in Christ.
Church membership is not hid. Tithing is not hid. Good works
is not hid. Free will is not hid. Morality is not hid. Doing the
best you can is not hid. Joining the church is not hid.
Baptism is not hid. But Christ is hid. The gospel
is hid. The wisdom of God is hid. The
power of God is hid. Where's it hit at? It's hit in
Christ. Everybody knows what it takes to get to heaven. Let's
work our way up. We've got a ladder. Let's start
climbing. We've got to start at the bottom and we'll work
our way up. And we'll get there eventually. If we just endure,
if we just hold on, if we do the best we can, if we'll just
work, If we'll give, if we'll pray, if we'll read our Bibles,
if we'll believe the right doctrine, everything will be okay. That's
not right. The treasures, treasures. And
Christ is the treasure. Wisdom of God is a treasure.
The power of God is a treasure. Christ's blood is a treasure.
The sacrifice of Christ is a treasure. And you can't see that until
Christ reveals it to you. Ain't that right? Corinthians
2.7 Paul says, we speak the wisdom
of God. God's wisdom, not worldly wisdom. Which God ordained, even the
hidden wisdom. Hidden. It was hidden to me for
years. Chris Smokin wasn't hidden from
me. Good works wasn't hid from me. When and not when. Past wasn't
hid from me. But the wisdom of God was hid
from me. Even the hidden wisdom of God.
And look out here, it was ordained before the world to our glory. Here, these fellas were down
there in Canaan where everything's supposed to be all right, but,
boy, beloved, they got down there and they didn't know where anything
was until they got to Joseph and certainly didn't know who
Joseph was. That's why the Scripture says if our gospel, if our gospel
be hid, it's hid to who? Them that are lost. Them that
are lost. You see, men walk with Christ.
Talk with Christ. And never saw anybody more than
the son of Mary and Joseph, never saw anybody more than a poor
Galilean. And I ask you this, has he revealed
himself to you? Is the gospel, see the wisdom
of God in the gospel now? How God can be just and holy
and true and righteous and be right in saving you. and doing
it through the Lord Jesus Christ as a sacrifice and a sin offering
and a substitute for you. Do you see how God, the only
way He can take you and join you to Himself is through a blood
offering, and that blood offering was the Son of God Himself? That
your sin must be paid for, you must die for your sin, and the
only way you can die for your sin is die in the sin of yourself,
or die in a substitute. And Christ was made sin for us,
who knew no sin, that we might be made the very righteousness
of God in Him. Do you see that as the power
of God that brought the gospel to you? And this power is in
Christ? Oh my! Well, back over in Genesis
45. Nobody can make Joseph known
to his brethren but Joseph. Nobody can make Christ known
to his brethren but Christ. And then not only was it the
revelation of Joseph himself to his brethren, it was the revelation
of one who was rejected. And also the revelation of a
guilty past. Look there in verse 3. And Joseph
said unto his brethren, I am Joseph. And his brethren could
not answer him. Oh my, why? That they were troubled. Troubled at his presence. Huh? You know what that means there?
That word troubled means they were terrified. Here's the man
we sold. Here's the one we hated. Here's
the one that we went back and told our father, he's dead, we're
done with him. And oh, they were troubled at
his presence. Ain't that what Job said, I heard
of you with the hear and the veneer, now my eye sees you,
and I bore myself? And beloved, I'm telling you,
beloved, if you witness the revelation of a guilty past, we did mistreat
this man. We are guilty of this man's blood. And beloved, if Christ hadn't
been for our sin, let's turn the song into meeting last week. I should have been crucified.
Well, I told them when I got up after that, and that's a wonderful
song, don't misunderstand me, but I was crucified. I shouldn't
have been, I was. Where at? In Christ. He took my place, but when He
took my place, I got on the cross with Him. And oh beloved, listen, we become
terrified when we realize how guilt we are before God. And
look what else it is. It's the revelation of real kinship. Right here in verse 4. And Joseph said unto his brethren,
Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. He said,
I am Joseph, your brother. I am Joseph, your brother. Huh? You keep that. He said, I'm your
brother. Christ calls us brethren. Look
over here in Matthew 28 with me just a moment. I want you
to see this. This is such a blessing to me. Oh my, you know it says over
there in Hebrews 2, because we're one with Him, He's not ashamed
to call us brethren. Because we're sanctified by Him,
He's not ashamed to call us brethren. Because He humbled Himself even
unto death, He's not ashamed to call us brethren. And oh, and this is what it says
here now, in verse 10. Then said Matthew 28.10, Then
said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid. Now watch this. Go tell
my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they
see me. Who's going to see me when I
get in Galilee? My brethren? My brethren, and you know one
way you can tell if you're one of Christ's brethren, he's not
ashamed to call you brethren, is do you see him? He said, I have known before
you in the Galilee and there shall you see me. Your way of
knowing your brethren is because you see him. Oh, he told Mary,
he says, touch me not. I've not yet said it to my father
and your father, my God and your God. Oh, we have the same Father,
the same God. And as a man, He obeyed God.
And as a man, He'd come down and humbled Himself and become
one with us and identified with us. And now He's not ashamed
to call us brethren. And what a condescension to do
that. There's a brother born for adversity. And if there's
any adversity right now, these fellows are in it. And there's
a brother born for their adversity. Right now. And not only that
is a revelation of himself and guilt and one rejected and real
kinship, but it's a revelation. It's a revelation. All this is
a revelation. When Joseph revealed himself, all this was revealed
with him and with what he said. It's a revelation of great, great
grace. And he says in verse 5, Now therefore
be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither,
Oh my. Oh, whom you sold in the age. The first thing he says, don't
be greedy with yourself. Don't be greedy with yourself.
Don't be heavy hearted. Don't just try yourself. Don't
turn against yourself. What he's saying here is, I forgive
you. And not only do I not forgive
you, but I forget what you've done. You sold. It's over. It's done. I don't
remember it. It's for God. It's forgiven.
That's what he's saying. He forgives them of their sin
and willing to forget it. Oh my, he says, you know, the
law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
Whom we have received, His fullness have we received. Grace for grace. Grace brought them down there.
Grace revealed Himself to him. Grace says that I forgive you. Grace upon grace upon grace. When you thank Him for that grace,
He gives you more. It's grace enough for Him to
make Himself known to you. But oh, what grace to say, I
forget. Your sins and iniquities I will
remember no more. Oh my! Beloved, and I've told
you this before, if your sins and anything in your past comes
back into your mind, and you're ashamed of them, and it hurts
you and it grieves you, it's not God that does it. He says,
their sins and iniquities I will remember no more. I'll cast them
as far as east is from the west, I'll cast them behind my back,
cast them into the depth of the sea, blot them out as a thick
cloud. I looked for sin in Judah and
Jacob, and I could not find any. I mean, they're gone. Where they
at? Christ bore them away. Just like
that scapegoat, when the high priest laid his hands on the
head of that scapegoat, he had two goats. One he put the hands
on and confessed the sins of Israel over. They took it and
slew it. A ram of the first year slew
that one. That atoned for the sin. And
to show that the sins were atoned for and were gone, he went over
to this other one and put his hands on the head of it, confessed
all the sin of all of his people, and a fit man carried it off
into the wilderness. And when he got into the wilderness,
there was a short go, sins went with it. Guilt went with it.
Everything was gone. Sins are gone. They're atoned
over here and they're carried away. And that fit man would
come back without that goo. Christ went to the cross, went
in the tomb, and was raised again for our justification. Sins atoned
for, sins carried away, and raised again. And there are sins, I
will remember, against Him many more. Look what else He says
to these men here. In verse 4, He says, Come near to Me. Come near
to Me. And watch what happens. And they
came near. Come near to me. Christ says,
come unto me. Oh, the Father given shall come
to me. Oh, my. Come, not just come,
come near. Come near. And oh, beloved, we were, you
that were far off, are now made nigh by the blood of Christ. And we draw near now. We draw
near right now. We draw near to God right now. We don't have to stand too far
off. And in fact, I don't care what happened. When Simon Peter
denied the Lord and went back fishing as quick as he knew it
was the Lord on the seashore with that fire and fish on the
coast, he jumped in the water to get to Christ as fast as he
could. After all he had done, he still
felt the liberty and the confidence and the freedom to draw near
to Christ. And we draw near by a new way.
Not the old way. A living way Christ ever lived
to make intercession for us. His flesh was veiled, and that
veil is gone, taken away, and we can come into the holiest
of holies now through our Lord Jesus Christ. And not only was
it a revelation of great grace, but it's a revelation of a great
salvation. Look down here in verse 7. Great salvation. And God sent me before you to
preserve you a posterity, preserve you life, preserve you a generation
in the earth, and to save your lives, watch this, by great deliverance. You notice what it says there?
First of all, it says, God sent me. God sent me before you. God prepared
for His people before they ever come to eat. God had it prepared
for His people. Christ was the Lamb slain before
the foundation of the world and God had salvation, had food,
had everything provided for these of His brethren before they ever
came to where Joseph was. Before Joseph ever made himself
known. Everything they needed was already
provided for. God sent me. God prepared for
us. You remember in Jonah, four prepared things. Four prepared
things. Who prepared them? God did. What kind of salvation
would we have if we prepared it? It would be awful. It would be absolutely horrible. We would be walking aisles, making
decisions, signing cards. Going in the baptismal pool of
West, a lost sinner coming out of it a wet lost sinner. God prepared. And you know how
it was prepared? It was prepared through great,
great suffering. Great suffering. Joseph, beloved,
when he got down there this way prepared for them, when God sent
him down there, he went through great, great suffering to get
where he was. First of all, he was put in a
pit. Our Lord Jesus Christ came down and so identified with us
that, beloved, He became bone of our bone and flesh of our
flesh. And not only that, beloved, but then they put Him in prison.
A woman accused Him of sin. Christ was falsely accused. And
not only was He falsely accused of sin, then He was put in prison. Set in prison. Put in bondage. by a false accusation with no
sense. And then he was brought up out
of that prison. And then, beloved, he told everybody
what was going to happen and that the only way in the world
to be saved is do what I tell you. And they said, well, we'll
do what you say. And sure enough, he became the
ruler of all Egypt with all of Bram. And Christ our Lord went
into that prison. went under the wrath of God,
the prison house of sin itself, and destroyed sin, went into
death itself, and destroyed death, and came back out. And right
now he sits at the right hand of God. He got there through
great, great suffering. And beloved, these men were saved. He said, a great deliverance.
God sent me to save your lives by a great deliverance. Their lives were saved. It wasn't
an attempt to save them. He didn't try to save them. He
didn't say, I want to save you. I'd like to save you. He said,
God prepared a great salvation for you to save your lives. Oh, my. And I'm telling you,
beloved God, our Lord Jesus Christ, He did not make salvation possible. He has saved His people. He didn't
open the door. He is the door. And then look what else He's
done for them. Look what else He's done for them. He reveals
He has a great provision for them in Egypt. What it says in
verse 10. Oh, when they get down there,
wherever they come near to Him, when they come down where He's
at, look what happens now. He reveals He has a great provision
for them. there in Egypt. And we're in
Egypt now. And thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen. And love
this, and shalt be near unto me, your children, and your children's
children, your flocks, your herds, and all your... I'm going to
take care of everything. And there, watch this, I will
nourish you. He didn't say there, you're all
going to make the best you can out of a bad situation. No, no,
I'm going to put... And listen, I'll nourish you.
I'll provide for you, and you shall dwell in the land of Goshen."
Goshen was the best spot of ground in all of Egypt. And when I put, you're going
to dwell in Goshen, if you're going to dwell where the best
is at. And I'm going to take care of
you. I'm not only going to take care of you. I'm going to take
care of what you eat. I'm going to take care of what you wear. I'm
going to take care of what you drink. I'm going to take care of your
cows. I'm going to take care of your herds. I'm going to take care
of your children. I'm going to take care of everything you got.
And then on top of that, I'm going to nurse you. And listen,
and you're going to be near to me. And beloved, we dwell in the
best part, we have the best portion, we're in Egypt, this world is
Egypt. And we're living in Egypt. But we dwell in the land of notion,
we dwell where Christ is, where the gospel is. And He provides
for everything we've got. Has He not nourished us and made
us fat? Made us well, made us healthy, made us all the things
He's given us. We cannot begin to enumerate
His blessings upon us. Oh, let the world have everything
else. We've got Goshen, we've got Christ,
we've got His promise. Let the Egyptians have the rest.
We've got Him. We've got His gospel. We've got
the bread from heaven. We've got the water of life.
We've got righteousness. We've got forgiveness. We've
got peace with God. We've got peace in our hearts.
We've got justification. Oh, we've got the best! And then watch what it says there.
The last part of verse 11. And all that thou hast, unless
Lest thou and thy household, all that thou hast, come to poverty.
He said, I'm not going to let you come to poverty. If you come
down here and try to make it on your own, you're going to
come to poverty. That's why I'm going to take care of you. You're not going to come to poverty.
Not going to do it. And then look what he does now
in verse 15. He assures them now that he accepts
them in verse 15. Moreover, he kissed all his brethren,
and wept upon them. He kissed all his brethren. You
know what a kiss represents? Love. First thing I think of
a kiss is love. You kiss people you love. A child
gets hurt, say, let me kiss that hurt. Husband kiss their wives,
and wives kiss their husbands. They love one another. And then
there's kisses of forgiveness. You know, whenever you do somebody
wrong or you hurt somebody, they're feeling to hurt or something,
you kiss them, you know, and that's a kiss of forgiveness.
Oh, everything's all right. Everything's okay. It's like
the prodigal. When he went back to his father's
house, you know what the father done? The father ran to him and
fell on his neck, just like it said here. And he kissed him. You notice here, Joseph's brethren
didn't kiss him, he kissed them. The prodigal didn't kiss his
father, the father kissed the prodigal. And beloved, I love
you, and I forgive you, I accept you, and I take you just like
you are. And look what happens now, what
happens after he kissed them. And verse 15, after that, his
brethren talked with him. When? After he kissed them. After
he showed how much he loved them. How much he showed what a great
affection that they were forgiven. And you know, I'll tell you,
if he'd have drew out a sword, they couldn't have said a word.
But instead, he reached down and kissed every one of them.
Kissed every single one of them. And then they felt the freedom
and the liberty and the confidence to talk to Him. After the kiss. After Christ makes His love known
to us. After He shows us His great affection.
Shows us with the kisses of forgiveness. We talk to Him then. Talk to
Him. And let me show you this. Down here in verse 16. And there
was, Joseph's joy was shared. Joseph was overjoyed for his
brethren. Loved his brethren. Done all
for his brethren. And it says in verse 15, and
there his joy was shared by others. And the fame thereof was heard
in Pharaoh's house, saying, Joseph's brethren are come. Oh, it's joy
in heaven. over the presence of one sinner.
There's joy in the presence of the Father over one sinner that
repents. Joy in the presence of the angels,
it says. And ain't that what it says?
Joseph's brethren are come, and it pleased Pharaoh well, it pleased
the Father well, it pleased the one in authority well, and it
even pleased the servants. Oh, and how we rejoice. Don't
we? I look at the joy that fills our hearts. when somebody confesses
Christ. What a joy it fills our souls
when somebody embraces Christ. How we rejoice! And beloved,
there is joy in heaven. Over angels, in the presence
of the angels, and in the presence of the Father. Over one sinner
that repented. It's more than over 99 just persons
that don't need it. And then let me show you this.
Verse 9. They have a message revealed
to them. Joseph reveals a message to him, gives him a message.
He gives him a message. He said, 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. They have a message revealed
to him. It says, Haste ye, and go up. You've got something to
say when you go up there. Don't just go up. You've got
something to say when you get there. It's like that woman at
the well. She threw away her water pot.
She said, come run and said, come see a man that told me all
things that ever I did. That Gadarean maniac wanted to
follow the Lord Jesus Christ after he clothed him. And his
right mind put clothes on his back. He's sitting at the feet
of Christ. And our Lord said, go to your house, your family,
your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord hath done
for you. And, O beloved, hasten ye, and
go up. And here's the first thing he told them to say. Look down
at verse 25. And they went up out of Egypt,
and came into the land of Cana, unto Jacob their father. And
this is what they told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive. Joseph's alive! As far as Jacob
was concerned, and all those brethren, he's dead. And that's
what Christ has done, believers. He's dead. They don't see him
alive. They don't see him risen. And that's why we come to tell
you our Lord's a living Lord, a risen Lord, an exalted Lord,
a Lord with life in Him. To them He was dead. And what
news it is to come and say, He's alive. Remember they come to
the tomb and looked in. Where is He? Why seek ye the
living among the dead? He's not here. He's risen. Oh beloved, go down there and tell
them He's alive. Not only that, but proclaim He's
exalted. Go back up there in verse 9.
He said, you tell them down there, you tell my Father that God hath
made Me, Lord of all Egypt, all Egypt, I've got power over the
whole thing. God has given him power over
all flesh. God has committed all things
into the hands of the Son. And then look what else he says
in verse 13. And you shall tell my Father
of all my glory in Egypt. When you get down there, tell
them my glory. Don't tell them the glory of
Egypt. Tell them my glory. Tell them what I've done. Tell
them what you've seen. Tell them of my throne. Tell
them of my clothes. Tell them of my provisions. Tell
them of my promises. Tell them of my wealth. You go
down there and tell them my glory. And tell them what you've seen.
And hey bud, that's all we can tell. Tell what we've seen and
what we've heard. And then when you get down there,
tell Him not only that I'm exalted, that I'm alive. And that might
glow over Him, but tell Him to come to me. Look what He says
there in verse 9. Come down unto Me. And don't tarry about it. Don't wait. Come now. Come right now. Come to Me. You know who He's talking to
to come down? His family, His brethren, His people. And all He's telling them, I've
got the power and the ability. And He has the power and ability
to save His house, to save His people. Ain't that right? Ain't
that right? Well, how do you reckon Jacob
would react to this? How do you think they would react
to this? Now look in verse 26. And they told him St. Joseph
is yet alive and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. He
told them just what to say. He's got all the power down there.
He's got all the wealth down there. He's got all the authority
down there. Oh, watch this now. I mean, when he goes through,
everybody bows down to him. And Jacob's heart fainted. grew
weak, unbelieving, for he believed them not. That's the first reaction. I don't believe that. I just
can't believe that. I can't believe that Joseph has
all the power, all the authority, all the wealth, all the provision,
and I can't believe that he's yet alive. And that he can give
me everything I need. But now look in verse 27. Look how he became a believer.
And they told him all the words of Joseph. That's how they became
believers. Just tell him what Joseph said. We tell you what Christ said. What preaching is, is talking
from God's word, from God's heart and His word to your heart. And
that's why it's just telling back to sinners what God's already
said. And that's what he said. He believed the words of Joseph. And then not only that, but then,
look what he said, and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had
sent to carry him, you don't even have to go back by yourself.
I'm going to carry you back. I'm going to see that you have
a way to get back. And when he heard the words and saw the wagons,
saw the provisions, He says, Jacob's father revived. And then
look what he says in verse 28. And Israel said, before he was
Jacob, now he's Israel. It is enough. It's enough. I've heard his word. I've heard
he's alive. I've seen his provisions. And
I'll go and see him before I die. And let me give you one more
thing. I know you're tired and I know you're weary, but let me try to finish if I
can. Here in verse 24, Joseph gives his brethren a warning.
He gives them a warning. So he sent his brethren away,
and they departed. They went to do just exactly
what he said. And he said unto them, See that you fall not out. By the way, see that you fall
not out by the way. He sent his brethren away and
he sent them with a message. He sent them with provision.
Then he said, see that you fall not out by the way. Oh my, ain't that what our Master
says to us? I'll give you everything, provide
everything, and don't be like Judas. Don't be like Demas. Don't even be like David. Don't
do the things that David did. Don't be like Solomon. Be drawn away by strange women.
Don't be like Simon Peter. Deny the Master. Don't be like
them. Be like Paul over in Philippians
chapter 3, and I'll close. Oh, see that you've fallen out
by the way. How many people fall out by the way? How many people
fall out by the way? They go down and they find out
all that Christ has and all that Christ will do, and they hear
the promises, they hear that He's alive, they see all that
He's got and what He's done for all of His brethren, and they'll
say, boy, I want to join up with that bunch. And in a little while,
in a little while, they fall out by the way. The cares of
this world, the deceitfulness of riches takes them away. Disinterestedness takes them
away. Lots of things that take a person away and make them fall
out by the way. But look what Paul says, Found
in my brethren, Philippians 3.1, Rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice,
be rejoiced in Joseph. Let's rejoice in our master.
To write the same things to you, to me indeed, is not grievous. I don't care to say the same
thing over and over and over again. It's safe for you. It's
the first thing, it's the best thing for you. Beware of dogs
who will bark at you, scare you, hurt you. Beware of evil workers
come to draw you away after Christ. Beware of the concision, those
who are so concise in their doctrine, so concise in their manner, so
concise in their dealing with the law. cross all the T's and
dot all the I's. Now watch this, for we are the
circumcision, circumcised in heart, which worship God, here
we go, in the Spirit, nothing outward, rejoice in Christ
Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. That means that
this flesh has nothing to offer to God, has no confidence in
what it can do, or what it can accomplish, or it can commend
itself to God. We are not of them who draw back
unto perdition, but believe to the saving of the soul. See that
you fall not out by the way. Our Father, in the precious name
of the Lord Jesus, thank you for your goodness, thank you
for your mercy. Thank you for the truth as it is in Christ. I thank you for the word. Lord,
I'm like Jacob. I heard your word and I see your
provision. And that's enough. That's enough. I bless you for
that. God meet the needs of this body
of believers. Save those. Enable those who you've done
a work for and are doing a work for to come to you. Believe you. Own you as their
own. Acknowledge that you're the Lord.
Enable them to do that. We ask in Christ's name. Amen.