Now, if you would, for our scripture
reading, open your Bibles with me to Psalm 23. Our text is still going to be
from Genesis chapter 47, but this Psalm 23 goes along very
well, I believe, with the message. Every time I publicly read Psalm
23, I feel compelled to remind us all, even though most of us
could quote this Psalm without looking at it, Pay careful attention to this
like you've never heard it before. For you who believe, this is
the psalm of your shepherd, your shepherd. Now listen to it. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth
me in paths of righteousness for his namesake. Yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me. Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil.
My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life. and I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever. Let's bow together. Our Father, we've gathered here
together this evening, gathered together out of the world. And
Father, we've come here this evening to hear a word from thee.
Father, how I pray that you would be pleased to send your spirit
upon us and enable us to hear a word from thee. Father, how
we pray that tonight you'd lead us in the green pastures of your
word, that you'd lead us beside those still waters and enable
us to drink, enable us to eat in that pasture freely. Father, that you'd nourish us,
that you'd strengthen us, that you'd restore our soul by one
more time showing us Christ the Savior. And Father, enable us,
I beg of thee, to see him by faith, to believe him, to rest
in him, to run to him for everything that we need. Father, bless us
for your great namesake, we pray. And Father, how can we begin
to thank you for your many, countless, many blessings to us? Over all
these many years, Father, you blessed us with homes and children
and families, blessed us with jobs and homes and friends Brothers
and sisters in Christ, you've blessed us so richly. Father,
you've blessed us so richly in enabling us to have a place where
your gospel is preached all these many years. All your goodness
to us, Father, we're thankful. We praise your matchless name
and beg your forgiveness for the times we murmur and complain,
find fault and fuss and worry after all you've done for us.
How faithful you've proven, Father, we're thankful. Father, I pray
that you bless your word where it's preached tonight, everywhere.
What we ask for ourselves, it's not just for us, but Father,
it's for your glory, wherever your word is proclaimed tonight. Bless your people through the
preaching of your word, we pray. Father, for those who are in
times of great difficulty, trial, sorrow, heartbroken, sick, many
various illnesses, problems of this life, Father, we pray for
them. We pray that you would give them a fulfillment of your
promise that your grace is sufficient, that you'd be with them and comfort
their hearts with your presence. Father, that you would deliver
as soon as it could be thy will. In all these things we ask and
we give thanks in that name which is above every name, the name
of Christ our Savior, amen. All right, now if you would,
turn to Genesis chapter 47. where our text is going to be
from this evening. I have a very blessed and pleasant task
this evening. I have a message that I know
will be a great comfort to every believer and a message that it
is my prayer will make every unbeliever run to Christ. I want
to show us how well the Savior takes care of his family. I've
titled the message, Christ's Care for His Family. And we see
that care in a picture of how Joseph took care of his family.
Look in Genesis 47, verse 11. And Joseph placed his father
and his brethren and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt,
in the best of the land, in the land of Ramses, as Pharaoh had
commanded. And Joseph nourished his father
and his brethren and all his father's household with bread.
according to their families. I read this at the beginning
of my work week Monday morning, and four key words here jumped
out to me in these two verses. And these four words give us
a very good picture of how it is God takes care of his family. And you know the way that the
Lord takes care of his family, the way he takes care of them,
what he's pleased to give them, where he's pleased to put them,
Do you know it's always the best? He has reserved the best for
his family. That's what it says here in verse
11, that Joseph gave them a possession in the land of Egypt in the best
of the land. Everything that God Almighty
gives to his children is the best thing, the best thing. And
the first word that stuck out to me is the word placed. Joseph
placed his father. and his brethren where he wanted
them to be. He didn't just say, go out there
in Egypt and find you a place to live somewhere. He placed
them where he wanted them to be. Joseph wanted his family
to be in the best place. So that's where he put them.
Well, that's a picture of Christ our Savior. He wills for his
people, he wills for his children to be in the best place. So you
know, that's where he puts them, in the best place. This word
placed, it means made to dwell. The Lord makes his people to
dwell in the best place. You don't just visit there now,
you dwell there. It pleased the father that all
of his people would dwell in Christ. And that's where he put
them. Before he created anything, he
put those people that he chose and he loved, he wanted the best
for them. So he put them in Christ. That's
the best place to be. Now, I'll tell you why it's the
best place to be. There's many reasons, but one that just stands
out to me so clearly. If anyone dwells in Christ, when
the Father looks at them, you know what he sees? Christ. That's all he sees. He doesn't
see you and Christ, and he's grudgingly got to accept you
because you're in his son. When the Father looks at his
people, all he sees is Christ. All he sees is his beloved son.
Now that's the best place to be, isn't it? That's what David
meant, I'm sure, when he said, I shall dwell in the house of
the Lord forever. He knew I'm gonna dwell in Christ
forever. And that comforted David's heart.
It thrilled David's heart. And it does us too, if we've
got any idea of what it means to be in Christ, doesn't it?
Look with me over 1 John chapter three. Not only do God's people dwell
in Christ, but you know Christ dwells in his people. If Christ
dwells in you, that's the best place to be in. 1 John 3 verse
24. And he that keepeth his commandments
dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth
in us by the spirit which he hath given us. Now what is it
John's talking about? What commandment is it that a
believer keeps? It's the commandment of God,
the one commandment of God, to believe on the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's God's commandment. And
you know what, if we believe Christ, you know why that is?
It's because God the Holy Spirit dwells in us. He's given us the
faith to believe. He dwells in you and you dwell
in him. And God did that for his people
because it was his purpose to give them the best. Can you think
of anything better than having Christ dwell in you? That word placed, it also means
to sit. It means to sit. God has made
his people to sit in Christ. Now, God's made his people to
stay in Christ. If you're sitting somewhere,
you plan on staying a while, aren't you? He made us sit in Christ
because we're not leaving. and he made us rest in Christ. When he makes us sit in Christ,
he makes us rest. When you're sitting, you ought
to be resting, shouldn't you? It's a place of rest. And if you're
sitting in Christ, he made you to sit in Christ. You know where
you're sitting right now? You're sitting in heaven itself.
I'll show you that. Look back at Ephesians chapter
two. Ephesians two. Verse four. But God, who's rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace
are you saved, and hath raised us up together, and made us sit
together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. From Christ the
Savior, ascended back to glory, And the father said, you sit
down here in my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.
And he sat down on the throne in heaven. All of his people
sat in him. You'll never leave. And you're
sitting there resting because the work's done. He made us sit
in Christ. He made us dwell there because
it was the father's will that his people have the best. All
right, the second word that stuck out to me was possession. David
gave his family a possession in the land of Egypt, and that
possession was the best that they could possibly have. It
was the best of all of the land of Egypt. It was the most fertile
place. It was the most beautiful place.
Everything around it was the best. It was the most convenient
place. It was the best. And that land in Egypt belonged
to Joseph's family. They owned it. It was their possession. They weren't squatters in it.
They weren't just squatting in it, waiting until the famine
was over and then they'd leave. No, they weren't squatters in
it. They owned it. They weren't renting it and they
could get kicked out when the lease runs up. That land was
their possession. It was their possession because
Joseph gave it to them. It was their possession by commandment
of Pharaoh. Pharaoh commanded that they have
it. Well, the Lord has given his people a possession. and it's the best possession
that we could possibly have. You think of everything that
Almighty God has given to his people. Everything he gives to
his people, it's their possession because he gave it to them, because
he commanded that they have it. I'll give you a few examples.
God has given his people comfort. He's given them a good hope.
And that comfort and that good hope, it's an expectation. It's
an expectation of salvation. Second Thessalonians 2, 16. Now
our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God, even our father, which
has loved us and has given us everlasting consolation and good
hope through grace. Now by his grace, God's given
that to every one of his people and everlasting consolation and
a good hope. Now that comfort, that consolation,
that good hope is yours. You believe Christ, it's yours.
It belongs to you. Now I know you didn't earn it,
God gave it to you by his grace, but since he gave it to you,
it's yours. Well brother, put it to use. Take that comfort. in those dark
nights of worry and suffering and trial and use it. Take that
good hope and use it. Paul put it to use for the comfort
of your soul. God's given you the best. You
can't have more comfort. You can't have a better hope
than one God's given his people because it's by his grace through
his son. 1 John 4 verse 13 says, hereby know we. that we dwell in Him and He in
us, because He has given us of His Spirit. God the Father has
given His Spirit to His people. So that God the Holy Spirit dwells
in His people. He dwells in you. Now it's not
heresy to say, I know people say, oh, that's heresy, you're
saying you're a little God because you've got the Spirit. No, no,
no, no. It's not heresy to say what God says. God's given you
His Spirit. Now look to Him. Call on Him.
Take advantage of that. God has given Himself to you
so that honestly and truthfully, you can call the God of heaven
and earth your God and your Father. In John 20, verse 17, the Savior
arose. He revealed Himself to Mary and
He told her, You go to my brethren and you say unto them, I ascend
unto my father and your father, to my God and your God. Almighty
God is your God because he gave himself to you. Almighty God
is your father because he gave himself, he made you to be his
child so he would be your father. Now he's your father. Your father is your God. Make
use of it. Make use of it. I was at dinner
Monday evening and got a phone call. It was my daughter, Holly. And I said, excuse me for one
moment. And I answered the phone. And
she said, Daddy, what are you doing? I said, well, I'm out
to dinner. She said, well, you weren't supposed to answer if you're out to dinner.
Honey, you're my baby. I'm going to answer the phone
when you call. I'm your daddy. Almighty God, it's your father
calling. Call on him. Your father will
answer. If you trust Christ, Christ the
Savior is yours. He's your Savior. He's your shepherd. The bride said in Song of Solomon
6 verse 3, I am my beloved's. And my beloved's mine. See, Christ
is my sacred. This is a relationship. He's
mine. He's mine. Maybe it's just me. But the world is more confusing. I mean, when I was a young man,
I understood everything. Now I don't understand nothing. It's
confusing. And boy, religion is confusing,
and people confuse issues. But now God's willed it for His
people to have the best. God's children have been given
an understanding of the truth so that you can't be deceived.
1 John 5, 20. And we know. Now this is not
something I doubt. This is something I don't wonder. No, I know this.
The Son of God has come and has given us an understanding that
we may know Him that is true and that we're in Him that is
true. Even His Son, Jesus Christ. Now God's given you who believe
an understanding. I know you don't understand everything,
but I tell you what, you know Him, don't you? You know Christ. You have an understanding. I
understand. How God saves sinners. It's by
the obedience of another. It's by the sacrifice of another.
I understand how God could save me. Just looking at myself, I
could never understand why God would save me. But looking at
Christ, I understand. God's given you an understanding.
Now, put that understanding to use. You know how you put that
understanding to use? Keep trusting Christ. Keep looking
to Christ. That understanding is yours.
You may as well use it, hadn't you? And the way we use it is
by looking to Christ. God's given his people the gift
of righteousness. Perfect righteousness that is
theirs. Among somebody else, it's theirs. It belongs to them. That's right. If you trust Christ, your possession
is a perfect righteousness. Now, I know you didn't earn it.
Christ earned it, but that righteousness is yours because he gave it to
you. Look at this over at Revelation chapter 19. That righteousness, it belongs
to you, just like that land belonged to Joseph's family because he
gave it to him. Righteousness is yours because
God gave it to you. Revelation 19 verse eight. And to her, The bride was granted
that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white,
for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. Now, John doesn't
say that fine linen that everyone in glory is clothed in, it doesn't
say it's Christ's righteousness put on them, does it? It doesn't
say, well, it's Christ, but it's not really theirs, but they're
wearing it even though it's not theirs. He said, it's the righteousness
of saints. It belongs to them. It's theirs,
because Christ gave it to them. Christ gave it to them. Now I
could go on and on and on and on about what God's given his
people, the blessings God's given his people. But I'll sum it up
for time's sake by saying this. Everything that God has is yours
if you trust Christ. Everything. Romans 8, 32. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, How shall he not with him also
freely give us what? All things. All things. 2 Corinthians 4, 15. For all
things are for your sakes. All things. Everything that God
does, everything. It's for the sake of his people.
All things are yours. Everything that's in creation.
It's the possession of God's people. You know why God made
it? For the enjoyment of his people.
The beauty of nature. The sunset, I was driving up
here this evening, and first time in a Wednesday, a long time,
I noticed the sun was still out. I watched the sunset, I don't
see many sunrises, that's too early in the morning for me,
but I see some sunsets. It was gorgeous. The mountains, and
the blue sky, and the valleys, and the streams, and the oceans,
just beautiful, aren't they? God put all that there for the
enjoyment of his people. Enjoy it. It's yours. Belongs to you, you may as well
enjoy it, hadn't you? And not only things that are created,
but everything in providence, every event of providence, history,
everything, it all happens for the good of God's people. because
God is determined to give the best to his people. That's right. God makes it rain. It rains on
the good and the evil both, doesn't it? But it rains for the sake
of God's people. That's why it does. God makes
the sunshine. It shines on the wicked and it
shines on the righteous. It shines on both, doesn't it?
But God makes that sunshine for the good of his people. That's
why he does it. God gives times of peace where there's no war,
there's no fussing, there's no fighting, you know, there's no
threat of war. and both the righteous and the unrighteous enjoy it
while it lasts, don't they? But God gives that time of peace
for the people. That's why he does it. Now I'm telling you, we will
not understand how all those events that are happening are
for good. We won't understand it. I know
they are good, because remember what God's determined to give
his people? The best. He's determined to give them
the best, So everything that happens is good. It's good. And we know that all things work
together for good. To them that love God, to them
who are the called according to his purpose. Now we know that. We know that. There's not a person
in this room that doubts that. Sometimes it don't feel that
way right down here where we live though, does it? But we
know it's so. We know it so even if we don't understand, even
if it don't feel that way. Now you know that. All things
work together for good to them that love God, to them are the
called according to his purpose. That knowledge is your possession.
It's your possession. Now put it to use. I'm telling
you, there's nothing will calm your heart in times of trial,
heartache, trouble, like knowing God's working all things together
for good. He is all things to those that
love God, to them are they called according to his purpose. Isn't
that the best possession you could have? That's what God's
given. He's given the best. Then the third word is nourished.
Joseph nourished his father and his brethren and all his father's
household with bread. Now you think about what's going
on here. During this time of worldwide
famine, I mean, nothing was growing anywhere. Joseph did more than
just feed his family, just give them enough food, you know, to
barely keep them alive. He nourished them with food. He nourished
them. They didn't just have to live
on bread and water. Joseph nourished them. They ate
good-tasting, well-balanced meals all that time of that famine
that kept them healthy and strong. Joseph nourished them. And you
know, the first thing I thought of when I read that was how you
and I live in a time of spiritual famine. Most of the world seems
to me as materially prosperous as it ever has been. But boy,
we live in a time of great spiritual famine, don't we? We are living
the fulfillment of the prophecy of Amos in Amos 8 verse 11. Behold,
the days come, saith the Lord, that I'll send a famine in the
land. Not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of
hearing the words of the Lord. This is a time of great famine,
isn't it? But you know also, in this time of great famine,
you know what the Lord's doing? He's nourishing His people with
bread. He's nourishing them with Christ, the bread of life, the
best food, the best. The Lord's feeding His people
with His word. being preached. The Lord is still
the great shepherd of the sheep, leading his sheep to feed in
the green pastures of his Word, leading beside those still waters
to drink. That word nourished, it means
to support and sustain. The Lord gives his people spiritual
life. He takes a dead sinner. I mean, a dead sinner can't hear
nothing, doesn't know nothing, doesn't believe nothing, doesn't
even want to believe anything. Lord takes that dead sinner and
gives them spiritual life. He puts spiritual life in them.
And you know how he does it? The seed of this book, the preaching
of this word. That's why we keep preaching
it. This is the means that God's going to use to give life to
dead sinners. And that same word. That gives life to dead sinners.
It also sustains that life, feeds them and enables them to grow
and be stronger. God's people are given strength
to keep believing, to keep looking to Christ, to keep on going by
the preaching of the Word of God. It's what Brother Adam tells
me all the time, believe I make to Wednesday now. Well, he says
that he'd been sustained. He'd been nourished. Yesterday
evening I told Jane, I said, I'm done. I mean, I'm done. I am so tired. I'm going to sit
right here in this chair the rest of the evening. And she
fixed a big old spaghetti dinner. I did get out of my chair to
come eat. And after I said, you know, I haven't felt this good
all day. I'm going to go do some more work. That food, it nourished
me. That's what the word of God does
for His people. It strengthens them. It enables
them to keep going. But that word also, nourished,
means something we don't normally, wouldn't ever use this word to
mean this, but it means to contain. and to restrain. Every believer needs that. We
need to be contained. We need to be restrained. The
strongest believer you know is still in this flesh. And since
we're in this flesh, we leave God, we leave his word, we leave
his son, we leave his gospel, we leave his people in a heartbeat.
Every last one of us would quit believing in Christ if God would
let us. We all would. But he won't let us. He's going
to contain his people. He's going to constrain them.
If you're ever a believer, I know we fear, I'll be the one to leave. You
know, we talk about these went out from us because they were never
of us. You know, we all fear that could be me. I could do
that. I could see myself doing that.
You know why you won't? God contains his people. He restrains
them. He nourishes them. And the way
he contains them, The way He restrains him, it's not threats
of the law. It's not threats of punishment,
threats of damnation. You know, God's gonna kill your
children if you leave the gospel. He's not threatening you. You
know how God contains His people so that they don't leave Him?
This Word. He takes the preaching of this
Word and keeps pointing you to Christ. He takes this Word and
keeps showing us ourselves. How sinful, how vile, how depraved
we are, how dependent we are on the Lord. And he keeps pointing
us to Christ. I'm not faithful, but he is.
I'm empty, but he's full. He's everything that I need.
That's why the believer doesn't leave the Lord. That's why the
believer doesn't leave the gospel and quit believing on him, because
the Lord keeps him. He keeps him by his word, by
the preaching of the word. This word, Human language can't express
how precious it is. You can't express how precious
this is. The only place you will ever
know God is in this book. The words of this book. The only
place you'll ever find out what you are is in this book. The only place you'll ever find
out how it is that God saves sinners and finds out about His
holiness and His righteousness and His justice and His grace
You only find out about that in this book. And Almighty God
has given it to you as a possession and he's given you an understanding
so you understand it when you read it. That's your possession. That's
the best possession God could give you. Men and women have
died to translate this book and print it and put it in on paper
so you could read it. Make use of it. God's given it
to you. You may as well use it, haven't
you? Be in it often. Be here to preach, to hear it
preached as often as you can. In it is the words of life, and
it's the best nourishment that you could have for your soul.
Absolute best, and God's given it to you. And the last word is really a
phrase according to their families. It says there in verse and Joseph
nourished his father and his brother and all his father's
household with bread according to their families. And that phrase,
according to their families, it means like you would take
care of a stumbling toddler. Joseph took care of his family
like they were toddlers who couldn't take care of themselves. Because
that's pretty much what they've proven themselves to be. Now,
when you take care of a toddler, I mean, you've got to be on constant
vigilance. You've got to make sure, I mean,
everything they do, you've got to watch everything. I mean,
you've got to make sure they don't stick their finger in the electrical
outlet. You've got to keep them away from the stairs, because
I'm telling you, a toddler that can't walk on stairs wants to
go to stairs more than anything in this world. You've got to
keep them from it. You've got to put locks on all the cabinets
that you've got cleaning chemicals and these kinds of things in.
You know, our grandsons, Getting big enough. He's moving around
now and Jan said we got to get those things We lock all the
little cabinets, you know, you got cuz I'm telling you of all
the cabinets in the house So, you know what he's gonna get
into the one with with Drano or Clorox or whatever. That's
the one you got to watch them You got to pick out the right
foods for them Dean It amazes, my daughter Savannah, it amazes
me, the thought she puts in to all the different foods, you
know, that this kid's gonna eat. So he has all these different
tastes, he gets all this, you know, well, this is good for
this part of the body, this is good for this part of the body.
Well, somebody's gotta do that for a toddler. They wanna eat
right, and they're right. You gotta pick out everything
they're gonna wear. And when they're learning to walk, you
gotta go along behind them, you know, because I'm telling you,
sure as the world, they're gonna fall down and bang their head. You
know, you gotta be there to catch them, don't you? I mean, you got to
do everything for him. You got to watch him every second,
because you take your eyes off a toddler for a second, and you
will be amazed how quickly they can get into mischief. And it
always is something that's going to hurt him, you know. That's
just what toddlers do. Joseph knew that about his family.
So he took care of them like toddlers. He took care of every
detail. because they'd already proven
they can't take care of themselves. Do you know that's how the Lord
takes care of his weak, stumbling children? His little ones. He watches them like a hawk.
You'll never have to worry that he's going to take his eye off
of them. He watches them all the time. He never slumbers or
sleeps. He keeps his children from touching
the electrical outlet. He'll keep them from latching
on to that unclean thing and leave him. He'll keep them from
it. He keeps his children from the stairs. He's not gonna let
them climb up a cliff and fall off of it. No, he's gonna hold
them safe. His rod and his staff, it'll
keep them on the path. It'll keep them from going up
there where they could get hurt. And he's the one who picks out everything
they eat. He gives them the bread of his word. Otherwise, they'd
eat the junk food of man's religion and damage their souls. So he
picks out what to eat. And he walks with his stumbling
people. He knows we can't do one blessed
thing by ourselves. And he just keeps right with
them to keep us from falling. I'm telling you, he's the best
caregiver. He's the best father. He's the
best guide. He's the best teacher. And with
everything that God Almighty is, His love, his care, his wisdom,
with everything that he is, he takes care of his weak, helpless children. I sure am thankful for that,
aren't you? Nobody's more thankful for that than somebody who can't
walk by himself. Now that makes me glad to trust Christ as a
Jew. I sure hope so. I sure hope so. All right, let's
bow together. Our Father, how can we begin to thank you
that sinful men and women, weak believers, weak in the faith,
weak in every imaginable way, can call the God of heaven and
earth our Father. and call upon you as your children
calling to our Father. Oh, how thankful we are. Father,
how we thank you for your care, your love, your tender, loving
kindness that you use to take care of your children, to lead
us and guide us and protect us from ourselves. Father, we're
so thankful. Father, I pray you'd use your words that's been preached
tonight to reveal your glory to each heart here. And Father,
that you would enable all of us to leave here tonight resting
in Christ our Savior, in his righteousness, his love, his
faithfulness, and his care for us. Father, it's in his precious
name, for his glory we pray, amen. All right, Sean.