You know, I find a great deal
of encouragement as I sit here with all the fears and sweaty
hands and racing heart that you have before you get up to preach
God's Word to God's people. And the Holy Spirit leads Sean
to pick out a song that says just exactly what I'm getting
ready to try to say. We're going to look tonight at the Lord,
a picture of how He graciously reveals himself to his people. Now this much I know, the Lord's
gonna reveal himself to somebody. Over the course of time, the
Lord's gonna reveal himself to somebody. He's got people. He's
gonna reveal himself to somebody. That's my prayer. Pass me not. Pass me not. Lord, reveal yourself
to me. Just kind of keep that in your
mind as we go through this. Now, if you would open your Bibles
with me for our scripture reading to Genesis chapter 45. Genesis 45, we'll read the first
15 verses. Then Joseph could not refrain
himself before all of 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, doth 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 therefore 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 earing nor harvest. And God
sent me before you to preserve your posterity in the earth,
and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not
you that sent me hither, but God. and he hath made me a father
to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout
all the land of Egypt. Haste ye, 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,
and thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be
near unto me, thou and thy children, and thy children's children,
and thy flocks and thy herds, and all that thou hast. and there
will I nourish thee. For yet there are five years
of famine, lest thou and thy household and all that thou hast
come to poverty. And behold, your eyes see, and
the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it's my mouth that speaketh
unto you. And you shall tell my father
of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that you've seen, and
you shall hasten and bring down my father hither, And he fell
upon his brother Benjamin's neck and wept. And Benjamin wept upon
his neck. Moreover, he kissed all his brethren
and wept upon them. And after that, his brethren
talked with him. Thank God for his word. Let's
bow together. Our father, how it thrills our
hearts to be able to call the God of heaven and earth our father.
Oh, how we thank you, how we thank you for your mercy and
your grace that would cause sinful men and women such as we are
to be part of your household, your children. And Father, how
we thank you for your mercy and your grace, how you've been pleased
to reveal yourself to your people, to so many people here, you've
been pleased to reveal yourself. Give them saving faith in our
Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we never could have figured
God out on our own. We never could have figured the
gospel out on our own. We never could have figured redemption
out on our own. It had to be revealed to us.
And how we thank you that you stooped to reveal these glorious
wonders of Christ our Savior to us. And Father, I beg of you
that you continue to do that. You continue to reveal yourself
to your people. That you continue to call out
your people. that don't know you, Father, I beg of you that
you would, even this evening, reveal yourself to them through
the preaching of your gospel. I pray you keep revealing yourself
to your people all how we need you every minute of every day,
how we need you, how we need a fresh sight of the Savior,
how we need fresh sources and fresh refilling of your mercy
and your grace. Father, we're so thankful. And Father, we pray that you'd
be with those of our number and those in other places who, they
can't be with us tonight, they're hurting, they're sick, they're
in deep, deep waters. Father, we pray that your presence
be with them. We pray that you'd comfort, that
you'd heal, that you'd be with them in a special way. And Father,
all these things we ask, and we give thanks in that name which
is above every name, the name of Christ our Savior, amen. Now
I've titled the, Message this evening, knowing God. I can't
think of a more important subject, knowing God. Knowing God is so
important. There's no spiritual life without
knowing God and saving faith. And what I'm talking about tonight,
what I want to talk about the rest of this in this message
is not knowing about God. I don't want us to just know
about God. I'm talking about knowing God so that we know him. so that we know how God saves
sinners, and more importantly, how God can save you. I wanna
know how can God save me? How can God save a sinner like
me? I'm talking about knowing God
because you have union with him. You know him because you're one
with him, just like a husband and a wife are one. And there
may be somebody here tonight wondering this. Do I know God? Or do I just know the doctrine
that's preached here? Do I know God? Or do I just know
facts from scriptures? You know, I know this by experience
and I've seen it repeated over and over and over and over again,
especially our young people that grow up under the sound of the
gospel. You, by the time our young folks
here reach 18, and they come out of Eric's class, they graduate
from high school, they come out of Eric's class in here. If you've
been paying attention whatsoever, you got a PhD in the scriptures.
Now you've been taught the scriptures by the best, you really have.
But this is the question that's in our mind. Do I know Christ? Do I? Do I trust him? Or do I
just know what I've been taught up here? Is it just a head knowledge
or it's a heart faith? That's what we wonder. Our text
tonight is a picture of how God makes himself known to his people. And the picture, it's a heartwarming
story. It's the story of Joseph finally
revealing himself to his brothers. And when Joseph got done making
himself known to his brothers, they knew Joseph. They didn't
just know who he was, they knew beyond a shadow of a doubt Joseph's
character. This is a merciful and gracious
man. This man, not only is he king
in Egypt, not only is he in control of all the food that there is
in this world, this is a gracious man. This is a merciful man.
They knew that. And Christ makes himself known
to his people. Now that's a heartwarming matter.
I mean, it's a heartwarming matter because it's a heart matter.
It's a heart matter. And God's sovereign grace, I
don't care how many times we hear of it, God's sovereign grace
ought to always warm our hearts, shouldn't it? How can sovereign
mercy not warm the heart of the guilty? How can it not? And when
Christ makes himself known to his people, I tell you what,
they know him. They know him. They don't just
know the doctrine about him, they know him. They know his
character. They know. How it is God can
save a sinner like me. It's all of grace. All of his
grace, all of his doing. So let me give you a few things
as we read back through this story. Here's the first thing.
Christ only makes himself known to his brethren. Verse one, Genesis
45. 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. Now Joseph
only made himself known to his brethren. Before he made himself
known, he made all the Egyptians leave the room. He didn't reveal
himself to the Egyptians, only his brothers. And when Christ
reveals himself, he reveals himself to his people, to his brethren. Isn't that an amazing thing?
Sinners like us can be the brothers of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
can call Him our older brother. That's what we have by God's
regenerating grace. When we're born again, we're
born into God's family. Now, the only explanation for
that is grace, isn't it? Why would God cause somebody
like you and me to be born again in His family? The only explanation
is grace. It's because in his mercy and
in his grace, Almighty God chose to make us his children so that
the Lord Jesus Christ would be our older brother. Now, the Lord's
made himself known to you. You know this, you believe this,
and you love this. The only reason, you're one of
Christ's brothers, sisters. You can call him your brother.
The only reason is he chose you even though you didn't deserve
it. You didn't do anything to deserve it. It's simply by his
electing grace. And you love it that way. You
just stand amazed at it. Look at Hebrews chapter two.
Every believer can say that the Lord Jesus Christ is our older
brother. Hebrews chapter two. Look at verse 11. For both he that sanctifyeth
and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he's
not ashamed to call them brethren. Our older brother is not ashamed
to call us brethren. I mean, what a lot we are, but
he's not ashamed. because he sanctified us. He
made us holy. He washed us in his blood. He's
not ashamed to call us brethren. And our older brother always
reveals himself to his brothers by preaching. Verse 12, saying,
I will declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of
the church will I sing praise unto thee. Now, if you're going
to hear from God, you're going to hear a man preaching. But
if the Lord reveals himself to you, there's going to be a difference. It's, you're going, it's not,
I don't know how to explain this. I mean, if you've experienced
it, you know it, it's not just the man you're hearing. It's
the Savior speaking to your heart. That's how he reveals himself
to his people. And Lord's gonna glorify every one of his brethren.
He won't lose even one of them. Verse 13. And again, I will put
my trust in him. And again, behold, I and the
children, which God hath given me. When this thing's done, The
savior is gonna appear with his people before his father and
say, father, here they all are. You gave them to me to redeem.
Now I brought every last one of them to you. Here they are.
And they're all gonna be there because our older brothers made
reconciliation for the sins of all his brethren. Look at verse
17. Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like
unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and a faithful
high priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation
for the sins of his people. Our older brother loves his children,
his younger brothers and sisters so much, he sacrificed himself
to make reconciliation for their sins. And our older brother is
the one who comforts us. Verse 18, for in that he himself
has suffered being tempted, he's able to succor, to comfort them
that are tempted. Our Lord comforts his brethren. He knows how, because every step
we take, he's taking it first. He suffered everything that we
suffer in the flesh so that he's able to comfort. Now that's some
older brother, isn't it? That's the brother I want. Now
the Egyptians heard about that. They heard about that, but Joseph
didn't reveal himself to them. See, this is what I said before.
There's a difference in knowing about Christ and knowing Christ. And if you know Christ, you know
this. It's because he came one day in his power, in his mercy,
in his grace, and he revealed himself to you so that you believe
him. And he does that through preaching. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching. to save them that believe, to
save his people. It's through preaching. Now, it might seem odd to say
that the Lord reveals himself to his people through preaching,
but he also only does it when you're alone with God. Do you know you can be in a large
congregation and be alone with God? That's what the Lord does. He makes himself known to his
people individually. just like you're the only one
in the room. Have you ever felt like that message was just for me?
You know what that is? That's being alone with God.
He sent that to you. That's what he does for his people. And if you know God, you know
that's how he revealed himself to you. All right, number two,
if you know Christ, you've been troubled in his presence. Look
back in our text, Genesis 45. Verse three. And Joseph said unto his brethren,
I'm Joseph, doth my father yet live? And his brethren could
not answer him. They were speechless, for they
were troubled at his presence. You reckon? After all of their
sin, after all of their hatred against Joseph, after everything
they'd done to him, they should have been troubled, shouldn't
they? Joseph is the most powerful man in the world. And if he gives
them justice, they're doomed. I mean, if he just does whatever
he wants to him, even if it's not justice, they're doomed.
This man can do with him as he pleases. Now, if we know God,
we've been troubled in his presence. We've been troubled over our
sin. Now, I said that right, our sin.
Yes, we're troubled over our sins, the things that we've done,
but the problem, is our sin. It's our sin nature. And I'm
troubled because the Lord gives me justice. I'm doomed. I'm doomed because I deserve
hell. Look at Zechariah chapter 12. You know, this, this thing of
being troubled in his presence and truly mourning over sin is
not just being sorry I did it. You know, most people, when they
say they're sorry they did it, what they really mean is, I'm
sorry I got caught. I'm sorry I got caught. When
the Lord reveals himself to us, we're gonna be troubled on a
whole deeper level than that. We're gonna be troubled because
Almighty God has showed us what it costs to put sin away. Look
here at Zechariah chapter 12, verse 10. And I will pour upon the house
of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace
and of supplications. And they shall look on me whom
they've pierced and they shall mourn. They shall mourn for him
as one mourneth for his only son and shall be in bitterness
for him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. Now I tell
you the first time I am really honestly troubled over my sin
It's not what I'm afraid of getting punished. I truly mourn over
my sin when I finally see what it cost to put my sin away. I had no idea how heinous my
sin really is until I saw that the only way my sin could be
put away is a son of God be pierced, be crucified, suffer and die,
the cursed death on the tree, dying the death that I deserve,
dying in my place. Christ wasn't pierced for any
sin of his own. He was pierced for my sin. His back was lacerated
for my sin. That sword was thrust in his
side for my sin, my sin. That lets me see just how horrible
my sin really is. And I'm not mourning over sin
until that's why I mourn, because that's what it costs. See, if
Christ reveals himself to me, I don't wanna just be saved from
going to hell. I mean, I didn't wanna go to
hell before I knew Christ, did you? If Christ reveals himself
to me, this is my concern. I wanna be saved from my sin.
I want my sin put away so that I can be reconciled to Christ,
so I can be made like him. That's my heart's desire more
than anything else. Now you see that, you know that
there's a big difference in not wanting to go to hell and wanting
your sin forgiven. And you know that difference
if Christ has made himself known to you. Then number three, if
you know Christ, he's dealt with you in compassion and with a
heart of compassion. Look back at Genesis 45. As Joseph revealed himself to
his brothers, verse two says, he wept aloud. He wept. And verse four, Joseph said unto
his brother, come near to me, I pray you. And they came near
and he said, I'm Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Now when Joseph talked to his
brothers, I mean, you think of who these guys are now. Let's
remember what they did to Joseph. And when he talked to them, his
heart was moved with compassion for them. So much so that he
wept. They caused him so much suffering,
yet his heart was moved with compassion for them. When he
saw them in so much need, when he saw them in so much misery,
when he saw them so full of fear, his heart was moved with compassion. And he told them, come near to
me. You don't have to run away. Come near to me. Isn't that a good picture of
the Savior's heart? His heart was always moved with compassion
for sinners. He never one time drove a sinner
away. Now he drove the Pharisees away, didn't he? He made a whip
and drove the money changers out, but he always had compassion
for sinners in their misery. And here's what he told him.
This is the answer to all the sinner's ills, everything that
ails us. He said, come to me, come to me. I'm everything you
need, come to me. If you're weary, come to me for rest. If the burden
of the Lord is too much for you to take anymore, come to me,
I'll give you rest, I kept it for you. Are you thirsty? Come to me and drink. Are you
a guilty sinner, fears God's justice? Come to me for mercy. Come to me for forgiveness. Are
you a sin sick sinner? Covered from head to toes, wound
and bruises and putrefying sword. Come unto me and be healed. Are you a dead sinner? Come to
me for life. Come to me. Now I know Joseph
said here, come to me, I pray you. But don't make a mistake
about this. This is a commandment. The commandment
of the gospel is come to me, come to Christ. And if we don't
come to Christ, you know what that says about us? It says,
if I don't come to Christ, I'm so sure that my righteousness
and my goodness is good enough to get me into heaven and good
enough to get me into God's presence, I won't come. See, it's not my sin that's going
to keep me from heaven, is it? It's my righteousness, my rise
of righteousness. It's my refusal to obey the commandment
of God. Trust Christ. The Savior commands sinners,
every one of us here this evening, come to me. But it sure sounds
like a sweet invitation if you're a guilty sinner, doesn't it?
Come to me. Joseph told him, I'm your brother. I'm your brother that you sold
into slavery. You're guilty. but I forgive
you. And that's what the Lord tells
his people. He doesn't just pretend like our sin's not there. He
said, you're guilty, but I forgive you. Your sins are great, but
my blood, the blood of my sacrifices washed your sins away, washed
your white as snow. Now come to me, come for mercy,
come for grace, come for peace. That's a commandment of the Savior
to a sinner. All right, number four. If you
know Christ, you can see God's sovereignty all in your life,
especially in your salvation. Verse five, Joseph says, now
therefore be not grieved or 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 wish there shall neither be earing
nor harvest, And God sent me before you to preserve you of
posterity in the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God. And he hath
made me a father to Pharaoh and Lord of all his house and a ruler
throughout all the land of Egypt. Now again, Joseph didn't ignore
the sin of his brothers, did he? No, he just laid it out there
and opened. He said, y'all did this. You
sold me into slavery. But Joseph also told them of
God's sovereignty. That God overrode their wickedness
to accomplish God's purpose of mercy and grace. God works in mysterious ways,
doesn't he? His wonders to perform. And I
tell you one of the mysterious things that our Lord does is
how he overrules man's sin and man's wickedness and man's rebellion
to accomplish his purpose of good. And he does it without
ever excusing sin. You know, God shows us our sin. He reveals to us our sin. You
know why? Now I'm talking about when he
reveals himself to his brethren. When he reveals himself to his
people, he shows us our sin so he can show us his glory and
how he forgives sin. His glory is his grace. You see,
it was God's purpose. that Adam sinned in the garden.
That did not take God by surprise. Adam did not do something God
couldn't stop him from doing. That was God's purpose all along.
That Adam sinned and fall in the garden for this reason. So that in time to come, Son
of God could come into flesh and redeem a people out of Adam's
fallen race. He could redeem a people from
their sin and their misery. See, God did that. for the glory
of Christ the Redeemer, and he did it without ever being the
author of sin. Who can do that but God? And if you trust Christ, you
think about that for your own self. Boy, you spent a whole
lot of time not caring one bit about the Lord at all, didn't
you? Not caring a bit. Good chance, you spent a good
bit of time in open sin and rebellion, didn't think a thing about it. Not one blessed thing. It's just
what you enjoy doing, what everybody you knew was doing. You could
have spent a whole lot of time sitting in buildings like this,
hearing the gospel preached. Hearing the gospel of God's sovereign
grace preached, and you didn't believe it, and you went out
and the rest of the week didn't think one thing about it. But now you trust Christ. And now that you know him, now
that you know his sovereignty, now that you know how he works
all things together to accomplish his purpose, you can look back
over the events of your life and say, I see how God was working
there. I see what God was doing there.
Oh, if he had left me to myself, I'd have been so far in left
field, you couldn't have seen me. But God turned me, God kept me,
God kept me from doing what I wanted to do. He protected me from myself
and he brought me to the place that I could believe him. I may
have heard 10,000 messages and not thought a thing about them,
but God kept me there till number 10,001, I finally heard some.
God did that. Almighty God was able to accomplish
my salvation because he's sovereign over everything. Nothing could
stop his purpose. And if the Lord has been pleased
to reveal himself to you, you know that just as clearly as
you know anything. The Lord is sovereign in salvation. He did all of the saving for
me. You know that if he's revealed
himself to you and you love it that way, you wouldn't want it
any other way. All right, number five, if I know the Lord, I've
heard of his glory. Joseph said in verse eight, so
now it was not you that sent me hither, but God. And he's
made me a father to Pharaoh and Lord of all of his house and
ruler. throughout all the land of Egypt. Now Joseph revealed
himself in his glory to his brothers. He told them that Pharaoh had
made him ruler of all of the land of Egypt. That was the most
mighty nation on earth at that time. One of the most mighty
nation or mighty nation is all the history of the earth. This
mighty, glorious nation and Joseph ruled over all of it. I mean,
anything that happened in that vast, rich country, Joseph ruled
it. People in that country did exactly
what Joseph told them to do. They wouldn't dare to deviate
a bit. Joseph's will was always done
in the land of Egypt. People had something to eat because
Joseph was in charge, because his will was being done. And
Joseph said, you go tell my father that. Tell him about my glory.
See, the reason that Joseph could work everything the way that
he did and bring his brothers back to him and all this guilt
and this fear and this shame so that he could reveal himself
in grace and forgiveness to them is he's sovereign. See, everybody
did. You know, when he said, put my
cup in Benjamin's sack, it was done, wasn't it? He said, now
chase him down, and you find whoever's got that cup in their
sack, bring him back to me. They gotta be my slave. Servant
did it, you know. Now, he knew Benjamin wasn't
guilty. He's the one who put the sack
in the cup, or the cup in the sack, but he didn't ask no questions. He did exactly what Joseph told
him to do, because Joseph is sovereign. Now, his brothers
understood that. This man's sovereign. Not only
is he sovereign over all the earth, he's sovereign over me.
And when Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, he said, now
I'm using my power, my sovereign power, to be gracious to you
and to save you. And if the Lord's been pleased
to reveal himself to you, that's how he dealt with you. He showed
you the Lord is king. The Lord Jesus Christ is sovereign. I mean, he's sovereign over everything
that moves, over everything that walks, over everything that flies,
over everything that wriggles and crawls, over everything that
thinks and thinks it's determined it wants to do something, everything
in God's creation, Christ is sovereign over it. Whatever it
is you find happening in God's creation, I'm telling you, the
Lord Jesus Christ is sovereign over it. It's being done because
that's his will. If it wasn't his will, it wouldn't
be done, would it? He's sovereign. Everything that happens is the
will of our God being carried out. That's God's sovereignty. And the reason that God's people
are saved from their sin is God's sovereignty. The Lord's purpose
of redemption is always carried out. You know, it's one thing
to learn of the sovereignty of God, isn't it? It's another thing
to know Christ the King and see how he uses his sovereign might
to be gracious to you. and not destroy you. If he's
revealed himself to you, it thrills your heart. Somebody can't exalt
the sovereignty of God enough for you. You love it that way. It's the security of your salvation.
Then number six, if I know the Lord, I know he's the one preserving
me and keeping me. Verse nine, haste ye, 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, tearing off, and
thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be
near unto me, thou and thy children, and thy children's children,
and thy flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou hast, for there
will I nourish thee, for yet there are five years of famine,
lest thou and thy household and all that thou hast come to poverty. Now, I love this. Not only did
Joseph forgive his brethren, he said, you come to me and I'll
provide for you. I'm going to give you the best
part of Egypt to live in. That's Goshen. Goshen was the
best part of the land. He said, I'm going to nourish
you. And that word means I'm going to sustain you. I'll sustain
you. Joseph revealed himself to his
brethren as their provider and their sustainer. And if the Lord's
been pleased to reveal Christ to you, you know him as your
savior. You know him as your king. You know him as your Lord.
You love it that way. And you also know him as your
provider and your sustainer. Not only has the Lord been pleased
to forgive you your sin and the blood of Christ, he's given you
life and he's promised he's going to sustain that life. So he saved
you by Christ. And now he's gonna sustain you
by the preaching of Christ the bread of life. Christ saved you
and you're gonna feed on him and be sustained. Now if you
know Christ, you know this. This is not just a doctrinal
fact to you, you know this. He's the one that sustains you.
He's the one that keeps you. He's the one that comforts you.
And you love it that way, because you know, I can't keep myself
for a single second. I love knowing this. It's Christ
who sustains and keeps me so that I'll persevere to the end.
I love that, don't you? Now, if the Lord's revealed himself
to you, that's your savior, you'd love that. Then seventh, if I
know the Lord, I see him in his word. Verse 12 says, and behold,
here I see in the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it's my
mouth that speaketh unto you. Joseph says, now look at me.
It's my mouth talking to you. You see the family resemblance,
don't you? It's my mouth. I was somewhere
recently in a doctor's office and the doctor came in and he
looked at my chart and he had this kind of confused look on
his face. And he said, you're related to somebody. I said,
well, yeah. And he finally figured out, it
was Jonathan, my brother. And he said, oh, I see the family
resemblance. Now I see. I see the family resemblance. I said, that's the best compliment
he got all day. I mean, that doctor were buddies,
and they thought that was funny. Anyway, it's the family resemblance. He said, it's my mouth talking
to you. You know. I'm going to keep my
promise to you because you know it's me. And if Lord's been pleased
to reveal himself to you, I'll tell you how he did it. He did
it by his written word because that's the only way Lord's ever
pleased to reveal himself is by his word. It can't be by somebody
else's ideas now. It can't be somebody, you know,
the ideas of who the savior is and how God saves sinners. It's
got to come from the word of God. It's the only way the Lord's
pleased to reveal himself. It's the preaching of the word.
That's why we make so much of the preaching of God's word here.
Just verse by verse by verse, precept upon precept upon precept. The only way we can know God
is what he tells us in his word. Now if the Lord's revealed himself
to you, you know when you hear a message preached, is the subject
Christ or not? You know that. And here's how
you know it. by His Word. If the Savior that's
being preached is the Christ of the Bible, you're gonna know
it. You'll recognize Him. You'll recognize Him, and you'll
love it. And if the Lord's been pleased
to reveal Himself to you, you're gonna love to hear about Him.
You're gonna love to hear from Him, from His Word, over and
over and over and over again. It won't get tiresome to you. Then here's the eighth thing.
If I know the Lord, I'm just gonna have to tell somebody else
about his glory. Verse 13, Joseph says, and ye
shall say to my father, and ye shall tell my father of all my
glory in Egypt, and of all that ye have seen, and ye shall haste,
and bring down my father hither. Now Joseph told his brothers,
you go tell our father everything that's been revealed to you. tell our father of my glory. Now I thought about that this
week. If these brothers are gonna go back to their father and tell
them everything that they've seen, everything that's been
revealed to them, if they're gonna go back home and tell their
father about the glory of Joseph in Egypt, you know what they're
gonna have to tell him first? They're gonna have to say, daddy,
we sold your favorite son into slavery. We hated him so much,
we plotted to kill him. And then we decided to make a
buck on the deal, instead of killing him, selling him into
slavery. We did that. He begged us to get out of that
pit, and we wouldn't listen. There wasn't any water in there,
and we wouldn't give him any water. They're gonna have to tell their
father everything. They're gonna have to admit their
hatred of that favorite son. You know why they gotta tell
that first? Because that's Joseph's glory. Joseph's glory is his
grace and his forgiveness. See, the sin of the brothers
makes the grace of Joseph all the more glorious, doesn't it?
Now, the same thing is true of preaching the gospel. If we're
gonna preach the gospel of Christ, we're gonna have to tell of our
own sin. Now, it's never a good idea ever,
ever, ever publicly to start listing all of your sins and
all the things that you've done wrong. We're talking about sin. We're talking about the nature
of sin, the nature of rebellion. The reason I can tell you about
the glory of Christ is Christ has forgiven my sin. That's why
I can tell you. The glory of Christ is he's chosen
to save sinners in his sovereign mercy. He passed some by, he
chose others because that was his sovereign right to do it.
And I can tell you about that glory. because I've experienced
it when Christ revealed himself to me. I can tell you where sin
is forgiven. Do you want to know where your
sin is forgiven? I got a message to tell you. I know, because
my sin has been forgiven. David said, this poor man cried,
and Lord heard him. You cry too, Lord, I hear you.
The only man who can truly preach the gospel of God's grace in
Christ Jesus is a sinful man. whose sin has been forgiven in
the blood of Christ. Preaching, I mean, it's the most
complicated, most difficult task in the world, and yet it's really
simple. Preaching is simply one sinner
telling another sinner where he found forgiveness, where he
found cleansing for his sin. Now, I know all of us aren't
preachers. You may not preach, If I ask you to preach Sunday
and you think, I just won't be there. All of us aren't preachers.
But tell you what, you can witness to folks. You can tell others
the reason that you have a good hope. What's the reason for your
hope? You can tell folks that. You can be like that leper. You
can go home and tell your friends and your family what gracious
thing God's done for you. You can tell that. You can support
the preaching of the gospel. Because you want the Lord to
reveal himself to others the same way he revealed himself
to you. And if the Lord's revealed himself
to us, that's exactly what we'll do then. That's what we'll do.
I hope that's been a blessing to you and I hope you can see
there, that's how the Lord revealed himself to me. All right, let's
bow together. Our Father, how we thank you
for this time that you've given us to meet together to open your
word, to see Christ our Savior in it, to have him preach to
us. Father, I pray that you would
cause everything that's been said and done here tonight, that's
been true, that's been edifying, that's been directly from your
word, that it be mixed with faith, that you give us faith to believe.
Oh, that you cause us to see our sin and our need and to run
to Christ. to come to him that we might
have life, to come to him that we might drink, to come to him
that we might rest. Father, this is a great thing
that we ask for ourselves, that you give us faith in your son. But Father, we ask for your namesake,
for the glory of the name of your dear son, that you'd save
us here tonight. you get the glory and the praise
for it. Father, it's in Christ's name,
for his sake we pray, amen. Now the tape family has gotten
some sort of bug. I just barely have, I don't know
if I got it, but anyway, in case I do got it, I'm gonna avoid
I would give you a fist bump because I'm a voice. So you all
don't want this. The ones that got it bad, you
don't want it. So we'll just do that. Lord willing, I'll see you Sunday.
All right, Sean.