Good morning. Open your Bibles
with me to Genesis chapter 45. While you're turning, I had a
chance to talk with our pastor last night, and he wanted to
let everybody know two things. One, they're having a great time,
and two, They miss everyone and look forward to being back Wednesday
night. Before we begin, let's go to
our Lord in prayer. Our God and Father in heaven,
we thank you for this day. We thank you for this opportunity
to gather as a people. Lord, we pray that you would
bless us with your presence as we gather together. Lord, as
we look into thy word, Lord, bless it to our understanding. Lord, comfort our hearts, and
Lord, let us see more of our Savior. Let us see more and more
of the Lord Jesus Christ and cause us to rest in him and him
alone. Now again, we pray your presence. We thank you for your many blessings
and pray you would be with us. Lord, set aside the thoughts
and cares of this world here this morning. Let us see more
of our Savior. It's in his name we pray and
give thee thanks. Amen. We're gonna look this morning,
if you turn there to Isaiah 45, I don't know, I don't know about
you, but I often, I often find myself thinking about the the
current time in which we live. And I suspect in every generation
that that takes place. And we probably all think the
same thing, that it's difficult. We live in difficult
and trying times. And I believe that's true for
most, if not all, of God's people. both here in our congregation
and across this country. David wrote in Psalm 34 and 19,
he said, many are the afflictions of the righteous. Boy, that's
true, isn't it? Many are the afflictions of the
righteous, but listen, but the Lord. This is the thing we forget. This is the thing we have to
be reminded of so often. But the Lord delivered them out
of them all. Maybe not in the time we wish
for it. We want everything. We want relief right now, right? We want deliverance right now.
But in His time, He delivers His people out of them all. Many
of our brothers and sisters suffering, suffering from heaviness, suffering
from sorrow. I think about the foolishness,
what we consider foolishness in this world. We struggle to
understand the things that happen in our world, in our nation,
in our community, in our schools, the things that take place. Paul,
writing to the Corinthians, he said this, he said, when we were
coming to Macedonia, our flesh had no rest. No rest, but we
were troubled on every side. Without, we're fighting. Within,
we're fierce. He said there was trouble, trouble
all around. People suffering from depression
and uncertainty. Even as God's people, we find
ourselves pessimistic and brokenhearted. There are those who would reference,
I think we all would at times think about what Paul writing
to Timothy. He spoke there of the last times,
the last days, the times from Christ coming to this earth to
the end of it, when he determines to come back. Turn to, hold your
place there in Genesis, but turn to 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy 3. 2 Timothy 3, look at verse 1. This
know also that in the last days perilous times shall come. For
men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters,
proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
without natural affection, truth-breakers, false accusers, incontinent,
fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded,
lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, having a form
of godliness. We live probably in one of the
most religious countries in this world. There's church buildings
on every corner having a form of godliness. But look at that
last, denying the power thereof, denying God's sovereignty, denying
who God is. They have a form of godliness,
say the right things, do the right things, dress the right
way, but they deny the power of Almighty God. And he says
here, from such, turn away. For of this sort are they which
creep into houses and lead captive Silly women, laden with sins,
led away with diverse lusts, ever learning, and never able
to come to a knowledge of the truth. Troubling times. Difficult times. Hard, hard times. You know, no doubt Christ's disciples,
we know they spoke of the same things in their generation. Paul, on that perilous voyage,
he said there was a time when all hope that we should be saved
was taken away. That's Paul speaking. All hope
that we should be saved was taken away. Job certainly knew something
of this. Job said this, he said, that is born of a woman is of
few days and full, full of trouble. No doubt, no doubt he had his
share of trouble, but David, we read of David. David said
this, Lord, how are they increased that trouble me? Many are they
that are risen up against me. And as much as we say that about
those without, we can say that about ourselves, can't we? The trouble, the sin that lies
within us. So there's many we could look
at, but this morning, I want us to look for just a little
bit at Joseph. The life of Joseph. He had experience with hard times,
didn't he? To say the least. Sorrow, he
knew something of sorrow, he knew something of pain, of suffering. Would you look with me this morning,
and I promise we're going to get to Genesis 45, but let me
give you an introduction to Joseph, okay? Back in chapter 37 of Genesis. Look at verse 2. Genesis 37, verse 2. Now here we find Joseph at the
age of 17. Just a young boy. The age of
17, out feeding his father's sheep. You see that? These are
the generations of Jacob. Joseph being 17 years old. was
feeding the flock with his brethren, and the lad was with the sons
of Bilhah, and the sons of Zilpah, and his father's wives, and Joseph
brought unto his father their evil report. And we see in verse
three that Israel, he loved Joseph more than all his children, because
he was the son of his old age, and he made him a coat of many
collars. As a result of Israel's love
for Joseph and this gift, this coat of many collars that he
gave him, it says his brothers hated him. And they couldn't speak peaceably
to him. Does that sound a little familiar?
Huh? They hated him as a result of
the father's love for him. Isn't that true of God's people? When we speak of God's love for
a particular people, that gets men up in arms, doesn't it? And
listen, they hated him as a result of his father's love for him
and the gift. a coat, what's God giving his
people? He's clothed us in his righteousness. That's another thing that gets
men up in arms, isn't it? They're all right if a man's
saved by building a great building and naming it after someone,
but the fact that God sovereignly loves a people and does all the
work in salvation. They hated, they hated him. It's
true then, it's true today. A particular love for a people,
a hate for them for a gift that's given, that gift of eternal life
that he's given to his people. In John 15, our Lord said, the
world hated me. Take comfort in this. The world
hated me before it hated you. In Genesis 4, chapter verse 4
of Genesis 37, when his brethren saw their father's love for him,
he loved him more than all his brethren. They hated him, and
again, they couldn't carry on a conversation with him. They
couldn't speak peaceably to him. In Genesis 37 5, we read that
Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told the dream to his brethren.
He said that they were working out in the field binding sheaves,
all of us. And he said, the sheave that
I bound, it stood up. And all your sheaves stood around
me and made obeisance to them. Now, this would point to them
in later years when they would come to Joseph for corn, when
their sheaves would be empty, their fields would be empty,
that drought, that famine would be upon all the land. And they
would come to Joseph. And listen, his brothers were
offended. They were deeply offended. And
they said, indeed, is Joseph going to reign over
us? Is he going to have dominion
over us? And by nature, we say the exact
same thing. until the Lord's pleased and
mercy to reveal to us who we are and who He is, what we are
and who He is. Remember there in Luke 19, 14,
the citizen of that country said, we will not have this man to
reign over us. And his brethren, Joseph's brethren,
they said they hated him. It's hard to imagine, but they
hated him even even more. And they conspired to kill him. They conspired to take his life.
They said, let's go slay him and cast him into the pit and
say, we'll say this, we'll say an evil beast has devoured him. That's what we'll tell our father. And then we'll see. We'll do
this and then we'll see what comes of him and his dreams. Again, whatever action is necessary,
we're not going to have this man to reign over us. Now, Reuben heard of their plan,
his brother, and he said, let's not kill him. Let's not kill
him, but let's cast him into the pit. Now, I don't know what Reuben's
intentions were. I'd like to think they were good. Maybe I can spare my brother. So maybe it was to rescue him. Maybe it was to let him lay in
that pit and die and try to take some of the blood off of their
hands. Let him lay there and starve
or maybe a wild animal would come in and devour him. I know this, I know verse 24
of Genesis 37 said they cast him into the pit where there
was no water, so he wasn't gonna survive there for too long on
his own. But before we go any further,
consider God's providence. Consider him, how he orders,
and directs all things, how he rules over man and overrules
over man's intentions. Their desire was to kill him.
And they were going to act on that. Reuben says, let's let's
cast him in the pit. A little more time there. So
so Joseph is still he's still alive. Almighty God working all things,
all things, that's all things work together for good to those
who love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. Whose purpose? His purpose. The scriptures say this, he hath
saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Now verse 25,
it says, when they sat down to eat bread, here he is, Joseph's
in the pit. And his brethren, they're so
concerned about him, they sat down to eat. They sat down to
eat. And they see some Ishmaelites
coming. And they said, what profit is it? We're not going to make
any money if we just let him lay there in that pit and die.
We can solve two problems here at once. We can get rid of our
brother and we can make some money off of him. If we slay
him and conceal his blood, let's sell him to the Ishmaelites.
So they sold him for 20 pieces of silver. And they took a kid,
now listen to this, they took a kid of goats and killed it
and dipped the coat in the blood. I can't help but think that this
is a picture of substitution. Isn't that pretty clear? That
goat died. Its blood was shed. Joseph lives. Remember what the Lord Jesus
Christ did for us? He suffered and died in our room. Instead, the goat died. But Joseph
lived. In our case, I guess we'd say
Christ died and the goat lived, right? A worthless old goat. And they gave that coat to Jacob,
his father, and they said, put that blood on it, and they said,
the beast must have devoured it. They just let him go to his
own imagination. And Jacob mourned his son's death,
and his children, think about the hypocrisy of this, his children
comforted him. So Joseph would be sold to a
man named Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard. Turn a little further to Genesis
39. Joseph, verse 1. And Joseph was brought down to
Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard,
an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmaelites, which
had brought him down thither. Listen, the Lord was with Joseph,
and he was a prosperous man, and he was in the house of his
master, the Egyptian, And his master saw that the Lord was
with him and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in
his hand. And Joseph found grace in his
sight, and he served him. And he made him overseer over
his house and all that he had, all that he put his hand to.
And it came to pass from time to time that he made him overseer
in the house and over all that he had, and the Lord blessed
the Egyptians' house for Joseph's sake, blessed him for the sake
of another. He's blessed us for Christ's
sake, hasn't he? And the blessing of the Lord was upon all that
he had in the house and in the field. But in time, Potiphar's wife
set her eyes upon Joseph, and she attempted to seduce him. And when he refused her, she
made false accusations against him. And Potiphar took Joseph
and cast him into the prison where all the king's prisoners
were bound. But you know, we read that the
Lord was still with Joseph. No matter where he was, the Lord
was with him. Look at Genesis 39. beginning with verse 21. The Lord was with Joseph and
showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper
of the prison. And the keeper of the prison
committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the
prison. And whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it. And the keeper of the prison
looked not to anything that was under his hand, because the Lord
was with him. And that which he did, the Lord
made it to prosper. Paul, writing to the Hebrews,
he said this, let your conversation be without covetousness, and
be content with such thing as you have, for he hath said, he
hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. in the prison, soon to be elevated
to second only to Pharaoh and his kingdom." The Lord was with
Joseph. He was with him. In Isaiah 43,
Almighty God speaks. He said, when you pass through
the water, I'll be with thee. And through the rivers, they
shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, Thou shall not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. Why? For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel. I'm your Savior. That's what
the scriptures declare. Now, Genesis 45. Turn there with
me. After Joseph, there's more to
tell, A short time to tell, but after Joseph had interpreted
the dreams of the baker and the butler, after Joseph had interpreted
Pharaoh's dreams and caused those storehouses to be filled in preparation
for that famine that was coming, after Joseph was promoted to
second only to Pharaoh in the kingdom, Jacob had sent his sons
to Egypt. He said, listen, that's the only
place there was corn. He told him, he said, why do
you sit there looking at each other? Go down and get some corn
in Egypt so we don't starve. After all this, after all this,
here his brethren are in front of him. And we read that Joseph
is pleased to reveal himself to his brethren. Now, if you
do the math, It would appear that Joseph would be about 39
years old by the time this happened. So he was 17 when they cast him
in that pit. So about 22 years had passed.
And though they didn't know it, they didn't know it yet, here
they stand before their brother, that one that they wanted to
kill. What's the purpose in all this? Think about all the things that
happened. You know, Joseph was stripped from his family. He
was made a slave. He was cast into prison. What's
the purpose in all this? Why did all these things happen?
Well, look at verses 3 through 5 of Genesis 45. And Joseph said
to 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'm Joseph, your brother, who you sold into Egypt. Now, therefore,
be not grieved or angry with yourselves that you sold me hither,
for God did send me before you to preserve life. Now, first,
he says this. He says, I'm Joseph. Now, when
his brothers heard this, Listen, there was a time when they couldn't
speak peaceably to him. Now there's a time they can't
speak. They can't speak at all. They were troubled at his presence. I wonder, I wonder when he said
that how quickly, how quickly they recalled casting him in
to that pit. how quickly they recalled holding
out their hand to collect those 20 pieces of silver and how they
divided it up amongst themselves when they sold him as a slave.
Here, we see sin revealed. Sin is revealed. And this is
our nature. This is us by nature, sinners. Has the Lord revealed that? Has
the Lord revealed that to you? Has He been pleased to reveal
that to us? Something of our guilt? As they stood there before Joseph,
guilt, and I can't imagine anything but guilt and helplessness. And
even more, not only are they guilty, they stand before Joseph. They're in His hands. He can
do it. Listen, as second in command,
How easily could he have said like Nebuchadnezzar? Remember
Nebuchadnezzar when he took Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and he
said, bind them and cast them into the fiery furnace. Couldn't
Joseph easily have done that? Called for a few of his guards
and said, all right, fellas, now it's your turn to suffer
a little bit. Sinners, that's what you and
I are by nature, sinners. Guilty, standing before the presence
of Almighty God. And listen, He can do as He will. He can save us or He can condemn
us. Hebrews 4.13, neither is there
any creature that is not manifest in His sight, but all things
are naked and open under the eyes of Him with whom we have
to do. And listen, when filled with
guilt, When filled with guilt, is there a time that we can more
see our need for His grace? Grace for the guilty. Mercy for
the miserable. Salvation for the sinner. You know, it wasn't until Peter...
Remember when Peter asked our Lord, can I come out and walk
on the water with you? The Lord bid him come. Listen, it wasn't
until he saw those winds and the waves, it wasn't until he
started singing when there was no one else he could cry to.
And what was his cry? Lord, save me. Oh, we must be brought to see
our condition before Almighty God, before we'll cry out for
mercy. Second, Joseph's response, one
of comfort, and revealing his purpose. He said, look at verse
four, come near to me, I pray you. And they came near and he
said, I'm Joseph, your brother, who you sold into Egypt. You
know, I believe this was, I believe this was said in love and tenderness. I truly, I truly do. Now let
there, let there be no doubt. Let there be no doubt who Joseph
is. Okay. Assurance of, but listen,
This is assurance of who he said, I'm your brother. I'm your brother. Joseph had always been their
brother. Even before he revealed it to
him, before, listen, before they knew it, he loved them before
they knew it. He loved them before they knew
Him. That was evident by what He'd
done for them. He gave them corn. And in doing
so, He saved them. Almighty God knew us long before
we knew Him. The Lord Jesus Christ, our brother,
consider His love for us. Scriptures say, greater love
hath no man. than this, that he laid down
his life for his friends. He bore our sins in his body
on the tree. There's a friend. Scripture says
there's a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. He revealed himself in love and
mercy. And listen, he revealed himself
by his name. He said, my name's Joseph. He revealed himself by his name.
The Lord's been pleased to do that for us, and he reveals himself
by his name, by who he is. Jehovah-Rohi, the Lord, my shepherd. Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord will
provide. Jehovah-Rapha, the Lord who heals. Jehovah-Shalom, the Lord, our
peace. Jehovah-Nisi, the Lord, my banner.
Jehovah-Sidkenu, the Lord, our righteousness. Jehovah-Shema,
the Lord is is present. He revealed himself by his name,
who he is. And then third, he said, don't
be greed with yourself. Don't be angry. God sent me before
to preserve your life. Now listen, what they did, what
they did was evil. And it was out of their own evil
heart. But God meant it for good. God meant it for good. He said,
I sent you before to preserve life. Comfort. Boy, that had to be comfort for
them, didn't it? Well, don't be angry with yourselves.
Comfort for his brethren. Comfort for God's sheep. And
the Lord Jesus Christ, through his word, speaks comfort to us. Assurance. Be not greed. Listen to a few
of these verses here. Be not grieved. I have blotted
out thy transgression. It's like a thick cloud, and
I blotted it out. Be not grieved. I have received
you unto myself. Be not grieved. Your sins, which
are many, are forgiven. Be not grieved, though your sins
be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow." That's a great
deliverance, isn't it? He reveals himself. He assures
them of forgiveness and a promise, a promise of continued provision. If you still have Genesis 45,
let me read a few more verses here and we'll close. He said
here in verse six, Joseph speaking to his brethren, he said, for
these two years hath the famine been in the land, and yet there
are five years in 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, it wasn't you that sent me hither, but God. And he hath made me a father
to Pharaoh, and Lord over all his house, and a ruler throughout
all the land of Egypt. 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, and tarry
not. And thou shalt dwell in the land
of Goshen. Thou shalt be near unto me, 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 there yet five years of famine, lest thou and thy
household, and all that thou hast, shall
come to poverty. That's truly a great deliverance,
isn't it? Listen to this. I come across
this part of this poem. Judge not the Lord by feeble
sense, But trust him for his grace. Behind a frowning providence,
he hides a smiling face. His purposes will ripen fast,
unfolding every hour. The bud may have a bitter taste. Sweet, sweet will be the flower. Let us take comfort in this. Almighty God, Almighty God in
his purpose, listen, He's going to accomplish his purpose, and
he's going to save his people. He's going to deliver his people.
We know, we forget, but we know all things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are called according
to his purpose. May God be pleased to bless his
work.