Our message today is grace for the guilty. Grace
for the guilty. Some of you that haven't been
with us very long may have some questions about where we come
from, a lot of things. But I feel the Lord has given
us this message today that may help some heart, clarify some
things. Grace for the guilty. Many of
you are familiar with this story of Joseph. He's a striking picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ, who, as it were, died and rose again
to rule and reign, show mercy to others. for the guilty. Many years earlier
than this text, this passage, when Joseph was a teenage boy,
just 17 years old, his own brothers, who were so jealous of him, despised
him, sold him as a common slave, their own brother, to be carried
down into Egypt and traded there as a piece of property and put
to work as someone's common slave. It was such a cruel act on the
part of those brothers. It was a deliberate act. They
were definitely guilty, extremely guilty, totally guilty. They
dipped Joseph's coat in the blood of an animal took it to their
father and just let him assume that some wild beast had devoured
Joseph. You say, well, I've never done
anything that bad. Well, I hope not. I hope not. But the issue here is not just
the act of selling their brother. I want us to see this. Not just
the act of selling their brother. God wanted Joseph in Egypt. But
the issue is the corruption in these brothers' hearts that made
them willing to do what they did. Before they sold him, if
you go back and read the story in earlier chapters, they had
thrown him in a pit. Most of them were willing to
leave him in that pit. to die of starvation. Some of them, I suppose, would
not have objected to just picking up sticks and beating him to
death like Cain did Abel. It was in their heart. They despised
him. They hated him. And now, after
many years, in our passage this morning, Genesis 45, Had he not been God's child,
his heart would have been filled with bitterness, hatred for his
own brothers. And that bitterness and that
hatred would have continued to pile up year after year after
year. And at this point in the story,
Genesis 45, Joseph is now in the position to get even. It's payback time. But there
is no payback. There's grace for the guilty. There is no bitterness. There
is no hatred in his heart, whatever. His heart is so full of love,
compassion, For these same brothers who meant
to ruin his life, there's grace for the guilty. I don't think
we can comprehend the miracle this was, that this man never
hated and wanted to destroy his brothers. But he didn't. He didn't. Now, for us this morning, the Lord has been pleased for
us to hear and believe and be brought by the Lord Himself to
embrace the doctrine of God's sovereign grace, His undeserved, unmerited favor. We believe and have tried to
preach that God is bigger than any storm. The storms keep getting bigger
and bigger. God keeps showing himself bigger
and bigger. The storms are way too big for
me to handle, and they're way too big for you
to handle. My heart is grieved over some
things this morning. And it is the blessed truth of
who God is. And the fact that there's grace
for the guilty. That's my comfort. That's my
encouragement. We have preached and fully believe
that nothing is an accident with God. Both places comfortable and places
uncomfortable. Both places peaceful and places
where our heart is very troubled. Places pleasurable and places
painful. But God Whatever it is, but God. Whenever it is, but God. Wherever it is, but God. Whoever
it is, but God. Who is rich in mercy. Whatever
it is, but God. For His great love were with
He loved us. However hurtful but God. However impossible for us to
fix, but God. If I did not believe God in His
grace, grace for the guilty is bigger
than anything or anybody, and I do mean anything, I would not
be here today. But I'm telling you, He's just
that big. He's proved Himself to be so in my life and in yours. Where there's the message of
grace, and I've tried to preach it, where there's the message
of grace, there are decreed predicaments in our lives calling for a miracle
of grace. Our Lord don't just respond to
crises, he creates crises. So I want each of us this morning
for the next few minutes, if you would don't just listen to
me, I would ask you to listen for the voice of God in your
own heart. All these years Joseph has spent
looking to God. He never spent them looking for
a chance to get even. His heart is so full of how good
God has been until when this time came and
long before. There's nothing to get even about. God had rewarded him with his
presence With his blessing, Joseph felt like that he had been more
than recompensed by God for all the wrong ever done to him. The same would be true with us. God's been more good to us than
anybody has ever been bad to us. And as individuals, we'd
have to say that. Joseph tells him in chapter 50,
and there was something along this line in the text that Brother
Beal read, but he tells him in chapter 50, you thought evil
against me, but God meant it unto good. He tells his brothers,
you and God were doing two different things. Oh my, Joseph, this man, he's
on a spiritual plane here that very few people ever reach in
this life. If it's possible for a man to,
it's not in himself, it's only in God. And as we said, he's
the great picture of Christ here. He's to a place he can say with
the psalmist, my heart is fixed, oh God. my heart is fixed. Fixed about what? Fixed about
everything and anything and anybody. My heart is fixed. Oh God, my
heart is fixed. Now these brothers certainly
did not in any way deserve even a small fraction of the kindness
there to receive. They don't deserve it. But grace
is not for the deserving. Grace is for the guilty. The
deserving don't need grace. They only need justice. I wonder this morning, which
one do you and I need? Grace or justice? I need grace. I need grace. Years ago, I was thinking of
this yesterday. When I was in the grocery business,
I worked with a fellow. He went to a certain church in
this county and I knew the pastor and had heard some good reports
of his preaching and the Lord blessing. So I said to this fellow one
day, I said, I hear he's really laying it on y'all down there
at the church. And his reply was this. He ain't
laying it on me because I hadn't done anything. And I've thought about that many
times through the years. He had swallowed some religious
lie and thought that keeping a few rules is what this is all
about. No. It was really his way of saying,
all I need is justice. Well, I cannot say that today.
Neither can you. I need God's grace. I'm on the
guilty list. And so are you. Justice is not my plea, but rather mercy and grace. This
corrupt nature of ours, and I preach this constantly, this corrupt
nature of ours is more than any of us can handle. And there would be something
wrong if you didn't have this tug of war going on all the time
in your own soul. There'd be something wrong if
it wasn't going along. One preacher said, if you're
really comfortable with what you are, the devil probably is
too. The Apostle Paul, great a man
as he was in the New Testament, he had this to say about his
own heart. Oh, wretched man that I am. Not just used to be, but am.
Oh, wretched man that I am. And I read you that definition
of wretched a while ago, John Newton's song. The bottom line
is when we think of ourselves as anything better than wretched,
were deceived in her own heart. Remember there was a man in the
Old Testament by the name of Job. Some say he was a myth,
but the Bible says clearly there was a man. There was a man. We believe the Bible. There was
a man by the name of Job. He was a very godly man. No man
could put a finger on his character or conduct. I said no man could. But God went deeper. Much, much deeper. And in case you haven't read
the story, the whole business with Job was initiated by God
Himself. He said to Satan, Have you considered
my servant Job? It was God's love for Job bringing
him to the end of himself. Bringing him to see that though
he was a very godly man, he wasn't perfect. He needed God's
mercy as much as anyone else. The religious world traps a lot
of people in that idea that you're doing a good job. You're way
up the ladder. You're better than most folks. The Lord says to Satan, if you
considered my servant Job, what a godly man he is. And Satan
said, well, why wouldn't he be? You take such good care of him.
You've blessed him with a good family, plenty of wealth, good
health. You've got such a hedge built
around him. He has no reason to even consider not honoring you. And the Lord
said to Satan, I'll tell you what, I'll take down the hedge and you just get at him a while.
and see what happens. Well, it went good at first.
The first couple of chapters, Job lost his wealth, he lost his family, he lost his health, and he was coming along pretty
good. Scripture even says in all this, Job sinned not, neither
charged God foolishly. He could handle all that. The trouble came when his friends
started suggesting that he needed mercy. Job contended he only needed
justice. Matter of fact, he said, if I
could only have a hearing with God, I'd win the hearing. I'd prove to God that I do not
deserve what's happening to me. God's doing all this and He's
doing it deliberately. You say, well Job didn't deserve
that. He didn't deserve it more than anyone else. But I'm going
to tell you what you deserve, what God sends. And if He's only looking at you,
you deserve a lot more. But to His people in Christ,
He never really gives us what we deserve. No. Job was God's
child. And before the story is finished, God makes it clear to him. This
is not about anything you've done or hadn't done, Job. This is about what's in your
heart. And you needed this. I chose you for this. I went to the devil about this.
He didn't come to me. I sicced him on you. And you're going to be the better
person for it when it's all over. Before you get to the end of
the book, Job winds up saying, Behold, I am vile. He didn't say I've shot somebody
or robbed a bank or anything like that. Behold, I am vile. This is about the corruption
that is in this sin-cursed nature. And again, he said, I abhor myself. I despise what I am because I
don't love God like I ought to love God. What a lesson that is. Can I
say to you this morning, When I take it on myself to judge
your heart, I'm not judging my own. And I need to be searching
my own heart, not yours. In light of God's Word, I promise
you we've all got plenty to deal with in ourselves. Job was guilty, but there's grace for the guilty.
Then I think about the great man David. David the king, king
of Israel, man after God's own heart. He did some awful things. He took another man's wife. Then he had that man killed.
He's guilty of adultery. He's guilty of murder. But he pours his heart out to
God. which every child of God does
many times through life. We confess the sin of our nature.
We confess the sin of our lips. We confess the sin of our mind,
our thoughts. We confess the sins of our heart. And while David is doing this,
repenting and confessing, you know what the Lord says to him?
David, I have already put thy sin away." Manhattan and never would, but
God did. There's grace for the guilty.
There was no end to the complaining about what David did. And that's all many can major
on today when you talk about David. Oh, David's sin, what
he did. But God says, I know his heart. You don't. Oh, there were consequences
for his sin. There always is. There's consequences
for mine. There's consequences for yours.
They're hard to deal with. There always is consequences.
But it was God's place to handle David. Nobody else's. And the consequences came. You
don't have to worry about God not doing what needs to be done.
He will. When David, sometime later, was
forced to leave the palace. Of course, all this is part of
the consequences. The Lord had said, the sword
shall not leave thy house. All you young'uns are going to
be a bunch of wild devils about it. He's forced to leave the palace
and flee for his own life from his own son Absalom. He looks back as he leaves town,
and here comes a man named Zadok, the high priest. And they're
carrying the Ark of the Covenant. Had David not been God's man,
he'd have said, yeah, we need that. Bring it on. We'll take
that with us. But he didn't do that. He told
Zadok, Take it back. It belongs here. It don't belong
to me. It belongs to God. And if God be pleased, I'll be
back. He's a broken man. If God be
pleased, I'll be back. He didn't say if I can muster
up enough forces to come back and overthrow and get back on
the throne. No. He said, if God be pleased,
I'll be back. He's not complaining of injustice. He's a broken man. He knows in
his heart he's deserving of whatever God sends and then some. This
is God's business. He knows it's not his to figure
out or work out. Oh, that God would help me, help
you in these matters. David is saying, I may look like the victim in all
this, but I'm not innocent. But there's grace for the guilty.
Grace for the guilty. Then there's a fellow standing
up on the hill. as they leave town, cursing David in Throid
Rocks. His name is Shimei. And one of
David's men says to him, you don't have to take that.
You just say the word and I'll deal with that fellow. And David said, no, let him cuss. If the Lord wasn't letting him
do it, he couldn't do it. Leave him alone. I'm not guilty of some things.
I am guilty of plenty else. Let him cuss. But there's grace for the guilty.
David says justice is not my plea. Mercy is. Grace is my plea. I just jotted down some scriptures.
I'm inserting here different things in the Bible that come
to my mind and heart as I'm meditating. In the book of Leviticus chapter
10, the high priest Aaron had two sons. Their names were Nadab
and Abihu. They were priests also. And they
abused the office. They, the scripture says, offered
strange fire upon the altar. And God killed them right on
the spot. Leviticus 10. Moses came to Aaron. They're
brothers, you know, Moses and Aaron. Moses thought about it. He came to Aaron. And he said
to him, now brother, be careful. Be very careful with your heart. God always does right. And what God has done here is
right. He's killed your two sons. Aaron could have argued they
were good boys. He could have argued it was their
first offense. He could have argued, well, God
was awful harsh. But Moses warned him, Aaron,
guard your heart. God has done right. And the very next line says,
and Aaron held his peace. He never opened his mouth. He
knew, painful as it was, God did right. God always does right. I want to say to you this morning,
it's awfully easy to say God does right when the trouble is
at somebody else's house. But in God's own time, He does
right at everybody's house. When He knocks on your door, are you going to need justice or grace? There's grace for the guilty.
Only for the guilty. John chapter 8. You know this
story. There's a woman taken in adultery. Caught in the very act, the scripture
says. Guilty without question. And
our Lord never argued that point. He simply asked, and who's not
guilty? He that is without sin among
you. He didn't say them that are without
sin among you, but He that is without sin among you. There's
not but one. He knew he was the only one among
them qualified to stone anybody. Let that one without sin cast
the first stone. He was the only one there qualified
to condemn her. He would not have been wrong
if he had. But there's grace for the guilty. Luke 18, there were two men,
a Pharisee, a very religious man, and a publican, tax collector,
IRS man, went up to the temple to pray. And you know that story. The Pharisee's prayer consisted
almost entirely of telling how much better he
was than others, especially better than this publican. But the publican's prayer wasn't
about anybody but himself. It was, Lord, be merciful. To me, a sinner. The literal rendering is, Lord,
be merciful to me, the sinner. I'm the only one I know anything
about. I'm the only one I really know. But I really know me. I don't
really know that Pharisee. If he can pray like that, so
be it. But I know me. And I can't pray like that. I
can only pray, Lord, be merciful to me, the sinner. The Lord said that this man went
back to the house justified rather than the other. There's grace
for the guilty. No matter how low sin had taken
him, no matter how deep religion has buried him, God will come
find him. There's grace for the guilty.
Aren't we glad of that today? I know I am. I know I am. I could tell you story after
story about people, and I don't do
this, but I said I could. I don't do this. I never do this,
not even to my wife, not even to anybody, but I said I could. I could tell you story after
story of people through the years that have left this church because
I won't crucify everybody that makes a mistake. This little congregation has loved people through all
sorts of things. Some of you sitting here today Why? Because we know God has
taught us. He runs his business, not us. God has taught us there is grace
for the guilty. I remember a story of an old
preacher many years ago. He'd been gone for many years. He was an evangelist, and I heard
him tell this story. He went to a certain place for
a meeting somewhere, and during the course of the week's preaching,
a lady came to him and asked if she could speak with him a
minute, and he said yes. And she explained to him that
she had been in the church a long time. She was a teacher, teenage girls. And that she had made an awful
mistake. And that she had poured her heart
out to the Lord. And He had forgiven her. And she knows okay, everything's
okay between her and the Lord. But she said, I'm having trouble
letting it go. I don't want to seem deceitful. Should I tell the pastor? Well, this old preacher said,
I knew that pastor. So I told her, no, don't tell
him. You didn't have to tell me. Don't
tell him. If you and the Lord have settled
it, it's settled. He said he knew what that preacher
would have done. He'd have gotten her up in front
of the church, made a public spectacle. She'd be shamed, treated
like a dog, have to leave the church. Nothing good would have come
out of it for anybody. He encouraged her just to go
on with God. That old preacher said he came
back to that same church the next year for another meeting. And he said she greeted me the
first night. And I asked her, are you still
teaching your class? And she said, yes. And singing
in the choir, too. And he said to himself, I'm so
glad I gave her that advice I did last year. And then he went on to say, whether
anybody else worshiped God that week or not, two did, me and
that lady. There's grace. There's grace
for the guilty. Talking to you a little bit about
our little assembly through the years. The church is not a courthouse. It's a hospital. It's a hospital. There's sickness,
sin sickness of all kinds sitting right here, right now. Anybody that claims to be in
perfect health, spiritually, don't need to be a patient. But we all do need to be patients
in God's hospital. We all need a daily experience. with the great physician. There's grace for the guilty. God's children rejoice in this because all God's children are
on the guilty list. We should pray, Lord deliver
me from any and all religious pride. Well, I said, I've been in church
over 50 years. Well, I know people mean as hell
it's been in church over 50 years, huh? What's in your heart? Oh, to be like David. In spite
of his sin. And in spite of his failure.
To know that there's grace for the guilty. And to have a heart
for God. Oh, to be like Joseph. Grace
for the guilty. Somebody says, well, I'd never
do what so-and-so did. If God left you to yourself,
you would do anything. If we really knew this morning
that all our keeping is of God, I mean all of it. Then you'd be like Joseph. Joseph never spent any time arguing
these brothers' guilt. They know they were guilty. They
never spent any time arguing their innocence. Jacob just forgave them, showered
them with blessing, and said it's over, don't mention it no
more. lots of compassion, lots of love, total forgiveness of
every wrong ever done. Somebody says, well, I'm not
letting so-and-so off the hook. It wasn't you that put so-and-so
on the hook. All the hooks belong to God.
Did you know that? You can't put anybody on the
hook. That's God's business. He can put you on the hook. There's grace for the guilty. I want to give us one verse of
scripture in closing. I want you to turn with me. Psalm 103.
The Lord put this verse on my heart to share with the congregation
this morning. Psalm 103. I want this verse to be a subject
of your meditation this coming week, every day. It's brief,
short. You'll be able to quote it after
just a time or two. But when we meditate on it, I
want us to not think about other people, but think about yourself. I think about myself, you think
about yourself. And you children, you young ones,
you need to mark this verse. Everybody needs to mark this
verse. Especially you young folks. This needs to be a life verse
for you. All the days that you live. And
it's verse 10. He hath not dealt with us after
our sins, nor rewarded us according to
our iniquities.