A few weeks ago, when I returned
from the conference in College Grove, Tennessee, Shelby received a letter, and
the gentleman who wrote her asked her to see to it that I got the
letter. Let me read it to you. I've sent this email to you in
the hopes that you will pass it on to Mr. Fortner. I hope
this email finds you and yours resting securely in the shadow
of our Savior's unending grace and mercy, which he freely bestows
on all that are of his flock. I had the privilege of hearing
Mr. Fortner preach at College Grove Grace Church recently and
the opportunity to speak with him for a few minutes. I'm always
blessed and moved within my soul when he brings to life what God,
by his spirit, has laid on his heart. I, however, have a question
which, if time permits, your husband will answer. Let me say
unequivocally, I am beyond a doubt convinced that I had absolutely
nothing to do with my coming to Christ. God chose me in eternity
past to be an heir of his kingdom moved in my life so that in at
the appointed time I would accept the gift that is so freely given.
Now having said all that could you explain to me what state
I was in when back in 1984 I verbally accepted Jesus or accepted Christ. I know my viewpoint of the gospel
has changed radically since becoming aware and learning of election
and being chosen. Was I fooling myself for all
those years, thinking I was saved when I had accepted Christ on
my terms? Was I perhaps not truly saved?
I need an answer and scripture references because I had many
friends who need to know the truth. Are they also laboring
under the misconception of thinking they are saved when in reality
what they need is for someone to bring them the truth of being
chosen or elected to them in a loving manner? It breaks my
heart to think they're sitting under a pastor who is not rightly
dividing the word and they may never hear if someone does not
go and tell them. Do we not have an obligation
to them? Can so many be lost thinking
they are saved? Have so many sheep in wolves'
clothing slipped in amongst the brethren? Does not the scripture say it
is impossible to deceive the elect? Thank you for all that
you do for the gospel of Christ and for remaining faithful for
these many years. May God see fit to use you for
many more. more years and to keep you in
good health so you can do so. In his grip eternally, Everett
Tracy. I remember speaking to Brother
Tracy just briefly on Monday night during the conference.
As soon as I got the letter from Shelby, I wrote to him and gave
him a brief answer and promised I would answer more fully as
soon as possible. And the more I thought about
answering his letter, the more Convinced I was that it would
be best to answer it here before you Because I'm sure that many
of you have the same questions Open your Bibles with me if you
will to acts chapter 7 Acts chapter 7 I Can't tell you how many times
People have said to me When I learned the gospel of the grace of God
By that, we're talking about the doctrine of grace, divine
sovereignty, election, predestination, limited atonement, irresistible
grace. When I learned the gospel of
God's sovereignty, it was as though I had just been saved. There's a good reason for that.
There's a good reason for that. The fact is you were not saved
until you learn the gospel of God's free grace in Christ. Now
let me state that as plainly again as I can possibly state
it. You were not saved until you
learn the gospel of God's free grace in Jesus Christ the Lord. You don't get saved and learn
the gospel. God saves people when they learn
the gospel. There's a huge difference. Now,
understand what I'm saying. It doesn't matter when you were
saved. It doesn't matter that you know
when you were saved. In fact, I wish we could get
over the notion altogether of looking back to a time and place
and saying, now, there is when God saved me. If you do, something's
wrong with you. Most people, most people I know,
most religious people are convinced they are saved not because they
believe God, but because they had an experience and somebody
told them they were saved. Forget the past. It's not important. It is important that you not
continue to cling to and defend false religion. It is important
that you renounce Babylon and come out of her altogether. It
is important that you do not adhere in any way to false religion
or attempt to justify it. Learning the doctrine of grace
is not salvation, what we call TULIP. And I've written this
month's bulletin articles principally around these things, total depravity,
unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace,
preservation of God's elect. Those things are, if you don't
believe them, please just go and get out of here. We're not
going to put up with any opposition to it. Folks don't have to believe that,
be it our church. You got to believe that to get along here.
That's just, and you're not going to be happy. You're not gonna
be happy here if you don't believe those things. But believing the
doctrine of grace is not salvation. Salvation is knowing Christ.
This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. If you would know
Christ, you must know the gospel. No question about that. There's
no question about that. But you can know all the facts
of the gospel and not know the gospel and not know Christ. But
the gospel is not just the bare declaration or the bare knowledge
of the fact that Christ died, that he was buried, that he rose
again the third day. That is not the gospel. The word
gospel means good news. The gospel is the declaration
of how H-O-W, how that Christ died for our sins according to
the scriptures. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 3. The gospel is the declaration,
the good news of how, the announcement of how that Christ died for our
sins according to the scriptures. I recognize that in this generation,
as in past generations, men, even men who claim to believe
the gospel of God's grace, the first point on which they're
willing to compromise is the crucial issue of how that Christ
died. The crucial issue of the atonement. And men everywhere think, well,
that's not the important thing. Skip. If that's not important,
nothing's important. If that's not important, nothing's
important. How did Christ die? Well, preacher,
how did he die? He died by the sovereign purpose
and will and work of God. Because God created the world
for him to die in. That's exactly how he died. He
died to satisfy the justice of God on the behalf of somebody. And when he did that, he accomplished
the will of God, satisfied the justice of God, put away the
sins of those people for whom he died, and absolutely secured
effectually the eternal salvation of all for whom he died. To deny
that is to deny the gospel. To deny the effectual accomplishment
of Christ at Calvary is to deny the gospel. For such a denial
is a denial of His very Godhead. Of course, you understand that.
To say that Christ failed to save the people He intended to
redeem. To say that Christ fails to save
the folks for whom he died, to say that Christ fails to save
anyone he seeks to save is to declare that he's a failure.
And God is not a failure. I'd just as soon hear a man stand
up and declare that Jesus Christ was not virgin-born. I'd just
as soon hear some woman declare that he's not God. I'd just as
soon hear somebody say, well, he's just a good prophet, as
to deny the ethicacy of the atonement. That's the crucial issue of the
gospel. If a person says he must know the gospel, he must know
Christ, he must recognize that he alone is Savior. Now, here in Acts chapter 7,
we read a story of Stephen stoning. And in the story, he begins by
telling us the history of the Old Testament church and God's
dealings with the children of Israel, calling out of Abraham
and so on. And then we get to verse 11 or
verse 9, rather. And the patriarchs, that is the
sons of Jacob, sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him and
delivered him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor
and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And he made him
governor over Egypt and all his house. Now there came a dearth. over all the land of Egypt and
Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers found no sustenance. But when Jacob heard that there
was corn in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first, and at the
second time, Joseph was made known to his brethren." The second
time. Joseph was made known to his
brethren. You're very familiar with the
story. Jacob's sons, Joseph's brothers,
were envious of him because he had a dream. He dreamed that
they and their father would one day bow down before him. And
they couldn't stand it. They despised Joseph. And Joseph
went out to check on them when they were tending the sheep.
And when he did, they thought to kill him, but wound up setting
him into Egypt. And they took his coat of many
colors that his daddy had made him, and they dipped it in blood
and went home and said a beast had killed their brother. And
all these years, Jacob thought Joseph was dead. And then God
sent famine in the land of Egypt. Joseph was now king in Egypt
beside Pharaoh. He was Pharaoh's prime minister,
head over all the kingdom of Egypt. He was a father to Pharaoh,
he said, lord of all the land. So everything was in Joseph's
hands, everything. And his brothers came down to
buy corn from Joseph. And when he saw them, he feigned
that he didn't know them. He disguised himself. Made sure they couldn't recognize
him. And he spoke roughly to them. He spoke roughly to them. And then he filled the sacks
of corn and sent them on their way. And they ran out of corn
again. And they came back to Joseph.
Fearful now, but they came back to Joseph. Afraid, but they came
back to Joseph. They didn't have any choice.
He was either come to Joseph or die. So they came back to
Joseph. And Stephen tells us here, the
second time Joseph made himself known to his brethren. The second time Joseph wept before
them. And he said, I am Joseph, your
brother. Don't be afraid. Everything's
all right. God's purpose has been accomplished. He sent me
here. Not you. He did. He sent me here to preserve
you alive of posterity in the earth and to bring about a great
deliverance. In all of this, Joseph was a
great type of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his dealings with
his brothers, in all that he did, Joseph typified our Savior. Now here we have a clear picture
of how the Lord Jesus Christ frequently deals with chosen
sinners in saving mercy. Many of God's saints did not
find Christ the first time they saw him. It's not true of all,
but it is of many. Many of us sitting here had previous
experiences in religion. In fact, most of you had previous
experiences in religion before God revealed his son you much
like Joseph's brethren you Knew a need and you knew that you
must have someone to represent you before God You must have
some mediator between God and men and you sought salvation
But you didn't find the Savior the first time but rather after
Much experience in religion the Lord Jesus made himself known
to you Now I hope that this very day he will do that for some
of you here. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Salvation really is that simple
and that profound. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. To believe on Christ is simply
to trust Him. It's not to say a prayer. It's
not walking down a church aisle. It's not kneeling at an altar.
It's not repeating something somebody tells you to say. It's
believing Him. It's coming to Him now. Right
now, right where you are, without moving a muscle, it's coming
to Him. To believe on the Lord Jesus is to trust him who stood
in the place of sinners before the Holy Lord God and died under
the wrath of God as the sinner's substitute. Christ died bearing
the sins of his people in his own body on the cursed tree.
And when he did, he fully satisfied all the demands of God's law
and justice, bringing in everlasting righteousness for all his elect. We tend to think that anyone
who's heard the gospel message immediately readily understands
it, but that's not the case. Many of you have heard the gospel
all your lives, but you still sit in darkness. The light shines, but you're
blind and you can't see. The word goes out, but you're
deaf and you can't hear. Our Lord says to you who are
His, blessed are your eyes for they see. Blessed are your ears
for they hear. The only distinction is that
God's given you seeing eyes and hearing ears and believing hearts.
And that's the only reason you believe while others yet believe
not. I know this. I know this. All who seek Christ with all
their hearts find Him. But you will not likely find
him as soon as you begin to seek him. Come back to Jeremiah 29. Jeremiah 29. We're going to look
at some scripture today. Verse 10. Thus saith the Lord, that after
70 years be accomplished at Babylon, I will visit you. Now let me
tell you where all men are by nature. You're in Babylon. Some go to church in Babylon
and some don't, but they all live there. Some perform acts of worship
in Babylon and some don't, but they all believe Babylon's doctrine. Everybody. Every man by nature
presumes that he must and can do something by which to make
himself acceptable with God. That's Babylon's teaching. Everybody's
there in the bondage and darkness of free will works religion. Our Lord says to his elect, after
70 years, I will visit you. and perform my good word toward
you in causing you. Isn't that a good word? Blessed
is the man whom thou choosest and causest to approach him today. Causing you. I just caught Bill
Raleigh's eye. He started going to church over
13th Street, sitting under Brother Mahan's ministry because there's
a pretty gal there he wanted to date. Am I correct? And he
married her, and he came down here and sat in the center of
the gospel for years, for years, for years. And then God gave
you hearing ears. See that? Believe you God. God says, I'll cause you, cause
you to return to this place. calls you to return to Jerusalem. Yes, there's a physical thing
going on with the physical Jews in physical Babylon, in physical
bondage, but it was pointing to something else. Not to the
physical place in Jerusalem, but to the mercy seat that there
was portrayed in the mercy seat. I'll call you to return to Christ,
the propitiation, the mercy seat. For I know, I know the thoughts
that I think toward you. saith the Lord." You won't know him until he reveals
himself to you, but he knows. Thoughts of peace and not evil. Merle, he spoke to me roughly
like Joseph did to his brethren. And I thought he intended to
destroy me. I thought I was damned. I thought
there was no hope for me. But he says, I have thoughts
of peace, not of evil. to give you an expected, a desired
end. Then shall you call upon me,
and you shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you,
and you shall seek me and find me. Now watch this, when you
shall search for me with all your heart. I'll tell you when Christ will
be yours. Are you listening? I'll tell
you when you'll be saved. I'll tell you right now. When
you want Him. When you want Him. I mean when
you got to heaven, He's yours. Until then, you'll go on in your
darkness. When you search for me with all
your heart, you shall find me. Not until then. Now I want us
to take this picture of Joseph and his brethren, and let me
show you four things. First, understand this. Though Joseph's brothers didn't
know him, he knew them. We read in Genesis 42, 8, and
Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him. Joseph knew
who his brothers were. He knew them by sight when he
saw them. He knew them when he heard their
voice. But they were totally ignorant of him. He knew all
that they had done. All their deceit and corruption
and wickedness and envy and cunning. He knew it all. He knew the dreadful
condition they were in. They were starving to death.
He knew all that they needed. And he knew how to supply the
need in the best way possible for them. They just came to get some corn.
That's all they came for. They didn't have enough sense
to realize that when they got some corn, they needed to be
gone soon. That takes kind of a dumb bunch of men. There's
no corn in the land. They've eaten everything they've
got. And now they come and their money, all the money they've
gathered over all the years they were in this earth, all that
they had was more worthless than corn. Everything they had. But they
came and bought some corn and presumed they'd get along all
right. Joseph understood. Well, they
didn't understand. As soon as the corn's gone, you're
going to be hungry again. What you need is me. What you
need is to be here under my care. And my daddy's getting old. And
somehow he's got to be brought down here. And I know just how
to do it. And so Joseph, because of his
love for his brothers, devised a plan, a purpose by which he
would bring them down to Egypt to himself. He loved his brothers. Though they had no love for him,
he supplied their needs, devised a plan whereby he could take
care of them. And the plan involved great pain. It involved great pain. What grief it was going to cause
to Jacob. What consternation to these brothers. But it was
the best thing possible for his brothers. David Coleman, what God's done
for you and is doing for you is the best thing possible for
you. Understand that? It's the best
thing possible. There is here an unmistakable
parallel between Joseph and our Redeemer. Though we knew him not, he knew
us. knew all about us, knew everything
we've done, everything we are. He knew us. And he knew his love
for us and his thoughts toward us and his intentions for us. And he devised a plan. A purpose
before the world was by which he would absolutely bring us
to himself. All the days of our rebellion.
He protected us. Amazing. Alan, I. I played with hell all
my life. I played with hell all my life. If you consider things just from
a human standpoint, there's no reason on this earth I survived
till I was 16 years old. But you can't consider things
just from a human standpoint. There's one reason I survived,
because he would not let me die until He had revealed His Son
in me. And all the path of rebellion
and pain and ungodliness, all of those things, He directed
my steps to His throne of grace by effectual mercy that couldn't
be resisted. And while I lived in rebellion
to Him, He protected me and provided for me. Remember the passion,
Hosea too? Hosea found out where Gomer was.
While she's in bed with her lover, her husband slipped up and set
a bag of groceries by her bed, by her door every night. And
she'd get up in the morning and say, look what my lover's left
me. And then she'd go waste it with Baal. And next day he'd
come bring her some more corn and oil and wine and flax and
wool. Until the time of love came.
And he said, I'm going to destroy your happiness. And I'll take
away your corn and your oil and your wine and your wool that
I gave to you. But all the while, he provided
for us. And so our Lord Jesus provides
for us. And our great Joseph graciously
and wisely has arranged all the affairs of providence to bring
us to himself. He knows just how to do it. He
knows just how to do it. He raises up nations and tears
down nations to save his elect. He sacrifices men for you and
people for you and nations for your life. God Almighty will
allow nothing to stand between him and his people. Nothing.
Nothing. He overcomes the world. to accomplish
good for his own. All right, here's the second
thing. We should understand this. Joseph had good reasons for not
making himself known to his brethren when they first appeared before
him. In his wise, adorable providence, our Lord Jesus uses all things
to bring his elect to himself in saving faith, even false religion. I don't believe for a second,
I don't believe for a second that anybody saved worshipping
at the altar of free will. You weren't, I wasn't, nobody
else is, nobody. You just tell me a fellow saved
worshipping in a Buddhist temple is telling me he saved worshipping
in a free will church. You just tell me a fellow saved
Shaking rosary beads counting them whatever they do with them
and crossing himself as tell me say by coming down in front
of a Baptist church and dealing in an altar. That's Nobody but
a fool believe such nonsense Nobody nobody But you say well,
you think God uses that of course he does God uses the devil, you
know that Satan Satan doesn't have his will ever Not ever. Not ever. He only does what God
Almighty has ordained from eternity to be good for His people. Nothing
else. And the same is true of all things
in this world. Yes, God uses all things, even
false religion, for the saving of His people. But if you ask
me when is a person saved, I'll tell you when God's elect to
save. We're saved in eternity. Before the world began, God tells
us we were justified and sanctified and called and glorified. I take
that to mean we were saved before the world began. Is that all
right? Our Lord Jesus died for us at Calvary and we were saved
by his blood when he died for us. There's no question about
that. But in the experience of grace, in the experience of grace,
now understand this. The experience of grace is as
vital to salvation as election and redemption. But in the experience
of grace, we're saved at the time when it pleases God to reveal
his Son in us. Not a second sooner, not a second
later. Brother Eric here is a young
preacher. I guess you've been preaching
shorter than any other preachers right here. And these other fellows
have been preaching a while. Don't get the notion you can
make things happen. It's temptation. I'll tell you
what's going on right now in many places. Preachers read about
revivals or what they think is revivals and read about all the
great movings of God. Oh, what the Lord did. Why isn't God doing that today?
Why is it we don't have to leave the doors open for folks to hear
from the outside? Why aren't folks hanging in the windows
trying to hear the gospel? Why isn't this place bursting
out with people hearing it like we read about in the old days?
We must be doing something wrong. So let's start doing different.
We must be preaching something wrong, so let's start preaching
different. And folks start to compromise the gospel of God's
grace. And what they say is God, get out of the way. You're not
working. We'll do it for you. Man saved when it pleases God,
you're not going to hurry him up. You're not going to hurry
him up. We, uh, teach our children, you
young people. I've been praying for you since
before you came into this world. Many here have your mom and dad,
and we teach you the truth. We teach you the gospel of God's
grace, but we can't give you faith. And we don't try. We can't make you believe on
the son of God. We don't try. We preach and pray
and wait. That's all. The person saved
where it pleases God. Person saved when he hears and
believes the gospel of God's free grace it pleased God By
the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe turn
to Romans chapter 10 Romans the 10th chapter Almost chapter 10 Paul says in verse 13 whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved verse 14
How then shall they call on him in whom they've not believed?
And how shall they believe in him of whom they've not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they
preach except they be sent? Now those questions are not asked
rhetorically. They're asked with answers plainly
given in the scriptures. It's impossible for you to call
on Christ until you believe on Christ. It's impossible for you
to believe on Christ until you've heard the gospel of Christ. And
it's impossible for you to hear the gospel without a preacher.
And it's impossible for me to preach the gospel to you without
being sent of God. You may wonder what I do. I'm
sitting here writing things down. Sometimes I'm making last minute
notes and thoughts. Tell you what I'm usually doing.
I'm writing, begging God, begging God to send me to you now with
his word. Because I know if God doesn't
this hour send me to you, all I can do is stand up here and
make a lot of noise. I can't preach to you unless
God sends me to you every time I come to preach to you. It's
impossible. So then faith comes by hearing
and hearing by the word of God. We're born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible, which liveth and abideth forever. And
this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
A person is saved when he's taught of God. They should all be taught
of God. And everyone who's heard and
learned of the Father, our Savior says, comes to me. So if God
teaches you, you come to Christ, taught of God. To be taught of
God is to be called by His grace, called effectually, irresistibly
by His Spirit. To be called of God is to be
born again, a person saved when it turns to the Lord Jesus. with
his whole heart. Listen to this. I will give them
a heart to know me. I'll give them a heart to know
me. That I am the Lord. That I am Jehovah. I am the God. And they shall be my people.
And I will be their God for they shall return unto me with their
whole heart. When Christ is revealed in you
When Christ is revealed in you, that's when you'll believe Him.
When Christ is revealed in you, it pleased God to reveal His
Son in me. When Christ is revealed in you
so that you may see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. When Christ is revealed in you
so that you have now hope before God, looking to Him who is your
Savior alone, Christ Jesus the Lord. Many of you, in fact, most
of you have had some experience with false religion. God's graciously brought you
out of free will, works, religion, out of fundamentalism and decisionism
and easy believism. You once hoped for salvation
and acceptance with God because you did something or felt something
or experienced something. And you tried your best to be
comfortable with that, didn't you? You tried your best to teach Sunday school, visit, but
no other people get them to say the same thing you say. Repeat
after me. Say the sinner's prayer. Believe
on Jesus and everything's all right. Now you say it. Don't
let anybody tell you otherwise. And you Go home and you lay down
and the bed's awfully short. And you try to wrap up and comfort
yourself and the covers are awfully narrow. And when you're faced
with judgment and death and eternity, there's no rest for your soul.
And you found out that whatever you got, it wasn't God's grace. It wasn't God's salvation. It
wasn't God's son. Whatever it was. Now, God's given you life and
faith in his son like Joseph's brethren the second time. He brought you to himself, brought
you to hear the gospel of his grace, and you believed because he made himself known.
Now, thirdly, Let me show you that there are some good reasons
why Joseph did not reveal himself to his brothers the first time
they came. Are you listening to me now? You come here seeking the Lord,
have you? Seeking God's salvation, have
you? And you come many times and you go home and you still
have nothing. I'll tell you why. I'll tell
you why. Joseph didn't reveal himself to his brothers as we've
already observed because they were ignorant of him. They didn't
know him. And as long as a sinner is ignorant
of Christ, he cannot have saving faith in Christ. You remember
when Paul came to Athens, the Athenians, they were smart as
Americans in 2012. They had been educated and they
had been taught and they had learned stuff. And they checked
all the boxes, and they worshiped all the gods, and they said,
we'll worship the sun and the moon and the stars, and we'll
read the horoscope, and we'll go to the palm reader, and we'll
worship the devil, and we got them all covered. And just in
case we miss somebody, they had an inscription to the unknown
god. And Paul said, that's the one
I want to talk to you about. That one whom you ignorantly
worship. He was not saying you truly worship
him. He said you ignorantly pretend
to worship him. I'm going to tell you about the
God you don't know. The God you don't know. He's revealed and
known in the person and work of his dear son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And the only way you can come
to God is by faith in Christ. You've got to know him. Got to
know him, his person. He's God. in the flesh. You've
got to know His performance. He performed redemption. He didn't make redemption possible. He didn't just provide redemption. He performed redemption. His
position now, He sits on the right hand of the throne of God.
He sits on the right hand of the majesty on high, having given,
God having given to Him all power over all flesh to give eternal
life to as many as the Father has given Him. And this one who
sits on that position of sovereign dominion on the throne of grace
has power to save to the uttermost all who come to God by him. Joseph's
brothers came to him, but they didn't know the first time because
when they first came to him, they didn't really want him.
All they wanted was corn. That's all they wanted. They
didn't really want Joseph. They want what Joseph could give.
And most people, most people, experience something in religion
and make a profession of faith and say, I believe in Jesus because
they want what Christ alone can give. You don't want to go to
hell when you die. You want to go to heaven when
you die. You want to have a good life. whole generation has been duped
by this health, wealth, prosperity preaching that goes on down to
where Amy and Eric live down in Houston at, what's that fellow's
name? His daddy's son, Osteen. The fellow that smiles like a
possum eating briars. I hope he hears this. He's as
fake as a $3 bill. And his religion's as fake as
a $3 bill. He's a liar and folks who follow
him follow a liar. Can't be more plain than that
because people are deluded Wanting something so they'll say I believe
in Jesus now go follow Jesus Salvation didn't come by wanting
to be saved Salvation kind of by wanting to save you Salvation God didn't come because
you want to escape hell Jesus Christ is not a fire escape from
hell Salvation comes by faith in the Son of God He that believeth
on the Son of God hath everlasting life. Joseph's brothers didn't know him and he didn't
reveal himself to them for another reason. They left Benjamin at home. First time they came, they left
the cherished Benjamin at home. They brought money. They brought
coin in their sacks. They came in willing to be his
servants. But they left Benjamin at home. You're going to have to bring
God your Benjamins. Or you're going to go on not knowing Joseph.
Bring everything to Christ. Everything to Christ. He's either
Lord of all or he's not Lord at all. Joseph didn't reveal himself
to his brothers because he was determined to make his brothers
know and acknowledge their guilt and their crime before him. In
Genesis 42, you don't need to turn back there, but you can
read it later in the latter part of the chapter, Joseph spoke roughly to his brothers. That's how God deals with folks
when they come to him. I promise you, if the Lord God ever deals
with your soul in mercy, he gonna speak roughly to you first. He
gonna make you know your sin and your guilt. He spoke roughly
to them, and while they didn't know who he was, they said, we
are verily guilty concerning our brother. He hadn't told them
who he was yet, Larry. He just he he just brings them
before the court of Pharaoh in judgment and speaks roughly to
your spies He knows about what we did with
Joseph We're guilty concerning the blood
of our brother his blood is required they said and Christ will not
reveal himself to any sinner Until the sinner is made to know
and confess his sin before God. Christ will not reveal himself
to you. Until you confess your sin. Until you acknowledge what
your pastor has been trying to tell you all your life. Until
you acknowledge what you are. what you are. Not what you've
done, what you are. What you are. If we confess our
sin. Oh God help you now. God help
you now. Rip open your heart. Dare you
do so? Rip open your heart before God. I don't want you to come confess
your sin to me. I don't need to hear about it. I don't want
you to come confess your sin to the church. The church doesn't
need to hear about it. That's getting off easy. That's
getting off easy. I'd rather confess my sin to
my wife than confess it to God. Rip your heart open to God, if you can. The most painful
experience I know of is this side of hell. Rip your heart
open to God, if you can. We confess our sin. He's faithful
and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Yeah Joseph's brothers came to
him and the second time he revealed himself to him and They came
to him the second time Because the only hope they had was Joseph Jacob said I've heard this corn
in Egypt go down to Egypt to buy some corn Come to Christ. Oh, God help
you to come to Christ. Come to Christ. You have no hope
but Him. I implore you, by the mercy of
God, come to Christ. Without Him, you're going to
hell. Come to Christ. Without Him, you must perish.
Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.
But come to Him now. I said to you the most terrifying
thing, most painful, most difficult thing I know of this side of
hell is to confess your sin to God. But let me give you a word
of assurance. See that you hear it. He delighteth in mercy. He delighteth in mercy. You can't
confess your sin to Him and go away guilty. It can't be done. It can't be
done. You can confess it to me and
go away guilty. You can confess it to the church and go away
guilty. If you had all the popes in history, you could kiss their
rings until the rings fell off and confess it to those monkeys
and go away guilty. But you can't confess your sin
to Christ and go away guilty. It can't happen because He delights
in mercy. Can you picture Joseph? Can you imagine how anxious Joseph
was to make himself known to his brethren? I can just picture
him. He just, I can't wait. I can't, oh, I can't wait. But he waits to be gracious because
he's going to have the whole family there to be gracious to
them all. Okay, wait wonder what they're
gonna do when they find out who I am Wonder how they're gonna
respond Joseph was anxious Far more anxious to make himself
known to his brethren than for his brethren to know who he was
They they weren't near as anxious to know him as he was to make
himself known to them And hear me guilty sinners Oh
God help you to hear me now Christ Jesus is more anxious
to save than you are anxious to be saved. He's more anxious
to make himself known than you are to know him. More anxious
to be merciful than you are to obtain mercy. Come then to Christ
the Lord. One more thing. When Joseph's
brothers came to him the second time, He made himself known to them. He said, boys, I'm Joseph. I'm Joseph. And they stood there
dumbfounded. At first, terrified, Frank. Terrified. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. This is Joseph. We sold him into
slavery. This is Joseph, the one we cast
into the pit. This is Joseph, the one we hated. This is Joseph, the one we would
have killed if we could have. And Joseph wept. And he said, I'm Joseph. I'm
Joseph. He said, don't blame yourselves
for anything. I don't. Don't be afraid. I'm not angry. You did what you did by your
wicked hands and your wicked wills because you hated me. But I'm in the place of God because
God loves you. And he fell on their necks and
kissed You remember the story of the prodigal son? He came
home seeking his father's mercy. And he said, I'm no more worthy.
Father? And his father stopped him mid-sentence. Scripture says
he ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him, and kissed him,
and kissed him, and kissed him. He just smothered him with kisses. I'll tell you what that means.
Much love, deeply felt. Forgiveness, complete, free,
and forever. Come to Christ, oh come today. Come to Christ, and go home with
Him. When Joseph made himself known
to his brethren, you know what they did? They drew near to Him
and talked to Him. God once kept me at an infinite
distance from Him. Now He snuggles me up on the
lap of His Son to His own breast in tender mercy. Come to Christ. and live forever. Amen.