Genesis 45, what a chapter, what
a story. This chapter, Genesis 45, is
the whole story. It's the whole truth, isn't it? Joseph has revealed himself to
his brethren. He has comforted them regarding
their guilt. their self-acknowledged guilt. He said, don't grieve yourselves.
He has shown them, now you think about this, he's revealed himself
to them as the one who rules all things. He's forgiven them. And he showed them this, that
the sovereign God who rules and brings all things to pass has
done all that has been done in order to save them. Is that what
happened to you? He commissioned them to go and
tell the one who does not yet know the good news. Go and preach. Go preach. Tell him that Joseph
is on the throne. Tell him of all my glory. Tell
him to come here where I am and dwell with me, and he'll never
want for any good thing. And now in verse 16, we see this. Look it. And the fame thereof
was heard in Pharaoh's house, saying, Joseph's brethren, are
come. And it pleased Pharaoh well and
his servants. Everyone in the kingdom rejoiced
and were delighted at this reunion. We mentioned the parable in Luke
15 before in this same study, but not this part. Listen to
this. When the shepherd found his lost sheep, In Luke 15, verse
six, it says, he cometh home with him. He lays him on his
shoulders and brings him home. And he calleth together his friends
and neighbors, saying unto them, rejoice with me. For I found
my sheep, which was lost. And the Lord
Jesus said to them, I say unto you that likewise joy shall be
in heaven over one sinner that repents. When that woman finds her lost
coin in verse 9, it says, when she has found it, she calleth
her friends and her neighbors together saying, rejoice with
me. For I've found the peace which
I had lost. Likewise, I say unto you, there
is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner
that repents. And when the prodigal came home,
the father said in verse 32 of Luke 15, It was me that we should
make merry. What else are you gonna do on
an occasion like this? It was just the right thing to
make merry, to celebrate. For this thy brother was dead
and is alive again and was lost and is found. And Pharaoh in verse 17, look
at verse 17. Pharaoh said unto Joseph, you
say to your brothers, this do ye, blade your beasts and go. Get you unto the land of Canaan.
Take your father and your households and come unto me and I will give
you the good of the land of Egypt and you shall eat the fat of
the land. Now thou art commanded This do
ye, you're commanded, take you wagons out of the land of Egypt
for your little ones and for your wives and bring your father
and come. He commands the bringing of all
of Joseph's family into the kingdom. It's not an invitation. He didn't
say, now, if you want to, they're all invited. This is gospel. The gospel is not an invitation.
Paul said in Acts 1730, God now commandeth all men everywhere
to repent. You know, I've heard it said
that God will never command you to do something that you can't
do. That's just a lie. He had never commanded you to
do anything that you can do without him. Lazarus don't come forth
without grace, without power. And you don't believe. No man
can come except the Father draw him with power. But I'll tell
you this, God will never command you to do something that's not
the best thing in the world for you. And it will redound to his everlasting
glory. He commands the one thing that
is absolutely the best thing that can happen to Jacob. Come. and you go and tell him to come. God commandeth all men everywhere
to repent. This gospel is everything that
the first verses of our chapter show that it is. Provision, nourishment,
to see the glory of the one that's on the throne. Forgiveness, forgiveness
of sin, the wiping away of guilt, justification. Who is he that
condemneth? It's Christ that died. But also, there are consequences
to disobedience. You're commanded to come. Verse
11, he said, lest you starve to death, you come. You tell
him to come lest he starve to death. Lest you come to poverty. There's only one way to live.
That's come to Joseph. This is good news. And this is
the best of news. And sinners must be reminded
of their current condition and the consequences of remaining
where they are. And you need to know that you're
commanded to come. And look what Pharaoh said in
verse 20. He said, also, here's something else I want you to,
to obey. Regard not your stuff. Forget
about your stuff. How come? There's a good reason.
For the good of all the land of Egypt is yours. Paul said, all things are yours. Everything good is ours in Christ,
both now and in eternity. That's just the truth. No good
thing will God withhold from those who love him because we
love him because he first loved us. No good thing will he withhold. The whole land is yours, everything. When you get back to where you
used to call home, don't worry about the stuff in your drawers.
Don't say, well, there's my, that old shirt, it's got a few
holes in it. You won't be needing that. In Luke 15, the prodigal's
father told his servants, my son is home, bring forth the
best robe. What he had on was stained with
the muck from the hog's pen. Son, you won't be needing that
anymore. I've got a robe for you. Do you have any idea how much
happier we would be if we could just do this? Regard not your
stuff. Nothing that is yours is worth
having. What's Christ and what is his
and what he's given us. And that includes temporal blessings. If it come from Him, it's a blessing,
isn't it? If it's for His glory and for
our good. Regard not your stuff. Spiritually
speaking, Paul said, I have suffered the loss of all my stuff, and
I count it but done. that I may win Christ. What was
it that made everything that before was precious to Paul look
like dung to him? That I may win Christ. When everything good is yours,
what's yours by nature starts looking pretty bad. Pretty bad. Everything good is yours. How
does your stuff look to you now? Everything good. is given to
you in Christ. Have we done this? Are we doing
this? Regarding not our stuff. Can
we do this? Are you one of those people who
has a hard time throwing anything away? I don't want to name any
names, but I know some people like that. Just can't throw anything
away. How come? I might need it someday.
Just see that you don't do that spiritually. You don't have anything
by nature that's worth holding on to. Regard not your stuff. And then don't miss these two
words. All the good, not it's going to be yours, is yours.
It's yours. verse 21. And the children of Israel did
so. And Joseph gave them wagons according to the commandment
of Pharaoh and gave them provision for the way to all of them. He gave each man changes of Raymond,
but to Benjamin, he gave 300 pieces of silver and five changes
of Raymond. Joseph favored Benjamin because
Benjamin was his only full brother. If you remember, he, there, Benjamin
and Joseph were the only ones in the family that had the same
mother. The other ones were born of different mothers. And we
may talk about that more some other time. And to his father,
verse 23, he sent after this manner, 10 asses laden with the
good things of Egypt. What was that? Well, we don't
know, but I know this. I know what the spiritual teaching
is here. Pharaoh in this picture is God
the father, doesn't he? Because he's the one that sent
his son to tell, to reveal, to declare. And told his son to
send us. And here he said, you're commanded
now. And Pharaoh put all these good things of Egypt and said,
you take all these things down to your father Jacob and to your
children and your wives. Well, what was it? It was what
Pharaoh considered good. Now you and I, we call things
good and things bad. Job went through some bad things. Well, think about it. He saw God as a result of those
things. I'd say that's good things, wouldn't
you? When you're on the ash heap, it doesn't look good sometimes,
does it? But I know this, God knows what's good. And he gives
me everything, not that I think is good, not that seems good
to me, everything that is good. Everything. Lays ten she-asses laden with
corn and bread and meat for his father. By the way, now look,
those who were sent to tell the good news were well provided
for. Weren't they? The Lord asked his disciples
in Luke 22, 35, he said unto them, when I sent you with no
purse and no lunchbox and no shoe, no extra shoes, did you
lack anything? And they said, nothing, nothing. Nobody that he sends is going
to lack anything. This is us right now. We're still
telling those who don't know the good news, the good news
yet. We're still in the business of
bringing the good news and God is still in the business of providing
all we need and more. And we'll talk a little bit more
about this in a bit, but notice too, that with the news to Jacob
came provision for him too. They didn't just tell him that
in Egypt where Joseph rules, there's plenty to eat. It came
right to him with the news. All right, verse 24. So he sent
his brothers away. And they departed. And he said this to them. Listen
to this. Now, this is interesting. And
it's a blessing. See that you fall not out by
the way. What does that mean? I thought
when I first read this that falling out meant to fall into some kind
of danger or to get lost. Don't get lost. Don't fall away.
But this is something else. I looked up the original language
here and got some help on it from some commentators. What he's saying is don't fall
out with one another. Have you ever heard the expression,
they had a fallen out? That's what this is. Don't you
fall out now, by the way. Remember Genesis 42 verse 21
When they found out a little something about what was going
on Listen to what? Happened chapter 42 verse 21.
They said one to another and We are verily guilty concerning
our brother in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought
us and we would not hear. Wherefore is this distress come
upon us because of our sin? But what happens when we start
realizing something about what we are? Reuben answered him saying,
spake I not unto you saying do not sin against the child and
you would not hear. It's not my fault, it's your
fault. Didn't I tell you we shouldn't
do this? Therefore, behold, also his blood
is required. And they knew not that Joseph
understood them, for he spake unto them by an interpreter.
Joseph heard them arguing about whose fault it was, and he knew
something about them. And so he said, don't you fall
out in the way now. What a word to us. God knows
us pretty well, too. We have a word here from God
for us tonight. Now, Joseph had already forgiven
these brothers. He told them, don't you be grieved
about what you did. Don't you be angry with yourself.
So what reason in the world did they have for falling out with
one another? Absolutely none. Well, guess what? God's forgiven us. If God has forgiven me of my
sin, can you not? Can you not? If he's forgiven
you, can I not forgive you? Paul said in Ephesians 4, 1,
I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you
walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you're called. Oh, we got to
walk worthy now. Say our prayers every night and
read our Bible through in a year and straighten up our... No,
how do we walk worthy? With all lowliness and meekness,
with long-suffering forbearing one another in love. You want to walk worthy? Come
down. I'm talking to myself. You want
to walk worthy? Endeavoring to keep the unity
of the spirit in the bond of peace. Joseph, having forgiven them
for what they did, they had no excuse to blame one another. The one that they offended didn't
blame them for it. And we don't have any excuse. Verse 25, and they went up out
of Egypt and came into the land of Canaan unto Jacob, their father,
and told him. Now you picture this. Picture
Jacob's face as they're telling him, Joseph is yet alive, and
he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob's heart fainted, for
he believed them not. Can you picture his face? Joseph
is alive. And not only that, the government
is on his shoulders. He's governor of all the land. I think I might know what his
face looked like, because I've seen that look on people's faces
when the gospels preached before. Kind of stunned. and real happy
at the same time. Can this be true? Is it possible
that God loved a wretch like me? Can it possibly be true that
Christ came down here to save me? To save the chief of sinners? And Jacob's heart fainted. And
that was before it had even sunk in good yet. He didn't half believe
him yet because he was in shock, don't you imagine? He was stunned
at this news. Joseph is a liar? How can that
possibly be? It says that he didn't believe
them, but he didn't think they were lying, surely. He knows
they're not gonna joke around about something like that. No,
here's where Jacob is. You know where he is. Look at
Luke 24. Luke chapter 24. I know where
Jacob is here. He don't believe him yet, and
yet his heart fainted. Luke 24 verse 28. certain of them which were with
us. Verse 28, I meant verse 24, look
at verse 28. They drew nigh unto the village
whither they went, and he made as though he would have gone
farther. This is when the Lord is walking
with His disciples, and they didn't know who He was for a
while. But they constrained Him, saying,
Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.
And He went in to tarry with them, And it came to pass, as
he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and
break, and gave to them. He had done that before, hadn't
he? He blessed it, and break it, and said, this is my body,
which is broken for you. And when he did that, look what
happened. Their eyes were opened. And they knew him. Joseph is
yet alive. Can you imagine? You can see
the look on their faces too, can't you? That's what Jacob
looked like. That's what a sinner looks like
when he hears the gospel and he realizes what God has done
for him. They knew him. And he vanished out of their
sight. And they said one to another, did not our heart burn within
us. Jacob's heart fainted. It does
something to your heart when you see the grace of God. While he talked with us by the
way and while he opened to us the scriptures and they rose
up the same hour and returned to Jerusalem and found the eleven
gathered together and them that were with them saying, The Lord is risen indeed,
and hath appeared to Simon. And they told what things were
done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of
bread. And as they thus spake, Jesus
himself stood in the midst of them and said, Peace be unto
you. But they were terrified and affrighted,
and supposed that they had seen a spirit And he said to them,
were you troubled? Why do thoughts arise in your
hearts? Behold, my hands and my feet,
that it is I myself. Can you put yourself there? He
showed them his hands that had been nailed to the cross and
his feet where the nail, the spike had gone in. And he said, touch my hand, handle
me, touch my hands and my feet. For a spirit hath not flesh and
bones, as you see me have. And when he had thus spoken,
he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they yet
believed, here it is, this is where Jacob is, believed not,
how come? For joy. It's too much. It's too much good, I can't even
contain it. I can't take it in. Have you
ever believed not for joy? It's not that they believed not
for doubt, they believed not for joy. They couldn't believe
it, in other words. It takes a while for that to
sink in, doesn't it? And they wondered. When you hear the gospel, does
it cause you to wonder? Or is it just kind of routine? And he said to them, do you have
anything to eat? And they gave him a piece of
a broiled fish and a honeycomb, and he took it and did eat before
them. They believed not for That's
where Jacob is. Too good to be true. My sins
are all gone. Jacob is thinking all of my problems are gone. All of my fears. What
were his fears? He said Joseph is dead and Simeon
is not and Benjamin's in danger. No, none of that's true. All
of your fears are unfounded. All of my worries, what am I going to eat tomorrow?
You don't have to worry about that. All of my heartaches, sorrows and pain are all gone. And what that looks like is Joseph
sitting on the throne. If Joseph is on the throne, all
these things are true. As unbelievable as they may seem,
they're true. All of it. If my Joseph is really
on the throne, who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died. Can it be true? There was something,
though, that completely convinced him. Look at verse 27. At first, he's just flat stunned. Can't believe that something
that wonderful could possibly be true. But there's something
that convinced him. You know what it was? They told him all the
words of Joseph, which he had said to them. And that's what
we're doing. We're just telling you what Christ
said. All the words of Christ. All of them. All of them. And
then it says, when he saw the wagons, which Joseph had sent
to carry him. To carry him. The wagons are
going to carry him from where he is to the place of every blessing, every joy, complete peace and
rest. And when he heard the words and
saw those wagons, the spirit of Jacob, their father revived. I've never seen anything like
this chapter 45. I have, but it seems like it's
new every, every time. And it's new every time. These
wagons are an interesting component here in this beautiful picture.
The two things about these wagons, when Jacob saw the wagons, he
said to himself, it must all be true. What did he see in them
wagons? Every good thing, every blessing
that can be had. This is the blessing of God that
we experience in Christ. We've heard the news now, but
now we see the blessing that was promised. We experience it.
We actually enjoy it. Jacob's putting the clothes on
that were on that wagon for him. Throwing his rags on the ground
and putting on that, those clothes that Joseph had provided. And
he's, for the first time in two years, eating a decent meal and drinking the best wine that
can possibly be had. and he believed him. We not only hear of our heavenly
Joseph's goodness, but we experience it. How? What is this wagon? What are these wagons? How do
we experience the goodness of God? By faith. Faith is what
carries us from where we are by nature to the very presence
of God. Faith. The wagons are faith. Paul said in Hebrews 11 1 now
faith is the substance Of things hoped for What was Jacob hoping for something
to eat something to wear something to drink In a famine, that's
what you're thinking about. I guarantee you Here's the substance The evidence Of things not seen
he hadn't seen joseph on the throne yet But he had some pretty
good evidence of it here You see you see what this is now
There's no other way that all I need could be provided but
this What they're saying is true And this is us spiritually also,
how do you know that christ is who he claimed to be? That he
accomplished what he said he would and did. And that he's
on the throne tonight. As you sit right where you're
sitting, he's on the throne. How do you know that? I'm wearing
the robe he provided for me. That's how. I've tasted that
he's gracious. Every good thing has come to
me. by His command, by His grace, by His wisdom, by His power,
because of His love for me. Every good thing, that's how
I know. How about you? I've eaten what only He can give. He said in John 6, 51, I am the
living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of
this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Have
you eaten? He that eateth the flesh of the
son of man and drinketh his blood hath life. If not, there's no
life in you. How do you know that Joseph's
on the throne? How do you know that the word,
the good news is true? I've eaten and I'm clothed. The wagons, he sent the wagons
with every good thing. Do you see how the wagons are
faith? By faith we experience the goodness of Christ. How do
you know, Chris, that you're one of God's elect? He didn't come down here and
die for everybody. How do you know you were one
of them? And he saves sinners by grace
through faith. I'll tell you something else
about faith. Jacob is old. I believe he's 130 here. How
in the world is he going to get where Joseph is? That's a long
way for an old man. You know how he's going to get
there? By wagon. That's how he's going to get
there. How are you going to get from
where you are by nature to the place of all blessing, and all
peace, and all joy? In other words, Christ. How are
you going to get from you to Christ? How in the world are
you going to get there? Your flesh isn't able to get
there. You'll never get there in your own power and strength.
And you don't have anything to build your own wagon with. You
don't need to. One's been provided for you. Paul, how do you get from being
an enemy of Christ to a servant of Christ? How do you get from
killing Christ's preachers and servants, his people, his sheep,
to Lord, what would you have me do? How do you get from there
to there? Thomas, how do you get from I
will not believe to my Lord and my God. You know how you get
there? Thomas, be not faithless, but
believing. That's how you get there. That's
how Thomas got there. That's how I got there. And that's
how you got there if you're there. And if not, that's how you'll
get there. Believe. Believe on Christ. Joseph gives you a wagon that'll
take you there. And Christ gives you faith to
believe. What was the command? Come. You're commanded now. Come. How do you come? By faith. How do you come to the Lord Jesus
Christ? What must I do to be saved? What must I do? I'm starving to death and there's
a famine and I can't help myself. I can't provide for myself. I
can't find anything to eat. I don't know what to do. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved. I believe him. By God's grace I believe him.
By grace are you saved through faith. I believe what he said
about me. All of it. And he had never said
anything good about me. Not as I am in myself by nature. And by his grace, I believe what
he has said concerning himself. He's revealed God in this book. And by his grace, I believe him.
that he's sovereign and holy and gracious and almighty, that
his hand is not shortened, that it cannot save. I know that he's
just and holy. I know that he must punish sin.
But I tell you what else I believe. I believe what he has revealed
concerning how a sinner like me can be justified before him. By Christ living for me and Christ
dying for me. He lived for me as my righteousness
and died for me as my sin offering. I believe. By his grace, I believe. When will you believe? When did
you believe, Brother Chris? Do you know what the word revive
in the text means? When Jacob heard the words, all
the words, all the good news, every bit of it, And he saw,
he experienced the goodness. It says that he was revived. Do you know what that word means?
It means he was quickened. He came to life. That's when
you'll believe right there. When he was quickened, when he
was given life by what Joseph did, Look what he said in verse
28. It is enough. What's enough, Jacob? Look at
that verse. Look at verse 28. What's enough?
What do you mean enough? You've got enough stuff now? No, I'm not talking about the
stuff. I'm talking about a person. It is enough. Next word, Joseph. Think about what he said here
now. He said, my son is yet alive and I'm going to go see and listen
to the words of Job in 1923. He said, Oh, that my words were
now written. Oh, that they were printed in
a book. They are. that they were graven with an
iron pin and lead in the rock forever. What's so important,
Joe? I know that my Redeemer liveth. Joseph is sure enough alive.
I've seen the evidence of it. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. My Redeemer lives. and I'm going to go see him.
You listen to this. I know that my Redeemer lives
and he shall stand at the latter day upon this earth. Do you know this? Job, how many
thousands of years ago said, I know this. Write it down. Engrave it on my tombstone. My
Redeemer lives and I know that at the latter day he shall stand
upon the earth, and though after my skin worms destroy this body,
yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself,
and mine eyes shall behold, and not another." Joseph's alive, and I'm going
to go see. Though my reigns be consumed
within me, I'm on the ash heap now, Job said. You won't look
at me now and see any of this, but I'm sitting here on the ash
heap knowing something. My Redeemer lives, and I'll see
him one day. Thank God for this gospel. Let's bow in prayer.