Genesis 45. Genesis 45. I am certainly glad I got to hear that message this
morning. Oh my, what a blessing. What
a blessing it was to me. The gospel. The gospel. Bruce said last night, it's that
good news, the glad tidings that make a man's heart dance and
shout and leap for joy. It certainly does that. It certainly
does that. It does for me. It does for me. I'm going to bring a message
today and pray God help me on Joseph. More a type of Christ than anybody
else in the scriptures, I believe, was Joseph in so many ways, but
I just wanted talk about one way this morning. And that was
his revelation of himself to his brethren. Let me read these
first 11 verses. Then Joseph could not refrain
himself before all them that stood by him. And he cried, cause
every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him
while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. And he wept
aloud, and the Egyptians in the house of Pharaoh heard. And Joseph
said unto his brethren, I am Joseph. Doeth 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 nearer to me, I pray you. And they came
near. And he said, I am Joseph, your
brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Now therefore, be not grieved
nor angry with yourselves that you sold me hither. For God did
send me before you to preserve life for these two years. hath
the famine been in the land, and yet there are five years
in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest. And God
sent me before you to preserve your posterity in the earth,
and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not
you that sent me hither, but God. And he hath made me a father
to Pharaoh, and lord over all his house, and a ruler throughout
all the land of Egypt. Hast 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, and thou shalt be near unto me,
thou and thy children, and thy children's children, and thy
flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou hast. And there will
I nourish thee, for there are yet five years of famine, lest
thou and thy household, and all that thou hast, come to poverty. You know Joseph, here's Joseph,
and there's ten brethren standing here before him, just ten of
them. And they're standing here before Joseph, who they despised,
who they rejected, whom they sold. And Joseph had revealed
to them that one day, one day they'd all be under subjection
to him. And this is where the trouble
started. Long before that, now you look with me in Genesis 37,
here's where the trouble starts. When you hear Joseph, when he
was just a boy, a young man, he had revealed to his brethren,
they hated him for one reason, because his father loved him
so. And that's what they said about our master. You, you being
a man, make yourself one with God. You're a blasphemer. Man can't be one with God. Because
you know not only is one with God, but you're making yourself
to be God. And we can't have that. We don't
mind a man being in our midst. Don't mind the miracles. Don't
mind the works. Don't mind what you have to say.
Just don't be God. Because if you're God, we're
going to have to bow. We're going to have to worship.
We're going to have to submit. Well, here we go. Down here in Genesis
37, verse 5. And Joseph dreamed a dream, and
he told it of his brethren. And they hated him yet the more.
And he said unto them, Here I pray you this dream which I have dreamed.
For behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf
arose, and also stood upright. And behold, your sheaf stood
round about, and bowed down to me. And his brethren said unto him,
Shalt thou indeed reign over us? Or shalt thou have dominion
over us? We'll not have this man to reign
over us. Huh? And oh, and they hated him
yet the more for his dreams. And what's this? And for his
words. For his words. And he dreamed yet another dream,
and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed
a dream more. And behold, the sun and the moon
and the eleven stars made obeisance to me, submitted to me, bowed
down to me. And he told it his father, and
to his brethren. And his father rebuked him, and
said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall
I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves
to thee on this earth? Oh my! So you see they hated
him the more. He's going to have to bow to
me. Joseph had already made this known to them. And then Joseph,
if you'll look at the whole thing, he had brought them to own their
guilt and inability. They said, we're guilty, and
God has found out our iniquity. Well, here they are. He's brought
them in front of him. They said, oh my, God's found
out our iniquity, and Joseph is sitting here. And it says
here in verse 1, in the last part of verse 1, and there stood
no man with him while Joseph made himself known. Genesis 45.1,
while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. Now, who was
it that Joseph revealed himself to? His brother. His brother. Not the Egyptians, just his brother.
And I'll tell you this much about it. No one could reveal Joseph
to them but himself. Nobody, if Pharaoh said that's
Joseph, he didn't know that was his brother. You see, and Joseph,
the only one that could make himself known to his brother
was Joseph himself. You know, there were another
place, I believe it's in 41, where it says, and he knew them,
but they knew him not. You see, Joseph knew them, but
they never did know him until he made himself known to them.
And ain't that what our Master said when Simon Peter said, our
Lord said, who do men say that I the Son of Man? They said,
well, some say you're John the Baptist. Some say you're Jeremiah,
you're a weeping prophet because you cry and you're sorrowful
and all that all the time and you're carried with grief. And
some say you're one of the prophets. But he said, who do you say that
I am? Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Flesh
and blood didn't make you see this. Flesh and blood didn't
reveal the Son to you. But my Father which is in heaven. And beloved, over in John chapter
8, it says there when the Lord Jesus was in the midst of those
people and they took up stones to stone, He just hid Himself. How do you hide yourself in the
midst of a bunch of people? Well, that's what Christ can
do. He can hide Himself. And ask how many people has He
hid to this service this morning? How many people has He not seen
this morning? How many people hear His name
mentioned and never see Him? And all beloved looking at him
and don't see him. Ain't that right? And all that
Christ is, all that he did, is hid until he reveals it. And the only people he reveals
it to is his own. That's right. Only his own brethren. Ain't
that right? Look with me over here in 1 Corinthians
chapter 2. First Corinthians chapter 2,
I want you to know, our Lord Jesus, he stood and he prayed.
And he said, I thank you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that
thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, but has
revealed them, revealed them, has to be revealed unto babes. You know, men walked with Christ,
men talked with Christ, and yet they never saw the Lord Jesus
Christ. But look here in verse 7, 1 Corinthians 2. The apostle
says, but we speak the wisdom of God. Jim just declared that
so clearly, so gloriously, so wonderfully, the wisdom of God
in a mystery. Now watch this, even the hidden
wisdom, hidden. Something that's hidden means
that you don't know where it's at until somebody takes and shows
you where it's at. And it was hid. And this hidden
wisdom, God ordained it before the world to our rejoicing, to
our comfort, to our salvation. But it was hid until somebody
got up and told us about this glorious mystery. And it'll be
hid until God makes you see it and understand it and see it
for yourself. And, oh, beloved, I'm going to
show you in John chapter 6. Let me show you this real quick.
I just thought of this this morning when I was looking at my notes.
And I've got the clock going here, so we'll be all right. You know all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge is hidden in Christ, hidden in Christ.
Men see wisdom in philosophy. They see wisdom in politics.
They see wisdom in people's ability to speak. They see wisdom in
science. They see wisdom in evolution. But they don't see the wisdom
of God until they see it in Christ. You won't see the glory of God
until you see it in Christ. You won't see the power of God
until you see it in Christ. You won't see the love of God
until you see it in Christ. You won't see the grace of God
until you see it in Christ. You won't see the power of God
until you see it in Christ. wrath of God till you see it
fulfilled in Christ. You won't see it. And oh, look
what it says here in verse 36, John 6. But I said unto you, Christ talking
now, that you also have seen me, you've seen me, but you don't
believe. You've seen me, but you don't
believe. How many times have we been told,
Don, I don't believe like you do? Well, if you don't believe like
we do, you believe wrong. Now that's a fact. There ain't
no ifs, ands, or buts about that. If you don't believe in the sovereign,
free, almighty, sovereign power of God in Christ, you believe
a lie. And if our gospel be hid, it's
hid to them to whom God, the God of this world has blinded
the minds of them that believe not. If this gospel's hidden
to you, it's because you don't know Christ. There ain't but
one gospel. Nobody's ever been saved by a
lie, a half a lie, or part of a lie, or anything other than
the truth of the grace of God in Christ Jesus. And he said,
you've seen me. We got Jesus here this morning.
Wave your hands for him. We got Jesus here this morning.
Give Him a big hand clap. Jesus is here this morning. Come
down now. Go ahead and do it if you want
to. I ain't going to. I'm going to bow down. I'm going
to do obeisance. I'm going to be one of them eleven
sons. I'm going to get down. And oh, He said, oh you see me,
but watch this now. You don't believe, but now Christ
is a figure then. Well, watch what it says in verse
37. All that the Father gives me. I love it. All that the Father gives me
shall come to me. They say anything about sinning
yet, they come unto me. And all him that cometh to me
I will in no wise cast out. Now look down at verse 40. And
this is the will of Him that sent me. Now watch this. This
is God's will that everyone will see of the Son. And it's the
will of God that will cause you to see the Son. And when you
see the Son, you'll believe on Him and you'll have everlasting
life. And He'll raise you up at the last day. Oh my, but oh
beloved, when men saw the Lord Jesus Christ, all they saw was
a poor Galilean. So Joseph is the only one who
could reveal himself to his brethren. Now back over here in Genesis
45, and this is the revelation. When
Joseph revealed himself, it was also a revelation of one who
was rejected, and the revelation of a guilty past. Whenever he
made himself known to them, those fellas, they didn't start clapping
their hands and said, hallelujah, I see my brother. No, no, no,
no, no. They got scared tea totally to
death. Look what it says there in verse
3, and Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph. And look down the
last part of the verse, and his brethren could not answer him,
for they were terrified at his presence, terrified at his presence. I mean, they understood whose
presence they were in. They understood they was in the
presence of a man they hated, that they despised, that they
rejected. that they had their whole hearts
set against destroying Him. And they understood, I'm Joseph! It terrified them in their hearts,
what's He going to do to us? He's going to kill us right here,
He's going to destroy us. He's got all the power here,
He's got all the glory, He's got all the authority. What in
the world is going to happen to us now? They were scared to
death. And I tell you, until you're
scared, until you're, and as Jim said, until you're in trouble,
when the first thing, when you understand, when you truly understand
who the Lord Jesus Christ is, and you'll not know yourself
until you see Him, you'll know nothing about yourself until
you see Him, and when you see Him, the first thing you'll see
is how sinful you really are. That's the first thing that'll
come to your heart and soul, how sinful you are. How in the
world can I be in this man's presence? When Simon Peter said,
Oh Lord, we fished all night, but never, he just done it in
a kind of a way that frustrated. Nevertheless, it's your word,
we'll cast down the net. And when he saw them fishes,
he said, Oh God, depart from me, I'm a sinful man. He seemed
that he doubted the master, questioned the master, frustrated with the
master. And when he saw the glory of
Christ, he just said, Oh Lord, depart from me, I'm a sinful
man. And that's the way these fellas did. What in the world
is going to happen to us? And oh, they were troubled at
His presence. And oh, look down in verse 4
though. And I tell you, have you ever been, when you first
saw the Lord Jesus Christ, and somebody started preaching
Him to you, and you started having some sense of who He is and His
glory and His power Here it says, I, I, I, I. And how you sinned
against Him. Did He terrify you? Did He trouble
you? Did He make you feel your guilt, your sin, your shame?
Oh, I never forget the first view I had of the cross. I never
felt, I felt so ashamed. The first view I ever had of
Christ on His cross, I was never so ashamed. What an awful, sorry,
miserable, wretched dog I was. That, oh, my soul, that Christ
Jesus, that He took that, that man, that bleeding, broken man,
to bear my sins? To take it upon Himself? To become
sin itself? Whatever sin is, however horrifying
it is, He became that? Oh, so ashamed. Oh, you know,
I tell you, Listen, now watch this, but it's a revelation of
real kinship. He said down here in verse 4.
Last part of the verse, he said, I am Joseph, your brother. I'm not Joseph, you executioner.
I'm not Joseph, you judge. I'm Joseph, your brother. Wherefore,
he is not ashamed. That's one of the most glorious
things I've ever read in all the world. Two things. Christ
said, I'm not ashamed to call them brethren. Not ashamed? I'm ashamed to call myself so.
But He's not ashamed to call us brethren. That's my brethren.
He said, go tell my brethren that I'll go before them. Touch me not. I've not yet ascended
to my Father. Tell my brethren that I see him,
my brethren, not ashamed to be called his brethren." He looks
at him and says, I'm not ashamed, he's my brother. I'm not ashamed,
he's my brother. Simon Peter, when he's denying
me, I'm not ashamed, he's my brother. And this says over in
another place, he's not ashamed to be called their God. But you wouldn't believe how
he acted one time. He's not ashamed to be called
our God. If you had heard what I said,
he's not ashamed to be called our God. You don't believe what I've done?
Oh, he's not ashamed to be called our God. Oh, he's a brother born
for adversity. He's a real brother. Kinsman,
kinsman, kinsman. Flesh of our flesh, bone of our
bone. And oh, look here in verse 5,
it's a revelation of great, great grace. In verse 5, look what
he says now. Therefore be not grieved nor
angry with yourselves. Uh-huh. Oh, my. That ye soul hither, don't grieve
yourselves. Don't be grieved about that.
Why does he say that? Don't be angry with yourselves.
Because he's forgiven. Not only forgiving, but He's
forgetting. I forgive you. Don't get it out
of your mind. Don't be angry. Don't be grieved.
Don't hide yourself. Don't let your heart be grieved
about this. Why? Because I forget it. It's
done. It's over and done with. It's
finished. You sold me here, but I'm here
because God sent me here. And oh, beloved, grace for grace. Grace upon grace He gives us.
Oh my! And He's willing to forget and
willing to forgive their sin against Him. And ain't you grateful? Ain't you thankful that there
is forgiveness with God? He said in Psalm 130, Lord if
thou shouldest mark iniquity, who should be able to stand?
Well let me tell you something. He can't mark iniquity, it ain't
there. Ain't that right? If it ain't there, it can't mark
it. So who's going to stand? Everybody
ain't got to mark iniquity against me. Who's that? I'm your brother,
I'm your kinsman. And then look what he said. Then
look what he said. In all my other sins and iniquities,
I will remember no more. And as old Scott, I mean Todd
said one time, he said, he can't remember something that don't
exist. Can't remember why? Because they're not there. And
hear what he says now, and then he says there in verse 4. And
Joseph said unto his brethren. Now remember, he's just talking
to his people. I want you to understand this. I mean, God's
got a people in this world and he deals with those people. And
he said, I am Joseph. And then he says, come near to
me. Come near to me. You that were sometimes afar
off, Aliens in your mind. Enemies by your wicked works.
Come thy help, but now by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We're made nigh. And watch what it says. When
he says, come near to me. And watch what it says. And they came near. We don't come near until he tells
us to come near. When he tells us to come near,
we get, as you say Maurice, we get hung up to him as close as
we can get. Hug up to him as close as we
can get. Oh my, ain't that so? Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest. And what's this? And causes, causes, causes to
approach unto me. All that defile shall come. You
know, here's how the covenant of grace runs. God says I will
and they shall. That's the long and the short
of it. I'll be their God, they'll be my people. I say I will, and
they say they shall. I shall, and they will. There
ain't no witness. People say, oh, God will force
himself on you. If he don't, you're gone, Jesse. Ain't that right? Amen. If he
don't, you're gone, Jesse. And that's one of my favorite.
That's one of my favorite sayings, Jesse. Oh, we draw near, how? We come near, we draw near, how?
Find you in a living way. By the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ, we enter the holiest of holies, Himself by the cross,
by our Lord Jesus. And so it was a revelation of
great grace. Oh, forget it. I forgive you. Don't be grieved. Now look what
it said down in verse 7. Here's a revelation of a great
salvation. And God sent me before you to
preserve your posterity in the earth. Now listen. and to save
your lives by great deliverance. Great deliverance, great salvation. And I'll tell you something,
it says God sent me. See, God had it prepared for
them long before they even knew they was going to Egypt. He may
have caused a famine to come just to get them into Egypt. That's what we're talking about.
He gets you in trouble before he ever gets you to Joseph. And
he sent a famine to get him down there. He had it prepared for
him. In fact, God prepared. Grace
goes before grace. The old timers called it, what
is it called? Prevenient? Prevenient grace.
That's grace that goes before grace. And you find that all
through the scriptures. You find that in Cornelius. Grace
went before grace. Grace always goes before grace. Grace goes out there and does
the work so that when somebody's telling you about grace, the
ground's already plowed. The seed will go in. God had
prepared for him. It was provided for them. And
how was it provided for? Through great suffering. Joseph
went down there, a 17-year-old, and suffered all the time he
was down there until God took him out of prison and set him
on his throne. Huh? And he went down there to
save them. It says, to save you alive by
great deliverance. It wasn't an attempt to save.
I'm going to try to save you. I'm going to make an effort to
save you. He said, I sinned ahead of you to save you. And in fact,
he suffered in prison, not for anything that he'd done, but
for men's hatred of him. And oh my, what a great and glorious
salvation we have in Christ. And let me show you something
else he does now. And he reveals when we're in Egypt now. We got
to be cared for. We got to be taken care of. We
can't take care of ourselves. Don't never, never think that
you can take care of yourself as a believer. Can't be done.
Look what he says down here now in verse 10. He reveals he has
a great provision for us. And this is what he says. He
says, now you're going to dwell in the land of Goshen. And I
love this, and you're going to be near me. I'm going to make
you live someplace real close to me. And you, not only that, but your
children, your children's children, I'm even going to take care of
your flocks. Boy, I'm grateful he does that. And your herds
and all, and watch this, and everything you have, I'm going
to take care of all of it. And there I'm going to nourish
you. I'm going to nourish you. I'm going to nourish you. And
then why is he going to do that? It says in the last part of verse
11, that you don't come to poverty. First of all, he says, I'm going
to nourish you. Oh my, don't he feed us so well? Now I'm talking
about spiritual food. Oh, well, spiritual food. Oh, how he feeds us. He's our
bread. He's our water. He's our life. And this is, this
natural man has to be fed. The spiritual man has to be fed.
You know, we got a taste. As we had taste things in the
natural world, we taste grace. We've tasted that the Lord is
good. We taste this. We drank this water that come
out of that rock. We eat this bread which came
down from heaven. And, oh beloved, he feeds us.
And then he says, I'll nourish you. I'll take care of you. I'll
feed you. And you're going to be near me.
Near me. And then he says, you're going
to live in Goshen. You know, Goshen was the finest land in
all of Egypt. That's the best place in Egypt.
And you tell me a better place to dwell in this land of Egypt
than in Christ. Here we are right in the middle
of the land of Goshen here this morning. All of us, this is Goshen. This is it. We're in Egypt, but
here look at this wonderful Goshen. We're among all these brethren.
And oh beloved, and I'm going to take care of you. You're going
to dwell in the best land in Egypt. And beloved believers,
believers, God's people, God's elect, Sinners saved by the grace
of God. We have the best part. We have
the best part. We have Christ. We've got all
that he is. We've got all that he did. We've
got him himself. We've got him to eat. We've got
his flesh to eat, his blood to drink. And we have the best. We got his robe of righteousness. We got his divine nature. We got Christ in us. We have
Christ. We have his promise. We have his righteousness. We
have his blood. So let the Egyptians have all
the rest of it. And they're welcome to it. And then he says, I'm doing this
lest you come to poverty. He ain't going to let us get
poor. He ain't going to let us get poor. Oh no, you can't be poor if you've
got Christ. How are you going to be poor
if you've got Christ? As Jim said, he did have two dimes to
rub together, but he had Christ. He had a place to worship. And then look what he says here
in verse 15. He assures them that he's going to accept them.
Verse 15 down here in Genesis 45. Moreover, he kissed all his
brethren. Kissed them all. Oh my, what
in the world's a kiss mean? It means that he loves you. Oh, greet the brethren with the
holy kiss. But I'll kiss you on the cheek,
but I'm going to kiss my wife because I love her right there.
Kiss her good. And he kissed all his brethren.
He grabs him, and I mean when he kisses you, kisses me with
the kisses of his mouth. That tells you, oh, I love you.
I forgive you. I'll kiss away your tears. I'll
kiss away your sorrows. I'll kiss away your grief. I
want you to know that I love you. I want you to know I accept
you. And he kissed him. Old Joseph, he got off his throne
to kiss them. Got off his throne to kiss. And
then it says there he wept. And our Lord Jesus, the only
time he ever wept was when he seen men in their miserable condition. And oh my, and I tell you something,
beloved. Now watch this. It was Joseph who kissed them,
not the brethren who kissed him. He kisses us. He kisses us. It was the father who met the
prodigal and kissed the prodigal, not the prodigal who run up there
and kissed the father. And then look what happens after
they kissed him, after he kissed them. It says there in the last
part of verse 15, and after that his brethren talked with him.
When He kisses you, He kisses you, and then you'll talk to
Him. Oh, He loves me. He's accepted me. I'm going to
talk to Him now. I can say something now. They
haven't opened their mouth yet. But oh, they felt the assurance.
They felt the acceptance, the forgiveness. They said, oh, now
I'm talking. Master, my Lord, my Savior, my
Redeemer. Oh, Lord Jesus, how blessed You
are. Oh, thank you for loving me.
Thank you for coming to me. Thank you for making yourself
known to me. Thank you for keeping me. Thank
you for getting me up in my right mind. Thank you for letting me
go to bed with food in my belly. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. If we began to number up His
mercies, where are we going to start? Huh? Oh, my. They talked to Him after the
kiss. After the kiss. And then look what it says here.
Now here's Joseph's joy overseeing his brethren. This is the thing.
Joseph was joyful overseeing his brethren. He endured the
cross despising the shame for the joy that was set before him.
It says down in verse 16, And the fame thereof was heard in
Pharaoh's house, saying, Joseph's brethren are come, and it pleased
Pharaoh well in his servants. Oh, the fame was heard and it
pleased him. Joy was everywhere. And beloved, there's joy in heaven
over one sinner that repented. Joy in the presence of the Father. Joy in the presence of their
angels over one sinner that repented. And I tell you, where else there's
joy when we see somebody come to Christ? Right here. I could
not tell you the times, and I know you all have too, when somebody,
you get through preaching, somebody stands up and say, the Lord's
made Hisself known to me. The Lord revealed himself to
me. Preacher, I want to tell you that I know the Lord Jesus
Christ. Oh my, when that happens, everybody just starts weeping.
Everybody starts rejoicing. Everybody starts blessing God.
Everybody starts running over there, hugging them and kissing
them and blessing God for them. Oh my. Don't we rejoice like
that? And let me show you this quickly. They have a message revealed
to them and they got something to say. Down here in verse 9,
Lord Joseph revealed himself to his brethren. He said here
in verse 9, haste ye now and go up to my father, go to my
family and say unto him, thus saith our son Joseph, God hath
made me Lord over all of Egypt, come down unto me. Terry not. Terry not. And oh, beloved, they
had a message. Hasten, go up and sing. I had
something to say. It's like that woman at the well.
She threw a water pot away, and she said, come see a man, which
told me all things that ever I did. That Gatorian maniac,
he said, Master, I'm going to follow you. He said, oh, no,
no, no. I don't want you to follow me. I want you to go home. I
want you to go home and tell everybody what great things the
Lord's done for you. And what are they going to say
now? What are they going to say when they get down there? Look
down at verse 25. What are they going to say now? And they went up out of Egypt,
and came into the land of Cana, unto Jacob their father, and
told him, saying, and this is the first thing they had to say,
Joseph is yet alive. As far as Jacob was concerned,
he was dead. As far as all the brethren was
concerned, he was dead. They didn't know who he was,
didn't know he was alive, didn't know anything about him until
he made himself known. And the first thing they tell
Jacob when he gets down there, Joseph's alive! Joseph's alive. He lives, he
lives. How do I know he lives? He lives
right here. lives right here. I know that
sounds cliche, but he does. He lives in all of his children.
He lives in his whole body, all of his people. And oh, that's
why this Jim said, why seek you the living among the dead? And
look what else happens in verse 26. And they said, Joseph shed alive,
and he's governor over all the land of Egypt. Oh, tell him he's
exalted. He's somebody back there. He's
got a throne. He's in control. He's got all
the power over there. He's exalted. You thought He
was dead. Now He's on His throne. Now He's
in His glory. Now He's in His power. And oh
my! To Him God has given all power
over all flesh. Over in verse 13 He says this
to tell my father. He says, You tell my father of
all my glory. in Egypt. Tell all my glory and
everything that you've seen. Oh my, what glory have we got
to tell? What glory do we have to tell?
And then look what he says in verse 9. He says, And tarry not,
last part of verse 9. Proclaim, Come to me. Tell him
to come down to me. Come to me. And don't tarry about
it. Don't wait. Don't lollygag. Get up and get down here just
as fast as you possibly can. And that's what we tell you.
Get to Christ now. Come now. Right now. Don't think
about it. Don't ponder it. Come to Him.
And do it now. You see it's His family He's
speaking to. And He has the power. And He's
promised. Not only does He have the power,
but He's promised that I'm going to take care of you. I promised
I'm going to take care of you. Has he got the power to do it?
Does he got the wealth to do it? Does he have the means to
do it? Does he have the authority to do it? And the only one he's
going to do it for is his family. Boy, I tell you, I'd want to
get in that family. When I was growing up, I'll tell
you this quickly. When I was growing up, I lived
in a lot of places, a lot of different people. And there was
one family in particular down in Canton, North Carolina that
I knew. And that was one of the most wonderful families I ever
was around. They'd have the biggest old suppers every evening, and
I'd go over and stay with them. And I'd just stay day after day
after day. And they just took me in, made
me one of them. And I wanted so much to be a part of that
family. Oh, I loved to be a member of that family. Oh, what a glorious
family that was. They sat around, picked their
guitars, and sang songs. They'd pray every night before
they went to bed. And I mean, they was wonderful people, just
wonderful people. Everybody was so generous and said, oh, the
home was so nice, so wonderful, so loving. And I said, man, I'd
love to be a member of this family. But I wasn't. But wouldn't you like to be a
member of this family? I am in this one. I am in this one. Oh, bless his holy name. I'm
a member of this one. And I got his name, I got his
nature, he clothes me, he does everything for me. And you talk
about them folks having a meal. Our Lord Jesus Christ, what a
meal, he said. That and a meal on the table.
Free grace. Everything else is on that, you
know. Oh my. Well, look what Jacob's reaction.
Let me hurry. Jacob's reaction. Down here in
verse 26. And I'm through. Jacob's reaction. And they told him, saying, Joseph
is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And
watch this. And Jacob's heart fainted, for
he believed them not. That's the very first thing.
I can't believe that. I just don't believe that. No,
no, no, you fellas. No, his heart fainted. But now
watch what it says there in verse 27. And here's the first thing
they'd done. They told him all the words of
Joseph. Told him everything Joseph said. And oh, it's the words
of God. That's the power of God. It's
the words that God uses. Now watch this now. And then
when he saw the wagons, look what he gave me. Look what he
said to me. Look what he provided for me. Then what did he say? In the
last part of verse 28, he said, and Israel said, it's enough.
That's enough. My son is alive. My son is alive. And then he gives his brethren
a warning. And I'd be remiss if I didn't do this in verse
24. Verse 24. He gives them a solemn warning
here. He says, So he sent his brethren
away, and they departed. And he said unto them, See that
you fall not out by the way. Oh, see that you fall not out.
He told his brethren now. Left him with a message, sent
him with a message, sent him with provision, sent him with
a promise. See that you fall not out, but don't you be like
Judas. Don't you be a Demas. Don't even be like David. Don't
do the things that David done. Don't do the things Simon Peter
did. Don't fall out by the way. Have no confidence in the flesh. We are them that believe to the
saving of the soul. Amen. Amen.