Alright, will you turn with me
in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 45. We often are reminded from the
Word of God of our God's holiness, of His sovereignty, of His justice,
and He is. And they are attributes of God
that most men know nothing of, and we rejoice that our God is
holy. We rejoice that He's sovereign
in salvation, and we fear Him with a holy and loving fear because
of His justice. But our text this morning reminds
us of another side of the nature and character of God. one that
I fear we sometimes overlook. That is that our God is a God
who delights. He delights in showing mercy. He rejoices over the salvation
of his people. And we've got a beautiful picture
of that in the story of Pharaoh and Joseph. Just to take a moment
to remind those that were here Wednesday night and maybe share
with those who weren't able to be here the things that we saw
when we looked at chapter 45. Joseph, of course, is a picture
here of the Lord Jesus Christ as the brother. and the Redeemer
of his brothers. And we're reminded how it is
that the Lord is not ashamed to call us his brethren. He has been concealing his identity
from his brothers for two years. They've been going back and forth
from Canaan to Egypt to get supplies during the drought. And in chapter
1 of Genesis chapter four, verse one of Genesis forty-five, Joseph
could not refrain himself any longer. His heart was bursting
within him. Now, Judah in the previous chapter
comes clean with Joseph. It was Judah that decided many
years prior to sell Joseph into slavery for the profit that he
could make off of him. And Judah now shows the evidence
of repentance when he does for Benjamin what he wouldn't do
for Joseph. You know, Benjamin is being threatened
with his life and Judah stands up for Benjamin and puts his
own life on the line for Benjamin. And this is what Joseph's been
waiting for. This is what Joseph's been waiting
for. Evidence of repentance in Judah's heart. And as soon as
that evidence was made clear, Joseph's heart burst within him
and reveals himself to his brothers. Now, the truth is that repentance
is Well, it is the grace of God. There's no question about that.
If we are to repent, it will be because the Lord has worked
in us, causing us to will and to do His good pleasure. But
repentance is also necessary. It is necessary. What must we
do to be saved? Repent. Repent and be baptized. There's no revealing of God's
grace and glory to a sinner until there is an admission, like Judah,
of their sin. And, well, it's just a beautiful
story of how the Lord is pleased to make himself known and how
his heart is full of mercy toward his children and toward his brothers.
Now, in verse 16, After Joseph speaks to them and
he promises to provide for them and nourish them and tells them
to go back to Canaan and get Jacob and the rest of the family,
their wives and their children and bring them down to Egypt
and he'll provide for them the best of the land. In verse 16,
and the fame thereof was heard in Pharaoh's house saying, Joseph's
brethren are come, and it pleased Pharaoh well and his servants."
Now, we do no violence to the Word of God when we spiritualize
the characters of these Old Testament stories. As a matter of fact,
that's really what they're here for. They're here to represent
some other. As Joseph represents the Lord
Jesus Christ as the Redeemer and the loving brother, so Pharaoh
in this picture, the kindly Pharaoh, not the Pharaoh that puts the
children of Israel under bondage later on, but the tenderhearted
Pharaoh, the one who has provided Joseph the preeminence in all
the kingdom and the one that is now committed to care for
Joseph's brothers. Pharaoh represents the father
here, and the Scripture says that Pharaoh's heart is well
pleased with the fact that Joseph has provided redemption for his
family. Now I want you to think with
me about, in this part of the story at least, about Egypt being
a picture of heaven. I know in most cases it doesn't
represent that. It represents a picture of the
world. It represents a picture of bondage,
especially when the children of Israel end up in slavery. But here it's the place where
Pharaoh lives, and it's the place where Joseph is. And it's the
place where he's going to bring all of his brethren in order
to provide for them. And he sends them back to Canaan
with provisions necessary for their journey in order for them
to make their abode, make their residence, make their permanent
place where they'll be provided for in this land of Goshen, the
best of the land of Egypt. Egypt here is a picture of heaven,
and this is a story that tells us about how it is that God is
pleased in the salvation of his people and the instructions that
he gives to them in their journey to heaven. Now, we ought to rejoice
in what God rejoices in, and God's people do. They delight
in what he delights in. I remind you of the story in
Luke chapter 15. Will you turn with me there to
Luke 15? The parables, the three parables
told in Luke chapter 15, are not three separate parables.
They are three parts to one parable, one main idea, one point that
the Lord is making. In verse 3 of Luke 15, He states
this parable unto them, saying, What man of you, having a hundred
sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and
nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until
he find it? And when he hath found it, he
laith it upon his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh
home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors, saying
unto them, with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost."
And verse 7 is the point of this part of the parable of the recovering
of the lost sheep. I say unto you that likewise,
joy. We don't often think of our Heavenly
Father rejoicing. We have reason to rejoice, but
our God has a heart that rejoices. I say unto you likewise, that
joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than
over ninety-nine just persons which need no repentant." Those
who think they are well don't need a physician. The Lord is
speaking this parable against the publicans, I mean against
the Pharisees, if you read the first verse of this chapter.
And it's a parable of hope. for those that are lost. The
Heavenly Father has elected a people and they are lost out there in
the world, but He knows where they are. He's determined. This first part of the parable
is a picture of election and the Father's purpose in making
sure that all those that He's chosen in the covenant of grace
are found and come to Him, not want to be lost. And the point
is that he rejoices, as did Pharaoh in the story. And what did that
scripture say? In verse 16 of Genesis chapter
45, Pharaoh and all of his servants, when they heard of the fame of
Joseph saving his brothers, they were all well pleased. They rejoiced. There is rejoicing in heaven.
over one lost sheep. The next part of this parable
begins in verse 8. The woman having ten pieces of
silver, if she loses one piece, does she not light a candle?
This is a picture of the Holy Spirit's work of regeneration. He's the one that turns the light
on. If He doesn't shine the light of the gospel into our dark hearts,
we'll never see the truth. So, as the first part of this
parable represents the Father's work of election, the second
part of this parable represents the Holy Spirit's work of regeneration. And this woman, now the picture
of the Spirit of God, and she's lost a coin. So, she lights a
candle and she illuminates the darkness of the room and she's
diligent. She's diligent. The Spirit of
God doesn't quit. He's diligent in seeking and
saving them which are lost. Likewise, verse 10, I say unto
you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one
sinner that repented. Pharaoh and his household were
well pleased. This story is given to us in
order to picture for us the pleasure of God in the saving of His people
and all of His servants. all the angels and all the saints
and all God's people. What delights your heart more
than hearing or seeing of the Lord saving a sinner? What delights
your heart more than to reflect upon the salvation of your own
soul? Nothing causes us to rejoice more. We rejoice in what God
rejoices in. But He does rejoice. He does
rejoice. He is well pleased. He delights
in this. The third part of this parable
is somewhat lengthy. You remember the story of the
two sons and the one who goes away and finds himself feeding
upon the swine's husk. Cannot become satisfied. Spends all that he has in worldly
living. And look in verse 20. And he
arose and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way
off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on
his neck and kissed him." This is a picture of the tender
mercies and loving kindnesses of God towards the repentance
of a sinner, towards the salvation of Joseph's brother. It's all
to warm our hearts. To know that God in heaven and
all the angels are rejoicing. And they don't just rejoice over
a moment of salvation. It's not like, well, there's
another one that was saved and all of heaven breaks out in rejoicing
and then there's a period of time when someone's not saved
and everything goes back to normal. No. There's a continual spirit
of rejoicing because there is a continual work of salvation
in each sinner. This is the Spirit of heaven. Look at the next verse. Verse
21, And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against
heaven and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called
thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth
the best robe, put it on him, It's the robe of righteousness.
This is a picture of the redemptive work of Christ. The first part
of this parable is election. The second part of this parable
is regeneration. The third part of this parable
is redemption. This is the redeeming work of
Christ in the robe of righteousness. Put it on him and put a ring
on his hand, shoes on his feet, feet shod with the preparation
of the gospel, and access, kings and priests. made unto our God,
kings and priests, with this ring, this signet ring that gives
us authority before the presence of God, and bring hither the
fatted calf and kill it." Now, when the elder brother heard
of the noise going on in the house, he was a Pharisee. He was a picture of the Pharisee,
and he resented the fact that the father was rejoicing and
had particularly killed the fatted calf for that one. Why hasn't
he done such for me? The killing of the fatted calf, of
course, is the sacrifice of Christ upon Calvary's cross to satisfy
the justice of God for the sins of his people. And in all three
of these And in this parable as a whole, what do we learn?
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit not only have a purpose
to save, not only are they successful in saving those, but they are
in a continual state of rejoicing over what they've done. Pharaoh
was well pleased when he heard, when he heard. Now, this will
sustain your soul and mine in the hardest and most difficult
of times, to know that in heaven God and the angels of glory and
all three members of the triune Godhead are rejoicing over us. They are rejoicing. They are
well pleased. And we are well pleased for the
Scripture says, blessed, or what's another word for that word blessed?
Happy. Rejoicing. Blessed is the man
whom the Lord does not impute iniquity. Blessed or happy is
he whose transgression is forgiven. whose sin is covered. As the Father pitieth his children,
or as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that
fear him. He has great compassion for us. In the Song of Solomon,
the Scripture, Christ speaking of his bride says, Thou art fair,
my love, and there is no spot in thee. husband's looking upon his bride,
and he sees a beautiful, spotless, perfect bride, and he delights
in her. Pharaoh is well pleased. Look back to our text. And the fame thereof was heard
in Pharaoh's house, saying, Joseph's brethren are come. They've come. They've been saved. They've been
redeemed. Joseph has made them covenant
promises, and now he's about to give them evidences of that
promise with gifts of grace to convince them that everything
he promised them will be as he said. And the fame of this covenant
promise went out. The Lord truly does delight.
in showing mercy. Some years ago, I meant to look
up the date. I believe it was in the early
1700s. There was a period of history
in America which was referred to as the Great Awakening. And
that Great Awakening was fueled, if you will, in part by a sermon
that Jonathan Edwards preached all over the country. sinners
in the hands of an angry God. If you read the historical events
of those places where that sermon was preached, people were falling
on the floor and doing all sorts of ridiculous things in response
to their fear of going to hell. There was recorded many conversions
as a result of that sermon. I'm convinced in looking at the
historical evidence that there was no really great awakening. It was a religious revival that
resulted in all sorts of perversions. It's not instilling the fear
of hell that really brings repentance. It is the goodness of God. It
is the goodness of God, and I'm so thankful. not to be a sinner
in the hands of an angry God, but to be a saint in the hands
of a God who is gracious and full of mercy and compassion
and tenderhearted, that'll break your heart. And that will result
in long-term faithfulness. Lots of people can be scared
with hell and fire and brimstone, but it usually doesn't last.
It usually doesn't last. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
63, verse 9. In all their affliction,
he was afflicted. And the angel of his presence
saved them. And in his love and in his pity,
he redeemed them and he bared them and carried them all the
days of old. The truth is that love begets
love. The spirit of fear is not of
God, but the spirit of love is. and the spirit of a sound mind,
a saved mind. He's the one that did this. In
his love and in his pity, he redeemed them. And he pitied
them and bare them up. This is Joseph's heart toward
his Look back with me to our text.
I want to see one other point before we close. Verse 16, And
the fame thereof was heard in Pharaoh's house, and all of heaven
rejoiced over the salvation of sinners. Joseph's brethren are
come. They've come. They've come to
Joseph. They've been provided by him,
provided for by him. And it pleased Pharaoh well and
all his servants. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,
Pharaoh doesn't speak directly to the brothers. Pharaoh speaks
to the brethren through Joseph. If you and I have any hope of
hearing from God, we will hear it from his Son. We will hear
it through Christ. The glory of God will be revealed
to us in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ And if we've seen
him, we've seen the Father. He didn't say, it is not as if
you've seen the Father. He said, if you've seen me, you
have seen the Father. Christ and the Father are one,
of one nature, of one character. And the Father is pleased to
speak to the brethren through Christ. Pharaoh said unto Joseph,
say unto thy brethren, this do ye. Laid your beast and go, and
get into the land of Canaan, and take your father and your
households. Come unto me, and I will give you of the good land
of Egypt." Now, I know that Canaan usually represents the entrance
into heaven, and the wandering in the wilderness represents
our time in this world. But I remind you that Egypt here,
in this part of the story, is a picture of glory. It's where
the Father is. It's where all the rejoicing
is. and their journey to Canaan is similar to our journey in
the wilderness. You go and lay in your beast,
I'm going to provide for you everything you need and you're
going to come back to this place for this is where your blessings
are. All the blessings of God are hid in Christ in heavenly
places. And what will sustain you on
your journey in this world is to know your destination and
who has provided for you in that place and who will provide for
you In the meantime, isn't that what they did here? Look, take
your father and your household 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. I'm thankful for our parents and I know some of you
young people appreciate it. I believe or hope that there
will come a day when you will appreciate it more. Sometimes
you may not want to be here, but I'm thankful for our parents
that don't give their children an option for coming to this
place. I really am. It's what we do as a family.
You don't have an option about going to school. You don't have
an option about brushing your teeth or getting out of bed. You don't have them, but this
is what we do. It's where we're coming. Go get your children,
your wives, and bring them here. This is a blessing. It speaks
of your faith. And I hope young people appreciate
it. And I trust that in time, they'll
come to be more grateful for it, as the Lord is pleased to
reveal Himself to them. Take your father, your household,
and come unto me. 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, take your wagons out of the land
of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring
your father, and come." Look at verse 20, in your journey
back to Egypt. You see, the truth is that God
opens the windows of heaven and He gives us a picture. He gives
us a taste, a foretaste of glory divine in our salvation. And then He sets us on a journey
in this world, knowing that we're going to come back. We're going
to come back to that place He's already revealed to us. That's
what happened to these brothers. They saw Egypt. They saw the
riches. They heard the words of Pharaoh
and how he was delighted in them. And they heard it through Joseph.
And they had the covenant promises of Joseph. And now they're going
to go on a journey and they're going to come back. And look
what he says in verse 20. Joseph, Pharaoh through Joseph
says to the brothers, regard not your stuff. I love that. The men of this world put all
of their hope in stuff. Stuff. That's just what it is. Just stuff. We're thankful for
the things the Lord gives us, for the comforts of this world,
for the provisions and wealth that we enjoy. We're thankful
for it. But it's stuff. That's all it is. And this word,
regard, literally translated means don't set your eye on it. Regard not your stuff. Don't
put your affections on the things of this world. Don't let your
life be tied up in worldly goods. Regard not your stuff, for the
good of all the land of Egypt is yours. The riches of Christ are yours. We're going to look at some of
those riches in the next hour, but the point is here that When
you've got wealth like we have in Christ, it puts things in
perspective, doesn't it? Puts things in perspective. So
that we're able to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven.
Set our affections on things above. Regard not your stuff. That's all it is. Be responsible. Enjoy it. Share it. Be generous. But know that one day it's all
going to get burned up. It's all going to get burned
up. I had a friend say one time,
he said, I've never seen a hearse pull into you all. Never seen
one. Naked you came into this world
and naked you're going to go out. Regard not your stuff. And the children of Israel did
so. You see that? The children of Israel did so.
And Joseph gave them wagons according to the commandment of Pharaoh,
and he gave them provisions for the way. He provided them everything
they needed. Your heavenly Father knows your
needs. Birds of the air, they don't
toil. The lilies of the field, Solomon in all of his glory was
not arrayed as one of these. Don't you know that your heavenly
Father loves you? He's going to provide everything.
To all them He gave each man changes of arraignment. Now that's
what we need. We need a change of clothes,
don't we? In our journey in this world, we need a robe of righteousness.
We need to take off this old man and put on a new man. It's
in the past work. We need new clothes. But to Benjamin,
he gave 300 pieces of silver and five changes of arraignment. Benjamin was his blood brother,
not his stepbrother. In this part of the story, Benjamin
represents the elect out of all those who are the descendants
of God, or all those who are under his authority and under
his lordship, there are particular Benjamins. And to his father, he sent after
this manner, ten asses laden with good things of Egypt, and
ten she-asses laden with corn and bread and meat for his father
by the way. For he sent his brethren away,
and they departed. And he said unto them, See that ye fall not out by the
way." Joseph knew that there was a
tendency on the part of his brothers to become jealous of Benjamin. to argue about maybe who was
responsible for having sold Joseph to begin with. See that you fall not out in
the way. There are diversities of gifts
that God gives to his children, but there's one spirit. There's
one body made up of different parts. There's one church. And the Lord's desire for His
children is unity. You're coming back here to glory
where Pharaoh and Joseph are. And you're going to eat of the
fat of the land. And all the riches of the world are provided
for you here. I'm sending you on a journey.
See that you fall not out in the way. Don't let envy and strife
or contention take over you. while you travel. The Lord puts it this way in
Galatians chapter 5, Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking
one another, and envying one another. Don't envy. Don't provoke. Don't seek vain
glory. Don't fall out with one another
in the way. Love each other as you've been
loved. All right, let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father,
we thank You for Your Word and we pray, Lord, that You would
bring these truths to mind by Your Spirit and keep us in Christ. For it's in His name we pray.
Amen.