As our elder had said, we have
been going through a series in the book of Genesis and we are
dealing with the third or fourth message in the life of Joseph. I've been very appreciative of
those of you who have come to me after the messages and have
express your thanks for being able to see the Lord Jesus Christ
exalted in these messages at a brother email me this week. And he was telling me how that
growing up, he had always read the story of Joseph and he, you
know, he could identify a little bit with Joseph's personality
and character. But what he did not know was
that The brethren of Joseph are the people that we most identify
with to tell the truth. And one of the things that I
was emphasizing as we've been dealing with Joseph's account
is the striking parallelism between Joseph and the Lord Jesus. And
one of the things I try to emphasize often is that when you read the
Old Testament, the objective is to see Jesus Christ coming
in the volume of the book. If God blesses you to see the
savior, if he blesses you to see Christ in the scriptures,
you have been blessed. And as we have looked at the
life of Joseph, there were a number of things that were drawn to
our attention. And I wanna reiterate just a
few of them dealing with the previous chapters. And you can
follow me with your outline in your bulletin. That'll help us
get along down the line here a little bit. But I was curious
as I was preparing this particular message to look through the scriptures
to see what God had to say about Joseph
outside of the Genesis account, outside of the narrative of Joseph. What does God have to say about
Joseph? And it struck me as interesting that when you go through the
Psalms, God speaks of Joseph in a very peculiar way. He speaks
of him in the same way we have been observing him with respect
to the Old Testament account. I want you to notice what it
says in Psalm 77 verse 15, and you have that in your sermon
outline. Listen to what it says. Thou hast with your own arm redeemed
your people. Do you see that? Now it's in
the past tense. God has redeemed his people.
I like that. I don't know about you, but I
like that. But now notice what it goes on to say. The sons of
Jacob and Joseph. Do you see it? Don't miss that
now. He says, now you have redeemed
your people, God. You've already redeemed them.
They're redeemed in the past tense. We like that. One of the
things I've said many, many times, the gospel is not what would
Jesus do? I know we buy those things, we
wrap them around our necks and we try to figure out what would
Jesus do, don't we? But that's not the gospel. You
know that right? That might be a good example. We might want
to follow Jesus in terms of this pattern of life or we might want
to figure out what Jesus did so we can do it. But you know,
that's a trap right? Because there are some things
that Jesus did that you and I can't do. So what's the difference?
What's the use in asking? What would Jesus do? What would
you what would Jesus do if there's a boat? crossing one path to
another and the storms are raging and his people are on that boat
and it's about to sink. What would Jesus do? Well, what
Jesus would do is walk on water and go to the boat and save his
people. Isn't that wonderful? Yeah, but are you going to do
that? So with this, what would Jesus do business? Be very careful
that you're not merely making him an example exemplar of your
life rather than whom God has really made him to be the savior
and the substitute and the surety of sinners who trust him. You
got that? So it's not what would Jesus do? It's what did Jesus
do? That's the gospel. What did he
do? And that's our goal is to learn
precisely what he did. Now you can do this saints when
you go through the Old Testament, you can see what Jesus did. If
you allow God to reveal to you through those Old Testament accounts,
the offices of Christ, the work of Christ, the success of Christ
as depicted by the accounts that we're dealing with. I won't go
back to the previous examples where Joseph so superlatively
sets forth our savior and his redeeming work. you can get the
CDs and you can follow for yourself, but I do want to Help us understand
several things. First of all in your outline
point number one, you'll notice that Joseph dealt with his brethren
in grace and in mercy. Do you remember that? He dealt
with his brothers in grace and in mercy. Now, you may not understand
the significance of that, but I want to build on that. You
know that up to the point that we are dealing with Joseph and
his brethren, they do not know whether Joseph is dead or alive.
Isn't that right? They have absolutely no idea.
We're going to deal with this in a moment. But in so far as
they are concerned, they had gotten rid of Joseph. They sold
him into Egypt or sold him rather to the Ishmaelites. And as far
as they're concerned, whatever happened to Joseph amounted to
him being put to death because we learned that in the law Exodus
21 to steal a man or to sell a man is the same as murder. So in their eyes, Joseph was
dead. This is a great type of what happened to Jesus Christ
when he came unto his own and his own received him not when
he came to his own people and they put him to death on Calvary
Street. Do you see the parallelism? Okay,
then what's really interesting is that as Joseph deals with
his brethren, every act, every step of the way from Genesis
42, all the way to Genesis 45, Joseph deals with his brethren
in mercy and in grace. I want you to see this because
it's so beautiful. You know, Joseph didn't have
to do that. You know, I don't know if you would have done that.
And I, if I would be honest, I probably wouldn't have done
that. But you see, God deals with us in mercy and in grace,
doesn't he? I want you to notice in your
outline, it says in Genesis chapter 42, that Joseph gave his brethren
a hearing. Back up to chapter 42 and look
at verse six. I want to remind you, let's lay
a foundation before we get into the preaching here of what exactly
is going on in Joseph's brethren's life. And I hope that you can
see God doing the same thing in your life. They come down
to Egypt because it's a famine in the land. Isn't that right?
Starving to death they need corn. We've already learned that the
only place to go for corn is to Joseph Isn't that right? God
made him to be the mediator of the whole world at that time
And if you're gonna have food, you got to come to Joseph And
if you got if you're gonna have food, you got to come to Christ
You got to come to the bread of life to get the bread of life.
Isn't that right? and so here these men are driven by the providence
of God and I don't know about you, but I love God's providence.
Because God's providence is God's hand. And that means that God's
gonna do what he wants to do. And in his purposes of grace
for his people, guess what? He moves the world to bring you
where he wants you to be in order to give you what he wants to
give you. And we're gonna see this when we get back to Joseph,
two messages from now, when we deal with chapter 50, where Joseph
sums this up. But here in Genesis 42 verse
six, notice what it says. And Joseph was the governor over
all of the land. And he had was that sold all,
sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brethren came
and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth. You see that? Now that may not
be of interest to you, but here's what I want you to know. It's
the grace of God that any sinner can get a hearing from Jesus
Christ. See he sits on the throne as the vizier of Egypt and he
it is is the one to whom all the people have to come. His
brethren come to him who have rejected him but he didn't reject
them. Isn't that good? Do you know
that if you call upon the name of the Lord he will hear you?
It doesn't matter where you've been, what you've done. It doesn't
even matter what you're thinking. If you call upon the name of
the Lord, he will hear you. And this is a grace from God. It might be added that if you
call upon the name of the Lord, he has given you grace to do
so. And so here these men come calling upon Joseph and Joseph
hears him. That's the first act of grace
and mercy because Joseph could have told his servant. I don't
want to hear from these men turn these men around send them back
to their land and let them perish for what they done to me. No,
but you see Joseph is a great type of our Savior and his grace
towards us. Watch this now is immutable unchangeable
and unmerited. In other words, God does not
ask a man to be fit to come and speak to him. If you can come
and speak to God, he'll hear you. He'll hear you. The second
thing I want you to notice in Genesis 42 verse 25, that Joseph
gives them free corn. 42, 25. Didn't we enjoy that
saints last time? Free corn. And I better touch
on this for those of you who are new with us. The natural
propensity of every one of us is to try to get right with God
by purchasing our salvation. The natural inclination apart
from a revelation of his grace concerning our condition is that
we will work to be saved. Isn't that right? We're going
to pay God. We're gonna pay him off. We're gonna give him something.
We're gonna give him prayers. We're gonna give him alms. We're
gonna give him our intellect. We're gonna give him our rationale.
We're gonna give him something in order for him to, in exchange,
give us something. But you know what God will do
with that? He'll throw it right back in your face. They tried
to give Joseph money for the corn, and he told his servant,
put all the money back in the sack. Send those boys home with
free corn. Free corn, because the grace
of God, I wish you could get this, is free. Do you hear me? The grace of God is free. Scared
those boys to death, didn't it? Scared those boys to death. And
we've already learned it's grace that teaches our heart to fear.
Isn't that right? Grace teaches a sinner to fear
God because you know you don't deserve this mercy. And Joseph
is bestowing mercy upon these boys. It's like, it's a strange
thing that God should be so good to sinners so vile as us. But
that's just the way it is. That's just the way it is. Grace
is not fair. is just not fair. So that's the
second thing we see, the bestowment of grace in terms of giving them
free corn, which basically precipitated a test in the life of these boys. Now, if you recall, what I was
trying to do is help us understand how God draws sinners. to himself by his spirit. Now, some of you have already
come to Christ. If you have, this is what you
know, God drew you. Isn't that right? What you know
is that God began long ago dealing with your soul, breaking down
all types of refuges in your life, frustrating your plans,
confounding your objectives and goals, and lining you up with
his own purpose, and then beginning to bring you to himself. It was
a strange thing to you at first. In fact, you probably complained
and you probably argued and bucked and kicked, but God kept towing
you in anyway. Remember, we talked about that
long fishing line. God's a good fisherman, isn't
he? See, I have never seen the Lord Jesus not catch a fish.
He catches them all the time. And so he began to draw these
boys in. And as he drew them in, they
are experiencing something that they cannot right now define.
I was talking with the men in the men's meeting last night.
And there was a particular situation that had come up. And what I
said to the particular brother that raised this question about
a certain individual who was very new in the faith. This is
what I said. When we are new in the faith,
we don't fully comprehend. We don't fully comprehend how
God works. So you can't expect a believer
who is new and a novice to articulate God's immutable, unchangeable,
indomitable love to them. Very often as a new believer,
we will think God thinks like we think. We will articulate
the salvation based upon our own experience rather than to
take our experience and subject it to the word of God. Learn
that God loved us with an everlasting love. And because of that, he
will infallibly bring us to glory. Now that's something that almost
takes a whole lifetime to learn. But when you're a new believer,
that's hard for you to communicate because you see yourself so fickle,
don't you? I think it was one of the hymns
we were singing earlier and it was talking about or implied
somehow that down the line as we grow and mature, we become
a little bit better, a little bit more secure in our walk with
Christ. Sometimes I wonder though, sometimes
I wonder, is that really true? Is it really true that we get,
more secure, more, more confirmed. That is in our own selves. I'm
not so sure about that. I'm not so sure after 30, 40
years in the Lord, you get so cocksure that you're saved, that
God doesn't shake you up sometime. You understand what I'm saying?
I'm not so sure that God doesn't, and we were talking about this
in the Friday study, the three types of sinners. You know, when
you're born, you a rockabye sinner. Yeah, you're a rockabye sinner.
God is rocking that little, allowing you to rock that little sinner
in your lap. She or he sucks at your paps and they're beautiful,
but they're little sinners. You know that, right? If they
could, they would bite your face off. You know that. As they grow
older, you find that out. Isn't that strange? It's just
so. You wonder, you know, how did these children change so
quick? They didn't change, they just matured. And then when we
get into our teenage years, and you youngsters listen to me,
because your mom and dad, they were there, but we forgot what
it was like to be a teenager. This is where some of the problems
come in when we're dealing with our youngsters. But I'm gonna
get to that when I deal with Judah, if you can hold on for a moment.
But when you become a teenager, you become a rock and roll center.
You missed that, didn't you? You go from a rockabye center
to a rock and roll center. Most of y'all can identify with
that. I think about young people and one of the things that are
clear is that they enjoy music and they enjoy expressing themselves
in terms of freedom. Isn't that so? Can I say something?
I'll tell you a little secret. I'm still a little bit of a rock
and roll center. I really am. I love music. I told my daughters,
I'm ready to go to the prom with you, girl. I can still hit a
lick. I can still, I can, you know, leave those knuckleheads
at home. Let your daddy go with you. I can still boogaloo a little
bit. When we get old, though, when
we get old, 60, 70 years old, and us younger people that are
still striving diligently to subdue this vile nature within
us, and it just keeps coming out, and we're wrestling and
fighting, we look at the older folks and say, man, those older
folks got it made. The reality is that they would
tell you in all honesty that they're simply rocking chair
sinners. They want to, but they just can't.
That's the way that it is. until you hit the dust. Do you
know why? Because for all your days, ah,
that was the hymn, to God be the glory, this is my story.
Only a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace.
That's how it is. So we're all in the same boat.
This will help us when we get to our our second point in our
outline, but Joseph gave them free corn and this precipitate
precipitated a test which brought about their recognizing their
sin. You do know that one of the primary
works of the Spirit of God when he's dealing with your life is
to convince you of sin. Is that so? It's a strange, inexplicable
thing because while he's drawing you by his grace, he's showing
you more of your sin. Isn't that right? And as he's
opening up his word to you, if the spirit of God is working,
you are seeing more and more of your corruption and not less.
See, some of you don't believe that some of you are still Pharisees
and you think you're doing all right. But when the spirit of
God stripped you of your fig leaves and show you that it was
a farce and a scam and a facade, you're going to realize that
you are worse than you thought you were. And it's essential
that God does that because you will not, you will not look to
Christ until you are desperate. Do you hear me? Until you are
desperate. And when you're desperate, you'll
cry out. I like the way the Lord said it in the Psalms, in their
afflictions, they'll call me in a hurry. David said it is
someone 19 Lord in faithfulness. Have you afflicted me that I
might learn your precepts? I know Lord that you have afflicted
me that I might not depart from your commandments David had learned
that the chasing of the Lord is because he loves us and it's
designed to drive us to him. But what God's going to do is
he's going to convince you of sin. He's going to make you say
like these brothers said in chapter 42. I'm guilty. I'm guilty. Look with me there chapter 43
rather and notice what it says over down in verse 24. You remember the account in chapter
43 around verse 24 and 25. Let me see here. make that chapter 44 chapter
44 verse 14 and 15 you remember the account where they're going
back to Joseph the second time for corn because their first
corn had run out and they brought the money again we don't get
the lesson they brought the money again And Joseph, again, put
the money back in their sacks. But this time they put in Benjamin's
sack a cup. You remember that? Put a cup
in Benjamin's sack. And Joseph sends his interpreter.
And I want to lay this down. We're going to get to this in
a moment. Joseph sends his interpreter, his servant, to hunt them down. and apprehend them and expose
them once again for being guilty. You remember that? Now all this
time, listen to me, all this time that Joseph is dealing with
his brethren, he is not communicating to them directly. He is communicating
to them through an interpreter. As far as they are concerned,
they don't know Joseph. And this is relevant because
while God is dealing with you, you don't always know him when
he's dealing with you initially, but he knows you. See, Joseph
could hear them. He could understand them, but
they couldn't understand him. There was a mediator between
Joseph and them. Here is the mediator. He is called
the Holy Spirit, whose job is to initially present to you yourself
according to the law. Yeah, that's how he does it.
His job is to initially help you comprehend your great offense
against his law. So for some time when you're
a new believer, you are struggling with obedience, aren't you? You
are struggling with the standard of righteousness. You are struggling
with and toiling through and trying to work out this whole
matter of God's law. He's got you dealing with that
law. That's what we're dealing with in chapter 43. The interpreter
has arrested them. The interpreter has indicted
them. He has indicted them with stealing
from Joseph. And I want you to notice the
negotiation once again, over in verse 10. or rather verse
nine, here is what it said, with whomsoever your servants it be
found. The accusation is not only have
they had the money returned, but there was a cup, Joseph's
cup was taken and the brothers confidently assumed that they
didn't have the cup. And the one of the brethren and
I assume that this is Judah. I'll tell you why in a moment.
He raised this proposition to the servant. He said whomsoever
of thy servant it be found with that is the cup watch this now
both let him die. And we also will be my Lord's
bondsman. You see that? They were confident
that they weren't guilty this time. But I want you to know
you're guilty all the time. And I'm guilty all the time in
myself. And that's always gonna be the
case. But they thought that they could stand up to this test,
because in their own heart, they were honest. And you know what
happened, right? As they unfolded their goods, look at verse 11. Then they speedily took down
every man his sack to the ground, opened every man his sack, verse
12 and he searched and began at the eldest that would be Reuben
and he left at the youngest that would be Benjamin and the cup
was found in Benjamin's sack you see that now you guys understand
the dilemma here right these ten I call them knuckleheads
They represent sinners who are going to experience and are already
experiencing the mercies of God. You know that right? They are
under the auspices of blessing. They've already been giving free
corn. They've gone back and they're
coming back a second time. They got more coin corn and now
they have brought their little brother Benjamin. Now, Benjamin
had nothing to do with the crime they committed 22 years ago when
they threw their youngest brother, Joseph, into the pit. Benjamin
is essentially civilly innocent. He's innocent. But remember,
Joseph said, if you don't bring Benjamin down, we're going to
keep Rubin. So they brought Benjamin down. And Benjamin now is the
one found with the cop. You know what they had negotiated?
Let him die and we'll be your slaves. When Benjamin is found
with the cup, the brothers have a fit because here they go again,
having taken one of their innocent brothers and subjected them to
death. This is a double witness against
them because they did it once 22 years ago and they're doing
it again. And this is what we learned in
John 16, eight, that this matter of revealing sin to us is always
connected to our unbelief in Jesus Christ. sin because of
unbelief, because you do not believe on me. All of us are
born not believing. Do you know that? All of us are
born not trusting God, not looking to Christ, and God has to convince
us of our need to trust him. Well, those brothers now are
stuck with an issue that is really challenging to them, and you
know how it works out. It works out that Judah begins
to appeal We'll deal with that here in a little bit, but I want
to deal right now with Benjamin, the cup bearer. Because Benjamin
now is the one that is bearing the brunt. This man has got to
die. This young man has got to die. And we've talked about the
cup bearer before. You go through the scriptures,
the cup bearer is the one who was next to the king, right?
He was the one who had to drink the cup, the king's wine, just
in case some fellow wanted to drop a little strychnine in there,
take him out. So the cup bearer had a real
burden. And I've said this before, God has given a cup to his son,
Jesus Christ. Do you believe that? Now I want
you to see how the story works. God gave a cup to his son, Jesus,
in order for Jesus to be responsible, to be the guilty party. You got
it? However, Jesus, like Benjamin,
is innocent in himself, isn't he? There was no fault in Jesus. He did nothing wrong in him was
no sin. He never sinned once he asked
everyone which of you can convince me of sin and yet he became the
one to bear the cup. Is this precious to you? I hope
it is because here's what happens God in his Providence gave Christ
the cup to bear for his people. Isn't that good? Isn't that good
now? The cup bearer in this account becomes a substitute for those
who are guilty. The account says that if Benjamin
was to be the one or whoever is caught with the cup, he would
be punished and the others would be set free. Notice what it says
over in verse 16. Oh, this is so interesting. And
Judah said, what shall we say unto my Lord? What shall we speak
or how shall we clear ourselves? God had found out our iniquity
and the iniquity of thy servants. Behold, we are my Lord's servants,
both we And he also with whom the cup is found. Do you see
that? He's confessing that we were your servants. We give it
up. We admit our guilt. But I want you to watch how the
servant responds because we talked about this a little bit last
week, but I want to drive it home. And he said, watch this. God forbid. God forbid what? God forbid that the man who has
the cup is guilty and those with him are to be guilty, too. I
love it, don't you? You know what he said? God forbid,
God forbid that the cup bearer who stands as a substitute for
the sinner is guilty and the sinner himself is guilty too.
Are you hearing what I'm saying? God forbid that it be such a
thing where one who is the cupbearer who must now become a slave and
therefore also die in order to pay for the sins of those who
have now become blameless because the account says that Benjamin
becomes guilty and his brothers are blameless and they can go.
Isn't that what the text says? Your little brother who is the
innocent one now is guilty. And you who are the guilty ones
now are innocent. And you can go. Man, that blows
me away. But I love it because what I
understand there is this. We are talking about the doctrine
of substitution. We are talking about someone
taking my place and bearing my judgment. And we are talking
about what is called the doctrine of imputation. You know what
that means? That means God took my sins and imputed it to him. Watch this now, but he took his
righteousness and imputed it to me. Is that strange to you?
That's called the gospel. And so when God looks at him,
he's the sinner. And when he looks at me, I'm
the righteous one. This is the joy of the gospel
for sinners saved by grace. Now watch how this works because
this is so critical. This is an inviolable law. God
punishing Christ for my sins in my place as my substitute,
as my surety has satisfied his law. He has met all the demands
of judgment and justice against my sin. Christ has so thoroughly
and fully satisfied my condemnation that I am free to go. God's law
cannot then punish me having already punished him. Did you
get that? For God to take my sin from me, impute it to Jesus,
and then punish Jesus for my sin, and then turn around and
say, I'm gonna punish you too, is to commit double jeopardy
against his justice, his righteousness, and his holiness. Did you get
that? See, I like the way the Old Testament law put it in the
Levitical Code chapter 4 and chapter 16. The priest would
take the sinner who brings a lamb to the priest and he would have
the sinner to place his hands on the head of the lamb. And
that sinner would symbolically transfer his guilt from himself
to the lamb. And then the priest would take
the lamb and slit his throat. Offer the blood and burn the
carcass and that sinner is set free. Isn't that good? He's set
free. You know what that meant his
sins his Transaction his guilt was transferred to him. It cannot
come back in your own time. Look at John chapter 18. You
remember this? I want you to grab this because
this is so important in terms of the security of your soul
with respect to the finality of Christ redeeming work for
you Jesus is headed to the cross He has just come out of the garden
of Gethsemane and Judas Iscariot who had betrayed him has gone
and got the mob. He's gotten the law and they're
coming after Jesus. Isn't that right? In John chapter 18, Jesus
knew they were coming, didn't he? He knew they were coming
because Jesus was guilty. You guys missed that, didn't
you? See, he was guilty vicariously. If he wasn't guilty with anyone
else's sins, he was guilty with my sins. He was guilty and there
was a day when the Son of God in the fullness of time made
of a woman under the law would come under the curse of the law
to redeem me from the curse of the law. Are you following what
I'm saying? And so Jesus is headed to get he's headed to Jerusalem
and he sees the law coming and when the law comes, you know
what he asks them. He says who are you guys seeking? Who are
you seeking? Is that good or what? He says,
who are you seeking? And they said, we, we're seeking
Jesus of Nazareth. And they all fell down backwards.
Remember that? You know why? Because the law was seeking God.
The law was seeking God. Now he was seeking God because
God was guilty of our sin. Are you following me? They got
back up, shook the dust off themselves, and they came back at him again.
And he says, who are you seeking? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Now listen to these words. This
is so very important. John 18, I think this is verses
seven, eight, nine, 17, 18, 19, listen to it. If you seek me,
let these go. Did you get it? If you seek me,
let these go. All his disciples were with him,
just like those 10 boys were with Benjamin. And the steward
said, God forbid, I'm seeking the guilty one. And because I'm
seeking the guilty one, you have to be let go. See, I don't know,
I think it was Augustus Toplady who said, justice cannot twice
demand, not at my dying surety's hand, and then again at mine.
Do you understand the implications of that? If Christ died for you,
your sins have been put away. If Christ died for you, you're
guiltless before God. If Christ died for you, it's
not possible that justice will ever seek you again. Is that
gospel or what? It's very important to know that
because a lot of people struggle with after they have come to
Christ or have been brought to Christ. Both are true. They struggle
with whether or not God's going to raise their sins up against
them on the last day. If Christ died for you, it can't
happen. It cannot happen. It can I love
the way our Lord said it in John chapter 5 verse 24. He that heareth my words and
believeth on him that sent me watch this now hath everlasting
life and shall not come into condemnation but hath passed
from death. to life. Isn't that good? You know why? This wasn't a whim
or capri or some emotional conclusion on God's part. God was just and
the justifier of all those that came to Christ. It's very important
that you and I learn the gospel in terms of the legal transactions
against our soul. We can know for sure, children
of God, we can know for sure. that our sins have been put away
and that God looks at us permanently perfectly in the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ and we will never have to answer to those
sins again. Isn't that good? All right. I
want to bring you to the next point. because Judah did something
that was very interesting. You guys may not know who Judah
is. Judah is the fourth brother of the 12 brethren. In Genesis
29 and 30, you have the wonderful account of Jacob having married
Rachel, so he thought. You remember that? He worked
for seven years for her, and he said, all right, Uncle Laban,
I want my wife now. You remember that? I paid for
her, but because he loved her, those seven years went by like
nothing. You remember the account? I mean,
that's what love does, isn't it? Love has its soul that you
can work for a lifetime for someone you love, and it doesn't mean
anything. For Jacob, his love for Rachel was such that those
seven years, they weren't drudgery, they weren't slavery, they weren't
a weight, they weren't a burden. And I remember the Hebrew writer
saying, for the joy that was set before him, he endured the
cross, despising the shame and sat down at the right hand of
God the Father, because he loved me and he gave himself for me.
You see the parallels? Okay, so then he goes to Uncle
Laban and says, I want my wife. And Uncle Laban said, now you
know the law is you gotta have the first born first. You know
the law. You know how you guys love the
law. All right, so he had to get ahold to the law, because
he has to be honorable, right? So he gets Leah. You remember
that. And he has to work another seven
years for Rachel. Isn't that so? Well, Jacob is
a man that's in real deep trouble now. See, it's one thing to have
one wife. I know I'm about to start something
here, but this is how this goes. But to have two wives sets you
up for trouble. And that's why when Jacob came
to Pharaoh in the 49th chapter, and Pharaoh said, how are you
doing? Jacob says, few and evil have been my days. He says I live to be 130 years
old, but I didn't even come close to living like my father or my
grandfather because you see Isaac lived to be 180 years old and
Abraham lived to be 175. So Jacob's life got cut short
by 45 years and I got a reason. I got a feeling that the reason
was because he had too many women in his life. Because you see,
he not only had Rachel, he had Leah, then he had Bildad, and
then he had the other one too. Now, if you go back to Genesis
29 and 30, boy, some stuff is going on there, but there's a
lot of gospel truth there too. And I'm gonna talk about that
next week. Because next week's message is going to be the priority
of life. The priority of life. And we're
gonna reconcile those accounts where these women were desperate
to have children. And we're going to understand
something. I want you to read Genesis chapter 38. We're going to deal
with that. But anyhow, if you recall in the Genesis 29 account,
this is what happens. Leah has the first four kids.
The firstborn, his name is Reuben. You remember that? Now in the
Old Testament days, when they named their children, they named
their children according to the providence of God in their life.
They didn't just name them all kind of weird and crazy, bizarre
names like we do today. All these old weird astronaut
names and all of these weird, you know, Zeus and Jupiter and
all, we have weird names today. Really, I honestly we've named
our kids all kind of bizarre things. It's not wise. Anyhow,
the firstborn his name was Reuben You know what? That means Reuben
means God hath seen my affliction God has seen see Leah knew she
was afflicted. She was afflicted because Jacob
didn't love her But God saw her, and God gave her a son named
Reuben. And she said, God has seen my affliction. Then God
caused her to conceive again. And she had another son. You
guys know what his name was? Simeon. You know what that means? God hath heard that I was hated. Isn't that good? He saw my affliction. He heard that I was hated. Oh,
he saw my affliction, my sin. my evil, my corrupt heart. He
saw that, God saw that. He saw, he heard that I was hated
by those who hated me, the devil, the world. My enemies, the law
of God is wrath against me. God saw that. And so Simeon is
the one that she has secondly. Thirdly, you know who she had?
Thirdly, she had Levi. Remember that? You probably don't,
but you will if you read Genesis 29 and 30. And the word Levi
is the person who became the tribe of Levi who were the priest. Now, listen to me. The word Levi
means to attach, to bring back together. It was the means by
which God reconciled his people to himself. I love Levi. My great
Levi is Jesus Christ. Listen to this, listen to the
gospel. God has seen my affliction. God had heard that those that
hated me were so, and God hath reconciled. God hath reconciled. That's Levi, isn't that good?
Levi, God hath reconciled. One more, guess who comes next?
Judah. Mm-hmm Judah number four, you
know what Judah's name means praise praise Tell me is not
praise comely for the upright Tell me is not praise the due
response to the revelation of God's grace and attaching me
reconciling me Delivering me from those who hated me delivering
me from my sins. Isn't that good? Reuben simeon
levi and judah now i want to talk about judah a little bit
am i am i is this boring you okay i want to talk about judah
a little bit very interesting judah his name means praise and
Judah initially was a very selfish boy. Didn't we learn last week
that it was Judah who conspired to put his little brother Joseph
in the pit? He's a real, he was a real, real
selfish guy. Not only did he conspire to put
him in a pit, but I told you last week, as we're going to
see next week, Judah just kind of went off. He departed from
his brethren and kind of sold his weeds. he was the selfish
one but we look now in chapter 44 where he is actually mediating
for the whole family he's standing in the gap in chapter 44 he's
speaking on the behalf of his brethren and i want to remind
you before i go on to make this point i want you to see with
me in chapter 44 how he appeals verse 18 are we there Then Judah
came near unto the interpreter and he said all my Lord let my
servant. I pray thee speak a word in my
Lord's ears and let not your anger burn against your servant
for thou art even as Pharaoh my Lord acts to servant saying
have ye a father or a brother and we said unto my Lord. We
have a father an old man. And a child of his old age, a
little one, his brother is dead and he alone is left of his mother
and his father loveth him. Do you see that? His father loveth
him. Here's what I want you to mark
down in your own thoughts. The whole story of Jacob And
Joseph and the life of Joseph is about the love of the father
for the son and the love of the son for the father. Do not miss
this. When you open up the Genesis
account chapter 17, where Joseph is featured, the thing that you
learn in the opening verses is Jacob loved Joseph. Isn't that right? That's why
his brothers hated him because Jacob loved Joseph. And the whole
compendium of the account that we're dealing with is all about
the father's love for the son and the son's love for the father
and everything else in between. Listen to me now are just the
beneficiaries. The filling is the byproduct
of a love between two. a love between the father and
the son. And I think that the disciples comprehended this as
our Lord walked with the disciples for three and a half years. You
know, he constantly talked about his father, right? He constantly
talked about how the father loved it. The son, he constantly talked
about how the father was pleased with the son because the son
always did those things that pleased him. He talked about
going to the Father. He talked about doing the will
of the Father. He talked about revealing the
Father's glory. He talked about the Father being
glorified. Isn't that what the Son did?
Listen to me. The gospel is about the love of God the Father for
God the Son. About the love of God the Son
for God the Father. The son came from glory to glorify
the father and to go back to be with the father where he was
before the foundation of the world. And the father is now
glorifying the son. And you and I are simply beneficiaries.
Isn't that right? You and I are being scooped up
by the grace and mercy of God because of a reciprocal reciprocating
love between two people. I want you to get this. I said
this last week and you'll hear it. You're here. You know, people
will talk about my how much God loves you for Jesus to have died
for you. That's the truth, but that's
not the whole truth. The whole truth is Jesus loved
his father so much that he sacrificed his life for those whom the father
had given him. That's the whole truth. The whole
truth is that mankind rebelled against a holy and a just and
a righteous God. That's what you and I do. We're
rebels, you know that, right? We've rebelled against his glory
and Jesus came back to restore his glory. That's what he did. See what that helps us do is
get outside of ourselves. Cause see, this is not about
you. This is not about me. This is about him. That's what
the gospel is about. And the next thing you know,
you're swept up in this providential love and grace of God. That's
what's happening to these brothers. You don't know it, but these
brothers are being brought close to God. They're being brought
close to God right now, isn't it so? And so the relationship
between the father and the son is the premise upon which Judah
now is appealing to the interpreter. Isn't that right? Judah is kind
of, I can see him pacing. He's saying, if you give me a
moment, here's the situation. My father loves the son and the
son loves the father. And according to the ruler, the
son was to be given. And if the son doesn't go back
to the father, my father's going to die. Isn't that what he says?
If little Benjamin doesn't make it back, The father's gonna die. Listen to what he's saying. If
Benjamin doesn't return, the father will die. Do you know
that the glory, the life of the father is wrapped up in the son?
See, this is what he said in that same portion of scripture.
The life of the father is wrapped up in the son. See, this is good. I know you don't get it, but
this is good. This is good. Now, I want you to understand
brother Judah has matured. I'm gonna talk about that here
in a second. He's mature because you see, he's acting very selflessly
now. He's acting very... See, he can
go, can't he? He can go because Benjamin is
the guilty one. Now, if he was the same old Judah,
he goes, man, let's get out of here, man. He can have Benjamin.
He got Reuben. They got Joseph, let's go. But see, he has changed. Hasn't
he changed? I like that, yes. He's changed. See, and I want you to understand
something. He's changed. He's become a mediator. And we
were talking in the men's meeting last night about the two sides
of the gospel, hearing it and being blessed by it. This is
so critical. hearing it and being blessed by it. Now, a lot of
the men in our meeting last night, they confessed that they enjoy
coming and hearing the gospel. They enjoy my exposition of the
word, and I'm glad you do, but I got on them a little last night.
I warn you, if you come to the men's meeting, you might get
got on a little bit. I warned them, I said, but you
better, you better look for God to bless you with that gospel.
I wanna be blessed by the gospel. I want the gospel to change my
life. Do you hear me? I want the gospel to change my
life. I don't want to be here only.
I want that gospel to go deep down inside and transform me.
I wanted to take away my selfishness and cause me to be selfless.
I want to be like Judah. I want to be able to praise God
with my whole being. I want the gospel to bless me. Not just hear it. I love hearing
the gospel and I know that's a blessing too, but God make
that gospel do something to me because you see it did something
to Judah as Judah saw that Benjamin would be the one that bared the
brunt Judah began to appeal. He began to mediate. He began
to stand in the gap and you do know already back that in chapter
43. He had already told his father
that I will be a surety for Benjamin. You remember that? I will be
a surety for Benjamin. And we've talked about the surety.
You need to know the surety ship. I like the way that David said
it in Psalm 119 around verse 122, Lord be a surety for me
for good. Now the surety is the person
who becomes responsible for all your debts. Did you get that? The surety is the person who
becomes responsible for all your debts. And we've already learned
according to Hebrew 722 that God made Jesus a surety of a
better covenant. Isn't that right? Now the covenant
in this instance is the new covenant and it's called the gospel. Now
here's what this means. I want you to get this. The reason
why the gospel will not fail is because it doesn't depend
on you. Did you get that? The reason why the blessings
of the gospel will not fail is because God didn't make you the
surety. He made Jesus the surety. See now God's pretty smart, isn't
he? Before he started this world, what he said is, I want a king
to sit on my own holy hill of Zion. Son, will you be the king? Cause these knuckleheads downhill
will blow it. Isn't that right? And we did,
didn't we? And the Lord said, but that's
all right. My son is plan A. You hear folk talk about the
gospel being plan B. There's no plan B. The gospel
is plan A. Did you get that? The gospel
is plan A. Everything else in between is scaffolding, is fodder,
is wood, hay and stubble. The gospel is plan A. God had
meant all along for Jesus to be the king. to be the prophet,
to be the priest, to be the savior, to be the lamb slain from before
the foundation of the world. He secured the success of his
own gospel by placing the responsibility of the salvation of sinners in
the hands of Jesus Christ. Isn't that good? And so here's
Judah. Judah is standing appealing to the servant. Here's the problem. If Benjamin doesn't go back,
my father will die. You know what? Joseph breaks.
Isn't that right? He breaks. I think God loves
the gospel too. How about you? I think God loves
the gospel. Jesus, Joseph broke and that
opened the door up for a communion that we're gonna talk about here
in a moment. But here's what I wanna say first of all, Judah, was
a selfish person, and then he became a selfless person, but
he was not really a different person. Let me explain, this
is very important. He was always predestined to
do what he did. Judah was predestined to do what
he did. He was predestined to be a mediator,
to be a surety. to be a advocate for sinners. He was destined to be a high
priest, to be a vicar, to stand in the gap. He was destined because
out of Judah shall one come to whom the scepter of righteousness
would be. We call him what Shiloh. That Shiloh is who? The Lord
Jesus. He would be the lion of the tribe of Judah. Out of Judah
would come the Redeemer. Out of Judah would come the person
who would be the mediator of sinners. He would be the prevailing
high priest. He would be the sure surety for
sinners like Benjamin and you and me who trust him. You see
Judah was simply being Judah. That's all. What are you saying,
preacher? Well, let me get practical for
a moment. You and I got children, and this is applicable to parents
as well as to the children. You young people listen to me.
Learn to make a distinction, mom and dad, between your children's
humanness and their sinfulness. Isn't that good? Learn to make
a distinction between your children's humanness and their sinfulness. Because sometimes what we do,
particularly in our camp where we make sure sin is exceedingly
sinful, is we confound sin with humanness. Now when you do that,
what you're going to do is you're going to depress your children. You're going to confound your
objectives. You're going to frustrate yourself
because what you're going to be doing is calling their humanness,
their sinfulness, when all it is is their humanness. I know
some of you don't understand that, but you better get it before
your kids grow up. We need to learn how to make
a distinction between our kids, their own distinct, their unique
and peculiar idiosyncratic nature, their characteristic. We need
to do that. We need to observe our children
early on and get a grip on what kind of person they are. Isn't
that good? We need to find out, you know,
how God made them. If you believe that every raindrop
is distinctly different from every other raindrop, and God
made it so, and that snowflakes are distinctly different from
every other snowflake, so it is with every human being. So
it is with every one of our children. Every one of our children are
a unique specimen of God. And what I need to do with my
eight And eight is enough, by the way, just in case you're
wondering. What I need to do with my eight is to examine each
one of them and know the distinct characteristics of each one of
them and encourage their humanness because that's the way God made
them. Are you following me? See, God made some of my children
bold. He made some of them loud. He
made some of them smart. He made some of them bright.
He made some of them aggressive. He made some of them meek, mild.
He made some of them curious. He made some of them mischievous,
but he made them all different. And what I need to do is find
out how it is that God is forming and shaping my children and encourage
that. Because if I beat that down,
I beat them down. Don't beat them down. Also, this
is a challenge for the children. Think about a child, 13, 14 years
old, and they're trying to get a grip on their hormones. They're trying to get a grip
on their personality and they're being bombarded by all of the
media and all of the information that's out there telling them
to be like this person and to be like that person. You've got
a thousand idols. rushing at our children, saying
fulfill this entity. When what God wants them to be
is who they are. See, when you get to who you
are, you'll be able to fulfill God's purpose in your life and
you'll be happy. Do you hear what I'm saying? Sometimes we
go a whole lifetime trying to be something that we're not.
Trying to be someone that we're not. Instead of getting a grip
on who we are. How God made me. Made me a little
zealous. Made me a little forward. Made
me a little bold. He made me a little straightforward. That's
how I am. But somebody better be bold. Somebody better tell
the truth of the gospel. You understand what I'm saying?
You're lost, you're on your way to hell, you're under the wrath
of God, unless God reaches down by his grace and save you, you're
doomed. So I have discovered that God
best uses me if I'm just who I am. You understand? And it's the same thing with
you too. See, and so Judah didn't change. He just came into his
own. I want you to understand something. That was a proud day
for Judah. It was a proud day for his daddy,
Jacob. You don't believe that? Do you
know what's about to happen? Daddy Jacob has been without
Joseph for 22 years. Every day, his heart renumerates
this mystery of the disappearance of his son. And he knows these
knucklehead boys had something to do with it. Reuben's gone
now, and Benjamin might be gone. And Jacob says, few and evil
are my days. Jacob is proud of Judah, because
Judah's gonna come back home to daddy Jacob. And you know
what he's gonna say to daddy Jacob? We've been reconciled. You got it? We've been reconciled. You're gonna come back home to
daddy Jacob and say, daddy Jacob, let me tell you some good news.
The man sitting on the throne up there in Egypt is Jacob. You got a Joseph, Joseph. And
that man sitting on the throne in Egypt, ruling over everything
is our brother, Joseph. And our brother Joseph has welcomed
us with open arms. We are no longer talking to him
through an interpreter. We are no longer under the difficult,
hard speeches and testings of the interpreter. Now our relationship
is reconciled. And I want you to see how this
goes just briefly so we can wrap this up. Jacob, Joseph rather
breaks down and cries, doesn't he? Look at verse 42 of chapter
45, verse two of chapter 45. And he wept. And the Egyptians in the house
of Pharaoh heard. See, I can't help myself, but
think about the love of the son for those whom the father has
chosen in him. I can't help it. I can't help
but see how Joseph represents my savior. Do you know my savior
wept? Yes, he did. Yeah, he wept Jesus
wept. I want to tell you something
most of the prophets wept and it's a good thing to weep to
when it's right. It's time to weep Joseph wept for joy. He caused everyone to leave and
verse verse 41 says he made himself known unto his brethren. Isn't
that good? He removed that law of enmity that separated him
and his brethren, and he revealed himself to his brethren. Now
there is an open face relationship. Now there's no more barrier between
him and his brethren. You remember what we learned
on Friday? The gospel is an open face relationship with God. The
veil is removed. We see him face to face. We behold
His glory and we hear His voice. He speaks to us plainly now.
We aren't under some wild or some bizarre or vague notions
of what Christ is or who He is. He's revealing Himself to us.
That's what the Gospel is. The Old Testament is, stand back. The New Testament is, come near.
The Old Testament is a partition. The New Testament is Rick the
veil, let my people come in. And so you see Joseph telling
his people to come near, come near. That's the work of the
spirit of God. Listen to what he says. He wept aloud, the Egyptians
and the house of Pharaoh heard and Joseph said unto his brethren,
I am Joseph. Doth my father yet live? Do you
see it? Doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer
him for they were troubled at his presence. And one of the
translation says they were terrified. But the Greek Hebrew word there
simply means to be confounded. They were discombobulated. They
were freaked out. Man, we thought you were dead.
He had risen from the dead in a figure. He had been exalted
to the throne in a figure. Now the one that they handled
and mishandled and abused is ruling the world. Ruling the
world. And this is the resurrected Christ
that comes to guilty sinners like you and I by the power of
the Spirit. I heard you guys talking about
the lordship of Christ this morning brother Bob was making mention
of that woman who was caught in adultery calling Jesus Lord
that being significant you better know it's significant when the
sinner sees Jesus for who he really is he calls him Lord Lord
see he's already Lord did not tell you that before I get this
now we don't negotiate with his lordship Won't you make Jesus
Lord? No, Jesus already Lord. There
was no negotiation He was already Lord even before he revealed
himself to them. He was Lord. I God had made him
both Lord and Christ, but now he's revealed himself to them.
And we are delighting in this whole process of reconciliation
because the first, the second work of the spirit after revealing
our sin to us is to confirm and to secure to us the righteousness
of Christ, the beauties of Christ, the glories of Christ. See the
gospel is come behold him, come behold him. And that's what they're
doing now. They're in his presence, saints.
They're in his presence and we learned last week these three
things when he when he beckoned them to come near. He confirmed
to them that it was he whom they had sold verse 4. He said unto
them. I am Joseph your brethren whom
you sold into Egypt. Don't get it wrong. I'm Jesus
of Nazareth. I'm the one you crucify. I'm the one that God raised from
the dead. I'm the one who possesses all
authority in heaven and in earth. There's only one Jesus, you do
know that, right? Only one Jesus. They didn't get him wrong because
Christ revealed himself to them. The next thing he does is very
interesting. We call this to comfort them,
verses five through seven. Now, therefore, be not grieved
nor angry with yourselves that you so be hither, for God did
send me before you to preserve life. Now I'm not going to expand
on that at length because I'm a deal with Genesis chapter 50
on that because he repeats that again. But you and I have to
understand this. that God sent Jesus long before
we came along as the forerunner of his people to preserve us
alive today. Does that make some sense? Here's
what I'm saying. At no time was it ever possible
that any of God's people would be lost or perish because the
whole matter of our security was based on our Joseph going
ahead of us. God sent them ahead of us, put
him in a pit, sold him to Egypt, put him in prison, then put him
on the throne. See, the dream had to come to
pass. It had to come to pass. And our salvation is not an accident. Our salvation is the consequence
of an almighty God doing whatsoever he wills. Do you believe that?
See, and you don't have to worry about getting the glory because
you're going to get the glory. If Christ got the glory, you're
going to get the glory. Isn't that true? If our Savior got
the glory, we're going to get the glory. And this is what we're
going to see on Christmas. The implications of this human
nature is that there's a man in glory right now who represents
all his people. You and I must go to glory. If
we don't go to glory, him being the head and we being the body.
Watch this now. God's glory is tarnished. and
Christ becomes a failure and we know two things. God cannot
fail and he cannot lie. Isn't that right? We know that.
So this is the thing that we enjoy about the gospel. We're
simply watching God accomplish his own redeeming work and he's
telling his brother and look don't sit around and be all angry
and upset because you did this to me. Notice what it says in
verse 5 for God did send me before you to preserve life over in
verse 7 God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in
the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance See, it's
a great deliverance when God saves sinners. You believe that?
It's a great deliverance when God saves sinners. Don't look
at the event of their salvation. Look at the one who was used
to save them. Look at the one who died for
them. Look at what God had to do to
assume the security of their salvation. And you will agree
with me that it's a great salvation. Now, one more thing here to note,
and we'll close. Not only does he confirm to them
who he was, he commits to them. I love this. I love this. After he instructs them to go
back and tell his father that I'm alive, he says over in verse
11, look at verse 11. And there will I nurture you
or nourish you. Go to Goshen, dwell in Goshen,
and there will I nourish you, for yet there are five years
of famine, lest you and your household and all that you have
come to poverty. Do you see that? Now watch this,
when God saves you and he draws you by his grace, Jesus Christ
is committed to keep his people. Now, I don't know if you remember
Psalm 37, but in Psalm 37, it says, in the days of famine,
his people will be taken care of. They shall be satisfied.
In the days of famine, God will nourish his people. And I've
been saved for 25 years, and you know what? I know that's
true. And I'm living in the midst of a famine. I don't know about
you. I'm living in the midst of a spiritual famine I'm living
in the midst of religious darkness and chaos, but you know what
God is faithful to his people Do you believe that see he will
feed his people with the father of Christ grace. He will make
sure they're nourished He will make sure they're taken care
of no evil thing will befall them whom the Lord loves and
And this is what Joseph is promising to his brethren. Now there's
one more very intimate event that's taking place here. And
I wanna close with that. Notice as they go on down to
verse 12, after he gives them the commitment promise, he says,
behold, your eyes see. And the eyes of my brother Benjamin,
that it is I, or it is my mouth that speaketh unto you. Do you
see that? That is speaking of the intimacy that happens when
the believer is brought to Christ. you see him with the eye of faith
you see him with the eye of faith you comprehend the person of
the lord jesus and he speaks directly to you by his spirit
now notice what it goes on to say and you shall tell my father
all my glory in egypt and of all that you have seen and you
shall haste and bring down my father here and he fell upon
his brother benjamin's neck did joseph love his brethren man
he loved his brethren It's been 22 years, and I'm wondering,
can a person's love for someone fail just because of time? Real love will not, will it? Although you will read in Genesis
chapter 44 these words, that Joseph for a season had forgot
all his father's house. For a season, God had so taken
care of Joseph that he forgot his father's house. He was so
well taken care of when he was in Potiphar's home, when he was
in the prison, because the Lord was with him. And what that means
is when the Lord's with you, he's going to take care of you.
But Joseph had done something that's very important here. I
know I'm a little long, but I want to close out on this. Joseph
had done something very important. He didn't let his bitterness
prevail in his life because of what his brethren did. Man, I'll
tell you, I meet people all the time who's still living back
10, 15, 20 years ago, and you call yourself a Christian. Listen
to me. You got to let that go. You got to let it go. Do you
hear me? I want you to understand. I know
it's a struggle. We all struggle, but here's the problem. When
I get paralyzed by what people did to me, five, 10, 15, 20 years
ago, I have stopped looking to Christ. When I get paralyzed
and all of those carnal forms and principles of evil rise up
in me to want to take vengeance or to mull over some type of
vindication, I have forgotten that I have everything necessary
for life and godliness through a knowledge of Jesus Christ.
See see when I get caught up in all of that stuff I've forgotten
that I'm a partaker of the divine nature and that I am an heir
and joint heir with Christ Jesus and I own all things I've forgotten
I've forgotten that God has saved me by his grace. Isn't that so
and and I'll tell you I meet people all the time Just stop
way in the past man. Let the past go And walk with
the Savior begin to understand what we'll understand in a couple
of weeks. Listen to this All things are of God This is second
Corinthians chapter 5 verse 12, who have reconciled us unto himself
by Jesus Christ. You know what that means? All
of the good and the bad and the ugly that we've been through
God used it. I know that's tough. Ain't that
tough? God used it to bring me right
where I am right now. And if I'm honest, where I am
right now is where God wants me to be. And where I'm going
is where God wants me to go. And he's already told me where
I'm going. I'm going where I already am in my head, Jesus Christ,
and that's the glory. Now, how I'm going to get there,
only God knows. And I'm learning after 25 years,
I don't want him to show me before he takes me through it, because
I'll probably want to go another way. Because I can tell you now,
if Joseph would have known when he had those dreams, that he
was going to be ruling over his brethren, and God said, but by
the way, this is how it's going to happen. Joseph would have
said, Lord, will you take those dreams back? Because he never
shows us. He just leads us. Because the
just shall live by faith. They walk by faith and they die
in faith. And faith is the substance of
things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Isn't that
good? Now watch what happens here.
He weeps with his brother, falls on his brother Benjamin's neck,
weeps. Benjamin wept upon his neck. You know when you go to
cry and everybody else goes to cry? Isn't that true? You got
a crown. If I start crying right now,
I get all the sisters and start crying with me. I love that. I just love it. I really do.
You need to cry sometime. So they all started crying. Look
at verse 15. Moreover, I want you to see this. See, I love
participles because these are God's stop signs for me. He says, Jesse, stop and listen
to this. He kissed all his brother. Isn't that good? Do you know
the Lord? Are you God's people? Do you
trust in Christ as Savior? If Joseph kissed his brother
and don't you think the Savior has kissed us? It's an expression
of love and affection, delight, passion and commitment, unity. God's not gonna let us go. Isn't
that good?