In 1 Peter 3, verse 15, Peter
says to every believer, always be ready to give a reason to every man
that asks you for the hope that is in you, with meekness and
with fear. And I'm going to assume just
the fact that you're here tonight that you would be interested
in the reason that I give for the hope that's in me. I say this as emphatically as
I know how. The only hope that I have that
I will be in heaven is that Jesus Christ the Lord died for me. There is no other hope. Let me repeat that. The only hope that I have that
I will be in heaven, here's my reason. The only hope that I
have that I'll be in heaven is that Jesus Christ shed his precious
blood for me. Now somebody may be thinking,
well, didn't he die for everybody? Let me answer this as emphatically
as I know how. No. No. Turn with me for a moment to
John chapter 10. For me to make a statement like
that, I better be able to back it up with scripture. John chapter 10. Verse 14. I am the good shepherd
and know my sheep, and am known of mine, as the Father knoweth
me, even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the
sheep. Look in verse 24 of the same
chapter. Then came the Jews round about
him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If
thou be Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you,
and you believed not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me, but you believe not, because
you are not of my sheep. Question, is everybody a sheep? No. Do you remember how on judgment
day the Lord separated the sheep from the goats? There are goats
and there are sheep. The Lord said, I laid down my
life for the sheep. He did not die for goats, only
his sheep. Now, if he died for someone and
they can wind up in hell anyway, then his death was unable to
save him. And in reality, the content of
the gospel must be changed if that's the case. My only hope,
now let me state that as emphatically as I can. My only hope is that
Jesus Christ shed his precious blood for me, that he bore my
sins in his own body on the tree and put them away. And if you
tell me Or if a preacher says, Jesus Christ died for all men
without exception, and some of those people he died for will
be in hell, you've taken away the only hope I have. Thank God
it can't be taken away though. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. Now, an obvious thing that comes
into our minds when we hear this, because this is, I'm giving you
what the Bible teaches. Was there a Passover for Egypt? No, it was for Israel. Was there
a great high priest for the Hittites or the Amorites or the Philistines?
No, it was for Israel. Did the Amalekites have a tabernacle? No, Israel. Remember, Christ died for our
sins according to the scriptures. And he died for the elect. And let me say as emphatically
as I can, somebody doesn't preach, that doesn't preach the gospel.
That's how important this is. Now, the big question is, well,
the second biggest question is, the first big question is, is
his death successful? Yes, it is. If he died for you,
you will be saved. You can't run the risk of the
hazard of being anything but saved if he died for you because
of who he is. He's God. He can't fail. He can't intend
to do something and fail in his intentions. He shall not fail
nor be discouraged, Isaiah said. The pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. Anything he does is successful. Now that's the most important
question, but the next question is, how can I know if he died
for me? How can I know if he died for
me? I don't want to presume on that.
And I wouldn't, say, put myself in a position where I think I'm
entitled to his death. How can I know if he died for
me? And I know this, if he did die
for me, I'd be saved. That's my hope. How can I know
if he died for me? Listen to this scripture, Romans
chapter five, verse six. For when we were yet without
strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. If you're without strength, if
you're without spiritual strength, and you know in and of yourself
you are ungodly, Jesus Christ died for you, for sure. First Timothy 1.15 says Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. If you're a sinner,
in the biblical sense, Christ died for you. You see, the sheep
believe. Did you notice that scripture?
He did not say, you're not my sheep because you don't believe.
He said, you believe not because you're not my sheep. As I said
unto you, my sheep, hear my voice. I know them. They follow me. I give unto them eternal life
and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My Father which gave them me. Who are the sheep? The ones the
Father gave him, the elect. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all. And no man can pluck them out
of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. The hope of every believer is
that Jesus Christ died for me. And my evidence of him dying
for me is I fit the description of the people he died for. And
I trust him only. Only. Nothing more, nothing less,
nothing else. Now, we have seen what a great
type of Christ Joseph is. I believe he's the greatest type
of Christ in all the Bible as far as reading his history. And
Arthur Pink in his book, Gleanings in Genesis, gives 100 different
ways that he's a type of Christ. And I would say there are probably
more, but when we read these words, Read these words as the
words of Christ. Yes, I know Joseph was talking
about his death. But how many times do we see,
obviously, that Joseph is a great type of Christ? And Joseph makes
this statement in verse 24. And Joseph said unto his brethren,
I die. And. He didn't just leave it there.
I die. And. God will surely visit you. Because I die, God will surely
visit you. Now Joseph dies at 110 years
of age. He has lived in Egypt the last
93 years. And this story actually begins
where every story begins in the eternal decrees of God. Whatever
takes place in time, it takes place because God decreed it
in eternity. Does that mean everything? Everything. And if somebody thinks, well,
what about the bad things? Those too. And the thing about
the Lord is he brings good out of evil always. Look up in verse 19. And Joseph said unto them, fear
not, am I in the place of God? But as for you, you thought evil
against me, but God bent it unto good. That's true in every instance. Whatever happens, no matter how
evil or wrong it may seem, and it's no justification of wrong
behavior, wrong actions, not on any way, but the God of glory
always brings good out of evil. And everything I do is evil.
And God brings good out of evil. Do we look at that as an excuse
or justification in any kind of sin? No, we don't. No, we
don't. But we do have this assurance.
God brings good out of evil. Now this story, as I said, began
in the eternal decrees of God, but we're first told about it
in Genesis 15. Would you turn back there to Genesis 15? Verse
12. And when the sun was going down,
a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and lo and horror of great darkness
fell upon him. And he said unto Abram, the Lord
said unto Abram, know of a surety. that thy seed shall be a stranger
in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them, and they
shall afflict them four hundred years. And also that nation whom
they shall serve will I judge, and afterwards shall thou come
out with great substance." Now that's talking about the Exodus.
He says you're descendants are going to go into Egypt. Well,
who's the first one to go in? Joseph, the great grandson of
Abraham, just according to God's determination. Now, when those
boy, his brothers determined evil against him, they sold him
to make money out of him. They hated him. Nothing good
could be said about that. It was wicked. It was evil. But
God meant it for good. It was all according to God's
purpose. He sent Joseph into Egypt. And Joseph, the first, he was
17 years old. For the first 13 years he was
there, he was there as a slave, and then in prison being accused
of something that he didn't really do. And then through an amazing
turn of events, when he interpreted the Pharaoh's dreams, he's made
the most powerful man in the world. If you had anything to
eat, it was up to him as to whether or not you'd have it. Now that
is power. He was the most powerful man
in the world. And he lives another 80 years.
And all of his brethren, there were 70 when they came down,
but they multiplied by that time. And he says, it's time for me
to die. But God, or and, God will surely visit you. and bring you out of Egypt, out
of the land of bondage, into the promised land. Look in verse
1 of Exodus. Now these are the names of the
children of Israel, and he gives their names. Verse 5, And all
the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls,
for Joseph was in Egypt already. And Joseph died, and all his
brethren, and all that generation, and the children of Israel were
fruitful. and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed mighty,
and the land was filled with him. Now there arose up a new
king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph." He didn't have any respect
for all the things Joseph had done for Egypt. And he said unto
his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel more
and mightier than we. Come on, let us deal wisely with
them, lest they multiply, and come to pass that when there
falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight
against us, and so get them up out of the land. Therefore they
did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens.
And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Python and Ramses. Now when he's, when Abraham says
you're going to come back out, he is talking about the Exodus
that was going to happen some 300 years later. And he says,
when you leave, you will leave. God will visit you. and you will
leave, here's what I want you to do. I want you to carry my
bones with you back into the promised land. And that's pointed
out in Hebrews chapter 11, how by faith, Joseph made mention
concerning his bones, and he told them to bring them out. And look what happened in Exodus
chapter 13. You know, this is another way in which Joseph is a type of Christ. Remember
how Christ said, it says Christ off his bones, none of them would
be broken. They'd all be saved. All of Joseph's bones, all of
his people went back into the promised land. That's just the
type on the side. But look in verse 16 of, or verse
19 of Exodus 13. And Moses, this is after they're
leaving. This is after the Passover. And Moses took the bones of Joseph
with him, for he had straightly sworn the children of Israel,
saying, God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my
bones away hence with you. So during that exodus back to
the promised land, they carried the bones of Joseph. Now, Joseph
believed what God said in Genesis 15. And if you want to understand
what faith is, It's believing what God says. God said to Abraham in the earlier
part of Genesis chapter 15, look at the stars. Can you number
them? So shall your seed be. Abraham
believed. the Word of the Lord. He had
no evidence other than the Word of God. And that's enough. He believed the Word of God.
And Joseph too believed the Word of God. He believed that they
would be brought back into Canaan. And he said, take my bones and
bring them with you. Now, I love the way the story
of Joseph begins. It begins with the descendants
of Esau. You remember in chapter 36, where all of Esau's descendants
are mentioned, all the kings and the dukes and the just scores
and multitudes of men that are mentioned that are the descendants
of Esau. And then in chapter 37 of Genesis, here's the descendants of Jacob.
Verse two, these are the generations of Jacob, Joseph. Joseph Christ and our salvation that's
in him. Now he was his father's favorite.
He was hated by his brethren. He was betrayed, sold into slavery
in Egypt. And through that amazing turn
of events, he becomes the most powerful man in the world. He
saves his brethren. God sent him down there for that
purpose, to save his brethren. And you'll remember from last
week, after Jacob dies, they say, uh-oh, we're in trouble.
Jacob's going to get us now. I mean, Joseph's going to get
us now that Jacob's gone. And turn back to chapter 50. Verse 15, and when Joseph's brethren
saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will purge
and hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which
we did unto him. And they sent a messenger unto
Joseph, saying, thy father did command before he died, saying,
so shall you say unto Joseph, forgive, I pray thee, now the
trespass of thy brethren and their sin. For they did unto
thee evil, and now we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants
of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake
to him. And his brethren also went and
fell down before his face. And they said, behold, we be
thy servants. And Joseph said unto them, fear not, for am I
the place of God. Only God gives vengeance. I don't
have any business doing anything like that. But as for you, you
thought evil against me, but God bent it unto good to bring
to pass as it is this day, to save much people alive. Now therefore,
fear ye not, I'll nourish you and your little ones. And he
comforted them and spake kindly unto them. And Joseph dwelt in
Egypt, he and his father's house. And Joseph lived 110 years, and
he saw his great-grandchildren. That's how long he was there.
He saw his great-grandchildren. And this is when he says in verse
24, right before he dies, he says, and Joseph said unto his
brethren, I die. and God will surely visit you. Don't you want a divine visitation?
Don't you want the Lord to visit you? David said, oh, visit me
with our salvation. In Genesis chapter 18, the Lord
told Abraham, About this time next year, you're going to have
a child. That's when Sarah laughed. She
didn't believe it. Well, that time next year, the
Lord visited Sarah as he said. That's what the scripture says.
The Lord visited Sarah as he said, and the Lord did to Sarah
as he had spoken. And Sarah conceived and bare
Abraham a son in his old age at the set time, the exact time
when God said it would take place. Now, it was only through the
divine visitation that the dead womb brought forth life. And it's only through a divine
visitation that life can come into a dead center. And every one of his people cries
out, Lord, visit me. It's only by a divine visitation
that I can have spiritual life. Every blessing. Now we have this
promise of a divine visitation. Joseph says it twice. Remember
Joseph is a type of Christ here. He says it twice. God will surely
visit you. God will surely visit you. And oh, I want Him to visit me.
I don't want Him to lead me to myself. I don't want Him to lead
me to my own darkened understanding. I want Him to visit me like He
did Sarah and breathe life into my soul. There's one reason He
does it. It ain't because you ask Him
to. It's because that Christ died. I die and God will surely visit you. Somebody says, well, I could
believe I was saved if Christ died. No, I already
believe that. I've got that down. But I could
believe I was saved if I had more evidence of Christ in me. if I had more victory over sin
in my life. If I was more kind and more loving
and more patient and I believed more, I could believe I saved
then. May the Lord deliver us from
that. There's one reason for assurance. Christ died for me. I die, and God will surely visit
you. Now listen to this carefully.
His perfect life, His righteousness, and don't you love His life?
I love the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. I love everything He
did. I love every breath He breathed. I love everything He said. I
love every work He performed. Oh, He's altogether lovely. What
would his lovely life do for me? And I talk about his lovely
life, you know what my goal is? By the grace of God to be in
heaven and be just like him, perfectly conformed to his image. What good would that perfect
life do me had he not died? It would do me no good at all.
If he lived this perfect life and went back to heaven, all
that would do is condemn me. But his death secures the divine
visitation and the salvation of everybody he died for. Turn with me to Luke chapter
9. Hold your finger there in Genesis 15. Turn with me to Luke
chapter 9. I want you to see this, if you haven't seen it
before. This is when Moses and Elijah
are talking to the Lord. Verse 30, and behold, there talked
with him two men, which were Moses and Elias. Now, I suppose
there's a lot of different things they could have talked about.
You reckon? But what did they talk about?
Verse 31, who appeared in glory and spake of his decease, of
his death, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. Now notice the
language. One of these days, if you're still alive and I'm
not, you'll come to see me. I guess you will. Laying in the
coffin. Maybe the coffin will be closed,
I don't know. Lented, yeah, okay. I get it,
I get it. But I'm gonna be laid out in
a coffin, cold, dead, and lifeless. And do you reckon anybody would
say, what an accomplishment? What a victory! What an accomplishment! No, you know what all my death
says about me? Sin. That's the only reason a
man dies. Sin. You know, I am in a habit,
I read the obituaries every single day. Does anybody else here do
that? Okay, well, I've only been doing it in the last few years.
I read them every day. And I think it's always interesting
that you read all these accomplishments, everybody made during their life,
all the good things, all the great things that you never read,
you know, he was a bum or anything like that, you know, it's always
really good stuff. And what does that mean? If he's dead? Have you ever been to a funeral
and they're talking about how great the person was? And I hope
in your funeral, if I preach it, I wanna give you a good eulogy,
but my purpose is to talk about how great Christ is and what
he accomplished. That's what I wanna talk about. And when
I'm dead and buried, I don't want the preacher to even mention
me. I mean, I'll be glad. It's what Christ accomplished. His death was an accomplishment.
My death just shows how weak and sinful I am. Same thing is
true as you. We can't say with regard to any
son of Adam's death, what an accomplishment. But oh, the accomplishment
of the death of Jesus Christ, the Lord. It is only because of his death
that the seven seals were opened in Revelation 5. Listen to this
scripture. Thou hast redeemed us by thy
blood out of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation, in whom we
have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.
According to the riches of his grace, Romans 5, 9 says we're
justified by his blood. This is what he accomplished
when he died, the complete justification of all the elect. I was declared
by God himself to be just by the death of Christ. God's reason for creating this
universe is so Christ could come here and die. It's the most glorious
thing to ever take place. The death of I die. Why did he die? God's purpose. He came to die. I love it when
he says, when it says his hour has not yet come, that means
it's time to die, it's not yet come. When his hour has come,
father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son that thy son
also might glorify thee. It was God's purpose, he came to
glorify God. You see his death magnified every
attribute of God. He came to make a way for God
to be just, absolutely just, and yet justify somebody like
me or you. That's why he died. I love this
scripture. Romans 14, 9 says, for this end
Christ both died and rose and revived, that he might be Lord
both of the dead and the living. I love that scripture. Yes, he's
my Lord, willingly so. I love him being my Lord. I bow
to him willingly in his Lordship. But you know that person who
hates him? He's their Lord too. You see, he's the Lord of the
dead and the living. He's everybody's Lord because
everybody belongs to him. Well, that puts things in perspective,
doesn't it? Everybody and everything belongs to him. He died to put
away sin. Now once in the end of the world,
hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. By his death, he purchased the
church. Feed the church of God which He purchased with His own
blood. Ephesians 5, 25 says, Husbands,
love your wives as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself
for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing
of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself a
glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
Now, you can be sure of the divine visitation for this one singular
reason. I died. He didn't die a martyr's death.
He wasn't a victim. I love it when he says, no man
takes my life from me. I have power to lay it down. I have power to take it up. This
commandment have I received from my father. I'm not a victim in
this. I love it when they came to arrest him. He said, whom
seek ye? They said, Jesus of Nazareth.
He said, I am. And they were knocked backwards.
He's letting them know I'm in complete control of everything
that's taking place. Would you turn to 1 Corinthians
15? I die, and God will surely visit
you. Verse 1. Moreover, brethren,
I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you. It's
the same gospel I preached previously. No changes. No editing. No additions. No subtractions. I preach unto you the gospel
which I preached unto you. which also you have received,
and wherein you stand, by which also you're saved, if you keep
in memory what I preached unto you, if you continue to believe,
unless you believed in vain, for I delivered unto you first
of all. This is what is most important. This is what is of primary importance. I delivered unto you first of
all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our
sins according to the scriptures. See, the whole gospel is found
in the death of Christ. It's how that. Somebody says,
well, Christ died for our sins. If that's all I say, I don't
preach the gospel. That could be meaningless. It's
how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures,
the Old Testament scriptures. First thing that comes into my
mind is the Passover. The lamb was slain, its blood
was shed, put over the door. The spotless lamb, the lamb that
didn't have any blemishes, picturing the perfect life of Christ and
his precious blood. And God made this statement. He said, when I see the blood,
I will pass over. you." There's the gospel. He didn't
say when you see it. You know what? Most of those people didn't see
it in the first place. They were in the house. When you're in the house, you
couldn't really see the blood. God didn't say when I see your
faith. He didn't say when I see your sincerity. He didn't say
when I see your efforts. Now, I want to believe. I want
to be sincere. I want to give everything I got
to follow in Christ. Don't get me wrong. I want to.
I want to follow him wholeheartedly. I want to be burnt out for him.
I do. But what if he said, when I see
your efforts and your sincerity, would be hope for me? What's the one thing God was
looking for? when I see the blood. He wasn't looking for anything
else. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. I die and God
shall surely visit you. Go back to our text. Let me close
this up. Verse 24, and Joseph said unto
his brethren, I die, and God will surely visit you and bring
you out of this land into the land which he sware to Abraham,
to Isaac, and to Jacob, the land of promise. You're going to go
from law to grace. And Joseph took an oath of the
children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and you
shall carry up my bones from hence. So Joseph died being 110
years old, and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin
in Egypt. Now, turn to 1 Corinthians 11. We're getting ready to take the
Lord's table in obedience to his command. Who should take the Lord's table?
There's one qualification only. Anybody who believes on Christ. The Lord's table is not to be
used to discipline people. Well, they're not worthy. They
can't take the Lord's table. That is anathema with regard
to the Lord's table. You've missed the meaning altogether.
It's the Lord's table. It's not to be used to withhold
it from people because they're not living right. I wouldn't want to meet the man
who thinks he is worthy to take the Lord's table. I'm living
right. I'm ready for it. Oh boy. You're not discerning
the Lord's body. You're drinking damnation to
yourself when you do that. But let's look and see what Paul
says with regard to the Lord's table. Verse 23. For I have received of the Lord
that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the
same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And when he'd given
thanks, he'd break it and said, take, eat. This is my body, which
is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me. And after the same manner, also,
he took the cup. And when he'd sup, saying, this
cup is the New Testament in my blood. This do, as often as you
drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this
bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's what? Death. Until he come. And when we take the Lord's table
right now, we're preaching a sermon. We're showing forth the Lord's
death until he come. And we're saying when we observe
the Lord's table, eat the bread and drink the wine, we're saying
the death of the Lord Jesus Christ is all my hope. The death and the resurrection
of Jesus Christ. Let's pass out the bread and
wine.