Some 17 years before the events
of the passage I just read, Joseph had assured these people, I'm
going to nourish you and I'm going to take care of you. Seventeen
years later, they need to hear the same message again. I've
entitled this message, Hearing the Gospel Again. The word gospel means good news. You know what that means? First of all, it's news. It's fresh. When you hear in
the power of the Holy Spirit, you don't think, well, I've already
heard that. I already knew that. That's old. No, you hear it as
if it is the first time you've ever heard. And that is the way
I want to hear the gospel every time I hear it. I want to hear
the gospel as if it's the first time I've ever heard it and that
it's the best news that I've ever heard. I've had Numerous people over
the years tell me your preaching is getting dry. They actually
say that to me. Dry doctrine. Well, to them it
was dry. It was. And I fear that happening to
me. I fear that happening to you. Getting caught up in the
spirit of Laodicea, rich increased with goods and having need of
nothing. I want to stay poor and needy. Oh, I want that for myself. I
want that for you. And I want to hear the gospel
as a poor and needy sinner. Now, Jacob has died. Look at
verse 33 of chapter 49. And when Jacob had made an end
of commanding his sons, He gathered up his feet into the bed and
yielded up the ghost and was gathered unto his people. Now the first part of this chapter
deals with the mourning over Jacob that they experienced and
bringing him back to Canaan to bury him. Now, let me refresh
your memory with regard to this glorious story. Joseph's jealous
brothers sold him as a slave into Egypt. He was only 17 years
old when this took place, and he spent the first 13 years of
his life either in slavery or in prison. He was accused of
something that he did not do, and he was thrown into prison
because of that. And then, through an amazing
turn of events, he became the most powerful man in the world. If you had anything to eat, it
was up to him. Now, you want to talk about power.
If you were going to eat, it was up to Joseph. You'll remember
how I interpreted those dreams Pharaoh had, seven years of plenty,
then seven years of famine, and through his wise management during
those seven years of plenty, vast storehouses of food were
amassed in Egypt. And when the famine came, it
was worldwide, and the only place you could get food was in Egypt. And the only food for our souls
is in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no food
anywhere else. Now, the famine had reached Canaan,
Joseph's brothers, and Joseph's father, and Jacob heard there's
corn in Egypt. He told his boys to go down to
Egypt and get corn. And they wind up in front of
Joseph. Joseph hadn't seen them for 17
years at least. And they didn't recognize him,
but he recognized them. He knew exactly who they were. Now pick up in chapter 45 when
he finally makes himself known. This is one of the most beautiful
passages in the word of God. Then Joseph, could not refrain
himself before all them that stood by him. And he cried, cause
every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him
while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. They thought
he was dead. And all of a sudden they find
out he is the head man of Egypt. And he wept aloud. And the Egyptians
of the house of Pharaoh heard. And Joseph said unto his brethren,
I am Joseph. Can you imagine how that frightened
them? Doth my father yet live? And
his brethren could not answer him, for they were troubled at
his presence. They thought, it's payday for us. What goes around
comes around, and it's coming around us. And Joseph said to his brethren,
Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near, and he said,
I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. He hadn't
forgotten. He hadn't forgotten. Now therefore be not grieved
nor angry with yourselves that you sold me hither, for God did
send me before you to preserve life. For these two years hath
the famine been in the land, and yet there are five years
in the which there shall be neither earing nor harvest. And God sent
me before you. to preserve you a posterity in
the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance, so it
was not you that sent me hither, but God. And he hath made me
a father to Pharaoh, and Lord of all his house, and a ruler
throughout all the land of Egypt." Now how do you think these fellows
felt when he said that to them? You didn't send me here, God
did. And he did it to save your lives. Verse 9, haste ye, go up to my
father and say unto him, thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath
made me Lord of all Egypt, come down unto me, tarry not. And
thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be
near unto me, thou, and thy children, and thy children's children,
and thy flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou hast, and there
will I nourish thee. I'll take care of you, I'll provide
for you. For there are yet five years
of famine, lest thou and thy household and all thou hast come
to poverty." So he gives them this promise. 17 years later. Joseph was a hundred and, I mean,
Jacob was 130 when he went down to Israel or of Egypt, 17 years
later, he dies. Chapter 49, verse 33. And when Jacob had
made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet
under the bed and yielded up the ghost. And he was gathered
unto his people. Jacob dies. And remember this
statement as a man is. so he thinks others to be. Now
look in verse 15 of chapter 50. And when Joseph's brethren saw
that their father was dead, they said, Joseph perdenture will
hate us. and will certainly requite us
all the evil that we have done to him." Now they were thinking
the only reason that Joseph had any favor toward them was because
of Jacob. And now that Jacob's gone, it's
payback time. We are in trouble, Joseph will
hate us. And they could certainly see
why he would. You know, they didn't have a
sense of entitlement with regard to Joseph's love. They could
see why he would hate them. He will certainly requite us.
There's no minimizing of their guilt. Now, we're afraid Joseph
will hate us. And what I thought about, you
know, when we hear of the hatred of God, the hatred of God. It scares
us, doesn't it? It scares me. Psalm 5.5 says, Thou hatest all
workers of iniquity. Now that's a big demographic.
Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. And we can make it much more
narrow God said with regard to an individual by the name of
Esau, Esau have I hated. Now, our reaction to that is
how could that be fair? How could it be fair for him
to love Jacob and hate Esau? How could it be fair to him to
show that difference between these two people? And whenever
we think something like that, then I thought it and you thought
it. Here's what they're saying. He's not fair if he doesn't love
me. That wouldn't be right. And when we think something like
that, here's what we've become. We've become God's judge. We're
sitting in judgment on God. We're saying, I don't agree with
that. I think of Romans chapter nine, where Paul said, he, whom he will, he has mercy on
whom he will, and whom he will, he hardens. And thou wilt say
unto me, why does he yet find fault? If He hardens me, how
can He hold me responsible? How can He find fault? Who has
resisted His will? What can I do about that? That's
unfair. I love Paul's answer. Nay, but
O man, who are you to reply against God? You and I don't have any
business setting in judgment on God over who He loves and
who He doesn't love. God's God and whatever He does
is right. Understand this. Trust God's character. Whatever
he does is right. You might not understand it,
but whatever he does is right. That's who he is. He's God. And
so these fellas weren't having a hard time, really, thinking
Joseph would hate them. They thought they could understand
why he would hate them. They didn't have a sense of entitlement,
nor do any of God's people feel that way about God's love. Now,
verse 15, when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead,
they came up with this. Joseph will prevent your hate
us, and will certainly requite us all the evil that we've done
unto them. They didn't minimize their guilt. Verse 16, 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 unto him. Now, did Joseph tell them
to do that? Perhaps, but I kind of doubt
it. I think that they're trying to
cover their bases at this time. What are we going to do to save
our skins? Here's what we need to do. We're
going to tell Joseph. Our father said, now maybe he
really did this. Maybe he really did. And I'm
not, so I'm not saying he didn't, but this is just the way I'm
looking at it. They said, here's what we're going to do to get
ourselves out of this trouble. We're going to tell him, dad said, forgive
us. Dad said, forgive us. You know,
that's almost like being commanded to forgive. Dad said, forgive
us. You gotta forgive us. Dad said,
they were trying to cover themselves. But notice the way they say this,
forgive I pray thee. Not forgive I demand thee, but
forgive I pray thee. Not I demand of thee, it's what
you ought to do. Christians forgive. When you
come for forgiveness, there are no demands. And I have to understand
this when I'm coming to the Lord for forgiveness. There are no
commands. I can't say unto him, you ought
to do this. When you come to forgiveness,
you come to that person as an absolute sovereign and they can
forgive you or they can withhold their forgiveness. And if I come
any other way, I'm not really coming for forgiveness. I'm coming
for a payment owed me. And that's never right. Forgive,
I pray thee. Have you ever had somebody say
to you, you ought to forgive me? That's the Christian thing
to do. You ought to forgive me. How easy is it to forgive them? That's not the way to ask for
forgiveness. And you don't come into the Lord's presence saying,
you're a forgiving God, you ought to forgive me. I know what I
did was bad, but you ought to forgive me. They didn't come
that way. And we don't come to the Lord that way. We don't come
in forgiveness, demanding forgiveness. We know we're in the hands of
a sovereign. He can forgive us or he can pass
us by. And whatever he does is right.
And I'm so thankful. I really do believe that whatever
he does is right. I trust his character. How could
God let that happen? Well, whatever he does is good.
Do you believe that? Whatever he does is good because
he is good and he is good all the time. And whatever he does
is good. And I hope I want to say this
in fear and trembling and reverence, but if he cast me into hell,
he's good. And it was good that he did it
to rid the world of me. Now, whatever he does is good. All God does is good. And when
we talk about coming in, I want the forgiveness of sins. I want
the Lord to blot out my sins. When we were singing that song
that Christ hath regarded my helpless estate, that always
touches me so much because I'm helpless in this thing and I
have to have him regard my helpless estate. My sin, oh the bliss
of this glorious thought, my sin not in part but the whole
is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord,
praise the Lord, oh my soul. Now this is how he comes for
forgiveness, verse 17. So shall you say to Joseph, forgive
I pray thee now the trespass of thy brethren and their sin. Now notice, he doesn't say what
they did to you is forgivable, it wasn't all that bad. He says
it like it is, for they did unto thee evil. Now we pray thee,
forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And what does Joseph do? He wept
aloud. Now do you remember in Genesis
chapter 45 he was weeping? You know why he wept? Because
he loved Him. He loved Him. To be loved by
the Lord Jesus Christ. What could be better than that?
To be loved by Christ. To be an object of His love. Now, aren't you so thankful that
there is such a thing as the forgiveness of sins? The brothers came with this message,
forgive us, the Lord does forgive sin. I heard a preacher once
say, the Lord doesn't forgive sin. And he was putting an emphasis
on justification. You're justified, and then you're
forgiven. He made the statement, the Lord
doesn't forgive sin. I beg your pardon, he does. And
He forgives sin in such a way that you and I don't know anything
about. He forgives and He forgets. And the reason He forgets is
when He deals with our sin, there's nothing there for Him to remember.
It's put away, it's separated. When the Lord said, it is finished,
sin was finished. It was gone. There's nothing
there to remember. Joseph wept. He loved his brothers.
He wept the first time he made himself known. He wept the second
time he made himself known. Verse 18, And his brethren also
went and fell down before his face. And they said, Behold,
we be thy servants. Now, I love this. You only worship
the sovereign. I don't know how many times I've
said this. I hope we hear it. They came down, fell down before
at his feet, and said, we be thy servants. You know, how many
times did they fall down before him? Remember the dreams he had
when he was a young man? And that's what they got so mad
at him about, because he dreamed that you're all going to bow
before me, and that's when they went, we're going to get rid
of this guy. And over and over and over again, we see him bowing
before his feet. And they said, we be thy servants.
This is the only posture. You come into the Lord. as a
sovereign. Whatever he does is right. You
bow before his feet and you wait to see what he does. And that
is the way they come. Behold, we be thy servants. Verse 19, And Joseph said unto
them, Fear not. What is the most often repeated
command in the scripture by far? Fear not. Over 300 times we have
this command. Fear not. Now, how much fearing
do you and I do? A lot. That's why it's commanded
over and over again. Fear not. Fear not. The Lord says to me in all my
unbelief and doubt and fear, fear not. Fear not. And he makes this unusual statement,
for am I in the place of God? Am I in the place of God? Do
you think I can do what only God can do? Do you think I have
God's place to get vengeance against you? The Lord said, vengeance
belongeth unto me. I will repay, saith the Lord.
You know, there's another reason why it's critical that I forgive
everybody. They're in the Lord's hands.
And if I am mad at them and try to punish them, what good's that
doing? The Lord's gonna punish them.
He said that. Vengeance belonged to Him. It's
a good thing to know your place. And it's a good thing to know
your place is not his place. And that's why he says, am I
in the place of God? I don't have any right to do
anything like that to you. What a, what a blessed, takes
all the pressure off of us. Know your place. Know your place. I want it to be a real low place.
Don't you? Not trying to take responsibility
to myself that I have no business doing. And Joseph understood
that. He said, am I in the place of God? Now look what he says
in verse 20, but As for you, you thought evil
against me. He didn't try to minimize this. He said everything you did, every
action you took, every motive you had was pure evil. There
was nothing good about what you did. You thought evil against
me. And how evil it was, they sold
him as a slave. Judah said, let's don't kill
him because we won't make any money out of it. Let's sell him
for a little cash and get some profit out of this thing. We'll
sell him as a slave. You meant evil against me. But God meant it unto good. To bring to pass, as it is this
day, to save much people alive. Go back to chapter 45 for a moment. Now, verse 5, now therefore be
not grieved nor angry with yourselves that you sold me hither. For
God did send me before you to preserve life. For these two
years hath the famine been in the land, and yet there are five
years in which there shall neither be earring nor harvest. There
won't be any food. And God sent me before you to
preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives
by a great deliverance. Now therefore, it was not you
that sent me hither, but God." How many different ways are there
to look at that? You meant it for evil. There's no justification
of that, but God meant it for good. And do you know that can
be said about everything without exception? You meant it for evil. Everything. You meant it for
evil, but God does what only he can do. He brings good out
of evil. He exercises absolute sovereignty
over the free and uncoerced evil actions of men, and everything
that happens is His will being done. The so-called philosophers
grapple with what they call the problem of evil. It's not a problem
with God. It's no problem at all. Him being
delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you have taken and with wicked hands have crucified and
slain. Of a truth against thy holy child
Jesus, whom thou has anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together
for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done. Did they mean it for evil? Of
course they did. They hated Jesus Christ. God
meant it for good. And all they were doing was doing
His will. And that happens, I can tell
you, with certainty or with regard to everything that's ever happened
to me or you. We meant it for evil, but God
meant it for good. He's so glorious. Only God can
be this way. We can't be this way. We can't
do that. Well, I did evil, but I had good
intentions. No, you didn't. No, you didn't.
But God, He brings good out of evil. And that was God's purpose. When
those brethren wickedly plotted to murder their brother, and
Judah said, let's sell it, so at least we'll make some profit
on it. God decreed every thought, every event, everything they
did was purposed by God Almighty in order to save them. in order to save Judas, so the
promised seed would come through him. Everything that happens,
happens according to God's decree. Absolute predestination. Absolute sovereignty. And knowing
the character of God, although we don't understand many things
He does, we trust Him, don't we? We trust Him. He's worthy
of trust. His character is such. We meant
it for evil, but God meant it for good. God decreed all this
so Joseph could become the most powerful man in Egypt and saved
those people standing in front of him, that they're the ones
who had betrayed him. God did this to save much people. And I think of what the Lord
did. The Lord did this to save much people. You know the scripture
says in heaven there will be 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands
and thousands singing worthy is the lamb that was slain. He
did this to save much people. And let me tell you what this
salvation is. It's being made just like Christ. Saved from your sins. Saved to
be perfectly conformed to His image and spend eternity worshiping
Him. He did this to save much people. Verse 21. He repeats. the admonition. Now, therefore,
fear ye not. He said it in verse 19, he says
it again. Now, therefore, fear ye not. And here's the promise. I will nourish you and your little
ones. We don't only want to be nourished,
we want our little ones nourished, don't we? And here he gives this
promise. I'll nourish you. I'll provide
for you. The Lord will provide. And everything
he requires of you, he provides for you. He provides all things
spiritually. He provides all things materially. He gives you exactly what you
need and what I need. He says, I will nourish you and
your little ones. And he comforted them and spake
kindly unto them. And my marginal reading says
he spake to their hearts. Now, where else does it say that?
He comforted them and spake comfortably to them and to their hearts.
You know, turn to Isaiah chapter 40. This is the mandate for all true
gospel preaching. Not make people feel bad and
feel judged and feel condemned. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. There is a people that he calls
my people. That's the elect. That's why
I call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their
sins. And what is the mandate? Comfort
ye. Comfort ye, my people. If I preach a message that's
not comforting, I did not preach a gospel message. Well, sometimes we got to admonish
people. Well, I realize that, that's all in the word, but a
message that does not comfort a child of God is not a gospel
message. Well, what is the comfort? Comfort
ye, comfort ye my people, sayeth your God, speak ye comfortably. And my marginal reading says
to the heart, to the heart. Speak ye to the heart. Now, the heart, I put an article
in the bulletin about it. The heart is the whole man. It's
the understanding. We don't bypass the understanding.
It's the affection. It's the will. I understand the
gospel. I understand how God can accept
me. I love how he accepts me through Christ. And as far as
my will goes, if you give me my choice, that's the way I want
to be saved by Him. Speak ye to the heart. And here is the message of comfort. Cry unto her with a loud voice. Now that's not just talking about
the volume of the voice. Make sure she hears this. Cry unto her with a loud voice.
Her warfare is accomplished. It's already over. When he said
it is finished, your salvation was finished outside of your
personal subjective experience. It is finished. Your warfare is accomplished.
Relax. Relax. Her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received of the
Lord's hand double for all her sins. Now, all my sins, not only
have they been forgiven, and they have been forgiven, I've
been justified. I don't have any sin. I stand
before God without guilt. Oh, that's so comforting. Right
now, I stand before God without guilt. My sin's been pardoned
because I've been justified. The sin's blotted out. It's gone.
I've received of the Lord's hand. This isn't just some what Soul
Winter told me. This is of the Lord's hand. I've
received of the Lord's hand by His mighty hand and His mighty
accomplishment. I've received of the Lord's hand
double. for all my sin. And you know, Jacob's, I mean
Joseph's brothers, I imagine they had to hear this again after
this too. Joseph wouldn't die for a while after this. And they
had to hear this more. I'll nourish you. You meant it
for evil. God meant it for good. To save
much people alive. And that's what he does. Isn't
that joyous? Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for who
you are, how we thank you that you bring good out of evil. Lord,
we confess our evil. And Lord, we would with Joseph's
brothers bow, lie in the dust at the feet of your son saying,
behold, we be thy servants. And Lord, how we thank you that
while we meant evil, you meant good to save much people alive. How we thank you for your gospel. Now, Lord, enable us to fear not. Enable
us to believe, to rely on him who is utterly reliable. Lord,
give us such a view of your character that we simply trust you. Bless this word for your glory
and for our good. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.