Romans chapter 9. This is a familiar
passage of Scripture, probably to pretty much everybody here
says in verse 13, this is God speaking as it's written, Jacob
have a loved, but Esau have I hated. Who hated Esau? God hated Esau. This is a quotation from Malachi
chapter one, where he said, I hate Esau. Now, you know, this religious
world, has such a hard time with this. How in the world could
it be fair for God to love Jacob and hate Esau? Why, that's showing
favoritism. Yeah, it is showing favoritism. There's no doubt about that.
But the Scripture definitely teaches that he hated Esau and
he loved Jacob. Now, if I have some understanding
of my own personal sin. You know what? I'm going to understand
why God would hate me. I wouldn't call Him unfair in
hating me. I would say I deserve the hatred
and the contempt of God. You see, God's holy. God's just. God's perfect. God's altogether
glorious. I'm altogether sinful. I understand. I can see why God would feel
nothing but contempt and hatred for me. I'm unclean. I'm sinful. What is there in me to love?
What is there in me that would draw His favor? There's nothing
there. You know, when I hear people
arguing over this verse of Scripture, how can it be fair for God to
hate Jacob? What they're saying is how can
it be fair for God to hate me? There's only one reason we'd
say something like that. Self-righteousness. That's it. There are no other reasons. Pride
and self-righteousness. We haven't dealt with the fact
that we deserve the hatred of God. As a matter of fact, they
believed if Joseph hated them, it would be a thing of justice.
Look back in our text, verse 15. And when Joseph's brethren
saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will prevent
your hate us. And we'll certainly requite us
all the evil which we did unto them. They believed if Joseph
hated them, it would be a thing of justice. It would be Him requiting
them for the evil that they had done. Do you believe that if
God hated you, it would be a matter of justice? Not meanness. Not just a mean vindicative spirit,
but it would be absolute, impartial justice. They believed what they
did was evil. He's going to require us all
the evil that we did unto Him. You know, only an evil person
can do an evil act. They believed what they did was
evil. They believed they were evil. You know, that's a hard
word. That's evil. I mean, you call
somebody evil, that's a hard word. But these fellows believed
they themselves were evil. Verse 16, They thought they were in big
trouble. And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father
did command before he died. Now, they were afraid to come
into Joseph's presence on their own. Now, they'd been around
him for 17 years, but yet at this time, they won't come on
their own when they're convicted of their sin like this, when
they're so scared. They sent a messenger. They're scared to
death to come on their own. And they sent a messenger and
said 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 look at their confession
at this time. Oh, what a blessing it will be
if this confession comes out of the heart of somebody here
tonight, where they confessed before God this. They confessed
we did evil. They call their evil a sin and
a trespass. No excuses. No extenuating circumstances. They didn't excuse themselves.
They didn't say, well, now look, Dad showed such favoritism to
you. No wonder we acted that way. And I tell you what, you
look at the favoritism Jacob showed Joseph over the rest of
that bunch, and I can see why they'd be jealous. I would have
been one of those people being envious and hating Him too. I
guarantee you I would have. I mean, if He would have treated
us all fairly, this would have never happened. Nothing like
that. They said we did evil. We committed trespass. They were
like Adam. You know, in the first confession of sin, Adam, where
art thou? Who told you you were naked?
Why did you do this? You know what Adam said? The
woman which thou gavest me. She gave me of the fruit of the
tree, and I did eat. If you wouldn't have given me
this woman, this would have never happened. Ultimately, this is
your fault. Why are you trying to get a confession
Eve said, the serpent beguiled me, which, by the way, I'm sure
she was thinking it's the serpent you made. If that serpent would
have never been around, this would have never taken place.
Now, understand this. In true confession of sin, there
is an acknowledgment of personal guilt. You take full responsibility. It's my fault. I can't plead
anything other than the fact that I have sinned against you.
That's it. A true acknowledgement. Now,
when somebody blames God's sovereignty, well, God's sovereign, he could
have kept me from this and he didn't do it. Therefore, ultimately,
it's his fault. There's no confession of sin
there. That's pure hypocrisy. You only confess your sin when
you come with a rope around your neck, guilty as charged. Anything you say against me,
I deserve. Now that is the confession of
sin. That's the way they did. Forgive,
I pray thee now the trespass of thy brethren and their sin.
For they didn't do all that bad, no, they did evil unto thee.
And now we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants
of the God of thy father. Forgive them. Verse 18, And his brethren also
went and fell down before his face, and they said, Behold,
we thee thy servants. Now this is a bowing down before
His sovereignty. They didn't say, well, we're
going to let you forgive us. We're going to allow you to forgive
us. Or we're accepting your forgiveness. No, all they did was bow down
before Him. We're your servants. Whatever
you do is right. We're in your sovereign hands. It's up to you
as to whether or not we're going to live or whether we're going
to die. Whatever you do is right. They're very much like Eli. It's
the Lord. Let Him do what seemeth Him good.
They bow down before Him. Whatever you do is right. We're your servants. We are in
your hands. And what was Joseph's response
to this? You know, the Scripture says in verse
17, He wept. Now, humanly speaking,
I don't have any doubt that Joseph's feelings were hurt. After the
way I've treated you fellas for 17 years, and you don't have
any higher opinion of me than that, that you think as soon
as Dad's dead, I'm going to get vengeance on you guys? Have I
done anything that would lead you to believe this? Has the Lord Jesus ever given
you a reason to doubt Him? To mistrust Him? To think that
He's going to do you evil? You know better than that. He
hasn't given you a reason. He went. And then He proceeded to tell them the same exact thing
that he did some 17 years before. I entitled this message, Hearing
the Gospel Again. Don't you find you need to hear
the gospel again and again and again? He told them the same
thing He told them some 17 years before. Verse 19, And Joseph
said unto them, Fear not. Now why should we fear not? Our
sin is most real. I mean, they couldn't deny what
they had done to Joseph. And yet He says to them, Fear
not. Why should we not fear not? Can you give me a reason? that
I can get hold of and really not fear? Well, here's the first
reason to fear not, because He said to fear not. Can what He said be relied upon?
If He tells me, fear not, do I have any reason to fear? Why should we fear not? Because
the reason we are afraid has been removed. In verse 17. He says, forgive, I pray thee
now the trespass of thy brethren and their sin. He says again,
forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father, forgive. Now, if you would get your concordance,
if you have a strong concordance, And look up that word, forgive.
You know what the first definition of it is in the Hebrew dictionary? To lift off. To lift off. Now, here is how sin is forgiven. He lifted it off of you. And He placed it upon His Son. Now, God can do this. You say,
how can He do that? He's God. He's God. If He lifts your sin off of you,
is it lifted off? If He placed it on His Son, did
His Son bear it? Absolutely. He lifted your sin
off of you. He placed it upon Christ. You
now have no sin. You don't have a reason to fear. You stand before God without
sin, without anything to feel guilty about, without anything
to feel bad about. How can that be? Well, it is. Christ took my sin, placed upon
Christ, Christ paid for them, and He takes Christ's righteousness
and places it upon me. My reason for fear has been removed. Now look in verse 20. But as
for you, You thought evil against me.
You had very wicked and cruel intentions in what you were doing.
There wasn't anything good about it. It was pure maliciousness. You thought evil against me.
There's no way of getting out of this. But God meant it unto
good. To bring to pass as it is this
day to save much people alive. Now, just looking at what took
place. Joseph is sold into Egypt. What a horrible thing to happen
to him. He's put in that prison. What
a horrible thing to happen to him. He's unjustly accused. What
a horrible thing to happen to him. All the problems his brothers
brought on him. God sent him there. God put him
in that prison so he would interpret Pharaoh's dreams. God made him
the head of all Egypt so he would feed those boys. God sent him
there for good. Now, they didn't have any good
intentions, but God did. You know, the Lord God is so glorious.
He's in such utter control. We may mean it for evil, but
He meant it for good to save much people alive. You meant
it for evil, but God meant it for good. Now, when the Lord
Jesus was betrayed and went through that mock trial, They meant it
for evil. But God meant it for good. When they cried, crucify Him,
they wanted Him crucified. They wanted Him dead. They meant
it for evil. But God meant it for good. When they beat Him with a cat
of nine tails, they meant it for evil. But God meant it for
good. When they pressed that crown of thorns on His head,
they meant it for evil. when they nailed Him to that
cross, put it up and dropped it in the stand and sat there
and made fun of Him. They meant it for evil, but God
meant it for good. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and with
wicked hands have crucified and slain. Now here is the good God
did. Through the death of His Son, He saved much people alive. Now, I want you to listen to
this statement real carefully. When Jesus Christ bowed His mighty
head and said, It is finished. I was saved. was saved. I was perfected. I was plumb, completely saved. Now let me back that up with
the scripture. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 10. Hold your
finger there. Exodus, I mean, Genesis 50 and
look at Hebrews 10. Beginning in verse 10. By the which will, by God's will.
We are sanctified, we are declared to be holy through the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ through his death once for all, and every
priest stand daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices which can never take away sin, but this man. After
he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on
the right hand of God. Why did he sit down? Because
his work was finished. From henceforth expecting till
his enemies be made his footstool, for by one offering he hath perfected. Forever. Them that are sanctified. Back to our text in Genesis 50.
Verse 21. Now, therefore. Fear not. There's nothing to fear. He repeats
himself. Fear not and look at his promise. I will nourish you. and your little ones. That word
nourish means I will make provision for you and your little ones. Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will
provide all that He requires. Now you listen, this is glorious. All that He requires of you,
He provides for you. All that He requires of you. He provides for you. He requires perfection. He provides it. He perfected
you on the cross. He requires a perfect standing
before His holy law. He provides it for you. He gives
it to you. His holy law requires death if
you sin. He provided the death for your
sin. He requires a new heart. He provides
that new heart. He requires faith and repentance,
and He gives you the faith and repentance that He requires. He requires perseverance, and
He provides it. We require grace, He gives it.
We require mercy, He bestows it. All He requires and all we
require, He provides. It's God which worketh in you
both to will and to do of His good pleasure. It can't get any
better than that. All He requires, He provides and He comforted
them in our text. He comforted them. He comforted
them with the gospel. Does the gospel comfort you?
I tell you what, it comforts me. Oh, the comforts of the gospel. And I think this is very interesting
the way it ends up. It says he spake kindly unto
them. He spake kindly unto them. And
my margin says he spake to their heart. And that's what it says
literally. He spake to their heart. The Gospel is addressed to the
heart. Now, does that mean the intellect
is bypassed? Of course not. The Scripture
means, by the heart, the mind, the understanding. It means the
affections, what moves us, the emotions. It means the will. That's the heart. That's the
whole man, the mind, the understanding, the affections and the will. The gospel is the only message
that's truly addressed to the heart. Now, religion. Religion
comes in three forms. I thought about this. I think
this is true. In what goes under the name of
Christianity, that's what I mean by religion, all the stuff that
goes on under the name of Christianity, you basically have three types.
You've got free will, Arminianism, You've got Reformed, intellectualism,
and you've got Pentecostalism, emotionalism, emotions. Now,
free will, what's it directed to? The will. Put pressure on
the will. Reformed, what's it directed
to? Well, the intellect. Get everybody
straightened out intellectually. Get them thinking right. Pentecostalism,
what's that directed to? The emotions. There's no doctrine.
It's all a feeling. It's emotions. But the Gospel
is directed to the understanding. It's directed to the emotions. And it's directed to the will. It's a message to the heart. With the heart, Paul said. With the heart, man believeth. unto righteousness. Now, with
my understanding, I understand that the righteousness
of Jesus Christ is my only righteousness before God. I understand that.
And not only do I understand it, I love it. Not only do I love it, if you
give me a choice, would you rather be saved by Christ's righteousness
or your own? You know which one I choose?
Christ's righteousness. He spake to their heart. He gave them the gospel again. Hearing the gospel again. Let's pray together.