Appreciate that special. I don't know why more of you
don't sing a special. I know why one of us doesn't. Some of the rest of you could
if you would be a blessing. Let's open our Bibles tonight
to Genesis chapter 45. I have four truths that I want
to emphasize to us tonight from this chapter. I want to bring
us up to where we are at this place. Joseph, of course, is
the prime minister of Egypt. His 11 brothers are back in his
presence at this time. We know how that he had had his
servants put that cup in the sack of Benjamin. And when his
11 brothers left Egypt on the way back to Canaan, back to their
father, he sent his servants to apprehend them. And they found
Joseph's cup in the bag of Benjamin. And so they all had to come back.
He only said one of them had to come back, but they all returned.
If you notice in verse 13 of chapter 44, we read Then they rent their clothes
and laid it every man his ass and returned to the city. Don't
you know that was a sad trip back? They loaded down their
donkeys with the corn that they had bought, their sacks, and
headed back to face Joseph. What a sad trip that was. We began tonight when the scripture
here says, then Joseph could not refrain himself. The first
truth I want us to look at tonight is how that Joseph revealed his
true identity to his brothers in the first four verses. 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. And he wept
aloud, and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard. And
Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph. Doth my father yet
live? And his brethren could not answer
him. For they were troubled at his
presence, and Joseph said unto 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. His brothers stood before him
at this time, and they only knew him, that is, they only knew
Joseph as the ruler of Egypt, and a very stern ruler at that. but he reveals himself as their
brother. And by weeping, we say that he
reveals himself not only as their brother, but as a kind and caring
brother. You know, at the first reading
of this history, Joseph's conduct toward his brethren might not
be clear, might seem somewhat strange. Why he did not reveal
himself to them when they first came, when the 10 first came
to buy corn. Why he recognized them, they
didn't recognize him. Why did he not reveal himself
immediately? Why did he charge them with being
spies and keep one of the brothers, Simeon, there as a hostage? And
why did he insist that they bring Benjamin back with them if they
were ever to buy corn again in Egypt. Now all of his actions
were to learn the true state of his 10 brothers. Were they
still, were they still the same men, the same hard-hearted men
that they had been so many years before? when by their actions
they sold Joseph away from his father and he was brought down
into Egypt. Our chapter begins with the word
then. Then Joseph could not refrain
himself. When was it when Joseph could
not refrain himself? It was when he heard the words
of Judah, his brother. We're not going to read all of
Judah's words, but notice just these few, beginning with verse
31 of chapter 44. It shall come to pass. These
are the words of Judah. Remember, Joseph said that he
would keep Benjamin there to be his servant because he had
stolen from him. And Judah comes near. Judah had
been a surety, was a surety for his brother. And Judas says,
it shall come to pass when he seeth, that is, when my father
Jacob, when he seeth that the lad is not with us, that he will
die. And thy servants, that is, he
along with his brothers, shall bring down the gray hairs of
thy servant, our father with sorrow, to the grave. For thy
servant became surety, Judas speaking of himself, he became
surety for the lad unto my father, saying, if I bring him not unto
thee, then I shall bear the blame to my father forever. Now, therefore,
I pray thee, let thy servant, let me, let me abide as your
slave instead of the lad, a bondman, to my Lord, and let the lad,
let Benjamin go up with his brethren. For how shall I go up to my father
and the lad be not with me? Lest peradventure I see the evil
that shall come on my father. Is this the same man? Look back
with me at his words, the words of Judah in chapter 37. Is this the same man speaking
that spoke these words so many years before when Joseph was
put into the pit? Is this the same man? Chapter
37 and verse 26, and Judah said unto his brethren, what profit
is it if we slay our brother and conceal his blood? Come and
let us sell him to the Ishmaelites. Does he show any concern for
his father at this time? His father Jacob loved Joseph
every bit as much at this time as he did now that he loved Benjamin
when Judah is speaking to Joseph there in Egypt. Is this the same
man? Come and let us sell him to the
Ishmaelites. What a hard-hearted, uncaring,
Word came out of the mouth of Judah at this time. And let not
our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh,
and his brethren, not only Judah, but they all agreed, they were
all content. It was Judah's voice who was
now, now beseeching Joseph, let me remain a bondman, but don't
keep Benjamin. Because just as sure as you do,
when we go home and Jacob, our father, your servant, when he
sees that Benjamin is not with us, it'll kill him. He will die. What do we see here? I believe
that we see repentance, don't you? I believe that we see repentance
on his part, and not only Judah, but on the part of his other
brothers as well. For they all had offered to remain
slaves. If you look back in chapter 44
in verse 16, and Judah said, what shall we say unto my Lord?
What shall we speak or how shall we clear ourselves? God has found
out the iniquity of thy servants. Behold, we are we, not just me,
we. We are my Lord's servants, both
we and he also with whom the cup is found. I believe that
what we see here is repentance on the part of his brothers. And I'm thankful tonight for
repentance. And I know you are as well, if
you are a child of God. Repentance is a gift of God.
It always accompanies faith. When a person believes in Christ,
he turns away from his sin, away from his thoughts. And when a
person turns away from his thoughts, away from his sins, he turns
to Christ. You cannot have one without the
other. And it would be difficult to
tell which is first. Sometimes you hear preachers
and they preach as though a person had to repent and repent and
repent and confess all their sins, name all their sins. First
of all, you couldn't do it. You never could do it to begin
with. And then after you've repented enough, then you believe. No,
no. The scripture says they looked
upon him whom they had pierced and they wept. Faith. Uh, let me see if I can remember
this, uh, that the tear of repentance drops from the eye of faith."
I think it was Philip Henry who said that. The tear of repentance
drops from the eye of faith. They come together. If you believe
tonight in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have turned. You've changed
your mind about God and about sin and about Christ and about
yourself. And if you've changed your mind
about those you've turned to Christ, you have believed in
him. And I'm thankful for repentance.
Repentance is a gift, and what a blessing it is that the Lord
Jesus, he gives us repentance. The scripture says he has exalted
a prince and a savior for to give repentance unto Israel.
That's the reason preachers like myself We admonish people to
come to Christ. You say, well, I don't feel any
repentance. Well, look to Christ for repentance. Look to Christ for everything. Faith, yes. Look to Christ. You
say, I have no faith. Well, where's that faith going
to come from? Christ. Where's that repentance
going to come from? From Christ. Joseph revealed
his true identity to his brothers. He said, I'm Joseph, your brother. And that's a truth about salvation. Salvation doesn't come by decision. It comes by revelation. The Lord
Jesus reveals himself unto his people. Just as Joseph revealed
himself, I'm Joseph, your brother. So Christ reveals himself unto
us as our brother. He's bone of our bone and flesh
of our flesh. He came into this world. He was
made flesh and dwelt among us. That is the eternal son of God.
He's our brother. And not only is he our brother,
but he's our brother that he might be our kinsman redeemer. That he might have the right
to redeem us. He had to be kin to us. To redeem
someone, you had to be kin to that person. The Lord Jesus Christ
became our brother that he might redeem us. There's a couple of things I
want to point out before we move on. That word then, Joseph could
not refrain himself. He could not refrain himself.
There was a necessity. He felt a necessity. I can't
do this any longer. I've got to reveal who I am. And that would just remind us
in a very small way that the Lord Jesus Christ, he must needs
go through Samaria. You see what I'm saying? There
are those in this world, he said, other sheep I have which are
not of this flock, them also I must bring. There's a necessity
that Christ revealed himself to each and every one of those
whom the Father had given him. And the fact that Joseph was
alone Notice in verse one it said, and there stood no man
with him when Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. And
I cannot help but remember on the Mount of Transfiguration,
at first there appeared with the Lord Jesus as he was transfigured,
there appeared Moses and Elijah, but then the scripture says they
saw Jesus only. Moses representative of the law,
Elijah representative of the prophets, but we must see Jesus
only. In Christ alone. That's all you're
just saying, in Christ alone. Amen. So that's the first thing
I wanted to mention to us. Joseph reveals his true identity. Now second, We see in this history
of Joseph a great help to all of us in the matter of forgiveness,
verses five through eight. Now therefore, Joseph speaking
to his brothers, 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 neither be earing nor harvest. And God
sent me before you to preserve you of posterity in the earth,
and to save your lives by great deliverance. So now 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. His brothers had done him wrong,
a great injustice, we would say. They had greatly offended him,
but you notice he forgives them. He shows no unforgiving spirit
whatsoever when he revealed himself to his brothers. What was it
that enabled Joseph to have such a spirit of forgiving? And what
is it that will help you and me to forgive others. And it's simply this. He believed firmly in God's sovereignty. No doubt they had done him wrong. They had done an evil unto him. But Joseph saw that God is clearly,
absolutely in control of all things. Yes, even those things
that we call bad. even those things that we call
evil. Notice he says there in that
first verse, verse five, you sold me. Yes, you did. You sold me, but God sent me. You sold me, but God sent me. This reminds me of Peter's statement
on the day of Pentecost, him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain. But the point I'm making is that
it will help us when we need to forgive others. Someone has
done us some wrong or said something about us. It will help us to
remember that they could not have done that, they could not
have said that, whatever it was without God's permission, that
all things are ordained of God. Whatever it is, you know, one of the spots, spots,
S-P-O-T-S, one of the spots One of the distinguishing marks of
God's people is that we forgive others as we have been forgiven
for Christ's sake. He could forgive because he knew
that ultimately it was God who had sent him there, even though
they had their part but they were only working out God's plan. And notice also, I noticed this
this past week when he said, be not grieved. Verse five, now
therefore be not grieved nor angry with yourselves. And I
thought about the fact that most children of God, we've got things
in our past that still grieve us. and cause us to be angry
with ourselves. Now, you may not, but here's
somebody who does. But don't be angry with yourselves.
You say, well, I've had people say, I just wish the Lord had
saved me when I was a young person. But he didn't. But he didn't. In his providence and in his
purpose, it was to save you at the time, the age, whatever it
was, when he saved you. And yes, it would be, we look
at it, would have been a great blessing to have been saved,
to have been truly born of the Spirit of God at a young age
like some people are. And if you are one of those,
God, be thankful for it. Because you won't have the memories
that some people have. You won't make the mistakes that
some people who are saved live with. But don't be grieved with
yourself. Don't be angry with yourself. God forgave you. Now forgive
yourself. Now forgive yourself. Because
God not only has forgiven you, but he has said he will never
remember it against you again. Don't be aggrieved with yourself.
Be angry with yourself. You were saved. at the exact
time that God had determined from before the foundation of
the world, if you are saved tonight. There was a time when he passed
by and you were like that infant cast out in Ezekiel chapter 16,
to the loathing of yourself, not washed, not suckled, not
cared for. And he passed by and he said,
it's a time of love. It's a time to demonstrate my
love. Live. Live. And he gave you life. Here's
the third thing. Joseph sends his brother to fetch
his father in verses nine through 13. Haste ye and 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. For yet there are five years
of famine, lest thou and thy household and all that thou hast
come to poverty. And behold, your eyes see, and
the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaketh
unto you. And you shall tell my father
of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that you have seen. And
you shall hasten, bring down my father here. Fetching grace. You know, there's a truth that
the theologians call irresistible grace. irresistible grace. There's a general call where
the gospel goes out and everyone who is under the sound of the
gospel is told to believe. But there is an irresistible
call that goes along with the gospel. When God the Holy Spirit
calls his chosen people, there's a time of love, as I said just
a moment ago. I remember the first time I heard
a preacher refer to this as fetching grace. Brother Jack Shanks, he
was preaching on Mephibosheth. And that's the word in our Bible
when David said fetching. Is there any yet of the household
of Jonathan that I may show him mercy? He'd made a covenant with
Jonathan to show mercy to his seed. Is there any of them left? Oh yeah, there's one. There's
one over there in the house of no bread, Lodibar. And he's lame on both his legs. And he became lame by fall. What a picture, right? By the
fall, we too became lame. sinners, unable to do the will
of God. But the king says, because there
was a covenant between him and Bathsheba Sheth's father, fetch
him, fetch him grace. He said, well, maybe he wouldn't
want to come. Listen, this was the word of
the king. The king said, fetch him. Lord Jesus Christ calls his sheep. He said, I know my sheep, and
I call them by name. And they follow me, fetching. And the first thing that Mephibosheth
said, I believe, need to check this, why would you consider
such a dead dog as I am? Mephibosheth, you're going to
eat. Put those lame legs under the table. You're going to eat
at my table for the rest of your life. Grace, right? Grace. Irresistible grace. Joseph says, go get my father. Fetch him. Bring him here. And notice in what he said, there's
three things here. There's three points. This is
the gospel. The first thing, he said, I want you to tell my
father who I am. Don't just tell him Joseph's
down there. You tell him who I am. I'm the Lord. See that, if you
will, again in verse 9. Make haste ye, and go up to my
father, and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath
made me Lord of all Egypt. What did Peter say? God hath
made that same Jesus both Lord and Christ. You tell him, first
of all, that I'm Lord over all Egypt. We're not preaching some
wannabe savior. We're not preaching some pygmy
god. We're preaching him, the Lord
willing we are, who is Lord of lords and king of kings, the
Lord Jesus Christ. For whosoever shall call upon
the Lord shall be saved. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. You tell him. You tell my father. that I'm Lord. Number two, you
tell him, notice in verse 12, I'll nurse him. Every need that
he has, every need, I'll take care of it. That's the kind of
Savior that the Lord Jesus Christ is, isn't it? Every need that
we have, He gives us. He is, really. He's made unto
us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. He's our propitiation. I mean, we could just go on and
on and on. He's everything. Christ is all. And in all, I'll nourish him. Every need a sinner has is found
in Christ, and only in Christ. And the third thing he told them
in verse 13, you tell him of all my glory. You tell him of all my glory. And you shall tell my father
of all my glory in Egypt. That's preaching the gospel,
isn't it? Telling sinners of the glory of Christ, the glory
of Christ. that in him dwelleth all the
fullness of the Godhead bodily. One last thing before I close.
Joseph gave his brothers some very good and very needed advice
for all, for his brothers, yes, and for all believers. If you
look down in verse 24, they're going back to Canaan to fetch
their dad. And Joseph has supplied them
wagons and everything they would need for the trip to transport
Jacob and all of his children, his children's children, back
down into Egypt. Now, Joseph says, see that you
fall not out, by the way. You've got everything here now,
surely, but knowing human nature like he did and like we do. See
that you fall not out, by the way. You know, do brothers need
this advice? Well, these brothers did. Do
Christian brothers need this advice? Of course. Of course
we do. We come from different backgrounds. The church is made up of individuals
from different backgrounds. And, you know, there can be misunderstandings
so easily. You can hurt someone's feelings
and never mean to do it. Especially as a preacher, you
can do things like that. But don't fall out. Exercise
grace one toward the other. We all need forgiveness, don't
we? We all need help. We all need mercy. Don't fall
out, Joseph said, verse 24. So he sent his brethren away
and they departed and he said unto them, see that you fall
not out by the way. Don't let some little trivial
thing upset the peace of God's house. Paul wrote to the church,
was it Philippi, and he named those two women in particular
and he said, be of the same mind. We have the same mind. And what
mind is this? Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus. That is the mind of Christ. And
what was the mind of Christ? He humbled himself. He became
a servant. I pray the Lord would bless this
word for all of us to all of us here tonight. I'm going to
ask