[0:00] As the Lord will help me this evening hour, I would seek once again to draw your attention to the text which I announced this afternoon, which is found in Genesis 37 and to the first part of verse 16.
[0:23] That's Genesis 37 and to the first part of verse 16. These, of course, are the words of Joseph speaking to that man which is in the field.
[0:37] And he said, I seek my brethren. And he said, I seek my brethren. This afternoon I tried to bring a little bit before you the great comparisons which we can see there in the life of Joseph compared with the Lord Jesus Christ.
[1:02] And again you remember this morning hour I said in dealing in all these types and figures, we must ever... Hyman.
[1:13] Hyman. Hyman. Hyman. Hyman. Hyman. Hyman. Hyman.
[1:25] Hyman. Hyman. Hyman. Hyman. Then am I John and Liberty As Christ revealed himself to thee As the Lord will help me this evening hour, I would seek once again to draw your attention to the text which I announced this afternoon, which is found in Genesis 37 and to the first part of verse 16.
[2:26] That's Genesis 37 and to the first part of verse 16. These, of course, are the words of Joseph speaking to that man which is in the field.
[2:41] And he said, I seek my brethren. And he said, I seek my brethren. This afternoon I tried to bring a little bit before you the great comparisons which we can see there in the life of Joseph compared with the Lord Jesus Christ.
[3:06] And again you remember this morning hour I said in dealing in all these types and figures. We must ever remember, friends, that there are only shadows of good things to come.
[3:20] And therefore we would do great despite unto the word of God if we sought in some way as a word to fit every angle and every little instant and try to make a complete comparison.
[3:31] And repeating again what I said this morning, the reasons why, friends, is because Christ must have all the preeminence. We notice there in spite of all the mistreatment that Joseph endured under the hand of his brethren, his hatred, their despising him, refusing as it were for him to be reigned over them.
[3:58] In spite of it all, he still called them his brethren. They sold him, they hated him, they despised him, they put it not. And when they despised, sold him as it were for those twenty pieces of silver, I believe in their mind without any hesitation that that was the end of all.
[4:18] And they would never see them again. I tried to bring before you what a type and a figure we have of what man is by nature. By nature we seek our own way.
[4:31] By nature we would not seek that the Lord Jesus should reign over us. And yet in spite of all of our departings, in spite of all of what we are by nature, there is that eternal covenant which was made in the counsels of eternity.
[4:51] And therefore, friends, what a mercy that stood sure. And when we look upon to the grace of God, oh friend, there is no barrier to grace.
[5:03] We find that grace penetrated into the walls of Jericho and found that woman called Rahab the harlot. Grace penetrated into that wicked land of Moab.
[5:16] And found that woman who was called Ruth. Who later was united there to that Boaz. It penetrated there into the land of Syria, the enemies of the children of Israel.
[5:30] And called out a man who was a leper, called Naaman. And so we could go on and on and on. I realize, friends, there isn't many of the Gentiles in the Old Testament called out.
[5:45] But yet we see here and there there was a little rendement according to the election of grace that we're called. But then we think of our own day.
[5:57] Oh, when you know the hardness of your own heart. And what rebellious creatures we are by nature. Can you also unite and say, yes, there's no barriers to grace.
[6:09] Because that same grace which found out those wretches of which I've already mentioned. Has also found us. Worked irresistibly and called us by his free and sovereign grace.
[6:24] Now these brethren to Joseph were his brethren. I know Joseph didn't know the end from the beginning. But what a mercy if we know something of that blessed Redeemer.
[6:36] Joseph was the end from the beginning. Who knew us from all eternity. And there came a day. A set time to favor Zion.
[6:49] When the Lord also not only began that work of grace in our soul. And brought us to see something of our wretchedness and sinfulness. And there that time began to reveal himself to us.
[7:02] So was the case here of Joseph. Joseph. It wasn't in vain, friends, as we noticed this morning. The gathering of the grains and gathering it into the warehouses.
[7:14] It wasn't in vain that Joseph should go through all that trial and persecution. And all that he had to endure. It wasn't in vain. Ah, what a mercy, friends, that there is a people.
[7:26] To whom shall be called by grace. And the accomplishment of which the Lord accomplished there on Calvary. As later made manifest in the calling of souls.
[7:39] Out of nature's darkness to his marvelous light. Now let us notice a little bit of Joseph's brethren. As I said, the gathering of the grain.
[7:52] Which is a type and a figure of all the blessings of which are found in the gospel. And all that points to the accomplished work of Christ. Would not be in vain. But, friends, as we look upon to the men of Joseph's brethren.
[8:06] They were content in the land of Canaan. They were content to go about to their daily business. But the Lord had further work.
[8:17] He brought a famine. And brought them to a place of want. I realize when it comes to the soul's experience. God is very free.
[8:29] In some cases he works very suddenly and quickly. Like in the case of Saul. Others for the most part are called gradually. But there's going to be a time come in soul.
[8:43] When one is going to see there's a famine in the land. I find I cannot feed upon to the pleasures. And the follies of this world. They are not that which my soul desires.
[8:57] I begin to see that death is stamped upon it all. And that there is something sadly missing in my soul. I realize I'm covering something in a few words.
[9:08] Of what sometimes might take some years. But it's going to be worked out. We may have our slips and our falls. And I can imagine the brethren of Joseph.
[9:18] They look to the little creeks. And they look to the tilling of the ground. Hoping that next year that might be a better crop. But continued on. Famine, famine.
[9:30] Everything become destitution. Everything become hopeless. And I would imagine a case would be like this. Will we someday perish under this famine?
[9:43] Shall we know what it is then to see our death? Whether they were brought as a word then in any thoughts. Is God's judgment upon us? I cannot tell.
[9:55] But certainly when the Lord works in that soul. Friends, you're going to see there's a famine in your soul. There's something lacking. And you're going to feel as if the Lord's hand is against you.
[10:08] And it is because of your sin. I am persuaded in my own mind. That where the work of grace is, everyone is going to come in some measure to this place.
[10:19] And if my soul is sent to hell, thy righteous law approves it well. Realizing that we are unworthy.
[10:32] Hopeless in self. But ah, what a mercy. The time comes like in the case there of Jacob and also of his brethren. They begin to hear.
[10:44] There's corn in Egypt. Ah, that might have gave them a little hope. Ah, they could have had many reasonings within their soul. That it doesn't belong to them.
[10:56] It belongs to the Egyptians. That we have no partner lot in it. Would we dare be that presumptuous to go down and seek to obtain some of that corn.
[11:07] At least to buy it. But friends, where there is that famine. And where there is a true hungering and a thirst in the soul.
[11:18] There's going to come to a place of who can tell. Who can tell that it might be a crumb for me. And the farther, the further they get in their starvation and circumstances.
[11:32] Friends, they're not looking upon the luxuries of that which is found in Egypt. But if they can have but a crumb. If they could have but a little sip. It's just a little token.
[11:44] But something else had to be taking place as well. Truly they sent down to Joseph. It might be in a measure of some of those early prayers and early exercises of the soul.
[11:58] Looking on to the Lord beginnings of prayer. I realize when it comes to the early work of God and the soul. Sometimes we're quite confused as to how to pray and what to pray for.
[12:11] And so they went down. And instead of receiving a friend, they herds their friends. They received a reproof. Is God unkind when he gives you a reproof?
[12:26] Was he unkind to you when you first begin to seek the Lord? And then you begin to hear the voice, Love not the world. And all of these things that are in it.
[12:40] And he that is a seeker of the world is not a seeker of God. The things of time are going to pass away. Oh, the Lord in his marvelous overturning and overturning and overturning.
[12:55] I'll never forget many years now since I did read that sermon of J.C. Philpott. And you remembered if I have it correctly in mind. I didn't intend to mention it, but it comes to mind now.
[13:08] He mentions of three major overturnings of what every soul is going to experience. I think I have them straight in my mind. The first one, there's going to be the overturning of worldly self.
[13:21] The folly, the foolishness, the worldliness which is in it. They can never blend with the fear of God. The second is the overturning of religious self.
[13:35] All of our carnal profession and all of that which is pride in our own knowledge of the religious truths has got to be gone. It's really gone for me now, the last overturning.
[13:46] But friends, there's going to be a continual overturning, isn't there? Until he brings it to whose right it is. Oh, the searchings of heart that Joseph wrought upon his brethren.
[13:58] But there was one thing in the heart of Joseph. He kept the brethren coming back. He didn't give them everything they wanted and left them go back and says, Well, now that's sufficient for you to keep the rest of your time.
[14:14] No. He kept Simeon back. And he demanded Benjamin. And then when they did get back, he put a cup, the silver cup, and Benjamin said, They had to go back.
[14:26] Ah, such is the nature of grace. Such is the nature of that living desire of which is put into the soul. You'll go back.
[14:37] You'll want another token. You'll want another revelation. You'll want light upon your pathway. And you'll want to know what it is. Have light, as it were, and desire that your evidences might be cleared up.
[14:51] And so he kept them coming back. But more and more, friends, their revelation of their sin came before them. Ah, you remember on one occasion they said, Surely God hath found us out.
[15:07] We are certainly guilty as concerning our brother. Father, Joseph heard it. Oh, what a marvel when we look upon to the 15th chapter there in the book of Luke.
[15:19] That heaven rejoiceth over one sinner that repenteth. I know Joseph didn't know the whole truth. I know he didn't really know how sincere these men were.
[15:33] But what a mercy when we know what it is to begin confession of sin. There is one who knows. But it's going to be more. It's going to be continually. Joseph heard them say, We are certainly very guilty concerning our brother.
[15:51] And certainly this is going to be the case. Certainly we are guilty before God. We have forfeited all right. We have despite his laws.
[16:04] And if you will bear, would I speak about myself? I realize, friend, that I had sinned against God's law, but my greatest sin was this.
[16:16] I had sinned against the gospel. I had heard it. I was brought up under it. I heard the conversation in my own home.
[16:27] Oh, to me there was no greater sin than sinning against the gospel. And to me, I thought, then there's no hope. Sinning against the law, I know there was a law fulfiller.
[16:39] But sinning against the gospel, I thought, certainly it will cut a man off. And there will be no hope. But in the nature of faith, you look again. Another cry.
[16:50] Another groan. Another sigh. Another looking on to the Lord. With all the slips and with all the falls and with all the backsliding, yet there's a coming on to him again.
[17:02] Verily, we are guilty. Further on another occasion, he says, God hath found us out. You remember when Paul preached there on these occasions, he says, a repentance towards God and a faith in the Lord Jesus.
[17:19] Once again, friend, if the famine wasn't sore, and if the things were not, as it were, cut off from them, they would have never gone back to Joseph.
[17:31] They would have said, that man is far too severe. But, friends, the Lord will bring you to a place you're going to go back to Joseph. Not only seeing him as a judge, but seeing him as a supplier of all that we stand and need of.
[17:47] Yes, a supplier of grace. Now we come more directly into the chapter we read. We find here that after bringing these two of true godly repentance, coming as a word undone, and their money was always sent in their sack, they had to come to this place that grace is free.
[18:10] It's not to be bought. And you remember in one of the chapters of which I can't quickly call your attention to, but in the first eleven verses of that one chapter you'll find there's five times they mentioned buy.
[18:23] They wanted to buy corn. They went down to Egypt to buy corn. They told Joseph, we have come to buy corn. They wanted nothing for nothing. But Joseph had to teach them.
[18:34] It's grace and grace alone, and not as were by any power or might of your own. But the time come. Oh, visit and a mercy friend, there is a set time to favor Zion.
[18:49] The Lord will not be silent forever. The time will come when he will break forth. He will reveal himself to his people. And it will be in his time and in his appointment when he does come.
[19:02] And such was it here in the case of Joseph. Joseph could not refrain himself from himself anymore.
[19:13] Now I want you to notice something here. He bid everyone depart except the brethren. They were outside of the secret.
[19:25] They were outside of a true famine state. They were outside of a hungering and a thirsting. They were outside of who Joseph was and the purposes of God.
[19:40] Oh, it is to God's people and his alone to whom he does show himself. The world cannot know these things. They cannot enter into these truths. Therefore, we find that all must depart.
[19:53] And it was there that Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. Yes, brethren. You remember this morning how I tried to touch upon the fact that they were brethren because they were united in flesh.
[20:13] And the same way that Christ condescended on heaven, he took flesh in order to unite himself with those to whom he must die for. So we find here that he says, I am Joseph, your brother.
[20:29] Oh, friend, there's love. In that very statement, friend, there is pardon. There is forgiveness. There is everything that a soul could want for time and for eternity.
[20:41] I don't believe they understood it all then. But later on, as they went back to there, you remember, and we read how they went back to their father.
[20:53] And they might have communed one with another and said, He called us brothers. Oh, condescension of the Lord Jesus, that he should call a rebel, that he should rightly foretell, and he should call them his brethren.
[21:11] And so he says, I am Joseph, your brethren. And you would know that they was afraid, and in the margin it means terrified. They couldn't believe it.
[21:23] They couldn't imagine it. But oh, the sweet drawings of the invitations which Christ gives to us all. He's come near unto me.
[21:35] Oh, do you believe it, friend, that to sinners that the Lord Jesus then also says, Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give thee rest.
[21:46] Oh, there is a drawing effect. I realize for the most part we may fear, as it were, at times to draw near. We may look upon to the glorious promises of the gospel.
[22:00] We see the beauty of them. We see the wonders if it could be the forgiveness of our sins and a sweet token from above. But we dare not, as it were, presume upon them.
[22:10] We want them applied. We want the Lord to speak. Speak. This is why the one man said, Speak, Lord, and my servant shall live.
[22:22] David also said, Speak, lest I be like unto those that go down into the pit. In other words, they want something of a reality. They want to hear the words of Christ. Before, you remember, Joseph always spoke through an interpreter.
[22:37] The interpreter was gone. And Joseph spoke the very language they understood. Such is the nature of grace, isn't it?
[22:50] Oh, we may, as it were, look upon many of these things as difficult to understand, and may as it look that they always are for somebody else. But when the Lord speaks, he speaks in a language we understand.
[23:06] Oh, there's his compassion. You ever notice in the teachings of Christ, in the writings of the Lord Jesus, in all of his sermons, in all of his teachings, you'll never find a long word.
[23:19] I don't know what the longest word is that it was ever found there. They're all short words, something you can understand. A little thing comes to my mind, if you'll bear with me.
[23:33] The first visitor that ever came from England to visit me in Grand Rapids, I felt, well, he's used to such good ministry in England, and now he's going to hear me.
[23:46] I thought I better make an apology to him. I said, I want you to know, first of all, that I'm just a simple man. And he turned to me and he said this, who was the simplest preacher that ever lived?
[24:01] It was Jesus. Oh, what a mercy. The condescending of him who is in heaven above. The great creator of the heaven and the earth.
[24:14] The one that knows every long word. He knows every heart. He knows everything that ever has come to pass. But when he ever constantly tend to speak to a sinner, he speaks like this, and then drew near unto him all the publicans and the sinners for to hear him.
[24:32] Come down, Zacchaeus, for I must abide at thine house. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. Friend, it don't take a theologian to understand that, does it?
[24:44] But it takes a brokenhearted sinner to know that, to receive it, to embrace it. Oh, the condescending of Christ.
[24:57] Joseph says, come near unto me. And they came near. There's something about the power of his word, the power of his invitation. We have all that kind of free will around us in Grand Rapids.
[25:12] But, friends, the Lord makes his people willing in the day of his power. When he says, come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, the weary and the heavy laden, hear it by the living nature of faith.
[25:24] And to the very words, may I have come forth with power. And it draws the soul right to the very heart of Christ. And they came near. We read a little later that he began to speak to them and says, Think not evil against yourself, and be not grieved nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither, but God did send me before you to preserve life.
[25:54] My mind goes to the day of Pentecost. You remember how the Jews had crucified the Lord Jesus? How they despised him and hated him.
[26:06] And they said, let him be crucified. And they joined, as it were, by compulsion and by their own wretched nature to join with the scribes and the Pharisees.
[26:17] And then you remember when Peter, on that solemn day, the day of Pentecost, he began to preach unto them who the Christ was and what he was, establishing his truths upon the scriptures and upon the Old Testament and mainly upon the Psalms.
[26:36] God was present. The Spirit of the Lord was found amongst them. These men were brought into great confession of their sins, into the great sin which they had done.
[26:48] And they cried out, men and brethren, what must we do? And you remember how Peter, on that solemn occasion, he gave them the way of escape. Repent and be baptized.
[27:00] Oh, in other words, he came near and says, Be not angry with yourself. God had preordained and so ordained it from all eternity that his Son should come into this world to die and rise again and ascend into glory, that he might redeem plenty.
[27:22] Ah, what a mercy like I realize it was great grace in the heart of Joseph in order to make such statements as this. But friends, what a mercy to see that from all eternity God had ordained that Christ should come into this world, that he should suffer, that he should die, that he should rise again and that he should ascend upon to glory, I dwelt a little bit upon to that this morning, and I ought not to repeat what I had said.
[27:58] But friends, we find that everything was foreordained from eternity. Now let's come into our soul. Friend, every token, every favor, every little touch you have ever had from the Lord flows from that eternal covenant and can come upon no other ground than the ground of the atonement.
[28:27] I know it isn't easy to grasp. I realize it isn't easy to realize it comes upon the ground of pardoning grace. We want the seal. We want the seal to the soul.
[28:37] But as much as he had said unto his brethren, all those transgressions and all the sins and all the evil thoughts and all the misgivings you ever imposed upon me are pardoned, they're forgiven.
[28:54] Thou art my brethren. Thou art in union unto me. Thou art mine. Thou art in union unto me. Thou art in union unto me. And then you remember a little later how he kissed them.
[29:05] Oh, the kisses of his lips are so sweet. Those are those promises. Those are the word of God which applies to the soul. They're felt and known.
[29:17] Certainly it would be a sad thing if a bride and a groom would come together and the bride would say, My bride has never, my groom has never kissed me. In all of our life, he's never given me a kiss.
[29:29] It would show there is no love. There is no affection. Oh, friend, I realize we need grace. We need faith to realize those kisses, those tokens which the Lord gives to the soul is because he loved you.
[29:49] Oh, meditate upon it, friend. I think of that word. I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness have I drawn thee.
[30:06] Oh, the drawings of Christ, drawing sinners to himself. Is this what you want? Does the word of God draw you?
[30:17] Do the sweet promises draw your heart? Does it draw you from your unbelief, your doubts? Does it draw you from this world and from a profession of religion?
[30:29] Is there something that draws you to the word of God and desiring that it might be sweetly applied to your own heart and to your own soul? Yes, he says, come near unto me.
[30:42] And then you remember how he says, how that he kissed him and said that how it was God that actually brought him there and went before them to preserve them for a great deliverance.
[30:58] In other words, he was brought to me to testify, it was God who sent me to which you might be delivered. Delivered from what?
[31:10] I realize delivered from hell, but first of all, delivered from the condemnation of the law. Delivered from our miserable self. Delivered, as it were, from a hopeless self.
[31:23] But delivered unto Jesus. A hope in the Lord. Lord, there's a great deliverance, isn't there? What a great deliverance he's seen. He's seen that if there was no deliverance, they would have died in Canaan.
[31:39] They would have come to naught. But now Joseph has realized that for himself, his great calling. But Christ knew it from all eternity. This is why he must needs go through Samaria.
[31:53] There was one which was given to him of his father. It was part of the bride. He loved that woman from all eternity, and he must seek his lost sheep.
[32:04] And like in the words of my text, where Joseph says, I seek my brethren. He left that man alone. He went on until he found him. Such is the nature of the Lord Jesus in seeking his sheep.
[32:18] Not one shall be lost. Each one shall be gathered in its own time. And as I said in the beginning, he says that each one will know according to their time a set time to favor Zion.
[32:36] Let us go further with some of these illustrations which we see out of our text or out of our chapter. And you remember how he promised them the land of Goshen.
[32:48] A land which flowed because that was where the River Nile flowed into the Mediterranean Sea. And it was a fertile land. And he says, And there will I nourish thee.
[33:04] Oh, God is faithful. Even down to old age, he will never forget his own. I know we get troubled. We have fears sometimes, don't we?
[33:16] And I know there's gray hairs among us here and there's gray hairs on my head. My days are numbered. I'm in my 70s so I know it's not going to be that much longer.
[33:28] But oh, I need grace. I need faith to believe that even down to old age he will be my portion. He will nourish thee. And you remember as the famine came on to the land of Asia, there was a wand.
[33:44] What did Pharaoh say? Go to Joseph. Ah, do you hunger and thirst? Do you desire another token for your own soul?
[33:55] There's only one place to find it, friend, and that is in the Lord Jesus. And now we come to that thought which I begin. I said this morning hour that they lost the number of the count of the grains which were put into the storehouses.
[34:11] They couldn't begin to count no more. They lost the count. But every time one grain was taken out, there was one less. Not so with God's grace. His grace cannot be counted.
[34:25] His love cannot be measured. And so, friend, what a mercy, there is a fullness which is found in Christ. All the abundance which is there.
[34:37] All the abundance which is there stored up. For we've got to leave them.
[34:54] We can't have every type. I'm not trying to stretch every type and figure. But I do not believe that brethren, that Joseph's brethren or his father had ever paid for one mite for that corn.
[35:06] It was free. Now, as I said, let us see if we can look in that granary and see what we can find. In that granary, friend, there's pardon of sin.
[35:21] And you can imagine as they came to the granary of living faith, they're looking on to Joseph. Oh, that I could have the forgiveness of my sin.
[35:32] That I might have the application of it to my own heart and to my own soul. I'll go to Joseph. Why? Because he has blood to atone. By that precious blood of Jesus, there is forgiveness of sin.
[35:47] And we know that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. And Christ died and therefore came forth blood and water. Oh, what a granary when we look upon the water which sets forth his sanctification and the blood that sets forth justification.
[36:06] In other words, pardon and washing. We need both. It's a fountain open for sin and uncleanness. Oh, that we could see the beauty of it.
[36:17] That we might know what it is to bathe ourselves in that crimson fountain which is made open for sin. It's freely granted unto all those who come unto him by faith.
[36:28] Can you see the beauty of that granary? It resembles that of, of course, the case of the prodigal. Oh, he came from a far country.
[36:40] There again he came to a place of starvation and to a place of one. And then he began to realize and I perish with hunger when there is a fullness in my father's house.
[36:51] Oh, if we could only see the fullness in Christ. We've far to limit him. I realize there's times when we can ask for a crumb, but what a mercy when we receive the crumb and God gives us a view.
[37:04] It came from the table. It came from the loaf. The great provision which is found there. But there that prodigal came in his rags and all of his filth.
[37:16] His filth, his rags, didn't make drive him away. And actually in one respect, that very filth in his rags drew him to the father. Oh, does your nakedness, does all of your filth and all of your corruption, does it drive you as it were to that fountain and to him who can cover?
[37:37] Do you see the beauty of the garments there to which he put upon his prodigal? Undeserving, no merit, because it was free, without money and without price.
[37:51] Oh, there's in that grain rain, oh, to have eyes to see. So what a mercy if the Lord brings us there into this place, vile and full of sin I am.
[38:04] And but he says, in me is life, in me is righteousness, in me is that glorious garment that covers all of my sins and makes me pure and holy before the eyes of a triune God.
[38:19] Yes, like in Romans, being justified by faith, we have peace with God. That's what we want.
[38:31] A reality in religion, something real, something known and found. And so they came to Joseph. Well, then you remember, finally, Joseph bid them to go back and get to their father.
[38:47] He sent to the chariots, Jesus. But there is one thought that comes to me. He says, and tell my father of all my glory. I cannot look upon his father as God in heaven, but upon one who had gone through many trials, through many sorrows, through many conflicts, through many evil days, through many trials.
[39:19] Oh, friend, what a mercy when this comes to you. And the Lord Jesus might say, tell them of all my glory. Have you seen any of the glory of Christ, the glory of his grace, the abounding over all of our sins, the glory of his love which passes all the love upon the face of this earth.
[39:42] It is eternal in its nature and unchangeable throughout the whole. Oh, there is a glory in his person as we look upon him. So he condescended the very creator of heaven and earth who was God over all, the glory of his condescension to take flesh and dwell among us and like the apostle John says, and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten Son of God full of truth and grace.
[40:17] Tell them of my glory, of the precious blood of the atonement. Tell them the glory of my glorious robe of righteousness. Tell them of my eternal love, eternal place where they shall dwell with me forever.
[40:35] Oh, friends, there is an, I can never begin as a word to exhaust the glory. I would far exhaust myself than to even to begin to attempt to exhaust the glory of Christ.
[40:50] A thought comes to me of the dying words of John Owen and I can't repeat them. But something to this effect you remember he was told something like this that they have sent to the press, your latest book called The Glory of Christ.
[41:08] I'm not going to try to say what he said but it's gone. You know it probably better than I do but he indicated that he was about not. Oh, by that that which he wrote was yet come far short but yet he was about to see.
[41:24] Oh, tell them of all my glory. Oh, it is a minister's place to tell you the glory of Christ. It is the place of that Holy Spirit to apply the glory of Christ to your soul.
[41:38] Do you see the glory of it? Is it something you want? Is it something which draws your heart and your soul? Oh, friend, I know we come so short.
[41:50] Oh, but there is that fullness which is found in him. Further, you remember how that the news came to Jacob and Jacob didn't believe it.
[42:02] It was almost too great. And then when he seen the wagons, the spirit of Jacob revived and Israel said, you probably know it just as well as I do.
[42:17] There is always a right place for Jacob and there is a right place for Israel. Jacob said, but Israel revived. Oh, that conquering Israel which conquers over all our unbelief and our doubts and our fears.
[42:33] That's what we need, don't we? We're too much like Jacob filled with many doubts and saying, all these things are against me but by the grace of God when the Lord gives us that living faith and revives our soul then we can say, Israel, Sam, I will yet see Joseph.
[42:56] Now, running as it quickly into chapter 46, I just want to point out to you the precious promise that the Lord gave unto Jacob.
[43:08] You will find it in verse 46 and verses 3 and 4. There's seven in all. I hope I can trace them out to the best of my ability. The one first is, I am God.
[43:21] That's an impressive word, isn't it? I am God. That eliminates everything, doesn't it? I am God. The second is this, the God of thy fathers.
[43:34] I am that covenant keeping God. I haven't forgot my covenant. I haven't forgot the promises. Jacob, you did, but I didn't.
[43:46] Can you see the beauty of it, friend? Then to the third, fear not to go down into Egypt. I know Egypt sometimes is counted as a dark place, but in this application, fear not to go down.
[44:02] Oh, there are fears. It was a long journey, and without a doubt, he knew that he was to come to that particular place, but there was a change. Fear not. Oh, when the Lord says fear not, the fears are gone.
[44:17] This is what we want to hear, don't we? And the fourth is, I will, for, I will make of thee a great nation.
[44:28] The promise to affirm. I realize we're not looking to be of a great nation of ourselves, are we? But we do love to know something of growth and grace, don't we?
[44:41] In other words, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. I will do great things for thee. Those promises that I have given you in time past, they'll come to pass.
[44:54] And I believe the fifth is, I will go with thee into Egypt. Oh, we want him to be with us, to walk alongside and be our companion.
[45:06] And the sixth is, I will surely bring thee up again. Jake, without a doubt, was concerned about coming back there.
[45:18] I know he came back as a dead man and buried, but as much as to say, I'll bring you back here and buried with your fathers. Now, there can be some other sweet applications to all of this, without a doubt, but the last one was, and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes.
[45:39] Ah, that was a seal to it all, wasn't it? when Jacob and Joseph put his hand upon his father, it sealed it all. Oh, friends, there's so much to be said.
[45:53] I wish I could cap it up in a few words, but I have to leave that with my God. Yes, Jacob, a Joseph, would make himself known to his brethren.
[46:05] What did we say? He brought about a famine. God did. He brought them into a place of want. They would have stayed in that wretched, not, they would have stayed in that land, and if there had been a few grains, they would have lived as it were, in a impoverished condition, hoping as it were, a little rain, a little later, and finally be content to stay there, and never see Joseph.
[46:27] But God was not content. They will come to Joseph. My people shall be willing in the day of my power. He brought them to a place of famine.
[46:39] He brought them to a place of true godly repentance, and Joseph made his brethren come back to him again and again, and while they were in the land of Canaan, he says, I will nourish thee, and as they were brought to want and to need, they came to Joseph, and he opened up the storehouses, and gave out of the abundance freely and sovereignly, and there they lived.
[47:01] True, it all came to an end someday, but not so with a heavenly Joseph, who lives and reigns forever. Amen.