Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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37th chapter of Genesis and the second verse. These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being 17 years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren, and the lad was with the sons of Bilha, and with the sons of Zilta, his father's wives. And Joseph brought unto his father their evil report.
Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children.
Because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a coat of many color colors. And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him and could not speak peaceably unto him.
The other night out at Rio Ferry, we were looking at the life of Jacob. And in that life I believe we can see the grace of God and the government of God. But I believe, brethren, we can also see the grace of God and the government of God in the life of Joseph, in the life of Jacob. In many ways there was a sad note to it, although all ended very brightly because he was restored at the end.
But in the life of Joseph, we see one who went on consistently and happily.
And so we see in his life the grace of God. I say that because I believe this, that it takes just as much of the grace of God to keep any of us from failing as to restore us after we have failed. And I believe we need to remember that because we all have to acknowledge.
That if in any measure he has kept us from those things that would have dishonored his name, do we take credit to ourselves or would we not rather say, oh, it's all his grace that has kept me and preserve me? And so I say again, it's the grace of God that.
That preserves us as well as the grace of God that restores us. Then on the other side there is the government of God. But there is the government of God in a happy way as well as in a way that often brings trial and sorrow into our lives. I believe in Jacob's case we see the grace of God that restored him after a life where he was characterized to a large extent by self will.
And then we see the government of God that followed him in his pathway.
And many sorrows came upon him in his pathway in that government of God. But it tells us in Galatians chapter 6, whatsoever a man soweth that shall, he also reap. He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, and he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. So there were two different ways of sewing. We can solder the flesh. I believe Jacob did that.
And for Jacob reaped after the flesh in so many things. But I believe in contrast, we see in the life of Joseph that he sowed to the Spirit. He sought to live his life to please the Lord. And brethren, isn't that the desire of every true child of God, that we should live our lives to His glory and praise here in this world?
So I say again, I would like to speak of the life of Joseph in this way, that we see the grace of God in preserving a young man like this, just 17 years old, when we're introduced to him here, and preserving him through his life and causing him amid his trials to find that peace and joy that comes from taking our circumstances from the Lord. And we see this brought out so nicely in his life.
We have often looked at the life of Joseph as a picture of the Lord Jesus.
Because as far as I know there is a little, if any recorded failure in the life of Joseph, and I believe it shows us what we read in Second Corinthians chapter 4. The God's desire is that the life of Jesus would be seen in our bodies.
Now that is you and I who are believers have the life of Jesus within us. Often that life is not seen. Often, instead of seeing that new life, I'm sorry to say that people see the old life in me. And perhaps you find the same in you.
They see that fallen nature with which were born. But God has put a new treasure in the earthen vessel, and He has given us that new life, and He has given us the Holy Spirit so that we might manifest the life of Jesus.
And I believe in a practical and typical way, We could see this in Joseph. He was a man of like passions, like you and I. He was a person who had temptations like you and I. But it's beautiful to see him in the different situations in which he was placed, that he manifests the life of Jesus.
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You see in his life that beautiful display of kindness and grace and love and forgiveness all through his life. And also accepting all the things that came, because all the things that came were not pleasant. And God doesn't promise us, even if we desire to please the Lord, that life is always going to be pleasant. The Lord Jesus himself in this world.
Always did the things that pleased his father.
About he had many things that he passed through as a perfect, obedient man. He was hungry, he was thirsty, he was worried. He was mistaken by his brethren, that is, they didn't understand some of the things that he said.
And he was grieved by the attitude of people toward him. All those things he felt, as well as feeling all the sorrows and difficulties of humanity. So the Lord Jesus, although he was and is perfect God as well as perfect man, He passed through all these things.
And so, as I say, I'd like to look at Joseph in a way that I hope that will stir each one of our hearts, that in the situations that we meet in life, we might display the life of Jesus, that others might take knowledge of us, that we are walking in his company.
And that the Spirit of God is leading us. Well, I say the first time were introduced to him here after his birth. He's 17 years of age. Perhaps there's somebody in the room here tonight that 17 years of age. Well, it's nice to see how when we go out to see this young man.
We see him in the enjoyment of the love of the family circle, and perhaps we could say that it was because he was an obedient person. You know, as parents, we love our children. We love the most rebellious and disobedient. But you know, there's something special and how our hearts go out to those who have a desire to be in our company and to please us. And I think this characterized Joseph.
And I think he enjoyed a lot more of the family love that he might have if he had been rebellious. You know, the Lord loves us when we're rebellious, but we don't always enjoy his love. Tells us in John chapter 14, it says there if a man loved me, he will keep my words and my father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him.
You say, doesn't the Lord love all his children?
What does that verse mean? Well, brother, and I believe we all know that there is a special enjoyment of the Lord's love if we're walking in obedience and close to His side. I think Joseph becomes an example of this. And may I say to those who are teenagers here tonight, I think if you're rebelling against your parents, you don't realize how much they love you. But if you're trying to please them, you're going to find that there's a lot more love and you're in their hearts than you have.
Discovered and that they would like to do many things for you. They'd like to do you do many things that are hindered. Because when we are rebellious against the Lord, we don't enjoy many of the things He has for us. And when we're rebellious against our parents, we don't enjoy many of the things.
And that they would like to do for us. Joseph had a special, shall I say, feeling between his father and himself. And we'll see as we read on in the story, what an obedient boy he was. And he was in the enjoyment of this love. He had this coat of many colors made for him. But his brothers?
They envied him. They actually went as far as it says. They couldn't speak peaceably to him. And perhaps you say, well, if I tried to do what's right, my peers, those who are my own age, they don't understand and they dislike me because they know I'm trying to do what's right and please the Lord.
But that's where we're put to the test, brethren. That's where we're put to the test. Dear young people, who are we living to please?
I've often said it's not wrong to have the desire to be accepted. That is a natural and proper desire in the heart. But the big question is, with whom do we want to be accepted? Do we want to be accepted by those who are not seeking to please the Lord who are living for this world?
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Or is it our desire to be accepted of the Lord himself? Paul said. We labor that whether present or absent, we may be accepted or it could be translated agreeable to him. Isn't that nice? Pauls life was lived with a desire that each day he might live it in a way that was agreeable to the Lord. And so we see with Joseph this.
Sweet intimacy between his father and himself.
And at 17 years of age, his father then was able to display this love toward him. But we find the beginning of things that he had to go through because he wanted to please the Lord. He was disliked by his brethren, but did he ever show any bitterness toward them?
I don't know one instance where he displayed anything but kindness to them. And the Bible says that would do good to those that hate us for to pray for them who despitefully use us and persecute us. And this we see beautifully exemplified in the life of dear Joseph.
Going on a little further in the chapter we see here.
In the 13th verse. And Isaac Israel rather Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock and check them? Come, and I will send thee unto them. And he said unto him, Here am I. And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks, and bring me word again. So he sent him out of the veil of Hebron, and he came to.
Shechem the 18th verse. And when his brethren saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him.
And 21St Verse. And Ruben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands, and said, Let us not kill him. And Ruben said unto them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him, that he may rid, that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again. And it came to pass, when Joseph was coming to his brethren, that they stripped Joseph out of his coat.
Many colors that was on him, and they took him and cast him into a pit, and the pit was empty and there was no water in it.
Well I'm sure many of us are acquainted with this story, but you'll notice in this 13th verse how his father wanted him to go down and bring a message to his brother and who were in Shechem. He could have easily said well he don't like me, they don't want me and I don't want to go.
But you see this lovely obedience that was manifest in his life and in his ways. And he said, here am I, He was willing, willing to do something that was difficult. Life isn't always easy. Whether we're young or old. There's a lot of things that we were asked to do that are not easy to do.
But let us learn to have willing hearts, willing to do the will of God.
And the will of God in connection with children is children. Obey your parents for this as well pleasing unto the Lord. For those of us who are older too, it ought to be something like it was with Saul of Tarsus when he was saved. He said, What shall I do? Lord? There was a willingness, and so he comes down.
Looking for his brethren. And it tells us here that even before he came to them, they saw him and they hated him and they said we're going to get rid of him. They didn't want him. And perhaps this has been the experience of some I've tried to please the Lord, but nobody understands. And I'll really get the rebuff every time I try to please the Lord.
Oh dear young person, do you give up? Joseph didn't give up. Joseph went on in that path even though he had to suffer in the path of obedience.
Our precious Savior did he suffered in the path of obedience and only that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. So he comes down to them. But there's something that I reason I read these verses out of Ruben and I think there's something that's rather sweet about, but it says here because Ruben was the one who sinned and who lost the right of the birthright.
He was the oldest son and he should have had the blessing.
Of the first born, and because of his sin he forfeited it. But isn't it nice? The spirit of picks up this man and records something that is very nice in his character. And this is good for us, brethren. There may be things that we have seen in others and we don't need to write them off just because we have seen them. We can seek grace in the Lord to see something that's good because God and His wondrous goodness picks out of your life and mine.
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That which is pleasing to him.
And even though we may have to reap in his government for our careless and willful ways, he does take notice about those things. And later on, when the brethren came down to see Josephus, we'll see, Ruben says to them again. Didn't I tell you not to do that to him?
He wanted to deliver him. There was something nice about Reuben, even low. He had to reap because of what he had done. And he never regained what he lost by his sin. And you know there are losses, brethren, in our lives that we cannot regain, but God still sees that which is the fruit of the Spirit.
And picks it out and manifests it because he values every little response in your heart and mind that is pleasing to him.
Well, he took Joseph, and they put him in the pit, and then when the merchant men came by, he was sold to these Ishmaelites for 20 pieces of silver, and they brought Joseph into Egypt. But we find here that there was no resentment.
At least no resentment recorded in the life of Joseph at all. I think if it had been you, or perhaps if it had been me, I'm afraid that I would have said some things that weren't very nice to my brethren who were treating me in that way. But here isn't this nice to see.
There's not one word recorded about Joseph saying anything unkind to or about his brethren, ever.
He he accepted this situation because I believe that there was a secret in Joseph's life and that was that he was accepting things from the Lord.
And absolutely nothing happens in your life and mine by chance. No one can say an unkind word even unless God loves it. Nobody can do an unkind thing unless God allows it. And it seems to me that this is the way Joseph accepted all these things. And so we find Ruben brought in again. Here. Reuben was feeling badly over what had taken place.
But the brethren take care of this code of many colors.
This sign of special favor that Joseph had in the eyes of his father. And they dip it in the blood of the animals, the kid of the goats, and take it and deceive their poor old father. We spoke about Jacob and how he was deceived. This was a sad thing for poor Jacob, but he had deceived his own father, you know, and it was coming back on him. But on the part that we're looking at here, we see that.
There's submission in the life of Joseph.
In connection with all these things, and he takes everything from the Lord. Now let's turn over to the 39th chapter and we see Joseph now down in Egypt.
The first word is Saint Joseph was brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Feral, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmaelites, which had brought him down, hit her thither, and the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man.
And he was in the House of his master, the Egyptian, and his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand. Here is Joseph. He's not carrying any, as I say, of bitterness. He's not even depressed. I think that perhaps I would have been very depressed to be in a situation like that. And perhaps I would have been saying to myself, well, I was only.
Please the Lord. And why did this happen to me? But we find that Joseph submits to the hand of God and he does his work. Well. This also is a lesson to us because we're speaking about the grace of God in preserving us. And I believe that as Joseph looked to the Lord.
That he supplied the Lord, supplied that grace to accept some of these difficult situations from the Lord because as I say, he could have been very upset. But instead of this, he does his work well and the Bible tells us this is the way we should do for working for somebody.
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Tells us about the slave in Epistle to the Colossians, that even if he had a difficult master to work for, it said, Knowing that of the Lord, ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for ye serve the Lord Christ. Maybe there's some here and you have a difficult employer.
He's hard to work for, He's overbearing, he's on understanding. While Joseph here, he did his work so well that the man that he was working for realized that he was a person of ability and he set him over the things in his household. It says here he made him.
In the fourth verse. And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him, and made him overseer over his house.
And all that He had, He put into his hand. Now things seem to be turning a little brighter and better for Him. And is your life like that, you say? Well, it does seem that sometimes things turn and go along very well. But you know, the Lord never seems to allow us to go along smoothly for very long. He allows continual testings to arrive in our lives.
Perhaps at this time Joseph was.
Thinking in himself, isn't it wonderful how the Lord has come in for me? My brothers haven't been kind to me, but the Lord is undertaking for me. But now another blow falls. And you know, dear brethren, there are things sometimes that we don't understand why they happen. Had Joseph not been desiring to please the Lord? Yes, indeed he had. As I say again, as far as I know, there's little or no recorded failure in his life.
Why did God allow another situation to arise? Well, it tells us in Corinthians that whatsoever things were written, the four time were written for our learning. That we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope things are written for our learning and to know how God allows temptation to come into our lives too. And sometimes when things seem to go.
Be going along well and God allows as it were.
Pharaoh with all his hosts to come out against us, just like when Israel left Egypt, it says Pharaoh gathered together all his Chariots to go after them. He didn't want them to go and serve the Lord. And when things seem to be going well in our lives, we might think I'm over the Crest. Now I don't have to be so watchful. Things are going along pretty smoothly. But you know, the devil sees when things are going along smoothly and he knows just how to bring in a.
Subtle temptation into our lives. And a very subtle temptation came into the life of Joseph at this point. And Potiphar's wife, she set her eyes upon him to cause him to do what was morally wrong. And we see that this was now a test for Joseph. Was he going to continue to please the Lord? He could have said like some might say, Well, nobody will ever know about it.
But you know, the Lord sees everything. There's absolutely nothing that we can hide from Him.
That Bible tells us all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Let's always bear this in mind. We may deceive other people, but we can never, never deceive the Lord.
But this young man who was walking close to the Lord when this temptation came to him, what was his answer? He said, God forbid that I should do this great wickedness and sin against God. Isn't that lovely? He didn't say, well, that would be really harmful to other people. It would be harmful to Potiphar. It would have been in a certain sense harmful to this.
Woman Potiphar's wife, as well as to himself, but he looked at the very source and he said it would be a sin against God. And that's the way to look at things. You say, well, it hurts somebody else. Yes, often things we do hurt somebody else, but most of all.
Serious thing to sin against God.
Let's think of every time a temptation comes that if we yield, we don't just harm somebody else, we sin against God. And this is what Joseph realized. And so he said, God forbid that I should do this great wickedness and sin against God. And so he ran to get away from it. But you say that the Lord didn't protect him, did he?
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You know, sometimes the Lord allows false accusations to come. Perhaps sometime you've been falsely accused.
Did you have the grace to leave it with the Lord as long as you had a good conscience, as Joseph could have at this point? Were you content to leave it with the Lord and know that he knows all the facts? Everything is well known to him. When the Lord Jesus was here, it says they sought false witnesses against him. Yeah, they tried to bring things against the Lord, but how beautiful.
With the Lord Jesus when those temptations came.
He didn't he, it says he answered not a word. And we read in Peter's epistle, who, when he was reviled, reviled not again, when he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him. That Judith righteously, brethren, it's a good thing in matters like this.
To commit things to the Lord. I remember my father said to me a good many years ago that he spoke to an older brother one time and something had been said against him that hurt. And he said to this older brother, what do you do when things are said that are unkind and untrue? And this brother said to him, he said, brother.
Walk with God and your brethren will change their opinion about you. There's some things we can't set right, but if we are walking with God then it won't be long till people will recognize it. And would any of us have any doubt that Joseph was walking with God? His whole life showed a man who had the fear of God before him.
But God had his hand in this. He had somebody in the prison that he wanted to bless.
And when Paul was put into prison, he was put in there unjustly. But God had some of Caesar's household that he wanted to save. He had some epistles that he wanted to be written that might Paul might have felt that it was difficult for him to write them while he was moving about so much.
So God had his plan and he allowed him to be put into prison, falsely accused. It's a good thing, brethren, to be able to commit our way to the Lord. So we see now Joseph then is put in prison. And first of all, he was disappointed in his brother. Now he's disappointed in his boss. His boss falsely accuses him on the strength of what his wife said.
And there he is, disappointed now in the prison.
And now on the 40th chapter we see here.
I just read the fifth verse and they dreamed a dream, both of them. Each man is dreaming one night, each man, according to the interpretation of his dream, dream the Butler and the Baker of the king of Egypt, which were bound in the prison.
And Joseph came in unto them in the morning, and looked upon them, and behold, they were sad. And then he interprets their dream, and particularly the one about the Butler. The 13th verse. Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head.
And restore thee unto thy place, and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand after the former manner, when thou wast his Butler. But think on me when it shall be well with thee. And shall kindness I pray thee unto me, and make mention of me and the feral, and bring me out of this house. For indeed I was stolen away out of the hand the land of the Hebrews. And here also have I done.
Nothing that they should put me into the dungeon. The 23rd verse. Yet did not the chief Butler remember Joseph but forgot him?
Here another big disappointment comes.
I guess we all know that little poem Disappointment his appointment. Change one letter and I see that the thwarting of my purpose was his better choice for me. When you change Disappointment, you change the D to an H Then it's his appointment.
And so here is Joseph now he's in the prison. These men have a dream, and it tells us that.
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Within three days.
Pharaoh would lift up his head, and the Butler has a dream rather, and he would be restored. And then he asked a little favor from him. He asked him that he would remember him and speak well of him before Pharaoh. And here again we have.
This disappointment in his life, we find that he had been disappointed in his brethren, he had been disappointed in his employer, and now here he is in prison. Is he going to have a further disappointment? You say a person that wants to please the Lord and all these difficulties and trials come. Yes, there's no promise that because you have a desire to please the Lord, your life is going to be an easy one.
But it'll be a fruitful one. It'll be in many ways a happy one, if you and I learned to take our circumstances from the Lord and to see His hand in everything that happens. And so, you know, tells us here that that this Butler that he had shown kindness to in the prison forgot him, and he spent two full years in the prison.
Just think falsely accused, thrown into prison.
Now he has a glimmer of hope that he's going to get out when he shows this kindness to the Butler. But the Butler forgot him. But God had everything timed. God had everything timed. It was two years until we find that Pharaoh had a dream. And if Joseph got out of the prison at that point, he would probably just have been a forgotten man in Egypt. But.
When he's submissive to the ways of God.
How God is moving behind the scenes, how he's working things out.
And he had it all time, so that when Pharaoh had the dream and he didn't know what that that this Butler who had forgotten him for this long period of time now speaks up. He says, I do remember my fault this day. And may I say something just here in passing? If someone has shown a kindness to you, don't forget it. Don't forget it. The Lord has shown kindness to us and he.
To remember him, He died in our place, and he gives us the privilege of showing that in that way. A response in our hearts to remember him. And sometimes we have forgotten him too, but he values that. He says this too, in remembrance of me. Well, again going back to what we see then, the Joseph is now taken out of the prison, brought before Pharaoh, and God gives him wisdom.
And he is able to interpret these dreams that Pharaoh had and to tell Pharaoh what's going to happen and how there's going to be a famine. Well, God had his hand in all this. And after a great many series of disappointments and trials, then we see, as it were, things seem to turn to a brighter side in his life. Bible says it's good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth. And I think.
Say that Joseph did bear the yoke in his youth, but now we find after he has learned some lessons in the school of God. And brethren, we are in the school of God and God is seeking to teach us. And he doesn't always teach us the easy way. Sometimes the way he teaches is the hard way.
But as Job said, who teacheth like him, There's no one that can teach us like him. And so we find here that Joseph is taken out of the prison. He makes this wonderful suggestion in connection with the famine that is coming, and it tells us in the.
In the.
41St The 40th verse of this 41St chapter. Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled. Only in the throne will I be greater than now.
And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand, and arrayed him investors of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck.
And he made him to ride in the second chariot, which he had, and they cried before him. Bow the knee.
And he made him real over all the land of Egypt. Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh called Josephs name Zafna Penia, and he gave him to wife Asanath, the daughter of Potiphar.
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And Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt. Well, here we find that now Joseph is advanced. He's given a wonderful position. We know our precious Lord and Savior has been exalted at the right hand of God. He's there a Prince and a Savior. He's there as the blesser. And I think it's so wonderful. After he rose from the dead, he said to the disciples and that repentance.
Remission of sins might be preached among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Isn't there something wonderful about that? The very people that had crucified him, that spit in his face and cried away with him, He says, tell them first about the pardon that I have for them, if they'll only come in repentance. How beautiful to see this. And, brethren.
If we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him.
This is the suffering time, but there is a reigning time coming even for believers, and it's worthwhile to go through the suffering. The Lord will give grace and glory. Grace 1St and then glory when we see something rather and touching here just in passing.
In the 45th verse it says Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zafna Penia and it has been. It has been interpreted in two different ways. It says Zafna the revealer of secrets and then he was given to wife Asanath, the daughter of Potiphar priest Yvonne.
Or perhaps we could say it's a little picture of what has come out since the death of Christ.
And that is, that the Lord Jesus is going to take a Gentile bride. A great secret came out consequent upon his glorious work. And Paul said that it was hid from ages and from generations, but now has made manifest. And what is it that out of this world, this Gentile world, God is picking out a bride for his Son? And you and Gentile united together.
Everyone who is saved is going to form part of that bride.
So we see wonderful results that happened as a result of Pharaohs of Josephs humiliation, just as the Lord Jesus went through so much and is now exalted rather than there's a coming day when you and I are going to look back on our pathway here.
Going to see God's hand in all the circumstances and those things that seem difficult, if we accepted them from him, if we manifested the Spirit of Christ in them, they will be rewarded. And I'm sure that when we see the reward that the Lord has for little things done for him, we will be surprised. Perhaps we'll say in our hearts, why didn't I do more for him?
Why did I get annoyed when that thing went wrong? It might have been the greatest blessing to me if I had taken it from the Lord.
And I believe, brethren, we're going to be surprised at the judgment seat of Christ when our lives pass into review to see how God had His hand in every circumstance, the adverse as well as the pleasant things that happened.
Joseph's now placed in charge here in the land of Egypt, and all this is gathered together. Now we come to another page in the history of Joseph, and it tells us as we go on here, I think we'll just turn over to the 45th chapter and I'll just make a few comments about the intervening chapters. This famine that God said was going to come.
And that Joseph was able to interpret.
Salmon covered this whole part of the country over all lands. That says and.
This famine struck them back there in the land of Kenan, where Joseph brethren were.
They might have thought they were through with Joseph forever.
And they might have tried to forget about the sad event that had happened, but God made them feel their need of food. And so they come down to Egypt and they don't realize that Joseph is the Lord of all Egypt. And brethren, perhaps we could apply this to ourselves. Do we realize the Lord's in control of everything you say? Why did that happen?
Why did the Lord allow it? But Joseph was the Lord of all Egypt. Everything was in his hands there.
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And before the Lord Jesus went up, he said, All power is given unto me in heaven.
And in earth. And Scripture says that he has had over all things to the Church, which is his body. And now God sees to it that Joseph's brethren are brought to feel their need of Joseph. They had despised him, they had laughed at him, but now when they feel their need of him, is he going to turn and say, Oh, serves you right, you were so mean to me, I can be mean to you.
Sometimes our natural hearts are like that, aren't they?
But the Bible says, see that no man render evil for evil to any man, but contrary, why is a blessing knowing that we're called to inherit a blessing? And I think this is a wonderful example in the life of Joseph and perhaps it speaks to your heart and mind. How do we react when the people that were unkind to us come into a difficult situation?
And perhaps we have an opportunity to help them. Do we spring to the occasion? Do we say, well, this is an opportunity to show the grace of God? Well, I think it is very lovely to see this. This is part of the grace of God in the life of Joseph. And I say, brethren, we see the grace of God in restoring Jacob. But I say it took a lot of grace on the part of Joseph to act in this way too.
But God supplies that grace. You say I couldn't do it.
Not to somebody who had been so mean to me, but God supplies the grace of His fullness of all we received, and grace upon grace. This 45th chapter. Now 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.
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 unto me, I pray you. And they came near. He said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved nor angry with yourselves that you sold me Heather.
Did send me before you to preserve life for these two years have the famine been in the land, and yet there are five years, and the which there shall neither be earring or 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 now it was not you that sent me hit her, but God.
And then he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and Lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. Isn't this a wonderful picture that we see here? I know we can, and we often do, rightly look at this as a picture of the Lord Jesus and the wonderful grace that He has shown to us.
When we deserve nothing but his judgment. But, brethren, Joseph was a real man.
He had feelings just like you and I. He had an old nature just like I have and you have. The Lord Jesus, we know, was never, never tempted to do anything that was wrong because He was wholly harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. But He had something inside of him that could easily have reacted the wrong way. But what does he do? He invites his brethren to come near.
He weeps. He makes himself known to them.
And he says, now I know you're going to be blaming yourself, but he said, I see the hand of God in all this that has happened. Isn't this a wonderful spirit, brethren? He could have, as I said, turned on them and said, you brought all this upon yourself and I want to hear you say a great deal of how wrong you were. He true, He had brought them to repentance before and now that it has been out, so to speak, now he is showing kindness.
Them they've broken down, they said, we're verily guilty concerning our brother, and now he frankly and fully forgives them. Let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. And it says we're to act in the same way it says.
Tender hearted, forgiving one another even as God in Christ has forgiven you. And so here we find that he, he comforts them and tells them that God's hand was in it. He had accepted all these circumstances as from the Lord and he tells them there are still further problems ahead. He said you've had two years of famine, but there's going to be five years more.
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And I've often thought, brethren, we may think that we have had a few problems in the past.
And some of you have had more problems, perhaps than I have had. The Lord has been wonderfully good to me. But I see some Christians have a real difficult time in their life, and the Lord understands and knows all about that too. But I believe that if the Lord leaves us here, we can't expect things to get better.
The Bible says evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse. The Bible says because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. And so we can't expect a bright picture when we look out on the future. As we await the Lorde return, things may get worse instead of better, and that's what Joseph is telling his brethren. But he said.
There is a place of shelter and he said if you come down here into Egypt, notice what he said.
In the ninth verse haste G 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, Terry 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 of the has.
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. Yes, there was a place of shelter, and that was to be near to Joseph. Well, we can look at that as a picture of being nearer to the Lord Jesus, for that is our only place of safety. But isn't it true, too, that if we were showing the Spirit of Christ like we should, we'd want to be near to one another?
We'd want to be in the company of one another.
We'd see one another's needs and we would try to be a help to one another.
And so we see that Joseph, now, his brethren, have been repentant. They have acknowledged that they're wrong. And now all this kindness that's in the heart of Joseph comes out to them, and he wants them to be close to him. And for five years he looks after them. They're the best fed people in all the land of Egypt, I would expect.
And so they go back as you know the story and he told them, don't regard your stuff, Just come down here and keep close to me.
Our stuff is a big hindrance to us, isn't it? So often we're occupied with that instead of enjoying the Lord, instead of being close to Him, instead of seeking grace from Him to show that love that He would have us to show and that grace that He would have us to show. Well, it's very lovely to see all this in the end of of.
This story about Joseph the 22nd verse, it says to all of them. He gave each of them changes of Raymond.
But to Benjamin, he gave 300 pieces of silver and five changes of raiment. I just suggest this. I've rather enjoyed this. Why did Joseph get more when you say, well, he was his brother? Well, that's true, but I think there's a little more to it than that. Benjamin was probably the closest to Joseph of all the brothers. He was probably the one who was nearest to him.
And brethren, the nearer we are to the Lord, the more we're going to taste.
The goodness and the love and the grace that's in his heart. Did you ever meet a Christian who was walking in the company of the Lord Jesus that wasn't full of praise and Thanksgiving and talking about how good the Lord had been to him? And the others had one set of clothes, but he had five changes of Raymond.
Alliance was such a big change and the nearer we are to the Lord, as it says, we all with open face beholding the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image. I think there was more of a change that took place in the life of of Moses than even Joshua who went up up at least part of the way with him. But it tells us that Moses was with the Lord for 40 days.
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And it was such a change that it says the skin of his face shine. He was in the company of the Lord. Maybe we know more of what it is to walk in the company of the Lord where we know the rest of the story and how Jacob came down. Now I'd like to turn over to the 48th chapter in the 11Th verse.
And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face, and Lord God has showed me also thy seed. And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth. And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israels left hand, and Manasseh and his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near unto him.
And Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it upon Ephraim's son.
It was the younger, and his left hand upon Manassas had guiding his hands wittingly, for Manasseh was the first born. And he blessed Joseph and said, God, before whom my father's Abraham and Isaac did walk. The God which fed me all my life long unto this day, the Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads. Well, I just mentioned this because.
We don't read about Jacob blessing the sons of any of the other boys.
Just the sons of Joseph.
And I think there's a little lesson for us in this too, that if you and are walking in a way that's pleasing to the Lord, the blessing reaches out to our children too. And that is they see in us that manifestation of the life of Christ. As I look back, it wasn't only what my father said, but what he did that spoke to me. And you know, we can say a lot of things.
But you know, our children watch us. They know us better than anybody else.
And they know where our hearts are. They know whether we show the Spirit of Christ when things go wrong. They know when I saw difficulties come in the assembly, I used to watch my father's attitude about them, not just what he said, but his attitude about them. And you know, this was an attitude that I'm bringing out in the life of in the life of Joseph. The life of Jesus was coming out true. It took a lot of grace for him.
When they had treated him so badly that you see this life of Jesus coming out.
In the life of Joseph, And this blessing comes upon his two boys, and upon Joseph himself too. And now we come to the 49th chapter, and Jacob is blessing all the sons, and he has a special word about Joseph. 22nd verse. Joseph is a fruitful bow, even a fruitful bow by a whale whose branches run over the wall.
The Archers have sorely grieved him and shot at him and hated him.
But his avoiding strength and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. From thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel, even by the God of thy fathers Father, who will help thee, and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under blessings of the breast and of the womb.
The blessings of thy Father have prevailed above the blessings of My progenitors under the utmost bound of the everlasting hills.
They shall be upon the head of Joseph, and on the crown of him, of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.
Joseph didn't know all this was ahead when he was sold by his brothers into Egypt and hated when he was falsely accused by Potiphar wife. When he was forgotten by the Butler. He didn't know all this was ahead, but he had his eye on the Lord. He sought to accept his circumstances from the Lord and now we see he's Lord of Egypt. He's showing kindness to his brethren.
A blessing comes upon his children.
And now we see this special blessing from his father too. And if you read the blessings that came to the other boys, why he would say, well, he certainly had a a special place in the heart of his father for all that he had to pass through. He didn't he didn't know all this at the time. And you and I rather, and we can't see the future, but God does.
Let us seek to accept things as they come from Him.
Let us be more exercised about what our actions are. I've heard it said, and it's rather struck me that the prodigal had to judge wrong actions and the elder son had to judge wrong reactions. You know, there were a lot of wrong actions about that older boy, but there was a lot of wrong reactions by the older son too.
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May the Lord help us to show the right reaction.
May we know how to act in that spirit that God has given to us. But now just one thing more in the 50th chapter and the 14th verse. And Joseph returned into Egypt, he and his brethren and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father. And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will per adventure hate us, and we'll certainly record.
All the evil which we did unto him.
And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying, So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now the trespass of thy brethren and their sin, for they did unto the 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.
And his brethren also went, and fell down before his face, and they said, Behold.
We be thy servants. And Joseph said unto them, Fear not, for am I in the place of God, But As for me, he thought evil against me. But God meant it unto good to bring to pass as it is this day, to save much people alive. Now, therefore fury not. I will nourish you and your little ones. And he comforted them, and speak kindly unto them.
Well, here's the last page that we have about Joseph's story, and you might have thought.
That when he got to this point that he might have perhaps held a little bit of bitterness down in the corner of his heart.
And his brethren even sort of expected that it might be so, perhaps.
After all the unkindness that had been shown to him down in the bottom of his heart, there might be some bitterness, but there wasn't. There wasn't any bitterness. And may I say this, let us never hold a grudge. Let us never hold a grudge. No matter what has been done, the Lord will take care of it. Every situation we saw the dealing of God with Jacob, and God had to deal with him in a very solemn way for his self will and for his deception.
All those things that he did, but as far as Joseph was concerned, he left him with the Lord and he sought to act in the spirit of Christ. And you and I are not going to have to give an account for other people's actions, but for our own. We will, every one of us will give account of himself to God. Joseph held no grudge. He just wept when he thought it. They thought he would and they thought he would.
Why? He wept and he said just be down here.
Close to me and he said I'll still nourish you. I know that you perhaps haven't even now the thoughts of love that you might toward me for they even to say a thing like that, but still it didn't change him and Chanel breath in the heart of the Lord never changes. He loves us.
Those two things follow us in our lives, His grace and His government. I say again, in the life of Jacob, we see the grace of God that promised blessing to him, restored him when he had failed, and we see him in the end.
Side by side with Joseph and rejoicing in the goodness of God restored in the end of his life. But there were a lot of sorrows that he brought into his life by his own self. Will we see in Joseph a person who learned grace in another way. He learned that there was a supply for him and if situations were difficult, instead of telling a lie, instead of trying to cover something up while we see him.
We see him acting in the spirit of Christ, but always acting uprightly and honesty and pleading all the results with God.
And what was the result in his life? He had no bitterness toward anybody. He had loved toward the people that had act badly toward him. And in the end we see him blessing Joseph and blessing his brethren and disappointed that they should even think that he had any feelings but love toward them. Well, may the Lord help us. We all have the flesh in US. We need the grace of God.
But there is. I say again in closing.
There is in all our lives the grace of God and the government of God. Wouldn't you and I like to experience the grace of God in the way that Joseph did? And if you're going through a difficulty, remember the Lord says that He has a full supply of grace out of His fullness of all we receive and grace for grace. May He help us to show that Spirit of Christ in every situation. And you'll find that the Lord will turn the tears.
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Into gladness.