Address—Phil Fournier
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Brother Bruce Anstey visited us a couple of weeks ago in Hemet.
And we had the 6th chapter of John.
And we started off.
The chapter with the comment which?
I have never heard before, he said. We have four types of bread in this chapter.
And the first one of course was a Passover, the second one the the loaf of barley bread that fed the 5000. And the third one is the man. On the 4th one is Christ, the bread which came down from heaven. So I would like to.
Have some manna this afternoon.
It's not the old corner of the land, but I think it's something to feed our souls.
Hymn #303 When Israel by divine command the pathless desert draw they found throughout the barren land assure resource in God. Verse 5 Jesus the bread of life is given to be our daily food.
Within us dwells that well from heaven the Spirit of our God. Lord tis enough, we ask, no more Thy graced around us pores. It's rich in unexhausted store. In all its joy is ours.
Some brother raised it to him. Please #303.
I think I'll start just by reading the three scriptures that.
I have on my heart as an introduction first one in John's Gospel, Chapter 11.
John's Gospel Chapter 11 and verse 33.
When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping, which came with her, he groaned in the Spirit, and was troubled, and said, Where have you laid him? And they said unto him, Lord, come and see.
Jesus wept.
Then said the Jews, behold how he loved him. And some of them said, could not this man?
Which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died.
And the next one in Luke's Gospel, chapter 19.
And maybe we'll read from verse 37 to get the connection.
Luke 19 and verse 37.
And when he was coming, even now at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, Blessed be the king that cometh in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven, and glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples.
And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.
And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hast known, even thou at least in this thy day the things which belong unto thy peace.
But now they are hid from thine eyes, For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemy shall cast a trench about the encompass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee. And they shall not leave in the one stone upon another, because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.
And the next one by way of.
Divine inspiration by the Apostle Paul I believe. Hebrews chapter 5.
Hebrews and verse 7.
Who in the day of His flesh, in the days of his flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplication with strong crying and tears unto him, that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared, though he were Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered, and being made perfect, he became author of eternal salvation.
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Unto all them that obey him called of God and High Priest after the order.
Of Melchizedek.
Well, the subject on my heart, perhaps you've divined from the three scriptures that we've read are.
Tears. Specifically here we have the tears of the Lord Jesus, and I want to look at the tears of Joseph in the book of Genesis. But I tell you what's been pressing on my mind. I was in Aberdeen a couple of weeks ago and I had a conversation with a brother and he told me what it is now become a somewhat repetitive story about someone that was brought up among the gathered Saints.
Who is now uncertain of the existence of God?
I believe that's the fourth case that I know of.
And perhaps there's more, but those are the ones that came to mind as I thought about it.
And it troubled me.
And I thought about what is the remedy?
Now this man, I'm going to read you something, and I've read this before in the company of.
Not such a company as this, but in other companies. In fact, one year ago almost exactly.
Brother Daniel Sibo read this for me in front of this children at the Sunday School treat in Shadow Hills and I don't know but what. Maybe it was over their heads but.
What is on my heart is the reality of the man Christ Jesus.
Son of Man and Son of God.
Before I read this, let me see if I can put this together in my mind. There's a beautiful poem I think it was. **** Gorges sent it to me years ago and I've treasured it ever since.
It's, I don't think it's widely distributed, but it's by Brother Darby called the Man of Sorrows. I think it has 44 verses and at one time I had memorized it, but I can't quote it now. But the one verse that I wanted to quote and I'm going to try.
Oh, strange yet fit beginning.
In all thy life of woe in which thy grace was winning.
Poor man is God to know.
You know.
There was a man down here who wept.
The third occasion here perhaps is somewhat ambiguous. I don't know if the Garden of Gethsemane, though it sounds like it is, but the other occasions we know of any wept not for himself, he wept for others. And why did he do that? Because he was really a man. The question I put to the children at the Shadow Hills Sunday School treat was what are these things that we read about because we read in John chapter 4, Jesus therefore being.
Weary with his journey, sat thus on the well and after those days he afterward hungered. And one little boy, 7 or 8 years old, and he says those are feelings. And that wasn't the word I was thinking of, but that's that was a good word. Their feelings. The Lord Jesus was a man here on the earth and he had feelings.
And human feelings, perhaps are no more deeply expressed than with tears. Now we have something we call crocodile tears where people cry. Sometimes my grandchildren do that. I can tell they're not really hurt or anything, but they're, they're pretending to cry. But you know, Jesus wept there in John Chapter 11. There was no mistaking the character of his tears, was there? They knew, they said, behold how he loved him.
And there when he beheld the city and wept over it, I don't know who observed him on that occasion.
But the heartfelt nature of those tears were unmistakable. For that city had said, We don't want him.
He was their king. There was a feeble remnant there that praised him. Blessed is the king that cometh in the name of the Lord. But the leadership said, Master, rebuke thy disciples. That is yet the character in which the Lord Jesus is treated in this world today.
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So now I'm going to read to you from Mark Twain, otherwise Samuel Clemens, and forgive me if it's inappropriate, but it I've I found it to be most telling. A man was a humorist and he was very funny. I like to read what he wrote and it it's often a very dry humor which appeals to my sense of literature. I don't read it frequently, but this book is called The Innocence Abroad and this.
He took a trip around the world cruise. He was very wealthy man by this time and he could afford to do that six months. the IT was $1200 in that day, which would probably be hundreds of thousands now, I suppose.
You'll excuse me for my water. I have a cold and I'm taking medicine that makes my mouth dry.
So let's read this paragraph from the Innocence abroad. He's standing on the shores of the Sea of Galilee when he says these words, writes these words, and they're not funny. They weren't meant to be funny. I sometimes say they leaked out of him. It was true.
It seems curious enough to be standing on ground that was once actually pressed by the feet of the Savior.
The situation is suggestive of a reality and a tangibility that seems at variance with the vagueness and mystery and ghostliness that one naturally attaches to the character of a God.
I cannot comprehend yet that I am sitting where a God has stood, and looking upon the brook and the mountains which that God looked upon, am surrounded by dusky men and women whose ancestors saw him.
And even talked with him face to face and carelessly, just as would of the they would have done with any other stranger.
I cannot comprehend this. The gods of my understanding have always been hidden in clouds and very far away.
Well, I trust that's not your comprehension of God.
Because the Lord Jesus was born there in Bethlehem's Manger.
Poor man is God to know.
That we might look upon him and and say there he is in all of his loveliness, in all of his beauty, he wept.
He was touched with the feelings of our infirmities. He felt what we feel. He walked where we walked.
And we can look upon him and we don't have to say like Mark Twain.
I don't get it. I don't comprehend that because what he what? My message to the children was this. The Pharisees said, thou being a man make us thyself, God.
And Mark Twain said, he's God, how could he make himself a man? But he's both. And that is the way he endears himself to our hearts this afternoon as we look at the story of Joseph. I know of no other story that so eloquently proclaims in picture form the loveliness of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So let's turn to the book of Genesis, and we'll look at Joseph's tears.
There might be 7 times and I don't know how much time I'll have this afternoon.
I spoke on this subject once before and Hemet and it was quite a long time ago and I don't remember how long it took me, so we'll just have to take it as it comes. I have we were reading in the book of Acts out at the Batista prison camp on Sunday night saying.
Noticed in the 7th of Acts that Stephen took up the story of Joseph in about 3 verses or about 30 seconds. I don't think I can do that, but let's let's take a look here, starting with the 37th chapter of of Genesis.
And Joseph's tears are not mentioned here.
And I think there's a reason for it in the, in the divine plan of the of the type here, we find that if he did cry here, and he very well may have, I think he probably did because he was just a man and just a boy. As a matter of fact, he wasn't a man at all. And so I think he did weep, but those tears would have been probably for himself.
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And in the type, the Lord Jesus wept.
I didn't weep for himself.
He wept for others and in every other occasion I believe.
The Joseph wept for others and so we'll see how many of them we could get through here and I don't I don't purpose to speak thoroughly on this subject. It's one that could take up many meetings I'm sure. So we'll pick a few things out of out of this story. But one of the one of the scriptures that often comes before me on the Lord's Day morning as we remember the Lord Jesus and his death is from this 37th chapter and we'll read those verses because.
So beautiful and verse 11 of Genesis 37.
And his brother envied him, his brethren envied him, but his father observed the same. And his brother went to feed their father's flock. And Shechem. And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock? And Shechem come, and I will send thee unto them. And he said to 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, and a certain man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, What seekest thou, When he said, I seek my brother, and tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks. And the man said, They are departed hence. For I heard themselves say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brother, and found them in Dothan.
And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them.
They conspired against him to slay him, and they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh, Come therefore. Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, some evil beast hath devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams. Stop there.
You know, there had, there was a time.
Maybe 30 years ago when someone was visiting the gathered Saints and.
He was from another group of brethren.
And he was, we were down in San Diego and I was sitting at the lunch table and.
Some things were said and a brother said you're a blasphemer. And he got up and he left the table. And I was taken aback by the comment and alarmed by it. And so I asked a few questions about what was being said.
And this is what was suggested in so many words, that the Lord Jesus.
Became the son when he was born into this world.
So I thought about the importance of.
The fact that the Lord Jesus was the Son of God from a past eternity, He didn't become the Son. He became a man, but not the Son, for he was always the Son of God.
In a past eternity and you know, we've got two beautiful types.
And this is one of them in the Old Testament that illustrate that in eloquent and beautiful terms. You know, the Spirit of God has given us these stories of brother Norman Barry used to say the Old Testament is a picture book and the New Testament is the legend of the picture book. And so we understand the picture book by means of the New Testament, which gives us the details of what is in the story. And so we have this.
Picture of a father sending his son and the son goes willingly.
And you know, we have none of the background behind it. Because did Jacob know that the brethren envied their brother Joseph? I think he did. Why doesn't it tell us that? Well, because it would spoil the type. You know, Jacob was not all knowing. He, he was ignorant of many things. In fact, he said at a later time, he said all these things are against me.
Right when God was preparing him for the greatest blessing of his life.
So there was much that Jacob did not know, but here he sends his son to his brethren who hate him.
And I have trouble believing that Jacob didn't know. But you know one thing, we do know that the Father.
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Sent the Son to be the savior of the world. And I remember Brother Lundine saying, you know, it doesn't say that God sent Jesus.
It doesn't say that. It says the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world, not the one that became the Son. He was always the Son. He sent him down here to become a man so that he might weep tears, real tears.
Weep as you and I weep. I thought I didn't know how to cry anymore. I cried, I'm sure, when I was a boy.
Probably many times, Probably when I deserved it.
But I didn't cry for a long time.
And then my nephew died.
And when I found out the character of his death, I found out that I knew how to cry. And I cried.
Maybe I cried harder than I'd ever cried when I was a boy.
Because I felt it very deeply.
So here we have this young man, and he came out of the veil of Hebron.
No, Hebron was the place that Caleb spotted when he was a spy that went into the land and he had to wait 40-5 years before he could possess that place. And it was the most difficult place, but he wanted it.
And he possessed it at age 85, and he had a son-in-law that we heard about this morning.
By the name of Athniel and a daughter by the name of AXA. And they enjoyed that place.
Hebron means communion.
That same poem of brother, Darby says.
Oh, I knew this was going to happen.
Out of my mind.
Maybe it will come back later, so we'll let it go, but it has to do with the fact that the Lord Jesus is revealing to us who God is. And you know, that's.
To think of the Lord Jesus stepping out of the veil of Hebron, that place of communion with his Father, we read in Genesis 22 another.
Another Old Testament illustration of the Father and the Son. But there we read they went, both of them together, and so we see that the beauty of that the Father and the Son one and purpose.
That man might be redeemed, that God might be glorified. The Lord Jesus came down from heaven.
I came down from heaven. Could there be anything more clear?
For us to understand who that was that walked here on earth, that was God manifest in flesh. He was truly man and truly God. And so we find that he's found him wandering in the field. And I cannot help but think of that scripture whenever we sing that hymn, wandering as a homeless stranger in the world thy hands had made.
How could it be?
That one that was down here in this world, you know, I cut down a tree recently in a house next door that I had planted a citrus tree and the frost had killed it and it sprang back. Brother Tim over there was telling us about the almond trees that are grafted into the Peach, the Peach base. I didn't know that.
And these citrus trees are grafted into some kind of a citrus base, but I don't know what it is.
However, what came back was just the root stock and it bore nothing but thorns, and they were big thorns, big long thorns like that.
You know, yesterday we were hiking up in Ken Tony's property and we went by some wild roses and they had little short thorns. I don't know what kind of thorns they were, but they made them into a crown and they pounded them on the head of the Son of God.
He was a man. Did he feel those thorns? He felt them. He did. And I just poked my hand. I had gloves on when I cut that tree down and I poked myself with those thorns several times. I, my skin is pretty thin now and it had scratches from it. And I just thought about that. You know, they put that crown of thorns on the head of the Lord Jesus. That was God's beloved son that they did that to.
Oh, does he love you and I?
Yes. Was he a real man? Yes. He had to be a real man so they could # nails through his hands and his feet so they could put a crown of thorns upon his head. They couldn't do that to God, but they did that to the man Christ Jesus.
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Let's read down here.
In verse.
31.
And they took Joseph's coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in blood. And they sent the coat of many colors, and brought it to their father, and said this, have we found No. Now whether it be thy sons coat or no? And he knew it, and said it as my sons coat, an evil beast hath devoured him. Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces, and Jacob rent his clothes, and put half cloth upon his loins, and mourn for his sons many days.
And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted.
And he said, I will, for I will go down into the grave unto my son. Morning. Thus his father wept for him, and the Midianites sold him into Egypt on the Potiphar, an officer of Pharaohs, and captain of the guard. Well, there's no questioning. These tears here were real and sincere and heartfelt and long lasting. How long was this that Jacob wept for his son?
It was a long time.
This wound was hard to heal. I remember going over to Phoenix, AZ and visiting my brother-in-law.
A year or two after his son had died.
And we got to the house and my sister said.
Dan's having a hard time this morning, so we came into the house and we sat down and Dan came out a little later and his eyes were puffy.
And it was very obvious he'd been weeping, weeping for his son a year or two after his death. And I imagine that here with Jacob, he wept for his son. He mourned for the loss of this boy that he loved so deeply and so dearly.
Do we ever think what it meant to God to give his Son?
What about those four young people?
He would no longer know if God loves him.
He gave his son.
Did he feel it deeply?
We cannot measure it. We will not know throughout all eternity.
The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
There was a pit here and there was number water in the pit and we find always that the type falls short for the Lord. Jesus said in the Psalms prophetically, I sink indeed mire where there is no standing. I am coming to deep waters where the floods overflow me. Joseph was there in that pit and we don't read of him here crying, but we do read later on and maybe we'll just advance to that. We're going to skip over.
The story of Joseph's keeping in the prison and so forth. There's many.
Precious lessons in there. But in those eleven years I maybe they're thirteen. I think Joseph was 30 years old but when he stood before Pharaoh. I've done the math before, but I didn't do it before this meeting. So I think perhaps 13 years. I think it was 17 when he was sold into Egypt. And feel free to correct me afterwards if I got the numbers wrong. At any rate, I'm not concentrating on the physical numbers, just on the length of time.
He went from 17 years old to 30.
Pretty good length of time and stood before Pharaoh. So during those 13 years he felt abandoned by his family, betrayed by his master Potiphar, whom he faithfully served. We don't know how long, I don't think. Imprisoned, falsely accused, forgotten by the Butler, and then at last he is elevated to a place of.
Incredible.
Exaltation and then follow seven years of fan of famine and two years of plenty. So that makes it 39 years he was separated from his family if I've got my math correct.
In any case, during all this time, we don't find him weeping once.
As far as we can tell, he didn't weep for his own troubles. He wept for the sorrows of others. And so to me, it beautifully illustrates that the type of the Lord Jesus for his heart was toward his people. You know, there in Deuteronomy 33. Yeah. I think somebody read it this morning. Yay. He loved the people.
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All his Saints are in his hand. We don't find it all that often in the Old Testament in words like that, like we do in the New Testament.
Go to first John 4 if you want to read about the love of God and you get it over and over and over again.
But in the Old Testament, you have to look for it, but sometimes it's there and beautiful illustration. And so we find Joseph loved his brother. They treated him badly, but there was no thought in his heart of revenge towards those ones who had mistreated them. So we find in chapter 41, I think. Let me see here.
Actually, it's chapter 42.
And I'm rushing along here in the hopes I want to get to the last one that is of particular loveliness to me. Or at least a rebuke maybe, rather than necessarily loveliness.
But here the the brethren are obligated to go seek out.
Some help because they've suffered through the years of famine and you know, Jacob was an innovator.
He was an entrepreneur. He was a man of considerable hard work.
He said to his father-in-law by day, the heat consuming the frost by night.
You know what that means, don't you? He worked day and night.
That might have been because his home life wasn't too pleasant, but he was a man of considerable means as well. I once calculated the value of the gift that he gave to his brother Esau, and it came out to something like $560,000. Counting up some sort of rough estimate of the value of the of the animals that he gave to his brother Esau, he had become a very wealthy man.
But you know, he's brought to poverty and the beauty of the story here, young people particularly, let me divert for just a moment. We can't go through the story of Joseph without appreciating.
Its dispensational aspect because we what we find is that Joseph in those those years between the age 17 and 39 when he was separated from his earthly family.
Had a wife and children.
And it speaks to us of the church in this present day.
That mystery that was, that was hidden in the Old Testament, well, we see it there in tight He had a Gentile bride and he had children.
God hath made me to forget all my toil and all my father's house. One of his children was named that forgetting and a stranger here. And So what then are Joseph's brethren a type of? Well, they're a type of that nation of Israel that God is still going to take up. And there is a doctrine that I have noticed in various places.
Particularly Facebook that has been presented usually by those that have left gathered Saints, and it's presented as though it's new truth. And what it says is that the church has taken the place of Israel in the purposes of God. It's sometimes called covenant theology, other times called replacement theology. But you know, young people.
It's not new truth, it's old error.
I have a little book that was given to me by brother Bill Gooding when I was a young person, and it's a very valuable book written by John Newton, the author of Amazing Grace, and it's the Letters of John Noon. There's a very high spiritual tone in the book, and in there he writes one of the finest articles I've ever read on divine guidance. Just beautiful. But you know what John Newton said? The proper hope of the Christian is death.
Why do you say that? Because he did not know the difference between the church and Israel.
And that the Lord Jesus is coming to rapture the church out of this world before the seven years of famine come. That is the great Tribulation or the tribulation period. John Newton didn't know that. Why? Well, because it was old error that was taught that the church took the place of Israel in God's purposes. But you know, we lose a great deal.
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In our souls, if we take up with that.
We're going to be the losers because there is precious truth regarding the restoration of God's earthly people, Israel. And you know what it is? It's the glory of the Lord Jesus because they said, and we were part of them because it was Jew and Gentile. But the Lord Jesus said he that delivered thee unto me half the greater sin that was the nation of Israel that said, master, rebuke thy disciples. We don't want.
To come to the king of Israel.
But God is going to glorify Him before His own people.
And they are going to say, this is our God. We have waited for him.
They're going to know him as their refuge as they go through that troublous time.
And they are protected under his wings, and they rejoice in that place of protection.
And they welcomed their Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, while the apostate nation.
Says we have made an agreement with hell.
A covenant with death and with hell. Are we in agreement?
It made lies our refuge. I am not quoting it correctly, but it is Isaiah 2815. I spoke about it to the children in Shadow Hills a week ago or so, and I just enjoyed to think that that remnant of Israel finds refuge under the shadow of His wings. And it says His truth shall be thy shield, His truth. And what is the truth? That Jesus is the King of the Jews.
Yes he is and he is going to have that place and reign and they are going to recognize him and we find in the story of Joseph told out the dealings.
In type of the Lord Jesus with his brother, with his earthly people, and he passes them through deep suffering, and he feels it with them, because he weeps at their sorrow.
And he waits for their repentance. I'm going to run out of time, so let's carry on here and read in the 42nd chapter, verse seven of Genesis 42.
And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew him not. And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, Your spies to see the nakedness of the land year come. And they said unto him, Name, my Lord, but to buy food are thy servants come. We are all one man's sons. We are true men.
Oh, they had a lie. They were carrying with them I think for 22 years or something.
My daughter's the math way is not me.
22 years they've been carrying a lie. How did they comfort their father when he wept over the missing Joseph? I don't know. Because they carried a lie. In their hearts they weren't true men, but here they say they are.
Verse 12 And he said unto them, Nay, but to see the nakedness of the land are ye come? And they said, Thy servants are 12 brethren, the young, the sons of one man is is in the land, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. And behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not When Joseph said unto them, That is it that I speak unto you, saying, You're spies, hereby you shall be proved by the life of Pharaoh, you.
Go forth thence, except your youngest brother. Come, hit her, send one of you and let him fetch your brother.
And you shall be kept in prison, that your words may be proved, whether there be any truth in you or else, by the life of Pharaoh. Surely your spies and he put them all together in ward. Three days might answer to the first three years of the tribulation. And verse 18. And Joseph said unto them, The third day this do and live, for I fear God if he be true. Men, let one of your brethren be bound in the House of your prison. Go ye carry corn for the famine of your houses.
But bring your youngest brother unto me, so that your words be verified, and you shall not die. And they did so.
And they said, One to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us, and we would not hear. Therefore is this distress come upon us. Verse 23. And they knew not that Joseph understood them, for he spake unto them by an interpreter, and he turned himself about from them, and wept.
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And returned to them again and communed with them.
Well, this is perhaps the second time of Joseph weeping.
If we.
Can believe what the brother said, and I think we can, that he wept there when he was in that pit. And we find here that they saw the anguish of his soul. They were untouched by it. They would not be moved by their younger brother.
We can just imagine his words. Please, I want to see my father again. Don't do this to me.
In all, the Lord Jesus prayed in the garden.
But what he shrunk from?
Was the forsaking of God and the wrath of God for your sins and mine.
That is a scene that we cannot enter into.
We have His words, but no explanation is given. O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. That it wasn't possible, was it? There was no other way that you and I could be saved, that the sin question could be answered before God. There was no other way. Here we found Joseph weeping.
Weeping for the sorrow of his brethren. But they needed this exercise. They had let that sin go unjudged for all those years.
Had not thought about it, had not considered it. And here it is, staring them in the face.
And you might say, well, the work was done. Look, they've repented. There was a greater work to be done. And what it was was the recreating of the scene, which before.
They had failed in and that is will. They abandoned their brother and go back to their father with a story the second time.
And so Joseph wants them to bring Benjamin down, and we find out they did.
And we need to go forward here.
And we find some blessed words here from this man Judah.
And I just want to read them because.
You know, Ruben said. Something that's incomprehensible to me. I have 11 grandchildren now, and Ruben said to Grandpa Jacob Slay my two sons if I don't bring your my brother back.
Would that have been any comfort to Grandpa Jacob to have two of his grandchildren killed?
Not at all. But you know, Judah was a wicked man. He morally, he was corrupt.
We can read about it. We're not going to, but you could read about it if you want to. And we find out what kind of character he was. He was a man of the world, a man of the flesh. But you know, there's a work going on in his soul right now. God is doing a work of repentance with him and he says.
In verse.
Chapter.
43 in verse 8.
You see, the discussion comes up again. They're running short. And Jacob has already said Benjamin is not going to go, you're not going to take your youngest brother. And Ruben has made this preposterous offer and Jacob turns him down outright. No surprise there. But Judah says something else. And Judah said unto Israel his father, send the lad with me.
And we will arise and go, that we may live and not die. Both we.
And thou, and also our little ones, I will be sure, ye for him of my hand shalt thou require him. If I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee. Then let me bear the blame forever. You know there was something that Jacob could go with. Here was a man who stood up and said, Whatever happens will be my fault.
There was a work of deep and real repentance in this.
In this man Judah, and I suspect we're going to run out of time to read all of his words in the 44th chapter, but I strongly recommend it for the blessing of your soul to see how he recounts before this unknown man. He doesn't know he's his brother yet, but he tells him this story. I was sure T might find my for my father. Let me stay here in the place of my younger brother.
00:45:02
Let's go forward and see.
What?
What Joseph? What happens to Joseph here when his brother Benjamin comes? Verse 16 and chapter 43 and verse 16. And when Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the ruler of his house, Bring these men home, and slay, and make ready, for these men shall dine with me at noon. And the men did as Joseph bade, And the man brought the men into Joseph's house. And the men were afraid because they were brought into Joseph's house, and they said because of the money that was returned.
At the first time are we brought in, that He may seek occasion against us, and fall upon us, and take us for bondsman in our *****. Oh, doesn't that illustrate what man thinks that God is after? He wants everything I've got. He wants me to give something up. He's after me. He's out to get me. That is man's concept of God. I remember brother Ramon Alarcon preaching the gospel.
And it stuck in my mind for whatever reason.
Concept of the DIOS Man has a wrong concept of God.
He's out to get me.
All for God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son.
These poor brethren did not enter into what was in the heart of Joseph, and so Joseph here sees his brother.
And.
Verse 29.
And he lifted up his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and said, Is this your younger brother of whom you spake unto me? And he said, God, be gracious unto thee, my son, You know, I don't know if he spoke to him through an interpreter, but can you hear his words?
Oh, remember, dear young people, this is a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you think of Him in those affectionate terms? Do his words ring into your ears? God be gracious unto thee, my Son.
You have that sense in your soul of the love of God. There's no substitute for it.
It will keep you from the snares of the enemy that will tell you that God doesn't love you.
I've often mentioned that Albert Einstein believed that God created the world. He couldn't come to any other conclusion based on his mathematical interpretation of the universe. But he said God doesn't care about man.
He wound the world up like a top and let it go. So we're just left here to fend for ourselves.
What a sense of desperation in your soul if you believe that.
But it's not true, for God has given his Son.
He loves us and He's proved his love to us and we see it here.
In picture form. God be gracious unto thee, my son. And verse 30 And Joseph made haste, for his bowels did yearn upon his brother.
And he saw where to weep, and he entered into his chamber, and wept there. And he washed his face, and went out and refrained himself, and said, set on bread.
And they set on for him by himself, and for them by themselves, for the Egyptians, which did eat with them by themselves.
Because the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews without as an abomination under the Egyptians. And they sat before him, the first born according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth. And the men marveled one at another, and he took and sent messes under them from before him. But measurements mass was five times as much as theirs.
And they drank and were merry with him. Why did he give Benjamin five times as much?
Remember Joseph's code of many colors, which he got and nobody else did. Oh, his brethren envied him. That's one thing that Steven reminded the children of Israel about the leaders of Israel in in any at any rate, in Acts Chapter 7, the patriarchs moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt.
And so here's Benjamin's mess, and you can kind of draw the picture in your mind. You know, he set them all down there at the table. And I might be able to do that maybe with a SIBO family, but I don't know if I could get all their ages correct. But I certainly couldn't do it with anybody that I didn't know at all. And so here's this man, and he's an Egyptian. Or shall they think? And he lines them all up according to their age.
And there's a youngest brother there. They knew he knew who he was.
And he's surrounded with all this food. I'm sure he couldn't eat it all there. He's given the richest, greatest blessing that could be given to him. And there's a brother looking at that. He got five times more than we did.
00:50:11
They looked at Joseph 22 years before. He's got a coat that we don't have.
Let's make sure that nothing comes true.
Of his dreams. Let's get rid of it.
And so this scene is recreated.
And what are they going to do?
Well, we only have 7 minutes left.
But we know what they did.
They left for home and their hearts were happy in spite of the fact they looked one on another and said.
What is happening here? How does this man know all about us?
This is very strange.
They marveled at it.
So they pack up the next day, they're on their way home. Their brother Simon is with them. They're feeling good. Wow, I got all this stuff we got and we dodged a bullet. There's nothing bad going to happen. And they get to the end.
And somebody shows up and says, what have you done? He stole the cup.
No, no, no, no, no, we, we didn't do that. Remember, we brought the money back. We're good people, you see, There was a need for a deeper work of repentance in their souls. We, we don't necessarily realize God's ways with us, do we? You know, we, we read that on the third day.
The the leper was, was cleansing and in the 7th day was clean. And we see that period of time that has to go by and that #7 pops up again. So we see that there's a repentance process that the nation of Israel goes through this remnant when they recognize those wounds in his hands and they look upon him whom they pierced, and they mourn for Him as one mourns for His only son.
This is what's happening here. As they're going through this work of repentance, they rent their clothes and, you know, they don't send Benjamin back and say, OK, here's the guilty party, take them back and we'll go on our way and make up some story like we did last time and do that. They turn around, they come back and they have a spokesman who's Judah, and he falls down before we should read it. It's just too beautiful. I can't read all of it, but.
Verse 14.
Of chapter 44 And Judah and his brethren came to Joseph's house, for he was yet there, and they fell before him on the ground. And Joseph said unto them, What deed is this that ye have done? Why you not that such a man as I can certainly divine notice who's speaking here? And Judah said, What shall we say unto my Lord? What shall we speak?
Or how shall we clear ourselves? God have found out the iniquity of thy servants.
Behold, we are my Lord's servants, both we and who all He also with whom the cup is found.
Here was a profound and deep work of repentance. And Joseph replays it again. And he says, No, no, you can go home, leave your brother here. I can't do that. Judah says I cannot do it. And he pours out his heart. He tells him the story. And you know the next chapter we find verse 40, chapter 45, verse one. Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all of them has 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.
Unto his brethren. And he wept aloud. And the Egyptians in the House of Pharaoh heard.
And Joseph said unto his brother, And I am Joseph my father, yet live in 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 he sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved nor angry with yourselves that ye sold me. Hit her, for God did send me before you to preserve.
Life.
Oh brethren, dear young people, I'm out of time. I want to go to the last one and just read it briefly. I want you to read this and let the words sink down into your soul and just rejoice in Joseph's tears. This is a picture of God's beloved Son. He was a man. He wept here upon the earth.
Joseph makes himself known unto his brethren. They recognize who he is.
00:55:00
Can you imagine those thoughts that went through their minds?
Let's go to chapter 50, the last chapter of Genesis.
And verse 15.
And we'll just read this and we'll close.
Verse 14 of Genesis 50 And Joseph returned into Egypt, he and his brethren, and all they that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father. And when Josephs brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will requite us all the evil which we did unto him. You know how long it gone by.
18 years.
And during that time, did Joseph show one single sign?
That he held a root of bitterness against them. Not once.
The Egyptians said of him, thou hast saved our lives. They knew what Joseph was and they were just the heathen. And here was his brother that had watched all of his kindness for 18 years. And what did Joseph do?
Verse.
17.
End of the verse. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him.
I wonder, does the Lord Jesus weep?
And our unbelief of the goodness that's in the heart of God.
He's a man, he can weep.
Oh, let us not grieve his heart, brethren.
By having in us an evil heart of unbelief.
For He has proved his love to us in the fullest and deepest way. Dear young people.
Go home and read this story for yourself and let the Spirit of God make it precious to your souls and enjoy that thought of Joseph tears and remember they speak to us in picture form of the tears of the Blessed Lord Jesus. Mark Twain didn't know him God for him was a figure of ghostliness.
And intangibility hidden in the clouds and very far away.
But you know, he's come nigh.
He came down from heaven that we might know God. Let's pray blessed.