The Gospel According to Joseph

I want you to listen now to what God says about salvation because in this chapter we're going to see a glorious and a wonderful illustration of salvation. God wants to save so much that he gives us many, many illustrations and the life of Joseph is a picture, a prophecy, a portrait of Jesus who is to come. What a confirmation and affirmation of the inspiration of the Word of God when we see these word pictures and portraits tucked away in the Old Testament. Defining in your Bibles God's Holy Word, Genesis chapter 45. We receive a lot of mail. Some mail is more unusual than other mail. Here's a letter I want you to listen to. Dear Pastor Rogers, I had the right to let you know what your ministry has, what effect your ministry has had on my life. Many times I sat and watched your program and thought what you said was stupid. How you express Christ was a joke. I laughed at your God by ignoring him. He really wasn't there. I was a Satanist as well as a part of the Nazi Party movement. As bad as it seems, Christians were nothing more than lower life forms to myself and my friends. I didn't need your God. I sold my soul to the devil. I signed a pack with my own blood and after doing so I read the small print. If I tried to get out of the group, I could be killed. I remembered your prayer line and your church. I called the number. Someone prayed with me and I received Christ. I got a Bible and read and reread it. God saved me. Why would he do that? Because I was so evil and hurt him so badly. I had been living together with my boyfriend. He saw the change in me also. He got saved and we finally got married. We both love the Lord so much because we see the love of the Lord through your church. Jesus can save anyone. He saved me. Thanks for your prayer line and your church and your TV ministry." And she signs her name. Now folks, that's God's grace. That is amazing grace. But I want to say, yes, give God a hand. Yeah, praise the Lord. That's amazing grace. But that lady saved by the grace of God was saved just like a little child might be saved this morning, 11-year-old girl who might come and give her heart to Jesus. And it'll take just as much of the grace of God to save that 11-year-old child as it did this lady and her husband, her now husband, who got saved. What have we said so many times? That none so bad they cannot be saved

and none so good they need not be saved. And God wants to save so much that he's given so many wonderful illustrations in the Word of God. And one of those illustrations is the life of Joseph. As we've already told you, Joseph's life could be put into four major categories. Joseph, the beloved son. He was his father's beloved son as Jesus is. And then Joseph, the suffering servant. Joseph was sent to his brethren. He was scorned by his brethren. He was shamed by his brethren. He suffered at the hands of his brethren. They cast him in a pit as good as dead. Joseph, the suffering servant. Joseph, the exalted sovereign. Joseph is now taken from the pit and from prison later on. And he is exalted. He becomes the prime minister of the most powerful nation on the face of the earth. And now he is the exalted sovereign. And Pharaoh says, wherever Joseph goes, you bow the knee to Joseph. Everything that I have is in Joseph's hand. But now we're going to come again and see Joseph, not only the beloved son, not only the suffering servant, not only the exalted sovereign, but Joseph, the seeking savior. We're going to find out how Joseph sought and brought, forgave, restored, and fellowshiped his brothers. And as we see that, we're going to see seven salvation similarities. And I want you to get all seven. I want you to listen quickly, listen in a hurry because we don't have a whole lot of time. Now here is Joseph now and his brothers who have wronged him, who have sinned against him indescribably wicked brothers are now standing before Joseph, the exalted sovereign. Look, if you will, in Genesis 45, verse one. Now here are the brothers. They don't know that Joseph is Joseph. He's dressed like an Egyptian. He's speaking Egyptian language. He's on the throne.

He's not the little boy, 17 years old that they'd thrown into a pit 25 years ago. The times have come and gone. Well, the years change us, don't they? The years work on us. You know, beauty is skin deep, ugly goes all the way to the bone. Beauty fades, but ugly holds her own. And the years had changed old Joseph. There's Joseph now on the throne. They can't recognize Joseph. They don't expect to see him where he is, but Joseph loves them. And Joseph wants to restore them, forgive them, fellowship them and commission them. Now, what a picture of our salvation. All right, there's seven salvation similarities. And I'm going to call them principles. The first is the principle of compassion. The principle of compassion. Read with me. And what is the principle of compassion? Here's the principle of compassion. God's love is greater than all our sin. Oh, that was worthy of a better amen. God's love is greater than all our sin. Amen, listen to these verses. Then Joseph could not restrain 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. Underscore that. And he wept aloud. And the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard. And Joseph said unto his brethren, listen to this, one of the greatest three words in all of the Bible, I am Joseph. Now folks, you're going to have to let your imagination begin to work a little bit. Can you imagine those three words? And they look at him and he says, I am Joseph. Doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him for they were troubled at his presence. The word troubled here literally means terrified. Now, Joseph had been giving his brothers a hard time. I mean, he acted roughly toward them. As a matter of fact, go back to Genesis 42, verse seven and look at it. And Joseph saw his brethren and knew them, but made himself strange unto them. That is, he didn't reveal himself to them and spake roughly unto them. And he said unto them, whence came ye? They said, from the land of Canaan to buy food. Now he says, no, you're just spies. I know, you're spies. And he's speaking roughly to them and he's jerking them around.

Why did he do that? Because he didn't love them? No, because he did love them. In that same 42nd chapter where we read in verse seven, where he spoke roughly to them, go on down to verse 24 and look at it. And he turned himself about from them and wept and returned to them again. Over here, here he is speaking roughly to his brothers and bringing them under conviction. And he excuses himself. He goes out, he weeps and he cries. Then he goes back and speaks roughly to them. Listen, friend, learn this about God. God in love causes us problems. What was it that brought these boys to Egypt to begin with? They had a hunger, there was a famine in the land of Canaan. Did you know if we never had any needs, we wouldn't come to our Lord. Listen, God allows us to have heartaches and pains. If we only knew how much pain he has when he sees us have pain. There he was speaking roughly to them and so overcome with emotion that he has to leave the room and literally weep, literally weep. All right, now that's the first principle. You have it? It's the principle of compassion. Say to yourself, especially if you're not saved yet, God loves me.

God loves me. God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. I can tell you without stutter, stammer or apology, God loves you. I don't care what you've done. There's some who think that God only loves some of the people of this world. God loves them all, red and yellow, black and white. They're precious in His sight. The principle of compassion, second principle. The principle of conviction. The principle of conviction. No one is truly saved apart from the conviction of sin. Now, notice what he is doing with these boys. He brings them to a point where they are in great conviction. Notice verse 3, 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. Well, why shouldn't they not be? Joseph was the one that they had treated so dreadfully, so hatefully, so hellishly, so awfully. They had misused, abused, refused Joseph. And now here he is, the one with absolute authority. The one who could put them to death if he wished. And they're in his hands. And now they tremble at his presence.

Do you know what's missing in the average church today? The fear of God. The fear of God. The Bible says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. What is the principle? What is the principle, the salvation principle that we have here? It's the principle of conviction. Conviction, you must be convicted of sin in order to be saved. Now here's the third principle. It's the principle of conversion. His compassion causes him to love you, even if it seems he's treating you roughly. This is meant to bring you to conviction of sin. And then the principle of conversion. And what is the principle of conversion? In order to be saved, we must come to him, yielding to his lordship. Now begin now in verse four. 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 ye sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved nor angry with yourselves that ye sold me hither. For God did send me before you to preserve life. For these two years hath the famine been in the land. And yet there are five years in the which there shall be

neither earring nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth and to save your lives by great deliverance. That is, God sent me to be a savior. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God. And he hath made me a father to Pharaoh. Pharaoh, young people, was the king. He was the lord of all his house and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. Now this is the principle of conversion. Now here's the next principle. And this is principle number four of these seven salvation principles that you're going to find tucked away here. It is the principle of confession. Confession, first of all, his compassion. Secondly, our conviction. Thirdly, our conversion. And now our confession. If we give our hearts to our Lord, then it's our job to confess him openly and publicly. Begin now in verse nine. Here's what Joseph says to his brothers. Haste ye and go up to my father and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt. Come down unto me, Tarinath, and thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen. Thou shalt be near unto me, thou and thy children and thy children's children,

and thy flocks and thy herds and all that thou hast, and there I will nourish thee. For yet there are five years of famine, lest thou and thy household and all that thou hast come to poverty. And behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you. And ye shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt and of all that ye have seen, and ye shall haste and bring down my father hither. Now what is the lesson here? Well, Joseph says, look, I have forgiven you and I've restored you. Now there are others that I want to bring to my glory. And I am commissioning you now. And I am commanding you now that you are to confess me to them. You see, in verse four, he says, come. But now look in verse nine. In verse nine, he says, go. I tell you that all of the gospel can be summed up in these two phrases, come unto me, go ye into all the world. That's it. Come, he says, come to me. They came. He said, all right. What right do we have to call ourselves children of God if we fail to obey him?

Our Lord has given us a great commission. We're to go into all the world and share the Lord Jesus Christ. What were they to share? What was the message they were to share? Here's what the message was. Number one, we once rejected him. Number two, God has raised him up on high. Number three, we've rejected him. God has raised him up on high. Number three, he has a name that is above every name. Number four, the world is now at his feet. Number five, he is the fairest of 10,000. Number six, he has forgiven all of our sins. Number seven, he wants us to be with him and to share his glory. That's what they were to tell about Joseph, and that's what we're to tell about Jesus. Now, here's the next salvation principle, and it's the principle of communion. What is the principle of communion? You have been redeemed, and you have been forgiven, and you have been commissioned to fellowship with your king. Look in verses 14 and 15 now of this chapter. And he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck and wept. Reminds you so much of the father and the prodigal son, doesn't it? And Benjamin wept upon his neck. Moreover, he kissed all his brethren and wept upon them. And after that, his brethren talked with him. Can you imagine this scene? I mean, look, folks, use your imagination.

This is not a fairy tale. Here's Joseph. He says, they're terrified. He said, I'm Joseph. They're terrified. He says, come on, come to me. And they come, and he forgives them. And he says, look, it's all by the grace of God. God meant it for your good. God sent me to be your deliverer. Come to me. Now, go tell others what you've seen, what you've heard, that I am risen. I am reigning. I am rich. Go tell the message. Then he says, come. Come here, Benjamin. Benjamin, I love you. Come here, Judah. Judah, I love you, Judah. Judah says, I love you, Joseph. But Joseph, he's soulful. I love you. And he's hugging them. And then it says, and he talked with them. Can you imagine that? Would you like to have a tape recording of that? And he talked with them. What did they talk about?

Who knows? I'll tell you one thing. God has saved you. Jesus loves you that he might hug you, weep with you, and talk with you. Oh, what a fellowship. You know, Jim, you served on the hymnal committee, helping pick out songs for a new hymnal. And you know, there's been that classic argument. There's one hymn that people say, Well, we don't want that. And it's full of model and sentimentality. I come to the garden alone when the dew is still on the roses, and the voice I hear falling on my ear, the Son of God discloses, and he walks with me, and he talks with me, and he tells me I'm his own. And they say, Oh, that's just sentimentality. No! That's one of the greatest songs in all the hymnal. And he walks with me, and he talks with me, and he tells me I'm his own. And he wants to hear you talk with him. And he's interested in the little things as well as the big things. The little things. You say, Well, I don't want to bother God with the little things. Oh? Tell me something you think is big to God. Your big things are just like that.

No. He loves you, and he wants fellowship with you. And why has he redeemed you? He wants more than servants. He wants you to know him and love him and fellowship with him. There's the principle of communion. Now, here's the next principle, and it's the principle of compensation. This is an amazing principle. What is the principle of compensation? God saves us entirely by grace and then enriches us, supplies us for service. Notice now, beginning in verse 16, And the fame of Joseph was heard in Pharaoh's house, saying, Joseph's brethren are come. And it pleased Pharaoh well and his servants. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Say unto thy brethren, This do ye. Watch this. Laid. Boys and girls, that means load your beasts and go and get unto the land of Canaan and take your father and your households and come unto me. And I will give you the good, of the land of Egypt, and ye shall eat the fat of the land. Now thou art commanded this, do ye, take you wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father and come.

Now watch this, and regard not your stuff. That's one of my favorite things in this whole thing. I read it in another translation and it says your merchandise, your possessions, but I like the word stuff. Don't worry about your stuff. For the good of all the land of Egypt is yours. And the children of Israel did so and Joseph gave them wagons according to the commandment of Pharaoh and gave them provision for the way, underscore that. And to all of them he gave each man changes of raiment, but to Benjamin he gave 300 pieces of silver and five changes of raiment. And to his father he sent after this manner, 10 asses laden with the good things of Egypt, and 10 she-asses laden with the corn and bread and meat for his father by the way. Now he sends them out. He never mentions their guilt at all. It's blotted out. He now calls them brothers. He introduces them to Pharaoh. He says, King, I want you to meet my brothers. And he says, look, guys, I'm sending you out. I have commissioned you. Now don't worry about your stuff. When are we going to learn that? Don't worry about your stuff. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. My God shall supply all your need

according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Colossians 2 verse 10, and ye are complete in him. Now here's the last and final thing. I wish I had more time. It's the principle of communication. The principle of communication began now in verse chapter 45 and verse 24. And he sent his brethren away and they departed. And he said unto them, see that ye fall not out by the way. That is, don't have an argument on the way. And he must have known those boys. And they went up out of Egypt and came to the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father and told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. Can you imagine old Jacob hearing this message? And Jacob's heart fainted for he believed them not. Now they're trying to communicate the message. He believed them not. And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto them. And when he saw the wagons, which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived. And Israel said, it is enough. Joseph, my son is yet alive and I will go and see him before I die. What is the principle of communication? How do we communicate?

First of all, by our love. See to it that you don't fall out by the way. Don't get in some silly argument. By this shall all men know that you're my disciples if you have love one to another. Listen, folks, do you know what's going to convince this world? When they see us united with wagon loads of God's grace. When they see something in us that they cannot explain apart from the good hand of God upon us. I long for that. And I'll tell you, these are seven salvation principles. And let's go back to the first one again. God loves you. The same God that saved that woman who wrote that letter is the God who'll save you today. I don't care what you've done. You probably haven't been a saint. Probably haven't signed a pact with the devil in your own blood. But God will save you. You may be just a child today. A boy or girl, God will save you. You may be a businessman, God will save you. You may be a young married couple. You need Jesus in your family. Let's bow our heads together in prayer. Heads are bowed and eyes are closed. Now while heads are bowed and eyes are closed, if you want to be saved, pray a prayer like this. Lord, I need you.

My hungers and my difficulties are just the cords that you're using to bring me to you. I know that you love me. Lord, you have revealed yourself to me. You've said, I am Jesus. Come to me. Lord, I come. I come. By faith, I trust you to save me. Lord, help me never to be ashamed of you. Give me the courage to make it public. In your name I pray, amen. You