In the 20th verse of Genesis 45, Pharaoh told Joseph to tell his brothers, regard not your stuff, for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours. That's an interesting verse. I know some people that if they told me don't worry about anything I'll give you half of what I've got. It wouldn't do me one bit of good because they don't have anything. But here was a man speaking that had all the wealth of the world. He'd entrusted his well-being and his business affairs to Joseph and Joseph had prospered well. And now he says to Joseph's brothers, as they prepare to depart and go home and get their father, don't worry about your stuff. Everything you need, I've got it. I've got it taken care of. You know, I'm impressed with the enthusiasm of Pharaoh. I mean, he seems to me like he's excited. as excited as Joseph is. He thinks about the reunion of Joseph and his brothers. And he doesn't just talk about his joy, he evidences it. He makes provision for the means and for the authority to bring the entire family of Jacob down from Canaan and to settle them in the state of Goshen. He assures them that their every need will be provided. Not from their own efforts, not from anything they do, but from the bounty of his wealth. He got more money than he knows what to do with. I met a fellow one time, he was quite wealthy, and I asked him, I said, if you don't mind me asking you, just how much money do you have? And he laughed and he looked me in the eye and I think he told me the truth. He said, to be honest with you, I don't know. But he said, I got enough. And really, that's all we need is enough. Now, Pharaoh loved his servant, Zaphnath-Paneah, who we know as Joseph. And it's obvious in this generous distribution that he makes to these people that he doesn't even know. He'd never met these men before. They just came and told him, said, Joseph's brothers are here. We also see at the other end of this chapter, we see the extreme joy of Jacob When he gets this unforgettable news after almost 25 years that Joseph is still alive. For 25 years he's been moping and mourning over the death of his favorite son and now he's going to get the word. He's not dead. He's alive. You know, God's plans are marvelous. They really are. I think about in my life how I've planned and made arrangements for things and sometimes they worked out, sometimes they didn't. But even when I thought I had a really good plan, when I look at God's plans, they look so comical it's pitiful. God's plans always work. His gracious mercy is beyond our ability to explain it. It is grace. Free grace. And I want to speak to you tonight, if the Lord will help me for a little while, a message, and I've entitled this message, A Glorious Invitation to Egypt. Now these brothers had come to Egypt before. This was their second trip. But it wasn't a glorious invitation. They came under heavy burden. Their families were hungry. They were under guilt for what they'd done to Joseph, and guilt for the fact that when they came the last time, when they got home, they had all their money back. but now the pharaoh of Egypt. I said to them, y'all just come on down. Don't worry about anything. I'll take care of it. I want us to look at three things tonight. I want us to look at Pharaoh's welcome and what he offers to these brothers. Secondly, I want to look at how they prepared to go home. There's some good news to go home with. But there's also bad news that they've got to deal with. And then the last thing is we want to look at the response of Jacob to this good news that Joseph is alive. We notice first of all in the first few verses that we read here, Pharaoh welcomes these brothers and he invites them to come back and live in Egypt. Now Pharaoh's pleasure is pretty obvious. It says in verse 16 that it pleased Pharaoh well. Pleased Pharaoh well. Joseph had brought Pharaoh great fame. People all over the world were scattering the news If you're hungry and you need food, there's one place to go down to Egypt. Pharaoh's got plenty down there. He's got plenty down there. You can go down there and buy food if you need food. He's got it. He had great honor. He brought him great wealth. Remember that Joseph, to cut down on transportation costs, he had built huge grain warehouses in every major city in Egypt. They didn't just have one big warehouse full of food. They had warehouses everywhere. And Joseph was turning money over like cows eating grass. And Pharaoh is happy for Joseph's good news. He's been a slave for over 20 years. And now he's free. And he sees his family. He's pleased with Joseph's success. And he wants to reward him for that. It also says, and his servants. I tell you, Pharaoh was a harsh leader. And when he wasn't happy, his servants weren't happy. And now, they're thrilled to death because Pharaoh is happy that Joseph's brothers are there, and so his servants are happy too. Sounds like everybody's having a good time, doesn't it? They have made a great start to restore Jacob's family, but there is still a lot to be completed. Pharaoh said to Joseph, Say unto your brethren, This do ye, lay your beast, and go, and get you into the land of Canaan, and take your father and your households, and come unto me. Pharaoh encourages Joseph to make provision for his family. I noticed that a lot of folks, when they want to help somebody out that's in need, they help them out by looking in their pantry and finding out what kind of food they've got that's about out of date and what dented cans they've got. And they're happy to give that away to them. They wouldn't go eat it anyway. But Pharaoh tells Joseph, tell your brothers to go home and get their daddy. Whatever you need, I'm going to provide it for you. He sets an example for his servants and how they ought to deal with Joseph's brothers. Joseph's brothers had told Jacob This wasn't the friendliest place we've ever been. There's a man down there in charge of the show, and he's mean to us. And I'm sure when the Egyptians saw how he treated his brothers, they treated them the same way. In the same way, God blesses His children. He blesses us by His grace. He blesses us for Christ's sake. I was reading the Bible this morning and I thought to myself, my goodness, how God is so gracious to us. Now it's clear that Pharaoh's love for Joseph is the motivator for his actions. It pleased Pharaoh well. And Pharaoh said, he made a solid promise to Joseph, to his brothers, and to their family. He said, load your animals up and go back to Canaan and get your father and your children and your families and come down here to Me and I will give you everything you need. He even sent, according to verse 19, He sent carts. He said, Thou art commanded, this do take you wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives Bring your father and come." Jacob is 130 years old. He ain't going to walk 250 miles. They've got children that are small. They've got people that are elderly. Pharaoh's thinking. He told Joseph, he said, get some good wagons. Get some good mules and hook them to them and tell your brothers, take them home and bring folks back. He told them not to worry about their goods. He said, don't think about your stuff. He said, the good of all the land of Egypt is yours. Whatever is mine is yours. Boy, wouldn't it be nice to have a millionaire to tell you that? But we must never forget that if we really needed it, God would cause one to do that. The Apostle Paul in the book of Philippians, the book of Joy, wrote this in Philippians chapter 3 verse 13, Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Paul said, I forget about everything that's behind me, and I just look forward for the glory of God. That's the way we ought to live. where I'll live, where you'll live. He gave them everything that they needed for their journey. They needed their mules. They needed the wagons. They needed something to pull the wagons. They needed food for them. They needed provision. And He gave it to them. Pharaoh's grace is pretty good. And it was unmerited favor. How many people had come to Egypt to buy grain? And he sold them grain, perhaps at an exaggerated price. And that's all they got. But these men had come expecting harsh treatment. And they found mercy. Pharaoh's grace is good. But I'll tell you something. The goodness of Christ is a lot better. If you're believers, you enjoy that. Pharaoh's counsel to these brothers is don't think too much about your possessions. Just come down here. I'll take care of you. I don't know if you've ever had to go on a trip you didn't expect to go on. I've had that happen. I've had churches invite me to come to preach and I tell them I'll be there if I can get there. I didn't have enough money to fill the car up with gas. God always seems to take care of it. He gives them a blank check for everything they need. I always think about in the Bible how God doesn't give people huge amounts of anything. He gives them what they need. I think about that woman in the Old Testament. Remember that story about the woman that the prophet came to her house and said, fix me something to eat and I'm going to take me a nap. She said, I don't have anything to feed you. I got a handful of meal and a few drops of oil and I'm going to make a cake out of it and I'm going to put it on here and I'm going to cook it. My son and I are going to eat it and then we're going to starve to death. You know what the prophet told her? You fix me one first. She already told him she only had enough to make one. He said, you feed me first. And as long as the famine lasts, as long as no rain falls, as long as there's no provision in the land, Your oil pot will never go empty and your grain pot will never go dry. And she did. Now God didn't fill the oil pot up and He didn't fill the grain pot up. But every time she went to make a cake of bread there was grain in one pot and oil in another pot. The bright hope of heaven ought to make us slight all of the vanities of this earth. I don't know if I'm coming to my senses or getting old, or both, but I know it seems to me like an awful lot of things I used to think were awfully important aren't near as important as they used to be. I look around my house and I see all the stuff that God's given me and provided me through the years And I think, I'm going to die before too many years go by. What in the world is going to happen to all that stuff? I'll find somebody to give it to. God's goodness is more than we can understand. Alright, so these fellows are getting ready to go home. And in verse 21, down through verse 24, we find them making preparation for this trip. The children of Israel did so and Joseph gave them wagons according to the commandment of Pharaoh and gave them provisions for the way. Joseph gave them all they needed for their journey home and for their return back to Goshen. They came down. You remember what they said? That was an important verse. We didn't make too much of that but it was important. Remember when they came down the second time? They tried to go. Jacob tried to get them to go without Benjamin. He said, go just give us a little bit. And now here they are on the way home, not just with their mules covered with sacks of grain. They got wagons hauling enough stuff to provide everything they need on the way there and the way back. Not just for the eleven brothers, but for the whole family. Every man, woman, boy and girl. As the brothers, in verse 22, he says, to all of them he gave each man changes of raiment. They have been wearing the same clothes 250 miles and all the time they have been down there. He gives them all new clothes. And to Benjamin he gives 300 pieces of silver and five changes of raiment. They were given new garments. Isn't it wonderful that the Lord Jesus Christ gives to us the garment of His righteousness? I think about all my rags and all my putrid self-righteousness and it's sickening, but God gives to every one of His elect children a perfect righteousness. He gives it to every believer without exception. Listen to this word from Zechariah. Zechariah 3.4 says, He answered and spake unto those that stood before Him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him He said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with the change of raiment. That is what the Lord Jesus Christ did for every one of us who is a believer. In Revelation 3.5 it says, He that overcometh the same shall be clothed in white raiment, and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, But I will confess His name before my Father and before His angels." Well, I'd rather wear that white robe of His than I would these rags of mine. In Revelation 7, verse 9, After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands." Joseph, you'll notice here. Joseph gives to Benjamin five outfits and three hundred pieces of silver. He gives his best to Benjamin. God always gives his best to his Benjamins. 134th Psalm, the third verse says this, The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion. You and I are out of Zion. We're in this world. We're pilgrims. We're travelers. But we travel by God's grace. Now Joseph, verse 23 says, His father he sent after this man are ten asses laden with good things of Egypt, ten she-asses laden with corn and bread and meat for his father by the way. And then in verse 24, So he sent his brethren away, and they departed. And he said unto them, Sometimes a wise word to the departing is quite valuable. See that you fall not out by the way. Joseph warns his brothers to keep the faith. He warns them partly because he doesn't expect too much from them. Would you? I mean, they thought they'd murdered him 22 years ago. They've been intimidated and they've lied and everything else while he's dealt with them. He said, keep the faith. Don't fall out, by the way. Hold your finger there and turn your Bibles back to the book of James. I want you to read this. James chapter 4. Let's start in verse 1. James chapter 4, verse 1. He said, From whence come wars and fighting among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?" What did Joseph say to them? See that you fall not out by the way. He said, you lust and have not, you kill and desire to have and cannot obtain, you fight and war yet you have not because you ask not. You ask and receive not because you ask amiss that you may be consumed upon your lusts. He says, You adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do you think that the Scripture saith in vain, The Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be afflicted, and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness." And then I like this verse, "'Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up.'" See that you fall not out by the way. He reminds them you're under God's control. It's 250 miles home. I don't know how long it would take you to walk 250 miles, but I can tell you it would take me a long time. He said, see that you fall not out by the way. Now Joseph admonished his brothers because they needed it. They needed it. He had a very pointed message to them. When you guys travel home, when you go back to get my father and get the family, take these wagons, be sure that you get along. Be sure that you don't forget what you're doing. Be sure you don't forget your purpose. God's in control here. They were commanded to hurry. Go get them. Pharaoh said, bring them down here. He'll take care of them. They were given ample provisions for their journey. There was no reason for them to stop for any reason. And they got real good advice from their brother. Be sure you don't fall out. You see, Joseph knew something. that they might not have thought of. But I got a feeling they were thinking about it. Twenty-three years ago, they brought his multi-colored garment that Jacob had given him, covered with the blood of a goat. And they brought it before their father and they said, looks like Joseph's dead. And now, They're going to go home and tell their father Joseph is alive. He's not only alive, he's doing fine. He's the second in command of the whole nation of Egypt. He knew that this was going to impact Jacob. David said the 51st Psalm after he'd been accused of his illicit relationship with Bathsheba. He came to repentance and he said this, against thee, thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight that thou might be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest. There's some sin that's going to have to be confessed. There are some sins that can't be hidden from other people. Now, I don't know about you, I'm pretty naive. Pretty often. I'm shocked. I read the newspaper. I watch the news and I hear somebody that I know. And I thought, boy, they're honest and upright and they can be trusted. I turn on the news and they're guilty of some crimes I couldn't imagine. They're an embezzler. They're a sexual predator. They're dishonest. Just yesterday, two school administrators, they fired them both, the principal and her right-hand person. Now Joseph has forgiven his brothers. He'd already told them, God sent me down here to save your lives and save the lives of the world. I'm not mad at you. But the question is, what about Jacob? They'd watch that old man for over 20 years, grieve and mourn and weep over the loss of his favorite son. And they know if they go home and tell him he's alive, he's going to know they're liars. Let's see how he responds to this. out of Egypt. And they came into the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father, and told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is the governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob's heart fainted, for he believed them not." Jacob had been sitting in his tent. Well, you don't know how long he had been gone. Like I say, I don't know how long it takes to walk 250 miles. You don't do it in a couple of days, I'll tell you that. When they left, when he watched them go over the horizon, they went, and it wasn't so much that he didn't love his other sons, it just grieved him. He's already lost Joseph. He's lost Simeon. And now they're taking Benjamin. And when they went over that hill, I got a feeling in Jacob's soul, he thought, I'll never see him again. He'd been sitting in his tent, weeping, broken hearted. But his sons come back to him. And they told him, Joseph is alive. Now that good news didn't hit Jacob too well at first. In fact, the Bible tells us that Jacob's heart fainted, for he believed them not. These are not the words of a confident man. These are the words of a wounded, broken-hearted old man. He believed them not. And Jacob doubted their words as being nothing more than sham and pretense. He was depressed and he was skeptical even as they brought him these words of hope. His faith was weak. His faith had been shattered by the experiences of life. His sons have been scallywags. If you'll remember the last 20 chapters of Genesis, we've read they've done everything. They murdered every man in the whole city. His daughter has been raped. His sons have done everything they could do. One of them even slept with his father's own wife. He didn't believe them. He's 130 years old. He has very little faith. And he has no power left at all. He's an old man. See, Jacob was perfectly willing to believe bad news. I found that out about old people. They believe bad news in a heartbeat. It doesn't take them long at all to believe bad news. He was the personification of gloom. I heard a fellow say one time, a fellow said, he's so miserable that if he dies it will take 600 tickers to put a smile on his face. That's Jacob. But there are several things that turned Jacob around. First of all, they told him what Joseph said. Verse 27 says, they told him all the words of Joseph which he had said unto them. Those words had a power. He could understand them. And when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, he heard Joseph's words from his brothers. He saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to bring the family down to Goshen. It says, the spirit of Jacob, their father, revived. You know, when God calls us, when God calls you to go somewhere, He'll send some way to send you there. You may not know how to be, but He will. Paul wrote in the book of Romans 7, verse 24, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, so then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin." When he saw all of Joseph's gifts, those mules, I'd like to be in there. Boy, he had those mules lined up. They were tied to the wagons. They were loaded down with gifts and presents for his father. When he saw all of that, Jacob believed, and it tells us that his that his spirit was revived. I've got to believe that you have experienced this. Somebody in your family has had sickness or some problem come and they just were beat down. And then something happens. Either their health gets better or their prosperity recovers or something happens and they look like a different person. I saw a fellow the other day. I hadn't seen him for a long time and he'd been sick a few years ago and I'd lost track of him. And the last time I saw him, he looked like he just might as well go on and die because he didn't look like he was good for anything else. And he looked like a different person. He had a smile on his face. He had a good color. He was enthusiastic. Isn't it wonderful what God does? It might seem better to have no hope than to have shattered hope. But when all your hopes are crushed, when all my hopes are crushed, thank God we still have access to Christ our shepherd. He promised that he'd take care of us. Now the good news of a living Joseph changes Jacob's attitude and his experience. And Israel said, it's enough. Boy, I tell you, when God works on you or me and he gets us to the place where we honestly say, it's enough. That's a big moment. It's a big moment. Jacob was confronted by their personal testimony, by their experiences. These were brothers who were guilty of selling their brother into slavery and lying about it to their father and now they come and tell the truth. He was given a detailed account of everything that had happened. He was changed by the evidence of these Egyptian wagons and these forces for God had a dynamic influence on Jacob's faith. And you'll notice there in verse 28, the very first thing, and Israel said, he'd been called Jacob for the last several chapters because he's been operating in the flesh. And now the Spirit of God has come and revived his spirit and his name is changed to Israel. You know, a believing soul is always a true Israelite. Jacob speaks as an old, experienced man of 130 years. Job is one of my favorite people in the Bible. Job said in Job 17, My breath is corrupt. My days are extinct. The grave is ready for me. That was in his depression. But Israel is now for the first time in 22 years, excited that the family is going to be reunited. And immediately, he agrees. He said, it is enough. Joseph, my son, is yet alive. I will go and see him before I die. Remember, he wouldn't go before. He didn't want Benjamin to go. He didn't want any of his beloved to go. But now, he's ready to go. Let's get in the wagon and go. It's not so much that this thing ended happily. They still got a long way to go. They got to load up all their children, and their relatives, and their slaves, and everything else, load them in those wagons, and they got to make this 250 mile trip. And I got a feeling that wasn't fun. It didn't end happily, but it ended well. God's not so concerned about our happiness. He's concerned about things ending well. And like them, we need to see God working in our failures and in our confusion. It's taken me a long time to see that, but I thank God for showing it to me. If God allows trouble to come your way, He'll turn every one of those troubles into a charity of love. And He will carry to you the message of His grace. Some of the special moments, the most special moments in the Bible reveal God's true nature. And they let us see Him in a fresh way. Here is what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 6. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, Now, Genesis says he did that. Anybody can read this Bible and believe that or not believe it. But Paul didn't stop there. He made this light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Good news. Now this story seems to be unreal. It's the kind of thing, if you read it, that's a good story. I enjoyed reading that. It was a fun story. But this is not a story. It's true. It's inspired of the Holy Spirit of God. And it's genuine. It's real. It shows us that God is truly in control And his will is always done. It's been 23 years since we saw Jacob sold to the Midianites. You see, the wheels of time turn slow. William Garneau said they grind fine. When human hearts come into contact with God's sovereignty in action, It fills our hearts with love for God and love for His purpose. And if it doesn't, then God's not through with you yet. The Scriptures give us an insight into the mind of God. An insight that blesses us with a relationship that's eternal and dynamic. Have joys. are these resurgences of gratitude that come to us after we go through some season of affliction. When we go through some valley of trouble, we're His. We are His. And He never forgets us, even when we forget Him. Jacob has been sitting in his tent, weeping and mourning and depressed. I have no doubt he'd forgotten about God except to complain. But now God has stirred his spirit. We'll stop there tonight. In the next chapter, we'll find out what happened. find out something about their children and about this journey to the glory of God. Amen.