Genesis chapter 42, 42, one verse, verse eight. And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him. Our Lord said this in his prayer in John 17 recorded. That's the prayer I think probably in the garden, but it's the most exhaustive of his words there. But in John 17, 3, he says, this is life eternal. He says that right. This is life eternal, not eternal life. That's big. What he's saying is this is life now and will be life eternal. This is life though. This is life. That they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. What a blessed, what a blessed prayer to pray. What a blessed thought that our true Joseph prays for his, to his and our Father, that request to know them, to know them. And only in this knowledge is true happiness in life. And not many people realize that. Only in this knowledge is true happiness right now. In whatever life we have here, whether it be zero to a hundred years, whatever it is. Only happiness is in knowledge of God. Knowledge of anything else is just existence, isn't it? Just, we're here. Knowledge of anything else is, in Paul's estimation of it, one of the smartest men ever. But in his estimation, any other knowledge is dunk. Just words and things to be burned. Useless knowledge. Paul writes about that in 1 Corinthians 13, too. He said, you can understand all the secrets in the world, all the mysteries. You can possess all knowledge. And you're at the end without knowledge of God and Christ. He says, you're a useless nobody. Useless nobody. Unless I possess spiritual, experimental, saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, nothing else matters. Paul says that I may know. Paul says this. Paul knew these things better than anybody ever has or will. And he still says that I may know him. So this will be our thoughts as we look at Joseph in this verse here. And you see there's two opposites right off. There's ignorance or knowledge and there's ignorance. And we're gonna look at the latter first. They knew him not. They knew him not. Joseph at this point is exalted. We know he's 30 years old, exalted governor. 22 years, at least, has gone by. You know, he's grown in his character, in his clothing, in his chariot. If you read those things, they all indicate glory. You see Christ there? You remember that the scripture says when he was here as a man that there was nothing about him that they admired, that he wasn't a good-looking man. Just sort of plain, and he was sunburned and weathered, just because he was a working man. And just nothing about him to be admired at all. But then you have right after his resurrection, two or three days later, nobody recognized him. And I just think, probably, maybe he was a good-looking man at this point. You know, the glory, you know, was beginning to be revealed. But they didn't recognize him. He was a different man, just like Joseph was. Mary, His mother, didn't recognize Him. The disciples didn't recognize Him. The ones that amazed... The two men going down the road to amaze... They didn't recognize Him. Nobody rec... His nearest people didn't recognize Him. They're ignorant of Him. And if that were just two days later, what's He got to be now? Hmm? What is He now? And then to think this, we're going to be like Him. We're going to be like Him. He shall change our vile, ugly body and make them like His glorious body. We're all going to be good looking people one of these days. Don't give up hope. I'll be able to sing. That's going to be a good day, isn't it? They not even have to worry about having a mirror to look in to see, check ourselves. Because it's not going to be about us, is it? It's going to be all about Him. But we do, we thank our Lord for what we do see now, don't we? We don't see what we should see. We're so ignorant of so many things and we're just thankful for what we do know. And then we think about what we shall see and know. But here's a first thought. Now keep this in mind, his brothers, the ignorant right now, they will come to a knowledge. We'll get there in a few weeks, Lord willing. But look, the first thought is the spiritual ignorance of Joseph and then the greater Joseph, Christ's brothers. And I think you see this best and first in our unregenerate state. What knowledge had any of us of Christ before he revealed himself to us? Talk about a heart knowledge. None at all. Think about that. None at all. And absolutely, he was our brother everlastingly He was our Savior to be revealed in sovereign, effectual grace. But in that lost state that we were in, we knew nothing. Scripture says he came unto his own and they received him not. And that was us. That was us. We received him not. Now, varied is the head knowledge of Christ, sort of a superficial. Now, we knew those things. I mean, you know, that runs a gamut, don't it, from absolutely nothing other than going down the road and saying, that's a church there. Those people worship God. You know, but you still know they worship God. You know something about God to how we were blessed growing up, to have the knowledge of truth. But there is no difference in what the spirit and the soul knew, is there? No difference. None of us knew him before he regenerated our hearts. Ignorant of him. And this is the sin of sin. This is the sin. This is maybe the greatest sin. You know, we talk about He forgave us of our sins. And my, you know, your first thought is He forgave me of all those vices that I committed. No, the greatest sin He forgave us of was sin against light. That next car, the shadow that we just saw, he just sinned. There's another one. He just sinned against light. Light's here. He just kept driving by it. And then the greater the knowledge, the greater the sin against light, isn't it? So that's the greatest sin of man, is sin against light. That's what it says. Light came into the world and they rejected it. We all rejected it because why? We love the darkness more than the light. Joseph... Joseph... Think about this. Joseph was just as he was as a child With that coat of many colors and his knowledge of those dreams he had, he was that same that he was right now, this exalted governor of Egypt. They just didn't see it. He tried to tell them, remember, in this Christ, don't you see Christ here? He tried to say, hey, let's sit down and talk about these dreams I've had. And I think they knew. They just rejected that glory. But now, thank God, they can't reject it anymore, right? Here's a second thought. Joseph is disguised, it says. He was Lord, not their brother. His legal and law status, they could see. Well, God is the lawgiver. He's the firm ruler. As a matter of fact, the parable over in Luke 19 says He's an austere man. That's why that one servant hid. He said, I was afraid of you. All we know God is in His legal, Christ in the legal ruling status. Doctrinally and biblically we know Him, but not as our very real brother. God is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. Ignorant of that, aren't we? And I'm talking about as believers now, we often lose sight of, that's my brother. Don't we? That's my brother. And we get so hung up in the legality of the doctrines that we know that we lose sight of that compassionate, sorrowful brother of ours. And that ignorance hurts us, don't it? Sometimes it makes those trials tougher. We are... Just, we're so short often of just the simple childlike faith. Sometimes, you know, we're thankful for what we know, but sometimes we know too much and we just don't, we lose the simplicity that a child has of who they know. I wish we could hang on to that more. He's our, he's our, He's the end of the law. He's the end of the law for those who believe. Now he's our sympathetic friend. We can come to him with anything. Anything. And we can come to him with nothing. Just as I am. Ah, for grace to break through this ignorance. Here's the third thought. He spoke rough. It said he made himself strange to them. We got into this last week, was our pretty much, it was our message. Rough trials, dark days, fears and dread. Jason talked about those things this morning. And you say, where are you, Lord? Well, the same place he's always been, hmm? We just don't see it. We need to get into the position where we can view that. Or we're just tunneled. He's always in the same place he's been. On his throne. Three days in prison they were put. That was fearful, wasn't it? Was he still Joseph though? Yeah. It was his prison. He's the jailer. They're in his custody. But see, our ignorance of these things, and when we go through them, sometimes we lose complete track of, this is sent for a reason. What do we do then? Well, we do like David, we pray. David prayed this, he said, bring my soul out of prison that I may praise your name. And then do this, be thankful that you're Christ's prisoner, not Satan's. And remember this, this world is his world, this is Christ's world. You just let Satan be a part of it. So our brother, our elder brother, to try faith and test sincerity and deepen his work and image in us, to make us feel more like family, you know, it's just to make us, that's a simple way of putting why he puts us through some of these things is we're family and we're gonna feel like family. And we go through them and we share them and we just, but it all is about more knowledge of Him, His image. So He puts us through these tough times, tough places, but they're His places. And like I say, we're often ignorant of that. Even believers sometimes will say, where in the world did this come from? Right? Julie's been through bound with Steve, bound with her mom, bound with Steve, bound with her mom, now her dad. And you start to think, after a while, don't you? You say, why me, Lord? You can say it. You may not say it out loud, but you think it, because it's just like, wow. Do you think anybody believes God's sovereignty more than Julie does, Steve? So, you see? But you do, you think, where'd that come from? I'm drowning. That's us, isn't it? Another point. He says in verse 9, he said, you're spies. You're spies. You came in here to see the nakedness, the weakness of this land. Well, count it a blessing. Count it a blessing. A great blessing. We don't often, but count it a great blessing when the sincerity of your faith and religion and yourself sometimes is brought into question. Whether it be some outsider, you know, you know, you know the Lord, you don't know the Lord, you know, you don't know the Lord, you wouldn't do that. Or yourself saying it, you know, be thankful that those things bother you and that your faith is called into question. Your sincerity. Be thankful when this world sees it and sort of wants to separate. That's not the word. It's just the chaff being separated from the good grain. Be glad it's happening. You know, we want to get along with everybody out here. But if we fit in with everybody in every situation we're in, something's wrong. Okay? Something's wrong. If we're not a little bit uncomfortable at times, something's wrong. And you be your own judge of that. I'm not your judge and jury. God is. But be thankful that it's separated when grace allows you to choose God over this world. The result of this rough treatment is deeper and more sincere love. A cutting away, a sharpening of the image of our brother. Of approving I'm not a spy. I'm not a spy. Now, like I say, Joseph knew they weren't spies, but they proved it to them. And the Lord knows those who are his. But sometimes it encourages us to prove it to ourselves, not in some puffed-up, self-righteous way. But sometimes I've been in a place where you walk away, you didn't fall into sin, and you say, thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord, because that was my bent. And something just removed you from that, or you would have been in a mess. Here's another point, verse 23 there. They knew not that Joseph understood them, for he spake unto them by an interpreter. Who is the interpreter of Christ in his words? His eternal spirit is, right? Scripture says, through John 14 all the way through 16 or so, several things. But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom my Father shall send in my name, he shall teach you all things. What? Teach you all things of what? Of doctrine? No, of Christ. Of what? Of me, he says. Of me. John 15, 26, he'll testify of me. John 16, 14, he shall glorify me. Christ and true knowledge, or true knowledge, true knowledge of Christ is forever blind until the Spirit reveals it to you. It's just religion. Christ and Jesus and God, they're just names. And part of a religious principle, or concept, or organization, but to have no real meaning until the Spirit says, this is what this says about Christ, and this is how Christ relates to you in this situation. Spirit does that. His words, unless the Spirit speaks to us for Him. We know that's true because we can sit and read the Bible and never get a thing out of it. And then you read it again and you thought, how did I never see that? Well, the Spirit showed it to you. You just wasn't ready to before when you read that. He shows you everything. And He don't show some people anything even though they think He does. Isaiah 59, 10 said false teachers, false preachers, false religion is like men groping for the wall, it says. They're like blind men. Our Lord in Matthew 15, 14 says this about them. About blindness, spiritual blindness, not being opened by the Spirit of God. Talks about how the Pharisees lead them this way and that way. And he said, verse 14, he said, leave them alone. Stay away from them. How many times have we heard that from this pulpit? Stay away from them. You know, there's no good in them. There's no truth in them. These people, you know, listen to this guy, they listen to that guy, just let them alone. He said, they're blind leaders of the blind and they're both gonna, they're gonna fall and they're gonna, you're right, they're gonna fall in a ditch, they're gonna perish. Don't be a part of it. This religious world, this religious world speaks of Jesus, but they always speak of Jesus and. Have you ever noticed that? It's Jesus and how good this man is. What a great woman this woman is. Dad always said the worst theology in the world is at a funeral. He says it's damning to a soul because it should be a hall of Christ. That's why I've told these girls, when I die, don't put me in front of everybody and have some man stand up and try to bring the gospel to them when everybody sitting out there can't wait to get gone. Much less want to hear the gospel. Just have a graveside for me and have the family there and exalt Christ. And then if you want to have something on Sunday, do it. You know, but that way nobody's got to come here and hear about what I want people to be told about. Christ, you're throwing your pearls before the swine. I've seen them, Steve, I've seen them do it time and time again. Leave a funeral that my dad had done and be madder than 10 hells, you know, because he brought the gospel. And he said, I'm not going to glorify that man right there. They don't want to hear that. Don't want to hear it, do they? Religion is Jesus and, Jesus and, Jesus and. And usually that end is something about some tom-thumb that said, what a good boy am I. But the Holy Interpreter of the Lord Jesus Christ will speak of him alone. And that's my job. If the Holy Spirit speaks of Christ alone, who am I to speak of anybody else? Hmm? If He teaches me anything, it's going to be about Christ. And I just come and share that with you. And if you see that, you see that, if you've been so blessed to see that in Him alone is hope, and merit, and worthiness, and righteousness, and all of those things that you ain't, then you are blessed above worlds of people, millions, millions in Egypt, in all the world out here. His brothers were the blessed ones. Nobody else saw that. The Spirit not only reveals the person of our salvation, he reveals the person of providence. He brings all things pertaining to his brothers to pass. And He does it according to His will. Like you were saying, isn't, you know, all things are not good all the time, but all things end for good for those who believe. And we rest there. And we rest that He has done all things well. And that's enough. That's enough to be said, isn't it? That's what Cooper wrote when God moves in mysterious ways. He said, blind unbelief is sure to err and scan his work in vain. God is his own interpreter and he will make it plain. We don't try to figure it out. We're not going to figure it out. He'll interpret it as we need it. Providence. All right, knowledge, the second thing is knowledge. The first point was ignorance, the second one's knowledge, specifically of Christ for his people. To understand this, even in part, even in part, to understand that Christ knows me is the secret of comfort, of hope, and of joy in all things in life. Just, if you can, just a little bit, Cheryl, just a little bit, grasp the fact that He knows me. He knows me. That'll take care of everything, won't it? This knowledge of Christ for us, number one, is an eternal knowledge. Wasn't in time, nor at our birth. A lot of folks don't realize that. They thought Christ got to know us after our mother had us. You reckon how many think that that was all eternity? I bet very few do. Christ knew, He loved His church with an everlasting love. Therefore in time, Scripture says, with love and kindness He drew us. But He knew us. In our ignorance of Him, He knew us. He knew us in our sinful, unregenerate state. That's a bit embarrassing to think about now, isn't it? But if He didn't know us, how could He have found us? How could He direct hope and salvation to my soul if not known from all the other millions in this world? He had to have known us. He knew me walking after the course of this world, wicked just like the others. He kept us in that state of wickedness and evil. He kept us, preserved us until the day of salvation. When called by grace, He revealed Himself to us. Now I see you. He'd always knew us though. He'd always been there. He knew us in our spiritual famine and our need. Knew I had no goodness. I had no righteousness. I was just an empty sack. Knew I was poor and needy. Yet he thought on me, David said. Knew us in our despair, our fear, and he led us to, as Peter writes in Acts, arise and go to him. That's that song in, I will arise, go to Jesus. Why? Because he's the bread of life. We were hungry. That spirit revealed that we were hungry. All right, he has an individual knowledge of us. My hope, or my name, my position, my circumstances, he knows those things. He knows that about me. In love and in sympathy, he knows my trials. He knows my temptations. He knows my sorrows. He knows what I need. He knows me. Listen to this. He knows me. He knows you. If you were an only child, if you were the only brother in the world, he knows you just like that. And your concerns, he treats as his only concerns. Not just a plethora of different concerns. Right, Jax? That's a lot. And that's how we, we don't grasp that, do we? We just think we're sort of in a group of sovereignly saved elect sinners. No, no, we are, but we're individual sovereign elect saved sinners. And he knows us and he's our comfort. He says, I know their sorrows. And isn't that enough that he said that? Does he have to say any more? I know their sorrows. The foundation of God stands fast, having this seal, this promise. The Lord knows those who are his. Is that enough? Isn't that just that one verse there, is that enough? Nathaniel said, you remember when the Lord, he said, how do you know me? How do you know me? David just couldn't understand it at all. He said, such knowledge is just too wonderful for me. Well, let this be a comfort. At times when we're like Nathaniel, how do you know me? And then like David, I cannot fathom how he knows me. Times when he's hid like he did Mary and the disciples. Let this be a comfort. He's there. He is there. Scripture says he never sleeps, he slumbers, his eye never closes. We may not recognize him like those disciples did in that storm. They thought it was a ghost. He may disguise and he may speak roughly in Providence, but let little faith grasp, I know my sheep. I know my sheep. And this, especially this, John 14, eight, it is enough, that's what Philip said, it is enough, Lord, whether I understand or not, whether I grasp or not, it is enough, Lord, that you know me. The brothers then stood as beggars, needy men with no idea of their relationship. Now they reverenced his authority, they bowed before him. They reverenced his ability, and they saw that he was willing to help them, to supply. But they had no feeling of comfort and kinship, did they, at this time? They had no idea that this was my brother doing these things. Do we struggle here? What is that called? That's assurance, isn't it? We struggle with assurance. I do, I do. Pretty common in my walk, one to just struggle with assurance. Sometimes I feel, that's why it messages back there that hang on that board forever. Feelings come and feelings go. Assurance. They didn't know. They didn't know. They didn't realize it. Didn't know. And have a full assurance that this was their brother in front of them. Nevertheless, he is ours. And that grain, that mustard seed of faith, that He gives, that He gives. It's not always there. Sometimes we struggle, but then He does give it. Just a mustard seed, I am His. I am His. Sure, that binds us, doesn't it? And it keeps us coming back, coming back, coming back. It's that unseen anchor. It's there. But what makes us know that we're joined is that rope stays tight. Hold on to the rope. Hold on to the rope. The rope stays tight. You know, that unseen anchor. Nevertheless, the solid foundation, our anchor stands fast having this seal. The Lord knows those who are his. And although we would long, all of us long for what they call full assurance, I'm not sure what that is. I'd like to have it before I die, but I don't know. I'm getting into the 60s, mid-60s now, and I'm missing it still a lot of times. Wish I had strong faith all the time. But the reality of it is, days of darkness still come over me. Days of darkness, spiritual darkness still come over me. And those are the times I hold my assurance that I just pray. When I can't, by His hand, the song says we're safely led. And just to know that, by His hand, whether I know it or not, whether I feel it or not, You know, I don't know if anybody's ever rode a horse or not at night. It's a different feeling to ride a horse at night. It's almost like a, I don't know how to describe it. It's just, you're sort of there. You're moving in the saddle and you don't see how the land. is going and you're not walking it. So you're sort of in between the terrain and your feet are not doing what they should be doing. It's sort of a different feeling. And what do you do? Huh? What do you do when you can't see when your feet ain't on the ground? You trust the horse, don't you? You got to trust the horse. We trust when we can't see. That's what we do. We trust. We trust. That's what that man said, Lord, I believe, you help my unbelief. So do this, let the thought of Christ's knowledge of us, of us, his knowledge of us, rule our thoughts. Let that be the number one thing we think about. When darkness and sadness and sin and the world veils him and hides our view of him, let the solid truth that our brother, knows us, keep up our hope, keep up our faith. Joseph, it said, knew his brothers. But oh my, oh my, ever, ever, ever endeavor to know him more, okay?