PREACHING OF THE WORD OF GOD

James Alex Gardiner

Genesis 37: 3,4,15,31-33; 44: 18-26,33,34; 45: 1,25-28; 46: 1-3

It is a very fine scripture in Matthew in which the Lord Jesus is spoken of as "a friend of tax-gatherers, and of sinners", Matt. 11: 19. He came here and identified with the race. How blessed that is! He was ''found in figure as a man", the scripture says (Phil 2: 8). The One who was in Himself, and is and always will be, God, "did not esteem it" Paul says, in that beautiful scripture in Philippian; "an object of rapine to be on an equality with God, but emptied himself, taking a bondman's form, taking his place in the likeness of men; and having been found in figure as a man, humbled himself", v 6-8. This, beloved, is true greatness. He identifies Himself with the race in such a way that it can be said of Him that he is "a friend of tax-gatherers and of sinners."

Well, this is a room that is full of sinners: every person ere in this room is a sinner. The scripture tells us, If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves" (1 John 1: 8) so we do not want to deceive ourselves, but we want to be open before God and acknowledge the fact that we are sinners. I will admit and agree, thankfully, that we are forgiven sinners. I hope we are all repenting sinners. But the fact remains that we are all sinners and Jesus is still "a friend of tax-gatherers, and of sinners." We would look to the Lord to come into the preaching and touch us in our hearts with the warmth and blessedness of the love that He manifested in securing us. There is the full expression of divine goodness on the one hand and the full expression of man's enmity and wickedness on the other. And man's enmity and wickedness in no way diverted the Lord Jesus from His path of love in which He pursued the pleasure and will of God right into death for the accomplishment of redemption. Think of the wonder of that, beloved - that precious, perfect life, flawless life, of Jesus here, a different kind of man altogether. In him sin was not: he knew not sin. There is nothing whatsoever faulty about Him. He was here amongst men surrounded by the influences and the power of evil, a concentration of the devil's attack upon Him, to seek to divert Him from the accomplishment of God's will. And all it did was to bring out His power, His depth of wisdom, His committal to His Father, and the manifestation in His pathway here that He was "a friend of tax-gatherers, and of sinners."

You could do with a friend, could you not? There is nobody in this room but could do with a friend, somebody whom you could really trust, not that you could maybe just trust for a week or two or for a year or two, but whatever circumstances happen, whatever comes upon you, whatever it might be, you would really like a friend whom you could trust implicitly. He would never let you down. He would never betray your confidence. He would sustain and support you, whatever happened. He would be faithful to you, and if He thought you were wrong, He would certainly tell you, and all that would be for your good. But overall He would be your friend for ever. That hymn says,

"I've found a Friend, Oh such a Friend! "

That is Jesus, and He wants to be your friend, beloved.

Now, let us look at the scripture about Joseph. Chapter 36 is Esau. There are all these generations of the man who despises the birthright, who wants nothing to do with God, who has no love for the brethren, who pursues his brother with a sword, who despises the brotherly covenant, who has nobody before him but himself, and he is murderous in his pursuits to attain his own ends. You would not want him for a friend. You can understand why the scripture says "friendship with the world is enmity with God", Jas 4: 4.

Now, here is Jacob. This is the man that God loves. At the end of the Old Testament we are told, "I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau", Mal 1: 3. So here are Jacob's generations and all it says about his generations is: "These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph..." Christ! That is what is in mind here! The type is bringing out the intensity of the Father's love for the Son. Jesus here, beloved, in the pursuit of God's will moved every step, every moment of the day, in the blessed consciousness of the warmth of His Father's love and His Father’s approbation. God was with Him. That is what the scripture says. Whatever He did, God was with Him: "who went through all quarters doing good, and healing all that were under the power of the devil, because God was with him", Acts 10: 38. Every minute God was with Him. And this coat, this vest of many colours, is a typical evidence of the love of the Father for the Son. How distinctive Jesus was! It is most abnormal for an old man to knit a coat for a young boy of seventeen. You do not hear of that happening very often, if ever. But it is recorded here to bring out the distinctiveness of the Father's love for Christ.

And he sends him with this coat. Jesus came here with the consciousness of the Father's approval, the Father's approbation. He was of a different colour, many colours; these are His glories. The antitype of Joseph, He comes, He is sent out of the vale of Hebron. God is sending him out, the Father is sending him out with nothing in His heart but desire for the blessing and the welfare of his brethren. That is God for you, beloved; that is God for me at the present time. He has nothing in mind for us but to look after our welfare, concerned about our well-being. Do you believe that? There is nobody more concerned about your well-being than God. There is the expression here in type of the goodness of God. He says, "Go, I pray thee, see after the welfare of thy brethren, and after the welfare of the flock; and bring me word again”.

That is how Jesus was here, looking for His brethren. The Jews were His brethren. The way that He came was in total accord with God's will and pleasure. "Jesus Christ", it says, "became a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises of the fathers; and that the nations should glorify God for mercy", Rom 15: 8,9. Think of how He came in! There was Israel, that was that nation, and it was put on responsibility: "He came to his own, and his own received him not", John 1: 11. Nevertheless that is how He came. He "became a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God", and God is glorified in Him. What did Israel do with Him? They betrayed Him; they handed Him over to the Gentiles. Listen to this, because this is important, because you are guilty. The Jew is guilty. He is more guilty maybe than you are, but, as a Gentile, you are guilty. The Jew, the chief priests, handed Him over to Pilate. That was the governor. He is responsible. He is representative of the Gentile nations. It is the times of the Gentiles, the times of the nations, and he listened to them. Pilate had a right judgment. He said, "I find no guilt in this man", Luke 23: 4, but he came under influence. He was political, did not have the power to maintain the judgment, and so he delivered up righteous blood. This is very solemn because the nations will have to answer for this in the day to come. So will the Jew. Pilate, in delivering up Christ as he did, has been likened to Moses casting his rod, his authority, on the ground, and it became a serpent. If you look through the end of the gospels, you can see how the devil got into that whole area, and Christ was crucified. He was here in the expression of the fulness of divine goodness and man's answer to it was, We do not want Him. Away with him! Crucify him! And the voices of the chief priests prevailed. The devil got into the whole situation. Pilate had the authority to let Him go and he could see that there was a tumult arising so he says, Well, we will sacrifice this Man. It did not mean anything. There was the Son of God. The whole world is guilty before God. That is the side of responsibility. You are a Gentile: there are no Jews here, I think. Nevertheless, the whole world is guilty before God of the death of Christ and will have to answer for it. But God overruled man's folly, overruled his awfulness. He does not excuse him, but He overruled it and Peter tells us the day of Pentecost that He was taken by wicked hands and crucified and slain. How awful that is: that is your heart and mine, to save ourselves, to save a tumult, we will expose somebody else! Somebody else will carry the load, not me. Here is the Friend of tax-gatherers and sinners, and He is given over into the hands of lawless men to crucify and slay.

But there is something greater than that, beloved, and this is where your blessing comes in. It says, He was "given up by the determinate counsel", Acts 2: 23 - you see how God overrules everything. That is what was in mind here when, in the type, He was sent through the vale of Hebron. Hebron relates to a system of things that was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt. Jesus was moving in relation to the purpose of God. He came here to die. Think of the immensity of that! He came here knowing full-well what was going to happen, and He came to accomplish this great work of redemption, to pay the price that God demanded for the intrusion and the incoming of sin. He came here to pay the price for it, to glorify God in relation to it so that, God being glorified, He can come out in blessing to men. God can give Himself a free hand. That is divine love, beloved, in its fulness. "No one has greater love than this, that one should lay down his life for his friends", John 15: 13. "For perhaps for the good man", Paul says, "some one might also dare to die", Rom 5: 7. But he says, in contrast to all that, ''we being still sinners Christ has died for us", v8, the Friend of tax-gatherers and sinners.

Think of what they do to Joseph here! (It is only a type, I know.) They cast him into a pit without water. They take his vest. This is the callousness of man over against the absolute goodness of God. They say, Is this your son's vest? "Discern now whether it is thy son's vest or not." Think of the enmity, the distance! All that has been taken account of in the death of Christ. I wish I was able to convey in some way in spirit the greatness and the glory of the love that is shining out here in type. It shone out at the cross. There Jesus had everything under control. He was going to be crucified. He could have walked away. "If therefore ye seek me", He says, "let these go away", John 18: 8, and they went away. He says, "I am he, they went away backward and fell to the ground", v 6, and then He gives Himself up. As the psalmist says, He "gave his strength into captivity", Ps 78: 61. Think of the wonder of Jesus giving His strength into captivity! Then they bound Him. They did not need to bind Him! They tied Him up and they come with sticks and other things and they have a mob to capture Him.

It is like the ark in the hands of the Philistines. He can take care of Himself but He has time for other people. There Peter denies Him and He feels for poor Peter. Think of Jesus turning round and He looked at Peter. Maybe He is going to look at you tonight. Maybe He is looking at me. Have I denied the Lord? Peter did. No matter what happens, he says, I will never deny you; I will always be with you. Peter did not know exactly what was in his own heart. We have to have our own hearts exposed to us. He really meant it: He really was committed. I will never deny you, he says. They will all deny you and not me. Jesus says, Well, “the cock shall not crow today before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me", Luke 22: 34. And he does. He is under pressure. He is not dependent. Jesus turns and looks at him. What grace in that look! "And Peter, going forth without, wept bitterly", Luke 22: 62. That is repentance. That is Peter brought down. As we said yesterday,

'He will break your will asunder

Though your heart in twain be rent.'

That was Peter's heart, a broken heart. I did not really mean to do this. Look what I have done. What have I done? I have denied the Lord. Is he being condemned for it? Is he being set aside for it? Is he being condemned for it? Whenever Jesus arises from among the dead, the first person who knows is Simon: "The Lord is indeed risen and as appeared to Simon", Luke 24: 34.

What grace there is in that! That is a friend. What a friend Peter had in Jesus! What a friend we have in Jesus! You have the callousness of man crucifying Christ. This vest! Is this your son's vest? A glory attaches to that vest, beloved, with blood upon it that never attached to it before. There is a glory of redeeming love in the vest of Joseph. It is a type, I know, but it foreshadows the real thing. Think of the wonder, the marvel of the work of redemption, that Christ has redeemed to God what was His in the first place. You cannot redeem something that does not belong to you. The whole of creation belongs to God. You think of the mighty power of God manifested in creation, what He does! I think it says somewhere in Job, "He stretcheth out the north over empty space, he hangeth the earth upon nothing", chap 26: 7. That is God's power. "He hangeth the earth upon nothing”: that is the power of God. And the Creator of it, the One who did it all, who made it all, who created all, is the Lord Jesus. And He was "upholding all things by the word of his power", Heb 1: 3. The sun was darkened. When He rose, the rocks were rent: that is creation. There was the manifestation of divine power in the bodies of the saints who were sleeping, some of them rising up from the grave and going into Jerusalem. It is called the holy city. It is not the Jerusalem of Herod. It is the holy city. It is the manifestation of divine power. And so Christ has finished the work. Marvellous matter, beloved! He has shed His blood and every person who is under the shelter of the blood of Christ is saved for eternity. It is a very serious matter because judgment and death and mortality are upon the race. You thank God for all the alleviations that medical science can bring in. It is part of His mercy to His creature, but mortality is upon the race. You are going to die. If the Lord does not come, you are going to die. The Christian goes to be with Christ. If you are not a believer, if you are not a Christian, if you do not belong to Christ, you need to think about this very seriously, because to die without Christ is to be raised without Christ and there is nothing for these per sons but judgment, not a thing. Where will the Pilates be? Where will the Herods be? Where will that unrepentant thief be? You see on the cross Jesus the Friend of tax-gatherers and sinners. Here is one of the biggest sinners, probably a murderer, he may have been in Barabbas's band, I do not know-the other thief. And Jesus has time for him. He repented. Very blessed matter! They both maligned Him. They both said, bring us down, you can do things, you can come down yourself. An awful situation to be in, to be nailed to a wooden cross! And that was the due reward. This thief says to his fellow. This is what we deserve, "but this man has done nothing amiss", Luke 23: 41. And then he says, "Remember me, Lord, when thou comest in thy kingdom", v 42. Is Jesus suffering too much? Is he too self-occupied? Is He too concerned to take any notice? He says, "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise", v 43. What a friend, beloved, of tax-gatherers and sinners!

Now, we need to think about it because these are persons who have gone on without any evidence of repentance. I was speaking to the port missionary a few weeks ago. He has to bury people, and he says, 'I never say that anybody is in hell because I do not know how they have finished with God, but I always warn persons when I am having a burial service that unless you are under the shelter of the blood of Christ, there is nothing for you but hell'. Thank God for every Christian, beloved! Thank God for every person who has come under the blessing of the glad tidings! There are many of them. They may be not in the light - and many are not in the full light of Paul's gospel - but there are many persons, the thousands of those that love Him, and they have all come the same way and they have been drawn to Christ by the Father: "No one can come to me except the Father who has sent me draw him", John 6: 44, and "Him that comes to me I will not at all cast out", v 37. What good news is this, beloved, if you are convicted of sin. If you have a conscience, if you have a problem with your conscience, you can be relieved, that burden can be taken away from you if you take up the responsibility.

Joseph's brethren go on and life goes on and they sell him to the Ishmaelites. There is the caravan of the Ishmaelites in the eighth chapter of John's gospel. They claim Abraham for their father, and you see how they behave, these Ishmaelites. Then he is in Potiphar's house and there is lawlessness and the mystery of iniquity working proves his purity. And then he is in prison. And then it says in the Psalm, "The king sent and loosed him - the ruler of peoples - and let him go free", Ps 105: 20. That is Jesus raised from amongst the dead. What power there was in that manifestation, in the resurrection of Christ! Nobody else is raised. God had not raised others, millions of believers their bodies in the grave. There is one Man out of the grave. God has manifested His pleasure and His delight in Christ in raising Him from among the dead and it was only righteous that He should do so and he did it by His glory! What a matter, beloved, the Father's glory, the Father with His glory going to the grave and raising Christ from it, not one iota of evil to be judged. Christ had finished the whole work. He finished it in power and He finished it triumphantly and He is raised from amongst the dead by the glory of the Father.

Now, that is Goshen. God not only wants you, beloved, to be relieved of your sins and of the burden of them. What a burden it is! It can be so awkward. You try to hide it. You try to forget about it. You think you are getting on fine and then something happens and the whole thing comes up again and God speaks to you and wants you to accept what He has in mind, accept your guilt. He is ready to forgive. And up comes this awful thing that is called will, self-will, and there is a clash of personalities, you and God. Beloved, let this be the time when you are not going to fight against the will of God. He ordered circumstances: "And he called for a famine upon the land; he broke the whole staff of bread", Ps 105: 16. What are Joseph's brethren going to do? They cannot do anything about that. They cannot make bread. You need the basic materials. There is no corn. Where is the corn? The corn is in Egypt. God will arrange circumstances so that you go there. You have to go where Joseph is. How good God is! You see how He orders the affairs of men, sets the boundaries of the habitations of men that they might seek him: "And has made of one blood every nation of men to dwell upon the whole face of the earth, having determined ordained times and the boundaries of their dwelling, that they may seek God', Acts 17: 26. God has set you in your circumstances that you might seek God. He is very easily found. It is not difficult to find Him. And He is concerned that you might be forgiven. He wants your company. He is not arbitrary. We are inclined at times to judge God by ourselves, but God is away above the finest judgment that nature could bring out. God has expressed His goodness in its fulness and now He is ordering circumstances. He hedges people in. He says, You have to go this way, and you say, No. Well, something else will happen. Eventually you have to go that way because God has in mind your blessing. You cannot run away from it. It is a terrible thing if you do and you do and you do, and God has to say, Well, if you want to go that way, off you go! It says in the scripture, "He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck..." - do not let anybody here be like that! - "shall suddenly be destroyed and without remedy", Prov 29: 1. We have examples of that in Scripture.

But I just wanted to speak about Judah because he eventually takes the responsibility. Is anybody in this room going to prevail amongst their brethren? That is what it says of him. This is royalty. This is princeliness. This is somebody taking responsibility for what happened. Are you going to take responsibility for the death of Christ? He says, Yes, I am to blame and, he says, I am prepared to be a bondman for the lad. You know Benjamin is Christ over again, the same mother, born in the land. The silver cup he has put in Benjamin's sack. I think the silver cup really relates to the brethren. Where does He find His refreshment? Where does Jesus find His satisfaction? It says, "Is not this it in which my lord drinks, and which indeed he divines?", chap 44: 5. He finds his satisfaction and his joy amongst the brethren, and that is Benjamin, and he is working to set Benjamin free. He wants you and me not only to be relieved of our sins but to move in the enjoyment of new creation. Here is Judah and he is setting out the features of the kingdom and taking responsibility. It says he "prevailed among his brethren, and of him was the prince", 1 Chron 5: 2. The birthright was Joseph's, but here is Judah taking responsibility feelingly. He feels in type how the Father would feel, how God would feel, how Jacob would feel if Benjamin was in this position, if he has to lose Benjamin. You see how governmentally the wheel goes round: instead of Joseph, now it is Benjamin. How marvellous, beloved, are the ways of God! And in this situation Joseph cannot control himself any longer. It says, "Put every man out from me! And no man stood with him when Joseph made himself known to his brethren." How full the heart of Christ is as the situation arrives at normality! This matter, had been going on for seven whole chapters up to here. In chapter 38 the awfulness of the flesh comes out in Judah, but what is developing in him is family feelings, and it is coming out here, and he is thinking about his father. His confession, his outline, is such that the heart of Christ is full and Joseph makes himself known to his brethren. He felt it. See how he weeps! He could not control himself, there is nothing arbitrary. It is the depths of divine affection in Christ as He opens up His heart and can open up His heart in this situation to His brethren.

I just want to speak of Jacob because they have all received help now, not only relief. He does not want you only to be relieved and come down for a bag of corn and then go away home, and once that is finished, come back and get some more. Jesus wants His brethren to live with Him where He is. There are two sides to the gospel, two wonderful sides: one is the relief side; and the other is the side of fulness of blessing, so you are sustained in life. He is the Sustainer of life and He is the Revealer of secrets. What a situation to be found in! The famine is all round - it will be for so many years - but the food, the supply, the maintenance of life is where Joseph is. They go up for Jacob, an old man, and he does not believe it is happening. He could not believe it. It says, "And his heart fainted, for he did not believe them." Is that you? Is your heart fainting? Is it too good to be true? That is what Jacob thought. "His heart fainted, for he did not believe them." There they were, they had wagons, food, all that was needed. They had come up there and they were beginning to be conscious that they are "complete in him": "For in him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily", Col. 2: 9. He does not need anything from you. He says, I am going to supply everything, and I can do it. And here is this old man and he does not believe it is true. There was a great work of God in Jacob. "And they spoke to him all the words of Joseph, which he had spoken to them. And he saw the waggons that Joseph had sent to carry him. And the spirit of Jacob their father revived." Is that you, beloved? Is your spirit being revived in the preaching? Is your unbelief being dispelled? You are in faith, active in faith. You are coming back to the height of the calling. How wonderful that is! It is not Jacob now. It is "Israel took his journey with all that he had." How fine that is! How beautiful! Think of the skill and wisdom of Christ in the type of Joseph as he brings them all round so they come and live where he is. They are going to come into the enjoyment of eternal life. All their cares, all their worries, everything gone! He supplies everything. That is Christ. That is Christianity. And as he moves to Beer-sheba, he is touching the inheritance. How fine that is! He came to Beer-sheba and God speaks to him. He is coming into divine communications. There were no divine communications where they were in that land of barrenness where the famine was. One of the hymns speaks about "sin's distant land of famine" (No 154). I am not saying that Jacob was in "sin's distant land of famine", but he was not where the food was. Joseph wants you to be where the food is. He wants me to be where the food is. So the waggons are there, the Spirit of God's power is there available to take us to where He is. How blessed that is! All divine provision, the whole of the glad tidings, is on the line of gift.

Now, may the Lord help and encourage us, beloved! The Friend of tax-gatherers and sinners is available to us. What a Friend He is and will be for ever and ever! May He help us to prove it increasingly and be concerned that we find our life where He is! Think of Him, made Lord and Christ. He is lord of his house, it says. "He made him lord of his house, and ruler over all his possession", Psalm 105: 21. He puts the whole thing into his hand. "To bind his princes at his pleasure, and teach his elders wisdom" (v 22): he is running the country for Pharaoh. He is the chief minister. Think of how God has put everything into Christ's hand! And he wants to put you into His hand too. Do you want to go into the hand of Jesus and be sustained, be supported, be with him, be amongst His friends? What a situation it is, beloved! May the Lord help us in it for His Name's sake!

 

REDBRIDGE

8 December 1996