All right, now let's open our
Bibles now to Genesis chapter 44, or 43, excuse me, 43. We'll begin reading in verse
11. And their father Israel said
unto them, if it must be so, now do this. Take the best of
the fruits and the land in your vessels, and carry down the man
a present, a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh,
nuts and almonds, and take double money in your hand, and the money
that was brought again in the mouth of your sacks, carry it
again in your hand, for adventure it was an oversight. Take also
your brother and arise, go again unto the man, and God Almighty
give you mercy before the man, that he may send away your other
brother and Benjamin, If I be bereaved of my children, I am
bereaved. And the men took that present,
and they took double money in their hand and Benjamin, and
rose up and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph. And
when Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the ruler of
his house, bring these men home and slay and make ready, for
these men shall dine with me at noon. And the man did as Joseph
bade, and the man brought the men into Joseph's house. And
the men were afraid, because they were brought into Joseph's
house. And they said, because of the money that was returned
in our sacks at the first time are we brought in, that he may
seek occasion against us and fall upon us and take us for
bondmen and our assets. And they came near to the steward
of Joseph's house and they communed with him at the door of the house
and said, oh sir, we came indeed down at the first time to buy
food. And it came to pass, we came to the end that we opened
our sacks And behold, every man's money was in the mouth of his
sack, our money in full weight, and we have brought it again
in our hand. And other money have we brought down in our hands
to buy food. We cannot tell who put our money
in our sacks. And he said, Peace be to you,
fear not. Your God and the God of your
father hath given you treasure in your sacks. I had your money. And he brought Simeon out unto
them. And the man brought the men into Joseph's house and gave
them water. They washed their feet and he
gave their asses provender. And they made ready the present
against Joseph, came at noon, for they heard that they should
eat bread there. And when Joseph came home, they
brought him the present, which was in their hand, into the house
and bowed themselves to the earth. And he asked them of their welfare
and said, is your father well? The old man of whom you spake,
is he yet alive? And they answered, thy servant,
our father, is in good health. He is yet alive, and they bowed
down their heads and made obeisance. And he lifted up his eyes and
saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and says, is this
your younger brother of whom you spake unto me? And he said,
God be gracious unto thee, my son. And Joseph made haste, for
his bowels did yearn upon his brother, and he sought where
to weep, and he entered into his chamber and wept there. And
he washed his face and went out and refrained himself, and said,
set on bread. And they set on for him by himself,
and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians, which did
eat with him by themselves, because the Egyptians might not eat bread
with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination unto the Egyptians.
And they set before him the firstborn, according to his birthright,
and the youngest according to his youth. And the men marveled
one at another. And he took and sent messes unto
them from before him. But Benjamin's mess was five
times so much as any of theirs. And they drank and were married
with him." Thank God for his word. Let's bow together. Our Father, Lord, we've come into your presence
this evening seeking a blessing from your storehouses of grace. Father, I beg of you that you'd
be pleased to send your grace to us tonight through the preaching
of your son. Father, give us a refreshing,
a refreshing from the water of life. Give us a refreshing by
yet one more sight of our Savior by faith. Father, I pray that
you would bless each heart here this evening, that you'd be merciful. that you'd be gracious, that
you would speak to us as Joseph spoke to Benjamin. God be gracious
to thee. Father, help us to worship. We've
gathered together to worship, but we're in this weak flesh,
these clay pots, minds that are so prone to wander. Father, give
us a spirit of worship this evening. Let the name of Christ be exalted,
and let us be humbled at his feet before him. And what we
pray for ourselves, Father, we pray for your people, wherever
they might gather together tonight. Father, cause your word to run
well. It seems like this world is so
dark and so far gone. Father, I beg of you that in
this day, you might be pleased to send a revival in the land,
that you send out your word with power, reveal your glory in calling
your people to Christ. Father, we also pray for the
sick and afflicted of our number, those we know of and those that
we don't. Father, we freely confess we are the most blessed people
on the face of the earth, yet we are poor and needy in this
flesh. Father, we pray a fulfillment
of your promise to your people that you brought into the valley
of trouble, trial, that you'd give them a fulfillment of your
promise that you'll never leave them, and that your grace will
truly be sufficient. Father, we pray you deliver.
As soon as it can be thy will that you deliver. Father, all
these things we ask and we give thanks in that name which is
above every name, the name of Christ our Savior. Amen. I titled the message this evening,
Grace Can't Be Bought. When I first started reading
this passage, it just struck me how often These brothers had
just their money and their present. They were just always ready to
give their money and their present. And Joseph never took it. That's
a picture. Grace cannot be bought. Now there
are two ways of salvation that are pictured in our text tonight.
There's salvation by works and there's salvation by grace. And
salvation has to be all of one or the other. All of works or
all of grace. That's what we just read a little
bit ago in Romans chapter 11. And Lord willing, I want to point
out the differences in these two ways of salvation. Salvation
by works and salvation by grace. And I don't want you to think
I'm pointing out the errors of salvation by works so that we
can feel superior to people who believe in salvation by works.
That's not my goal at all. I want to point out the error
in salvation by works so that we, so you and me, all of us,
so we are not deceived into trusting salvation by our works. I want
us to know, am I trying to bring my works to the Lord or am I
trusting his grace? That's what I want us to know.
And then I want to talk about salvation by God's grace. It's
such a way that our hearts will be melted and we'll run to Christ,
run to Christ seeking grace, salvation by his grace. Now,
as Jacob and his sons are planning this trip back to Egypt to buy
more food, there are such clear pictures of salvation by works.
You remember the first time they went to buy corn in Egypt, they
bought corn and Joseph commanded their money be put back in their
sacks. That money represents man's works. Joseph did that as a picture,
that salvation is by free grace alone, grace alone. Salvation
cannot be bought by our works. Joseph wasn't gonna take money
from his brothers, and God's not gonna take our works either.
He won't accept them. But when they saw that money
given back to them, that made Jacob's sons afraid. They thought
a mistake had been made, and that's what man thinks. By nature,
when we hear salvation by grace, we think there's gotta be a mistake.
That preacher, he's misinterpreting scripture. There's got to be
a mistake. I'm the one that owes the debt to God. Now, how can
salvation be free? I mean, I've got to pay something.
I just can't be free. That's what this flesh thinks,
isn't it? And Jacob and his sons, they're dead set on paying their
own way. Now, humanly speaking, that's
good. That's good. We, you know, somebody undercharges
you or something, you know, we ought to be, I'm going to pay
the fair price. Janet went to the Dollar General
one night and they gave her something that cost a dollar or something,
you know, in the bag that she didn't pay for. I mean, she worried
herself sick about that, went back up and tried to pay for
it and tried to give it back to him. I said, honey, you spent
$5 on this $1 thing. That's good. It's good that we
be honest. But in our text, this is a picture of people who are
dead set on earning salvation by their works. They're dead
set on it. Look here at verse 11. And their father Israel said
unto them, if it must be so now, do this, take of the best fruits
in the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present,
a little balm, a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts and almonds,
and take double money in your hand, and the money that was
brought again in the mouth of your sacks, carry it again in
your hand, per venture it was an oversight, Take also your
brother and arise and go unto the man. Now Jacob says, take
double money and the money that you took the first time. Take
triple money. Take what you, you know, to pay for the corn
we've already received. And then take a little present
too. Give the man some snacks. Give
him some perfumes and things that smell nice, you know. Now
isn't that the nature of man before God? Man thinks, I'll
give God double. I'll pay God double what I think
I really owe. Now that just shows you the blindness
of our fallen nature. We don't know God's holy, and
he's perfect, and we don't know how sinful we are that somehow
we think we can pay double for our sins. We have no idea what
sin really is. We think, now I'm gonna pay what
I owe, plus I'm gonna give God a few presents. I'm gonna live
an honest life. I'm gonna lead a moral life.
I'm gonna come to services. I'm gonna act like a Christian,
you know. That'll be a good present. Won't God be impressed with that?
I'll give him that little present. I'll be impressed with that.
And oh yeah, oh yeah, while I'm doing that, I'm gonna ask God
to be merciful too. See, Jacob has all this plans. Take double
money plus the money that you brought the first time plus this
present. And he says in verse six, in verse seven, where am
I at? Verse 14, and God Almighty give
you mercy before the man that he may send away your other brother
and Benjamin. If I be brave to my children,
I'm brave. He throws this in almost like
an afterthought. Oh yeah, and God be merciful
to you. But you know, if you're trusting
salvation by works, that's what grace is. That's what mercy is. It's an afterthought. Now I want
us to look at What does salvation by works produce? These men are
dead set on this. This is a picture. They're dead
set on salvation by works. Well, what does that produce?
Number one, God doesn't bring anybody into his house because
of their works. Verse 15, and the men took that
present and they took double money in their hand and Benjamin
and rose up and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.
And when Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the ruler
of his house, bring these men home. and slay and make ready
for these men shall dine with me at noon. Now the brothers,
they had their money in their hand, didn't they? They had their
present in their hand. They had everything ready to give Joseph. But before Joseph
ever saw the money, before he knew anything about this present
that they brought in their hand, he commanded they all be brought
to his house to eat lunch. The brothers didn't need their
money, did they? All they needed was Benjamin. All they needed
was Benjamin. And you know, when you and I
first get some sense that we're in trouble with God because of
our sin, first thing we all do is try to grab some of our works,
try to grab some good things that we've done, hoping God will
be pleased enough with us to let us into his house, to let
us into his family. You know, there was a reason
that Joseph had his brother brought to his house, but it wasn't works,
was it? It wasn't their present. It wasn't
their money. And there's a reason God Almighty
brings people into his house. There's a reason God adopts sinners
to be part of his family, but that reason's never our works.
Never. Now remember that, I'll come
back to that in just a minute. First, God does not bring anybody to
his house because of their works. And second, salvation by works
makes men afraid of God. Verse 17, and the man did as
Joseph bade, And the man brought the men into Joseph's house.
And the men were afraid because they were brought into Joseph's
house. And they said, because of the money that was returned
in our sacks at the first time are we brought in that he may
seek occasion against us and fall upon us and take us for
bondmen in our asses. See, Joseph brings his brothers
to their house for a free lunch. You're in a free lunch with the
ruler of the land. There's going to be a good lunch.
And they're afraid. They're afraid. And you know
why they're afraid? They've got a guilty conscience.
Look back at Genesis 42. This guilty conscience has been
nagging these boys a long time. Genesis 42, the first time they
came to Egypt, in verse 21, they said one to another, we're very,
very guilty concerning our brother. And then we saw the anguish of
his soul. would he besought us and we would not hear. Therefore,
as this distress come upon us, and Reuben answered them saying,
spake I not unto you saying, do not sin against the child
and you would not hear. Therefore behold, also his blood
is required. These boys got a guilty conscience.
And here's the thing about salvation by works. Salvation by our works
will never quiet our guilty conscience. Because whether we're going to
amend it or not, this is what we know. Our works are not enough
to satisfy God. Look at Hebrews, the book of
Hebrews chapter nine. The writer to the Hebrews here
is talking about all the things that were in the first tabernacle
and all the day of atonement and all the other sacrifices
and ceremonies that went on in that tabernacle. And in verse
nine, he said, that tabernacle, was a figure for the time then
present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that
could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining
to the conscience. Those Jews went through all those
ceremonies, year after year after year after year. They had the
Day of Atonement. Morning, noon, and evening, they
had sacrifices. They had sacrifices for everything
happening in their life, their sacrifices. The priest, there
was not a chair, in that tabernacle because the priest was always
working. His work was never done. That just went on endlessly.
And they still had a guilty conscience. Because all of our motions of
religion will never quiet our conscience. And here's the reason. All our motions of religion won't
put away our sins. That's why we still got a guilty
conscience. The only thing that will quiet the conscience is
the blood of Christ. Look down at verse 14. How much
more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit
offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God? The blood of Christ
gives a believer a quiet conscience. You know why? Because the blood
of Christ takes away sin. There's no reason for the conscience
to be yelling. There's no reason for the conscience to be feeling
guilty. The blood of Christ took care of that sin, took it away. The blood of Christ, that's the
only way a sinner will ever find peace with God. Peace of our
heart and peace in our conscience. And here's the reason, because
we're trusting Christ, not our works. That's the only way our
conscience will ever be quiet. But you know, people in salvation
by works religion, well, they're set on it, aren't they? They're
set on it. And I have to give them this,
they're diligent in it. I mean, they're serious about this thing.
They're diligent in this thing. And you know why they're so diligent
in it? They're seeking peace. They're seeking peace by what
they do. Usually, they're very faithful to attend services. They do as many good works as
they can. You know, they keep track of it. They do as many good works
as they can. And you know why they're so diligent?
They're motivated by fear. They're motivated by fear. They
come to what they call a worship service motivated by fear. They
come because they're afraid God's going to get them. If they don't,
God's going to get them. But you know, that's what all
of us, that's what man's nature, that's what we think about God.
We never think about God being merciful to an undeserving sinner. You know why? Because we're not
merciful. We think God is going to enjoy
We think God's gonna enjoy punishing people. You know why? Because
that's what we'd enjoy if we were God. We have just lowered
God down to be somebody like us, and that's why we're afraid
of him. Now, truth is, if we come to God by our works, we
ought to be afraid. Shouldn't we? We ought to be
afraid, because the holy God will never accept our works and
work at it, as hard as you want, salvation by works is never going
to produce peace for your soul. Here's the third thing. If you
think about it, this is our nature now. There can't be anything
in Scripture more plain than salvation by grace, that God
is merciful to sinners. I mean, I just couldn't even
think, how many times is the word mercy, merciful, used in
Scripture? I mean, it's all through, it's
almost in every page. Yet salvation by works never
leads a man to beg for mercy. Look back in our text, Genesis
43, verse 19. And they came near to the steward
of Joseph's house and they communed with him at the door of the house
and said, oh sir, we came indeed down at the first time to buy
food. And it came to pass and we came to the end that we opened
our sack And behold, every man's money was in the mouth of his
sack. Our money in full weight, and we brought it again in our
hand, and other money have we brought down in our hands to
buy food. We cannot tell who puts money in our sacks. And
look down at verse 24. The man brought the men into
Joseph's house and gave them water, and they washed their
feet. He gave their asses provender, and they made ready the present
for when Joseph came at noon, for they heard that they should
eat bread there. These brothers feel so guilty. I mean, they're
trying to explain to this steward, now, we've got this money, we
don't know why the money came back in our sacks, you know.
They're just offering everything in this world they can do. We're
going to pay double, we'll pay interest, we're going to do all
this stuff. And boy, they get ready to meet Joseph. Here again,
they got that money. in that present in their hand. They're
going to give it to him. They're going to make Joseph happy with them because
of what they give him. I mean, they're just frantic about this.
It's just over and over and over again. Boy, they're trying to
give this money away, trying to give this present away. Their money is not enough to
quiet their guilty conscience. Yet they go full steam ahead
anyway, hoping, well, this is the best plan of God. Best plan
I got is hoping my good works outweigh my bad works. That's
the best plan I got. I'm going full steam ahead for
it. And never one time did it dawn on them to ask for mercy.
Never one time did it dawn on them to ask for forgiveness.
And I tell you, when God saves His people, He saves His people
from their sin, from the penalty of sin He paid it for. He saves
them from the power of sin. He delivers it from them. But
you know what God saves his people? You know what else he saves them
from? Himself. God saves his people from himself,
from his justice upon them. And thirdly, God saves his people. He saves us from ourselves. He
won't let us go our way. He won't let us have our way.
He saves his people by his grace. It does not give them their way. Joseph refused. and take his brother's money.
I mean, he just never, he never even acted like he was going
to take it. He never even acted like he was looking at it or
wanted it. He didn't take their money, but we already read the
end of the chapter. They sure ate well, didn't they?
They enjoyed a feast and they had it for free. Joseph's favor
couldn't be bought. That's like God. His grace is
free or you can't have it. It's free. Well, now let's look
at salvation by grace. God brings sinners into his house
by grace. Verse 16 said, when Joseph saw
Benjamin with them, he said to the ruler of his house, bring
these men home and slay and make ready for these men shall dine
with me at noon. Now the brothers, they had their
money already. They had their present already
to give to Joseph. Joseph didn't even regard it.
He didn't look at it. He didn't talk about it. He didn't
care about it. He didn't regard that present at all. But as soon
as he saw Benjamin, he commanded, these men come to my house. They're
going to eat with me today. They're going to have lunch with
me. It was all because of grace, wasn't it? It was all because
of Joseph's love for his brother Benjamin. That's why they were
brought to that house. Almighty God, we've just looked
at this. He's never going to regard our works. I mean, not
even going to regard them. He's not going to look at them
at all. He didn't care about them. If God brings us to His
house to be part of His family, to have a banquet of His grace,
I tell you what, it's gonna be all for Christ's sake. All of
grace, all for Christ's sake. If the Father is ever merciful
to you and me, it's because He loves His Son. And He loves us
in Him. That's the only reason. And the
basis for God's grace is found in a word that Joseph uses here.
He says, slay and make ready. Now I know, if they're gonna
eat meat for lunch, an animal's gotta be slain. I understand,
you know, what's going on there. But this means a whole lot more
than that. This is a picture. It's a picture of how God can
be gracious to sinners. Do you know why God, who never
overlooks sin, who never ignores sin, who punishes every sin Do
you know why God is gracious to sinners? Because Christ was
slain. The Lamb of God was slain as
a sacrifice for sin. God is gracious to sinners, and
He gives them what they do not deserve. You know why? Because
He gave Christ our substitute, the justice that our sin deserves. Christ died as the sinner's substitute
to satisfy the Father, to satisfy His justice, to satisfy His holiness,
Now that sin's gone, the blood of Christ has completely removed
the sin of his people. Now that sin is gone, God can
be nothing but gracious to his people because there's no sin
left to punish. See, man's version of grace,
you know, people in religion, they talk about grace, but they
don't mean grace like what scripture means. Man's version of grace
has God ignoring sin, has God accepting the best that we can
do, but that's not grace. That's not God's grace. See,
here's the thing man has never been able to figure out and all
the different religions that men have come up with, the ways
to try to earn their way to God. Here's one thing man in his fallen,
darkened mind can never come up with. How can God be just
and gracious at the same time? How can he do that? How can God
be holy? and still be merciful to sinners?
How's that possible? Man can never find the answer
to that question. But God and His wisdom provided the way.
It's through the death of Christ. The death of Christ satisfies
the Father's justice. It satisfies God's holiness.
So now, God can be gracious to sinners. Salvation is in God's
grace. And the basis for that grace
is Christ was slain. God's grace satisfies justice
so that it's right for God to be gracious to his people. Now,
I can't even tell you how much I love that. God made it right
for him to be merciful to sinners like you and me. It's amazing. It just makes my hair stand on
end. God brings sinners in his house by grace. Secondly, here's
something else grace does. Grace sends us a preacher to
tell us, fear not. In verse 23, the brothers have
been trying to just fall all over themselves, offering all
this money and all this present, all this stuff. And their servant,
hold on boys. He says, peace be to you. Fear
not. Your God and the God of your
father have given you treasure in your sacks. I had your money. And then he brought out Simeon.
unto them. Now these brothers are so afraid.
I mean, they're just shaking in their boots. And Joseph's
servant says, don't be afraid. Fear not. I had your money. I'm the one that put your money
back in your sacks because that's what Joseph told me to do. You know, when God is ready to reveal
his saving grace to the heart of a sinner, this is what he
does. He sends him a preacher. That's
what he does. He sends him a preacher. Somebody's got to come and tell
us who God is and how God saves sinners. Somebody's got to come
and tell us the good news. And God's preacher comes with
a message. If he's God's preacher, he comes
with a message of grace. Grace. I know your works aren't
enough, but fear not. God's grace is enough. I know
your sin is heinous. I know what your sin deserves,
but fear not. The blood of Christ atones for sin. The phrase, fear
not, is used 63 times in the word of God. Fear not. That's our message, fear not.
Our sin has offended the holy God. Our sin has given us a debt
to God's justice we can never pay. I mean, you think about
us suffering in eternity in hell. Won't tone for one sin, won't
pay for one sin. Then if I'm a sinner, Why should
I not be afraid? It's because salvation is by
grace. It's because of God's grace. Fear not because of God's
grace. Now this I can promise you, if
you're one of the Lord's own, God has commanded to save you
by his grace. That's his commandment. The father's
already slaughtered his son to pay for your sin. The father's
not mad anymore. The blood of Christ put away
your sin, took away every reason that God would be angry with
you. The blood of Christ took that sin away. You don't have
to fear God's justice coming after you. God's justice is satisfied
when your substitute was slain. The debt's been paid. God took
away every reason for you to fear him when he sacrificed his
son for your sin. Now, come to God. Come to Christ.
Now, come reverently. Now, we're still, I mean, this
is still God we're talking about here. Come reverently. But come
without fear. Come without fear that God's
gonna crush you. Come without fear that God's gonna damn you.
You can come without fear as long as you're pleading the blood
of Christ, not yours. If you're pleading Christ, come
without fear. If God will enable you to do that, you'll be accepted. You will be. And that's what
happened for these brothers. And here's the third thing. We're
going to find this out. And because we live in this flesh
that is just absolutely married to this thing of salvation by
our works, we have to learn this over and over and over and over
again. Salvation is by pure grace. Verse 26. And when Joseph came
home, they brought him the present, which was in their hand into
the house and bowed themselves to the earth. And he asked them
of their welfare. He said, is your father well?
The old man of whom you spake, is he yet alive? And they answered,
by serving our fathers in good health, he's yet alive. And they
bowed down their heads and made obeisance. And he lifted up his
eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son. And he said,
is this your younger brother of whom you spake unto me? And
he said, God be gracious unto thee, my son. Now the first words,
that Joseph said to Benjamin in how many years? This time
he saw him, the first thing he said to Benjamin was what? God
be gracious to thee, my son. Benjamin hadn't done anything
to deserve that. He didn't deserve that. Why would Joseph say that
to you? It's because of who his father
and mother were. Benjamin received grace because
he had a relationship with somebody else. And that's the life story
of every believer. God is merciful to us. God's
gracious to us. God blesses us because we have
a relationship with somebody else. The Lord Jesus Christ. Sinners receive grace, not because
of who we are, but because of who Christ is and what Christ
has done for his people. God is gracious to a people who
have a relationship with his son. And here's the relationship,
we're in Him. We're part of His body, we're
in Him. So the Father's gracious to us. Now the Father purposed this
grace, this salvation by grace, way back there, way back there
in eternity, before anything was ever created. Now in the
fullness of time, when it finally comes time, God reveals that
grace to the hearts of His people. You know what that is? All that
is, is God carrying out his eternal purpose, what he promised he
would do before he created anything. And that's pictured here. What,
two, three, four times, just in this little text that we read
tonight? How many times did the brothers
bow their faces to the ground? How many times did they bow and
make obeisance to Joseph? Just like those dreams 20 some
odd years ago, Joseph's dreams are coming true. This is God's
eternal purpose being carried out. You don't have to worry
that you're gonna slip up and slip through the cracks and sin
too much and God's gonna change his mind. No, sir. God's gonna
save his people because it's his eternal purpose to do it
by his grace. He's gonna reveal his grace to
him. And when you finally hear the gospel, and I'm not talking about just
hearing it with these ears. I'm not even talking about understanding
in your head. I really can hardly remember
a time I consciously didn't understand what the gospel said. I could
spit it back out to you. I didn't know Christ, but I knew
what it said. But when you finally hear, when you finally hear in
the heart, you're going to be overwhelmed with God's grace. You're going to be overwhelmed. You're going to say, with the
Queen of Sheba, the half hadn't been told. I've been here preaching
all my life and the half hadn't been told. That's grace. It's been promised from eternity.
And here's another thing, I love this. I love this. This is not just a, I don't know
if forensic is the right word, just a technical forensic, clean
surgical room kind of thing. Grace comes from the heart of
God's compassion. Verse 30, Joseph made haste,
for his bowels did yearn upon his brother, and he sought where
to weep, and he entered into his chamber, and wept there. After everything that Joseph's
brothers did to him, I mean, you think of all the things,
how they treated him, they wouldn't talk to him, they hated him so
much, They threw him in a pit. They planned to kill him. They
sold him into slavery. They assumed he was dead. This
brother, you know, they say he's not. They assume he's got to
be dead by now. After everything they did to
him, his heart was still moved with compassion for them. Now
that's not normal. I mean, that is just not normal
human behavior. But I tell you why Joseph did
that. It's a picture of God's heart
for his people. Try to comprehend this. After
all of our sin, after all of our rebellion against God, I
mean, I can't even find the words to
talk about how horrible our sin and rebellion is against God.
God's heart is still moved with compassion for sinners. When
his people hurt, he feels it. He hurts. I mean, you think of
that. The Lord Jesus was moved with
compassion. Remember when he saw that hungry,
he'd been teaching them and healing folks, and he saw that hungry
multitude, he said, they're a sheep not having a shepherd. He said,
we better give them something to eat. You know why he did that? His heart was moved with compassion.
That's what scripture says. Even after treating God's son
so badly, Even after shaking our fists in the face of God
Almighty, saying, I'll not have this man to reign over me. I'm
one of these ones just hell-bent on having my works now. I'm going
to be saved by my works. I'm going to contribute my works.
After all the insulting God's Son, refusing to believe on God's
Son, God's heart is still moved with compassion for sinners. Now how do I know God loves sinners? How do I know I'm not just telling
you a sappy bedtime story? How do I know God loves sinners? Look at 1 John chapter four,
it's because he tells us. This is what the beloved apostle
John learned. Here's why God loves sinners,
it's because he sacrificed, here's how we know God loves sinners,
he sacrificed his son. 1 John four, verse nine. In this, was manifested the love
of God toward us because God sent his only begotten son into
the world that we might live through him. Herein is love. Not that we love God, but that
he loved us. And here's how he showed his
love. He sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. Now, if God almighty loves you
enough to sacrifice his son in your place, Put away your sin. I'm telling you, He loves you.
That's love, isn't it? And He's never going to let anything
make Him stop loving you. He's never going to let anything
stop Him from applying what Christ earned for you to your heart.
If God loves you that much, He'll never let you go. Never. All right, here's the fifth thing. Look back in our text. God's
grace. Give sinners a feast freely. Verse 32 of Genesis 43. Verse 31, he washed his face
and went out and refrained himself and set on bread. And they set
on for him by himself and for them by themselves and for the
Egyptians which did eat with them by themselves because the
Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews for that's an
abomination unto the Egyptians. That's like reading today's newspaper,
isn't it? You wonder where that started? Well, it started at
least way back there when Joseph was in Egypt. This thing's been
going on forever. And they sat before him, the firstborn according
to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth. They
sat them in order of their ages. And the men marveled one another.
And he took and sent messengers unto them from before him. But
Benjamin's mass was five times so much as any of theirs. And
they drank and were merry with them. Now, first thing Joseph
did when they sat down to eat, he put everything in order. He
sat the oldest to the youngest. When God's gracious to his people,
you know, that's what he does. This is not haphazard. He puts
everything in order first. It's like I said a minute ago,
he makes it right for him to be gracious to his people. He
makes it right for him to be merciful to his people. He sets
everything in order. And then they had their three
tables there. You know, there's food on every table, but now
Joseph, He's the king. I mean, his table has got more
food, better food and stuff. And Joseph sent messes of food,
plates of food from his table to their table. And they did
that. That was a sign of honor from
the king. If the king would send you a plate from his table, plate
of food from his table, he's showing you honor from him. And he sent that to all the brothers. But Benjamin's mess is five times
bigger than the rest of them. Now what does that mean? Well,
I read a lot about that. It could mean, be a picture,
of how God blesses the world. And He blesses His people in
the world. God blesses people in the world, doesn't He? Intelligence,
life, health. He blesses them, you know, to
start businesses and make their businesses successful so they
can give His people a job. You know, He blesses the whole
world. But oh, He blesses His people, doesn't He? Not just
materially, spiritually. It blesses his people infinitely
more. This could be a picture of how the Lord gives some of
his people different talents than others. They have different
ways to serve him. It could mean a lot of different
things. I'm not exactly sure. I don't know that it matters
all that much. But here's what I know. Benjamin is a type and
picture of the believer. And you know why Benjamin was
blessed? Why was he blessed with five times as much? It's distinguishing
grace, wasn't it? Joseph singled him out. Distinguishing
grace. If God Almighty's chosen you,
he's revealed himself to you, he's given you faith in his son,
he singled you out. It's distinguishing grace that
he gave to you. He didn't give somebody else,
but he gave it to you. It's distinguishing grace. And
that grace, was a blessing, wasn't it? I mean, what a feast these
brothers had. I just wonder when they were
back home, I mean, you know, they kept talking about this
with their father, kept talking about it, kept talking about
it, kept talking about this. Famine's been going on for years. By the
time they left, Jacob, they had to be running real low on food. Maybe they were rationing it
or something, make sure it lasts longer, right? Here they come
to Joseph's table, they see more food than they've seen in two
years. A feast. I tell you what, you come to
Christ and you'll find a feast. I mean a feast, a feast of forgiveness,
a feast of life, a feast of mercy, a feast of grace, a feast of
union with Christ, a feast of his presence in your heart. If you've ever been in a time
of trial, I mean a trial, and you're being crushed by it. And you know, the flesh, it hurts,
it's hard to think about anything else, isn't it? And Lord gives you a sense of
His presence. It's a feast, isn't it? It's
a feast in a time of famine. And I can't explain it any better
than that. But if you've ever experienced it, you know what
I'm talking about. It's a feast, isn't it? It's a feast. A feast of his grace. Oh God, let us partake of it.
Let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank you
for your word. How we thank you for a clear declaration that
your salvation is by grace. That you bless your people by
your grace. Not because we deserve it, but
by your grace. Father, I pray you cause our
hearts to be thrilled at the thought of it, to be thrilled
and be able to rest in Christ that salvation is by your grace
and grace alone. Father, how we thank you. And
Father, I beg of you that you apply your word to each heart
here. Father, enable us to leave here
tonight, finding our rest in Christ alone. Father, it's in
his name. And for his glory, I know I ask
a great blessing that you bless us, that you be gracious to us,
that's a great blessing. But Father, would you do it so
Christ our Savior would get all the glory for us. It's in his
name, for his sake we pray, amen. All right, Sean, come lead us
in our scene.