familiar with most everybody. It actually starts back in chapter 42, and I'll
read this, and we're going to be talking about Jacob and Joseph
for this first part, and then there's another part of this
in the Gospel of Luke. Now, when Jacob saw that there
was corn in Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, he had numerous
sons, why do you look upon one another? Jacob said, behold,
I have heard that there is corn in Egypt, get you down thither
and buy for us from thence that we live and die not. So it's a famine, it's sore. They're not gonna live if they
don't get this corn. Well, unbeknownst to Jacob, one of his beloved
sons, Joseph, was sold into slavery by his brothers, by Jacob's other
sons. And they came back and he said,
where's Joseph? And they said, he's gone. He's
gone. So Jacob, this is years later,
assumed that Joseph, the coat of many colors that he made for
him, they were jealous, he assumes he's gone, he's dead. But now
in chapter 45, Joseph talks to his brethren
and he said, go back and tell my dad that I'm alive. So that's where we're at. That's
where we're at. So he sent his brethren away,
that's Joseph. Now he's over everybody except
for the Pharaoh. And they departed and they went
back to their father and see that you fall not out by the
way, get back to my father, let him know the good news. And they
went up out of Egypt, this is the other brothers, this is Jacob's
other sons and came into the land of Canaan unto Jacob their
father and told him, saying Joseph is yet alive and he is governor
over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob's heart fainted for
he didn't believe him. He believed them when they said
he killed, they killed him and he was no more. And now they're
saying years later, he's alive. He didn't, he wasn't convinced. And they told him, That's the
sons told Jacob him all the words of Joseph, which he had said
unto them. And when Jacob saw the wagons,
which Joseph had sent to carry him, because he's old, he's going
to carry everybody back to the land of Egypt. But he didn't
believe it. But when he, when they told him
what Joseph said, And he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent
to carry him, the spirit of Jacob, their father, revived. This is what we're gonna look
at, this last verse. And Israel, remember Jacob's
name, the Lord changed Jacob's name to Israel, so it's the same
person. Israel or Jacob said, it is enough. This is good news. These good tidings, this great
joyful event that I thought I was gonna die without seeing my beloved
son. It's enough. I believe what you
said. I believe the gospel, the grace
of God. It's enough. I will go. It's enough. Joseph, my son is yet alive.
I will go and see him before I die. Go Jacob. got the most wonderful blessing
or news from a far country. It says that news from a far
country, it's like a glass of cold, fresh water, says Proverbs.
His sons returned from Egypt to secure corn in this horrible
drought or sore famine. And in the meantime, as I'm just
reiterating, Jacob's beloved son, Joseph, who Jacob thought
was dead these many years, now he's governor, he's ruler, he's
the lead man over all the granaries, which that's the important, the
granaries. Gotta have that corn, that food. And they tell the
old patriarch that your son's alive. And it's as though Jacob,
said when he saw and heard what Joseph said. He heard, you're
going to have to hear the gospel. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing
the word of God. I didn't say that. Romans said that. It doesn't
put any importance on me, because the Lord will just take me out
and bring somebody else out. But that's what he does throughout
the whole scriptures. Faith, which if you don't have
it, it's impossible to please God. comes by hearing and hearing
the word of God. He uses the weak instrument of
the declaration of the truth, not false. There's a lot of false
religions out here. He uses the truth. Once you hear
that truth, are you and I like Jacob? It's enough. I don't need to hear of another
so-called baby Jesus in the manger. I don't need to hear that I need
to make a decision for Jesus, this weak effeminate Jesus that's
being preached everywhere today. Is it enough that you and I, sinners, when
we hear the truth of the gospel, I don't need to hear anything
else. I don't want to hear anything else. That's why we gather together.
I don't need to hear anything else. And let me ask you this,
this whole illustration of Joseph and Jacob, did Jacob do anything? Did he make a decision to follow
Joseph? What did he do? He was the recipient. He just looks up and there's
these wagons coming. There's this good news. that
these wagons are going to carry me all the way, that's salvation
by grace, we are carried all the way from heaven to earth. Not by our works of righteousness,
not by our repentings or prayers or decisions or any of these
things. It's all his grace. This is the story. And every
story in the Bible is a picture or type of substitutionary work
of Christ. We just have to find it and bring
it out. That's what I desire to do today.
But he says it's enough. It's enough that I'm going to
be carried I'm not going to be carried part of the way and then
walk the other way. It's not God's cooperative effort,
me versus him. It's not chess. We're not playing
a chess game with God, or as Donnie Miller used to say, Chinese
checkers. We're not doing that. It's all of grace. It's what
Paul consistently says. It's what David says. So this
good report that And they told him all the words, there's the
declaration, you could say there's the declaration of the gospel,
which Joseph, words of Joseph. And when he had seen the wagons,
when he had heard, Jacob had heard this good report of the
God who was able to completely carry us to heaven himself, in
this illustration where the corn is, where sustenance is, where
life is, that's the gospel, that's the grace of God. He said, it's
enough. The believer does not continually
look for ways that he can please God. When he is told and by the
Holy Spirit receives that declaration, it's enough. All you people do is talk about
Christ. Well, that's kind of what the church is supposed to
do, isn't it? We desire to be like Him and glorify Him. Yes, we work. We've got to pay
taxes. We've got to abide by the laws. Yes, that's not questioned. That's not a question. So that's
my first point. Is Christ and his grace and his
worth and his work and his person, is it enough? Can we say like
Israel or Jacob of old, it's enough. Our Joseph, Christ the
anointed God, he is alive and he's governor over this whole
globe. They said, They came out and they said they told him the
verse 25 Joseph is yet alive. He's alive. We preach a living
Savior And I'm convinced and this book is a living testament
about what he is I'm convinced, you know been doing this for
a long time. I'll read something like oh my I've never seen that
before Why because this books alive by the Holy Spirit? It's
not we don't serve. We don't serve a dead statue.
I We serve a living God. The government,
says Isaiah 9, in verse 6, if you want to look at the government,
you don't have to, the government is on his shoulders. He's the
governor. He's called Wonderful Counselor,
the Mighty God. Yes, Christ is God. He better
be, or he couldn't satisfy my sin debt on the cross. The Mighty
God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. These are
all titles for Christ. Christ said, you've seen me,
you've seen the Father. Now I can't explain that, nor am I gonna
try to explain the Trinity. Because it's, he's infinite,
and we're finite. But that's what the word says.
Jacob and us, we shout with loudest exclamation, acclamation, he
is enough. He's enough. Today, if you will
hear his voice, He lives. He suffered the just for the
unjust. He clothes only those who are
stripped naked before God. He's gonna strip us before he
fills us. He's gonna bring us down to the
dust before he'll raise us. He clothes only those who are
stripped. He will always empty before the
Holy Spirit will fill the soul. He is unto us the prophet, priest,
and king. On his church's, or his bride,
or his remnant's behalf, he is the ratifier of the blessed covenant. It's the covenant that David
talked about in Samuel 23, the last, these will be the last
words of David. God has made with me a covenant, ordered in
all things insure. Ordered in all things insure. Someone asked this morning in
Bible class about absolutes. This is absolute. If it's not,
we're of all men most miserable. If God cannot do what he said
he's going to do, and he says in Matthew 121, His name should
be called Jesus, for he shall, not maybe, not if you agree,
not if you make your, he shall save his people from their sins.
That's why this church is called Sovereign Grace Church. Simply
put, sovereign, that's who God is. Grace, that's how he saves. He shows us the wagons of our
person, our own persons. He shows us these wagons. Salvation. He has done all the work for
us because he knows our frailty. He knows our birthright weakness,
Adam. He knows our total inability. And he knows, it says in John
5, chapter 40, John 5, verse 40, we cannot come unto him that
we might have life. We cannot, and he says in another
passage, we will not. Cannot and will not. That shows
ability. It is enough. Perfectly satisfied. Christ perfectly sufficient.
This substitutionary righteousness that he provides. We cannot ask for more. We cannot
ask for more. God demands perfect holiness
and righteousness. He provides that in his son.
The law has been honored, justice fulfilled, our sin debt paid,
and we are now made the righteousness that God requires. More joyful news cannot be heard. More comfortable truth cannot
be believed. Fuller evidence cannot be desired. It's enough. What do we think? This morning, I asked myself,
I asked you, Is Christ enough or do we have to add something?
I think he said on the cross, it is finished. It means salvation. You know, man's got the Roman's
road of grace and they got the schemas. No, no, it is finished. Our Is Christ enough? Do we have to add anything? Our
knowledge, if we add that to it, it's considered foolishness
by God. What about our strength? It's
considered weakness to the Almighty. What about our good works? They're
vain to Him who is pure goodness. Now, if you would turn to Luke
chapter 22, the second part, This is similar
to the first, but I like how it's worded. Luke chapter 22. Christ is speaking to his disciples. And he had sent them out and
they've come back. And he asked him this one question, which
is what I asked myself. Is Christ enough? And I ask us
the same question. Luke chapter 22 verse 35, and Christ, that's
he, said unto his disciples, when I sent you out, when I sent
you out to evangelize and to tell of me, when I sent you,
I sent you without purse, that's money, and a script, that's a
pouch for food, and shoes. Did you lack anything? And the
believer says, not only is Christ enough, the believer says, nothing. We didn't lack anything. Now this gets a little bit where
the rubber hits the road. Christ is enough, but I need
to make sure I got my bases covered. Do we? Do we really need that? And I'm not saying, I'm just
trying to preach the text. I'm not saying savings accounts,
I'm not saying any of that. This is life in this country.
But we have a lot in this country that we abuse. In addition to,
is it enough, I proffer this. I ask us here today, is God,
what he's saying is, God, is my grace sufficient? Is God's
grace sufficient? which we could find that, he
says, my grace is sufficient for thee. In 2 Corinthians 12,
nine, when the Lord was talking to Paul, is God's grace sufficient
in salvation? Is there anything lacking in
our salvation, if it's of grace? Nope. What about in his keeping
us? There's the problem, keeping
us. And we should be, I gotta be careful, the good stewards,
I looked that up, that's not really what it means. It doesn't
mean to, It means to be a good steward of the gifts that he
has given us, not gifts, money. It means when we gather together
in the church, the singing and play, we'll be good stewards
of those things. Is he, is it enough? Did we lack
anything in his keeping? Now, some of us are younger than
others and you look back a little bit, but when you get older like
me and you look back, You're like, man, he's, I mean, we struggled.
It was paycheck, whatever you want to say. It was hard, but
here I am. Or we didn't have 150 pair of
shoes. We didn't have all the stuff
in the closets. We didn't have all that stuff.
And we struggled, but it was enough. And we didn't
lack anything. Why do we got to have more? And
again, I'll say what Henry Mahan said, make as much as you can and give
as much as you can. What happened in the New Testament
when those folks held back from the Holy Ghost, they got wiped
out, what happened? Is His grace sufficient in protecting
us? Is His grace sufficient in sanctifying
us? Is His grace sufficient in redemption,
grace, in providence, come what may? And like in the bulletin,
afflictions. I've seen a lot of afflictions
these 30-something years. But His people must answer truthfully. Did you lack anything? Nothing. Nothing. This can also be found
in Mark chapter 6 verse 8, but we won't turn there. When Christ
says, I sent you out without money, without a pouch
for food, and without shoes, pretty basic stuff, did you lack
anything? And I imagine the thought, you
know, Nothing. What about the children of Israel
when they walked through the wilderness? It's 40 years. What
do you say about their shoes and their food? Their shoes,
their sandals, miraculously lasted 40 years. Hmm. What all this world and its minions
hold dear, purse, script, and shoes, the believer says, I lack nothing. I lack nothing. Ah, to live upon the truth of
God's word to us. To receive the exceeding great
and precious promises. To walk by faith, not by sight,
not by intuition, and not by fear. Yes, the wise man foresees
evil and flees from it. You're in a situation, ah, you
know, whatever the conscience, the mind is like, I don't feel,
get out of there. He gives, he gives us a mind
to use to glorify and honor him. So I'm not saying, you know,
faith is, well, like, uh, old pastor, uh, Maurice Montgomery
said, I believe that God is sovereign, but I don't sleep under elephants.
You know, I don't know how else to say it, but what if you're
sleeping and the elephant comes out at you're gonna be afraid
No We are to be wise as serpents
and harmless as does to act, to live, to walk in this world
as his sheep, trusting only and always in him. And this is tough
because the flesh, it's like, well, it's not going to hurt
if I do this, this, and that. And we justify ourselves. And
that's normal. But we confess this is wrong
and sin and then ask him for grace. Give us this day our daily bread. and with the modern convenience
of electricity and refrigerators. But still, to give us this day
our day, it shows total dependence. Is he not the most beautiful
master to serve? Is he not our closest elder brother
to bear our burdens to? What about our tender and caring
father, shepherd and friend? These disciples, and if we are
his disciples, they found it so. They were sent out in want
of everything. You think about that. He says,
don't take any money in this world, in this economy, you better
have it, and there's nothing wrong with it. And no food, and
no shoes. He sent them out wanting everything,
and yet through him they lacked nothing. This just brings us
down to the feet of the cross. It just makes us like little
children. We're amazed at our children.
We can tell them something, and they do it. And they don't question
us a lot of times. Of course, when they start getting
older, then they try to tell us what to do. But that's how
we are to be, are we not? As little children, Christ took
that little child and set him among them. Be gone with anxious care and
a troubled heart. Vain is the help of man. Riches
take flight and are no more. Even this life, he says, is as
a vapor. What is the profit of man to
gain the whole world and lose his or her own soul? Well, I've
heard that, and I've laughed at it, and I've heard businessmen
say, the guy that dies with the most toys wins. Really? What
do you win? How ignorant, but that's the
people in the world, boy, that's, yeah, you're gonna take it with
you? No, we came from the dust, that's where we're gonna return.
That's why we implore you to see the good news that's in
Christ only, not denominate, not just in Christ, and say it's
enough. It's enough. I tell you this,
brethren, In our sovereign, merciful, and tender Savior, we lack nothing,
nothing needful, really, nothing of consequence, and nothing of
minor importance. Why? Turn to me in closing in
Lamentations chapter 3. Why do we lack nothing? Lamentations
chapter 3 In verse 24 Lamentations 3 and
verse 24 the Lord is my portion a Big portion a large portion saith my soul. It's personal. It's absolutely personal. He
cares for his sheep. Therefore will I hope in him.
The Lord is my portion, says my soul personally, therefore
I'll hope in him. See, everything in this Bible,
this Bible is called Christocentric, or it's like a wheel, and Christ
is the spoke, he's the hub. Everything you read about this,
and there's trivia in here, and there's history in there, and
there's this kind of stuff, but Christ is the main subject. And
if I don't point you to Christ, I have missed my calling. I have
abused what I'm called to do. How can we lack any good thing
if he's enough? If he's our portion, sayeth our
soul. May the Lord bless the reading
and preaching of his word to honor and glorify him. Nathan,
would you close us, please? Heavenly Father, we ask that
you would take all the troubles that we