unbeknownst to the brothers, Joseph had put their money back
in their sacks. He was not going to take any
kind of payment from them. And we read in verse 27, and
as one of them opened his sack to give his ass provender in
the end, he espied his money. For behold, it was in a sack's
mouth. And he said unto his brethren, my money is restored, and lo,
it's even in my sack. And their heart failed them,
and they were afraid. They weren't rejoicing because
their money was returned. They were scared to death. thought
this man in Egypt was seeking an occasion against them to get
them in trouble. And they were afraid saying one
to another, what is this that God hath done unto us? What a question. What a question. What is this
that God has done to us? They were afraid they were under
judgment. They were afraid they were being
punished for selling their brother Joseph into Egypt. And they're
saying what goes around comes around. What is it that God is
doing to us? Now, some 20 years before, Joseph,
their brother, had a dream. Turn to Genesis 37, verse 5. And Joseph dreamed a dream, and
he told it to his brethren, and they hated him yet the more. They despised him. They despised
him because he was the favorite son of Jacob, their father. He made such a clear difference
between Joseph and everybody else. And then he dreamed this
dream that made them hate him yet the more. And he said unto
them, here, I pray you, this dream which I've dreamed. For
behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf
arose and also stood upright. And behold, your sheaf stood
round about and made obeisance to my sheaf. You worshiped my
sheaf. And his brother said to him,
Shalt thou indeed reign over us, or shalt thou indeed have
dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more
for his dreams and for his words. And he dreamed yet another dream,
and told it to his brother, and said, Behold, I have dreamed
a dream more. And behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven
stars made obeisance to me. And he told it to his father
and to his brethren. And his father rebuked him and said unto
him, what is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and
thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down themselves to
thee, to the earth? And his brother envied him. But
his father observed these, this saying. Now, as you go on reading in
this passage of scripture, his brothers sold him. as a slave
to the Midianites and came back to their father and they told
their father a lie. And I want you to think of the
enormity and the cruelty of this lie. They told their father,
they showed him that coat of many colors that they dipped
in blood and said, is this your son's coat? Obviously saying
an evil beast has devoured him. Now I want you to think of the
cruelty of that. He loved Joseph and his brothers in wicked lying
put their father through that to let him think that their son
was eaten by a beast. Now, just think of the cruelty
of that. These men were wicked men in
doing this. Now, while he is in Egypt, sold
down to Egypt, he's sold into Potiphar's house, he prospers.
He's accused of something that he did not do and thrown into
prison. And while he's in prison, he
interprets a butler and baker's dream. See that it's right. And the
butler agrees. We're going to tell about this
that you're able to do this. But he forgot about it. And Joseph
is in there for another two years in prison till all of a sudden
Pharaoh has a dream and none of the wise men of Egypt could
interpret it. And then that butler remembered there was a man in
prison that could interpret dreams and he's brought out to Pharaoh. Pharaoh tells him his dream about
seven skinny cows eating seven fat cows and seven skinny blasted
ears of corn eating seven fat ears of corn. And Joseph told
him what that means. That means God is going to give
seven years of plenty And those seven years of plenty are going
to be forgotten because of the seven years of famine. It's going
to be so severe. And here's what you need to do
in this seven years of plenty. You need to find somebody to
oversee the land, save corn so we can survive these seven years
of famine. And that's when Pharaoh makes
Joseph the head of this. Now, it got to the place where
if you were going to have food, you had to go to Joseph for it.
He was the only source of food. And if you weren't going to starve,
you're going to have to go to Joseph for it. Let's pick up
reading in Genesis 41 beginning in verse 46, and Joseph was 30
years old. When he stood before Pharaoh,
king of Egypt, that's the same age as our Lord when he began
his public ministry. What a type Joseph is of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And Joseph went out from the
presence of Pharaoh and went throughout all the land of Egypt,
and in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls. And he gathered up all the food
of the seven years, which are in the land of Egypt, and laid
up the food in the cities. And the food of the field, which
was round about every city, laid he up in the same. And Joseph
gathered corn as the sand of the sea very much, until he left
numbering, for it was without number. Such was the vast amount
of corn, and food, and supplies that came through this, that
it couldn't even be numbered. Look in verse 53. And the seven
years of plenteousness that was in the land of Egypt were ended. And the seven years of Darth
began to come, according as Joseph had said, and the Darth was in
all lands. But in all the land of Egypt,
there was bread. And when all the land of Egypt
was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. And Pharaoh
said unto all of Egypt, go unto Joseph." Isn't that beautiful? he says to you, do." Go to Christ. What he says to you, do. And the famine was over all the
face of the earth, the whole world, Joseph opened all the
storehouses and sold them to the Egyptians, and the famine
waxed sore in the land of Egypt. And all countries came into Egypt
to Joseph, for to buy corn, because that the famine was so sore in
all the land." So Joseph is now the most powerful man in the
world, and your life was in his hands. It was up to him as to
whether or not you were going to eat. Jacob didn't know anything
about this. He didn't know Joseph was the
ruler of Egypt at this time and the dispenser of food, but he
heard. He heard that there was corn
in Egypt. Look in chapter 42 verse 1. And
when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, now they were
going through a famine. I don't know if you and I know
anything about this where you really don't have anything to
eat. They had nothing and they would starve if they didn't go
to Egypt. And he says, I've heard there's
corn in Egypt. I've heard there's food to be
had in Egypt. Why do you look upon one another?
I think that's almost humorous. Why are you looking on each other
as if you could do anything about it? You can't produce food, we're
in a famine. Why are you looking on one another
as if you were depending on each other as to get food? That's
foolishness, that's a waste of time. He said, behold, I've heard
that there's corn in Egypt. Get you down thither and buy
for us from thence that we may live and not die. And Joseph's 10 brethren went
down to buy corn in Egypt. But Benjamin, Joseph's brother,
You remember that Jacob had a favorite wife, Rachel, and he had two
favorite sons, Joseph and Benjamin. He made such a difference between
these boys and the rest of these boys. And so the ten brethren
went down, but Benjamin Joseph's brother, Jacob, sent not with
his brother, and for he said, lest peradventure mischief should
befall. It's okay if it happens to the ten, but not to him. He
made such a glaring difference. And the sons of Israel came to
buy corn among those that came, for the famine was in the land
of Canaan, and Joseph was the governor over all the land. So he it was that sold to all
the people of the land. And Joseph's brethren came and
bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth."
Now remember, somewhere over 20 years has passed since he's
seen them. And they don't recognize him.
You know, the Egyptian leaders would be completely shaved, had
shaved heads, shaved face. The Hebrews had long hair, beards,
and they didn't recognize their brother. They had no idea who
he was. And they bowed down their selves
in the ground before him. You reckon he remembered those
dreams? You know he did. Those dreams where his brothers
down on the ground to him and here they're doing it. And Joseph's,
verse 7, and Joseph saw his brethren and he knew them. He knew exactly
who they were. What all kind of emotions must
have been going through him at that time? I mean, they'd sold
him. He'd had 20 years to think about
it. He He'd forgiven them, I have no doubt, but he knew them. And
I don't have any doubt that that knew means more than just he
knew who they were. He loved them. He loved them. As soon as he
saw his brethren, he loved them. But they knew him not, they didn't
recognize him. And Joseph remembered the dreams
which he dreamed of then. and said unto them, your spies,
to see the nakedness of the land, are you come? And they said unto
him, nay, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants come. We're
all one man's son, we're all true men. Thy servants are no
spies. Now, they told a half a truth.
They were one man's son. But they weren't telling the
truth when they said we're all true men. They were all in solidarity when
they sold their brother land of Egypt. And when they
told their dad that he was dead and let him go through that grief,
they certainly cannot be called true men. It's true. They were
all the sons of one man, but they were not true men. They
were liars. Every one of them. And that is seen in how they
treated Joseph. Verse 12, and he said unto them,
Nay, but to see the nakedness of the land are you come. Now
they're trying to give themselves a little bit more credibility.
And they said, Thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of
one man in the land of Canaan. They think maybe by giving more
detail, they'll be more believable. And behold, the youngest is this
day with our father, and one is not, one's dead. Benjamin's
with our father, and Joseph is gone. And Joseph said unto them,
This is that that I spake unto you, saying, Your spies, hereby
you shall be proved by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go
forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither. Send one
of you, he knew who Benjamin was, his little brother. son
of his mother, send one of you and let him fetch your brother
and you should be kept in prison that your words may be proved,
whether there be any truth in you or else by the life of Pharaoh,
surely you are spies sent here to see how you can steal food.
And he put them all together into war and into jail for three
days. So they had three whole days
to think about this. I wonder what all the conversation
was. And after those three days, in
verse 18, and Joseph said unto them the third day, This do and
live, for I fear God. The God that you worship, the
God that you believe, I fear Him. I bet they were scratching
their head over that. How did this take place? Verse
19, if you be true men, let one of your brethren be bound in
the house of your prison. Go ye and carry corn for the
famine of your houses. Bring your youngest brother unto
me. So shall your words be verified, and you shall not die. And they
did so. And they said one to another, we are verily, truly guilty. concerning our brother. And this
might be the first time they've ever dealt with that. Maybe this
is why. We are verily, truly guilty concerning
our brother in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought
us. Therefore is this distress come
upon us. Now, Joseph was listening to
all this. and they say, we're verily guilty.
Now, I wonder if you and I have ever said this before God. I know we know to say it. I am
verily guilty. I'm taking sides with God against
myself. I am verily guilty. Guilty as charged. Let every
mouth be stopped and all the world become guilty. before God. Now this is the place
they were at, guilty before God. You know, when I hear people
make objections to the gospel and to God and His way of saving
sinners and His fairness and electing some and passing by
others and Christ dying for the elect and not dying for everybody,
they say, how can that be fair? I know this, they've never stood
guilty before God. Because if you ever stand guilty
before God, that kind of foolishness will stop. You know the only
thing that's there for you is hell. And you won't be in judgment
on God at that time. At this time, they stand guilty
before God. We're barely guilty in that we
saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us. and we would
not hear. Therefore, as this distress come
upon us, and Reuben answered them, saying, spake I not unto
thee, saying, Do not sin against the child, and you would not
hear. Therefore, behold, all his blood
is required. It's always like that in every
crowd, isn't there? I told you, I told you this was
what was gonna happen. Verse 23, and they knew not that
Joseph understood them. You see, Joseph grew up with
the Hebrew language. He'd learned to speak Egyptian,
and he was speaking to them through an Egyptian interpreter. He was
hearing everything they were saying. They didn't know it,
but he was hearing everything they were saying. They knew not
that Joseph understood them, for he spake unto them by an
interpreter. And when he hears this confession,
we verily are guilty concerning our brother. When he hears that
confession, verse 24, he turned himself about from them and wept. He was so moved by this. And
these are tears of joy. These are not just tears of sorrow.
These are tears of joy. You see, there is joy in heaven. over one sinner that repented. And he sees this genuine repentance
from his brethren. And he wept. He turned himself
about from them and wept and returned to them again and communed
with them and took from them Simeon and bound him before their
eyes." He's going to stay bound while they go back with the food
for their brethren. Now, here's what I thought about
in Joseph. Joseph sees these men and he
knows exactly what they were guilty of. But you know what? They still were his brethren.
That was a relationship that could not change. Both he that sanctifyeth And
they that are sanctified are all of one, for the which cause
he's not ashamed to call them brethren. These are his brethren. And every child of God is his
brethren, his brothers, united to him. He is that brother born
for mercy. He is that friend that sticketh
closer than a brother. And he looked at these men and
he wept because he loved these men. They were his brethren. I love to think about the relationship
between a Christ and a believer is a relationship that cannot
be dissolved. It can't be taken away. They
are His brethren, His loved ones, the ones the Father gave Him. Verse 25, then Joseph commanded
to fill their sacks with corn. There wasn't going to be any
room left at all in their sacks. They were filled up. I love that
passage of Scripture. It's one of my favorites. I quote
it a lot. dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you
are complete, and that means you're plumb full. Nothing can
be added to you. You're so full, if another grain
is brought, it'll drop off, because you don't have any room for anything
else. You're totally full, complete in the Lord Jesus Christ. Joseph
filled their sacks. And my dear friends, the Lord
filled us up with himself, with his grace, with his righteousness,
with his love, and there's not room for any more. He filled
their sacks with corn, and to restore every man's money into
a sack, and to give them provision for the way, and thus did he
unto them. Now, Joseph wasn't going to take any
payment from them, was he? He wasn't going to give them, let
them give him a dime. He restored everything. He wasn't
going to take any payment for them. And there's three reasons
why the Lord does not take payment for us. First reason is we don't
have anything to pay. Nothing. Not a penny's worth
of merit. We have nothing to pay. Second, payment's already been
made. I want you to think about that. You don't owe anything. The payment
has already been made. And here's the third reason.
His grace is always free. Absolutely free. He's not gonna
take anything from them. He puts their money back in the
sack and He fills their sack up with corn. Verse 26, And they lathed their
asses with the corn, and departed thence. And as one of them opened
his sack to give his ass provender, in the end he espied his money. For behold, it was in a sack's
mouth. And he said unto his brethren, My money is restored, and lo,
it's even in my sack. And their heart failed them,
and they were afraid. They thought, He's seeking occasion
to have us arrested. He's saying we took this and
stole it to bring it back and didn't pay for it. They were
scared to death. They thought they were in trouble.
I mean, their minds were already dealing with the fact that we
are very guilty concerning our brethren. And they made this
statement. What is this that God has done
to us? Here's the answer. He's saving you. He's saving you. That's what
he's done. You might not realize it, but
he's saving you. They were thinking what goes
around comes around. We're reaping what we've sown.
God is punishing us. He's found out our sin. No, he
is saving you. Now when Joseph had those dreams
that created such hatred from his brethren, so that his brethren
were so angry with him that they sold him into Egypt, what was
God doing? He was saving them. When Joseph is falsely accused
in Potiphar's house and thrown into heaven, what was God doing? He was saving them. when Joseph interprets the dreams
and he's forgotten for two years. What was God doing? He was setting
this up so Joseph would be the king of Egypt and be the only
man who had food. He was saving them. All of this, these horrible things
that happened, had one reason. The salvation of these undeserving,
wicked, evil men. He was saving them. That is what God was doing. Joseph was going to be the one
through who the Christ would come. For Judah was, he was preserving
Judah through this, so the Christ would be born through Judah and
come and save his people from their sins. Now, I think about
when God said to Adam, in the day you eat thereof, he didn't
say if you eat, this is so important. He said when you do, you're gonna
die. What's God doing? He's saving
Adam. You see, Adam is going to be
a whole lot better off after the fall when God saves him than
he ever would have been before the fall. He would have been
capable of falling then, but now he's incapable of falling. When Christ was nailed to a cross,
what is God doing? He's saving. He's saving. That is what God is doing. He is saving. Verse 29, And they came unto Jacob their
father, and into the land of Canaan, and told them all that
befell unto them. I love that word. It just dropped
down from heaven. All that befell them, saying,
The man who is the Lord of the land spake roughly to us, and
took us for spies of the country. And we said unto him, we're true
men, we're no spies. We be 12 brethren, sons of our
father, one is not. And the youngest is this day
with our father in the land of Canaan. And the man, the Lord
of the country said unto us, hereby shall I know that you're
true men. Leave one of your brethren here
with me and take food for the famine of your household and
be gone. and bring your youngest brother
unto me, then shall I know that you are no spies, but you're
true men. So will I deliver you unto your brother, and you shall
traffic in the land.' And it came to pass, as they emptied
their sacks, that behold, every man's bundle of money was in
his sack. And when both they and their father saw the bundles
of money, they were afraid. And Jacob their father said unto
them, me have you bereaved of my children? Joseph is not, and
Simeon is not, and you'll take Benjamin away. All these things
are against me. All these things are against
me. You know, most of the time, misinterpret providence. All these things are against
me. No, Jacob, all these things are
for you. Turn to Romans chapter 8. verse 28, a familiar passage
of scripture. And we know that all things work together for good to them
that love God to them who are called according to His purpose. Four. Whom He did foreknow. Now that's where we begin. God's
foreknowledge. Whom He did know beforehand. Whom He did love beforehand. God has always known me. I don't pretend to understand
that, but before I was ever born, I was a person to God. He foreknew
me. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate. to be conformed to the image
of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Somebody says, do you believe
in predestination? Yes, I do. Bible teaches it. It's who God is and it's glorious. Predestination is not talking
about events. Predestination is talking about
God's purpose for His people. He has predestinated that every
one of His people be perfectly conformed to the image of Christ. Moreover, verse 30, whom He did
predestinate, them He also called. And whom He called, them He also
justified. And whom He justified, them He
also glorified. Now notice, this is God's activity. This is God's activity. And this
is not talking about something He's going to do in the future.
It's talking about something He's already done. Every aspect
of God's salvation is God's activity. What did you have to do with
your election? Did God look at you and say, well, I can see
they can really help me out and they'll be really good people
and be... What did you have to do with your redemption? Well,
God saw that I'd be this way, therefore he gave himself. No,
no. What did you have to do with your justification, being made
perfect in God's sight, without sin? What did you have to do
with your regeneration when God birthed you into the kingdom
of God? What have you had to do with your Preservation, the
fact that you have persevered up until this point and have
not fallen away. Why? You know this is God's activity,
don't you? It's not something you've done. Verse 31, what shall we then
say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? Jacob says, all these things
are against me, Jacob, Jacob, Jacob. They're all for you. Verse 32. He that spared not
his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not? What could possibly prevent him
from freely giving us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? There's nothing to accuse them
of, for God justified them. Who is He that condemns? There's
no condemnation in them that are in Christ Jesus, it's Christ
that died. Yea, rather that's risen again, who's even at the
right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? Dare I believe that this is for
me. Dare I believe that there's nothing
that can prevent God from saving me because there's nothing there
to condemn me for. Dare I believe that he foreknew
me, that he predestinated me to be conformed to the image
of his son, and that's certain. Dare I believe that nothing can
be brought to my charge? There's nothing there. Nothing
for me to be condemned for. Nothing to separate me from God's
love. Dare I believe that's for me? Do you believe that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God? Now, do you? Do you believe He is the Christ? God's Christ. God's prophet,
the very Word of God. God's priest, the one who if
He brings you into God's presence, you must be accepted. God's King,
the one who's ruling and reigning over everything and everybody,
and you need Him to rule over you. You need Him to cause you
to believe. You need Him to cause you to
believe Christ is the Son of God. You need Him to cause you
to You're dependent. You need Him
in all of His offices. Now, whoso believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. Do you believe He is the eternal
Son of God? The uncreated? All the fullness of the Godhead
dwelling in His body. The God-man. Do you believe he
is the Son of God? Do you believe he's the Christ? If you do, all of this is yours. All of it. And if you don't, none of it
is. What think ye of Christ? Let's pray together. Lord, in Christ's name, we ask
that you would enable each person here to believe on thy son, to believe he is thy equal, thy
son, the uncreated son of God, the second person of the blessed
Trinity. And Lord, we believe he is your
Christ, your word, your priest, your king. Lord, give us grace
to not look to ourselves, to look for some ground of assurance
in us, but wholly to what we think of your son and deliver
us from saying all these things are against me. Oh Lord, that
we might enter into this. All things work together for
good to them that love thee, who are called according to your
purpose. Lord, enable us to enter into, if God be for us, who can
be against us. Bless these words for Christ's
sake. In His name we pray. Amen.