All right, let's take our Bibles
and turn back with me to Genesis 42. Genesis 42. We'll pick up where we just left
off. Now, there was a famine, last part
of that last verse we just read, there was a famine in Canaan.
Let me say what Canaan sets forth. Canaan is a type, it was a land,
it was a land, a promised land that they went into, a land of
promise that they went into. But Canaan is a type, it's a
type, it's a type of glory, it's a type of the picture of heaven.
But I'll tell you another thing. It's a type of the existence
of God's people in this land while we're in here, right here.
It's a picture of God's mercy and grace to his people while
we're walking in this world. Now, we're walking in a world,
and God Almighty is helping us, keeping us, teaching us, guiding
us in this land. This is where Jacob was. This is where Jacob lived. It
was in Canaan. But there was a famine in that
land, a famine of food, but a type, a type. There's a famine in this
land that we're in right now of hearing the words of the Lord.
You know that. That's what I alluded to just
a few minutes ago. You cannot, you cannot, you cannot
just pick a place and just expect that's where I'm gonna hear Without
deviation, without watering down, I'd pick any place I wanna go
and I will hear the gospel, I doubt it. I doubt it. Almighty God
has got food, spiritual food for his people in this land. Jacob heard that there was corn
in Egypt. Almighty God is gonna supply.
He's going to supply for his people. They're going to, they're
in a land where there is a famine of the hearing of the words of
the Lord, but God will supply. I will not leave you. I will
not forsake you. Well, the sons of Jacob of Israel,
I'm sorry, verse five, came to buy corn among those that came
where the famine was in the land of Canaan and Joseph was the
governor over the land. He it was that sold all the people
of the land. And Joseph's brethren came and
bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth. Sons of Israel, they had come
to the one raised up of God to supply all of their needs. There was food, there was food
to be had. It was in Egypt. There was food
to be had. God had raised up one over the
distribution of all of that food. Jacob, his sons, sons of Israel,
vessels of God's mercy, they were gonna have to go somewhere
to eat. And the Lord had raised up a man named Joseph, a type
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he was the governor over
all the land. And it was him. He was one that
sold to all the people. You know, I'm so, that blesses
my heart. He's the governor over the land.
How many times have I thought about what Brother Scott said?
Who run this show anyway? Aren't you glad? If you leave
it up to me, and I can tell you this, I get pretty discouraged.
looking around, seeing things I see in this world, seeing this
land we live in. I said, man, this is a mess. Who's running this show, though?
Who's in control? Joseph was the governor. It was Joseph to whom they were
gonna go. Now, I'd like to go through verse 14 right here,
so I'm gonna go ahead and just read verses seven to 14, then
we're gonna try to make a few comments on verse seven. saw
his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto
them, and spake roughly unto them. And he said unto them,
Whence come ye? And they said, From the land
of Canaan, to buy food. And Joseph knew his brethren,
but they knew him not. They knew not him. And Joseph
remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them and said unto
them, you're spies, to see the nakedness of the land you're
come. And they said unto him, nay,
my Lord, but to buy food are thy servants come. We are all
one man's sons, we're true men, and thy servants are no spies. And he said unto them, nay, but
to see the nakedness of the land you're come. And they said, thy
servants are 12 brethren, the sons of one man in the land of
Canaan, and behold, the youngest is this day with our father,
and one is not. And Joseph said unto them, that
is it that I spake unto you, saying, ye are spies. Now, the scripture sets forth
that this dealing that Joseph's gonna have with his brothers. And this setting forth right
here, in this Lord willing, I want us to see the wise dealing of
the Lord Jesus Christ with his people. This is exactly how God
deals with his people. This is how he does it. Scripture says in verse seven,
and Joseph saw, Joseph saw. Remember, he's a picture. He's
a picture of Christ. But here, Joseph saw, he perceived,
he regarded, he considered. But look what Joseph saw. He
saw his brethren, his brethren. I don't know how many people
were there, Charlie. Probably a bunch of people showed up.
If there was only food in Egypt, I was sure a bunch of people
showed up. But there was 10 boys, 10 men, that Joseph saw. And here's what he saw. He saw
his brethren, his kinsmen, kinship. And the scripture says, and knew
them. Oh, he recognized them. Scripture says he knew
them. He respected them. I'm just,
I'm telling you what the definitions of this is. Love them as distinguishing
brethren. I've got some brethren here.
In my little feeble, fickle, you know, sight and stuff like
that, some folks here, I've been here with over 20 years. And
I look at them and I see the consistency of God's grace and
mercy to keep them. I look at them, I see some brethren.
But you think about the picture here. of the Lord Jesus Christ
that has ever seen his brethren. He's always seen them. Joseph
is looking and he sees his brethren and he knows them, he recognizes
them, respects them. But the scripture says, in that
latter part, it says, he made himself strange unto them. Made himself strange. It made
himself as if he was a foreigner. He didn't tell them who he was.
Now, you know, when you think about that action, did not our
Lord deal with some that's recorded in the scriptures of his own
in the days of humiliation? I want you to hold your place
right here. Turn to Luke 24. Luke 24. There was two disciples, two
men, walking on, they were going to Emmaus, to a town called Emmaus. Luke 24, look at verses 13 to
16. And behold, two of them went
that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem,
about three score furlongs, and they talked together of all these
things which had happened. It came to pass that while they
communed together in reasons, Jesus himself drew near and went
with them, but their eyes were holding that they should not
know him. Now, the Lord was pleased to
close their eyes. I mean, they're looking at him.
Their eyes were holding, their eyes were kept. They didn't know
who he was. What do we say about these things? Deuteronomy 29, 29 explains it
perfectly. Secret things belong to the Lord. Those things that are revealed
belong to us, to our children. It's not for us to know why.
The Lord at times conceals a matter. We're left to consider what he's
revealed and believe him, trust him. All that he does, turn to
Matthew 11, Matthew chapter 11. Matthew chapter 11, our Lord
is praying here. Now you listen. the words of
our Lord, and let God be true, and every man a liar. Matthew
11, verse 25, 26, at that time, Jesus answered and said, I thank
thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast
hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed
them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. Someone might say, well, The Lord said he'll have mercy
and compassion on whomsoever he will. And the Spirit of God
moved the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter nine to continue in that
thought under the inspiration of God's Spirit. So Paul wrote,
so it's not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy. Someone might say, well, why
does God do that? For so it seemed good in thy
sight. That's the reason. Simply stated,
it's like you parents, you raise your kids and you tell them something,
they say, why? You say, because I said so. I
just ended it. Why, why? Because I said so,
that's why. Lord, it seemed good in your sight. So back in Genesis
42, we realize that God's ways are not our ways. He made himself
strange to them. Why does the Lord make himself
strange to us? Why did God leave me, go through
my life? I was in my late 20s before I
told you, before I ever heard the gospel. Not before I believed
it, before I ever heard it. Late 20s. Why did the Lord leave
me and make himself strange to me until then? Why? because it
pleased him to. Why did he wait on you, Bear? Dave? Why? Why? Any of you? Why? Paul said, when it pleased
God to reveal Christ in me. When it
pleased God. Why did God wait until Saul of
Tarsus, that Pharisee, was on his way to take the people and
had papers of authority? Why? Made himself strange to
him. Didn't the Lord deal with all
of us like that? Left us to ourselves, isn't that so? So Joseph, seeing
and knowing his brethren, oh, that pictured the Lord's knowledge
of his sheep. He said, I know my sheep. John 10, 26, I know my sheep. I know them, I love them, they
follow me. When are they going to follow?
In the day of God's power. He's going to give them new eyes.
He's going to give them a new heart. He's going to call them
to himself. So before we had any knowledge of who he was,
he knew us. Here's what, Psalm 139, verse
16. This is a precious passage of
scripture. Psalm 139, verse 16 says this. His eyes beheld our substance,
yet being imperfect. And in his book, all our members
were written, when as yet there was none of them. Before the Lord was pleased to
make himself known unto us, he saw us, he saw us, he loved us. Before we had any being in this
world, he saw us, he knew us, he loved us. all but as a type
of Christ. Joseph wisely deals with his
brethren, making himself, the scripture says, strange to them,
as the Lord did to us before he was pleased to call us out
of darkness. But also, in verse seven, there was something I
noticed there. It says, not only did he make
himself strange unto them, and he spake roughly, unto them,
and said unto them, whence come ye? Now he spoke, that word roughly
right there, it means hard, difficult, severe. He spoke, made himself
strange, didn't tell them who he was, and he spoke roughly
to them, and he asked them, where you from? Where you from? Whence come ye? Here we see something of our
carnal nature and our thoughts. We're gonna see something. In
that question, when he starts speaking roughly to them, the
Spirit of God has moved Moses to pen these words to show us
something of our carnal nature and our self-sufficient thoughts. In the first 10 verses of chapter
32, Joseph's brethren, sons of Jacob,
they dealt with something, an issue in their mind, and here's
what it was. We're going down to Egypt to buy corn. That's
what we're going to do. They thought that they must and
could pay out of their own pockets. We got the money. That's what
they're doing. That's what they're going to
go do. They're going to go buy some corn. Why? They're hungry.
Why? There's corn in Egypt. Why? Because their daddy told them
to. Why? To teach us something. All these words are given for
our instruction day. This is for us, right here. They
were gonna go buy. And they could buy, in their
mind, because they had the money. We got the money. Daddy gave
us the money. Now does a carnal man not think
the same thing? when it comes to buying God's
favor, procuring God's blessing. Listen, man can't buy God's favor. They were there to buy corn.
Ephesians 2, 8, and 9 say. I've got it written right here.
I'll read it for you. You can look it up. Ephesians
2, 8, and 9. How many times have we heard
this verse of scripture? For by grace, Now they're there to buy. We've
got the money. We can purchase all we need. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, lest any
man should boast. Bryant, that's what he's gonna
do. If I think that I can purchase God's favor by my free will or
by my baptism, by walking down an aisle or coming down to what
they say is an altar. If you think you can purchase
God's favor, you know what you're gonna do? Well, I didn't, I didn't do much.
But at least I believed. You're gonna boast in it, that's
what you're gonna do. No, these boys were there, and
Joseph, by the grace of God, is gonna, he gonna teach them
something. He's gonna teach them something. And so he makes himself
strange to them as the Lord makes himself strange to us until it
pleases him to reveal. And he speaks roughly to them.
He spoke roughly, hard unto them. Why? Because he was angry? No,
no. But to teach and prepare them
that they might later behold the kindness of God's mercy and
provision for them through Joseph. Picture of the Lord Jesus Christ.
the one they sold out, the one they treated with disrespect,
as we did to our Lord. Joseph asked his brethren a question,
whence come ye? Again, not out of ignorance,
he knew who they were. He knew that that was his brothers,
and he knew where they lived. He knew where they were staying.
He knew the land that they came from. He knew where they were,
but he's asking them for their benefit Oh, what about our benefit? How can we profit here tonight,
today? It's a reminder. I can ask you
something. Where are you from? Well, I can
tell you where I'm from. I'm from South Louisiana. My
friends are from Michigan. A lot of y'all from West Virginia. No, no believer. No, where are
you originally from? I'm from Adam's fall. That's
where I'm from. That's where I've come from.
We were all, all of God's sheep. Whence come ye? I was rescued. I was dug out of the slough of
despond. Almighty God was pleased to take
this wretched sinner. Where are you from? I'm from
that place of death. and destruction. I was born dead
in trespasses and sins. Whence come ye? And speaking to them, and they're
gonna continue listening to what Joseph said. He said he knew
them, verse eight, they knew him not, and Joseph remembered
the dreams which he dreamed of them, and he said unto them,
ye are spies. to see the nakedness of the land
ye are come. You're spies. That's who you
are. I know why you're here. He's
speaking roughly to them. But oh, the mercy, the mercy
of God Almighty to move Joseph to speak roughly to them that
we might learn. Again, this is for us right now. And I've said this before, this
is not just history. What, how about, can I glean
from this? Here these men are in danger
of perishing from hunger, but they're gonna continue to cling
to their own supposed self-righteousness and innocence. And Joseph told
them, he said, you're spies. You're spies. I looked that word
up. You're going about as tail bearers. and slanderers. That's what you
are. You've come out here despite
the nakedness of this land. Now let me tell you the truth
of what he was just saying spiritually speaking. Here's what we are
by nature. We're trying to find in this
glorious message of free grace. Now I'm gonna tell you from experience. I can say this from experience.
When I had heard the glorious message of God's grace and mercy,
that there was mercy only in Christ, that salvation was by
the grace of God, the Lord began to teach me something, that God
Almighty has mercy and compassion on whomsoever He will. It's not of works, lest any man
should boast. You know what I did, the first
thing I did? I'm gonna find fault with that. I'm gonna prove you
wrong. That's what spies meant. It says,
tail bearer, slander. I got something to say against
that. I don't like that message. That's not what I heard. That's
me, that's me. I'm gonna find fault with that.
You're spies. You've come out here, you're
trying to find a weakness. You're looking for the neckiness
of this land. You're looking for weakness is what you're doing.
I know what you're doing. That's what you're doing. And
that's the truth. That's what all of us by nature
do. You hear this message of God's
free and sovereign grace. I'm gonna pick that thing to
death. I'm gonna find something wrong
with that. You're spies. You're looking
for a weakness. And listen how, here we are.
Let's just go ahead and be honest. This is us. Look at verses 10
and 11. And they said unto him, nay, Lord, we're honorable men. We're here to buy food, or thy
servants come. And I don't doubt for one second
that's what they were there for. They were, but what happened
is the Spirit of God moved Moses to pen. Let's get to the heart
of this. Let's look past. Let's get to the bottom of this,
where the rubber meets the road. Let's get to it. No, we are all,
verse 11, we're all one man's sons. We're true men. I looked that up too. We're right. True men. We're right, we're
correct, we're honest. That's what we are. We're good fellas. Same ones
that wanted to kill him at first. Decided by the grace of God,
no, just throw him in a hole. Here comes a group of caravan
going into Egypt. Let's sell him. Let's sell him. No, we're true. We're honest.
We're good fellows. You can trust us. Brethren, as harsh as the speech
is to hear, as harsh as this might appear, here's Joseph.
He hadn't seen these boys in years. He knows them and he loves
them. It's his brethren. As hard as
that speech appears, is this not the merciful way in which
our Lord deals with us? The objects of his affection,
rehearsing again and again the truth of our depravity and our
need, our need of his mercy. You know, we must be convinced,
I'm gonna wrap this up, We must be convinced. The Lord, turn
over to John 16. Hold your place and I'm gonna,
I'm gonna try to stop. John 16, seven and eight. John 16, seven and eight. Nevertheless, John 16, seven.
Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. is expedient for you,
that I go away. For if I go not away, the comforter
will not come unto you. It's expedient that I go away.
You must hear what the comforter has got to say. The comforter
will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send him unto
you. When he's come, he will reprove. He's going to convince of sin, of righteousness, and
judgment. Let me tell you the greatest
blessing that's bound up in the mercy
of Almighty God is that the Spirit of God would come to us. Mercy
and compassion. Joseph's talking rough to him.
He done got to the heart of this thing. Told them what they are,
just like we need to hear what we are. The Spirit of God comes,
the Comforter, and He convinces us of sin. What is? What do you
mean, convinces us of sin? That means it's what we are.
You know, until the Spirit of God convinces a man, a woman
of sin, they don't believe that they're really that bad. But to realize, I am a sinner
against God. I'm a sinner against God. He
convinces men of sin. That's what they are. And convinces
them also of Righteousness. Convinces them of righteousness.
What do you mean? That righteousness is what we need. Righteousness
before God. What we're possessing here by
our birth in Adam is nothing but filthy rags. He convinces
us. I can't earn righteousness before
God. He convinces us of that. Before
then, I'm just like these fellas. No, no. We're true men. We're honorable. We pay as we
go. We got the cash. No, you're spies. You're spying out this land.
He convinces us of sin, that's what we are, convinces us of
righteousness, that we can't earn it. God Almighty has got
to robe us in his righteousness and of judgment. He convinces
us of judgment. What do you mean? that it's the
Lord Jesus Christ who has borne our guilt and answered before
God's law, bearing all the guilt of his people before God and
answered before God the demand of God's justice. You convince
them, convince them of sin, righteousness, judgment. It's expedient that
I go, you've got to be convinced of that. Oh, and concerning the necessity
of hearing that, Ezekiel 16.2, son of man, he was telling Ezekiel,
his preacher, cause Jerusalem, spiritual Jerusalem, to know
her abominations. We must hear. It's the greatest
blessing in the world that the Lord would mercifully, lovingly,
kindly speak rough to us. It's what you are. I know what
the world says, a little good in all men. No, there's not.
There's none good. Not one. The Lord mercifully
was pleased to give us his law to show us our utter inability
to please him by obedience to that law. His law that rebukes
our self-sufficiency and shows us what we are. from the fall,
that precious law. The law of God's good. We love
the law of God. We just can't keep it. That's
the only problem. But the law is our schoolmaster.
Bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith.
We need to be spoken roughly to. We need correcting. I've said before, we need to
be taken behind the woodshed, and the Lord kindly, mercifully,
But David said, it's good that I've been afflicted, that I might
learn of your statutes. In closing, turn with me to Romans
7, and this will be it. Romans chapter 7. Here was a
man that had learned something, convinced of sin, righteousness,
judgment. Apostle Paul was made to see
and confess what he saw in himself. Romans 7, 22 to 25, he said,
I delight in the law of God, after the inward man. But I see
another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, bringing
me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members.
O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body
of this death? I thank God, through Jesus Christ
our Lord, so, Then with the mind, I myself serve the law of God,
but with the flesh, the law of sin. Paul was thankful that the
Lord was pleased to stop him on the road to Damascus and rebuke
him. Why persecutest thou me? Rebuke
him and deliver him from the bondage of self-righteousness,
thinking that he had done something, all those credentials that he
had. He thanked God, I thank God. In my mind, he's taught
me I serve the law of God. I love it, I love it, I love
it, I bow to it. I bow to it in knowing that my
Lord kept it, imputed it to me for righteousness. I thank God
for that, but I thank God That I see in my flesh I serve the
law of sin. I see what's going on with me.
I thank the Lord for showing me what I am by nature. Oh, that
the Lord would teach us today. That the Lord would kindly speak
roughly to us. Every time it's brought back
to my mind, I see something. I see, I see, I know my thoughts.
I know my thoughts. I see what I'm thinking. I know
what I'm thinking. I see the waywardness in myself.
Lord, thank you. Thank you for showing me that.
Lord, have mercy. Forgive me for Christ's sake.
Amen.