...in our Bibles to Genesis chapter
43. Genesis chapter 43. This morning,
I was having a cup of coffee and I was visiting with Joe and
I turned the television on and there was a preacher. And I listened
for just a minute and he said, now, you can't come to God on any
merit of your own, because there is no goodness in you." I thought,
that's true. And then he said, you have to
come only on the merits of Christ, what He's done. I said, that's
true. And he said, and if you will
come to Him, He'll make you a child of God, He'll give you all the
blessings of Christ, all you have to do is just let God do
it. And that's wrong. That's wrong. That just demolished everything
he preached up to that point. When he said, you have to let
God have his way. That's like saying, why don't
you save God? Now, God's predestinated the
time when every chosen child of God whom Christ died for shall
be called to Christ. Now, remember when Joseph saw
Benjamin. He saw his Benjamin with his
brethren and he commanded the ruler of his house to bring those
men to his house. And that's what God's going to
do. Christ is going to command that his child be brought to
his house. And look at verse 17. And the
man did as Joseph bade. And the man brought the men into
Joseph's house. Now the Holy Spirit always accomplishes
God's bidding. Christ always accomplishes what
He sets out to do. God is never pushed aside by
the sinner. The man did as Joseph bade. And those men came to the house. They were brought to the house.
It says the man brought the men into Joseph's house. A sinner
is not going to resist the call of God. He is not going to resist
the Spirit of God working in his heart. The Lord Jesus said
plainly. He said a man must be born again. A sinner must be born again.
And He said in the Holy Spirit that calls him is like the wind. The Lord said, Marvel not that
I said unto thee, You must be born again. He said, The wind
blows where it listeth. It blows wherever it will. And he said, Thou hearest the
sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and where
it goeth. And he said, So is everyone that
is born of my Spirit. You can't stop the Spirit of
God. You don't know where it's blowing, where it's coming, where
it's going. and it's going to go where it
will. He's going to go where He will. You can't stop Him.
But due to our sin and our guilt, now listen carefully, due to
our sin and our guilt, when the Spirit starts this work, it's
going to be a fearful work. Look at verse 18, and the men
were afraid because they were brought into Joseph's house. They 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 that
we brought in, that he may seek occasion against us. The margin
reads that he might roll on to us, that he might charge us,
roll on to us our guilt and our sin and fall upon us and take
us for bondmen and our asses. These men were afraid to come
into Joseph's presence because they thought they'd be charged
with sin and they thought he would fall upon them and put
them in bondage. Turn over to John 3.19. Now this
preacher this morning said, all you've got to do is just let
God save you. Just let Him call you. Let Him
have His way. Look here, this is what God our
Savior said. This is what the Lord Jesus Christ
said. Listen to this. John 3.19. This is the condemnation. You
see, God didn't send Christ to condemn anybody. Christ came
to save. He didn't come to condemn. Now
He's going to come back, He will condemn. But He came the first
time to save. What's the condemnation then?
This is the condemnation. That light is coming to the world.
Christ the light has come. And men loved darkness rather
than light because their deeds were evil. For everyone that
doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light,
lest his deeds should be reproved." Who does evil? Who's that talking
about? That's talking about the man
who thinks he has some righteousness, some goodness, something about
him, something about his will or his works or something that
he can do to commend him to God. And he won't come to God because
if he comes into the light, he's going to have to confess all
that so-called righteousness and all that so-called goodness
is evil. And he won't do it. He just won't
do it. Guilty sinners never think they're
guilty. Guilty sinners will never confess,
left to themselves, a guilty sinner will never confess what
he is to God. He'll never do it. Look here
now, verse 19. They came near to the steward
of Joseph's house. It's just like a picture of a
sinner arguing with God. Watch this. And they communed
with him at the door of the house. They didn't go in the door. It
seems like here they were brought into the house, probably into
the gate and into the walls, but they hadn't gone in the door,
they hadn't gone into the house yet. Christ is the door. They hadn't gone into the door
yet. But they're standing there at
the door of this house and they communed with him and they said,
Oh sir, we came indeed down the first time to buy food. And it
came to pass when 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've brought it again in our
hand. And other money have we brought down into our hands to
buy food. We cannot tell who put our money in our sacks. You
see these men, these men are professing their innocence. They're
professing, we haven't done anything wrong. And that's just what a
guilty sinner will do. I haven't done anything wrong. And that's not even why he's
calling them to the house. He's not calling them to the
house to charge them. He's not calling them to the house to
roll their guilt on them. Not at all. But that's what they
think. And they're confessing. They're defending themselves. No, we're not. We haven't done
anything. How will our mouths be shut? How will our mouths
be shut from declaring our so-called righteousness and from defending
ourselves and from just flapping, flapping, flapping, flapping,
flapping our so-called rights? How is our mouth going to be
shut to that? Look here, verse 23. And He said, Peace be to
you. Fear not. Your God and the God
of your father hath given you treasure. And the word is hidden
riches. He's given you hidden riches
in your sacks. I had your money or your money
came through me as a gift of God given to you, hidden in your
sacks. And he brought Simeon out unto
them. Now here's what I want to focus
on. This verse right here. I want you to get this. Christ Jesus the Lord is the
head of the church. He fills all in all. And He affectionately
speaks. God our Savior affectionately
speaks into the heart. And He speaks peace in the heart.
And God gives the hidden treasure into the heart of His people.
Now, first of all, salvation begins when Christ speaks into
our heart. That's when it's going to begin.
He's going to speak through the Spirit of God into the heart
through the gospel. Verse 23, Peace be to you, fear
not. Now, these men did nothing. These
men, they didn't do a thing. And you and I cannot do a thing
to get peace. People say, make your peace with
God. You can't do that. And I can't do that. They were
afraid, they were defending themselves until the ruler of the house
spoke. And he said, peace be to you,
fear not. We don't hear him speak after
that. They finally hushed. And that's when we'll finally
hush. Now Christ is the ruler of his house. And Christ is the
peace of His house. He's the peacemaker for His people
and He's the peace of His house. Christ made peace with God for
His people. For everybody He laid down His
life for. Let's look at some scripture. Romans 4. Romans chapter
4. We're told at the end of the
chapter, Christ was delivered for our offenses. That's why
He went to the cross. He went for our offenses, for
His people. He went there for our offenses
and was raised again for our justification. Now look at the
next verse. Therefore being justified. That
means having been justified by Christ. Therefore having been
justified by Christ, by faith, by believing on Christ, we have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. There's the peace.
Alright, look at Colossians 1.20. Colossians 1.20. In verse 19 it says, It pleased
the Father that in Christ should all fullness dwell. And one thing that means is everything
we need as sinners to come into God's presence is in Christ. Everything now watch this verse
20 and having made It's done. It's finished. It's accomplished
having made peace Now if you make peace, and it's done you
have made peace Doesn't that? Mean you've made peace for somebody
He made peace for somebody in particular having made peace
through the blood of his cross and by Him to reconcile all things
unto Himself. By Him, I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven, and you that sometime
were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet
now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death
to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight."
Christ did that. Mercy and truth have met together.
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Christ did
that. And He gives the peace. Christ
our Savior gives the peace. He's the giver of the peace.
He's the mediator between God and men. And He's the one that
prays to the Father, and the Father sends the Spirit, and
He gives the peace. Psalm 85.8 says, let me just
read this to you. He said, I will hear what God
the Lord will speak. I will hear what God the Lord
will speak, for He will speak peace unto His people. and to
his saints. Isaiah 54, 13 says, All thy children,
all God's children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall
be the peace of thy children. Now we saw Christ said, here's
the condemnation, lights come into the world, but men love
darkness rather than light and won't come to the light. How
then are we going to have this peace? God speaks the peace. He speaks peace to His people.
Now who's this God the Lord who teaches us and who speaks this
peace to us? Who is the Lord God that speaks
peace to us? Turn to John 14. John chapter
14. Verse 25, the Lord said, These
things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. but
the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send
in my name. He shall teach you all things
and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have
said unto you." Now watch what Christ says. Peace I leave with
you. My peace I give unto you. What
peace is that? Is that just this feel-good feeling? No, it's that reconciliation
he accomplished for his people. We just read about it. It's that
work he did for his people with God. He reconciled his people
unto God. He says, My peace I give unto
you. I give it to you. Not as the
world gives. The world will give you some
peace and declare war on you tomorrow. Christ said, I don't
give it like the world gives it. It's not by your will. It's
not by your works. It's not by you pulling yourself
up. It's not by you fanning some
flame in you, imaginary flame in you. No, He said, I give it
to you. I give it to you. Not as the
world gives, give I unto you. Now look at the next word He
said. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Remember
what the ruler of the house told those brethren? Peace be unto
you, fear not. That's what Christ said. Look
at John 16, 33. Now this is what the preacher
this morning didn't do. He didn't turn to any Scriptures.
He didn't show the people the Scriptures. He didn't show me
where the Scriptures said, let God have His way. He didn't show
me that. And He can't show you that. Here's
where we're seeing where God has His way. God has His way. If He's ready to have His way
with you, He's going to. Look here, Christ said, John
16, 33, These things have I spoken unto you, that in me you might
have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation. No doubt about it. But be of
good cheer, I have overcome the world. Now, turn to Ephesians
2.14. I want you to see one more place. Ephesians 2.14. Now watch this. He is our peace
who has made both one, that is all his elect Jews and all his
elect Gentiles together with God. He has made both one broken
down the middle wall of partition. What is that? Having abolished
in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained
in ordinances. For to make in himself of two
one new man, so making peace. and that he might reconcile both
unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. And he came, and what did he
preach? He preached peace to you which
were far off, and to them that were nigh." When I heard that
message this morning, you know what I knew? Christ is not preaching
that message. Christ is not preaching that
message. Because it took the glory away from Christ and gave
it to man. Gave it to the sinner. Christ
comes and He came and preached peace to those that were near
and those that were far off and those that were not. Look, for
through Him, through Christ, we both have access by one Spirit
unto the Father. So Christ has made peace. And
He made peace. Remember He said, I lay down
my life for the sheep. That's who He made peace for.
He made peace for the sheep. So this thing of peace in believing,
Scripture speaks about peace in believing. Peace in believing
begins in our hearts when Christ prays the Father, who sends forth
the Spirit, and He speaks peace into our hearts and says, Peace
be unto you, fear not. That's when you will have a full
glimpse of Christ and that reconciliation accomplished by Him, our peace.
Now secondly, I want to show you this in our text. Go back
there with me just a minute to Genesis 43, 23. God gives His child hidden treasure. He gives His child hidden treasure. Verse 23, He says, Your God and
the God of your father hath given you treasure in your sacks. That's who gave it, he said.
And when God reveals Christ in you, and He reveals Christ in
you, in our hearts, in a dead sinner's heart, He reveals God
is your God. Now God's the God of everybody
on this planet. He's going to be the God of some
in judgment. He's going to be the God of some in mercy. We're
talking about mercy right here. When He makes His presence known
in our heart, He makes His child to know He's your God. He said, I will write my law
on their heart and in their mind. And He said, and I will be to
them a God. True God. Your God. And they
shall be to me a people. Now that's a sure certain work. Your God. He'll make you to know
He's your God. Now let me ask you this. Can
you say, You ask yourself this question. Can I say God is my
God? What does that mean, preacher?
Well, can I say God chose me unto salvation in Christ before
the world began? Because I wouldn't have chosen
Him otherwise. Can I say this? God hath redeemed me by the blood
of His perfect Son. Because otherwise, there's no
way I could have been freed from the curse of the law, I had to
die. Can you say, my God regenerated
me. He gave me life. Because there's
no way I was dead as a stump. There's no way I could have ever
given myself life. My God made me willing. I didn't have a willingness to
come to Him. My God made me willing in the day of His power. My God's
preserving me. He's keeping me. He's working
in me. He's hedging me about. He's preserving
me. And my God's coming again. And
He's going to bring me home to glory with Him. So that from
beginning to end, If you can say, by the Holy Spirit of God,
in spirit and in truth, from beginning to end, salvation,
my salvation, is entirely of the Lord. If you can say that
in spirit and truth, God is your God. God is your God. That's so. And if He's made Himself
your God, if He really has, then you're a true son of Abraham.
You're a true son of Isaac. You're a true child of Jacob. Well, what does that have to
do with me? What does that mean? Look here. He said, and the God
of your father did this. What's significant about that
for me here in the year 2015? He said in Galatians 3.29, if
you be Christ, if God is your God, if you be Christ, then are
you Abraham, see? Abraham's your father. What does
that mean? That means you're heirs according
to the promise. That means that that promise
that God made to Abraham 430 years before he ever gave the
law at Mount Sinai, where he promised, I'm going to save you
in my chosen seed, Christ my Son. I'm going to redeem you
and I'm going to redeem all your true children in my Son. That
means when he made that promise to Abraham, the same promise
he made to him is the promise that covenant he's made in your
own heart. You're an heir, not of works, but an heir of the
covenant, everlasting covenant promise of God. That's what it
means. The God of your father. The God
of your father. And if God's done all that for
you, it's because of this. God has given you treasure, hidden
riches in your sacks. This is the only way this could
be so. You didn't buy it, God gave it.
And He gave you treasure, hidden riches in your sacks. Now what
is this hidden treasure? What are these hidden riches?
What are they? Turn over to Ephesians 3. By
now, we ought to have a pretty good indication of what this
hidden treasure is. Ephesians 3. Ephesians chapter
3. Look at this. Paul said, verse
8, unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this
grace given? that I should preach among the
Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. The unsearchable riches
of Christ. That's the hidden riches that
God gives into our sacks. Let me ask you this. Why is it
hidden? Why is it hidden? Because Christ
prayed to the Father and He said, Father, I thank you I thank you
that you've hidden these things from the wise and prudent, from
those haughty, arrogant, too smart, too cool for school and
know-it-all and don't need your salvation. I'm thankful, Lord,
you've hidden these riches from them and you've revealed them
unto babes, unto babes, broken contrite babes. It's hidden. on purpose by God. Now look at
Colossians 2. I want to show you one more thing. Colossians 2, look at verse 3. In Christ are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge. Why do you just preach Christ?
Why do you just keep preaching Christ? Christ, Christ, Christ. Somebody Joe knows told him they
won't ever come back here again because they know exactly what
I'm going to say. Best compliment I ever got. Why? Because in Christ are hid
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Look at this. And
this I say, I'm telling you this, lest any man should beguile you
with enticing words. Lest somebody tricks you and
tries to pull you away from Christ. He's the treasure. In Him's all
the treasure. Now, what are these sacks He's
talking about here? Well, if you just think about
what is a sack? A sack's an earthen vessel. That's what a sack is, an earthen
vessel. It's just something to carry
something in. How does God put the unsearchable
riches of Christ in my sack? How does He do that? Turn to
2 Corinthians 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Look at verse 6. You'll be hearing this gospel
preached. You'll be sitting there just as dark and dead. No life. Just dead. And then God will speak. God will speak. You won't hear
an audible voice. You're going to hear my voice.
But you're going to hear His voice in your heart. You'll know it. You'll hear it.
Listen. God, this is what's happening. God who commanded the light to
shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And where do we have this treasure?
We have this treasure in earthen vessels. We just got this treasure
in old sacks, in old burlap sacks that are just going to perish
and rot away to nothing. But why do we have it in these
earthen sacks? Why is it in these earthen vessels?
That the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. That's why. You see, God's going
to get the glory all the way in this thing. All right? One
more thing now, lastly. When Christ speaks this peace,
He calls one of His children. When God reveals Christ in our
hearts, puts this hidden treasure in our hearts, gives it to us
freely, there is nothing else to be paid to God by us. The transaction is already complete. And that's what he'll make you
to know. It's done. Now look at here at verse 23.
I had your money. That's what the ruler of the
house said. I had your money. Now let me put it all together
here. I had to do some digging on this. Let me show you what he said.
Let me tell you what this man said. He said, I'm the steward. I'm the ruler of the house. The
cash for all the corn comes through me. Between Joseph and me and
the person wanting bread. Comes through me. So keep the
money as a present from your God from my hand and know that
you don't have any reason to fear any evil. You don't have
any reason to fear any charges being laid to you. This is a
gift through my hand from your God given into your sacks. The whole transaction is complete
and it's been completed between myself and you. Joseph is just
on the throne. Joseph is just ruling over the
storehouse. You see the picture there between God and His people
is Christ. And He's the ruler over the house.
And every bit of these riches that comes to His child comes
through Christ's hand. And it's a free gift of God.
And He says to you, and He gives it to you, the transaction's
complete. Don't worry about being charged.
Don't worry about having any sin laid to your charge whatsoever.
This is a gift from your God. That's what he's saying. This
is what he said in Colossians 2.10. You are complete in Him,
which is the head of all principality and power. There's therefore
now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. No worries
about this being rolled on us. and us being charged and all
everything taken from us and us put in bondage. Because for
His people, for those He's redeemed, those He calls, those He puts
this treasure into your earthen vessel, He says, it's all done. And it's a gift of God to you.
Now let me show you, let's just read the rest of it out. Genesis
43, 23. And He brought Simeon out unto
them. A lot of ways you could look
at that. He freed a freed brother. But that's that brother member
that was in bondage so they could go free before. Then you start
seeing the substitute. You start seeing Christ. And
he says, And the man brought the men into Joseph's house,
fellowship with Christ. He gave them water, water of
life. They washed their feet from defilement. He gave their asses provender.
He provides for those that bring them to the house. They made
ready the present against Joseph, came at noon, for they heard
that they should eat bread there." Oh, they're going to still try
to offer a gift? The way we just looked at this picture, it's
all right now. If you know it's all complete.
Christ has done it all. He's put away your sin. He's
made you complete. God's done the work of calling
you and put this treasure in your vessel as a gift to you. you want to offer him a spiritual
sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving through Christ Jesus, he says,
you come right on. And look where they did it. And
when Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in
their hand into the house and bowed themselves to the earth.
Bowed down at his feet, just like he said they would. All
right, let's stand together. Our God and our Savior, we do
pray that this would be an hour, according to Your will, according
to Your eternal purpose, that You truly might speak peace to
the heart of some poor, needy, desperate sinner. Pray, Lord,
that You would put the treasure of Christ and His unsearchable
riches into their vessel. Make them to know You. Bring
them to Your house. Wash them. Bring them to Your
feet, Lord. We ask it so that You would get
every bit of the glory. Everything would be by You. Lord,
we pray that You would bless this service, that You would
bless the next hour by Your Word and by Your Spirit, that You
would be with those who need You in ways that others don't
know and that no man can understand that you'd apply the message
like it needs to be applied, comfort those who need to be
comforted, edify and exhort and rebuke and all the things that
need to be done in the hearts of your people. Use this word,
Lord, however you see fit, however you know best. We ask it in Christ's
name for His honor and glory. Amen.