Let me read a passage of scripture
for you before you turn to Genesis. I'll get it right here
in a minute. Turn to Genesis 45. Let me read
a scripture to you here first. As cold waters to a thirsty soul
So is good news from a far country. That's what I hope to have for
you this morning. Far country, meaning Jackson,
you know, three hours away. It's not that far, but it's,
it's a distance. Good news. And everybody knows,
but a nice cold glass of water in the heat is like, it's very
refreshing. And I pray that that the Lord
gives me this has given me this message for you. and that you
all will be blessed by it. It is really hard to tell what
numerous blessings await the people of God's choosing. And in this passage in Genesis
45, old Jacob was about to receive such a graceful blessing, and
he didn't see this coming his way, but it was all in God's
providence and God's own timing. Genesis 45, we'll start reading
just a few verses. I hope most of you are familiar
with this story. Genesis 45, and starting in verse
25, we'll go to the end of the chapter. And they, that is Jacob's
remaining sons, they went up out, they're coming out of Egypt. and secured a deal for corn because
the land was in famine, drought, severe drought. They came out
of the land, out of Egypt and came into the land of Canaan
unto Jacob, their father. He's waiting to hear what's going
on or did they secure corn? Are we gonna live? Which he said
in earlier chapter, go get corn that we live and do not die.
So this corn is essential from this land of Egypt. And they
told him, the sons, the remaining sons told him saying, Joseph
is yet alive. Now, Jacob thought he was gone.
He'd been thought he was dead for many, many years. So they
come in and he's expecting to hear good news from a far country
about the corn. And they say, there's a more
urgent matter and that is, Joseph is yet alive and he is governor
over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob's heart fainted because
he didn't believe them. And they told him all the words
of Joseph. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
the word of God. They told him all the words of
Joseph, which he had told them. And when Jacob looked up and
saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit
of Jacob, their father, revived. And Israel, Jacob, said, it is
enough. He saw this. He heard the words
that were spoken, the good news of the gospel. He heard. And
he saw now faith is, you know, the evidence of things not seen,
but the Lord does give us obviously the cross. You know, these are,
he gives us visual visual things, but you hear by the word of God.
And then he gives you promises for
every child of God and the, the wagons, that's the promise. Christ
died, it's one thing to say Christ died, but can you say Christ
died for me? And then after that, the benefits
are overwhelming. So this is, Jacob says that it's
enough. Joseph, my son is yet alive.
I will go and see him before I die. So to reiterate, we see
Jacob's sons return from Egypt to secure corn. in this horrible
trying drought and sore famine. And meanwhile, Jacob's beloved
son, he made the coat of many colors, Joseph, whom Jacob thought
was dead and gone these many years, now Joseph is governor. He's ruling over all the granaries
in Egypt. Jacob's sons tell the patriarch
all the words of his long lost son, Jacob, your son is yet alive. And it wasn't until Jacob heard
the foolishness of preaching and saw the wagons, proof positive
of these very words declared or the promises of God disclosed
to him, this good report from a far country. It's like a glass
of fresh water on a very hot day. This amazing tale, story,
truth of a God who does all things necessary to carry us all the
way to heaven's gate. These wagons were sent by Joseph
to carry Jacob and all that he had. You don't do anything. Matter
of fact, look at verse 20 of the same chapter. Joseph tells his brethren before
he sends them back, regard not your stuff. That is impossible
for us. This is the works of our flesh.
Oh, God's been gracious to me, so I got to do something for
him. No, you can't do anything for him. We've heard that very,
very plainly, very clearly from John this morning. You can do
nothing to please God in and of yourself spiritually. Oh,
you can be a good neighbor. You can be a good friend, a good
worker, but this is, we're not talking about that. We're talking
spiritually. Regard not your stuff. I heard Don Fortner say
it this way. Quit working. Quit working. Quit trying to
please God by what you can do or what you can't do. And this
is the wagons. They're here like the work and
worth and blood of Christ to carry us all the way to glory. That's what we do. In Amos, I
think I shared with Shelly, Amos chapter eight, he says, who is
this? And he's talking to the church.
It's the song of Solomon, the love relationship between the
church and the Lord is beautiful. he says who is this who's coming
out of the wilderness leaning on her beloved it's the church
and whether that's on the salvation or it's a select people whether
it's on the salvation or growth in grace we must lean upon our
Lord always we have no strength These wagons are set up to take
the patriarch back to Egypt where the corn is, where life is, where
complete substance is, where, in this instance, where
salvation is. But look at the response of old
Jacob, faith strong, Faith, he's looking at those wagons, he's
heard the words of truth, and he says, it's enough. It is enough. My first thought is, is Christ,
his grace, his worth, his work, his person, is he enough? Is he enough? And you probably
know the answer. You can say yes or no, I gotta
do this, or I gotta do that, or I gotta bring up my past religious
experience. Is Christ enough? When you see
in the word of God, when you hear the preaching of the gospel,
which you've heard the preaching of the gospel, this is second
generation. You heard it from Maurice, you're
hearing it from David, and you see the promises all
in Christ, yes and amen, can you say it's enough? Now I know we have to work and
pay bills and do these things, but this is going to die when
the flesh dies. Are we storing up? Are we storing
up things? What is the profit of man to
gain the whole world and lose his own soul? That's what we're
interested in here when we gather together. We're not interested
in the politics or anything that's going on. We're interested in
Christ and Him crucified. Our Joseph, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the anointed of God, he is alive. And he is governor over the whole
world. He is, matter of fact, and we
know this out of Isaiah nine, verse six, the government is
on his shoulders. He's the mighty God, the wonderful
counsel, the everlasting father, the prince of peace. That's who
our Lord is. Jacob and all who know the Lord
in truth and grace, shout with loudest exclamation to anyone
who will hear, he's enough, he's enough. Today, if you will hear
his voice, he lives. He suffered the just for the
unjust, he clothes us and only those who are stripped and naked
before Jehovah God. bring anything to Him. He has
it all. He owns it all. As we heard this morning, He's
the Creator. He will empty us before He will
fill us with salvation. He is to us the prophet, priest,
and king for His church, His people, His bride. He is the
ratifier of that blessed covenant, that David. The Lord has made
with me in 2 Samuel, I think it's 23, everlasting covenant
ordered from before the world began and sure, though my house is not sold,
my kids are not saved, this is going on, that's going on, sin
still is a trouble, is a problem with me, but this is all my hope. It's all my salvation. It's all
my desire. He reveals to us the wagons of
salvation, full and free. And that is stating that He has
done all the work for us because our ways, our works, our merit
is vain and worthless, regard not your stuff. If you've come here and you've
heard a different gospel, which is not a different, and say,
well, I'll rely on that. No. That's what I've noticed,
is folks who come in from other churches that don't preach the
gospel, and they think everything is fine. No, regard not your
stuff. That's one of the most difficult
things to do, is to, it's pride. It's pride, and pride goes before
a fall. John 4, verse 40, you will not
come to me that you may have life. It's life, there's life
in these granaries. Get on the wagons. and let them
take you, let them take you. It's all of grace, free and full. It is enough. Perfectly satisfying,
perfectly sufficient is this substitutionary righteousness
that he provides. We can ask for no more. The law
has been honored, justice fulfilled, our sin debt paid, and we are
now under that righteousness God requires. He has required,
he requires it, he provides it. I'll tell you what more joyful
news cannot be heard. Can you imagine? I mean, just
put yourself in Jacob's situation. He's expecting, did you get corn
or not? And he comes back and they said,
hold on, listen to us. Your son's alive. I don't know
about that. We'll listen to what he said. And he told them about, the goodness
of the corn. He told him about he's going
to take care of him forever. And then I'm not so sure and
we're not sure. Salvation is great. It's wonderful.
And then we got to go to work tomorrow. But his grace is sufficient,
is it not? To carry us to glory, to Beulah's
land. All these different References. I'll tell you, no more joyful
noise or news cannot be heard. More comfortable truth cannot
be believed and a fuller evidence cannot be desired. He is, well,
scripture says he must have the preeminence and that's where
the believer wants him to be. That's where he desires him to
be. So I ask you once again, what do you think? What think
is style? What do I think? What all of us here think this
morning? Is Christ enough? Or do you have to add something
to his work? You say, I've got to add my knowledge. Well, God considers this, our
wisdom, foolishness. I've got to add my strength.
God considers, uh, our strength weakness to the almighty. I have to add my good works.
God considers these vain to him who is pure goodness. We have
nothing to bring. Have you seen that song, In My
Hand, no price I bring. I like to change the word simply
to Christ I clean. But there's something else. Turn
with me to Luke chapter 22. There's something else I want
to bring to our attention. A second thought. Turn to Luke chapter 22. Let me read you a parallel passage
of Luke in Mark chapter 6. You don't have to turn there.
Luke chapter 22. I'm going to read to you the
parallel happening, parallel passage in Mark chapter 6, starting
in verse 7. And Christ called unto him the
twelve disciples, and began to send them forth two by two, and
gave them power over unclean spirits, and commanded them that
they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only,
no script, no bread, no money in their purse, but be shod with
sandals and not put on two coats. Luke chapter 22. I ask, proffer
you this, I ask you this again this morning. Is God's grace
sufficient? Not the God of this world, not
the God of our imaginations perhaps. Is God's grace sufficient in
salvation? In keeping grace? In protecting
us? In sanctifying us? in redemption,
in redeeming us, and in grace, is God's grace sufficient in
providence, come what may. Some of y'all have been through
some stuff lately, and our church has too. But God's grace is sufficient. Where sin abounds, God's grace
more abounds. Now look at this. This really,
this stepped on my toes. Luke chapter 22, it is enough,
Christ is enough. Luke chapter 22 and verse 35,
22, 35. And Christ is speaking, said
unto them, when I sent you without purse and without script and
without shoes, lacked ye anything? And the believer says, nothing. Nothing. These are the wagons. Lack ye anything, God's church
says, God's bride says, nothing. Really? Now, I know we have a
lot of wants, and I will say this, I love this country, it's
great, but this country, we have too much. We have way too much. He told them to go without, let
me read that purse. All these things, purse, they
were supposed to go without. That's money. Oh, we got to have
money or a credit card or something to function. Script, and that's
a pouch that was made specifically for food. We need food. And shoes. Shoes. All these things the world
holds dear. But the believer, we must have
Christ. We hold him as our beloved. We
seek a builder and maker in a country not made with hands. That's what
the believer's about. Oh, to live what we say we believe. We've come into sovereign grace.
I don't know if there's any other church in this area. There isn't
in our area that teaches and preaches the sovereign grace
of God. I believe that. Can we live it? Christ said unto them, when I
sent you without purse and script and shoes, I'm not saying you
go home and sell all this stuff, but I'm just saying if you have
to, do it to support the poor or support the poor folk within
the body of believers. Did you lack anything? And I can imagine, oh Paul, He's the oldest one
here from what I understand. I imagine if you ask Paul, have
you ever lacked anything? Nope. Nope. David said, I'm old now. I'm young. Now I was, now I'm
old. I've never seen the righteous baking bread. And that can happen. We know folks in other countries
who are believers that bake bread. But the point is, is that he
takes care of his people one way or the other. He takes care
of his people. I think about that old ancient
pilgrim, that old believer, and I don't even know his name. Read
about it through Spurgeon or somebody. He's sitting at his
kitchen table and he's got water and a loaf of bread. And I wish
I could say this. All this and Christ too. All this and Christ too. Is he enough? And is he sufficient? We need, by God's grace, to walk
by faith, not sight, not intuition, and certainly not fear. Yes,
we're to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves, but we
are to act, to live, to walk in this vile world as sheep,
always trusting and leaning upon our beloved. Give us this day
our daily bread. Is Christ not the most beautiful
master to serve? Is he not our closest elder brother
to bear our burdens to? Our most tender and caring father,
shepherd, and friend? You think about these disciples.
They were sent out in want of everything, and yet through Christ,
they lacked nothing. He lacked nothing. That's amazing. That's amazing. Well, this is
hundreds of years ago. Faith is faith. The object of
our faith never changes. The gospel of the grace of God
never changes. That's one of the attributes,
is it not? He's immutable. He changes not. Oh, and incidentally, therefore,
you sons and daughters of Jacob, are not wiped out, are not consumed.
So I tell myself, once I speak to you, may our anxious cares
be gone and our troublesome heart. Let not your hearts be troubled.
John 14. Vain is the help from man. The
older we get, the more we'll see this. Riches take flight,
and they're no more. I had somebody tell me one time,
bragging, I got more money than I could spend. Yeah, just get
a disease and spend a month or two in the hospital. It's gone.
Life is even as a vapor. This is what the scripture says.
What does it profit a man? That's in Mark chapter eight,
verse 36. And gain the whole world. I tell
you this, brethren, In our sovereign, merciful, majestic Savior, we
lack nothing. And in Christ Jesus, He is enough. Now why? Well, turning closing
to Lamentations chapter 3. Lamentations chapter 3. Why do we lack nothing in our
Savior? Why is He completely enough for
us and for all of our needs and wants? Seek ye first the kingdom
of God and all these things that we need will be added. Lamentations
chapter 3 and verse 24. The Lord is my portion, saith
my soul. will I hope in Him. Why? Is He
sufficient? Why is His grace sufficient?
Why do we lack nothing? Because He is our portion. And that word to Hebrews, He's
our inheritance. Oh, to be found in Christ. I
beseech you, I implore, I beseech myself to seek Him while He may
be found. There's nothing in this world.
It made all that glitter, as they said, is not gold. And the
older you get, and look at some of the gray hairs out here. And
I said, yeah, you know what I'm talking about. It is. He's given us these jobs and
these things to sustain us and our families, not to be trusted
in. So we come back here, and whoever's
behind this pulpit will tell you the same thing. Christ is
enough and we really lack nothing, nothing needful. To God be the
glory.