Genesis chapter 42, if you would,
please. In verse one, we read, now when
Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, Jacob said unto his
sons, why do you look one upon another? And he said, behold,
I have 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, Jacob
sent not with his brethren, for he said, lest peradventure mischief
befall him. 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 the land. and 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 tonight in the verses before us, we continue the picture of
Christ. If you're going to live, if you're
going to live through this horrible famine, If you're going to have
food to eat that you might live by, you're going to have to come
to Joseph for corn. You're going to have to bow down
before Joseph to get it. There's just no way around it.
And you know, in reading these verses, you can't help but to
think about those two dreams that Joseph had, recorded, I
believe, in chapter 37, where he told his brothers that a dream
that he had and interpreted that they would do just this. The
word governor here in the Hebrew language means potentate. It
means prince. It means powerful, one who has
great power. Joseph was the governor over
the land. He was the ruler, one who rules
with authority. If you're gonna, you're gonna
have to, now listen, you're gonna have to bow to Christ who governs
all things if you're to receive anything from God. Joseph is
governor over Egypt, but Christ rules and reigns over all things
in heaven and earth and in all deep places. He is the one with
whom we have to do. The sons of Jacob, they didn't
come directly to Joseph. You didn't just walk up to the
most powerful man in Egypt. No, sir. Joseph was not the one
who was actually out there dispensing the corn. There were servants
for that. You see, you had to first come
to one of Joseph's servants. Isn't that the way it is when
coming to Christ? You have to first come to his
servant. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching. to
save them that believe. God is gonna bring you to hear
and receive instruction from one of his servants as to how
to obtain this corn, this wheat. Look at verse seven. And Joseph
saw his brethren. You see, Joseph is ruling over
all the affairs of Egypt. And he sees his brothers from
a distance, but he's not too far away to see them. And I'm
reminded of the verse in Jeremiah 23 that Christ through the prophet
Jeremiah said, am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not
a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret
places that I shall not see? Saith the Lord, do not I feel
heaven and earth, saith the Lord? And again, verse seven, and Joseph
saw his brethren and he knew them, but made himself strange
unto them. And he 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 not him. Now, when it says here that Joseph
knew his brethren, that means much, much more than just that
he saw them and recognized them. It means a whole lot more than
that. It means, the Hebrew word for knew here is nakar, and it
means he loved them. He loved them. He cared for them. That word gives intonations of
being intimately acquainted with someone. You remember when the
scriptures tell us about Mary, she knew not a man, same type
word in the Greek. We might immediately ask this
question. How could Joseph loved his brethren
after all that they had done to him? You know, that's a good
question. That's a very good question. How could Christ love
his brethren after all they had done to him? How could he love
them who hated him without a cause, without a reason? How could he
love them who sold him into slavery, which led to the death of a crime
that he did not commit? Hear me now, O chosen sinner.
Look unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, who
for the joy set before Him. Every time I read that, I'm just
amazed by that. Just amazed, that for the joy
set before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame, and
has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. And then
it says in the very next verse, for consider Him, That's what
I want you to do tonight. I want you to consider Him. For
consider Christ that endured such contradiction of sinners
against Himself. Yet, lest you be wearied and
faint in your minds. Has sin, has your sin made you
weary and faint in your minds? Consider, contemplate, estimate. That's what that word means.
What Christ has done for you. Consider the greatness of this
person, who he is. He's God. Christ in him crucified. What has he done? Consider that. What he's still doing. While
he's at the right hand of God, making intercession for his people.
Still mediating, still interceding. He endured the contradiction
of sinners. He endured the sentence that
you were given. That was the sentence of death.
He endured the judgment for your disobedience. He paid and fooled
the wages of God's justice against you. Consider those things. That being death, the soul that
sins, it shall die. Nevertheless, the foundation
of God standeth sure, having this seal. The Lord knoweth them
that are His. Isn't that a comforting thought?
The Lord knows those that are His. Oh, my. In verse 7, again, we're told
Joseph made himself strange to them. He didn't quickly reveal
himself to them. Why? Because he's going to teach
them some things. He's gonna teach him something.
Joseph's brothers are gonna be convicted of their sin. That's just the way that God
saves sinners. He doesn't reveal himself all
at once. No, sir, Joseph spake roughly
unto them, we're told. In my margin, it says he spoke
hard things, hard things. Joseph spoke hard things unto
them. Now, in order to be convicted
of your sin, You must hear some hard things. I remember when
I heard them. Your sin's going to have to be
exposed. Your sin's going to have to be
dealt with. You're going to have to hear some rough, hard things
about yourself, about your disobedience, about your sin, about your inability,
about your unwillingness, about what awaits you, with no repentance,
hard things, rough things. But if so be that you've tasted
that the Lord is gracious, then you've already heard and you've
inbore some hard things, haven't you? Oh, that's how we see the
Lord is gracious, when we see what we are and what we deserve. My, then the Lord's grace is
even more precious to us, isn't it? Salvation comes by revelation,
but God does a preparatory work. The old writers called it prevenient
grace, a grace that went before grace. I can't explain that,
but I know that it's all grace when it comes to salvation. And
these hard things that Joseph told them was to prepare them. These hard things was a work
of grace that went before grace. We have to hear the bad news
before we'll ever rejoice over the good news. We say that all
the time. We have to be brought down in
order to be lifted up. We have to be humbled in order
to be exalted. We have to die before we can
be made alive. It's all pervenient grace. God
gives grace before grace. And Joseph's brothers, now this
is kind of my subject tonight, but Joseph's brothers are gonna
be convicted of their sin. Joseph was going to see to it.
And before Christ reveals himself fully to us, we're gonna have
to learn some things about ourselves. We're gonna have to be reminded
of many things about ourselves. Joseph's brothers had put a lot
of things behind them that they had never repented of. It had
been 22 years since they had dealt treacherously with Joseph
the way they did, 22 years. They had conveniently forgotten
many things. We're pretty good at that, aren't
we? We're pretty good at conveniently forgetting things. That's the
way we are. It's easy to forget our sins
that are against others, but we don't easily forget the ones
against us. We have selective forgetfulness,
I guess you could say. And then also in verse seven,
Joseph asked them, he said, whence come ye? Why are you here? Why did you come to Egypt? And
they said, well, we came from the land of Canaan to buy food. They were telling Joseph the
truth. That was why they came. They certainly didn't come looking
for Joseph. They thought he was long ago
dead. They came and they bowed in order
to fill their bellies. I'm reminded of when the Lord
Jesus fed those 5,000 men plus women and children with the loaves
and the fishes. The next day in the scripture,
we're told that they followed him all the way to the other
side of the sea. And when they found him the next
day, they were somewhat upset and they said, Lord, we sought
you. When did you come here? We were
looking for you. And the Lord said, truly, truly,
verily, verily, I'm telling you the truth. I say unto you, you
seek me not because you saw the miracles. You're not seeking
me because you know who I am and you want and desire me. He said, you seek me because
you did eat of the loaves and were filled. You seek me for
a handout. You seek me for free food. You
seek me because I fed you with physical food. And then he said
this, labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for the
meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the son of man shall
give unto you. I'll throw this in for free.
That's the very reason why many churches today have become nothing
more than just a social club. It's a place to go and make business
contacts. It's become a place where people
can network. Joseph's brothers came to buy
corn. That's a picture of salvation
by works. Men by nature want to buy, they
want to earn, they want to merit salvation. But listen to me,
a true son of Jacob can't buy corn. It's not for sale. And that's what Joseph is gonna
teach his brothers. He's gonna teach them that. You
can't buy it. That's what Christ is gonna teach
all his people. Salvation is a free gift. I wish we could learn that. Why
we keep trying to do something, don't we, to appease God? Look
at verse nine, and Joseph remembered the dreams which he had dreamed
of them. And he said unto them, well,
you're spies. You came to see the nakedness
of the land. That's why you've come. And let
me say it again, before God saves a sinner, he's gonna convict
that sinner of their sin. He's gonna reveal some things
to them. He's gonna show them some things about themselves.
He's gonna expose their sin. He's gonna convict you of your
sin. He's gonna show you that all sin is against God. He's gonna show you that. You're
gonna be made to truthfully say what David said, that God is
justified when He condemns you. You're gonna agree with God.
You're gonna say, that's right, God. You're justified to condemn me.
You're gonna be made to truthfully say that God is clear of any
wrongdoing if he was to send you to hell. He's gonna make
the sinner take sides with him against themselves. And Joseph
said, you guys are spies. You've come to exploit us. You've
come to see where we keep our corn. You're here under false
pretense. You're gonna go back and you're
gonna plot to steal from us. And when you attempt to secure
salvation for yourself by something that you purchase, something
that you earn or deserve, you're robbing God. I'm telling you
you are. You're robbing God of His glory and the salvation of
sinners. And look at verse 10, and they
said unto him, nay, my Lord, but to buy food are thy servants
come. We are all one man's sons. We are true men. I found that
statement very interesting. We're true men. Thy servants
are no spies." We're not spies, we're men of truth. Everybody God saves, He makes
truthful. Did you know that? There'd be
no liars in glory. He makes every man and woman
whom He saves truthful. God's gonna make all His people
true sinners. They're gonna be truthful about
themselves. Today we've got a lot of hypothetical
sinners, but nothing is hypothetical with God's people. Hypothetical
means that something is not necessarily real or true. God's people are
made to know that God and His word are real and true. God's
children don't suppose anything about God. God's elect don't
assume anything when it comes to God. Nothing in God's word
is theoretical. Everything concerning the God
of the Bible is real and true. And God's people know that. Let
me try to give you an example. I mentioned this, I believe Sunday.
There's many who claim to believe that God is sovereign. Well,
you see it all through the scriptures. It's everywhere you look. Our
God's in the heavens. He's done whatsoever He's pleased.
In the army of heaven, among the habitants of the earth. None
can stay God's hand. None can say unto God, what are
you doing? People say, I believe that God works all things after
the counsel of His own will. They say, I believe that God
works all things together for the good of them that love Him.
They usually say that until something doesn't go well for them. But
the true believer doesn't just believe that God is sovereign.
They love the God that is sovereign. They don't just give mental assent
to the fact that God is sovereign, they rejoice in the fact that
God has all authority and power. They wouldn't have it any other
way. It's one thing to accept God's authority, but it's a whole
nother thing to rejoice in God's authority over all things. It's
one thing to say that you believe in irresistible grace, But it's
another thing altogether to find grace irresistible. It's one thing to believe that
God will preserve his people, but it's another thing altogether
to actually persevere believing in Christ alone. Salvation is
much, much more than just giving mental assent to the doctrines
of grace. Men and women say, oh, I believe
in the doctrines of grace. But do you love the Lord Jesus
Christ? The true salvation is to see
the truth about Christ and what He's done for sinners and to
find those truths absolutely necessary in order to be saved. Christ told that woman at the
well, He said, true worshipers, see there's There's some who
worship false worshipers. But he said true worshipers worship
God in spirit and in truth. You can't worship God apart from
spirit and in truth. Can't do it. True worshipers
bow to God. Now listen, true worshipers bow
to God for who he is. for who He is. True worshipers
bow to God as He reveals Himself to be. I don't just believe that
God is sovereign, I rejoice that God is sovereign. I find great
joy that my salvation is not left up to me. There's a difference. There's a difference. I want
to be a true worshiper. I want to worship Him in spirit
And in truth, that's what a true worshiper does. They worship
God for who He is. Regardless of what God does or
doesn't do for me, I better worship Him because He's worthy of my
worship. Let me ask you a question. Is
God worthy of worship? even if He pass you by. Hebrews 12, 22 says, let us draw
near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. Have you
ever thought about that statement, true assurance of faith? Have you ever thought about what
true assurance of faith is? It's not believing fully the
doctrines of grace, I can tell you that. No sir, that's not
it. It's being fully assured that
Christ did what it took to save you. That's what it is. Full
assurance of faith is knowing that you need nothing more than
Christ. Christ is all. You can add nothing. That's what full assurance of
faith is. Now, are you a sinner in theory? Or are you a guilty
sinner? Look at verse 11, Joseph's brother
said, we are all one man's sons. We're true men, thy servants
are no spies. And he said unto them, nah, but
to see the nakedness of the land, that's why you've 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. They're speaking of Joseph
there, one is not. I find it quite ironic, maybe
that's not the right word, but the one who is not is the one
they're standing before. And they know it not. Verse 14,
and Joseph said unto them, that is it that I have spaken to you,
saying, ye are spies. Hereby ye shall be proved by
the life of Pharaoh. You shall not go forth hence,
except your youngest brother come hither. Send one of you
and let him fetch your brother, and you shall 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 ye are spies.' And he
put them all together into ward or into prison for three days."
And Joseph said unto them the third day, this do and live for
I fear God, meaning that he would do what was right. And I'm telling
you, that should have been some clue to them that this, who this
was before them. Because very few people in Egypt
feared God. Yet verse 19, if you be true
men, let one of your brethren be found in the house of your
prison and go ye carry corn for the famine of your houses, but
bring your youngest brethren to me. So shall your words be
verified and you shall not die. And they did so. Now, what these
verses are telling us is one of the brothers stayed in prison,
and he said, you go and you deliver corn to your house, and you come
back and you bring your youngest son, and that'll give proof that
you're who and what you say you are. Now, do you remember what
I said a moment ago? In order for God to save a sinner,
Maybe that's not the best way to put that. But when God saves
a sinner, He's gonna convict that sinner of their sin. He's
going to convince that sinner of their sin. The sinner's gonna
hear some hard things about themselves. The sinner's gonna be made sorry
for their sin. And look at verse 21. Now this
is it. Said all that to say this. In
verse 21, and they being the brothers said one to another,
we are barely or we are truly guilty. Truly guilty. We're guilty concerning our brother. They're speaking of Joseph. They said, we're guilty, truly
guilty concerning our brother in that we saw the anguish of
his soul. When He besought us and we would
not hear. Therefore is this distress come
upon us. They're basically saying we're
getting what we deserved. Has God brought you to that point?
Do you see that if God was to send you to hell tonight, that
you're getting what you deserve? Every true believer will confess
that their guilty is charged. Joseph's brothers confessed their
guilt as to how they had treated Joseph. Have you confessed your
guilt as to how you treated your Lord and Savior? They had seen
the anguish of Joseph's soul when they threw him in that pit.
You know, I've thought a lot about this. Young man, 17 years
old. He was on an errand of mercy
from his father. What a picture that is of Christ.
And he came to his brothers, and they hated him without a
cause, and they threw him in that pit. Can you imagine the
agony, the pain, the heartbreak while the torment, the distress,
the grief, despair, heartache? I can just see his quivering
lips. I can see the flood of tears falling from his eyes. That young 17-year-old Joseph,
can you imagine what he experienced as he looked up out of that pit
and his brother's faces looking down just disappeared? They were
gone. There he is, left alone in that
pit. Even more so. Can you imagine
the anguish, and the agony, and the pain, the torment, and sorrow,
suffering, and grief that Christ must have felt when he looked
down from that cross and saw his brethren, according to the
flesh, who had, with wicked hands, taken and crucified him? Joseph's
brother said, we're guilty concerning our brethren. Notice what else
they said. They said, when He besought us,
that word besought means begged. As they threw Joseph down in
that pit, He was begging them not to leave him there. Don't
leave me here, He said. Don't leave me here. He pleaded
and He begged with them. And they said He besought us
to let Him go and we would not hear. It didn't mean anything
to them. They would not hear. They were
guilty of turning a deaf ear to His cries and hardening themselves
against Him. How much more severe is the crime
of turning a deaf ear as our Lord suffered and cried, Father,
forgive them. They know not what they do. You
and I, now listen. We were just as guilty of our
Lord's crucifixion as those who actually drove the nails into
His hands and into His feet. And I hear religious folks say
dumb things all the time, like, well, if I would have been there,
I wouldn't have done it. Or if I had been there, I wouldn't
have allowed them to crucify Him. Yes, you would have. You'd
have been right there crying in unison with all the rest,
crucifying, crucifying, release unto us Barabbas and crucify
this man named Jesus. You know, the sin and the guilt that truly condemns us is how
we view Christ and his gospel. Because of our sin, friends,
we were personally liable for driving those nails into His
hands and to His feet. Do you see the anguish of His
soul in death? Do you see Him being made sin
for His people as He hangs upon Calvary's cross? Do you see Him
providing satisfaction for the divine justice of God? Do you see Him working out a
perfect righteousness for those who hated Him without a cause? For some that hated Him without
a cause. Or will you not see and hear? Joseph's brother said, therefore
is this distress come upon us. We're reaping what we've sown. To the sinner that will not hear,
you can expect great distress to come upon you, either to the
saving of your soul or to the damnation of I remember when God showed me
my guilt. Boy, I was distressed. I knew
that I deserved eternal condemnation. I knew that God was justified
when He spoke against me. That God was clear when He pronounced
me guilty. No wrongdoing on God. All the
wrongdoing fell upon me. Man, I remember how that felt.
And I remember thinking, is there any hope? Is there any hope for
me? Is there any mercy still reserved for one such as I? There's
plenteous mercy. Oh, there's enough grace in Christ
to go around. Verse 22, And Reuben answered
them, saying, Spake not I unto you, saying, Do not sin against
a child? And you would not hear. Therefore,
behold, also is his blood required. And when I read that verse, I
thought to myself, you know, there's always one in there.
There's always one who says, I told you so, I told you so.
I warned you, but you wouldn't listen. You wouldn't hear. And
Reuben may have talked them out of murdering Joseph, but he sure
wasn't opposed to selling him into slavery. Matter of fact,
that was his idea. He was as guilty as the rest.
Those who cry, I told you so, they're as guilty as the rest.
Christ told those accusers of the woman that was caught in
adultery. He said, let him that is without
sin cast the first stone. And they all set their rocks
down and walked off one at a time. Lord, don't let me be an accuser
of your people. I'm as guilty as anyone else,
capable of doing anything. if Christ lead me to myself. Verse 23, and they knew not that
Joseph understood them, for he spake unto them by an interpreter. As they confessed the guilt of
their treatment of Joseph, they didn't know that it was him that
was listening to their every word. He spoke to them an Egyptian
by an interpreter. But he understood every word
that they said in Hebrew. And what a picture here we have
of the Holy Spirit. The word interpreter here in
the Hebrew language means intercessor. It also means teacher. I found
that Amazing actually, Joseph conveyed his message to them
by an interpreter. That's the way our Lord speaks
to and teaches us. The Holy Spirit reveals the things
of Christ to us. The Holy Spirit takes the words
of the preacher and the teacher and he makes them come alive
to his people. He reveals God's word to his
elect. Two people hear the same words,
but one has ears, true spiritual ears to hear. Christ often said
that. Let him that has ears to hear,
hear. Spiritual ears. Ears inspired by the Holy Spirit. How did Joseph react to their
confession of guilt? Look at verse 24. And he turned
himself about from them. And he wept. Didn't Christ say that there's
joy in the presence of angels, of the angels of God, over one
sinner that repented? Do you know who's in the presence
of the angels of God? Well, the Lord Jesus Christ is.
And these tears of Joseph were tears of joy. They were tears
of joy. He heard his brothers confess
their guilt. There's joy in heaven over one
sinner that repents. And again verse 24, and he turned
himself about from them and wept, and notice this, and returned
to them again and communed with them. He communed with them. Joseph's
words went from rough, hard things to communion with them. That
word communed here means to share intimate thoughts and feelings,
especially on a spiritual level. Yes, he took Simeon and he bound
him before their eyes, but even that was all with intentions
of mercy. He communed with them. And in verse 25, we have the
gospel. Then Joseph commanded to fill
their sacks with corn, and to restore every man's money into
his sack. Remember what I told you? You
can't buy this. The sons of Jacob can't buy this. To restore every man's money
into his sack, and to give them provision for the way. And thus
did he unto them. Here we find four things, I'll
give them to you quickly. Four things that God does when
he reveals the gospel to sinners, to his chosen elect. First, he
fills their sacks with corn. In Christ, all fullness dwells. God's people are filled with
Christ and his spirit. Secondly, he restores everyone
their money. Salvation's free. It's free. It can't be bought. Thirdly,
He gives them provision for the way. We've still got a journey
ahead of us. We don't know how long. Some
have a longer journey than others. But Christ gives us provisions
for the way. That word provision means just
what you would think it would. Food, meat, water. On our journey,
we have the Gospel. We have the Word of God. We have
the bread of life. We have the living water. We
have all the provisions that Christ provides. And fourthly,
He did this unto them. It's all the gift of God. Salvation
is of the Lord. Salvation is God's doing. God
is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless
before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. Tears of
joy. I thought about Joseph commanding
to fill their sacks. Listen, child of God, Jesus Christ
commands your salvation. Isn't that amazing? That's just
amazing. The constant command of the mercy
of God is let that sinner go free. You let him go free. I died for him. I made all, I
provided all his provisions. Now look, I want to read a few
verses and then I'll finish. Verse 26. And they laded their
asses with the corn and departed thence. And as one of them opened
his sack to give his ass preventer, or food, or provision, in the
end, he espoused, or he noticed, his money. For behold, it was
in his sack's mouth. And he said unto his brethren,
My money is restored, and lo, it is even in my sack. And their
heart failed them, and they were afraid, saying one to another,
What is this that God hath done unto us? Huh? I have no doubt that they thought
this was some trick, that this was some kind of a test. And
they came unto Jacob their father into the land of Canaan, and
told him all that befell unto them, saying, The man who is
the Lord of the land spake roughly to us, and he took us for spies
of the country. And we said unto him, We're true
men. We are no spies. We be twelve 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 ye are true men. Leave one of your brethren here
with me, and take food for the famine of your households, and
be gone. and bring your youngest brother unto me. Then shall I
know that ye are no spies, but that ye are true men. So will
I deliver you your brother, and ye 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, Simeon is not,
he's in prison in Egypt. And will you take Benjamin away? All these things are against
me. Now we spent a lot of time on
the life of Jacob. Man, he was up and down all the
time, wasn't he? I mean, he just doubted God at
every turn. And here he is in his old age,
and not much has changed. What did he say? He said, these
things are against me. Oh, Jacob, will you ever learn?
Oh, David, will you ever learn? Well, when things are tough,
have you ever said, all these things are against me? Amen or
oh me on that one. No, Jacob, I think you've once again forgotten.
Your God is in control of all things. God is working all things
together for your good. If God be for you, who can be
against you? So to answer your question, are
all these things against you? No, sir. They're all for you.
They're all working together for your good. Child of God,
don't ever forget that. Don't ever forget that. Lord,
help me not to forget that. Oh, when things seem tough, when
things seem rough, when the way gets rough, God's working it
all together for my good and for His glory, for your good
and His glory. Well, we're going to be in chapter
42 probably at least another week, so I appreciate your attention. I hope that was as much a blessing
to you as it was to me. Paul, would you dismiss us, please?