you here this evening. Before
we begin, we'll go to the Lord in prayer. Again, I often ask
this because I need it. I need your prayers as I desire
to preach the gospel to you. I believe the Lord has left us
a wonderful picture of the gospel in the text the Lord has given
me tonight, and I pray that he convey that to your hearts as
he has mine. I pray that God give me grace
to preach this. It's a large section, so I'm
not going verse by verse, but it is a wonderful story, history, but it's very
vivid in the gospel. Our Lord takes great care in
these pictures of the Old Testament, takes great care. in the design
of these pictures and how they picture Christ and His salvation. And so I pray that God give me
liberty tonight. Remember those who are without
pastors in your prayers, remember those who are sick. Those who
are not able to be with us, those who would but can't, pray for
them. sure that there's some other
Jean. Can you pray for Jean? She's
having problems with her leg. So be in prayer for her and her
family. Next month, Ron and Emma go to,
is it Pennsylvania where they go? Yeah. So pray for them. I know that's coming up quick.
And they'll be gone all month, I think. They'll be going to
Clay Curtis's church. I know that he's looking forward
to seeing them. I've talked to him about it.
He's looking forward to seeing them and visiting with them. So pray for them as they go. When is that? Do you know the
date? OK, middle of May. But pray for
them as well. Remember Carol, a brother from
Lexington who's struggling with cancer, pray for him. Yes. Huh? Darvin Pruitt, thank you. Brother Darvin Pruitt this past
week had a stroke and he's doing okay. I think they sent him home
with home health care and things like that, so he's They have
a good prognosis of recovery, so that's been good news. So
pray for Darwin Pruitt and the church there in Taylor, Arkansas. Pray for them. Any other prayer
requests need to be mentioned? Lord knows. Let's go to him in
prayer. Our gracious Father, we come before you tonight thanking
you for this opportunity you've given us, Father, I plead for
mercy and grace tonight as I attempt to preach the gospel. I need
your strength and power. I pray for the ability, mind
and body, to preach that you would grant it by your Holy Spirit
and grace. I pray, Father, for those who
have come to hear. I pray that the message would be beneficial
and that, Father, you might testify again of the great and wonderful
deliverance that Christ has accomplished for us. I pray you'd forgive
us our sins. Lord, I pray those that we have
mentioned tonight who are sick, Darvin and Carol and others who
have sicknesses and trials and difficulties, that you would
be so merciful, Father, as to deliver. And I know you can. Father, I know your power is
infinite, that you are capable of doing all of these things
we have asked. We plead that you will. Father,
I pray you'd give us hearts to resign to your will, knowing
that you are altogether wise and gracious. And Father, I do pray that you'd
bless this congregation, that you'd bless this church, that
the ministry of the gospel might go forth from this place and
that others might be blessed by the gospel that's preached. Again, forgive us of our sins
and we pray these things in Jesus' name and for His sake. Amen. If you take your Bibles and turn
with me to Genesis chapter 41, I've entitled this message, A
Famine, Assurity, and Preparation. A Famine, Assurity, and Preparation. Now, we have before us the story,
the history, of the famine that went over the whole land. Let's
read the last part of chapter 41. Verse 56, Scripture says, And
there was a famine over all the face of the earth. And Joseph opened all the storehouses
and sold unto the Egyptians, and the famine waxed sore in
the land of Egypt. And all countries came into Egypt,
to Joseph for to buy corn, because that the famine was so sore in
all the land. Now, when Jacob saw that there
was corn in Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, Why do you look
one upon another? And he said, Behold, I have heard
there is corn in Egypt, yet get you up thither and buy for us
from thence, that we may live and not die." Now remember how
God had purposed that Joseph should be sold by his brothers
into Egypt. And how God had raised him up
to be the ruler that was equal unto Pharaoh. And how God, remember how God
warned that there should be seven fat years and Then following
that seven lean years there should be a famine That would come and
Joseph was sent by God To store up grain for that seven fat years
God had brought him through all of those trials all of those
difficulties and then raised him up to sit on the throne of
Egypt next only to pharaoh for the purpose of gathering all
of the grain for the seven years in order that they might sustain
themselves for the seven lean years. And we know, we see that
the purpose of God had ripened fast now in our text. The seven
fat years had come. Joseph had stored up all of that
grain for seven years and now famine, even as God promised,
God purposed. This was the purpose of Joseph,
that even he might store up the grain for the salvation of Jacob. This is clearly seen when Joseph
revealed himself to his brothers. You remember, we're going to
get to the end of that when Joseph finally revealed himself. He
said, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good that
I might save much people alive. Now what we have before us here
is a truly vivid picture. A vivid history. Now this will
span at least three and four chapters. of history or more.
But in this, as all Old Testament histories, is meant to be a type
and a picture of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's what this
is intended for. And in this text we have, as
always, the four R's. We always are to preach the four
R's. Ruin, Redemption, Regeneration,
Reconciliation. This is a resurrection. This
is what we're to preach all the time we preach. And this text
is no different. This is intended to be a type
of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, I've got three things in
this text that I want us to receive tonight. First of all, the famine.
What is this a picture of? If this is intended to be a gospel
message, then what is this a picture of? Well, it's a picture of the
ruin of man. Then we have, in this text, we're
going to see the preparation of Joseph. And then we're going
to see the surety of Judah. And all of these picture the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, first of all, the famine.
And let us see first of all that the famine is meant to be a type
and picture of a greater famine. Now what's a famine? It's a lack
of food. That's what a famine was, when
there was nothing that grew. There was no crops. They lack food, and what is the
result of the lack of food is what? The lack of life. When
there's no food, it yields death. And so the picture here is of
a greater famine, and the cause of this famine is sin. The cause of man's ruin is sin. Sin. See, where there is sin, there
is a lack of something. What is it? It's a lack of righteousness. Where sin is, there is no righteousness. There's a famine. There's a famine
of righteousness. Where sin is, there is no holiness. And the Apostle tells us this,
without holiness, no man will see the Lord. What is it that
a man needs in order to see the Lord? It's holiness. Without
that, you can't see the Lord. Our Lord Jesus Christ said this,
He said, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see
God. Revelation 21 and verse 27 God
Describing his kingdom said this he said there shall in no wise
Enter into it anything that defileth neither whatsoever worketh abomination
or maketh a lie But they which are written in the Lamb's book
of life You see only the righteous shall see God Only those that
are without sin shall be allowed into the kingdom of heaven. Yet we know by the word of God
and by our experience, it testifies of this, there is a famine. There
is a lack of righteousness. There is no righteousness in
our heart. Now, I know this, you as believers,
you know this by personal experience. When God comes and graces, the
first thing he reveals to you, that there's no righteousness.
There's no righteousness. The apostle said this concerning
himself, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Now, I know we live in a place
that has never seen famine in our life. We have never seen
what famine really looks like. This is a prosperous place. We talk about our poor, and we
have poor people in this country. But in truth, our poor people
are richer than most people in other countries. We are a very
prosperous country, so it's hard for us to understand what famine
is. We read about it, but really
we've never Cheryl and I we had we had dinner this evening, and
I mean Wow, you know we ate really well And I would not you would
know this. I'm not a very rich man Yet,
we ate very well But you know this about prosperity Prosperity
never makes people grateful You notice that usually it's the
opposite isn't it? When a country becomes prosperous,
we become more what? Unthankful. Prosperity never draws one closer
to God. Matter of fact, it increases
rebellion. That's what prosperity does.
Prosperity increases rebellion. Over in Isaiah chapter 2, the
Lord's telling them, He said, this country has got more gold,
it's got silver, there's no end to their treasure, their horses,
their chariots. And you know what? He says this,
they're just worse. They just get worse. They don't
get better. So in fact, prosperity Makes
men more bold and defiant and rebellious. Especially in religion. When religion is prosperous. When religion is prosperous.
Now I'm not just talking about a monetary prosperity of the
country. I'm talking about religious prosperity. When churches are bursting at
the seams. When that happens, the church
becomes like that of Laodicea. We are rich and increased of
goods and have need of nothing. When the church increases, it
seems to look down on others, doesn't it? It becomes more self-righteous. Remember what God said about
Laodicea? They thought they were rich, but He said this, you are
poor, you are blind, you are naked. Friends, there may not be a natural
famine of food in this land, but I'll tell you this, across
the whole globe, there is a famine of righteousness. There is a
famine of righteousness in the hearts of man by nature. And
our prosperity does not expose this inward famine, but only
increases it. Let a man plow concerning this
righteousness. Let him plow as ever hard he
might in religious seed. Let him plant as much of his
own obedience as he can. Let him try to study the scriptures
as much as he can. Let him pray with most earnestness. There's one thing you're going
to find is this, no matter how hard you work, you can never
produce righteousness in this heart. You just can't do it. Why? There's a famine. There's
a famine. In fact, whatever a man plants
and sows on the barrenness of his own heart, though he might
be confident to yield righteousness, just ask him. Ask the religious
world if they're righteous. They'll tell you they're really
working hard at it. They really work hard at it.
And what does a man that is trusting in his works expect? They expect
something. What do they expect? They expect
fruit. They expect righteousness. You know what they're going to
be? They're going to be disappointed. Anybody that tries to earn righteousness
by his works will be disappointed. And that day when the Lord divides
all men, you remember He'll divide them for a sheep from the goats.
The sheep, He said, come you blessed of My Father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
And they're going to be received in. But the ones on His left
hand, you remember what He said to them? He said, depart from
Me. And what was their response?
They were confused, weren't they? They said, Lord, did we not preach
in Your name? Did we not cast out devils in
your name? Did we not do many wonderful
works? And he will say to them, he said,
I will say to them, depart from me, you that work iniquity. I never knew you. These wicked men had planted
seeds of obedience and thought it would yield righteousness.
But they failed to see this. They failed to see that there
is a famine in their own hearts. You take a bunch of nice, good
seed, and you go out there in the desert, and you can plant
that seed in the desert all you want to. It won't grow. Why? It's barren. You can plant
all the seeds of good works in this heart you want to, but it
will never yield Righteousness. Never. And this famine is not exclusive. It's totally inclusive. Just
like this scripture says there was a famine in the whole earth. You listen to me, there is a
famine for righteousness in the whole earth. Why? Because when
Adam sinned, he plunged his whole race into this famine. Wherefore
is by one man sin entered into the world and death death by
sin what so death passed? upon all men For all have sinned
now secondly. I want you to see that this famine
being inclusive also Included Jacob look at that in chapter
42 verse 1 Now when Jacob saw that there
was corn in Egypt. He said to his sons. Why do you
look one upon another? He said, Behold, I have heard
there is corn in Egypt. Get you down there and buy it
for us from thence. Why? That we may live and not
die. Notice now in this text that
Jacob also was included in this famine. He was not exempt. Now,
Jacob was a very special man, wasn't he? He was chosen of God. He was chosen of God. God specifically
called him out before his birth and said, I love him. He told his grandfather, Abraham,
in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. And
we know that Isaac was the seed of Abraham and the promise was
given to Isaac. And of the two sons of Isaac,
we know this, that God chose Jacob. God chose Jacob. Jacob was loved of God, chosen
of God. Even though he had the promises
of God, yet he himself did not escape this famine. What a blessing Jacob had in
knowing this, that Christ would come from his seed. That's what
he knew. He knew Christ would come from
his seat. That was the promise. Yet here
he was, starving to death. You see, they seem to contradict
each other, doesn't it? The promise and the providence
seem to contradict each other. It didn't. So Jacob was chosen and yet his
low condition of God's chosen man. See, now he was in the same
plight as everyone else. Isn't that right? Isn't he? He's saying, look, you've got
to get down to Egypt or we're going to die like everybody else. Like everybody else. See now
the reality of the picture and behold that God before the famine
of righteousness, before sin entered into the world, guess
what? God chose a people for himself. God chose Jacob. We know this from our study in
Romans 9, that Jacob is a type, isn't he? He's a picture of all
the elect. And as God loved and chose Jacob
before his birth, not according to merit, but free grace, even
so God hath loved and chosen his elect people in Christ before
the foundation of the world. I like that scripture in 1 Corinthians
when it says, ìBut of God are you in Christ Jesus.î Who put
you there? Who put you in Christ Jesus? Isnít it glorious? Because if
religionís right and you put yourself in Christ Jesus, then
you can take yourself out. One thing about this, I didnít
put myself in Christ and Iím not able to take myself out.
Thatís glorious. God put me in Christ, and listen,
God made Him. God made Him to be my wisdom,
and my righteousness, and my sanctification, and my redemption. He's everything. He's everything. But see this in the picture.
See this in the picture. Remember, before this famine,
Joseph had made preparation, didn't he? What did Jacob know about this
preparation? He knew nothing. He didn't even know Joseph was
alive. But Joseph made preparation. Why? For the salvation of Jacob. Surely, what is pictured by the
seven fat years is the righteousness and salvation that was stored
up by Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has stored up all
the salvation of His elect. Before the years of famine had
began, before Adam sinned in the garden, God had already stored
up the grain, hadn't He? He had already made preparation. Therefore, as Jacob was under
the famine of sin, Even so, are all of the elect
no different in this, we were born sinners. We too, though
we were chosen, though God had made preparations for our salvation,
yet when we were born into this world, there was no distinct
difference between us or anyone else. We were all born under
the famine of righteousness. We were all fallen. Scripture
says all have sinned and missed the mark of the glory of God.
In Adam, what? All died. None of us were excluded. That's what the picture here
is. When Jacob's in the famine, he's in the same condition as
everyone else. Yet here, herein does God make
the difference. For all of God's elect, Will
by the grace and power of God be made to feel and know their
need of righteousness. Now look, as long as there was
crops growing, Jacob did not know his need of food. He didn't know anything about
famine. Until what? Until the famine came. It's the
same way with us. We were born in sin and had no
need of righteousness. Until when? Until God showed
us the famine of our own hearts. Until God showed us our need. So look back at the text, and
Jacob now sees a need. He sees a need. One day, Jacob
and his sons are gathered around, starving to death, looking at
each other. You can imagine them in a little huddle, looking at
each other. What are you going to do? The other one thought
somebody else got to do something. Jacob said to his sons, what
in the world are y'all looking at each other for? Ain't no food going
to come by y'all looking at each other. You have to act, you gotta
go, I heard, I heard something, there's corn in Egypt. But isn't this the way of natural
man, to look to someone else for righteousness? They look
at someone else trying to, somebody to help them to be righteous.
You hear about these accountability groups, this is what, this is
popular in modern churches, accountability groups. You hold each other accountable. Does that make you righteous? It makes you self-righteous,
but it sure don't make you righteous. They look to someone else outside
of themselves for righteousness, to try to find life, peace, joy,
acceptance with God. And you'll continue to do this
until God makes you feel the starvation of your own soul for
righteousness. until God makes you to know your
own depravity. I've told you this many times.
I knew about total depravity long before I experienced it.
I knew everybody was depraved. But when God came to me, I knew
this, I was depraved. And this is what God does to
the sinner, to His people, is that He exposes our needs. And he tells us this, I ain't
gonna find it looking to you. Look, you can't find righteousness
looking to me. I can't give you righteousness. But notice this, Jacob when he
saw that there was corn in Egypt, in other words, he heard a message,
didn't he? He heard something, somebody
somewhere said there's corn in Egypt. This is what we've been studying
in Romans, isn't it? Faith cometh by hearing. And listen, hearing
by the Word of God, by the Gospel. The only means by which a man
can be convinced of his sin is the Gospel. You can't be convinced
by any other means. This is the means God chose. Paul says, Preaching is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it. Preaching is
the means God chose. This is pictured by what Jacob
heard. He heard there was corn in Egypt. And this is the message we preach
to the elect. There's a famine. There's a famine of sin. Behold,
Jesus Christ is the bread of life. Jesus Christ is the bread. So
we say, come if you're hungry for righteousness. Any sinner
need righteousness. What is our message? Christ. Our message is, there's bread. There's bread. But it's only
found in Jesus Christ. Isaiah said, Ho, everyone that
thirsteth, come ye to the waters. Come by wine and milk. With what? Without money and without price.
No, you can't afford it. Don't try to pay for it. We're
going to see this in just a second. These old boys, they're going
to come with a big sack of money trying to buy this corn. And
they're going to get sent back with their money. It's not to
be bought. You've got to come empty. That's
what he's going to do to his brothers. Joseph is going to
do this to his brothers. He's going to make them come empty
before he gives it to them. He said, Wherefore do you spend
money for that which is not bread? Why do you labor for that which
satisfieth not? Religion's a labor, friends.
It's a labor. And it can't satisfy. It can't
give you righteousness. You can work as hard as you want
to. You can't get it. Like I said, you can have the
best seed, you put it in the desert, and it ain't gonna grow. Our message is one of free grace. One of free mercy. This bread
can't be bought. It's free. It's free. Our message is one of grace. That's what the message of election
is about, isn't it? It's about grace. I'm thankful for the message
of grace. I'm thankful for the message of election because if
there was no election, there would be no salvation. There
wouldn't be any. Just as God chose Joseph to go
before and store up that grain. This is our message. God chose
Christ to go up before us and store up our salvation. The salvation
of His elect. This is our gospel message. is
that Christ went before us to store up perfect righteousness,
perfect redemption. Look at Isaiah 45, look at what
he says, this is exactly what Christ did. Isaiah 45, and look at verse
2. He said, I will go before thee,
and make the crooked places straight, I will break into pieces the
gates of brass and cut the bars of iron asunder. I will give
thee the treasures of darkness and the hidden riches of secret
places that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, have called
thee by thy name. You see, God has sent Christ
before us. He sent Christ to take away all
of the obstacles in our way, to provide righteousness for
us. It was by grace that God put
us in Christ. And by the same grace, God gave
His elect all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. And God who chose us has purposed
that we should be holy and righteous. Not by our works, but by the
righteousness and blood of His Son. Listen, are you in need
of righteousness? Listen, I've got a message. I've
got a message. There's corn in Egypt. Are you
starving for righteousness? Listen, there's plenty in Christ.
Plenty of righteousness. All the righteousness you need
to stand before God is in Christ. This is the message that we preach.
There's bread. And so I tell sinners all the
time, you need salvation? Don't come to me. Look to Christ. Come to Christ. Now notice, I
want you to now see they're going, alright? They took off. Jacob
said, go to Egypt, there's corn there. Now these guys took off,
and I'm not going to be able to go through each line by line,
but they get there. And Joseph sees them. They go
to Joseph, because he's the one dealing out the bread. And they
go to Joseph, and Joseph recognizes immediately who they are. And
they do not recognize Him. They got their little bag of
money, they got their presents that they brought, and they thought
they was going to come in, buy that seed, and go back, and that
was going to be it. But I want you to see how he
treats them when they come the first time. Look at verse 5. And the sons of Israel came to
buy corn among them 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. Joseph saw his brethren and knew
them, but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly
unto them, and 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. He spoke roughly to them. Now
listen, God has an intention for his people. He said, I know
my thoughts, I think towards you, thoughts of peace and not
of evil. Yet in the initial experience
of grace, when God shows us our need of Christ, our need of righteousness,
when we come to Him for salvation, He first of all speaks roughly
to us if we come the way these boys did. They came with a bag
of gold in their hand ready to buy it. This is how we initially
come. We find out we don't have any
righteousness and what do we do? We start trying to earn it.
Start trying to buy it. So what do we do? We go to the
law. Man, we stop doing this and we start trying to do good
over here. You stop hanging around with bad people. You start hanging
around with good people at the church. But I'll tell you this, anybody
that comes to the law, listen, comes by law, God's gonna speak
roughly to you. He'll speak roughly to you. Like
that Syrophoenician woman, remember her? She came to the Lord and
she's begging for mercy and he turns around and he says, is
it right for me to take children's bread and feed it to dogs? My children are starving. Is
it right for me to take bread from their mouth and give it
to you? A dog. Spoke roughly to her, didn't
he? What did he need to do? He needed to humble her. And
he did, didn't he? She said, truth, Lord. That's
right. Truth, Lord. These boys didn't
learn so fast. They didn't learn that fast.
So he speaks roughly to them. And this is what the law says,
by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in God's
sight. Curses everyone that continueth
not in all things written in the book of the law to do them.
Surely if men come to Christ with anything in their hands,
he will surely speak roughly to you. If you intend to buy this righteousness,
he will speak roughly to you. Why? Because you can never have
enough to pay for this. You don't have enough money to
buy this. You can never do enough to be
righteous. Sinners, if we are to be made
righteous, we must come to Christ empty. You have to, in order to receive
righteousness, you have to come empty. With nothing. With nothing. You have to come broken over
sin. He said, a broken and a contrite
heart thou will not despise. Is that how these boys came?
They didn't come with a broken heart. Oh, they plopped their
faces down on the earth. They didn't really mean it. They
were intending to buy their way out. And so come with a broken heart.
And Joseph would not and could not reveal himself to his brethren
until he had first taken away their pride. So Joseph tried
them. He gave them that grain. Remember,
they told him where they came from, told him about their dad,
they told him about their little brother still alive, and so he
sends them back with the grain. But he does something. He takes
their bag of money that they gave him, and he puts it in there. Gives it back to him. He sends
them all. Sends them home with the grain.
These boys think they got it. They did a good job. And then
they get on the way home. They look in their bags. They
say, oh, no. The money's here. He didn't take the money. He's
going to accuse us of stealing. And we're going to be in trouble.
So they go home. They get this. But you know what? They always
run out, don't they? It's not enough. It's not enough. So for a sinner, he must come
empty. Look at this in chapter 42 and
verse 19. He tells them this. He says,
if you be true men. He says, if you're not spies,
you be true men. What you told me is true. Let
one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison,
and go ye and carry the corn for the famine of your houses.
But bring your youngest brother to me, so shall your words be
verified, and you shall not die." And they did so. So he sends
them back. Got that money in their bag,
he catches them, sends them back. And he says, I'm going to tell
you, if you're really true, you're going to bring back your little
brother. Listen to this. If any sinner
is to come to Christ, he must come empty. He must come empty. He must come to Christ, not only
empty, but he must come to Christ offering all that is most precious
to him. That's what Joseph wanted. He
knew that Benjamin was the most precious thing Jacob had. And he said, if you want more
of this, then you're going to have to come and bring him to
me. Isn't this what Christ demands
of sinners? That you take that which is most
precious to you and offer it to him. What is that? Everything. Everything. He said, Our Lord
Jesus Christ said this, Whosoever forsaketh not all that he hath
can't be my disciple. You have nothing. But listen,
what you have, Christ demands. And so then the message here
is this, that a sinner should forsake all that is dear. Forsake
your works, your religion, your family, your friends, your life. Or you cannot have Christ. Surely men will not forsake these
things until they are brought to their wits end. Now get this,
he told them they had to come back with Benjamin. Now he sent
food with them and they went home. They told Jacob what he
must give up, Benjamin. Jacob said, I ain't sending Benjamin.
I ain't doing it. And he would not send Benjamin
until when? Until they had eaten up all that
corn. And then they eat up all that
corn. He says, boys, go back and get more. And Judah says,
uh-uh, I can't go back there. He'll kill us. He'll kill us
if we go back there. And so they're sitting around
starving to death. And finally, Jacob relents. Now, what made Jacob give Benjamin? What was it? You remember Judah
came to him and said, look, if we don't go back with Benjamin,
we'll die. And Judah said this, I will be
surety for him. Look at verse 8. Let me find my place here, just a
second guys. Look at verse chapter 43. So
we come to chapter 43, and Judas says this in verse 8. He said
unto Israel his father, Send the lad with me, and I will arise
and go that we may live and not die, both we and thou and our
little ones. I will be surety for him. my
hand shalt thou require him if I bring him not again to thee
and set him before thee let me bear the blame this was a painful experience
for Jacob or Joseph I mean Jacob Jacob had to give the most precious
thing he had which was Benjamin very painful but the only way he would surrender
Benjamin is if he had a surety What's the only way that a sinner
would ever surrender his soul? If he had a surety. If he had
a surety. And as he swears here, I will
be surety. In other words, let me bear the
blame, I'm the guarantor for his safety. If I don't bring
him back to you, I'm the guilty party. A preacher once asked this, is
it safe to trust the Lord? Is it safe? That's what you really fear,
isn't it? About trusting Christ. Is it safe to trust Him? I want you to hear these words
not of Judah, but rather and see what they
who they were intended to be spoken by. These are the words
of our Lord Jesus Christ. These are words of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ has promised
to the Father that He will be surety for the elect. He promised
in the covenant of grace, He said to the Father, I will be
surety for them. He says to the Father in a covenant
promise, if you give me your people, I will bring them safely
again to you, and if not, I will bear the blame. See what great
promise the Son of God has promised and swore to do for the elect.
He will be responsible. Now this is glorious. Now get
this. Who's responsible for your salvation? You that believe.
Who's responsible? Christ said, I'll be responsible. I'll be responsible for the salvation of all the
elect. So when Christ came into the
world, He came into the world as a what? Surety. He came into
the world as a representative man in order to accomplish salvation
for all His people, to obtain for us both righteousness and
redemption. I like that text to prove His
surety. In Isaiah 9, verse 6, He says, Unto us a child is born.
Unto us a son is given. That's His humanity. That's His
deity. And then what He said, The government
shall be on his shoulders. What is that? His kingdom. His
kingdom. He bears the weight of his kingdom
on his shoulders. And so I ask you tonight, was he successful? He said, I'll be sureity. Was
he successful? Did Jesus in any way fail to
be surety for His people? The scriptures are very plain
concerning this. Isaiah chapter 42 and verse 4,
He shall not fail. Can you get any more definite
than that? He shall not fail. In Matthew
1, Thou shalt call His name Jehovah saves. 4, this is why you're
going to call Him that. He shall save His people from
their sins. In Hebrews 1 and verse 3, the
scripture says, He hath. Got that? He's done it. He hath
purged our sins. After He hath purged our sins,
what did He do? Sat down. on the right hand of
the Majesty on high. Jesus declares himself, of all
that the Father giveth me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the
last day. So as Judah was surety for Benjamin,
how much more then is Jesus Christ surety for his people? Is it not then safe to surrender
everything to Him? Is it not safe to take your most
precious possession, everything you have, and surrender it to
Him? Is it not safe? It is. It is safe. Just as safe as Benjamin
was in the arms of Judah, how much more safe are we in the
arms of Christ? You're safe. Why? He's your surety. He's your surety. And I want you to know this.
When he brings Benjamin and he's going to make Benjamin become
his servant, Joseph is. They bring Benjamin and he puts
that cup in Benjamin's sack. Man, there's so much there in
that I don't have time to unpack all of that. They get Benjamin
in there and you know, he said, I'm going to make Benjamin my
slave and you boys go on back home. And what did Judas say? I can't
go back home. I'm surety for him. You let him
go and make me the bond slave. Isn't that exactly what Christ
did? Isn't that exactly what our Lord did? We deserved We deserved God's
wrath and judgment, and what did Christ assure us? He said,
no, let me take his place. And this is why, I like what
Judah said. He said, this is why I need him
to come. He needs to go free. Because the life of Jacob is
bound up in the boy. If I don't bring Benjamin back,
you listen to me, my father will die. What happens if one of his people
does not return safely? What happens to the father? What
happens to his glory? The difference between the true
God and false gods are what? The false gods try but can't
save. The true God determines to save
and saves. So what happens if he fails to
save? He loses his glory. You see,
your salvation is tied up in the glory of God. How sure is
your salvation? You that have come with nothing,
you that come to Christ to be your sure, you that have brought
everything and lay it before Christ in faith, what do you
find? You find that your salvation
is tied to the glory of God. This gives us hope. Therefore, it is the pleasure
of the Father, the pleasure of the Lord to save us. And we praise God because Christ
who is our surety could not fail to do so. And so God has committed all
judgment to the Son. God has purposed that in Him
all the fullness of the Godhead should dwell. It was God who
chose Christ to be our surety and salvation. It was God who
trusted Him to redeem us from our sins. So in verse 43, verse 33, you
see, hold on, verse chapter 44. As Judah was willing to substitute
himself for Benjamin, even so did Christ. He said, verse 32,
For thy servant became surety for the lad unto my father, saying,
If I bring him not again unto thee, I shall bear the blame
to my father for ever. Now therefore I pray thee, Let
thy servant abide instead of the lad, a bondsman unto my Lord,
and let the lad go with his brethren." Again, this is what our Lord
Jesus Christ has done for us. He's become our surety. He's
become our substitute. He was made a curse for us. He was made sin for us so that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Therefore, he laid down his life
once as our substitute for the payment of our sins, and God
is forever satisfied, pleased, and accepted his people by his
one offering. And we know this because Christ
is risen from the dead. Just as sure as Benjamin was
let go, even so we too were freed by the offering of our Lord Jesus
Christ. We just sang that hymn. Now this
is, if you Christ is your surety the scripture says our names
are written on the palms of his hands we just saying that a debtor
to mercy he said my my name our names from the palms of his hands
eternity cannot erase impressed on his heart it remains in marks
of indelible grace if Christ is your surety Nothing can remove
you from Him. Therefore, you that are in famine, you that
are lacking righteousness, come to Him. Come without money, come without
price, because Christ has paid the debt. He has offered His
blood to God, and God is pleased with His one offering. Come now
and come alone. Come with nothing. Like I told
you, every time those boys came with money, Joseph sent it back.
You can't come with anything. You have nothing. I tell you this, I know why it
is that you can't come with anything. It is an offense to Christ if
you come with something. You're telling God that His work
was not sufficient. And I tell you, you should come
now. You should come now. You should come to Christ, and
He will save everyone that comes to God by Him. And I know this, if you will
not come to Christ, you'll die. We often sing that hymn, if you
tarry till you're better, what's the result? You will never come
at all. May God even now make you to
see your famine, your need of righteousness, and then see in
Christ the provisions already been made. Christ has already
made the provisions of righteousness, redemption, reconciliation, peace,
pardon, forgiveness, all of it's been prepared. So if you recognize
your need of it, come with nothing. And when one comes with nothing,
what do they get? Now listen, there's a lot of
times those boys went and came back and they got just grains
of, sacks of grain, right? But when they come back that
last time, and they were so broken, they were so broken, It was then that Joseph revealed
himself. Look at that in chapter 45. You
come to this, and they're broken now. They don't have anything. They're pleading for mercy. And notice what happens. Then
Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by
him, and he cried. caused every man to go out from
him. And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself
known unto his brethren. And he wept aloud. And the Egyptians
in the house of Pharaoh heard. And Joseph said to his brethren,
I am Joseph. When a man comes to the end of
himself, this is when Christ reveals Himself. Only then. He said, I am Joseph. Doth my
father yet live? And his brethren could not answer
him. They were troubled at his presence. Why? They sold him. They sold him. And Joseph said to his brethren,
come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said,
I am Joseph. whom you sold into Egypt. Now
therefore, be not grieved nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me hither, for
God sent me before you to preserve life." This is the intent of Joseph
all along, to reveal himself. Wasn't it the intent of Christ
all along to reveal Himself to you? He stored up your salvation. He was your surety long before
you knew Him. Though He spoke roughly to you,
yet it was always His intention to bring you to nothing. And
once He brought you to nothing, Scripture says He could not refrain
any longer. I think of that prodigal son.
Remember when he went out He had wasted his life and he was
coming back and he's starving to death. And he said, man, if
I could just get to my Father and become a servant. I don't
want Him to be a son anymore. I'm not worthy to be a son. And
he said, this is what I'm going to say. I confess, Father, that
I've sinned against You and I've sinned against Heaven. Just make
me Your servant. And he rehearsed that all the
way home, just rehearsing what he's going to say and how he's
going to confess. Don't even look it up, and his father sees
him afar off, and he can't refrain himself. He runs. And he meets his son in the way,
and his son says, Father, I have sinned against Thee in Heaven.
He didn't get to finish the rest. And his father falls on his neck
and kisses him. And he said, This, my son that
was dead, is now alive. Kill the fatty calf, bring the
roe, put the ring on his finger. And this is what Christ did.
He could not refrain anymore and He revealed Himself and He
said, I am Jesus, your brother, whom you persecuted, whom you sold for sin. He sold
me. And instead of rebuking me, He
said this, don't be grieved over what you've
done. Don't be angry with yourself. I got to hear that a lot, because
I am often grieved with myself. I'm often angry at what I've
done. How many times does he have to come
to us and say, don't be afraid? I don't know about you, but I'm
afraid a lot, fear a lot. And I have to hear him say it
constantly, don't be afraid. It's me, your brother. You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. God meant it for good. I'm going to skip down a little
bit because I've got, look at chapter 45 and verse 9. And we'll close with these four
things here, watch. After he had revealed himself,
Joseph commands his brothers to do four things here. And I
think we'll see this correlation that this is what Christ commands
every one of us. Look at this first thing in chapter
45 and verse 9. He said, and go up to my father
and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made
me Lord over all of Egypt. Come down unto me and tarry not. Isn't this what we're sent to
do? Make haste and go tell God's people this. Christ is risen.
Christ is seated on the throne of glory and all things are given
into his hand. And what do we say to the sinner?
Come to him. Come to me. Notice this, this
is what we preach, verse 10. Thou shalt dwell in the land
of Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto me. This is what we
preach. Everyone that comes to God by
Christ, you're going to have the best. Goshen was the best. Of all of Egypt, Goshen was the
best. And He said, that's what I'm going to give you. Isn't
heaven yours? That's what we preach. Christ said this. He said, heaven is yours. You know why it's heaven? Because
He's there. He said, You'll be near Me. That's what we declare,
isn't it? Look at verse 11. He said, And
there will I nourish thee, for there are yet five years of famine,
lest thou and thy household and all thou hast come to poverty. See, there's five years left
of famine. Don't you know that what we have left is still famine?
You that are still remaining. We believe on Christ. We promised
heaven, but there's still famine left. So what does He encourage
us to do? He said, I'm going to nourish
you. I'll feed you. Who feeds you? Oh, I preach the
gospel to you, but who feeds you? Is this what He said He
would do? I'll nourish you all the days
of your famine. How does He do that? Isn't it
through the same way He called you? Through the preaching of
the gospel? That's how He nourishes you?
That's how He nourishes you? And the fourth thing, look at
verse 13. And you shall tell my Father of all my glory in
Egypt, and of all that you have seen, and you shall haste and
bring my Father hither. Isn't this our purpose being
here in the world? that we should bring His children
through the preaching of the gospel into the kingdom, that
we should call it? That's our purpose, isn't it?
To preach the gospel. Why? Because Jacob's still out
there. And what do we do? We tell Him. We call Him. Why? Because we're witnesses, aren't
we? Aren't we witnesses of this grace? Didn't we witness the
famine of righteousness? Yeah. Did we not find out that
we couldn't buy it? Yeah, I witnessed that to you.
Isn't Christ our surety? Hasn't Christ prepared all that
we need? Have we not come and found Him all successful? We
have. So what do we do? We tell others.
And you know what these boys did? They did exactly what Joseph
told them to do. Isn't that what we do? When Christ tells us this, is
that not what we're to do? Exactly what He tells us to do. I know there's a famine. Don't
you? I know Christ had made preparation
for Jacob. For His people. I know who they
are. I know they're out there. How do I know that? I'm one of
them. He's made provisions for me.
He's revealed Himself to me. And if He's revealed Himself
to you, then what do you do? Tell others. I think of that demoniac, you
know. He wanted to go with the Lord so bad. After the Lord healed
him, he was following the Lord on the boat. The Lord was getting
on the boat. And he was smiling. He was ready to get on the boat.
And I said, no, you can't go. Man, that must have hurt. You can't go. He said, go home
and tell them what great things God has done for you. You know
what he did? He went home and he told them
what great things God did for them. He told them about Joseph,
about his Christ, didn't he? And that's what we're to do.
Tell others of what great things God has done to us, given us
bread, life, righteousness, peace. I pray God will bless this to
your hearts. And let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer. Gracious Father, I pray you'd
dismiss us with your own blessings and forgive us our sins. Oh, Father, if you'd be pleased
to use the message for your own glory, to magnify the work of
Jesus Christ, that you might call sinners to yourself through
Christ, that they might believe, and in believing, find Him successful. I pray you do this for your own
glory in Jesus' name. Oh, I'm glad it's clear. You're
welcome. Sorry. You're welcome. I love you. I love you. That's so funny. See you guys later. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I don't know how to do it. Thank you. I appreciate all the help.