If you take your Bibles now and
turn with me to Genesis Genesis chapter 41 Genesis chapter 41
Beginning the looking at verse 56 and 57 the last two verses
of this chapter and then we'll go into chapter 42 I'm entitled
this message a famine of righteousness and a storehouse of salvation
famine of righteousness and the stores of salvation. The scripture
here reads in verse 56, And the famine was 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. to buy corn because that the
famine was so sore in all the lands. We'll end there in just
a minute. If you want to remember this,
in this history we have before us, remember how God purposed.
He gave Joseph those visions that his family would bow down
before him, and you remember his brothers were so jealous
they sold him into slavery. And how that Joseph was in Potiphar's
house. Just so happened, right? Just
so happened he was in Potiphar's house. Just so happened that
he was the best servant Potiphar had. And then, you remember,
he was put into prison. And then, by God's mercy, by
God's design, Joseph rose up to the to be second only to Pharaoh
in all the land of Egypt. And you remember, Pharaoh had
that dream. The dream of the seven fat cows
and the seven lean cows. And that was a picture of what
was going to happen. There were going to be seven fat years in
Egypt. And then there were going to
be seven lean years. Seven years of famine, and it
was God purposed Joseph to store up all that grain for those seven
fat years so that people, that they might live, that they might
have a storehouse of grain during this seven years of famine. And
Joseph was given rule over all this grain to give it out. And
now we see the purpose of God ripening here in our text. We
see the whole purpose of those fat years and raising up of Joseph
was this purpose. Listen in verse 2. Now I want
you to see the main purpose. Now surely he did save a lot
of people. Surely his storing up of all
that grain saved Egypt. It saved most all the countries
of that region at that time. But this is the main purpose.
Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, Jacob said
to his sons, Why look ye upon another? He said, Behold, I have
heard that there is corn in Egypt. Now get down thither, and buy
for us thence, that we may live and not die. You see, the main
purpose of raising up Joseph was what? To save Jacob. To save
Jacob. This is clearly seen when Joseph
revealed himself. Remember when he reveals himself
in chapter 45, he said, You meant it for evil, but God meant it
for good. You see, he purposed this, that
God should save Jacob. And you know this because Jacob
was the lion. It was Jacob's seed that by which
Christ should come. Now, we know this history, as
all history in the Old Testament has a purpose. It has a purpose
not to teach us a history lesson. The purpose is that we might
see the gospel of Jesus Christ. All these things Paul said were
a pattern, a pattern concerning the gospel of Jesus Christ. I remember one preacher, when
I first began to preach, he said, when you stand up to preach,
remember this, you always preach the four R's. Ruin, Redemption, Regeneration,
Resurrection. Always, in every message, because
that's the gospel, isn't it? We always preach man's ruin,
Christ's redemption, the Spirit's regeneration, and the coming
resurrection. We preach these things every
time we preach the Gospel. This morning it won't be any
different. It won't be any different. That's my whole design this morning,
to preach the Gospel. So, what is true in this type
is also true in the real, for the Scriptures, As in all the
Old Testament, shows forth Christ and His salvation of the elect. Now, let's see the type here.
First of all, I want you to see the famine. What is this famine? Let us see that this famine is
meant as a type and picture of a greater famine. A greater famine. That is spread throughout the
whole world as a result of sin. And that is, listen, the famine
of righteousness. There's a famine of righteousness. Just as this seven years there
was no food, the earth yielded no food, even so man by nature
can yield no righteousness. No righteousness. It's a famine. Now what is a
famine? A famine is a desolate place. It's a place where there
is no growth. There is no life. And see that
wherever sin is, there is a famine of righteousness. And the result
of no righteousness is what? The same as the result of a famine.
It's death. If there is no food, what? There's
death. Even so, more importantly, if
there is no righteousness, There is death, eternal death. The Scripture says in Hebrews
12, 14, follow peace and holiness without which no man shall see
the Lord. Jesus said, blessed are the pure
in heart. Why? They shall see God. You
see, there's no hope of you standing before God except you are holy,
except you are righteous. In the end, when God wraps this
thing up and there's heaven, what do you suppose heaven is
going to be like? Heaven's going to be a place without sin. Without sin. In Revelation 21,
He's describing the kingdom. He said, "...there shall be in
no wise enter into it anything that defileth, whatsoever worketh
abomination, or maketh a lie, but only they that are written
in the Lamb's Book of Life." That is the only people that
will be there. holy people, those written in
this book. Only the righteous shall see
God. Only the pure of heart shall see God. Only those who are holy
shall be accepted of God into His kingdom. And yet we know
the Word of God, and by our own experience, testifies against
us that there is a famine of righteousness in our own hearts. in our nature. You know, even the Apostle Paul
said this of himself, who was a saved man, who no doubt will
inherit the kingdom prepared by Christ. Yet he says of his
own nature, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. No good thing. Now, we live in a country where
we don't know anything about family. In my experience in this
life, I have not experienced famine in this land. Have you?
Even the poorest of this country, we don't really know what real
poverty is in this country. And most people, if they're impoverished,
usually they just don't go, they're too lazy to go down to the government
and get a check. I mean, because they're just too much being given
out to not have food. And we have food galore. We don't
know much about famine. We know a lot about prosperity,
don't we? This country is very prosperous.
Let me ask you this. When does prosperity... Prosperity
might produce food, but prosperity never produces righteousness.
In fact, it produces the opposite of righteousness. Being prosperous
in this thing, in this world, does that make people grateful?
Are people in this country grateful to God for the things we have?
No. No. Are we drawn closer to God
because we are prosperous? Are we more righteous? As a matter
of fact, in Isaiah chapter 2, it says, you know, that Israel
was so prosperous. He said that this country is
so prosperous, but the more they have silver, the more gods they
have. You know that? The more prosperous a land is,
the more gods they have, the more false gods they produce.
So prosperity doesn't yield righteousness. In fact, prosperity has only
made men more bold in their rebellion. Isn't that what Solomon said?
He said because judgment is not executed speedily, it emboldens
men to be more wicked. The religious of this world You
know, men have the same heart as that church of Laodicea, don't
they? When everything's going well, what do they say? Well,
we are rich and increased of goods and have need of what? Nothing. We don't need anything. But what's the truth? The truth
is you are blind, you are lame, you are poor, you are naked. That's the truth. Why? Because
by nature there's a famine of righteousness in our hearts.
There's a famine of righteousness in the nature of man. We may not have a famine of food,
but I tell you, there is a famine of righteousness. And outward
prosperity does not expose the famine, rather it just increases
the deception. The more we have in this world,
the more the natural man has in this world, the less he needs
righteousness. Or thinks he needs less, he needs
righteousness. But you know what? Let a man plow and plant righteousness
all he wants to. That's what religion does, isn't
it? Isn't that what they're laboring for? They're laboring in their
religion trying to plant righteousness by their works. They plow and
they plant that by their religious obedience But let a man labor
and be as good as he can, let him study as much as he can,
let him learn doctrine as much as he can, let him pray as earnestly
as he can, but whatsoever he plants and sows in the barren
desert of his heart, he will not yield righteousness. Now, they think they will. They
think they do. Our Lord, in Matthew chapter
25, when He separates everyone and He puts the sheep on His
right hand, the goats on His left hand, He says to those goats,
He said, depart from Me, you work iniquity. You know, when
I was naked, you didn't clothe Me. When I was in prison, you
didn't visit Me. And what do they say? Lord, when did we not
do that? They still in that day will believe
that their righteousness, that their good works were sufficient
to be accepted of God. And he says to them, depart from
me, you that work with iniquity, I never knew you. That's because they failed to
see the famine of righteousness in their hearts, that they could
by no means please God. Friends, I want to tell you that
the ruin of man was perfect. Perfect. You know these seven
lean years? Seven is the number of perfection,
isn't it? This famine pictures man's ruin. And it's perfect. What does that mean? There is
no hope of you ever earning salvation. It was a perfect fall. a complete
fall. But I want you to notice this
in the second thing here about this famine. Jacob also was in
the midst of this famine. Look at this. Now, when Jacob
saw that there was corn in Egypt, he said to his sons, why you
look upon one another? Notice this in this text that
God's chosen man, Jacob, did not escape the famine. did not
escape the famine. Jacob, in Scripture, we know
he was chosen. The Scripture says in Romans
9 that the children not yet being born, neither having done good
or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might
stand. It is said to her, the elder shall serve the younger
as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. You see, God loved Jacob before
Jacob was born. He was chosen of God before the
foundation of the world. And you remember that the promise
of Christ was to come through who? Jacob. He said to Isaac, In thy seed
shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. He was talking
about Jacob. Through Jacob should Christ come. He was a blessed man of God.
It was God's purpose through Jacob that Christ should come
and redeem Israel. But now look at this condition.
Jacob is in a low condition, this chosen man of God, and see
how that he was in the same condition as the rest of the world. He
was starving to death just like everyone else. And so now then see the reality
of the picture is this, that God before the famine of sin,
God in sovereign mercy chose a people of which Jacob is a
type, a picture. And as God loved Jacob before
his birth, not according to his merits, but according to free
grace, even so God loved his elect people and put them in
Christ before the foundation of the world. This is the doctrine
of election. What a wonderful doctrine this
is. Remember what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1 in verse 30.
He said, But of God. Are you in Christ this morning?
Who put you there? But of God are you in Christ
Jesus. Who of God, purposed of God,
is made unto you wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Surely this is what is pictured
by those seven fat years, isn't it? Perfect salvation. When was this perfect salvation
stored up? Well, it was stored up before
the famine, wasn't it? Before there was a famine of
righteousness, guess what? Righteousness was stored up in
Christ for all the elect. For Jacob. Joseph stored this
up for Jacob. Stored this up for his people.
When? Before the famine. Before sin
entered into the world. This was stored up in Christ. This righteousness and salvation
was stored up in Christ from eternity. God had stored up this grain
of salvation in Christ. Therefore, as Jacob was under
the famine of sin, Even so are all of the elect born under this
famine. We are all born under sin. Dead in sin. Yet here, God shows us that He
makes the difference. Who made the difference between
Jacob and Esau? God made the difference. Who
made the difference between Jacob and the rest of the world? God
made the difference. God in grace and in power made
the difference. Now, how could you tell the difference
between Jacob and the rest? Listen, Jacob felt his need. Jacob felt his need. Jacob knew his need that if he
did not have grain, What? He would die. He didn't sit there
and say, well, I'm God's chosen. I know that in me, through my
seed, that all the families of the earth shall be blessed, so
I'm going to sit here and grain will come to me. That's not how
it happened. No, he felt a need. He felt a
need. A lot of people say, well, if
I'm God's elect, he's just going to rain it down. I don't have
to hear the gospel. I don't have to do anything.
I don't need to go search him out. No, that's right. He'll
find you if you're his, but that's not how anybody is found of him.
Is that how you were found? No. God made you see your need. If you're ever one of God's elect,
you're going to know your need. And Jacob here, he says, look,
we're going to starve to death. But listen, I heard something. I heard there's corn in Egypt. I heard there's corn in Egypt.
So look at that. He says this. He saw that there
was corn in Egypt. He said to his sons, why do you
look one another? And he said, behold, I have heard there's
corn in Egypt. Now what? Get down there. Get up off your rear and go. We've got to have this corn.
Get down there that we may live and not die. Can you see that picture? They're
sitting around looking at each other. Starving to death. They're starving to death looking
at one another. Isn't this how religious men do it? They're
starving to death for righteousness and they're looking to each other
to fill it. Listen, I can't give you righteousness.
Don't look at me. And I won't look at you. It ain't gonna do no good. You're
just as wicked as I am. Now you can put on the robes
and you can have all the pomp and circumstance and you can
have all the rings on your fingers and you can have millions of
people bowing down to you. You're just as wicked as I am. You need what I need. Righteousness. And we can't give it to each
other. Can't give it to each other. And men will do this, they'll
keep doing this unless God makes them feel the barrenness of their
soul. Unless they know the depravity
of their own heart. And how will they know except
they hear there's corn in Egypt? They would have sat there and
died had they not heard the message. Listen, men by nature need righteousness
and how do they know they need it except someone come and tell
them Where it's found. Where it's found. This is what
we do. We preach the gospel. Faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. And this is the
message we preach, that those elect of God, those who are under
the famine of sin, we say this, behold, Christ is the bread of
life. Christ is the bread of life.
Come, you hungry. Isn't that what the Scripture
says in Isaiah 55? It says, Ho, everyone that thirsteth,
come to the waters. What are we going to do when
we get there? We'll buy. What are we going to buy? We're going to buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk. I ain't
got no money. Good, because it doesn't cost
you anything. Without money and without price. Wherefore do you
spend money for that which is not bread, and labor for that
which satisfies not? Hearken, diligent to me, and
eat ye that which is good." Christ is good. You found that true? You found He's good? There's
no bread like this bread. There's no bread that'll satisfy
like this bread. This bread gives me righteousness.
This bread gives me peace with God. This bread gives me redemption
and cleansing from all my sins. This bread gives me life. There's
no bread like this bread. This bread has been stored up
for eternity. It says, come and eat. Come without
money, without price. Come now and hear this gospel
that God purposed salvation to Jacob. God has chosen a people
And praise God for this message, because if He had not chosen
any, none would come. People that mock against election
do not understand depravity. They don't understand the desperation
of man's ruin. If God had not chosen a people,
none would come. We would all die of starvation,
of righteousness. Praise God He did. Now, who are
these elect? Well, they're people who feel
their need of bread. They're hungry people. Are you
hungry for righteous? Are you tired of that which doesn't
satisfy? See, it does not satisfy. It
does not satisfy. Christ satisfies. Christ is the
message. He has perfect righteousness,
perfect redemption. In Isaiah 45, God said this,
picturing him as Joseph, I will go before thee and make the crooked
places straight and break into pieces the gates of brass and
cut asunder the bars of iron. Isn't that what he did? He went
before us, ahead of us, making the path plain, clear. See, it was by grace that we
were put into Christ and given to be His elect, and all spiritual
blessings were given to us in Christ, and God has chosen us,
had purposed that we should be holy, that we should not be barren. That's what God purposed. He
said, I purposed you should not starve to death. There's a famine. God's people are under it. But
God says this of His people, you won't starve to death. You
know why? I went ahead of you. I stored up righteousness for
you. I stored up salvation for you.
And you know what? There are no bars. There's nothing
stopping you. Isn't that something? There's
nothing stopping a man from coming to Christ. Nothing. Nothing. And so He makes the desert wilderness
like rivers of water. Fruitful. Are you such a sinner? Are you in such a famished place? There's bread in Egypt. Christ
went ahead and stored up salvation. Come. Isn't that what he said?
Isn't the scripture so inviting? Listen, if you wait till you're
better, you won't come. I mean, if you're sitting there
starving to death, you say, well, you know what, I'm gonna wait
till I feel a little bit more full before I come. Isn't that
silly? That's just stupid, isn't it?
Who would say that if they're starving to death? No, come to Christ. Now notice
this, the reception that Jacob's family received. And they get
down there and they come to Egypt, and they're going to buy some
corn. Now they got a bunch of money now. They got some money.
They want to buy it. And that's not going to work
out too well for them. Look at what happens in verses
5 of this chapter 42. He said, The sons of Israel came
to buy corn among those who came, and the famine was in the land
of Canaan. And Joseph was governor over
the land, and he 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. And Joseph saw his brethren,
he knew them, but made himself strange to them and spake roughly
unto them. And he said unto them, Whence
come ye? And they said, We come from the land of Canaan to buy
food. And Joseph knew his brethren, but they didn't know him. And
Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed of them,
and said unto them, You are spies, to see the nakedness of the land,
are you come? And they said unto him, No, Lord,
we came to buy food, we're your servants. We are all one man's
son, we are true men, servants and no spies. But he said unto
them, No, but you are But to see the nakedness of the land
are you come." He spake roughly unto them. He didn't know them. They didn't know Him, but He
knew who they were. When we come to Christ, we don't
know who He is. Listen, He knows who we are.
He knows who we are. Isn't this our experience when
we come seeking salvation with money in hand? Doesn't Christ speak roughly
to us? He speaks roughly. He's like
that Syrophoenician woman. Remember that? She came to the
Lord begging, and the Lord ignored her. And He turned around and
said, Is it me to give the children bread to dogs? What was He doing? He was humbling
her. What is He doing to these men?
He's humbling them. He's bringing them to the low
place. Isn't this what He does to all those who have need of
salvation? He must bring us to the end of
ourselves. He must bring us. He speaks roughly. The law comes in and speaks roughly.
By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in His
sight. Curses everyone that continueth
not in all things written in the book of the law to do them.
Surely when we come to Christ with anything in our hands, He
will surely Speak roughly to us. Why? Because enough is never
enough. You cannot earn this bread. You cannot earn this bread. Sinner,
you and I must come to Christ empty and broken. That's what
he's doing to his brothers. He's going to make them empty
and broken. And then what? Gives him everything. He gives him everything. But
not till they're empty and broken first. That's how a man comes
to Christ. He must be empty and broken.
So Joseph could not reveal himself to his brothers until he at first
crushed their pride and schemes. Joseph would try them. Now he
gives them grain. He gives them grain. He said,
you're going to go back. And they told him about Benjamin.
And Joseph wants to see Benjamin, his brother. So he says, I'm
going to keep one of you and I'm going to send the rest of
you back. And you prove to me what you said. You bring back
Benjamin with you, the youngest brother, so you can prove you're
not spies. I'm going to keep one and the
rest of you go back. And so he gave them these provisions
to go back on their journey. Gave them everything they needed.
What did he do with their money? Put it right back in their sacks.
He didn't want their money. He didn't want their money. Put
it right back in their sacks. And so they have to go back and
get Benjamin. The sinner must come to Christ.
I want you to know this. He must yield the most precious
thing to Christ. He must sacrifice
everything. What was the most precious thing
Jacob had? It was Benjamin. Benjamin was the most precious
thing that he had. And yet, what did Joseph demand
of Jacob? He demanded Benjamin. He demanded
he yield the most precious thing to him. When a sinner comes to
Christ, he must come empty of his religion, empty of his works,
And he must offer up everything to Christ. Jesus said, Whosoever
forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. Cannot be my disciple. Therefore
you who are famished, listen, forsake everything. Forsake everything. Forsake your religion, your family,
your friends, your health, your wealth, treasures, for you cannot
have Christ and them. And surely men will not forsake
these things until they're brought to the end of themselves. Now,
they get back with all this grain and Judah says, look, we're going
to go back. We can't go without Benjamin.
You're going to have to give us Benjamin or we can't go back.
And what do they do? Well, they eat all the grain
that they have. He didn't send him back until
every ounce of that grain was gone. And when it was gone, you
remember, he says, now you boys go back and get some more. Judah
says, no. We can't go back without Benjamin. The man will not allow it. Man will not allow it. Jacob would not let Benjamin
go to Egypt till they'd eaten everything. Jacob said that to
his sons, Yeah, go back. He said no and that's in chapter
43 if you go to chapter 43 in verses 1 through 5 That's when
that happens But something happens here between
Judah and Jacob and The family was soaring the
land and he came to pass that he eaten up all the corn which
had brought out of land of Egypt and her father said go again
and Buy a little food. And Judah spake to him, saying,
The man so solemnly protested against us, saying, You shall
not see my face, except your brother be with you. If thou
wilt send our brother with us, we will go down and buy thee
food. But if thou wilt not send him, we will not go down. For
the man said unto us, You shall not see my face, except your
brother be with you. Can you imagine the pain that
Jacob faced at this point? The pain is a picture of one who is truly
convinced of his sin. When a believer is convinced
of his sin, he knows this, he must give everything to have
Christ. He must lay down his soul on
Christ, one who knows his need but cannot
bear to let go of what he holds precious. And yet here is a promise
of God to all such sinners. It is the promise of Judah. It
is the promise of Judah to Jacob, the promise of a surety. A surety. Look at verse 8 and
9. It says, And Judah said to Israel his father, Send the lad
with me. We will arise and go, that we
may live and not die, both we and thou, and also our little
ones. I will be surety for him. Of my hand shalt thou require
him. If I bring him not unto thee, set him before thee. Let me bear the blame forever. Sinner, listen to this. These
are the words of Christ. These are the words of Christ
as He promised the Father. I will be surety for thy beloved
sons. Jesus says to the Father in a
covenant promise, Father, all that you give me, I will return
safely to you. And if I fail, let me bear the
blame. That's what a surety is. One
who guarantees. See what great promise the Son
has promised and swore to the Father. I will be sure of it. You know what that means? I will
be responsible for them. I will take all the responsibility
for their salvation. And so when Jesus came into the
world as a man, he came as what? A surety. He came as a surety. As a representative man. In order
to accomplish salvation. In order to save Jacob. In order
to save his little ones. He came as a surety. And as our surety, he obtained
both righteousness and redemption. You can read about this in Romans
5. Romans 5 is a very clear explanation of what he came to do. Adam was
a representative man. And when Adam sinned, all that
were in him sinned. When he died, all of his posterity
died. He was a representative. Paul
says, even so Christ. By the disobedience of one, many
were made sinners. Even so, by the righteousness
of one, shall many be made righteous. That's what Christ came to do
as a representative. How then? Let me ask you this.
You that are weighing on this, that will not give your soul
to Christ, listen. Was He successful? Was the surety successful? Did He fail? Was He discouraged? Religion
would have us believe so. Religion would have us believe
that Christ assured He died for all men and didn't save them.
That some of those He died for, some of those He represented,
will be in hell. That's not true. The Word of
God tells us plainly of His servant in Isaiah 42, in verse 4, He
says, He shall not fail or be discouraged. When the angel came and spoke
of His birth, He said, Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall
save His people from their sin. In Hebrews 10, it tells us plainly,
Hebrews 10, 14, He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.
This man, by his one offering for sin, forever sat down. Why? As a representative, Christ accomplished
salvation. He accomplished it. Jesus declares
Himself that all that the Father gave Him, He would lose nothing,
but raise it up again at the last day. And so now look back
to your text in verse 44, chapter 44, and look at verse 30. Now
here Judah, being the representative, now bringing Benjamin. He says,
okay, take Benjamin. There's no other way. And so
he takes Benjamin there. And you see, In chapter 44, look
at verse 30. He's talking to Joseph here. And Joseph is saying, look, you
know, he put that silver cup in Benjamin's bag, and he accused
Benjamin of stealing, and he says, Benjamin's going to be
my servant forever. Oh, that can't be. I'm surety for him. I'm surety
for him. And he said, look at verse 30,
Now therefore, when I come to thy servant, my father, And the
lad is not with me, seeing that his life is bound up in the lad. It shall come to pass, when he
seeth that the lad is not with us, he shall die. And thy servant
shall bring down gray hairs of thy servant on our father with
sorrow to the grave. I want you to see this. Jacob's
life was bound up with Benjamin. It was bound up with Benjamin.
If Benjamin did not come back, Jacob would die. And see then the reality of the
picture. The glory of God is tied to the salvation of His
people. The glory of God is tied to the
success of Jesus Christ. You read that in chapter 1 of
Ephesians. How many times do you read to
the praise of the glory of His grace? Isn't that why we were
chosen? Isn't that why Christ came to
save us? That we should be accepted in
the Beloved? According to the praise of the
glory of His grace. The glory of God is tied to the
success of Christ. Just as Benjamin's life was tied
to Jacob, even so God's glory is tied to the success of Christ. If God has promised to save His
elect but fails to save them, the glory of God is darkened
forever, and God becomes a false god. Why? Because that's what God
said false gods are. False gods, you see, they can't
do anything. They don't have any power. Over in Isaiah, chapter escapes
me, God says of false gods, He said, let them show me what happened
before. Let them show me what's going
to take place ahead. They can't, because they're false
gods. But what does He say about Himself,
the true God? He said, I've declared the end
from the beginning, from ancient times of things that are not
yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all
My pleasure. Now, if God's counsel is to save His elect and Christ
failed, what happens to God? His counsel fails. And we know this. That won't
happen. That won't happen. Therefore,
if it was the pleasure of the Lord to save and he fails, then
he would be a false god. Yet God hath... God hath committed all judgment
to the Son. God has purposed that in Christ
should all the fullness dwell. Why? Because God trusted Christ
with all the souls of His people and His glory. He trusted Christ. What? Assurity. He trusted Christ as surety with
all His people. And see then in verse 33 and
34 that Judah was willing to substitute himself for Benjamin. Look at that. Verse 33. He says,
Now therefore I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of
the lad as a bondman to my Lord, and let the lad go up with his
brethren. For how shall I go up to my Father, and the lad
be not with me? Lest peradventure I see evil
that shall come upon my Father. You see, Judas says, I am willing
to substitute myself to be a servant Benjamin. Can you not hear the
voice of Christ? Can you not hear the voice of
our Savior? That he as our surety was willing
to substitute himself to become a what? Servant. Isn't that what he did? Isn't
that what Christ did? He became a servant. Therefore when he came he said
this He hath opened mine ear Isaiah chapter 50 in verse 5
he hath opened mine ear. What does that mean when the
bond servant? Wanted to be with his master.
He loved his wife. He loved his master loved his
children. They would take an oil and they Bore a hole in his
ear and he would be a servant forever That's what Christ said. He hath opened mine ear, and
I was not rebellious, neither turned my back. I gave my back
to the smiters, my cheeks to them that pluck out the hair.
I hid not my face from spitting. That is, He was made a curse.
He was made a curse. Willingly made sin for us. And He set His face like a flint,
trusting God, knowing that His one sacrifice would forever put
away our sins. He laid down His life once as
our substitute, as a payment for sin, and listen, God was
forever satisfied. How do we know this? Because
He is risen. He's risen from the dead. Because
there is no more sin to charge, The grave could not hold him.
And not only is he just risen, God was so pleased that he sat
him on the throne of heaven. You realize there is a man in
heaven? Who is he? He's a surety. He's our substitute. He's our
representative. He's our high priest. He is Christ. And I want you to know this,
that the names of His people are written on His hands, and
they can't be erased. They can't be erased. We like
to sing this song, a debtor to mercy alone. Of covenant mercy
I sing, nor fear with His righteousness on my person an offering to bring.
The terrors of law and of God with me can have nothing to do.
My Savior's obedience and blood hide all my transgressions from
view. My name from the palms of His
hand eternity cannot erase. Impressed on His heart it remains
with marks of indelible grace. Yes, I to the end shall endure,
as sure as the earnest is given, more happy, but not more secure,
the glorified spirits in heaven." Are you famished this morning? Do you need righteousness? I
tell you, Christ, our Joseph, has gone before us and stored
up all that God requires If you come with anything, surely
you'll be sent back. And when God brings you to the
end of yourselves, what are you going to bring? You're going
to give up your Benjamins. You're going to give up everything.
Now what hope have you to lay your soul on Christ? Because
He's assured. If God first trusted in Christ,
why should you not trust in Christ? If God was satisfied with His
offering, why would man not be satisfied with His offering? Why would you ever think you
would need to bring more? He offered His blood that God
required, and God is forever satisfied. So come now and come
empty. Come empty. And surely, if you will come,
you will not die. You will not lack righteousness. In that song we just sang, if
you tarry till you're better, You'll never come at all. May
God even now make you, make your famine real. You know, if you
don't, if you don't, if you have any twinge of need of righteousness,
I pray God makes it worse. Until you come to the end of
yourself. And when you do, you'll come
like these brothers. You'll be brought down to nothing.
And when they were brought down to nothing, what happened? When
they were at their rope, and at the end of chapter 44, there
he is, he's laying it all out. I'm sure of it. I'm just going
to be your servant. Look, I'm just going to be your
slave. Let these go free. I'll be your slave. Look at what
happened in verse 1 of chapter 45. Then Joseph could not refrain
himself. What did he do? He revealed who
he was. Isn't this how we come to Christ?
When we come broken and empty, what does He do? He cannot refrain
Himself any further. Like that prodigal son. We're
out there eating a husk and have no food. We come in, we say,
oh, I'm going to confess. Father, I've sinned against thee
and against heaven. And we're rehearsing this all
the way. We've got nothing to offer. Rehearse it all the way.
And we see Him running. He runs to us. And what do we,
well, father, I've sinned against thee and shut up. And he falls
on his neck and he kisses him and says, kill the fatted calf.
That's my son who was dead and now alive. It's as though God is sitting
on the edge of a seat waiting for his sons. Only time in scripture where
God's in a hurry. He sees his son's coming, empty
and broken, nothing. And he kisses him. Oh, one day I will truly feel the
lips of my Savior kissing me, embracing me. seeing Him face to face. And
I know this, when a sinner comes, there's fear, isn't there? Trembling. When we repent, isn't that the
way we repent? Isn't that the way we're constantly
coming to Him? Constantly being broken, constantly
confessing our sins. Isn't He constantly receiving
us the same way? Revealing Himself. We're in fear. You know, Joseph, he says this
to his brethren. He says, verse four, he says,
Come near to me. I pray you. Chapter 45. And they came near. He said,
I'm Joseph, your brother that you sold. Now, therefore, be
not grieved or angry with yourself. Oh, my. How could I not be grieved
with myself? How could I not be angry with
myself? Look what I've done. I've sold you. I've killed you. Don't be angry with yourselves.
Why? Don't be angry you sold me. For God did send me before
you to preserve life. And he said, look, only two years
this famine's here. There's still five more years. What is he talking about? We're
still living in this famine, aren't we? There's still a famine
around us. Now God has given us gold shit.
God provides food for us daily. And yet what? There's still a
famine around us. And so what are we to do here?
We're to constantly preach the Word to those in the famine. Listen. There's bread in Egypt. There's a storehouse of salvation. I can imagine these big granaries.
full of grain. And you just eat and eat and
eat and it never goes out. That's the mercy of God. You
eat on Christ all the time and it never goes out. His mercy endureth What I've seen is mercy endureth
forever. But I'm not sufficient. His mercy
endureth forever. You just keep eating. And then
we tell others. We need to tell others. There's
a storehouse full of mercy, full of righteousness, full of peace,
full of pardon. Christ went before us. Christ
went before us. Oh, that God would feed you even
today with His mercy and His love with Christ. Our Father,
I pray you'd use the message as you please. My prayer is that it honor thee,
that it exalt Christ, Oh, that you would feed your
little ones today, that we might have peace and joy and contentment,
that we might go about our Father's business in this world, believing
and loving one another as Christ loved us. Forgive us our sins
in Jesus' name.