Genesis 41 and 56. Now this man
Joseph, as I said, his history is truly an amazing history.
He is the son of Jacob. He was a man loved above all
his brethren. He was a man hated by all his
brethren and sold into slavery, presumed dead by his father. He was a man favored of God,
chosen to be ruler over even his father. You remember he was
given those dreams, the dream that he had every one of his
family was as a sheath of wheat, and how that all of the others
fell and bowed down to him. This was purposed of God that
he should rule over his family. But before his rulership, as
we've read in this chapter, before as he was set up by Pharaoh above
all things, he was first made a servant. He was made to serve
in Potiphar's house. And you remember because he rejected
the sin of Potiphar's wife, he was cast into the dungeon. And
it was there in that dungeon that God gave him understanding
to interpret those dreams of both the butler and the baker
of Pharaoh. Remember the baker, he was hanged
and the butler was restored to his place at Pharaoh. But yet
at the beginning of this chapter, in verse 1 of 41, it says it
was two full years. Two full years that he was forgotten. Two full years he had stayed
in that prison. And yet now at the appointed
time, God gave Pharaoh this dream. Two years later, God gave Pharaoh
a dream. And the dream was a very simple
one. It was one Pharaoh was standing
by the river and he was looking across and he saw these fat cows,
seven fat cows, eating. And they were well cows. They
were beautiful cows. I don't know a beautiful cow,
but it was beautiful to see it in his eyes. But all of a sudden,
there came up out of the river seven ill-favored cows, lean,
skin and bone cows, and these cows ate. the fat cows. They devoured them. And when
they were done eating those seven fat cows, Pharaoh in his dream,
he looked and they didn't even look like they had eaten anything.
They didn't look any better. You figure after they ate the
seven fat cows that they themselves would be fat. But they weren't.
They were still lean. And he woke up and brushed it
off and then he got another dream. He had a dream of seven a wheat
rising up with seven stalks of wheat. And they were beautiful
wheat, fat grains of wheat hanging on them in perfect order. And
he said, then there rose up seven ill-favored wheat, which was
blasted by the east wind. Now this is something. The wheat,
the ill-favored wheat, ate the other wheat. It's dreams. And these dreams troubled Pharaoh
so much that he called his wise men and magicians, but they could
not interpret these dreams. But then the butler, remember,
the butler that Joseph interpreted that dream, he remembered Joseph. He said, hey, there's a man that
interpreted our dreams and it came true. And he said, this
man must be of God. And so Pharaoh called Joseph
into his court. And Joseph tells him the interpretation
of the dream. He said it's one dream. He said
it's the same thing. He said the seven cows and the
seven stalks are seven years. The fat ones are seven fat years
and the seven lean ones are seven lean years of great famine. And
in wisdom, Joseph told them, God will do this. He said, this
is not going to be the reason you received two dreams, Pharaoh,
is because it's something God will do. It's not something God
will be interceded for. It's not something God will change.
He told you this is what He is going to do. And God did this so you would
store up. He said, you should store up
during those seven fat years, you should store up all one-fifth
of all the grain in Egypt so that when the seven lean years
come, you should be able to live. Egypt would be able to thrive
and survive. And so Pharaoh said, can we find
such a man as this? He said, you know, you told me
to go search out a man, but you know what? I've already found
him. There he is. He said, you're the man, Joseph, you're the man. And see here in this, Joseph,
the dream of Joseph was fulfilled. I told you that Joseph should
rule over all of his people, all of his family. And here it
is, now that he has been put down, has been risen up to the
height of Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said, everything
is under your rule. Only the throne separates me
and you. That's it. Everything is under
your control. He said, you should rule over
all the families of the earth so that they should not suffer
famine. You see, God sent Joseph before into Egypt to prepare
the way for his family. That he who suffered as a servant
should be raised up to the throne, store up food for Jacob so that
he die not. So the promises of God should
be fulfilled. Remember, the promises of God
were given to who? Jacob. Jacob, in Isaac shall
thy seed be called." Jacob is the one, through Jacob's line,
is the one that Christ should come. And now in our text we
see that Joseph, who was chosen of God, suffered at the hands
of wicked men, raised up to save Jacob, is now stored up all the
corn, and the famine was great in the land, and what does Joseph
do? He does what He purposed to do. Why did He store up all
that corn? So when the famine came, He should
open the storehouses. And that's what our text tells
us. It says, But the famine was over all the land, and Joseph
did what? He opened all the storehouses
and sold to the Egyptians, because the famine was sore in the land.
Now, I know this. Every believer in Christ Everyone
who believes on Christ, you should surely see that the purpose of
this history, I've just given you a history of a man, my goodness,
I don't know how many thousands of years ago this was. A long
time ago. What does that have to do with
you? What does that have to do with you? I mean, is this going
to talk, should I talk to you about saving money? Is that what
this is talking about? So you should store up for the
bad days to come? What good would that do your
soul? Wouldn't do your soul any good at all? The purpose of this,
listen, is to show Jesus Christ. That's God's whole purpose in
this book. God's purpose in this book is
Christ. Christ. Christ. He is the sum
and substance of everything that God does in this world points
to His Holy Son. That is of no interest to the
lost. But I tell you, it's of great interest to God that He
uses this whole man's life to show you His Son. Isn't that
something? He uses all the history of the
world to show you His Son. His Son. And that's what I want
you to see this morning is Christ. And if I had to title the message,
it would be this, Jesus our Joseph. Jesus our Joseph. in the scripture, you remember
that all the men at thus far, you could take Adam. Adam is
a picture of Christ, isn't he? Adam is a representative man. Even so, the Lord Jesus Christ
is a representative of His people. Abraham and Isaac, you remember
when they were going up to Mount Moriah to offer his son Isaac,
that's a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I tell you,
even so is Joseph a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. The life
and events of this man Joseph were intended to testify of the
Son of God who was chosen of the Father to come into the world
and save his people from their sins. And Jesus was one that
was eternally loved of his Father. Joseph was loved of his Father,
wasn't he? Above all his brethren. Even so, how much more was Jesus
Christ in the bosom of the Father eternally loved of God above
all things, above all creatures? Jesus was chosen of God to rule
over all men. and to be the Savior of Israel.
Just as God gave those dreams to Joseph and said, Joseph, you'll
be the one ruling over all your family. Even so, Jesus Christ
was chosen of God to rule over all his family, all his posterity. And as Joseph was hated of his
people, hated of his brethren, even so
was the Lord Jesus Christ hated of his brethren. he was despised
the scripture says he came into his own his own received him
not he said they hated me without a cause Isaiah 53 in verse 3
he should be a he he was despised we esteemed him not he was like Joseph in that he
was made a servant scripture says he was made in the likeness
of sinful flesh And yet he was a righteous man. Joseph was a
righteous man. Joseph rejected the sin of Potiphar's
wife. That is a picture of the Lord
who has rejected all sin. He is a sinless man. And Christ served God and was
faithful and obedient and perfect in his obedience to the law of
God. And what did that result in? It resulted in him being
cast into prison. Isn't that what Joseph did? He
rejected sin and he was cast into prison? Even so, our Lord
was cast into prison. For what? His righteousness.
His righteousness. And he was crucified, but not
for his sins, but rather for the sins of his people he suffered.
The justice of God saw Him who was made sin for us who knew
no sin and the sword of vengeance fell on Him. It fell on Him. But the grave could not keep
its prey. The grave could not keep its
prey. Why? Seeing he had atoned for our
sins, death could not hold him. And God raised him from the dead.
And what did God do? God set him on the throne. Isn't
that what happened to Joseph? Joseph, he come up out of the
dungeon and he was raised to the throne. See the parallel?
Can you see the parallel? Scripture says he hath by himself
purged our sins and sat down on the right hand of the majesty
on high. Psalm 110 verse 1, the Lord said
unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand until I make thine
enemies thy footstool. See then that Joseph is a type
of the Lord Jesus Christ, for God hath from eternity As Joseph
stored up all that grain for those seven fat years, listen
to me, from all eternity, God has stored up all of the blessings
of heaven and put them in Christ. All of the blessings of God are
stored up from eternity in Christ. And as Joseph hath filled the
vast storehouses so full, Scripture says they were as the sand of
the sea. And Joseph, when he could no
longer number or measure the weight, he left off numbering. I tell you that the blessings
of God that are stored up in Jesus Christ are without measure. You cannot measure the love of
God. You cannot measure the grace
of God. You cannot measure the mercy
of God. You cannot measure eternal life. It's immeasurable. It's what
Paul calls the unsearchable riches of Christ. Why? Because they're
unsearchable. And His ways are past finding
out. Unsearchable. So when you think you know anything
about the love of God, you've just begun to scratch the surface.
There's more. More. More. More. More. The mystery of God's grace, these
unsearchable riches, are the mystery of God's grace which
He hid from eternity in Himself. in Christ, which He purposed
in Christ from eternity, even the manifold wisdom of God. And now has Christ, our Joseph,
our Savior, the Savior of His people, listen, now has He come
and opened the storehouses. He's opened the storehouses of
God's blessings, God's mercies, and God's grace, and God's knowledge,
and He gives them to who? Everyone who has need. Is that not simple enough for
you? I don't need to be a great theologian. Do you have need? Do you have need? And so this is what I want us
to see first. What is the need? Need of what? What do I have need of? Well,
it's pretty simple. These people had need of what?
There was a famine. There was no food anywhere to
be found. They were starving to death.
What did they need? Bread. They needed grain. They needed nourishment. So that
they might live. What is the need of man? Listen,
it is the bread of life. That's what you need. Christ. You need Christ. These seven
years of famine are a picture of seven of the spiritual famine
of Adam's race. That's what this famine pictures
for us. Like I said, for me to tell you
about the famine in Egypt some several thousand years ago, what
good is that going to do you? What is God telling you here?
God's telling you you're starving in your soul. That's what God
is telling you. You are lacking. You're lacking
nourishment for life. You see, when Adam came into
the world, all was fruitful. There was no famine. Adam had
the presence of God. He knew God. He walked with God. He talked with God. He communed
with God. But when Adam fell, there was
a famine. The earth no longer yielded her
strength. Sin entered in. And the seven lean cows of sin
destroyed the seven fat cows of righteousness. So then there is none righteous. Can you count how many people
have been born since Adam? How many have ever been righteous
in themselves? How many? God says none. None. None righteous. No, not one. There's none that
understandeth. There's none that seeketh after
God. They are all together become
unprofitable. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. Not one. Is that not a famine? Famine
for righteousness? The famine of the souls of men
who eat sin, eat sin, eat sin, and are never satisfied. How long will you lie to yourself
and say, well, if I can just get this, then I'll be happy? When will you stop believing
that lie? Men drink iniquity like water
and yet what had happened? Same as those cows. They ate
the fat cows and they didn't even look like they ate anything.
They were just as ill famished as they were when they started
chewing. And so it is with man and sin.
Man strives for righteousness Yet the more he eats upon his
works and free will religion, the leaner he becomes in his
soul, and not holier as he imagined.
Isn't that what religious men think? That if they just continually
eat religion, that they somehow will get fat in holiness? And
what happens? They only become more wicked. Sinner, does your soul hunger
and thirst for righteousness? Have you, like the woman with
the issue of blood, spent all that you have on doctors and grew none better but worse? Then says our Lord, come unto
me. Come unto Me, and your soul shall
live. Behold, that Jesus has stored
up all the blessings of God, and now bids you to come and
buy without money and without price. Isn't that what He said?
Oh, everyone that thirsteth, come you to the waters, come
buy wine and milk without money and without price. Incline your
soul your ear unto me and your soul shall what live Live, why
did they go to Joseph because they were starving to death.
They had a need Why do we come to Christ because we have a spiritual
need of righteousness. We cannot supply We come to Christ
because we can't be accepted of God in any other way. We come
to eat of Christ and receive of his storehouse of blessings
Come now! Why will you wait? What are you waiting for? You know, Jacob heard, next chapter,
Jacob heard there was corn in Egypt. You know why that was
important? because he was out of food. That
message was only important when he was out of food. And I'll
tell you, when you're out of righteousness, this message is
important. If you're out of righteousness,
this message is vital. And so we come out of necessity. We come to Christ to be fed.
We come to Christ because He alone has stored up the grain
of righteousness. He alone has stored up the grain
of grace. And we go to Him to be fed. Why would you wait? Listen, what are you waiting
for? You children, listen. What are you waiting for? Are you waiting for tomorrow
to come? Why? boast not thyself of tomorrow
while we wait. It's open. It's open. Come to Christ and he will pardon And He will give you the righteous
nature you require. How can you be sure? How can I be so sure? By what authority do I have to
tell you such things? Because that's important, isn't
it? If I don't have the right authority, what if I told you,
if I give you an invitation to the presidential inauguration,
if I give you an invitation, would that be of any value? Why? Because I don't have authority
to give you any invitation. I don't have any authority to
give it to you. That piece of paper would be meaningless. I
have no authority. See this? This is God's Word. Therefore, my authority to tell
you to come is of God. And so you should come because
of the one who gave me the authority, the one who gave me such authority. I come, you said you should come
because Christ, listen, because Christ has opened the storehouses,
because Christ has been given by divine authority of God to
open the grace of God to sinners. Now Joseph, look at verse 55.
Verse 55. And when all the land of Egypt
was famished, the people cried unto Pharaoh for bread. And Pharaoh said unto all the
Egyptians, where did Pharaoh tell them to go? He said, Go
to Joseph and do what he says. even so God, you who would come
unto God, listen to me, what is God going to tell you? He
tells you go to Christ. Go to Christ and do what He says. Will you approach unto God? Will
you come unto a holy presence of God by your own merit? You
have no authority. You have no right. Scripture
says, Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall
stand in His holy place? He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to vanity nor sworn
deceitfully. He, only that man, that perfect
man, shall receive the blessings from the Lord and righteousness
from the God of His salvation. Now that surely excludes every
one of us. for we all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God." You see, this only speaks to us of
that sinless man, Jesus Christ, whose hands and heart are pure,
whose soul was lifted up to God alone, who spoke the truth of
God's Word. And listen to this truth. Here's
the authority. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man
comes to the Father but by Me. No man comes to the Father but
by Me. I tell you, come to God, not
by your own righteousness. Come not to God suing for merit. Come to Christ suing for mercy. Come to Him by faith, and He
shall present you faultless before God. This is the one you go to. You didn't go to Pharaoh for
corn. You went to Joseph. He's the one that Pharaoh gave
the authority to. And I tell you, if there's any
man to come to God, you must go to God through Christ. Come to Christ. because he alone
can open the storehouse of God's blessings. Listen, this is not
a cooperative effort. This is not a cooperation between
you and Christ. This is not in any measure a
mixture of your works and Christ's. As Joseph alone was ruler over
all the grain And he gives grain and refuses grain to whomsoever
he will. Even so hath God given to the
hands of Jesus Christ all things. All things are given into the
hands of Christ. Who had power in Egypt? Joseph. Who has power over all things? Christ, our Joseph. is been given authority by God
over all things in time and eternity, and especially the salvation
of men. God has stored up all spiritual
blessings, eternal life, peace with God,
and He stored them up in Christ. And only by coming to Christ
can you receive these blessings. Now look at this, look at your
text again. Notice these Egyptians. When Joseph opened the storehouses,
he sold unto the Egyptians. He sold them. They came with
their money, they bought the grain and went home. These Egyptians bought this grain.
and returned again and again and again until they had what?
Nothing. They did this for seven years.
They came and then pretty soon money, all their money was gone. There was no money in all the
land. Pharaoh had it all. And then they came and said,
well, what do we do now? He said, well, okay, well, bring
me all your livestock. Okay, they brought all the livestock.
Then what? They said, okay, now then give your land and yourselves. You sell yourself to Pharaoh
and he'll give you corn. But when Jacob came, when Jacob
came and his sons came, you know, they came with money, but you
know what they returned with? The money they gave. Why? Joseph gave it to them freely. And I tell you, everyone who
comes to Christ, he gives this grain of grace absolutely free
of charge. You have nothing which he wants,
he gives it out of grace. So if you come, you come empty.
And you go away full. This is the gospel message. Even so it is with the elect
of God, they come only to Christ without money, without price,
but solely upon the authority of God. Why did I come to Christ?
What was my authority? Because God said to. Isn't that
authority enough? Do you need any other authority?
God said I've given everything to Christ, go to Christ, do what
He says. And so what would you do? Why
would you not come to Christ? What does hinder you from coming
to Christ but your own obstinance and hatred of God? Why will you die? There's corn in Egypt. There's
salvation in Christ. Come to Christ alone. And second
of all, not only does he have the authority, but also come
to Christ because he alone is fit. to open the storehouses
of grace. It was Joseph who planned the
storehouses and it was Joseph who filled them. Pharaoh asked,
Can we find such in one as this man who's fit? Therefore Joseph
gathered all the corn and stored it and distributed it. How easily
can we parallel this to Jesus Christ? He is the only one fit to plan
and execute the salvation of God. Look at Psalm 98. Psalm
98 in verse 19. I'm sorry, Psalm 89. Psalm 89 in verse 19. then thou spakest in vision to
the Holy One and saidest, I have laid up upon one that is mighty. I have exalted one chosen out
of the people. I have found David my servant
With my holy oil have I anointed him. This, my friends, is speaking
prophetically of Christ. I have laid help on who? One. Where is help? On one, Jesus
Christ. His servant, David. David's son
and David's Lord. That's the one God has anointed.
That's the one God has set over His storehouse because He alone
was fit to save. You see, He is fit because He
is God. Who else could save but God?
Is there anyone could save but God? Jesus is God, very God. He is one with the Father and
Spirit, by nature holy and cannot sin. He is by nature God, all-powerful. And because He's all-powerful,
can He fail? He is God all-wise, can He err? He who is God purposed to gather
all of the blessings of His elect and agreed in a covenant of grace
to be the representative of all God's people, to be their mediator. But in order to be their mediator,
He must Himself become a man. therefore it is only fit as God
to accomplish but God the Son condescended
to be a man he took upon him the nature of a man excluding
sin and as a man the second Adam Jesus gathered
all the righteousness of God in perfect obedience what the
scripture says in Isaiah chapter 42 he said that my servant my
chosen he said in him in him I am well pleased he shall magnify
the law and make it honorable and Jesus as our mediator the
God-man he alone was fit to bear our sins Who else among us was
fit to bear sin? We were sinners. We deserve the
death. So if we receive the justice
of God, we only receive what we deserve. And could we ever
pay for any of our sins, much less the sins of anyone else?
No. But this man, this man, he was
fit, he was righteous, and therefore God imputed our sins to him,
and he endured the wrath of God for our sins. And behold now his fitness as
he is ascended to the throne of God, Behold, no man is fit to receive
the blessings of God, much less merit them. But Jesus now is
fit, and you should come to him alone, because he alone is able
to save you." Who else is going to save you? Perventure for a good man, some
might even dare to die, but which one of us is good? Who deserves
it? But I tell you, Jesus Christ
has all the fitness that God requires is found in Him. And
thirdly, Jesus actually did open the storehouse of grace. We've
seen God gave Him the authority. We've seen He is fit. But did
He actually do it? Did he actually open it? Now what good would it have done
Joseph if he stored up all this grain and never opened it? What
good would that have done anybody? It wouldn't have done anybody
any good. They would have all died. But
he did open it. Our text says that. He said he
opened the storehouses. That's why he filled them. And
even so, that's why God has revealed all of these things in His Word,
because He has opened them. The storehouse of grace is open! See, God purposed Christ to fill
the storehouses with grace. and now he opens them and gives
it to all who have need yes if you are in a famine if you know
your need and hunger for righteousness you should come now come to Joseph
come to Jesus how should you come? by faith by faith. This storehouse is open. In Zechariah
chapter 13 it says, In that day there shall be a fountain opened
to the house of David, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. For
what? What was the reason for the fountain
open? For sin and uncleanness. Yes, this fountain is open only
for the elect. But who are they? They are sinners. They are unclean. And they come
to Christ to be washed of all their sins. Don't come to the
preacher. Don't come to the table. Don't
come to the baptismal pool. Come to Christ. You don't have
to move a muscle. You should come now in your heart
and you should believe on Him. And He will give you the blessings
of heaven. He will give them to you. They're
open. And you who have eaten, you who
have come, I want you to listen to this. His storehouse is so full that
it's without number. Have you eaten? Have you tasted
of the Lord to see he is good? How long shall this storehouse
be open? It's open as long as there's
a famine. So long as there is life, there is hope, Seek the
Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts.
And let him return unto the Lord and he will abundantly pardon."
Listen, today the storehouse is open. You're not promised
tomorrow. You're not promised tomorrow. And I want you to be, I want
to be very clear because I want to wash my hands of your blood If you will not come, it will
be your fault. You hear me? You will never blame the election
of God on your damnation. If you will not come to Christ,
it is because you will not forsake your ways and thoughts. And no man has ever come by nature,
but as they are moved by the Holy Spirit, are you moved? Then
come. Why will you not come? Why will
you not come? If you do not come, you will
die. You will not be able to blame
the sovereign grace of God. But we who have come, how full
are these storehouses? How full? I like this illustration. Spurgeon said this, if there
were 10 men dying of thirst and there was only one cup of water,
and while one was drinking, the rest would be envious. Isn't
that so? They would be wondering, is there
enough for me? The cup is only so big and there
are so many and we must have only this little bit in order
for everybody to drink. Now what if there were a hundred
men and there was a river? Would there be any envy? Would
there be any question as to the amount of water? Would there
be any question as to is there going to be enough for me? There would be no doubt then,
because the river is of infinite supply. Believer, the only limit
to the storehouse of God's capacity to forgive and to show mercy
is only limited by your capacity to hold it. The limitation is not God's storehouse,
it's the amount you can hold. If we are broken cisterns, yet
the source being Christ is eternal and can never run out. So infinite is His love, so infinite
is His grace, so infinite is His pardon, so infinite is His
kindness, is His goodness toward us, that it cannot be exhausted. How much mercy do you need? Well,
there's an infinite supply in this storehouse. Confess thy sins, and He is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins. How many times? Seven times? No. Seventy times seven. An infinite
amount of time. You could go to God every minute
of every day and seek forgiveness, and you will find it, and you
will not drain one drop from His infinite mercy. And you know what? All of this
is given without cost to you. It's free. It's free. I tell you this, though. If you
refuse Joseph, you refuse Pharaoh. If you refuse Christ, you refuse
God. And to the own detriment of your
immortal soul. But I gladly come to God by Jesus
Christ. Why? Because God has stored up
all his blessings in Christ. And now that I've come to Christ,
I freely take. His mercy, His grace, His forgiveness,
His mercy, His kindness is infinite. You should come. You should come. And all who come to God, we know
this. Christ has sufficient authority
to do this. He was sent of the Father to
do this. We know that Christ has the fitness to do this. Being
God and man, He touches both God and me. And by His grace, He has opened
the storehouse and freely gives. Why will you not come? May God even make you come by grace.