We'll begin here in Genesis chapter
41. And tonight the title of the message
is, The Responsible Man. The Responsible Man. Who is responsible for our salvation? who is responsible for the salvation
of God's elect people? And I believe we have our answer
in this history of the famine and Joseph. If you remember,
here it is in, let's go to Genesis 41 and just read it together.
In Genesis 41 and verse 56, it says, 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. It became very bad in the land
of Egypt. And listen, and all countries
came into Egypt to Joseph to buy corn because that the famine
was so sore. in all the lands. Now remember, God had before
purpose that Joseph should be raised up, that he should be
sold by his brothers into Egypt and raised up to be next to Pharaoh,
equal to Pharaoh in Egypt. And remember that God had warned
him that there should be a famine in the land seven years and that
Joseph should the seven years before store up all the grain. He raised up Joseph to store
up all that grain in the seven fat years in order to feed everyone
in the seven lean years or the seven years of famine. And now
we see the purpose of God ripening fast in our text. We see the
whole purpose of the fat years and the rise of Joseph to power
was this. Listen, here's the whole reason
why this happened. For the salvation of Jacob. That's the whole reason. We can
see this very clearly in chapter 45. Look over there and Joseph
tells you the reason. We're going to get to this. Joseph
tells us in verse 7 of chapter 45. He said, God sent me before
you to preserve you a posterity in the earth and to save your
lives by a great deliverance. Now this is clearly seen that
Joseph was sent to save Jacob, to save Jacob and his posterity. And herein was the purpose of
this history, which is to preach the gospel. This message, this
tonight, is This history is meant for us to see the gospel of Jesus
Christ. Now, listen, every time you go
to the Old Testament, you should worry about these three R's.
Three R's. Ruin. Redemption. and regeneration. These three
things you should always look for because this is the gospel. This is the gospel and every
time in these types and pictures of the Old Testament scriptures,
they're meant to show us Christ and the salvation of His elect. Now then the first thing we see
is a famine. Let us see first that this famine
is meant to be a picture and a type of a greater famine. A famine that is now in the whole
earth. And the famine is sin. Sin. Sin is the famine in the whole
earth. And this famine here was only
for seven years, but I tell you, this famine of sin has been ever
since Adam fell. This famine of sin has been in
the earth. See that whatever, wherever there
is sin, There is a famine of righteousness. A famine of righteousness. This is the result of sin is
no righteousness. And where there's no righteousness,
listen, there is death. Death. For without righteousness and
true holiness no man can see God. This is the peril of famine
that man is in even now. It is a famine of righteousness. They have no righteousness. In Hebrews 12 it says follow
peace and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Jesus
said blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God
and no one else. And in Revelation chapter 21
and verse 27, when the kingdom of God has come in, when the
wicked are cast out and the kingdom of God comes, he says this, there
shall in no wise enter into the kingdom anything that defileth
or whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie. but they that
are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. You see, only the righteous
shall see God. Only the righteous shall see
God. Only those who are pure in heart
shall see God. Only those who are without sin
shall be accepted into the kingdom of God and no one else. And who
is that? Who are the righteous? They are
those written in the Lamb's book of life. Now I know this, we know in the
Word of God and by our own experience, which testifies against us, that
there is a famine of righteousness in our own heart. Now, if you'll
just be honest for a minute with yourself, you and I both know
this to be true. There is none righteous, no,
not one. That's a famine, isn't it? That's
a famine. When there's none righteous,
no, not one, Even Paul, the saved man of God said, in my flesh
dwelleth what? No good thing. When you think of a famine, what
do you think of? A desert, a barren wasteland
in which there is no food, no water, no life. And that's what man is by nature. And I'll tell you, we live in
a country that we have not yet experienced the famine of plague
in our lifetime, this plague of famine. We've not experienced
that. Just a few minutes ago, I ate 20 chicken nuggets. I mean,
I could just go to his store and we could pick up and it's
for a little of nothing. We can buy food. I tell you,
in this country, we are so prosperous that even our poor eat better
than most kings in other countries. We do not understand a true famine. We've never been there. I've
never been hungry. And yet has this brought us any
better or closer to God? No. Matter of fact, it's probably
driven us further away. Our prosperity of the things
of this world has not made us grateful people, but ungrateful. The prosperity has not drawn
us closer to God, but rather further from God. In fact, the prosperities we
have Only make men more bold in their rebellion, hasn't it?
Isn't that what happened in this country? Isn't that so? The more
prosperous we become, the more bold men have become in sin.
The religion of this world has the same heart as the church
of Laodicea. They say we are rich and increased
in goods and have need of nothing. What are you talking about, preacher,
famine? We don't have any famine of righteousness. There's plenty
of righteousness running around here. I don't know what you're
talking about. We have need of nothing. God says there's a famine. Famine
of righteousness. There's no righteousness in man
by nature. Friends, there may not be a famine
of food, but I tell you there is a famine of righteousness
in the hearts of man by nature. And outward prosperity does not
expose the famine of our souls, but rather increases our deception,
the deception of man's heart. Now listen, let man plow and
plant as much in religion and obedience to the law as he can.
Let him do whatever he thinks will grow righteousness. Let that man labor and be as
good as he can. Let him study the scriptures.
Let him pray. Let him weep. If he thinks that's
going to bring him righteousness, that's what he's going to do.
He's going to plow and weep and sow. But whatever he plants and
sows in this barren desert of his own heart, I'll tell you
this, the unrighteous are confident they'll yield righteousness.
When a man's out there feeding the hungry and doing what he
does in religion, what he thinks he's planting is seeds that'll
yield righteousness in heaven, that'll be accepted with God.
And I'll tell you, they'll be sadly disappointed. You remember
when the Lord said in Matthew chapter 25, He said He'll separate
the righteous from the unrighteous at that time, the sheep and the
goats. And He'll say to the sheep, come you blessed of my Father,
inherit the kingdom of heaven. Why should they inherit the kingdom
of heaven? They were righteous. And you know what the righteous
say? Lord, when were we ever righteous? That's what the righteous
say. Lord, when did we ever do these
things for Thee? You did them when I did them.
Come on in. You did them when I did them.
I'm your representative. And then the wicked, he'll say,
you depart from me, you cursed into everlasting darkness. For
you did wickedly. And they'll say, Lord, when did
we not do righteousness? Remember the time we wept and
cried and shed our tears? Remember when we worked so hard
in church? Remember those things? You that
work iniquity, he said. I never knew you. They planted
and planted, but grew nothing. The wicked men, they planted
seeds of their own obedience and thought it would yield righteous
fruit to God. That is because they failed to
see the famine in their own heart. That they can by no means yield
righteousness and obedience to God. Now secondly, there's a
famine, first of all. Now secondly, see this. Jacob
is also in the famine Look at verse 1 of chapter 42 now when
Jacob Saw that there was corn in Egypt Jacob said unto his
sons. Why do you look upon one another?
He said behold I've heard there's corn Egypt get you down hither
by for us from thence listen that we may live and not die
Jacob was in the same famine as everyone else. You got that? Who is Jacob? Who is Jacob? Jacob is a picture
of all the elect of God. You remember in Romans chapter
9 in verse 11 it said the children not yet being born neither having
done good or evil that the purpose of God according to election
might stand as it is written the elder shall serve the younger
for Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated. Jacob was loved
of God. Jacob was chosen of God before
the foundation of the world. And it was through him that the
promise of God concerning his father Isaac should be fulfilled. What was the promise? What was
the promise given to Isaac? In thy seed shall all the nations
of the earth be blessed. The promise was that Christ should
come by Isaac. And Jacob was the promised one
of Isaac. He was loved of God. Chosen of
God. It was God's purpose that through
Jacob Christ should come into the world and redeem His people. Now see, the low condition of
God's chosen man in famine. See how he is in the same plight
as all other men. He's in famine. He needs to be
fed. He needs to have the food in
order to live. See now the reality then of the
picture. God has before the famine of
sin entered into the world. He had in sovereign grace loved
a people of which Jacob was a type. As God loved and chose Jacob
before his birth, not according to merit in himself, but according
to free grace and mercy, even so had God loved his elect from
eternity and chosen us in Christ. Jacob is a picture of us. He put his elect in Christ. Isn't that what it said in 1
Corinthians 1 and verse 30? But of God are you in Christ. When were you put in Christ?
It says we were given all spiritual blessings in Christ. When? Before
the foundation of the world we were given these blessings. And surely this was pictured
by the seven fat years. The seven fat years, which Joseph
was to gather all that corn, that pictured the righteousness
and salvation of God in Jesus Christ before the famine of righteousness. Consider that, that God had stored
up all righteousness in Christ before there was a famine of
righteousness. For all the elect, he put all
the righteousness of God in him. God stored up the grain of salvation
in and by Jesus Christ. Therefore, as Jacob was under
the famine of sin, even so are all of the elect no different
than any of Adam's fallen race. Yet herein does God make the
difference. For all of God's elect, all of
Jacob, will by grace and the power of God be made to feel
our hunger for righteousness. What's the difference between
Jacob and the rest of the world? They're all under famine. This
is the difference. Jacob is made to feel his need. God chose His
people. God stored up all their salvation,
put it in Christ. But yet in time, God has purposed
that Jacob should feel his need of righteousness. That he should
feel the famine of his righteousness in his heart. Jacob knew he had a need of grain. And he saw that if he were to
just sit there, he would surely die. Look, that's what he says
to his boys. Look at this in verse 1. Jacob
saw that there was corn in Egypt. He said to his sons, why do you
look upon one another? Now imagine this. They're sitting
all around together. There's no food anywhere. They're
in the desert. And they're just looking at each
other. Like, what are you going to do? I don't know. What are you going to do? I don't
know what are you going to do? They're just looking for one
another. Maybe somebody needs to give me this grain and I can't
get it. Isn't that what man does by nature? He looks to someone
else to give him that righteousness. He looks to a preacher. He looks
to a priest. He looks to someone else. He says if he's honest
with himself, he can't find it in himself. So what does he do?
He goes out and tries to look for someone else to give it to
him. And he can't do it. Man by nature can't give it to
each other. And I'll tell you, men will continue to look to
one another until God makes them feel their need. You'll never
look to Christ until you feel your need. You won't. And you'll never feel your need
unless God gives it to you. And how does he give it? The
same way Jacob heard about the corn in Egypt. He heard! He heard! Faith cometh out by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God. This is why we preach. Because
it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.
This is the message. This is the message we preach
to the elect of God. To those who are under the famine
of sin. Listen! Behold! There's grain, there's
life in Christ. Behold Christ, the bread of life. And we say, come, you who hunger
for righteousness. Stop looking at one another.
Come to Christ. Don't look to me, look to Christ. My children have often come to
me and they said they don't understand, they don't understand, they don't
understand. They look to me. And I point them to Christ. And
I say, I can do nothing for you. I have no way to communicate
this gospel to you. I have no way to communicate
faith to you. Why are you looking to me? Go
to Christ. Go. Come to Christ and eat and
live. Oh, everyone that thirsteth,
come to the waters, come you and buy, and buy wine and milk
without money, without price. Why do you seek those things
which satisfieth not? Why do you labor for those things
which don't please you? You know what? When I was a young
man, I saw my wife, and you know what I said? God, if you could
just give her to me, then I would be satisfied. And you know this, in all honesty,
I'm not. And neither is she. You know
why? Because there's no satisfaction
between people. There's no satisfaction in relationship. Why? Because all these things
fail. All these people are just sinners like you and me. They're
not going to fulfill your need. Why do you labor for that which
satisfies not? Hearken diligently unto me and
live. 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. This is where there is grain
in Christ. Come and hear the Gospel. That God has purposed
to save Jacob. That God has chosen a people.
And that he would save them by Jesus Christ. And I tell you,
praise God for that message. Because if there were no election
unto salvation, then friend, there would be no salvation.
Praise God for the election of grace. The prophet says, if there had
been no remnant of grace, we would have all been as Sodom
and as Gomorrah. And just, I tell you, just as
God chose Jacob to go before and store up the grain for Jacob,
even so God purposed that Jesus Christ should go before us and
store up a perfect salvation, perfect righteousness and atonement
for His people. Isaiah 45 and verse 2, it says,
I go before you. I like that. I go before you. To do what? to make the crooked
path straight. See, you and I made it crooked. Christ goes before us to do what? Make it straight. Make it righteous. We're crooked. He's righteous.
He said, I will break in pieces the gates of brass and cut asunder
the iron bars. See, it was by grace that put
us. It was the grace of God that
put us in Christ and gave His elect all spiritual blessings
in Christ. It was God who chose us and purposed
that we should be holy. Not by our works. God never purposed
that we should be holy by our works. Never. He purposed that
we should be holy by Jesus Christ. By Jesus Christ. by the righteousness
and blood of Christ alone. Isn't that what he said in Isaiah?
I believe it is Isaiah 51. He said, I'll make the barren
place, barren deserts, a stream, a river of water. That's what
he does. Remember what's famine? It's nothing but desert. What
does Christ do? He makes a stream in the desert.
He gives us grain. He gives us food and life. Are you such a famished sinner
in need of righteousness? Do you know by the experience
of grace that you can by no means save
yourself and give God what he requires? Do you know that? Then I tell you this, you should
go to Christ. Just as Jacob sent his boys to
Egypt for grain, you should go to Christ. That's the message
of the gospel. Now number three, notice the
reception they received. Okay, so now there's a famine.
Jacob's in the famine, he's a picture of the elect, and he hears the
gospel message, go to Egypt, get the corn. Now he sends his
boys, and now notice this in verse seven. Joseph saw his brethren,
and he knew them. but made himself strange unto
them, and spake roughly unto them, and said unto them, Whence
are ye coming? Whence come ye? They said, We
come from Canaan to buy food. Joseph knew his brethren, but
they knew him not. And Joseph remembered the dreams
that he had dreamed of them, and said unto them, You are spies. You are spies. to see the nakedness
of the land, you are come." He spake roughly to them. Now, Joseph
knew them. He knew his brethren, but he
acted strangely and spake roughly unto them. Now, listen to this.
God knows His people. God knows His elect. He said,
I know my thoughts unto you, thoughts of peace and not of
evil. That's God's thoughts. Jacob's
thoughts to his brethren were thoughts of peace. He knew the
dream he had dreamed, that they would all do obeisance to him,
that they would all bow down to him. This was the dream God
gave him. He knew the end of this, and he knew what he would
do for his brethren, but he didn't show them at the beginning. Now,
is this not our experience in salvation? Is this not how it
was? When you found out your need
of righteousness, And you knew you needed righteousness? And
you come to the Scriptures and you look for salvation? Did they
not speak roughly to you first? Were they not strange to you?
Although God knew He was going to save you, yet He spoke strangely
to you, didn't He? He spoke in such language as
this, Therefore by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be
justified in His sight. He spoke strangely to us and
He said, Curse is everyone that continueth not in all things
written in the book of the law to do them. And this struck our
hearts. We were coming for righteousness.
We were coming for our need. And what did we find? We found
that we were spoken so roughly, the law came so heavily on our
hearts. When we come to Christ, But did
we not come as they did with money in our hands? They came
to Joseph looking for grain, and how were they going to get
it? They were going to pay for it. How did we first come to
Christ? We come with something in our
hand. We come with something in our
hand. We come to pay for it. We come with our tears and say,
Oh, look at my tears, Lord. Oh, I surely earn your righteousness
now. I've wept so much. I've cried
so much. I've studied so much. I've I've
done everything I can do. And yet every time you come with
that, he sends you away, doesn't he? He sends you away. Why is
that? Because enough is never enough,
is it? When have you wept enough to
deserve His mercy? When have you felt your need
of righteousness enough? You know, some people think about
that. They think that's a merit. That, man, if I just feel bad
about my sins, that should merit His salvation. No, it won't. It won't merit His salvation.
Enough is never enough. Sinner, you and I must come to
Christ empty and broken. We must come to Him broken of
all our schemes and devices, of all our merits and self-salvation. See, Joseph could not reveal
himself to his brothers until he had first crushed all their
pride and schemes. He tried them. He tried them
by giving them just a little grain. Isn't that what it was?
He would come and he would crush us, and then, by grace, he would
send some little word that would cause us to want to come back.
There was just some little grain. And that's what Joseph did. He
sent his brothers back. He said, you're going to leave
Simeon here. Simeon's going to be a prisoner. But you all go
back, and this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to test you
to see if you're true men. That's what he says in verse
19. If you be true men, Let one of your brethren be bound in
the house of your prison and go you and carry 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. See, he was going to try them,
to test them. I'll tell you, if any man is
a true repentant person, God will try it. God will prove
it to be so. We say, sinner, come to Christ
empty of all your religion, all of your works, all of your will.
Come to Christ, offering up all that you have, submitting all
your most precious things to Him, especially the most precious. You know what Benjamin was? Benjamin
was the most precious thing Jacob had. What did Jake what did Joseph
require the most precious thing? What does Christ require if you
come to him? He requires everything You want to come to Christ come
come empty and come giving all Come giving all your most precious
thing and Sinner, forsake all you have and come to Christ.
Forsake your family, your friends. Forsake your health. Forsake
your wealth and treasures in this world. For you cannot have
them in Christ. You can't have them both. Surely,
if men will not forsake these things, they will never forsake
these things until they're brought to their wits end. Is that not
true of you? Did you not hold on to these things until the
very end? You bet. You'll hold on to these things
until God brings you to your wits end. Jacob, listen, when
they come back with this story, Jacob did not let Benjamin go. He wouldn't. He said, I will
not lose my only son. He would not let Benjamin go
to Egypt until they had eaten everything that Joseph gave them. They gave him that corn and it
was that last little sandwich, that last little cake bread that
they put together. They had eaten that and only
then, only then was he forced to let Benjamin go. Jacob told his sons, he said,
you go back and you ask for bread. Look at that in verse 1 of chapter
43. He says this, And the famine
was sore, and the land that came to pass, when they had eaten
up all the corn which they had brought from Egypt, his father
said, Go and buy. And Judah said, No, we can't
go back, not unless we bring Benjamin. The man told us, he
strictly charged us, You shall not see my face unless you bring
back your youngest brother, Benjamin. Do you not suppose this was painful
for Jacob? He already lost Joseph, and this
was his only beloved son of his age, his old age. What is this? What is this a
picture of? It's a picture of a man under
great conviction of sin. That's what it is. A man who
is brought to the end of himself. Have you been brought to the
end of yourself? This is what it is, conviction of sin. He
knows his need, but he cannot bear to let his precious soul
go into the hands of another. Isn't that what men reject? Is
that men reject giving their soul to Christ, trusting Him
with it. They want to have some part in
it. Oh no, if you're to be saved, you must give everything, especially
your soul to Christ. But yet listen to this. Herein
is the promise of God to all such sinners under conviction.
It is even the promise of Judah to Jacob. The promise of the
surety for Benjamin. Look at that in verse 8. Judah
said unto Israel, his father, Send the lad with me, and we
will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we, thou,
and our little ones, I will be surety for him. Of my hand shalt
thou require him. If I bring him not unto thee,
and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame forever."
Center here that these words are not just the words of Judah,
they're the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. As He promised the Father, for
He is the surety of the covenant. That's what it says in Hebrews
7, 22. He is the surety, the guarantee for a better covenant. He said, I will be the surety
for thy beloved sons. Jesus said to the Father in the
covenant of grace, Father, all that you have given me, I will
be fully responsible for their salvation. And listen, if I fail, if I fail to save them, let me
bear the blame. See what great promise the Son
of God has promised and swore for our salvation. He said, I
will be responsible for the salvation of those you've given me. So
when Jesus came into the world, He came as a representative man. He came to accomplish both righteousness
and redemption. For who? For Israel. In Romans 5, verse 12, we read
of Adam being a representative man. In Adam, we all died. It said, by the offense of one,
many were made sinners. Even so, by the obedience of
one, shall many be made, what? Righteous. What are we having?
A famine. What's our famine? It's a famine
of righteousness. We don't have any righteousness.
Therefore, Christ said, I swear that I will be their righteousness. I'll provide righteousness for
them. Now, I'll ask you this. Listen, was Christ successful? Did He accomplish salvation? Did He do what He promised to
do? Did He fail? Was he discouraged
as false religion tells us? False religion says he died for
everyone, he loved everyone, died for everyone, in the end
he'll lose some to go to hell. No, no, no. For the Word of God plainly tells
us he shall not fail nor be discouraged. Thou shalt call his name Jesus.
Jehovah saves, not Jehovah might save, not Jehovah provide salvation. No, Jehovah saves. For he shall
save his people from their sins. Hebrews 1 and verse 3, it says,
He who is the image of God, he hath purged our sins. And what was the result of that?
He sat down, the right hand, the majesty on high. That's success,
my friends. In Hebrews 10, it says, by his
one offering, he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Jesus declared himself, all that
the Father giveth me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up
again at the last day. And look back at Genesis 44,
Genesis 44 and verse 30. I want you to see this. Believer,
I want you to know how sure your salvation is, how sure it is. Listen, he's brought Benjamin
back now. And Jacob, you know, Joseph,
you remember he put that silver cup in Benjamin's sack, and they
arrest Benjamin. And here he is, he said, you
boys go on back, I'm just going to keep Benjamin. And Judah says,
oh no, no, I swore that I'd bring him back. I'm the surety, I'm
the guarantee. And notice what he says about
Benjamin and the father. Verse 11 of chapter 44. I'm sorry, verse 30 of chapter
44. He says, Now therefore, when
I come to thy servant my father, and the lad be not with us, seeing
that the life, that his life is bound up in the lad's life,
what would happen if Judah did not bring Benjamin back? Jacob
would Die of a broken heart. That's what he's saying. If I
didn't bring him back, he'll die. In other words, you don't
let me bring Benjamin back and you've caused a death sentence
to my father. See that God's, then that God's
glory, the reality of this picture is the glory of God is tied to
the salvation of His people. If God promised to save His elect
but fails to save them, listen, His glory would be forever darkened
and God would cease to be God. Did you hear that? What did God say about the false
gods? He said, they don't know what's happened and they don't
know what's going to happen. They're false gods. He said,
you let them tell me what's going to happen. But I'm God, declaring
the end from the beginning, from ancient times the things that
were not saying. My counsel shall stand and I
shall do all my pleasure. Therefore, if it was the pleasure
of God to save us, but He fails to do so, then listen, God would
be a false god, according to His own definition. Yet we know
this, that God hath committed all judgment to the Son. God
has purposed that in Him all the fullness of salvation should
dwell. It was God who chose Christ to
be our surety. And it was God who first trusted
in Christ to redeem us. Isn't that what it says in Ephesians
chapter 1, I believe in verse 14, it says, 12, it says, He
first trusted. Who first trusted? God first
trusted Christ. He said, I'm giving all my glory,
I'm putting the weight of my glory on Christ, that He should
bring all of my leg to me, holy and without blame. See in verse 33 and 34. Look
at this. I'm sorry, verse 32. It says, For thy servant
became a surety for the lad unto my father, saying, If I bring
him not unto thee, then I shall bear the blame to my father forever.
Now therefore I pray thee, let thy servant abide in the stead
of the lad, a bondman unto my Lord, and let the lad go up. with his brethren. See, Judah
was willing, my friends, because he was the surety, he was also
willing to be the substitute. He said, don't take Benjamin,
take me. Take me. In Isaiah chapter 50,
he says, mind ear. He opened mine ear, and I was
not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave my back to
the smiters, my cheek to them that plucked off the hair. I
hid not my face from spitting. That is, He was made a curse
for us. He was made sin for us. And He set His face like a flint,
trusting God to help Him, knowing that by His one offering He should
put away our sins. Therefore, our Lord Jesus Christ
laid down His life for us. Why? He was the surety. If He
did not lay down His life, He would bear the blame forever,
and God should lose His glory. But He did. And behold now, God
has accepted his offering, and he has risen to the throne of
God, ever living to make intercession for his elect. Behold now, that
all of our names, you Jacob, listen, all our names are written
on the palms of his hands. Isn't that what we just sang?
my name on the palms of his hands. Eternity cannot erase. Written on his heart with marks
of indelible grace. Word indelible means with an
iron pen. My name is written with an iron
pen on his heart. Therefore, come. You famished
sinner, come now without money and without price. Come without
hesitation. For Jesus Christ has paid the
debt. He has offered his own blood
that God required and pleased God by his one offering. You
should come now. If God trusted in Christ, are
you not spitting in the face of God if you would not trust
him? How foolish are you not to trust
Christ, seeing God trusted Him with His own glory? We should
come now, come empty, come to Christ, and He will save you.
Surely, sinner, listen, I want you to pay attention. If you
will not come to Christ, it'll be your fault. You will bear the blame. you will bear the blame forever.
If you tarry till you're better, you will never come at all. And you know what in my heart's
desire is for lost people is that God would break every dream
they ever have. That's what I hope for my children.
God would just break your dreams. My hope is that God would open
and expose your soul and show you the filth of your own nature. I pray he'll bring you to your
wit's end. And all who come to God by Christ,
listen, God will manifest himself to you. He will. This is what happened to Joseph
and his Joseph's brothers when they came, look at verse 1, and
Joseph could not refrain himself. Isn't that your experience in
grace? When God has brought you to the wit's end, when God has
showed you that only in Christ you can be saved, you come and
you are confessing your sins. You're like that prodigal son.
You've got your head down, you're confessing, you're thinking about
what you're going to confess. Oh, I've sinned against the heaven
and I've sinned against thee, and I should not be your son,
but I should be your servant. And he's rehearsing these things,
and all the while his head is down, the Father is running. And as soon as the father gets
there, he looks up and he said, Father, I've sinned against heaven.
He said, Shut up. Get the fatty calf and kill it.
Put the ring on his finger. Put the robe on him. And he fell
on his neck and he kissed his son. He could not refrain himself
any longer. Isn't that what it is when salvation
comes? That God runs. God runs. And notice what Joseph did here.
He revealed himself. He couldn't conceal himself any
longer. This is how it is when a sinner
comes to Christ. Surely, surely when a sinner comes to
Christ, he's afraid. But Joseph, notice what he said
to his brothers when he said, I am Joseph, the one you sold.
He said in verse 5, now therefore be not grieved or angry with
yourselves that you sold me. For God did send me before you
to preserve life. Believer, are you not often fearful? Do you know what nailed your
Savior to that cross? Wasn't it your sin? Doesn't that grieve you? You know what he says? Don't
let it grieve you. God sent me before you to preserve
your life. God sent me to preserve you.
God sent me to preserve your posterity. God sent Christ to
save us and all our salvation. Listen, He is responsible then
to save us. And everyone He has saved, listen,
I am confident this, He will call them. He will call them. Remember in 2 Timothy 1, 9 he
said, Who hath saved and called us. What's first? Saved. He saved us. He saved us in eternity in Christ.
He saved us when Christ came and paid for our sins. And He
saved us when He called us. He called us by the Holy Spirit.
And then we believed on Him. And listen, faith is necessary,
for without faith you cannot please God. Without faith you
cannot know you are in Christ. But faith is the result, not
the cause of our salvation. Faith is the gift of God. It
is the work of God. It is the evidence of our salvation
and election. And all true faith, listen, will
continue in this gospel that I just preached to you. This
gospel that I just preached, this gospel of the famine, the
ruin of man, the gospel of redemption, Christ being our surety, the
gospel of regeneration of the Holy Spirit. This is the gospel
we are rooted and grounded in. Why is it that these things in
this world should not trouble us? Because I'm rooted and grounded
in this gospel, in Christ. My foundation is not this kingdom,
is not this government, is not this people. My foundation is
Christ. My protection is not this army
that we have. My protection is Christ. My refuge
is not my works. My refuge is Christ. He's everything. Christ is all. He's all my salvation. And listen, we who come to Christ,
this is what He has. Look at verse 9. I'm getting
to close here. Verse 9. Joseph, after he revealed
himself and brought them in and told them to not be afraid, he
said this, Haste ye, and go up to my father and say unto him,
Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made him Lord over all Egypt. Come down to me and tarry not. Isn't that what Jesus tells us
who are saved? Make haste, go down and tell
Jacob of all my glory. Tell Jacob of my salvation. Isn't that what Christ tells
us to tell his elect? God hath made Christ both, made
him both Lord and Christ. Verse 10, he says this, thou
shalt dwell in the land of Goshen and thou shalt be near unto me.
Isn't that what he tells us? Believer, you shall dwell in
the best land. Goshen was the best land. Don't you know that you shall
dwell in the best land, heaven? Do you not seek a country that
is not of this world, not made with hands? We should be seeking
our heavenly home, Goshen, heaven. And you know what? We will be
near Christ. And thirdly, verse 11, he says,
I will nourish thee. For there are yet five years
of famine, lest thou and thy household come to poverty." Isn't
it amazing how this gospel continually nourishes our souls over and
over and over? This weekend, Paul Mahan preached
on Noah, and he made a good statement. He said, did you know that all
those animals in that ark ate the same food? Straw. The lion ate straw and the lamb
ate straw. The snail ate straw and the frog
ate straw. Everything that was in that ark
ate the same food. And it was against their nature.
Isn't that what it is for us in Christ? We are in Christ and
we're all maybe different in character. But I tell you this,
we all eat the same food against our nature. which is the gospel
of Jesus Christ, this food right here. He said, I will nourish
you. I will nourish you. In verse 12, he said, Behold,
your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it
is my mouth that speaketh. Who speaks this word? If any
of this word gets to your heart tonight, who speaks it? You bet
it came from the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. If
it did anything for your soul tonight, it will come from Him.
It is from His lips. And look at verse 13, And you
shall tell my father all my glory in Egypt, and of all you have
seen. And you shall hasten, bring down
my father hither. Are you not His witnesses? You
and I are His witnesses, aren't we? We should go and tell all
the glory of Christ. And notice in verse 21, and the
children of Israel did so. Isn't that what we do? All that
have come to Christ and received the grain of the gospel, we now
go out and we do what Christ tells us. We're obedient servants,
obedient children. even so tonight as I have done
to you as I have been instructed comfort ye comfort ye my people isn't everything I said your
experience it is if you're a believer in Christ you know the famine
of righteousness you've heard the gospel that God has a people
And you heard that the only hope for your salvation is Christ.
And how do you know that you can trust your soul to him, your
most precious soul? Because he is responsible to
save all his people. Therefore, we gladly trust him. We gladly rest on him. And through him we have all the
promises of God. Which are what? Yes and amen. They're yours in Christ. Will he not bring you home? Will
he fail? No. He stored this up long before
there was ever famine. and He'll give it to you. May
God bless this to your soul. Let's stand, we'll be dismissed
in prayer.