Alright, Brethren, if you will,
Genesis 42. Genesis 42. We're going to see, Lord willing, this morning,
the proving of true men. Joseph's going to declare to
his brothers they're spies. And then they're going to tell
the truth. Remember, as we're going through
Genesis' story of Joseph, there's no more wonderful picture of
Christ I see at times. What's your favorite book? Whichever
one I'm reading right now. What's your favorite verse? The
one I read this morning. But it's a beautiful picture of Christ. There's nothing negative about
it. You remember Joseph's dreams
back in Genesis 37, and he told his brothers, he said, I had
a dream. They was already mad at him, and it said they couldn't
say anything good to him. You ever been mad at somebody,
you can't even say nothing nice to them? Hit Sonny out, or I like your
shoes, you can't do that. They was mad at him, didn't like
him. And then he come to him, he said, let me tell you what
I dreamed. Y'all some sheaves, and my sheave was in a field,
and my sheave rose up, it was upright, and you're all sheaves,
they made obeisance, they bowed down to my sheave. Then they
got real mad, and they said, oh, I forgot I had another dream.
And the sun and the moon and 11 stars, they bowed down to
me, and Daddy heard it. And said, whoa, now, hold on,
that was fine when you was talking about your brothers, you mean
me and your mama's gonna bow down to you too? But he held on to
it, he didn't forget it, Jacob didn't forget that. Said he and
his brothers envied him and his father observed the same. His
father observed the same. And of course that went on, didn't
it? They got real mad at him and he went down to go check
on them and they threw him in a pit and sold him. Lied to their
father. But a few decades have passed
since Joseph dreamed those dreams and he told his family. He said,
y'all gonna bow down to me. And now Joseph, he's about 40
years old. 39, 40, maybe he's 43. Maybe
I counted wrong. He's about 40 years old, and
he's the prime minister of Egypt. He's in charge, and he's literally
the most powerful man on the face of the earth. If you're
going to eat, you're going to have to go to him. If you're
going to live, you're going to have to go to him. If you're going to
have those things, you have to do what he says. Pharaoh said
so. Whatever he says, that do ye.
Do it. It says here in Genesis 42, verse
1, Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt. Jacob said
unto his sons, Why do you look one upon another? He said, Behold,
I've heard that there's corn in Egypt. Get you down thither
and buy for us from thence, that we may live and not die. And
Joseph's ten brethren went down to buy corn in Egypt. Ten of
them went. But Benjamin, Joseph's brother,
is his full brother. Jacob sent not with his brethren,
for he said, Lest peradventure mischief befall him. He just preached the gospel to
them. There's corn, go to where there's
corn. And they said, but this is my favorite. And it's okay
if you all die, but I got to keep Benjamin. He's just a man
speaking to a man. And the sons of Israel came to
buy corn. Verse five, among those that came, for the famine was
in the land of Canaan. About two years and famine spread
worldwide. And Joseph was the governor over
all the land, over the land. And he was, and he, it was that
sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brethren came
and they bowed down themselves before him with their faces to
the earth. They didn't know Joseph. They
just knew it was some man down there that we got to go bow to.
He had a different name, but he knew who they were. He recognized
them. He saw him. He remembered those
dreams that the Lord gave him 20 years before. And he said,
it's coming to pass right now. Verse seven says, and Joseph
saw his brethren and he knew them. He knew them. This is more than 20 years passed
by, two decades, and he recognized, I know you. I recognized somebody
at the store yesterday, and I looked, we locked eyes, and I said, my
brain's telling me to say hi to you. And then about that time,
it clicked who he was. I said, oh, hi. And I just kept,
it was really awkward. This wasn't one of those things
where he just recognized, I know that face. I've seen you around somewhere.
It means more than that. It means he loved them. He saw
him, he said, that's my 10 brothers that threw me in a pit, and he
loved them. He loved them. We're gonna see
the gospel in this. He loved them. Joseph had right about
half his life, he's had 20 some years, 22 years, to think about
everything that was done to him. You know what they did to me?
And he had 20 some years to stew on it, and get madder about it,
and madder about it, and let me, if I could just get them
in front of me, I'm gonna give them a piece of my mind. Did
he do that? That's what I do. He loved them. He knew them. He loved them.
Does that remind you of our elder brother? Who has every reason
you can imagine to be angry with us, yet he loved us. Verse seven,
and Joseph saw his brethren and he knew them, but he made himself
strange unto them. They didn't know who he was.
And he spake roughly to them. And he said unto them, whence
come ye? And they said, from the land of Canaan to buy food.
And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew him not. They knew
not him. And Joseph remembered the dreams
which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, you are spies.
To see the nakedness of the land, ye are come. You're just here
to see our weaknesses and to exploit that for your own benefit,
to come get what you can get and go. You're an enemy. And
they said unto him, nay, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants
come. They said, we're all one man's sons, our true men, we
are true men. Thy servants are no spies. And
he said unto them, nay, but to see the nakedness of the land,
ye are come. And they said, thy servants are
12 brethren, the son of one man in the land of Canaan, and behold,
the youngest is this day with our father, and one's not. They said, we got another brother,
there's 10 of us, there's 12 total, one's with our father,
Benjamin, he's the youngest, he ain't come today. And one's
not, one's dead. And Joseph said unto them, that
is it that I spake unto you, saying, ye are spies. Hereby
shall ye be proved. I'm gonna prove you're spies
or not. He knew they wasn't spies. He knew them, he loved them,
and he knew them. He actually knew who they were. He knew while
he was there, famines across all the land, you're there to
get food. I know, you might have been mad at me, but they knew
their character, didn't they? They knew everything about him.
That's his brothers. He rose out of the flesh, but
he's gonna prove to them. He said, you say you ain't spies.
We'll see about that. By the life of Pharaoh, you shall
not go forth hence except your youngest brother come hither.
Send one of you and let him fetch your brother, you bring Benjamin,
that you shall be kept in prison, that your words may be proved.
Whether there be any truth in you, or else by the life of Pharaoh,
surely you're spies. You're going to go fetch Benjamin
and bring him to me, and we'll see if what you're telling is
the truth. And if you've lied a little bit, you've lied at
everything. You get that? If you've offended one, you've
offended the whole lot. He said, we'll find out. And he put them all together
into ward three days. He knew these brethren, he loved
them, he knew they weren't spies, and he's gonna prove to them
that his dream 22 years ago, his prophecy, his word that he
told them, he's gonna prove to them that it's true. He spoke
harshly to them when he first said it. You're a cheat. That's
mean. No, it ain't. No, it ain't. This is perfection and wise,
isn't it? You consider that. Joseph told them to fetch their
precious beloved brother, his full brother. And they heard
this covenant. They heard these conditions,
right? And then he immediately put them in prison. They couldn't
perform it. We're going to prove you're spies. Well, you won't
even give me the chance to get out of here and go get be mad. Wouldn't I? They thought that
was going to be executed. I said, here, he gave his condition.
We're going to die. The tables have turned. We thought he was
coming down to get corn. Everybody else seemed to be pretty happy
and fed. Verse 18, and Joseph said unto them the third day,
this do and live for I fear God. He's speaking to them in the
Egyptian tongue. And there's, this is all through
an interpreter and they speak Hebrew. And he said, I fear God. That doesn't mean I'm a good
Christian. I'd rather bump into a good mechanic than a good Christian,
and what these words mean nowadays don't mean nothing. It's hogwash. He's not saying, oh, I'm a believer. He said, I fear God. I fear the
God of Abraham, Isaac, and your daddy, Jacob. The God. Who is this man speaking to us?
You see the confusion here? There's like, there's despair
and hopelessness and they think they're going to die and they're
being accused of being spies. And this would speak to him harshly.
And he says, I know God. I honor God, the true and living
God. That's a tumultuous experience.
That's not a decision that had to be saved by Jesus to let him
in, let him be the copilot of your plane or whatever. This
is the Lord saving people. He's 10 sons of Jacob. They're
in a foreign land, a foreign tongues being spoke, the man
that's in charge of everything in the midst of all these strangers
and this troubling event. He says, I honor the true and
living God. Or Bill looked at next week by
itself, but they said in verse 19, if ye be true men, let one
of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison. Go
ye carry corn for the famine to your houses, but bring your
youngest brother unto me. So shall your words be verified
and you shall not die. And they did. So he said, you
leave one of them here, the rest of y'all provide for you, take
some corn. So nobody perishes and you go get your younger brother
and bring him to me. And I did. So they started packing right
then. And when they were packing up, they were speaking Hebrew
to one another. They didn't know Joseph could understand these things.
Verse 21. And they said one to another,
we are barely guilty concerning our brother. in that we saw the
anguish of his soul when he besought us, and we would not hear. Therefore is this distress come
upon us." They didn't know that was Joseph. It's been two decades. Who made that effectual in them
to remember that against Joseph and Joseph alone that they sinned?
And they wouldn't hear. They wouldn't listen to him. The Lord did that, didn't he? What does he work in our hearts?
When He comes to us and speaks harshly and says, you're a sinner
against the Holy God. We see our imprisonment in this
body of death. And then He says, do this and
live. You're gonna believe the words I say. That's what's gonna
happen. We remember, against thee and
thee only have I sinned. It says in verse 22, And Reuben
answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not
sin against the child, and ye would not hear? Therefore, behold,
also his blood is required. Didn't I tell you? Remember 22
years ago I told you? I told you so. I told you not to put
him down in that pit. Now there's infighting, isn't
there? Verse 23, And they knew not that Joseph understood them,
for he spake unto them by an interpreter. He's hearing everything
they're saying, and he's hearing This revelation's in them. Against
their brother, they did this, and it was their doing, and they're
guilty. It starts sounding like they're
spies, ain't it? They're finally telling the truth.
And he sees this work in them, and that blood's required because
of that. And somebody warned them, and
we wouldn't hear. We wouldn't hear him, and we wouldn't hear
the messenger of him. And here's what Joseph did, verse
24. And he turned himself about from them and wept, and returned
to them again, returned to them again and communed with them.
And he took from them Simeon and bound him before their eyes.
This one is Joseph's watching this take place as he's hearing
everything. He knows everything, sees everything going on. And
he sees that conviction of sin. They said, this is, we did this
against Joseph. He turned and he wept. He turned and he wept. Our Lord wept, didn't he? True
men don't cry. Well, you don't know what a true
man is. You ain't never bumped into one. Maybe God'll make you
one one day. Our Lord wept at the tomb of Lazarus. And he said,
I say likewise, this is in Luke 15 verse seven. I say unto you
that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth. Are they repenting here? More
than 99 just persons. People that think they're doing
pretty good, well, I ain't rejoicing over that. They don't need repentance.
These do. That's tears of joy. They're
rejoicing. And it says, he wept and returned to them again and
communed with them. In Luke 15, 2, the reason he
was saying that parable is because them Pharisees and scribes, they
murmured. They murmured, saying, this man receiveth sinners and
eateth with them. He sits down and eats with sinners.
He'll pick up a sandwich and take a bite off of your sandwich
after you took a bite off of it. Who could hear such a man?
Don't he know that that's bad people? He ought to clean up
his living, clean up outside of his cup. And the Lord said,
if one sinner repents, there's joy in heaven. Tears of joy are
shed. Tears of joy. That's what happens to us. The
Lord comes to us. He loved us. He knew us before
we ever knew Him. He reveals to us what we are,
and that hurts. It's not winning the lottery and doing cartwheels.
There's some pain involved, some snot's involved. It's a myth,
because it's like a natural birth. When somebody's born, it can
get messy. And He considered us in our frame,
and He returned to us, and He communed with us. revealed himself
to us, doesn't he? And he commanded them. Look here
in verse 25. Then Joseph commanded to fill
their sacks with corn. All provision that they need,
it's a commandment is made. And to restore every man's money
to his sack. Restore everything. And to give
them provision for the way. And thus he did unto them. Give
them what they need. Give them everything that was
lost to them in the garden. and then some, and provide for
them the whole way." Who's he doing this for? Ten brothers
that threw him in a pit, sold him, and then faked his death
to their father. What a shame to do that to your
father, wearing a bloody coat that he gave to him. That's who
Joseph is doing this to. That's us. That's what the Lord
did to us. That's grace, unmerited favor. We'll get a bit here, that ain't
just a doctor, that's a person doing this. This is really, we
experience these things, don't we? Verse 26, and they loaded
up their asses with the corn and departed thence. And as one
of them opened the sacks to give his ass preventer, to feed the
animal, in the end, he espied this money. For behold, it was
in the sack's mouth. And he said unto his brethren,
my money is restored. He gave us corn and he gave us
provision on the way, and the money's there. I didn't pay anything
for this. I ain't out of pocket nothing.
Get that? And lo, it's even in my sack,
and their heart failed them. It burned within them. I don't
know if I'm exploding or crushing or imploding or exploding. Oh,
their heart failed them, and they were afraid. Say one to
another, what is this that God hath done unto us? God's done
this. All the provision you have, and
the salvation that you have, and the life that you have, and
the restoration that you have, and regeneration that you have,
who did that? God did it. Who we bow down before? God. Who we worship? God. This
is Him. Look back, this is truth. You
get that? They said, verily, truly, we're
guilty. He's done everything good. And
I just, as I learn more, I'm just more amazed. I don't even
know what to say. My heart just fails within me. I don't know what
to do. Clap some days and cry the others. It's something, man. That's telling
the truth. God did this. That's telling
the truth. Look back at verse 11. Genesis 42, verse 11. So we are all one man's son. That's the bifocal truth of that
too, isn't it? Every one of us, all have sinned.
We're all born Adam, ain't we? And if we're born of God, we're
all born of God. We have one father, one faith, one baptism,
one birth. We have one father. We are true
men. Thy servants are no spies. Spies
are true men. Which one is it? What's the difference
in the two? Spies, they go in and they observe. They find fault, they find weakness,
and they take food. They don't receive it, they take
it. But they take it in an unjust way. They do it on their own
terms. That's a sad thing. You know,
I see people go to church, church, church, church, and they find
fault with this one and this one and this one and this one are the Lord's
preachers, true preachers. Well, I don't want that one.
I don't want that one. I don't want that one. They just go in and looking and
they're looking for something wrong. And they do it on their own terms.
I'm going to eat, but it's going to be the way I want it. That's
called salvation by works. That's death. It's going to be
on their terms. There are those that are in place
where the Lord's people are fed. where that bread of life is declared
and put forth, and the storehouses are opened, but they only observe
and critique and look for fault. It's sad when that happens. The
Lord said it's to be so. But some come here, regardless
of the spies, and they need food for their souls. If you're starving
to death, and you say, You got to go down there, but there's
gonna be some people there that ain't there to eat in the right manner. I
don't care. I got to eat. You might get your
finger stepped on. Well, step on my finger. I need
the food. It might be too hot or too cold or too short or too
long. I don't care. I need the food. And then sometimes they're spies.
Every new creation that the Lord makes in his people, it's the
true man, the true woman. It deals in truth. It knows Christ,
the truth. And they have no guile in them.
None. And they know he's on his throne,
that God's done this. They just eat. They just take
it, don't they? But there's those that don't
deal in truth. They deal in theories and ideas and hypotheticals and
doctrines, plural. The sovereignty of God. There
is an almighty sovereign God on his throne. And it's one thing
to agree that the Bible states that God's on his throne and
that's right. He gets to do what he wants and
those things. It's a completely other thing
to love the God that's sovereign. That makes me happy. I'm glad
he is who he is. I'm glad he's on his throne.
Those spies, like those demons, the Lord came to them, they saw
him, and they said, leave us alone, what do we have to do
with thee, Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us?
I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. Well, what a
declaration. That was a demon that was speaking
to him. James said, thou believest there's
one God? You do well, good job. The devils believe, and they
tremble. It's one thing not to just give mental assent that
God's sovereign, but to bow to a sovereign God and to worship
Him and thank Him for it. That's the difference between
spies and true men, true women. They say with Nebuchadnezzar,
all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. He doeth
according to his will in the army of heaven and among the
inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or say
to him, what doest thou? What are you doing? You can't
say that. And we rejoice about it. That's
not a cold stoic fact, that's a person! And he loved me first
and knew me first and now he's revealed himself and I know him! Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? Oh, ain't that comfort? All the horrible things that
happen in a daily life. We was getting, this week has
been rough, and then it got rougher, and then I had not sleep, we
didn't sleep much, and then it got rougher, and then my windshield
got cracked in my car, but thankfully we went home and Kimberly got
jury duty in the mail. It was just one thing after another.
And you just wanna go, ah, and give up. I'm just gonna lay on
the ground right here in the driveway and quit. Shall not the judge
of the earth do right? He's on his throne. All right,
I'll walk back from the mailbox. Lord gave you jury duty, it's
fine. And be happy about it. Not stoic facts, total depravity.
It's one, I'm gonna go through all of them, hold on. It's one
thing to agree that Paul wrote in Romans. There's all sin comes
short of the glory of God. There's none good, no. No, not
one. Well, what about, no, not that
either. It's one thing that says mankind
is sinful. man of sinners and that one over
there is a sinner and everybody else is sinners, right? It's
a whole nother thing to know that I'm depraved. I'm the sinner. Are you? Is this cold stoic fact? Is it something you read in a
textbook? Or has God showed you what you are that barely I'm
guilty against my elder brother that I threw in a pit and killed
him if I could? We hung him on a cross. We all cried out crucify
him. Well, Peter didn't know, but
he denied him to a teenage girl, which in essence is crying out
crucify him. And he tread that winepress alone
because of what I am. Because of me, because he knew
me first. And he had a long time to think about it. He was still
gracious. That's the truth, isn't it? It's
true, but it's what we are. Here's a true man's confession,
verse 21. And they said one to another, verily, we are guilty
concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul. And when he besought us, we esteemed
him not. And we would not hear. We would
not. Well, we couldn't hear. Yeah,
you couldn't hear and you would not either. Therefore, because
of all this, is this distress come upon us." That's it. That's
the root. You know, that same truth, that
true man spoke in David. And every true man or woman from
then on, that new creation that God puts in us, declares it plainly. Not just some fact that we know,
but we know it to be true, we've experienced it. For I acknowledge
my transgressions and my sin as ever before. Me, I ain't talking
nobody else. This is one-on-one. Against thee
and thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight,
that thou mayest be justified when thou speakest, and clear
when thou judgest." Lord God Almighty came down, killed me
now, and sent me to hell for eternity. It's right. If I'm
standing alone, I'm standing by myself. That would be just. But he also, in perfect wisdom,
justified. And so now it's just, it's right
and it's mandatory that I'm saved because all my sin was put on
my substitute. Sovereign God turned his back
on a sovereign God because of me. His face was marred more
than the visage of any man because it looked like Kevin Factor.
You say that too, don't you? You tell the truth, say that's
me. I'm a chief of senators. That's cute, Paul. I know what
you mean, but you ain't been inside of my head for 10 minutes.
election the spies of the pharisees is there a pharisee alive there
was there a member of the sanhedrin that didn't believe in election
maybe that ain't the ticket to having you ducks in a row and
going to heaven well we believe election that's there's a time
in my life i fought it hard as a teenager i was right and i
was going to heaven because i believed in election big difference between
that and loving the god of election loving the one we are in, the
elect, Christ the elect, and he is our only hope, and he is
our only desire, and it's to be found in him. That's a little
different than a doctrine, isn't it? It's a person. Behold my
servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. I've put my spirit upon him,
and he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. Yes, that's
something, isn't it? Atonement. I heard a man say
one time, he goes, I believe in unlimited, limited atonement.
I said, I don't even want to ask you what that means. I'll
just keep on walking. Just didn't say it, it confused
me. I'd hate to try to hear the word salad that come out after
that. Atonement. Spies may acknowledge that the
blood of Jesus washes away sin, and it's flippant. And I've heard
cartoonish things like, well, I just gotta rub a little more
blood on me today. You better mind your mouth. You know what
you are and who you're talking about, whose blood it is you're
talking about? At best, they think it's a golden parachute.
Well, we're good. Lord died for us. Jesus died
for us. That's what spies say. True men
are eternally grateful of that payment that was accepted, that
redemption by the blood. Peter said, for as much as you
know, you were not redeemed with corruptible things. such as silver
and gold from the vain conversations you receive by the traditions
of your fathers. That's what we just looked at last hour, wasn't
it? It passes on through their generations. They do what they're
told, what they're brought. You know, you ain't safe from
that, some old wives tell, but with the precious blood of Christ,
as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, it's precious.
Why is it precious? The value of it. Do you know
the value of that? It was enough to buy me. and
you and you and you and whoever believes and throughout time
as the sand of the sea. That's a lot. That's what it's
worth. And it's precious because of
whose it is. That's a man just like me, my
kinsman, and it's my redeemer. And only God can do that. That's
the God man. Made himself with no reputation.
Come down here and be made a man like me and walk this sin-cursed
earth and do all these things that knew me and knew about this
for a long time and then abundantly shed his blood for me. Irresistible grace. Spies say the father draws people.
That's what it says the sheep come to him and there's there's
hedges or something and Hosea and you know, he does these things
he's trying to get you to to come and There's a lot of big
fancy words and semi-pledgery ism or something. Oh, it's nonsense
My friend said this one time I think it's a quote of a quote,
but he said it's one thing to believe in irresistible grace
It's another thing to find grace to irresistible Irresistible
grace. That's what the God comes down.
He said no he he's gracious and I gotta have it That one with
the issue of blood. She said that's God and he comes
safe sinners. I'm sinner. I'm gonna touch him
We don't have to crawl down through that multitude. I'll crawl on
my hands and knees. I don't care You might get kicked and get
bruised. I'll just have to get kicked to bruise I'm gonna touch him
if I just touch the hem of his garb if a string just dangling off
that garment I could touch it That's all it'll take He's gracious,
and I have to have him. I have to have him. That grace
is irresistible. These are not just biblical facts. It's little bits of bread that
are absolutely necessary for the life of a true man and a
true woman. Spies can draw maps about it and paint pictures about
it and do cartoons about it and all this other stuff. A true
man, a true woman of God is a new creation. It's vital because
it's life. They show the person and the
work of that person that's all things to us wretches. That's necessary. You read Donnie's
article there in the Bulletin? It says, God's people must have
the truth for they are begotten of it, therefore they love it.
You go listen to something else? In good sense, in good biblical
order, I can't encourage anyone to go listen to a false gospel.
And that's just the right thing, that's wise. And then I just
said in emotions, why would I want to? There ain't no good news,
it's bad news. So God's people must have the
truth for they have forgotten of it, therefore they love it,
though it often cuts to the very heart. Do their hearts fail in
them? Are hearts burned sometimes? And, ah, see what I am. It hurts. Does he speak strongly
to us sometimes? He does. They also hunger and
thirst after Rochester's because they are aware of how desperate
their need is of it. And we're destitute. It's necessity. True man, those that deal in
truth, cross the truth. They speak truthfully. Those
that are true, they, they are known and they are loved before
they ever know their brother. And then they love him. Verse
7, Genesis 42, 7 says, And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew
them, but he made himself strange unto them and spake roughly to
them. And he said to them, Whence come ye? And they said, We're
from the land of Canaan to buy food. True men are made to have
truth proved to them. Did Joseph know if they were
spies? Children, of course, they know he's gonna prove it to them
or someone prove my word to you Is that does he try to figure
it out? No, he's proving it to us It's
there hits right and I believe it and I've read it and you know
what? That's brand-new it and Ezekiel says I'm gonna send you
to your own land Does that mean that we're going everybody's
gonna have their own parcels? Everybody gets 40 acres. No, that's our
rightful place to be He's proved that to us They're made to have it proved
to them. The truth about our sin, the truth about Christ's power,
the truth about His graciousness, His justice, His merit, everything. Seems harsh at first, but boy,
that's loving and kind. That's loving. True men and women,
they have communion with the Lord because the Lord communes
with them. He ain't waiting somewhere and
we got to go down there and get to him. And he comes to us. And it's his doing and we know
it. Verse 24. This is 4 to 24. And Joseph turned himself about
from them, and he wept. And he returned to them again
and communed with them." Communed with them. The Lord didn't just
record this as a good moral story, how to get along with your brothers
and sisters, and now you go sit down and eat with them. This
is Christ communing with us, isn't it? True men and women,
they're saved, they're restored, and they're given provision on
the command of Christ alone. not by doing or begging or anything
else, by his command were provided for and saved. Look at verse
25. And Joseph, then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn
and to restore every man's money into his sack and give them provision
for the way. And thus did he unto them. He
commanded it. Well, who did it? He did it.
He commanded it. He performed it. True men and
women have their heart fail. when they see the abundant mercies,
the generosities of our King to us. We barely, truly, we know
what guilt we are. And we see how abundant His grace
is to us. And our heart fails, doesn't
it? It just breaks your heart. Verse 28. And he said unto his
brethren, My money is restored, and, lo, it is even in my sack,
and their heart failed them. And they were afraid, they honored,
and said one to another, What is this that God has done to
us? True men and women, not spies.
Spies will do it for a season, maybe. True men and women, everything
that happens, What we call good, bad, and ugly. Because we don't
know the difference. Everything that happens, the
Lord did it. He's done it to us. And we honor
him for it, don't we? Well, the story goes on. We'll
look again at him saying, I fear God. I know God. Next week, maybe
a week after, we'll see the rest of this chapter. I pray as a
blessing to you. Let's pray together. Father, thank you. For this picture of Christ and
how we are and how he is, the faithfulness of our Redeemer,
the loving kindness and the patience and the long suffering and anything
that's good. Lord, thank you. Keep us in him. Don't make these things become
just another line on line and an old hat and tire some worse
into us or grieve us. Make us know it's safe and it's
precious. The person of our salvation. Lord, forgive us. Forgive us
for what we are and our doubt and worrying and looking to the
world. Strengthen us as you see fit. Keep us as you promised
you will, Lord. It's because of Christ we ask
these things. Amen.