Alright, this is such a wonderful
story of how our Lord takes care of His people while they're in
this world. Egypt represents the world, always
has. and how our Lord owns this world. It belongs to Him, and He gives
what everyone receives. They receive it from the hands
of the Lord, and He gives His people the best of the land,
the best, spiritually best. And I believe this is surely
a prophecy of the end times, these last days of drought, famine,
failure of money, want, people being in want, but
not his people. Never. They shall not want for
anything truly good. Verse 11, Joseph placed his father
and his brethren gave them possession of the land of Egypt, the best
of the land, the land of the kings, Ramses, as Pharaoh had
commanded. And he nourished his father and
his brethren and all his father's household with bread according
to their family. Joseph placed his brethren. Did not our Lord say, I go to
prepare a place for you? And if I go, I'll come again
and receive you to myself. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. Many dwelling places. There's
room for every son of Jacob reserved. And when Christ sat down at the
right hand of the majesty on high, that's the place that our
great high priest took. That's where God put him. Scripture
says we're seated with him in the heaven. We have a place.
We have a place. And it's not a house made with
hands, but it's eternal in the heavens. And it's the best. It's
the best. It's the land of kings. No better. It's the best. It's the brightest.
It's the most glorious. It's the kingdom of God's dear
Son. And brothers and sisters, as He is, so are we now, Scripture
said, in this world. Right now. You are in right now the best
that this land has to offer. You are right now in the land
of Goshen. You're where Christ dwells, where
His people dwell, only the sons of Jacob. were in the land of
Goshen. Only Israelites, the Jews, were
in the land of Goshen. And that's where Joseph was. That's where he resorted to his
people. And Jacob and his sons were literally
placed in the best land in Egypt, and so are we. This place, the
church, the kingdom of God, though it is invisible to the world. The Egyptians, they lived in
town, you know. They lived in all the finery
and all that. They lived in the middle of Egypt and they thought,
those Jacobites, all those Israelites out there, those country people. They were without the camp. They
were out in the country. Well, that's where God was. That's
where Joseph went. And God's fold is His church. And it's a place set apart by
Joseph, a land of plenty in a time of famine. And we're all being
nourished and protected and hedged about. It's kind of like, well,
it is like Rahab that told her family, don't leave the house.
Or Moses told his family, Don't leave the house, or your blood
will be on your own heads. But right where we are, the blood
of Christ is on us. Now, in the beginning, this is
the book of Genesis. In Exodus, it says God put a
difference between the Egyptians and His people. Plainly says
that. God made a difference. He made
them to differ. Who maketh thee to differ? God
put a difference. His people were blessed. The
Egyptians were cursed. But that didn't begin in Egypt.
I mean, in Exodus it began here. It clearly began to show us that
God put a difference between His people, His chosen people,
sons of Jacob, sons of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the people
of the world. And the title of this and the
subject of this whole message is that God's people are nourished
while the world fails and is in famine. Because the Lord is
our shepherd, we shall not want for rest. He makes us to lie
down. We shall not want for food, for water, for drink, because
He makes us to lie down in green pastures and beside the still
waters. We shall not want for direction. He leads us. He leads us in paths
of righteousness. We shall not want for safety.
Fear not. I am with you. We shall not want
for companions. He is with us. We shall not want
for sustenance. He has prepared us a table. We
shall not want for refreshment. He restoreth our soul. He anointeth
our head with oil. We shall not want for protection. Surely, goodness and mercy will
follow us. And we shall not want for an
eternal dwelling place. will dwell in the house of the
Lord forever. Why? Because like Joseph, our
Lord is our nourisher, our protector, our shepherd. And like Joseph
and his brethren, look at verses Well, verse 12 says, I'll nourish
you. There's exceeding great and precious
promises given to us, as Peter wrote, that we might escape the
corruption that's in the world through lust. That we might be
partakers of His nature. Read with me verses 13 through
19. There's no bread in all the land. The famine was very sore
so that the land of Egypt Oh, the land of Canaan fainted by
reason of the famine. Joseph gathered up all the money
that was found in the land of Canaan for the corn which they
bought, and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house. And
when money failed in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan,
all the Egyptians came unto Joseph and said, Give us bread. But why should we die in thy
presence? For the money faileth." Joseph said, give your cattle,
I'll give you for your cattle. if money failed. And they brought
their cattle unto Joseph. And Joseph gave them bread in
exchange for horses and for flocks and for the cattle of the herd
and for asses. What does that tell us about
the thing we must live upon? Bread. That's the one thing needful. We don't need cattle, horses,
all of this, but we've got to have living bread. And he fed them with bread for
all their cattle for that year. Read on. Verse 18, When that
year was ended, they came unto him the second year, and said
unto him, We will not hide it from our Lord, how that our money
is spent. Our Lord also hath our herds
of cattle. There is not aught left in the
sight of my Lord, but our bodies and our lands. Wherefore shall
we die before thine eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our
land for bread. and we and our land will be servants
unto Pharaoh. And give us seed that we may
live and not die, that the land be not desolate." I used to think
that the world would be in prosperity until the very end. I don't think
that anymore. I shouldn't have thought that,
except I thought I understood as in the days of Noah and the
days of Lot where they were eating and drinking, buying and selling,
marrying and giving and marrying, building, planting and all of
that. And those things will go on to a great extent no matter
what, but every major kingdom Every major kingdom in the history
of the world has failed. It's come crashing down, every
one of them. Every economy has come down, has failed. Every
world power has been destroyed and defeated. Egypt, Babylon,
Persians, Medes and Persians, the Assyrians, the Philistines,
the Romans, Israel, in America, it's got to happen. A godless nation will be destroyed. That's going to happen. Godless
nations will be destroyed, but especially those nations who
forget God, like Israel, who become apostate, like America. And God gives him over, and then
he's going to destroy it. He's going to end it. I don't
say this to scare us, but to warn us and to prepare us. That's
what Isaiah did. All the prophets warned Israel,
it's coming down. It's coming down. Why? Covetousness. Idolatry. Sin against the Lord. It's all coming down. And so,
I'd be a false prophet if I said otherwise. And I don't say this
to scare us, but actually to comfort us. Because this message
is a comfort to God's people. God's people are going to be
kept no matter what. God's people are going to be
fed and nourished and protected no matter what. Come hell or
high water. It's always been that way. If
you want to turn with me to a few Scriptures, you can. Psalm 34,
it's always good to turn. I don't mind telling you, I spend
sometimes a long time looking for Scriptures for you. Psalm
34, it's always good to look at something as well as hear
it. It's always good to read it to yourself instead of somebody
read it for you. Look at it. Psalm 34, verse 8
says, Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. No matter what
He does, He's good, isn't He? If He takes everything away from
us, He's still good, isn't He? Blessed is the man that trusts
in Him. Oh, fear the Lord, ye His saints.
There's no want that's lack. There's no lack to them that
fear Him. The young lions do lack and suffer hunger. Now consider
with me the divine irony here. You know what the symbol of Egypt
was, don't you? The lion. If you go over there
now, you'll see two great big fenixes or lions with man's head
on them. In those ancient lands with all
the ruins. The lions do lack, but they that
seek the Lord shall not want any good. Psalm 37, go over here, Psalm
37. David, you know this psalm, fret
not yourself, trust in the Lord. A little while, you're going
to see everything crashing down. and our God coming down to get
us. Hebrews says, once more I shake
the earth. I'm going to shake this whole
planet like He did when Christ was on the cross, like He did
many times before, like He did when Christ arose. And when Christ
arises from His throne and comes here, He says, once more I'm
going to shake this whole planet that those things that cannot
be shaken or removed will remain. Who's that? Those that stand
on the rock. Look at Psalm 37, verse 20. The wicked shall perish. The
enemies of the Lord will be as fat as lamb. They'll be fattened
for the slaughter. They'll be consumed in the smoke.
Verse 21, the wicked borroweth. You see, they don't have anything. They don't own anything. They're
borrowing it. And pay not again. They don't
pay God what He's due. That's thanksgiving. The righteous
do. Shows mercy and giving. Such
as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth. The new earth. Those
that be cursed of him shall be cut off. The steps of a good
man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way.
Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down. The Lord
upholdeth him with His hand. I have been young, and now am
old. David saw it all, didn't he? Dirt, drought, famine, destruction,
pestilence. Yet have I not seen the righteous
forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. He is ever merciful and
lendeth, and his seed is blessed." Verse 29, the righteous shall
inherit the land and dwell therein forever, just like Joseph's brethren. He nourished them in a time of
famine when everybody lost everything, not Jacob's sons. Isaiah 43. Look at this with me. Isaiah
43, oh my. Verse 1, Now thus saith the Lord
that created thee, O Jacob, he that formed thee, O Israel, fear
not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name.
Thou art mine. When thou passest through the
waters, I will be with thee. Through the rivers, They shall
not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned. Ask Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee, for I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel,
thy Savior. I gave Egypt for thy ransom,
Ethiopia and Seba for thee, since thou wast precious. in my sights. I have loved you. I gave men
for you and people for you." One more, would you turn one
more? Isaiah 65. Isaiah 65. Isaiah wrote a hundred
years before Israel was taken captain in the battle. And the
whole of Isaiah is Warning them, it's coming down. Israel's idolatrousness is coming
down. But God's people have a Redeemer. There'll be a tenth, he said.
There's a tenth. Those that fear the Lord. A remnant. And Isaiah 65, 11 says of these
that forget Forsake the Lord, forget my holy
mountain. Down in verse 12, I'll number
you to the sword. You'll bow to the slaughter.
Verse 13, Behold, my servant, thus saith the Lord, my servant
shall eat. You'll be hungry. My servant shall drink. You shall
be thirsty. My servants shall rejoice. You
shall be ashamed. My servants shall sing for joy
of heart. You'll cry for sorrow of heart
and howl for vexation of spirit. You shall leave your name for
a curse. My servants, oh, called by another name. Verse 16, Because
he who blesseth himself in the earth, those who are truly blessed
right now in this earth are not the rich and the famous, but
the poor. and the meek and the needy. And
they will bless themselves in the God of truth. And he that
sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth. And the
former troubles will be forgotten. He had from his eye created new
heavens and a new earth. Oh, we could keep reading, couldn't
we? Jacob's life is a testimony to God's praise, the praise of
the glory of His grace. Everything Jacob had was given
to him. Remember where he started? With
his head on a rock. That's a good place to start.
But he didn't have anything. He was alone. He was running
scared. Little did he know, he's running into the arms of his
Lord. 147 years he never wanted And in spite of all the troubles
that he got himself into, in spite of all the pain and the
suffering he caused and it was brought upon him, in spite of
all the sin and the sufferings and the sorrows and the wickedness
of his children, it was all for God's glory and all for His good. And it was all mercy to bring
him to the Son where he would dwell all the days of his life. Verse 13 says there was no bread
in all the land. There was a famine in all the
land of Egypt. And does not Amos chapter 8 verse
11 say, in the last days there will be a famine? But not of
bread, but of the hearing of the Word. It says you have to
go a long way to find it. You have more Bibles now, but
less preaching of the truth. The famine of the hearing of
the Word. But we're not in famine. Oh, we feast on fat things and
whine on the lean, well-refined, well-defined. The Word of God,
the bread of God from heaven. Christ is the bread. In Goshen, they're nourished. Verse 14 says, all the money
failed. He gathered up all the money,
and now all the money belonged to Joseph. You know what Haggai
2, verse 8 says? Our Lord says, I don't need your
money. He said, all the gold and the
silver and all the mines is mine. It's all His money. His money. Whatever anybody gets, I get
it from Him. They didn't earn it. He freely
gave it to them. Whatever it is, a man can receive
nothing except to be given him from above. Every gift comes
down from above. Verse 15 says, when money failed,
they said, give us bread. Why would we die? Give us bread. You know, silver and gold won't
redeem us, will it? Silver and gold won't redeem
us. The most precious commodity on planet earth is bread. No one can live without bread, and yet our Lord defined that. more clearly by saying, it's
not the bread you put in your body, but it's the bread that
comes from above. And this is what man needs to
live by. Would that more people would
cry out for this bread. Give us the bread from heaven
like they said to our Lord. Lord, give us this bread. We're
not hungry again. He said, I'm the bread. I'd like
to hear somebody ask me that right now. I'm so hungry. Feed me. Verse 16 and 17, Joseph
said, Give your cattle, and I'll give. If you give your cattle,
if money fail you. And they brought their cattle
unto Joseph. And he gave them bread in exchange for their horses
and flocks and herds and asses. What does Psalm 50 say? We'll
go there. Psalm chapter 50. Let's look
at it. See what it says. So few people
know or believe these, read these verses or believe these verses.
We do. We know them by heart. Bless
God. Psalm 50 verse 9 says, you have
it? Psalm 50 verse 9 says, I'll take
no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy flock.
Every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand
hills. What this story is telling us,
what is things you know already, that the earth is the Lord's
and the fullness thereof, the world, And they that dwell therein,
everything and everyone belongs to him. All souls are mine, he
said. Shall not I do with my own what
I will, he said. Cattle on a thousand hills, verse
11, I know all the fowls of the mountain, wild beasts of the
field. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee. The world is mine
and the fullness thereof. What does this say about any
preacher who stands up and tells human beings who tells poor beggars,
God needs you. He's a false prophet. Whoever
says that, at any time, God needs your money. You don't have any
money. It's His money. You know what
this says? All the gold and the silver. I've seen this before. It was a sign in one of these
false places out near the lake. They were building some gymnasium
or something. And it said out front on their
sign, if there are any bricklayers out there, God needs your help. God said, where were you when
I laid the foundations of the earth? Anybody, do not be yet without
understanding that if there's any fellow or woman standing
up, telling men and women how much God needs them, what God
wants from them, and God can't do anything without them, and
tell them that they can do something for God, is a false prophet. And anybody that believes that
believes an idol. and is lost. That's not too hard.
It's just real plain. It's just real plain. That's
just the way it is. It's another God. And most of
you know because you were in that, that's exactly what you
thought until God showed you Himself and revealed to you that
everything you are and have is by His grace. Even your knowledge
of Him was revealed to you. And it says money failed, and
this is the beginning, Genesis. So I believe, and it seems very
clear throughout the course of history, that major societies
will fail. It's all going to fail. Our country,
and I don't want to go into this, but it's living on credit right
now. It's got to fail. It's got to. But he shall not fail, nor shall
we be in want. And I know it will be the best
thing to ever happen. It will be the best. Especially
to the church. The early church that went through
such trials and persecutions that we have yet to experience.
It was for their good. It was for the furtherance of
the Gospel. For the spreading of the Gospel. So that all the
world would see, you know, there's one thing we need. Mercy. Mercy. We need this gospel. So it all failed. It all failed. And money was spent, and they
said, all we've got left is us. Isn't that good? I wish more people came to that
conclusion. Don't you? Everything I have and own and
is has failed. All I've got is me. Just take
ownership of me. Verse 19 in our text, look at
this, verse 19, Genesis 47 says, Why shall we die before thine
eyes? Buy us. Oh my. Shall we say that? Lord, we don't want to die. Redeem
us. Redeem us. Give us seed. May
our seed live and not die. Listen to Ezekiel. No, better
yet, turn to Ezekiel. One more Scripture, okay? And
then we'll close it out in Genesis. Ezekiel 18. I've been reading
Ezekiel. Ezekiel 18. Look at this. Oh, this is so good. Ezekiel
18, verse 21. You have it? Ezekiel 18, verse 21, "...if
the wicked turn from all his sins that he hath committed,
and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right,
he shall surely live." He shall not die. All the transgressions
he's committed will not be mentioned. It won't bring it up again. That he'll live. Have I any pleasure
at all that the wicked should die, saith the Lord, and not
that he should return from his ways and live? Turn. Verse 31. Go down here. Cast away from
you all your transgressions. Cast your sins upon the head
of the scapegoat, folks, whereby you have transgressed. Make you
a new heart, a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of
Israel? I have no pleasure in the death
of him that dieth, saith the Lord. Wherefore, turn yourselves. and live. Why will you die? Why will you die? Back to our
text, verse 20, ìSo Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh.î Romans 14, 9 says this, ìTo this
end Christ both died, was buried, and rose again, that he might
be Lord over the dead and the living. He owns it all. And this is the sense in which
He didn't die to redeem. He didn't die for every human
being. He shed His blood for His people, and that's throughout
the Scripture, that particular redemption. The high priest offered
the atonement. By whom? Egypt? Oh, no. The blood was on the doorpost
of the sons of Jacob. The names were on the breastplate
and the shoulders of the high priest, the names of the twelve
tribes of Israel. But he has the right. Now, he owns it all. To this
end, he died. He owns it all. God gave him,
because he laid down his life, he gave him the universe. Like
Joseph was given everything to dispose of as he pleased. He's
Lord. King of kings and Lord of lords. But the blood was shed for his
people. He bought it all. And verse 21
says, As for the people, He removed them to the cities from one end
of the borders of Egypt to the other end thereof. Some living
on farms and some living out. But He brought them all in to
the town. Not Israel. They won't be moved. He gave them this land and that's
where they're staying. And they're not gathered with
the Egyptians. Oh no, they're not gathering with the Egyptians. They're not going to mingle with
the Egyptians. But he gathered these Egyptians, and doesn't
the scripture say he'll set the sheep on his right hand and the
goats on his left hand? But here's also a picture. Joseph
brought in all the people who out there had lands. He bought
all that up and they had to give it to him. Everything failed
until finally everybody had to come live right around where
Joseph was so that they received everything from his hands. It
wasn't the land that sustained them. It was the Lord of the
land. It's not Mother Earth. It's our
heavenly Father, heavenly Father. And the Egyptians, all to a man
and a woman, say that, don't they? We've got to save our mother.
No, our Father's got to save us. It's not the Lamb. Everyone in Egypt finally came
to the conclusion they weren't self-sufficient at all. A few
pigs and chickens and cows and a few acres is not going to sustain
you. All God's got to do is stop the rain. That's all He's got to do. Or sin too much. Dry up everything or wash it
away. It's easy. When his wrath is
kindled, just a little. It's easy. And yet Egypt, they
don't see it. They don't see that, do they?
But God's people, and here's another thing that we need to
realize, that God's people are fed and nourished whether you
live in an apartment or whether you live on a thousand acres.
You understand that? No land is going to sustain us
that the Lord will. Because when everything fails,
you'll see, he doesn't fail. And he'll not fail us. And none
of his promises. Seek and search through the book.
You'll find, he said, none of them shall fail. Verse 22, it talks about these
priests. These were heathen priests. And
he says he gave them a portion and didn't take them off of their
lands. And I thought, what's the meaning
of this? These were heathen priests. These
weren't the Lord's priests. Well, I thought about this. Maybe
this applies. And I often wonder why the Lord allows false religion
to profit like it does. Why does the Lord allow false
religion to prosper like it does? People, even in economic hard
times, they keep building buildings, don't they? And people keep flocking.
You know, we live from check to check. Your check to send
to the bank. We do. We need every penny that
our people will sure not borrow any money from anybody in the
world again. That's for sure. But we do. We all pitch in. The Lord told
His people to support the temple. You do it, not the world. We're
not going to solicit Him from Egypt. We're not going to have
a yard sale, a fundraising. No, no, no, no, no. But the world, religion keeps
prospering, and I've often wondered why. I think this is it. He lets
them go on. Let's them go on. And they have it all, don't they?
They have everything but Christ. We've got it all. We've got it
all. But they've got the best lands,
they think. We actually dwell in the best
land. Look at verse 24 and 5. In the increase, Joseph told
the Egyptians, you shall give the fifth unto Pharaoh. He taxed
them, a tithe. Four parts shall be your own,
for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them, and
your household, and food for your little one. This was long
before the law of Moses. He put them under the law. He
taxed them, a tithe. Not Israel. Not Israel. They weren't under
the law. They went under the Law of Tithe. In fact, we read
where Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek and we were in his
loins and our Lord paid the price for us and received it for us,
both. But here's the point. Joseph
did not weep over these Egyptians, did he? There's no sign of any
real compassion for them. There's no sign of any love or
affection, I should say. He was a compassionate man. The
Lord's tender mercies are over all his works. And the Lord did,
the Lord Jesus Christ did look on the multitude and said he
had compassion on them, but not affection. Joseph was not an Egyptian, was
he? He's coming out of there too.
What's the last thing he said? My bones are coming out of here
and you are too. Didn't he? Joseph was not of
this place. He didn't belong there. He came
and became a captive himself. Why? To deliver the sons of Jacob. When our Lord came down to this
world, He's not of this world. He's not going to stay in this
world. He came down here for one purpose, to deliver His people
out of this world. And He's now no longer in this
world. He said, I'm coming to get you out. But He puts this
whole world under the law. The whole world is under the
law. Not His people. Not His people. He didn't go tell them, now Jacob,
you've got to give a fifth of favor. Oh, no, no, no, no. Well, everybody had to tie, didn't
they? Joseph did it for them. I'll pay it for you. They said in verse 25, You saved
our lives. Let us find grace in the sight
of my Lord. And we will be Pharaoh's servants.
Well, you know, if we applied that to Christ, that's certainly
true. He has saved our lives. But I
believe this in context. This context is like the people
of this world who go through troubles and see miracles, and
they can't help but think that God did this. And you've heard
people all the time. We know a couple whose daughter
drowned. They said she drowned and miraculously
was revived, and they got religion. It always happens. They got religion in a minute,
and they're real religious. They don't know God. They hate. We've talked to them about the
true God. They hate Him. We've asked them to come and
hear the gospel. They won't come. Not hungry, not thirsty, have
no need of Jesus Christ at all. But they're religious. They've
got a form of godliness. Because God did this. He did
a miracle. Isn't that the people that followed Christ in His day?
Isn't that those that saw the miracle? They were fed. Look
at this job. Look at this house. Isn't the
Lord good? He might be fattening you for the slaughter. But Job, the Lord took it all
away, and Job said, He's good. That's God. He saved our lives. That's true.
He's the Savior of the world. That's what John 4, I wrote it
down somewhere, says that He's the Savior of the world in that
sense. He saves their lives. But He's
especially the Redeemer, the Savior of the souls of His people. He's redeemed their soul from
the power of the grave. Israel. That's what verse 27
says in closing. And Israel dwelt in the land
of Egypt, in the country of Goshen. We're in this world, but we're
not of it, are we? The Lord's given us a blessed fold. and
provided all things for. And they had possessions. We
have possessions, alright, that the world knows not of, don't
we? We have riches, unseen riches that the world doesn't know. Unsearchable riches. And grew. God's people grow in grace and
the knowledge of the Lord and multiply. Grace and peace be You heard it being multiplied
unto you from our God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Can you hear? Very good. Always. I can't hardly see. I can't hardly
see in these glasses. I left my good glasses at home.
So what am I supposed to do? Go home and get your good glasses?
You want me to go? I'm going to come back here in
a bit. I'll have to give them to you.
Give me a hug. We're in the second door. You
know my... Just tell me what color they
are. They're wireless, rimless. Besides your dad? Yeah.