In the quietest house above,
In the sweetest home above, In the quietest house above, In the quietest house above, In the quietest
house above, In the quietest house above, In the quietest house above, In the quietest house above,
In the quietest house above, OK. Genesis 47 is our text tonight,
but I want you to turn first to Titus, chapter 3. The book
of Titus, chapter 3. I'll read a verse there by way
of introduction. Now, we've been studying together
the life of Joseph I believe we've clearly seen
what a marvelous type of Christ Joseph is. And I hope everything
I say concerning Joseph, I hope you will translate it as I say
it. Think about it in reference to
Christ, because they are they which testify of me, Christ said. I can't say that enough. And
these things happened. These things are written for
our learning. Learn what? Jewish history? His story. To learn of him. To know him. That we might know
him. Study him. Joseph's brethren were now, I
believe, broken men. These brethren of Joseph, I believe,
were now humbled before their brother Joseph. They now realized,
if you will remember the start of this story, Joseph came to
them with a dream and said, I dreamed that you all would bow down before
me. And they hated him and despised
him for that. And now they realize everything
Joseph said is true. Everything he said is true. He's now Lord. He's our Lord. He's reigning and ruling over
us. It's true. And God, amazingly,
we see now the hand of God in spite of our own evil intentions. Even using our sin and our wickedness,
we see how that God even used that to set Joseph up to save
us. And they were amazed. And it's
the same, we come to the same realization, many of us, if not
most. Some of us have been brought
to see the truth of God's amazing, sovereign providence and grace
to us through Christ Jesus. Now look at how this scripture
applies to what I just said. Titus 3, verse 3, we ourselves
also. were sometimes foolish, disobedient,
deceived. You can take each one of these
adjectives and apply it to yourself, couldn't you? At a time before
you knew Christ, you were a fool. Steve, you were an absolute fool,
a young fool. If God had left you alone, you'd
have destroyed yourself, headed headlong into the pit the rest
of your friends had fallen into. Foolish. Disobedient. What's
that? To God. He said in Isaiah 1,
I've nourished a children and they've rebelled against me.
God's not in their thoughts. Disobedient. Deceived. Deceived about a lot of things.
Serving different lusts and pleasures. Living in malice. Envy. Hateful. Hating one another. I described
these brothers, didn't I? They envied him. Remember, it
said they were envious of Joseph. They hated him, despised him,
couldn't say anything good about him. Remember that? Verse 4,
but, but now, but God, but after, that the kindness and love of
God our Savior toward man appeared. They could say that about Joseph,
couldn't they? looking in their brother's faith after the kindness
of Joseph, our brother. The kindness of God through Joseph,
our brother, appeared on that. Oh, verse 5, not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he
saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost,
which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior. The title of this message is
Joseph, Lord and Savior. They've seen him as Lord, now
they're going to see him as their Savior. Back to Genesis 47. Joseph is Lord over all, and
he is wisely, discreetly, and compassionately ruling over the
land of Egypt as Pharaoh made himself. Do you remember what
Pharaoh said when he was looking for a man to take care of the
kingdom? He said, Where can we find a man in whom is wisdom
and discretion? A man wise and discreet as this, Joseph will do. And Christ was
made Lord before the foundation of the world by God the Father,
reigning and ruling over all of God's works. Now right now,
down to verse 11, it says, Joseph placed his father and his brethren
and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt. Joseph placed
his brethren. Joseph placed his brethren. Wherever you are, Whatever you
are is where Jesus Christ put you, is what Jesus Christ gave
you. According to the measure of grace,
the scripture says, that he giveth to each man. You are where the
Lord put you, you are what the Lord made you. There are no exceptions
to that rule, because he rules, he reigns. And we're going to come to know,
like Nebuchadnezzar, that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom
of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, or withholdeth it from
whomsoever he will. The Most High ruler. You remember
that over in Daniel? He said he's going to come until
he know, until he know. He said that three times. In
chapter four it says he finally came to know. He knew. And that's salvation. We're going
to know the one who reigns and rules. Our Lord Jesus Christ,
he's Lord. And although we make decisions,
we make decisions and we seem to get ourselves into certain
situations. Yet, and I can't explain this,
but it's Proverbs 16, 33 says it, the lot is cast into the
lap. but the whole disposing thereof
is of the Lord." I like that. I'm glad it's that
way. Aren't you, Barbara? The lot
is cast in the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. Man does not have, I don't care
what preachers are saying, you won't find it in the scriptures,
that man has a free will. Man is dead by nature, dead in
trespasses and sin. A dead man can't do anything
but lie there. Isn't that right? He's dead in
trespasses and sin. Our Lord said, you will not come
unto me. And then he said, that's man's
rebellion, you will not. And then he said, no man can
come unto me, except the Father which hath sent me to draw him.
That's his inability. Man, his will will only do, or
he can only do what his will will let him, and what is that?
Sin. Didn't he say, can the Ethiopian
change his skin? Can a black man will himself
to be white, or vice versa? Can the leopard change his spots?
Can he will himself to be a tiger with stripes? Neither can you
do good what you are accustomed to do in evil." He said. That's
what he said, didn't he? Who does good? There's none that
doeth good. I kind of admonished my daughter. I did
Brandon when he came in here today. I said, How are you doing,
Brandon? He said, Good. I said, Well,
you're the first ever then. Because there's none that doeth
good. Everybody says that. My own daughter
says that. I had to tell her. Don't say that. The Lord's doing
good by you. Say that. The Lord's doing good
by me. How you doing? Feel fine. How you doing? Good? No. No. Neither can you
do good who are accustomed to doing evil. The lot is cashed in the lap,
but the whole disposing of the man does not have a free will. God must make us willing, Psalm
110, verse 3, in the day of his power. Adam was the only man
to ever live that had a free will. Adam. Right? Adam was the only man. God gave him a choice. Now, he was the finest man to
ever live, too, with the exception of our Lord. The finest man,
the most brilliant man, the wisest man to ever live. Solomon wouldn't
have held a candle to him. The greatest man to ever live,
Adam, named brilliant, genius. There would never be another
like him. Except the second Adam, maybe.
I'm excluding him. What did Adam choose? He did
pretty well. What did he choose? He rebelled
against God. And in Adam all died. In other
words, we lost that free will in Adam. Now, the second Adam
must make us willing in the day of his power. I had to say that. Joseph placed
his brethren. It does have something to do
with it. Joseph placed his brethren. Why? We know not what things
we should ask for. We don't know what's best for
us. And when we do ask, we ask amiss, consumed with one of our
own lusts, like little children asking for things that aren't
good for them. So Joseph, in his wisdom and his discretion,
he placed his brethren. He put them. He had chosen our
inheritance for us, Terry. That's what the Scripture said.
What would you have? Well, I'll take that. That's
not good for you. That's not good for you. I'll tell you what,
I'll choose it for you. That's what he said. I'll choose
it for you. Now, all things work together
for good. Listen to this. Psalm 16. It'll help you remember
these two scriptures. Psalm 16, Proverbs 16. Proverbs
16, 33 says, A lot is cast into the light. The whole disposing
thereof is of Psalm 16, verses 5 and 6, says, The lions have
fallen unto me in pleasant places. Thou maintainest my lot. Thou
maintainest my lot. The lions have fallen unto me
in pleasant places. I have a goodly heritage. Joseph
chose my place for me. The sooner we learn that, the
more content we'll be and the better off we'll be. and not
look for greener pasture. Now, wherever and whatever we
have or whatever we are, great mercy and grace has come from
God the Father through Christ. Everyone in here can say this. Like I said a moment ago, we
have infinite reasons to be here tonight. Oh, Psalm 107, it says it so
many times. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children
of men. Oh, that men would praise the Lord. What are we doing tonight?
What's this all about? Why aren't we here tonight? To
praise the Lord for his goodness. Do you have any reason to praise
the Lord, Jeanette? Got a good reason to be here?
How many? If I should number them, David
said, they're more than I can number. Everybody in here can
say this. Each man and woman can say this.
young person can say this, right? The Lord has done wonderful things
for me, wherever I'm glad. We're not starving. It's obvious. It's very obvious, some of it. We're not starving. There are
people, there are actually people on this planet that are actually
starving. I mean, there are. Who maketh
thee to differ? 1 Corinthians 4, 7. Who? It's
just Joseph. It's our Lord Jesus Christ who
placed his brethren. I don't need to go any further
to not do it. It's a good text. I'm going to get through it.
I might not. We're not starving. And that
goes back to talking about the famine of bread, the famine of
the gospel. Every member of this church ought to be here every service.
We really ought to, not out of duty or habit or constraint,
but willingly. Huh? You're not starving. If we are starving, it's our
own fault. Come, all things are ready. Come
eat well. High on the hog. Fat Mac, that's
high on the hog. Nut, that's bacon, isn't it? We're not naked. There are people
running around without the bare necessity. We're not naked. Spiritually, we're not naked.
We've been clothed on. Joseph has given us a change
of raiment, hasn't he? We're not naked. We're not alone. If we are, it's our own fault.
We've got lots of brothers and sisters we could easily call
on and invite over and have a little companionship. If we're alone,
it's our own fault. We're not homeless. We're not
homeless. Every one of us, we have a home
to live in. But more than that, we have a habitation of God. We're not homeless. We have a
home in Christ. We have a building
not made with hands, no, a habitation for the Spirit, a dwelling place
prepared by him. Ah, the Lord hath chosen our
inheritance for us. Joseph placed his Well, let's
go on. I hate to. But he placed them
in the best of the land, as Scripture says. As Pharaoh had commanded. The land of Ramses. What's that?
It's king. Land of kings. And he hath made
us kings and priests unto our God. I'm telling you, we lived
better than kings did years ago. We really did. But he hath made
us, spiritually speaking, kings and priests unto our God. Royal.
Members of the royal family. members of the royal family,
a royal chosen generation, a royal priesthood, the best of the land,
the land of Ramses, Pharaoh had commanded, as God, Pharaoh represents
God here, as God commanded, those are my children whom I love,
Joseph, give them the best, give them the best. I tell you what, we'll make them
join heirs with you. We'll give them everything you have. because they're your brethren.
And Joseph, verse 12, nourished his father and his brethren.
Nourished them. Oh, my. How Christ nourishes
us. As Paul said in one place, nourish
as a nurse. Let's cherish our children. Here
it says, according to their families. Does your marjoram, marjoram,
does your marjoram, yeah, we get that too. Butter and honey. Not margarine, butter. Does your
margin say, as a little child is nourished? Does it say that, according to
their family, as a little child, according to the little ones? He nourishes us like little children. Hand feeds us. We ought to be
grown-up men, and he still feeds us like babies. Right? Oh, little children, how
long must I bear with you? How long are you going to remain
babies? That's all right. Here you go. That's a good thought, isn't
it? Verse 13. All right, let's read
on. Now, there was no bread in all the land. No bread, except
with Joseph. Joseph had But there is no bread
in the land, for the famine was very sore, so that the land of
Egypt and all the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine."
All of the land, everyone. Now this is a picture of fallen
man, a picture of fallen mankind. Once healthy, and I think about Adam. I just mentioned Adam a while
ago. God made man, and I talked about
Adam choosing, but you know even the Lord was the one that directed
that. Even the Lord directed the fall, right? Permitted it, whatever you want
to, however you want to say it. He did it to show his glory,
to save much people, to bring in an everlasting—here's the
key—to bring in an everlasting righteousness. I could dwell
on that, couldn't I? Adam had a righteousness all
his own. He couldn't have passed it down to his family. They had to have their own righteousness,
each one of them. And each one of them could have
stood or fallen individually. But our righteousness is in another
Adam, the second Adam. That's another story. Here's a picture. Adam was created
in the image of God, the The image of God created he male
and female. Adam was the most brilliant,
beautiful, glorious creature on all the planet earth. A man the other day said, he's
laying the carpet down here, he said, I have a question I
want to ask you. You're a pastor here, aren't you? He said, I
have a question I want to ask you. I think here we go again. Where did Cain get his wife? He said, was there an inferior
race on earth at that time? God didn't create anything inferior.
God came. Right? Inferior. God said he
created all things. He said he looked at all things.
He said it was very good. Very good. Perfect. You want
to answer that question? Cain married his sister. End
of the question. Well, at any rate, Adam, beautiful,
glorious, marvelous creature that he was, when he sinned against
God, God said, in the day you eat thereof you shall die. Dying
you shall die. You shall surely die. Adam, die. He didn't know the meaning. Well,
he did shortly thereafter. He became a sinner. God said the exceeding sinfulness
of sin. He immediately began to hate
his wife. He said, woman, you gave me. He got mad at God. It's her fault if you hadn't tried to hide, scared, fear,
naked. He told you you were naked, Adam.
Shame, guilt, all these things began creeping in. It wasn't
shortly thereafter that calluses came out, or blisters started
popping out of his hands and thorns, and he became from a
beautiful, glorious, upright creature to a fallen, haggard
what we are by nature. Spiritually speaking, from a
robust, cheerful, God-loving, to an envy, hateful, malice,
spite, jealousy, anger. His son just rose up and killed
his brother. He got that from his old man.
From the old man. I went in the nursing home not
too long ago. You remember, God came in the
garden, came walking in the garden. He said, Adam, where are you? I wasn't asking him. He knew
where God sees all. He knew where he was, hiding
behind that bush or whatever, fig leaves. How ignorant could
a man be? How ignorant could he become?
Fig leaf. That's a picture of a man trying to be righteous
before the all-seeing, holy eye of God that sees the heart. He
sows him a little fig leaf. Righteousness. How ignorant could
a man be? A fallen man is plumb foolish
and ignorant without understanding. Adam, was that Adam? And what
God was saying when he asked him that. Adam, where are you now? You know, I think about when
our Lord wept at Lazarus' tomb. Maybe all of that sin, everything
that admired God's glorious creation, maybe that's part of what he
was weeping about. Look at man now. This book, we're going to see
shortly, this book begins, in the beginning, God created the
heavens and the earth. The last words in this book are,
a coffin in Egypt. A coffin in Egypt. Joseph. Adam just went in the
nursing home, walked in, and here's a man sitting there in
a wheelchair. He had some growth, some fatty
tumor or something on the side of his face protruding, literally
slobbering from his mouth. Man, where are you now? Is this upright man? Is this
man now? Ah, the second Adam. Here he
comes, the Lord from glory. Look at him now. Look at him
now. Well, this is a picture of man
dead in trespasses and sins here, because there is famine in the
land, a spiritual picture of man. famine in the land, no bread,
loaded bar, Mephibosheth, lame on both legs. This is him. And you know, this is also a
picture of the state we get into at times, I believe. It says
that all the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine. And
as I said, we don't have to faint. There's plenty of bread. If we
do faint, it's for lack of for loathing this light bread, isn't
it, children of Israel? And David said, I had fainted
lest I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land
of the living. I will. Verse 14. Joseph, and
let's get through this. Joseph gathered up all the money
that was found in the land of Egypt, the land of Canaan. The
corn which they bought, Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's
Joseph gathered all the money. Now, where did the money come
from? Turn over to Deuteronomy 8. Deuteronomy chapter 8. Where
did this money come from that Joseph got? The people gave it
to him. Where did they get it? Joseph
gave it to them. Back when he was buying up corn
to fill the granaries. Yeah, he gave it to them. Look
at Deuteronomy 8. Deuteronomy 8, verse 17. And the Lord said, verse 16,
"...who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers
knew not, that he might humble thee, that he might prove thee
to do thee good at the latter day. And thou sayest," he's warning
them, beware if you don't say in your own heart, my power and
the might of mine hand have gotten me this well, "...but thou shalt
remember the Lord thy God, it is he that giveth thee power
to get well." You see? Where'd they get this money?
You see, they didn't pay anything, really. They weren't giving Joseph
anything. He'd already given it to them.
Did we give the Lord anything? I've got to give the Lord ten
percent of people. If we gave the Lord what's due,
it'd be all. We'd give it all. A hundred percent
the Lord. We're renters. Right? Sharecroppers. That's all we
are. Lord gave. He's the one. The
Lord gave. All the gold and silver and all
the mines. He says, mine. I put it there. You mined it. You got it. The job you got. That's what I'm talking about. Joseph placed his bread. You
got a good job. You earned good money. Your Lord
put you there. He gave you the power to get
that well. And we returned the pittance of our mouth. They soon found, though, that
money wouldn't do them any good. There was one thing they really
needed, corn. And Joseph had it. All the money
they had, they could muster. All the money that they could
come up with. Charles was not going to feed their bodies. They needed corn, right? Look
at verse 15. When the money failed in the
land of Egypt, the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came and Joseph
said, We need bread. That's what we need, bread. Give us bread. Scripture says,
Trust not in the uncertainty of riches, the deceitfulness
of riches. Money won't buy happiness. It
will not. Nor will it give you life. Nor
will it save your life in the end. We're not redeemed, as Scripture
says, with corruptible things, such as silver and gold. We're
not. There's only one thing that will
satisfy us, Christ the bread. We have to be brought to that
point where everything fails us. Do we see that one thing equal?
Christ. Give me Christ. or else I die. One thing needful. Bread. Money won't do it. I need bread.
Read on. Joseph said, Give your cattle.
I'll give you for your cattle if money fail. Give me your cattle.
Verse 17. They brought their cattle unto
Joseph. Joseph gave them bread in exchange for horses, flocks,
and cattle of the herd, asses, and he fed them bread for all
their year when that year was ended. Their cattle was gone. Money failed. Notice there, verse 17, who it
was that was doing all this. It said Joseph gave them. Joseph fed them. Joseph did them. And silver. And the blood of bulls and goats
won't save us either. Cattle won't say that. See, this
is a spiritual picture. Man is falling. Corruptible thing,
money and gold, your own vain lies, your own righteousness,
your own whatever you think is worth God noticing. Pay God little
pittance for salvation. He won't accept. It's not high
enough. Blood is the price. And blood of bulls and goats
won't say, he said. What will say is of the Lord's
mercy. that we're not concerned. Salvation
is of the Lord, sovereign mercy. It's mercy and grace from God
because of Christ's blood. That's what saves up. See, Joseph
was one that was, it wasn't their money that was purchasing this
bread, it wasn't their cattle that was purchasing this bread,
it was Joseph that was giving it. If they didn't have any money,
and they didn't have any bread, and you're going to see, they
got to that point, Joseph still gave them bread. He's bringing them to the point
where they see that these things, there's one thing needful, bread. Bread. Listen to the psalm. Tears unavailing, no merit had
I. Mercy had saved me, or else I
must die. Sin had alarmed me. I'm dying. I'm fainting. fearing God's face,
but now I'm a sinner, a beggar, saved by grace. Just saved by
grace. So, now, Joseph had all the cattle,
had all the money. Scripture says the cattle on
a thousand hills of the Lord. He had all the money. Christ
has redemption's prize. All the cattle. He has that blood
sacrifice we need. The Lamb of He had, Joseph had
all the cattle, had all the money. Psalm 24, verse 1, says, The
earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof. The world,
and they that dwell therein. Verse 18. When that year was
ended, they came unto him, and most of the writers feel like
this is the last year of the famine, the seventh year. It
says that year was ended, it means the year after that previous
one. This was the last year of the
family. When that year was ended, they came unto him the second
year and said unto him, or the next year, We won't hide it from
the Lord. Our money's spent. Our herds
are gone. What's left? Us. By us. See that? By us. Our bodies in our land. There's nothing left in the sight
of my Lord. In my hand, no price I bring. We need corn. What do
you take, Lord? My son, give me my heart." See that? You remember the illustration
of the old Indian chief that the Lord taught the gospel to?
There's a missionary back in the pioneer day who preached
the gospel to some Indian tribe And the old chief heard the gospel
and the Lord saved him. He was so grateful, so grateful
he came to the missionary in the missionary's tent one day.
He came in and had in his hands his bow and arrow. And that was
a warrior, that was his chief means of providing for his family
and protecting himself and all that. And he was going to give
that. me give my bow and arrow to the Lord." The missionary
said, Lord doesn't want your bow and arrow, chief. He didn't
want my bow and arrow? No. So he went back the next day. He had his moccasins on. He had
killed the deer and tanned the hide and all his works, the works
of his own hands. He had made these, and he was
so proud of his moccasins. Let me give my moccasins to the
Lord. The missionary said, Lord doesn't
want your moccasins, Chief. So he went and came back the
next day and had his big headdress with all those feathers in it,
eagle's feathers. all he'd earned, all he'd done,
the symbol of all his pride and his glory and his honor and his
station in life. Me give my headdress to the Lord. Missionaries said, Gee, God doesn't
want your headdress. He walked out, came back the
next day, nothing in his hand. He said, Me give myself to the
Lord. The missionary said, No, he'll
take that. He'll take that. He's not getting
much. As a matter of fact, the Lord
made everything out of nothing, and he won't make anything out
of you until you're a nothing. And he won't save anybody until
they come empty-handed. Don't bring your works, you bow
and arrow. Don't bring your moccasins. Don't
bring your headdress, your pride, your glory, your righteousness.
Come empty-handed. Buy me. Save me. Have mercy on
me, O Lord. And there he said, buy our lands.
Buy our lands. And that means everything we
have. Our Lord said, Except a man forsake
all that he hath." That's what it means. You remember the illustration
of the pearl buyer, don't you? I wish time would allow it. I'll tell you that one again.
Remember the fellow that bought the pearl? The fellow said it
cost you everything you had. He said, I've got to have it.
But after he bought it all, and gave everything he had for that
pearl, the man gave it back to him. Remember that? He gave it all back to him. He
said, Now, it doesn't belong to you. It's mine. I'm loaning
it to you, and you'll use what's mine for my glory and my honor
and for the use of my people, won't you? Yeah. That's the land. And he gave a seed here, too.
He gave a seed. Verse 19, Therefore should we
die before thine eye, both we and our land, by us and our land,
everything about us, Lord, save us, that we may live and not
die. Give us seed. Give us seed. Give us a seed that loves Christ. Let us see our seed and be satisfied. Lord, you see thy seed, but give
us gospel seed. Sow this seed here. that the
crop will grow up for the next generation, right? Your son's
going to need this seed. He's going to sit right there
where you're sitting and hear the same gospel you heard, right?
You want that, don't you? Give us seed here. Don't let
us go to seed, but give us seed, the gospel. It's like you said. It's like the Great Commission. Our Lord said, Go ye in all the
world. All right, here's seed. Sower went forth to sow. Here's
seed. I give you seed, let the land
be not desolate." And that's what we are, salt of the earth,
God's seed. Salt of the earth, go into all
the land, spread the gospel. Verse 20, Joseph bought all the
land of Egypt for Pharaoh. Why did Christ do what he did?
For God's glory, for the glory of God. The Egyptians sold every
man his field, because the famine prevailed over them, so the land
became Pharaoh's. Let me read this to you, Romans
14.9, one of my favorite verses. It says this, To this end Christ
both died and was buried, and died and rose and revived, that
he might be Lord both of the dead and the living. Let me read
the previous verse. None of us liveth to himself.
No man dieth to himself. Whether we live, we live unto
the Lord. Whether we die, we die unto the
Lord. Whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord. In that
sense, every man and woman, everything belongs to him to do with as
he pleases. So what should we say? make me a vessel of mercy, not
a vessel of wrath fit for destruction. Make me a vessel of mercy, buy
me and my land for Pharaoh. O Lord Christ, buy me, redeem
me and all that I have for God's glory." Verse 23, Joseph said,
Now behold, I have bought you, here not your own, here not your
own. You're bought with a price. Now render unto the Lord what
belongs to the Lord. What's that? Everything you are.
Right? Whatever I say is fair, isn't
it? You're going to die with that. Unless I bought you, you'd
die, wouldn't you? Yes, yes, yes. Nothing's too
great. All right? I bought you. Here's
seed for you. You shall sow the land. It shall
come to pass, verse 24, in the increase you shall give." The
fifth part of the Pharaoh, and they went back to a time of plenty.
And you, write this down, Deuteronomy 8, you go back there and read
that for yourself sometime this week. Those verses in Deuteronomy
where the Lord warns them, said, now wait a minute, he said, now,
when you enter into the promised land, and the corn and the wine
increase, and all these things, a land of plenty, beware that
you don't forget the Lord." Read that this week, Deuteronomy 8,
verse 7. Joseph said, I bought you now
for Pharaoh, and it come to pass in the increase, give the fifth
part, the fifth part, twenty percent, not ten, twenty. Wow, that's too much. Too much. Too much. That's not what they say in verse
twenty-five. They say, You've saved our lives, and we've found
grace in the sight of my Lord. Oh, we'll be faithful. Nothing's
too much to ask. You've saved our lives. will
be Pharaoh's servant. That's not too much. Let me read
this in closing, all right? I promise, I promise, I've told
my notebook. 2 Samuel 19. You all remember the story of Mephibosheth,
don't you? Well, Mephibosheth You remember
how David was banished from Jerusalem
for a while, and Saul was killed and David was brought back? At first, David spared Mephibosheth
and set him at his table. When Saul began to pursue David,
David fled. Mephibosheth fled. He couldn't
flee. And what it was, was this servant
of Mephibosheth, Ziba, was his name. You remember that, don't
you? Ziba tricked Mephibosheth. Ziba
didn't love David. He was an enemy of David. He
pretended to, and he tricked Mephibosheth. And at any rate,
Mephibosheth had to stay there when David was banished. And
now Saul was dead and David was coming back to the throne, coming
back to Jerusalem. And he wondered where Mephibosheth
had been. Why he didn't come with him?
What happened? Verse 24, Mephibosheth, the son of Saul, came down to
meet the king, and had neither dressed his feet, nor trimmed
his beard, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed
until the day he came again in peace." In other words, he was
in sackcloth mourning. And he came to pass when he was
come to Jerusalem to meet the king, and the king said unto
him, Why don't you go with me, Mephibosheth, where you be? And he answered, My lord, O king,
my servant deceived me, but thy servant said, I will saddle me,
and ask that I may ride thereon, and go to the king, because thy
servant is lame. And he," talking about this is
Ziba, "...hath slandered thy servant unto my lord the king.
But my lord the king is as an angel of God, and hath all that
wisdom. Do therefore what is good in
thine eye." All my father's house were but
dead men before my Lord the King. Yet didst thou set thy servant
among them that did eat at thine own table. What right therefore
have I yet to cry any more unto the King?" I don't have any right
to ask for any more mercy. As merciful as you've been unto
me. Now listen, you wonder where Solomon got his wisdom. He heard his daddy say that.
The king sat on the side. He was testing old Mephibosheth
here. He said, Well, let's not talk
any more about it. He said, You and Ziba, I've decided,
you and Ziba divide the land. You remember Solomon? Cut the
baby in half. Here's what Mephibosheth said. Here's the answer of a man who
has one thing have I desired, one thing needful. Look at verse 30. Mephibosheth
said unto the king, Let him take it off. My Lord is come again
to his own house. It's you I want, King David.
Let him have it all. Now, you reckon David knew who
was his trusted servant? Well, our Lord, a man wise and
discreet, placed us, didn't he? Placed his brethren. The lion's
fallen unto me in pleasant places. Oh, my. Money won't save, silver
and gold. Have I none? Blood of bulls and
goats won't save, only the precious blood of the Lamb, without spot
and without blemish. My Joseph and all that I have
and all that I am belongs unto him. He's worthy. He's worthy. Our Heavenly Father, thank you
for this glorious book and the contents of it. It all speaks
so clearly of your Son. Thank you most of all for him
who washed us from our sins in his own blood and redeemed us
unto God. of people for God's glory. Thank you, Lord. Now, we ask
that we can say this from the heart. We believe. Lord, take
us, buy us, purchase us, all that we have and all that we
are. Use it for thy glory and for thy honor, for thy great
namesake, for ye are worthy. In Christ's name we pray, amen. you.