Then let our songs unbound and
every tear be dry. We're marching through Immanuel's
ground. We're marching through Immanuel's
ground. To fairer worlds on high. To fairer worlds on high. If you can't sing that song,
I guess verse 2 applies, doesn't it? Let those refuse to sing who
never knew our God." Songs are so full. That's what psalm means,
a song or a poem put to music. Psalms are meant to be sung,
and throughout the psalms it says, Let us sing unto the Lord,
O sing, O sing, O sing. We're exhorted over and over
to sing, sing, sing, and we should sing. All right, Genesis 43 now. Genesis 43. As you can see, we're
going to partake of the Lord's table together tonight. I like
to do it on Wednesday night. It's more intimate. Usually the
close family is here. Genesis 43. We looked at the book of Amos last Sunday,
I believe it was, and in it, chapter 8, verse 11, says, "...the
days come that I will send a famine in the land." And he says, "...not a famine
of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the
Lord, a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. And here in Genesis 43, verse
1, it says the famine was sore in the land. And it is indeed
sore in our land. The famine of the Word has very
little of it, very little of the Word being preached today,
and very few who believe it. Very few who believe it. All
of it I'm talking about, all of it. Some who claim to believe
it, but not all of it. But I'm like Paul who said, after
the way they call heresy, that's what I believe, believing all
that is written by the prophets. All of it. Every word of God. I believe all of this book. is
the inspired, inerrant, infallible word of the living God, and to
be believed every word of it, and to be preached. And it's being replaced in our
day. The word of God is being replaced
in so-called worship services with programs, instead of teaching
children The scriptures which are able to make them wise unto
salvation, they're giving them entertainment programs. The adults are having the word
of God replaced with singings and the like. You know it. There's
a famine of the word, very little of it. There's a famine here
in that verse that says, of the hearing of the word. Famine of
the hearing of the word. There are very few people who
want to hear. the word of God. And if you do,
blessed are your ears. Blessed are your ears. There
are very few people who want to hear it. It's hard to attract
a crowd of people when the only attraction is sound biblical
preaching. But the sheep That's how you
know the sheep from the goats. Sheep are going to be where the
green pastures are. There's a famine of the hearing
of it. He said to a young preacher named Timothy, you preach the
Word, the instant, in season, out of season. When is it in
season to preach the Word of God, or out of season? When is
it not in season to preach the word of God? What he's saying
is there's going to come a time, he says it next, there'll come
a time, a season, when they will not endure sound doctrine, but
will turn away their ears from the truth and be turned unto
fables. Don't give us any more of that
doctrine. Tell us a story. Tell us a dream.
Tell us a vision. And more importantly, it's important
to preach, not, we talk about preaching the Bible, we're talking
about Christ-centered preaching. That's what we're talking about.
But there's a more subtle famine that affects even us. Listen
very carefully now. We looked at this together some
time ago in Revelation. Just listen to me as I read it
to you. There's a more subtle famine. of the hearing of the
word as among those who regularly
hear it. All right, he wrote to the church
at Ephesus and he says, I know your works, I know your labor,
I know your patience, I know you can't bear them which are
evil, you can't bear false doctrine, you can't bear false preaching,
you can't bear all the hypocrisy that's going on, you can't bear
that, you've tried them that say they're apostles and found
that they're liars, you've tried these spirits by the word of
God, but he said, I have something against you. You've left your first love. That is the love of the gospel,
where the gospel when it's preached, no matter how simply, it's just
a joy and a rejoicing of your heart. It's a love. Can you recall when you first,
when the Lord first revealed the truth to you and you first
heard the gospel and every sermon, every message was just that.
It was a message to you. And you loved it. You couldn't
get enough of it. You sat at the table until somebody
drove you away. It's time to leave. That sort of famine can happen.
Every one of us. It has happened. It will happen.
guard against it. You remember when you had an
insatiable desire to hear it, and nothing could stop you from
attending it? We read the parable our Lord
gave of those giving excuse. And then he wrote to the Laodiceans,
and he said, I know your works. I know you, but he said, there's
something against you. either cold or hot, or lukewarm. And I believe that's the famine
of the hearing. I believe that comes when people start becoming
indifferent, start becoming dull in hearing, start becoming sleepy
hearing it, because we get too much of it. The Lord said to all those churches
in the Revelation, He said, I'm going to remove your candle. You know, my wife makes homemade
bread, and people who eat it for the first time, they just
rave about it. It's just the best thing. And I remember when I first tasted
it, I thought that's just the best. stuff there. Well, she
makes it regularly. Four, three, four, five loaves,
sometimes more a week. And we eat it, don't we, Hannah?
I mean, we down it. But you know, that's the only
bread we've got now. She quit buying store-bought bread. And
we eat that and stand out just about taking it for granted.
Just about taking it for granted. There's so much of it. And it's
good, but it's not as good as it once was. I mean, it is. What's
the problem? I admit it. I take it for granted. And she finds new ways to serve
it, new recipes. She tried out a new oatmeal recipe
the other day, and I thought, no, that's it. You've hit it.
That's the best. I've said that before, Joe. I said, that's the
best I've ever eaten. And we do it here, we try to,
this is the bread, this bread right here is the bread you live
on. You can do without that. If we ever get, listen to me,
I'm telling this, this is good, this is a warning, a dire warning
to everyone here, including me. If we ever reach the point, like
the children of Israel, where we loathe this light bread, We're
not going in the promised land. There are people out there starving,
and don't know it, but they're starving. But God has brought
us into, the song says, his house of bread, and serving us up homemade,
handmade, the best bread, cornbread and milk. Give diligence to the attending
of it. Give diligence to the hearing
of it. Desire, the scripture says, is
sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. Desire
it. Come in here with a desire to
hear it. With a desire to hear it. Diligently
examine yourself to ascertain the state of your hearing. My
wife keeps telling me, you need to get your hearing aid. You
need to get your hearing aid. Well, I'm saying the same thing
right now to all of us. We need to do a hearing check
all the time before we come in here. Examine, do diligence,
give diligence to make your calling. He calls, Deborah, he calls every
time the gospel is preached. He said, my word will not return
void. He said it accomplishes something. It's the savor of
life to some, but death to others. Let us not sleep the sleep of
death. Let's do a hearing check every time we come in here. And
I've said over and over again, I can't stress it enough, the
importance of preparation beforehand. OK. Enough said about that. All right. Genesis 43. Genesis
43. We're going to look at dining
in Joseph's house tonight. Are you ready to dine at Joseph's
house? Not this one. That's a good place to eat, but
it's not as good as this one. She cooks good, but not as good
as the Holy Spirit. Joseph's house is mentioned several
times throughout the text, if you have time to read it. It's the picture of God bringing
us into his house, his church. God's house, through Christ,
by his Holy Spirit. Four principal characters here.
Joseph. Joseph is going to represent
God in our story tonight. It's God's house. God's house. The steward here, the ruler of
the house, the steward, who might that be? That's the Holy Spirit.
He's the steward, servant of God. The brethren are sinners. that he brings into his house,
the brethren. And the one important figure,
the reason they're there, is a fellow named Benjamin. And
that's crying. All right, let's look at chapter
43, verse 15. It says, The men took the present, the men took
that present that they gathered, and they took double money in
their hand, and Benjamin, and rose up and went down to Egypt
and stood before Joseph. You remember last Sunday I used
this presence that Jacob told Judah to take, and we use that
as a type of Christ. Christ is Judah, our surety,
who brings presence to the Father for us, fruitful life and so
on and so forth. And the scriptures also say that
when he ascended on high, he led captivity captive and gave
gifts to men. All right? But now here is a
different picture altogether. Tonight. These men are bringing
presence into Joseph's presence, and there's only one thing they
needed. There's only one thing that Joseph
was interested in seeing. They didn't need to bring a thing.
Joseph didn't say, now if you bring some presents, and you
bring some of that best honey from down there in Canaan land,
and if you bring the best you got, and Benjamin, you can eat
with me. He didn't say that, did he? He
said one thing. He said, you're not going to
get in my house, you're not even going to see my face, I'm not
going to speak to you. And they all said that. He did
solemnly protest unto us. You're not coming in here except
your brother be with you. And men may bring what they will,
and I don't care how nicely it's dressed up like cane, how sincere
they are, there's only one way to be accepted by God. There's
only one thing that will grant us entrance into God's house. Look at verse 16. He said, bring these men home. You can tell he never mentions
the presents they brought. He never said, well, that's nice.
Oh, thank you so much. He never even mentioned them.
And later on they gave them to him, and they should have. They
should have bought him presents. He was worthy of them. But Stan,
they never said a thing about it. All he was interested in
was Benjamin. He took one look at Benjamin and said, bring him
in. And God says one thing. One thing
will grant us entry. When I see the blood, when I see faith in my son, you
come by Christ no other way. Not Christ plus. Christ only. You come through
Christ and Christ alone, and when I see Christ, when I see
faith in Christ, when I see that you're in Christ, who is made
unto you wisdom, righteousness, when Christ is your all, when
you come to me by Christ, his righteousness, his blood, I'll
say unto my spirit, bring him in. And we'll die. We will be entertained by God
only through Christ. We will be received by God into
his house, into his church, only through Christ, only through
Christ. With that sacrifice, with the
gifts that Christ brings only, is God well pleased. Here is
his command concerning these brethren of his, and this is
God's command concerning his elect. He said to the ruler of his house,
Bring these men home. Bring them home. Down in verse
19, the ruler there is called a steward. They came near the
steward of Joseph's house. The steward. And this is the
Holy Spirit. He says, Bring these men home. And the scripture says, Whom
God did foreknow, He did predestinate, and whom he did predestinate
he what? He called. He called. God said to his Holy
Spirit, his steward, his servant, bring these elect home. Bring these children of mine
home. And look how he brings them in.
Read on. Bring these men home and slay. Slay an animal. slay an innocent
animal. I believe it was a lamb. I believe
they ate lamb chops. Slay, slay an animal. And God Almighty says to the
Holy Spirit, bring these men home, and this is the first thing
you ought to do when you bring them in, to my church, to my
house. They're going to see him who
has been slain. They're going to see a lamb as
it had been slain. Bring them in and make ready. slow, make ready, these men shall
dine with me at noon." And in God's sovereign time,
he sends or sent his Holy Spirit to fetch one of his sheep to
come and dine. You remember the story when Christ
was on the shore and the disciples were fishing out in the boat?
And he said, children, do you have any meat? You know, we've
toiled all night. He told them to do a little more
fishing, cast your net. And then when they started, they
couldn't bring their nets in, they were so full. He filled
their sacks. When they couldn't bring it in,
they came in and he said, Come and die. Come and die. I've got something, and it's
all you need. Come and die. And our Lord fetches
us through his Holy Spirit to come and dine, to see the Son
that was slain, to feed on bread and wine of the gospel. And he
brings all of his prodigal homes, all of his prodigals home. They
were feeding on husks, and he brings them home to feed on the
best foods. Milk and honey and wine and bread
and butter and all this meat, he said, the best. The best he
has to offer. What's that? All those things
of Christ. It's the best food, and once
a sinner ever really partakes of Christ, he believes it's the
best food he's ever eaten. That's the best bread. Verse
17. And the man did as Joseph bade.
And the man brought thee men into Joseph's house. Didn't say
all men. Didn't say he went out and invited
everybody who wanted to. If you'll be willing, Joseph's
having a supper in here, and anybody wants to." Joseph told
him of a particular people, his brethren, whom he foreknew, Joe. Joseph foreknew these fellows.
These were the ones he told his steward to go get, not any others.
Go get those. These are the ones I know. These
are the ones I have chosen. Bring them in. And the steward
did it. He went and got them and brought
them in. Any of them missing? They're all there. Why? Because
of the power of Joseph's command and the power of his steward.
They both had all power in Egypt, didn't they? And everybody did
their bidding. It says that the man did as Joseph
obeyed, and the man brought the men into Joseph's house. And
whom God did foreknow he predestinated, and whom he predestinated he
called, and whom he called he justified. Joseph directed his
steward to these particular chosen men, and they were brought in.
And Christ said, All that the Father giveth me, shall what?
Shall come to me. They'll come. The Father says,
Go, get mine elect. Gather them up. That's what he
says to the Holy Spirit. Gather them up by divine, effectual
gospel call, and bring them in. You're going to die with them.
And they come to him. Look at verse 18. It says the
men were afraid. They were afraid. They were brought
into Joseph's house. And they were feeling
their guilt. They were feeling their unworthiness.
They should have been afraid. They should have been fearful,
shouldn't they? They should have entered this place with fear
and trepidation and trembling. What are we doing here? They
should have. They didn't have any business
being there. And the only reason they were there was because the
king said, bring them in. They didn't have any right there
by their own rights. They were unworthy. They were.
They were unworthy. And they may have felt themselves
to be unfit to be in that place. They
were. That's the way they should have
felt. And so do we. We come to God's
house, and we should come in this way, saying, I'm not worthy.
I believe that every time we approach the hearing of God like
this, we'd go away filled. He'd dine with us. Isn't that
what he said? John, isn't that what he said?
Didn't he say, to this man will I look? To him that is poor and of a
contrite spirit, and does what? Tremble at my word. That's the one he says. He says,
Thus saith the high and lofty One who inhabits us eternity,
I dwell in the high and lofty place. with him is of a contrite
heart, a broken heart, a sinner that comes in and says, I don't
have any business here. A publican who stands, sits in the back,
if you will. Needs to sit up front, but if he sits in the
back, he says, oh, God be merciful. Just keep pounding his empty
chest. God be merciful. And he'll end up up front, and
the public, or the Pharisee will end up back in the back. That's
the way it is. That's the way we come to God's
house. Unfit. I'm unfit to be called a disciple.
I'm a sinner. I don't have any business in
this place. You're right. You're a sinner. You're unfit.
You're unworthy. But you're in the right place.
You're in the right place. And you're here because God called
you. And you need not be afraid, because God brought you here.
You need to be fearful, but not afraid. There's a difference. You need to be respectful, because
he said, "...all that the Father giveth me shall come to me."
They come, and the reason you're here tonight is no accident,
and it's not of your own free will. It's of God's sovereign
purpose, which he foreordained, which he ordered in all things
and sure before the foundation of the world that you'd be here
tonight. And you're here because God called
you. And him that cometh to me, he
said, I will in no wise cast out. But, but, but I'm unfit. I know it. And that's the way
you ought to come every time. I'm unfit. I'm unworthy. I know
that, he said. But you're in the right place
because this is where beggars get a hand out. This is a hospital
for sinners. This is where sinners get mercy,
not the righteous. They don't get anything. They
go empty. And not the worst, Simeon. We'll see that in a minute. Simeon was the worst of this
bunch of brothers. You'll check back in chapter
34, he was the one. He was the ringleader. Simeon
and Levi were the ringleaders in killing all those Simeon and
Levi. And when you check chapter 49,
you'll see Jacob calling Simeon an absolute scoundrel. There's
nothing good about him. But Simeon was bid to come in. Called the worst. Simeon? Yes,
Simeon. And the weakest. Benjamin, too. The worst and the weakest. Him
that cometh he will in no wise cast out. And they came near
to the steward of Joseph's house, and they communed with him, as
we should be when we come in here. Commune. Oh, Holy Spirit. Oh, Holy Spirit, come thou. Come thou. There's that song
I like to sing. It says, word, come Holy Spirit, come
Holy Spirit, heavenly dove in these cold hearts of ours. Kindle
a flame of sacred love. And they came near and they communed
with him, the steward at Joseph's, at the door of the house and
said, oh, sir, oh, sir, and they start confessing. Oh,
sir. Oh, sir. We're not fit. We're unworthy, but we're sincere. We've come here for corn. That's
why we came in the first place, for corn. We came for all the
wrong reasons, but we're here, and now you've brought us in
here, and Joseph, the ruler, has bid us be here, and we're
here and now. We've come to buy food. We've come to buy food, and that's
where we ought to approach the House of God. We've come, and
he says, if we come in that way, I believe he'll say, come, buy. Come, buy, but without money,
without pride. Fill their sacks, give their
money back, provide provision for the way. And they came, and
on down, it says that in verse He said, well, they said, we
came for food, and we ended up here. In verse 21, it says, We
came to the inn, and we opened our sacks, and our money was
in our sacks, and we just don't know what's going on down here.
All we came for was a little food, and we'd fill our sacks
and fill us up with money, and we're scared to death. Why is all this happening to
us? It's a mystery to us. Why is
he being so good to us? And upon first coming to
God's house, we come in search of something. We don't know what.
But we come in search of something. And we end up staying a while.
And we start getting filled. And after a while, we just get
so plum-filled. And God just keeps heaping blessing
upon blessing, and it ought to still be a mystery to us people.
Some of you have been here a long time. The Rosses back there have been
here a while now. It ought to still be a mystery to you why
God is still blessing you. He's still filling us up, still
blessing us after all these years. Still blessing us. Why I'm here,
you ought to be saying. Seventy years ago, you ought
to still be filled with amazement and wonder, why I'm still here,
I just don't know. Why he keeps blessing me, an
old sinner like, I just don't know. I go home with my sack
filled and money in it and provision for the way. And I'm not worth
it. And look what he says. The first
thing that Stuart says to them, verse 23, is, Peace be to you. Fear not. They were afraid. And the first thing that Stuart
does is give them peace. He comforts them. And isn't that
what Christ calls the Holy Spirit? The Comforter. And that's the
first thing he, after speaking hard thing, remember that? He
did speak hard thing. And after they realized and repented
and found themselves to be guilty, then they came fearful and trembling,
and then the first thing the Holy Spirit said was, peace.
Fear not. Fear not. Read on. You're God. Yep. You're God. an old pagan, heathen, Egyptian.
He knew Joseph's God, didn't he? He took the things that Joseph
had taught him, and he imparted them to these men. Your God,
he says, is the God of your father. I know your father. He's Jacob.
And your God is the God of Jacob. He's the God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob. He's your God. The sons of Jacob. And because he doesn't change,
you sons of Jacob, You're not going to be consumed." He didn't
say that, but he could have. He said, your God, the God of
your father, he's the one that did this. He's given you treasure
in your sight. You've got a treasure in your
sight. They didn't know who was on the
throne yet. They had just treasure in their
sack. If they didn't know it, John, they were going to go from
beggars with a sack to sons sitting by the throne. Just a few chapters
from now, we're going to see them sitting next to the king. Oh, but your God, the God of
your father, has given you treasure in your sack. Fear not. And this
is the thing the Holy Spirit says to us. He speaks peace to
us. guilty, troubled heart. Who shall
lay anything to your charge? It's God. Yes, your God has justified
you. Who is he that condemneth us?
Christ's time. He's sitting on the throne right
now. He's ever living to make intercession for you, and he
said, Bring him in. Who? Yes, him in. Right there, he
says, Bring him in. Your God. And he's given us the
spirit of adoption. You can call him Father. And
this is all God's sovereign grace. Your God, yeah, the God your
Father hath given you. That's grace. He's given you
this treasure, this unspeakable gift of his Son. Verse 23, he
says, I had your money. You know where the money come
from? I had it. Where is the price of redemption?
Who's it with? Well, Christ said, You're not
your own, you're bought with a price. Christ bought us with
the precious price of his own precious blood, and you know,
who is it that marks us with his blood? Who is it that puts
the blood on his people? The Holy Spirit. He's like that
elder that puts the blood on the doorpost, puts it on the
mind and the lint on the heart, applies it on the thumb and the
ear, like the high priest had it. The ear and the thumb, and
the thumb and the ear. The hearing and the hand. He's
that great steward who applies the blood, and he said, I had
your money. I had you picked out. I see the blood right there
on your forehead. Mark your forehead. It's the
blood. It's on you. I had your money. It is with me. Now look at this
next line. I've been alluding to this. It
says, And he brought Simeon out unto them. You know, that right there should
have let out a shout. He brought Simeon out. And I
just told you, Simeon was the worst. The worst one of the bunch. And didn't Paul say, you know,
God Almighty has set Paul forth as a pattern of salvation. Remember
what he said, John, in 1 Timothy? 3, he said, This is a faithful
saying, and it is worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am king. And he sent
me forth as a pattern of salvation, because I was injurious, I was
a blasphemer, but I obtained mercy." He brought Simeon out.
Look at it. Does it appear or not? Look, Simeon is free. If anybody
should have been strung up by his thumbs, it's Simeon. He didn't
deserve to go free. The steward says, everybody can
quit worrying now, bringing the worst out free. He goes free,
he gets to eat too. He gets to eat too. Oh, my. Oh, my. We'll read on. It says he brought Simeon out,
and the man brought the men into Joseph's house. Joseph's house. How do you reckon they approached
it? Huh? How do you reckon they walked
in that place? It was a grand and glorious place.
They didn't have any business being there. They didn't have
any rights there. They should have been hung. How did they approach that place? And they were still fearful.
I don't care if the man said fear not, but they were still
fearful coming in that place. They were amazed by it all. And
that's the way we should approach worship every time. This is God's house. I know it's
a little two-bit building on the top of a . . . and I'm making
. . . it's a nice building, Generally speaking, it's a two-bit brick
building on top of a hill on the backside of nowhere. But
this is where God meets. At Tabernacle, what if you're
somebody who said, that's a two-bit tent. Ain't nothing about that. People passing by probably thought
that, didn't they? Jebusites and the Malachiites
thought, what? That's a holy place. It's just
a tent. It's a holy place. Children of
Israel sure didn't make light of it, and they sure didn't take
it for granted, and they sure took their shoes off, and they
sure dressed right and walked right and acted right and approached
it right, or God has struck them dead. I mean to tell you, every
time they got near that tent, they acted like it was an honor
and a high privilege and a fearful place to be, didn't they? And that's the way we ought to
approach this, every time. every time. This is not just
any old house or any old place or any old gathering. This ain't
the Lions Club or the Rotary Club. This is where God say,
with two or three together, I'm going to be there. Whew! How
am I going to conduct myself in the presence of the Lord God
Almighty? I'm not over-exaggerating. And in that same sense, that's
how we leave here. And the way we approach it is
how we leave it, generally speaking. In a casual sense, we'll leave
it at a casual effect. In a serious and sober sense,
we'll leave it serious and sober. And empty, come empty, we'll
go filled. That's the way it is. Verse 25. He brought them into
Joseph's house. Joseph's house and says he gave
them water. That water was rare. They were
in a famine. It was rare. They probably rationed
it on the way. It's a few canteens, didn't have
much. How much do you reckon he brought out to them? Your
little cup, your little cup. When I was filling these up tonight,
we didn't have much left in the jar, or in the bottle. I was afraid it might not have
enough to go around. There wasn't much in the bottle,
and I filled, I didn't fill them all up. Some of them, some of
you all are going to get just about that much. But when God, when you come empty
and bring a cup, you're not going to get half of it. He says, fill
it up, fill it up. Joseph commanded They brought
up water, oh, sweet water, spring water, good water, fresh water. And he said, the first thing
I'm going to do is wash your feet. Now, isn't that significant? Wash
their feet. That's what Christ did at the
supper, didn't he? Wash their feet. Wash their feet. Why? He was getting them ready
to meet Joseph. Joseph hadn't come in yet. going to clean them up and wash
them up, prepare them to be sanctified. Get ready to meet Joseph. "...gave
their asses, provided every need, and they made ready the presence
against Joseph." Against Joseph came that name. I'll quote it again. He said,
"...where two or three are gathered in my name, I'll be there." And
he says, John, bring a present. He says, the sacrifice of our
lips. The reason I say we ought to
sing, sing out, O come, come Emmanuel, come dwell with us
tonight, come dine with us tonight. We're here to bring the sacrifice
of our lips. sacrifice of thanksgiving and
praise unto thee. Will you come down with us?"
They heard, verse 25, they heard that Joseph was going to eat
bread there. We get to see him again. He's
responsible for all of this. It's of his mercies that we're
not consumed, that our sacks are filled, and all of this is
happening. It's because of this kind and
gracious man. We're going to get to see him
again. You reckon he'll eat with us? You reckon he'll speak to
us? No, he doesn't have to. You reckon
he will? And the more they thought about
that fellow, and the more they talked about him, the more they
liked him. Boy, I just liked the way last time he came in
with us last time. Shouldn't have. Well, look at
his house, and he brought us here. Verse 26. And when Joseph came home, Joseph
came home. You still with me? Anybody still
with me? Joseph came home. And they brought him, the present
was in their hand, into the house, and they bowed themselves to
him to the earth. Joseph came home. Oh, there's
so much here in Christ. Christ, when he came to us, when
he came to his own, when he came back from the dead, oh, they
bowed and worshiped him, didn't they? They came. And, buddy,
when he comes back again, when he comes home, when he comes
into his home, and when he brings us into his home, oh, we're going
to bow and we're going to worship him. Come home. Look at verse
27. He asked them of their welfare. My margin says he said, First thing he said unto them
was, Peace be unto you. Isn't that familiar, John? Peace
be unto you. First thing. He allayed their
fears. He knew. He saw. Joseph came
home. He walked in in all his grandeur
and glory, and here these unworthy fellows were, and the first thing
he said was, Peace. Glad to have you. Good job, Holy Spirit. Good job,
Stuart. Peace. Peace. Is your father well? Does your
God live? Oh, yeah, he's alive, verse 28.
I serve and he's in good health. Our God lives. Our God reigneth. Yay. He's alive. Yes, he lives. They bowed down
their heads and made obeisance. Verse 29, he lifted up his eye. This is kind of where it changes
here, the type. He lifted up his eye and he saw
his brother Benjamin, his mother's son. Is this your younger brother
of whom you spake unto me? Is this your brother? Is this
Benjamin? Is this Him? Is this the Christ? Is this whom you're trusting?
Is this how you're coming? Is this who you brought? Is this
who you have faith in? That's Him. That's Him. God made
a righteous man, didn't He, my son? Oh, Nancy, and the rest of this
beautiful. Joseph ran out of that place. His bowels didn't yearn upon
him, but he wanted to hug him. Sure, he wanted to fall on his
neck. He hadn't seen him. And people, there's a sense in
which God Almighty, like that prodigal son coming home, God
Almighty, the Father, sees us afar off, and his bowels just
yearn for us. Can you believe that? If they
do, he does yearn for us, and when we come into him, he says,
they're home. They're home. My son is home. Benjamin, the brother, is home. It says he wept. He went and
wept, just like our Savior, washed his face, went out and refrained
himself, sat on bread. He said, sit on bread. He quit
crying after a while, quit weeping. It's coming a day, Barbara, when
no more tears. Christ did that song. I know
it says, Jesus weeps and loves us still. It ain't right. He's
not weeping anymore. And there's no more tears, especially
in his eyes. He's not weeping any more. Not weeping, he's smiling. He says, sit on bread. A marriage
supper has been called supper, coming down. Supper time, supper
time. Coming down, coming down. And they came and they sat on
for him. Now this is important. and I'll
quit with them." Verse 32, one of the brethren asked me about
this. Verse 32 says, "...they set on for him by himself, and
for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians, which did eat
with him by themselves." Because the Egyptians don't eat bread
with the Hebrews, that's an abomination of the Egyptians. What's that all about? Well, see, God is holy. We're sinners. And God can't have anything to
do with us. He can't dwell with sinners.
We can't be in his presence. But you know what here? This
is a rule. Pharaoh put this rule down. Egyptians aren't to dwell
with Hebrews. They're not to eat with them,
have anything to do with them. They're lower than us. They're not fit
to be here. Right, John? Later on we're going
to see a pharaoh here. These are Joseph's brethren.
We're going to bring them on in. They'll be Hebrew. Bring
them in. Sit them down at the table. Joseph's
going to change his rule. Hebrews get to sit at the table
with Egyptians. Why, it's never been heard like
this before. There are going to be sinners sitting at the
right hand of the majesty on high. They're not sinners anymore. They're Joseph's brethren. They're
there because our Lord is there. That's why. In verse 34, it says,
Benjamin, as we saw, he represents Christ. His mess. They sat at
the table, sat at the table, and Benjamin, he sat there, he
had five times more than the rest of them. And Christ is going
to be at the head of our table. The beloved Son and all the blessing
is going to be heaped on his plate. on his head five times,
five times more. All right, we're going to partake
of the Lord's table together. If you men will come up, please,
and serve the bread.