Genesis 41. All of the Old Testament scriptures
are so full of types and pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ. So
full. I have thoroughly, thoroughly
enjoyed this study, maybe more so than any that we've ever taken
together, any study that we've gone through. I have thoroughly
And it ain't over yet. We're just, as one country preacher
say, commenced the beginning to get started in this thing
of the story of Joseph. Truly, our Lord said, verily,
verily, they are they which testify of me. And we're so blessed if
we see that. So blessed. John Barr Davis. So blessed. So Moses wrote of
me, Genesis, and it proves beyond a shadow of a doubt. These pictures,
these stories prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that God wrote this
book. Ancient discoveries on the learning
channel are trying to find out who wrote the Bible. If they
come sit with us a little while. They find out. It's too marvelous. It's too glorious. Too complex.
Too cohesive. Too two. Too wonderful. Too amazing. Too
wise. Too marvelous. This is God's
Word and this is God's Christ. We've got the right one here,
people. We've got the right one. Beyond a shadow of a doubt. Stan,
we know the right one. Not another Jesus. It's the one
Moses wrote about. I know it. Based on these pictures. I'm envious at times, too. When
we go through these old stories, I'm envious of those who've never
heard them before. I remember the first time I heard
these types. I thought, if they don't chain
me to this pew, I'm going to fly off. I thought this is the
greatest thing I've ever heard in my life. Every type I heard,
new, every new type, I thought that's the greatest. That one's
the greatest. You go through the type. But
this one, the Lord uses men all through the scriptures as types
of Christ. Adam, Isaac, Noah, David, Joshua,
we'll preach on Joshua one of these days. I have not preached
on Joshua. Well, I could start into that
right now. Boaz, oh my, Melchizedek, but this Joseph is just wonderful. It's just wonderful. Listen to
these things. Let me just run down through with you some of
the things that we've already studied together. How that Joseph
is a type of Christ. Joseph was born of a barren woman.
Joseph's mother could not have children until God supernaturally
gave her one. That's a picture of Christ, born
of a virgin. Joseph was the firstborn. Christ, the Scripture says, is
the only begotten Son of God, firstborn among many brethren.
Joseph was loved the best by his father. His father had many
children, but Joseph was his favorite, and Christ is the well-beloved
Son of God. Joseph was given a distinguishing
robe that set him apart from all of his brethren, a distinguishing
robe of many colors, and that is the life of the Lord Jesus
Christ that distinguished him above, separate from others. Joseph prophesied that everyone
would bow down to Joseph. And that's the prophecy of Christ,
of whom God said, Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess.
He's ruler. He's Lord over all. Joseph was
sent to tend to his brothers, his worthless, no-good brothers
that sold him and hated him and would have killed him. He was
sent to tend to them, to save them. Worthless. They weren't worth saving, but
Joseph was sent to save them. which was a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He was sent to those who came
to his own. His own received him not, the
scripture said, despised him and rejected him, sold him. Joseph
was sold for twenty pieces of silver. Christ was sold for thirty. He's worth more. Joseph was revealed to be a prophet,
the revealer of dreams. Christ is that prophet of whom
Moses wrote. Pharaoh made Joseph ruler over
all. Pharaoh said, You're going to
have to answer to Joseph. Without Joseph, you can't do
anything. And God hath made Christ Lord over all, and without him
we can do nothing. We answer to him. All people
had to, in our story this morning, all people had to come to Joseph
to receive anything. He had it all in his hands. If
they were going to get anything, Joseph had it. And Scripture says that God has
given Christ power over all flesh to give eternal life unto as
many as God has given. Joseph's brethren were delivered
because Joseph sat on the throne. Christ said, Because I live,
you're going to live also. I think most of us know the story.
Most of you have been in on this, but most of you may know it anyway. The story of Joseph being put
in prison, sold by his brethren, put into prison, falsely accused,
hated without a cause, false witnesses against him, put into
prison. That's a picture of Christ as well. When Joseph was put
into prison, he revealed the dreams of two fellows, a butler
and a two fellows, a butler and a baker, and he revealed their
dreams, and they came to pass. And the one, the butler, told
Pharaoh about this fellow in prison that revealed his dream,
because Pharaoh had a dream. And to make a long story short,
Pharaoh had a dream, and in that dream he dreamed that there were
seven cows, seven fat cows standing there, and Seven skinny cows
came up and ate them up. He had another dream. Another
dream. That there were seven fat ears
of corn. And seven skinny ears of corn
came and ate them up. Ate the fat ones. And Pharaoh
didn't know the meaning and he sent for Joseph. And Joseph came
up and Joseph revealed to him the dreams. Joseph said, That
there would be seven years of plenty. That the earth would
yield abundantly. Corn, wheat. Seven years of plenty. But after that, he said, there'd
be seven years of famine so bad that you'll forget all about
the plenty. And Joseph said, now you need to store up some
food. Need a plan. Need to store up some food for
those seven years of plenty. Seek ye out a man, seek out a
man who's wise enough to get the job done." Pharaoh said,
Where are we going to look? Where are we going to find such
a man? He said, Joseph, you're the one. You're the one. You're the wise man. So Pharaoh
made Joseph, that prophet, that revealer of dreams, a man discreet
and wise. He made him ruler over all Egypt,
a former slave in prison, brought him out of the dungeons, sat
him on the throne. equal with Pharaoh himself, sat him on the
throne and said, Now, Joseph, you are ruler over all the land,
and when this famine comes, they're going to have to come to you
to get bread. And you decide who gets it. It's up to you. All judgment has been laid in
your hands. And that's all a picture of Christ.
Now, let's look at it together. All right? Let's look at it.
A picture, this is a two-fold picture. I have three points.
This is a picture of our natural condition. This is a picture
of our condition by nature and a picture of our
only hope. All right. Point number one.
Look at Genesis 41 and look at our desperate condition. Genesis
41, verse 56. The famine was over all the face
of the earth. The famine. Now, the United States of America
is not in a famine. I can't recall more prosperous
times. Can any of you, some of you old
folks, Henry? Can you recall a more prosperous
time living in? I can't. I mean, this nation
is rich and increased with goods. It has need of nothing. Really.
Really. But I'm telling you, there's
a famine. Desperate. We're in a desperate state. Spiritually. Turn over to Amos, the book of
Amos. Now, I'll give you time to find
it, because I'll have to have time to find it. The little book
of Amos, one of the small prophets there. find Daniel, Hosea, Joel,
Amos, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel,
Amos. Got it? Look at the book of Amos.
This is prophesied. The condition of our land and
others, the whole world, was prophesied here by this little
prophet named Amos a thousand years ago. our desperate condition. Look at Amos chapter 8. You got it? Amos chapter 8. I
want you to see this, because this is now. If you've got your
Bible, look at it. Amos chapter 8, verse 11. Behold, the day is come, saith
the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine
of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the
Lord." We've got a sparse little crowd
in here this morning. The things we study here are
like some of your ladies, some of the meals you all prepare.
I go over to Nancy Park's house for dinner, and she says, now,
it's not going to be much. It's going to be a simple little
meal. It'll be 104 courses. Twelve tons of food. Enough to
feed Rocky Mouth. And Joe tries to eat it. And the same way with all of
them, I go to Sherry's. It's a simple little meal. Simple. It's glorious. It's a five-star
production. It belongs in Sovereign Living.
Yeah, they do, all of them. All these meals. And the messages,
the studies we do through the Scriptures here, I'm telling you, in spite of
the simple, uneducated vessel and the place and all, I'm telling
you, Nobody in the world is getting fed better from the Scripture
than right here. And I'm not bragging on me. I'm
just saying this place, we've been so blessed. Our cups run over with the Word
of God. And in some places, John, they
don't even use this book, do they? They're not even using
it. We're devouring it. Every word,
every crime, trying. It's a desperate condition in
our day. Look at verse 12. It says, And they shall wander
from sea to sea, from north even to the east. They shall run to
and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.
Some people have to go long distances to find good, sound, biblical
feeding, food. Have to come a long way. Henry,
there's a place right down the road from you, isn't there? I
mean, you could walk to church every day, or walk to the service,
couldn't you? But you know what's going on
there. You're not going word by word in the Scripture. They're
just jumping pews and carrying on shouting We're sitting hearing
from Him, His Word. And people have to drive a long
way to get it. That's the reason people ask
you, why don't you go to church down here? They're not feeding
us with the Word. There's a famine in that place. There's corn where I go. Lots of it. Cornbread and milk. Cornbread and milk. You've never
tried that? Try it. There's a famine in our
day, but boy, we're not in famine. Blessed people. Desperate condition
in our life. Don't take my word for it. Turn
on the TV and listen to one of these fellows. Watch them. Turn on the radio
and listen to them. Watch them. See if they actually
go verse by verse, day in and day out. And that's all they
do, verse by verse. If they don't speak according to God's Word,
don't hear them. They're telling a dream. If it's
not verse by verse, it's a dream. They don't hear it. Most of them use it as a prop,
a religious prop to show you, hey, I'm preaching from the Bible.
They're not taking it and going verse by verse and comparing
scriptural spiritual thing of the spiritual thing, old and
new and so forth. Our people, there's one thing
needful. Our desperate condition and unto that point is, there's
one thing needful. This world's in famine of the
hearing of the Word of God. And that's the one thing needful.
It's the bread. There's one thing needful. There's
a woman named Mary. Had a sister named Martha. Martha
was a nice lady. But she was cumbered about with
much service, which is good in and of itself. She was so busy
working for the Lord. She was. So busy. But her sister Mary put everything aside and sat
down to listen to Him. I mean, everything else took
a back seat to coming and sitting down and hearing from Him. And
our Lord said, There's one thing needful. Yeah, we need something
to eat, Martha. Yeah, we need some dessert. Yeah,
we need that. But we need church socials. Yes,
we need some fellowship. Yeah, we need some time together.
Yeah, we need to entertain our kids and have programs for our
kids. But there's one thing needful. We want our kids to have fun. Yes, we don't want them to not
have fun. We don't want them to be miserable.
We want them to have fun, but there's one thing needful, is
that they might learn the scriptures from a child, which is able to
make them wise unto salvation. What are you doing for your kids,
they ask us down here. Well, we're taking them to the
park. We're playing baseball. That's
fine, but there's one thing needful. What are we doing for our kids?
They're learning who God is. They're learning what the gospel
is. They're learning the scriptures, which are able to make them wise
unto salvation. Being on the baseball team ain't
going to save their soul. But knowing Jesus Christ from
the scriptures is going to save their soul. One thing needful. Our Lord said, in Mary, she's
chosen the best part. She's sitting at my feet, listening
to me. That's one thing to eat. There's
a great need of that today. We need it. A great need of bread. And more specifically, this bread—Henry? Stan? Henry? More specifically,
this bread needs to contain some red. Whole wheat bread, if you will.
The whole Council of God. I hear people talk about their
preachers and preachers talk about themselves. What do you
believe? They believe the Bible. What does your preacher preach? He preaches the Bible. Well,
that's good. What does he preach in the Bible? Well, last week
he told us the story of Achan and how you shouldn't lie. You
shouldn't lie and God will get you if you lie. And last week
we heard about Noah, Noah's great faith, and how if you do what
God tells you, you'll be saved. People, the Bible, if you preach
the Bible, you preach Jesus Christ and him crucified. And any man
who, that's not central in his preaching, that Christ and him
crucified is not foremost in his message. that the blood doesn't
run deep in all his sermons, he's not preaching the Bible. Christ is the theme of Scripture.
I said it earlier. He said, they are they which
testify of me. Moses wrote of me. The apostles
wrote of me. The Revelation, I wrote that
of me. John took dictation. They wrote
of me. There's a great need of bread
in our day, and more specifically, bread of the gospel, the gospel
of Christ and him crucified, his blood, his righteousness,
his work, his person, his work. A great need of a great sacrifice. That's why there's a great need
of bread. We need a great sacrifice. There's a great need of some
great preaching. One old Preacher, I think it
was A.D. Mews, years ago, he said, he said, it's a wonder to me
that the church has survived all these years with so much
bad preaching. We need some great preaching
in our day. Not great preachers, but some
great preaching. Great preaching of a great God. A great God. I mean a God who
is God. A great God, and a great need
of a great many people who are needy people, dead people, dead
and trespassing, and of a great sacrifice that it took to put
away great sins against this great God. A great sacrifice,
not some pitiful, helpless, poor martyr named Jesus who's trying
to help folks out. We needed, from preaching talks
about a great sacrifice, an infinite sacrifice for a great many people. There were 70 people in Jacob's
family at this time, 70 people. He ate a lot of bread, didn't
he? Great bread. One loaf wouldn't do. He needed
lots of it. Much bread needed. And we need
a great sacrifice, an infinite sacrifice needed. Starvation. Look back in the text there. Look at what Jacob said down
in verse 2. Down in verse 2 of chapter 42,
Jacob said to his sons, he said, Get down thither. Go to Egypt.
Get down there and buy for us that we may live and not die. If you go without bread very
long, you're going to die. Starvation, sickness will set
in. Death will follow without bread. Leanness of soul, the believers
will come without bread. We need bread. Christ is that
bread. He said, I am the bread of life. Scripture says, he that hath
not the He that hath not the Son hath
not life." Well, I'm healthy, I'm robust, I'm young. If you
don't have Christ, you're a dead man while you're walking. You're
a dead woman. I don't care how young and robust
you are. If you don't have Christ, the Scripture says, he that hath
not the Son hath not life. Starvation, death without it.
Starving, don't know it. You know people that go on these
extended hunger fasts? You've seen them, haven't you?
People that are on some kind of protest and they go on a hunger
fast, hunger strike? That's the dumbest thing I've
ever heard. You punish yourself on protest
or something else. After a while, these people that
are on these hunger strikes, after a while, they lose their
appetite totally. Did you know that? After so many
days of going without food, you'll get to where food is detestable. And the very smell of it is awful.
You don't want it anymore. And you start feeling a little
bit better. After a few days, you start feeling a little bit
better, reviving a little bit. And for long, you don't need
it at all. Do you know that? It's true.
Until you just die. Until family die. That's exactly the spiritual
condition people are in. Exactly. Bread is detestable. This gospel is detestable. I
don't need that. I don't want that. That doesn't smell good
to me. That's no sweet smelling savor of anything to me. That's
awful. I don't need that. And they die. They're dead. In trespasses and sins. There's a great need of bread
being served, isn't there? Huh? Oh, that men would cry out
for bread. It says here in verse 55 of chapter
41, it says that they cried to Pharaoh for bread. They cried
to Pharaoh for bread. We need bread. We need bread. Oh, that men would cry out for
bread. Bread is no sadder sound. And please give me some bread.
It was a man named John Warburton, a preacher years ago who had
15 children. Blamed it on his wife. Said she
was a fruitful woman. He had something to do with it.
But he had 15 kids and he didn't have much. He didn't, he couldn't
support them. That's foolish of him to have
that many, not be able to support them. And he had 15, and you
know, they went, they almost starved to death after a while. And he had, at one point, he
had his children pulling, asking him, little toddlers asking him,
about the size of Laura Grace. Can you imagine this, Rick? Her,
grab over your pant legs and say, Daddy, please give me something
to eat. Please. And he didn't have any time. But they got something. They
got something. Well, oh, how I wish somebody
would come in here and sit on the front row and say, please.
Would you please give me, I need something, I need mercy, I need
grace, I need to know God." Instead of sit on the back row and say,
please get over, get this over with. There's a great need of bread.
Oh, that men would cry out for bread today. After going without
it for a while, they cease to need it. Well, there's no food
anywhere. Here with Jacob's sons, there
was no food anywhere. None. No food anywhere. And you know that one thing needful
that we need? You're not going to be able to
find it anywhere but one place. We need mercy. We don't know
it by nature. A man doesn't know it. Why? Because
he can't see God. He doesn't know God. He didn't
know his condition, his state under God. The Scripture says,
the Scripture says, the wrath of God abides on ungodly. If
a man knew that he had his neck in a guillotine, he'd pull it
out, wouldn't he? If a man knew he was starving
to death, he'd bark, wouldn't he? And but people don't know it.
The things we need more than anything else, not a new car,
not a new job, not a wife, not a husband, they're mercy at the
hands of God Almighty. Because the wrath of God abides
on them godly. That's old-fashioned, I know,
but that's what the Scripture says. And it's going to fall someday, Henry.
It's going to fall. It's going to hit the fan. The fan's in his hand. Fire's
gonna fall. Oh, what'd your preacher preach
today? Fire and brimstone. God said it first. And I believe God, and he says,
if you don't say it, you're not my preacher. I don't care what
they—they're gonna get so modern and so—so dignified that they're
not gonna hear that. That's old-fashioned fire and
brimstone. Well, it's true. Cause men can't see it, doesn't
mean it's not so. I have a brother, many of you
have never seen before, but he's real. And we have a God that none of
us have seen before, but he's real. There's no food anywhere. The
food we need, we need from God's hand and only We need mercy,
we need grace, we need wisdom, we need righteousness, we need
sanctification, we need redemption. Don't we? There's no food anywhere. You're not going to find those
things in yourself. Not going to find them anywhere.
No food anywhere. Look at verse 1 of chapter 42.
Jacob saw there was corn in Egypt. He said, they looked to one another.
Evidently they were saying, And Levi was looking at Reuben, and
Reuben was looking at Simeon, and Judah was looking at Benjamin.
They were all looking. You got any bread? Judah would
come down to Simeon's house one day and say, the wife and I,
we're plumb out. Kids are hungry. You got any?
No, we just ate our last bowl of cereal. Go to see if Simeon
has some. He went down to Simeon's house.
Simeon, listen, we're bad straights down here. We're hungry. You got anything? No, I don't
have anything. I don't have anything. You got
anything? What about Benjamin? Go and see
about him. Well, he didn't have anything either. I already tried
him. He doesn't have anything. And those of you who have reached
this point of hunger, you've tried everything you can. You've
gone to people, to counselors. People go to Christian psychologists.
What in the world is that? It's a Christian psychiatrist. Go to men and go here and go
there and try this. We're looking for a church. Listen,
the church ain't looking for a church. You don't go looking
for the church if you're a believer. You are the church. Christ is
the shepherd. He goes looking for the church. Man is in want. Man, by nature, looks to man
for help, looks to the minister. You've got Catholics, you've
got people going to priests to have their sins absolved. Man,
he's more wicked than they are. You've got people sitting in
little booths, conveniently, for the fellow behind it. It's
black. They can't see him. This little
shriveled up wicked fellow back here, eunuch. And some woman
pouring out her lustful thoughts to him, and he's loving every
minute of it. Yes. That's exactly what's going on.
Confessing all their sins to a man he can't do a thing about.
Can't do a thing about. We need this one that can now. one that can. They look to each
other. People go to the priest and minister in the church and
look to the ordinances and get baptized. The prodigal son said
he went to all his friends' house to have people try to find peace
and comfort in their friends. Well, I'll just forget about
that gospel and I'll just immerse myself in my buddies and having
a good time and all that if they're one of God's own. They'll reach the point like
the prodigal. They'll come to themselves and say, I'm starving.
And my friends aren't feeding me. I'm not getting any help
there. I'm feeding on husks. I need something good to eat.
And he'll bring them where it is. Well, there's good news. Point number two, there's good
news. Anybody like that? Good news. Look at what Jacob
said. Look at verse one. There's good news. Jacob saw
that there was corn in Egypt. And Jacob said unto his sons.
Now, I can just say this. Well, I can't either. We haven't
been in this situation. But if we were. Just say this
was Jacob's family. You know, it's smaller. Jacob
had seventy-some people in his family. Grandchildren, children,
grandchildren. I guess by this time nieces and
nephews. Family all gathered together. Seventy people. More
that's in here this morning. Hungry! Hungry! And they hadn't had anything to eat in a long
time. And Jacob announced a meeting that morning. I want everybody
to come early. Come. Eight o'clock the next
morning. Seven. Six. I've got good news. Y'all come. You hungry? He says
come. Come early. I've got good news. And Jacob stood up before him
and read the scriptures. That was truly more important
than doing a joke. That all these children would
be taught to hear the Lord. And Jacob said, I've got good
news. I've got good news. And they were all sitting on
that. What is it? There's corn in Egypt. Lots of it. Corn in Egypt! Now, what do you
think their reaction was? If anybody had been there, they'd
have thought it was some kind of charismatic Pentecostal meeting.
He said, Woo! And let out a shout, Corn in
Egypt! And he said, Now, don't quit
looking at one another. Stop looking at one another quick.
Get yourself down to Egypt. Forget verse 1. Go down to Egypt. Don't look at one another. Don't
look to one another. Behold, I've heard there's corn
in Egypt. Get down! and buy for us that we may live
and not die. Good news. Behold, I have heard. I have heard. There's corn. I've
got good news, people. Any sinners in here? One. Is there one hungering and thirsting
after righteousness this morning? Huh? Poor in spirit. Huh? Just hungry. Is there one
sinner? One. One. I've got good news. One. I've got good news. There's mercy in Jesus Christ. I've got good news. There's grace. In Jesus Christ, I've got good
news. There's full pardon. What if I went down to the prison?
See, what if I went down to the prison, one of the state pen?
And I stood up before that crowd, got all the prisoners before
me. I said, anybody, anybody sentenced to death here? Anybody
on death's rope? I've got good news. There's a
full, free, total pardon for anybody that wants it. What do
you reckon would happen? It'd be a prison riot. Not in
protest, but to get to this pardon. I want it. I want it. There's mercy in Christ. Mercy
in Christ. There's grace in Christ. There's
full, free forgiveness in Christ. And so much more. Christ, it
is joy. Joy in Christ. There's life in
Christ. Life more abundant. Life more
abundant. I've heard. You know, Jacob heard
the news himself. Somebody told him. Jacob was
hungry, too, just like the rest of us. And somebody told him.
And it's good news to him. And what was good news to him,
he knew would be good news to those that he told it to. Joe,
I've heard there's mercy in Christ. This old sinner, Joe, and heard
that there's mercy in Christ. I'm going. I don't know about
you, but I do know about you. But I don't know about some of
you, but I'm coming to Christ this morning. I'm going. Want to go? I need it. There's mercy in Christ. I'll
say it again, in case somebody in here needs it. There's mercy
in Christ. There's grace. There's salvation.
I don't need it. What, preacher? There's forgiveness
of sins in Christ. There's life and life more abundant
in Christ. Let's go. Ready? Let's go. Ready, John? Come on. Let's go.
All right, we're going. You don't move a muscle. See,
when you come to Christ, you don't move a muscle. I didn't
say come be baptized, did I? I didn't say come down here this
morning and shake my hand. Come to me. Don't look to one
another. Don't look to me, don't look to the poor. Come to Christ. How? What do you mean how? You know, back when my mother
would call me to dinner, if I was hungry enough and my
mother would say, Paul, come to eat, I didn't stop and say,
well, how? How do I do that? Now she invited
me, and the food's there, but just how do I go about? I lay a hold on the table, and
I do the same thing now. I still do it. To whom coming?
I still come to eat when I'm called. Not all the time, not
exactly all the time, but that's what I did when I was a boy,
too. But if I'm hungry enough, I'll be the first one there,
and I'll say, I thought you said it was ready. Where is it? Where is it? You see, a need
comes before coming to Christ. Anybody that's needy, they won't
ask how to come to Christ. You see, Sharon, why truth preaching
starts with who God is and our desperate need and bad condition.
See why that is? Only needy people are going to
come to Christ. Only guilty sinners are going to look for mercy.
I ain't guilty, and you don't have any mercy. Only helpless
people need grace. Well, I'm not helpless. I can
help myself. Well, Christ, not for you then. But I'm helpless. I've got good news. There's grace,
and lots of it. Come with a little sack, and
go home with a wagon. Joseph has it. Who has it? Where
is it? Dad? Jacob? Dad? Where is it? Joseph has it. He didn't say
that, but that's who had it. Verse 8 said, Joseph knew his
brethren, but they didn't know him. Isn't that beautiful? You know, Jeanette, that just
rejoices my heart. I sit up here looking at the
faces of people that obviously have no interest in the gospel. Obviously, no interest whatsoever. And I've said before, it's like
looking in my own face years ago, looking in a mirror. I remember
how I felt toward this gospel. I didn't need it. But I look
into the faces of people like that, Jeanette, and I have hope.
And I think, you know, God just may make them needy. God just
might. He did me. I was sitting there
like a knot on a log one day, and before I knew it, I was sitting
on the edge of my seat. I was sitting there one day and
didn't hear a thing, before I knew it, I was hearing. I didn't see
a thing one day, and before I knew it, I saw. Sitting there one day, despising
and rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ and the gospel. The next
day, oh, receiving Him. By faith. Through this same gospel,
Jeanette. Just by saying, hey, there's
corn in Egypt. I hear it. You know, and the
point I'm trying to make is, He knew me before I knew Him. Christ knew me before I knew
Him. Thank God. Thank God. Right? And He loved me before I, when
I hated Him. He loved me when I hated him,
and he knew me before I knew him. And because he knew me,
by his knowledge shall that righteous servant justify." Delivering God one day in his
good time, in the fullness of time, Christ comes in the gospel. The Holy Spirit sends the gospel.
Christ says, Joseph says it. John, Joseph says it. He opens
his stories. He says, I got John Davis in
here now, sitting here. Now, open the storehouses. Open his
eyes. Open his ears. Open his heart. He received it, didn't he? Why? I know him. He's mine. He's not his own. I bought him
with a pride. He's my brother, and I'm his
brother. He doesn't know me yet. He's
going to. Open the storehouses. Open up
the Word to him. Preach. Preach to him. He's dead,
Lord. Preach. He's like a bone. He's
like a dry bone. Preach! And I'll call for the
wind. Oh, wind. that bloweth where
it listeth. Who, me? Are you talking to me,
preacher? That's the way it happens. That's
exactly the way it happened to this old fellow. You too, huh,
Rebecca, isn't it? You came here on Easter and Christmas
like a good, dutiful daughter would, didn't you? Huh? Mama
brought you. Didn't want to be here, but you
came. One day, your elder brother, Jesus Christ, brought you, who
knew you before the world began. Before I formed you in the belly,
he said, I knew you, Amy Poff. You're mine. You're coming. You're
coming to me. Coming to me. Joseph had it,
and they didn't know it. But they found out, didn't they?
Stay tuned. Come out Wednesday. Stay tuned. It gets better. It does. It gets even better. And the
last point I wanted to bring out was some good advice. Good advice. There was a sad
state, and here's the good news, and then there was good advice.
Joseph said, Get down. Get down to Egypt and buy that
we may live and not die. Get down. Get down. Go down to
Egypt, that we may live and not die. Well, the scripture says,
come down, sinner, come down. The weight of Christ is not up.
Faith does not say, let's ascend up to heaven. The word is nigh,
even in your mouth. Come down, down. Why am I always
calling people worms? Why am I always calling people
dogs? Because all dogs go to heaven. Only dogs go to heaven. I'm going
to go ahead and preach to you, Joshua, right now. Only dogs
go to heaven. You know who went in the promised
land? The children of Israel? Two people over twenty years
old went in the promised land. You know who were? Who? Therefore, the teacher said,
Joshua and Caleb, you know what their names mean? The Savior
and his faithful followers. I preached Joshua. There's only
two people going into heaven. The King, the Savior. That's what Psalm 40, Psalm Forty-five
says, who is this that's coming in? Open up the gates, the everlasting
doors. Somebody's coming in. It's the
king of Rochester. Who's that behind him? That's
his faithful dog. Just follows him everywhere he
goes. It's Caleb. It's just a dog. Oh, but whose
dog is? Wherever that master's going,
That's where the dog is going. Right? Good advice. I give you good advice. Good
news. You heard the good news this morning. If you need it,
it's good news. And I give you good advice. Get down. You're
a dog. Get down at the feet of Christ
and beg Him just for a few crumbs. Just mercy. Lord, I just need
mercy. I need grace a little bit. All right, Joe, do you have a
hymn picked out by you? One ninety-nine. One hundred ninety-nine. I think I know what that is.
Yeah, that's a good one. All right, one ninety-nine. In Jesus here we sleep, and the
Word of grace to all. To the heavenly bread we leave, honor, danger, all our foes. Take me over, over again, Christ,
receive a sinful man. Take my pain, bear it away, Christ, receive a sinful man. Christ received us and for me
He's with me, with love and fear Learned from every spot and stain There's a deal I never did Thank you, you're dismissed.