Let's turn to Genesis chapter
43. Genesis chapter 43, the title
of the message is Joseph Provides for His Brethren. Genesis chapter
43, Joseph provides for his brethren. The very first verse of chapter
43 says, and the famine was sore in the land. A little further
in the book of Genesis, in fact, it's in chapter 45, we will read
that, and Joseph says this, that the famine has gone on two years. Now we know there was seven years
of great harvest, and then that was to be followed by seven years
of famine. Only two years of the famine.
We're only into the famine two years now as we get into chapter
43. But the word says, and the famine
was sore. It was sore. It was terrible.
The word sore presents the idea of that which is very heavy,
that which is very burdensome. The people can't bear it. Things
are really bad and yet this is just there's five more years
of this to go The the barrenness is only going to get worse If anybody's to have any food
at all, if they're to have any bread, they've got to go to Egypt,
and they've got to go to the man who is in charge of the granaries
of Egypt. We know he's Joseph. They didn't
know he was Joseph. They thought it was Zaphnath-Paeonea,
the revealer of secrets. And remember this now. God's
purpose in all of this was twofold. Number one, to exalt Joseph,
that's kind of the theme of the whole story, is the exaltation
of Joseph. But number two is to bring all
of his family, all of the family of Joseph unto Joseph in Egypt. The exaltation of Joseph and
then bringing all of his family, including his father, into Egypt
United again, reunited with Joseph. And this is a picture of another
greater double truth. What has God purposed to do? Number one, to exalt His Son.
Our Lord Jesus, God purposed from old eternity that He's going
to set His Son at His own right hand. The exaltation and the
adoration and the universal worship of the Son of God is what God
is purposed to do. He sent Him to do the work of
redemption, which our Lord Jesus did to the Father's full satisfaction,
and therefore God exalted Him. This is what God has purposed
from old eternity, that all the world worship and honor the Lord
Jesus Christ. Everybody's going to bow their
knee to Him, either in this life or in the judgment. In this life, that's salvation. We bow to Him willingly, brought
by the power of the Spirit of God to believe on the Son of
God and to acknowledge He's the Lord of glory. Others will be forced to bow
at the judgment. This is what God is ordained
to do, exalt His Son. It's the first thing. And the
second thing is God has purposed to give Him a people and all
of those people be brought to Him. To be with Him where He
is. And by faith we're brought to
Christ Jesus, by effectual grace we're brought to believe Him.
to have faith in Him in this life. As the Spirit of God makes
us to know our neediness, our sinfulness, and how glorious
and how wonderful and how necessary it is for us to bow and worship
and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. God says believe on Him. And we do believe Him. And someday
all of the Lord's people will gather around Christ Jesus. This
is the twofold purpose of God. So let's get into this, and I'll
start with, I'll give you three or four points here as time allows. First of all, I want to talk
about the famine a little bit. Israel, I've just said, Israel
has, they've got to be brought to Joseph because the Lord has
purposed that. But what will God use to move
them to, we'll use the word, motivate them to go to Egypt
and actually make an appearance before someone who to them is
a stranger, but one that we know is Joseph. What's going to move
them to do that? Well, I'll guarantee you this,
as long as they were having a wonderful harvest and the crops were coming
in, the gardens were doing good, they weren't going to go to Egypt.
They're not needy. They've not been put into position
to where they absolutely required grain. They had their own. It is only as God showed them
that they had no self-sufficiency now. And now, in the midst of
their neediness, two years into the famine, they got to do something. Now, they've already gone to
Egypt. Jacob had heard that there was grain in Egypt. They heard
that. He heard that. They went and
they brought grain back, but they had to leave Simeon there.
He was kept in custody, and he would be okay provided the man
said that they brought their youngest brother back to Egypt
with them. His name is Benjamin. But they're in the midst of a
famine. You see, look at the famine this
way. It was the servant of God. God would use that to fulfill
a greater purpose. Now, was the famine painful?
Yes. Was it hard on everybody? Yes. It was a time of great affliction.
And I have no doubt but what many people starve to death. But make no mistake about it,
the only people in the world that God Almighty was concerned
with was with His church. And they were in the land of
Canaan, the family of Jacob. That's His people, the Lord's
people. And I know God is merciful in
many ways to the whole wide world, but He's only gracious to His
people. And in His grace, He causes His
people to be hungry. Now, I'm sure as we read here
beginning in chapter 43, I'm sure they have a little bit of
grain left over. I mean, it isn't like Judah and
the rest of the sons with Benjamin are going to go back to Egypt
and leave their daddy with nothing to eat. But what this means is
the shelves are beginning to get bare again. There's very little meal left. Very little grain left. They've got to do something.
They've got to do something now. And the reason they've got to
do something is because God in His purpose sent a famine. Everything serves His purpose. That's what Solomon says in Ecclesiastes
to everything. You know what it says, there
is a season. And there is a time to every
purpose under the heaven. And as he so often does, our
God uses that which on the surface appears to be cruel and harsh
and painful. But he'll use those things in
order to move us where He wills for us to be. I love the songs of William Cooper. Calper, some people called him.
He wrote, There is a Fountain, several other hymns. I love the
words to another one of his songs. Judge not the Lord by feeble
sense, but trust Him for His grace. Behind a frowning providence, He hides a smiling face. You see, back behind the famine
is the smiling face of the Heavenly Father, working all things according
to His will for the good of Jacob and his family, which Jacob and
his family constitutes the church of God in this world. Sometimes God sends times of
ease, plenty, and health, And if we're right honest, if
we're really honest, during those times, we appreciate the mercies,
we appreciate the blessings, but we tend to focus more on the
blessings or the mercies than we do upon the giver of the mercies. And so the Lord, oftentimes,
He, He sends a famine. He sends an affliction. He sends
some difficulty, which while He intends good by it, the pain
or the heartache, or whatever it is, achieves His purpose. And draws us again to Christ. This is what this is all about.
bringing the family of God to Joseph, a reunion, as it were,
and bringing us to Christ Jesus. Well, Judah, as you know, volunteered
to be the surety for Benjamin, and he persuaded his father to
see just how reasonable this was. We're going to starve to
death, Dad. If I don't take Benjamin to Egypt,
Benjamin and all the rest of us are going to die. I'll be surety for him. I'll
take care of him. I'll bear full responsibility.
If I don't bring him back to you safe and sound, I'll bear
the blame forever. And he's a picture, Judy, is
of our Lord Jesus Christ, a greater than Judah, who's the surety
of the everlasting covenant of grace. And all of the responsibility
for the salvation of God's elect rests on Him who is a most worthy
surety, who will do the job. Of those that thou hast given
me, He said, I've lost not a one of them. And in John 6, He says,
I'll raise them all up at the last day. Well, Jacob did two things. Number
one, he prayed for God's mercies. Look at chapter 43 and verse
14. Chapter 43, verse 14. He says
to Judah, he says, and God Almighty, El Shaddai, that's the name of
the Lord. God Almighty, and God Almighty
give you mercy. before the man, that he may send
away your other brother and Benjamin." He doesn't even name Simeon.
He just says, the other brother and Benjamin, who was so dear
to his heart. And he says, if I be bereaved
of my children, I am bereaved. He prayed for the Lord's mercies. Jacob, and of course, he is now
referred to by Moses, by divine inspiration, as being Israel.
Israel. He's conducting himself now more
like the Israel, the prince of God. He's trusting his family into
the hands of the Lord. The entire outcome is up to the
will of God. He said, and if I'm bereaved,
I'll just be bereaved. But the second thing he did was
this. Again, he thinks of sending gifts. After all, it worked with
Esau. He thinks it'll work with that
guy in Egypt. Look at verse 11. And their father
Israel said unto them, if it must be so now, do this. Okay,
Judah, you be surety for it. Now take of the best fruits in
the land in your vessels and carry down the man a present,
a little balm, a little honey, spices and myrrh, nuts, literally,
pistachios. I was telling Nancy that's what
that means, pistachios. and almonds. Well, those are good things.
They got a little bit of those things. What is it they don't
have? Bread. That's the staff of life. And you see, what bread is to
the body, Christ is to the soul. You can have lots of the sweets
of this world. Like honey. The sweet things
that the Lord gives you. But if you don't have Christ
Jesus, you don't have the life of the soul. You don't have Him
who is life. And the one whom to know is life
everlasting. He thinks, the natural man thinks
that the things of God, acceptance and salvation and blessings,
that they can be bought. They are freely given. Oh, if God the Spirit would drive
that into our hearts. They're freely given. You say,
well, Christ bought them with His blood. No. No, He didn't. He bought us with His blood for
the blessings. For the blessings were given
to us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Peter said,
you were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. He bought us. And when He bought us, that means
we have everything God purposed to give us in Christ Jesus. But you can't buy anything from
God. Well, Lord, I promise you this.
I make a vow. May as well save your breath. The only vow that matters in
the salvation of your soul is the vow that Christ made to the
Father. I will save them all! You can
depend upon Me, Father. He redeemed us, and in Him we
have all things. Well, here's the second thing
I want to show you. So the brethren set out. The second thing is
they're taken into Joseph's house. They go to Egypt. They're taken
into Joseph's house. Notice this. So here we go in
verse 15. And the men took that present.
They took the double money in their hand and Benjamin. They rose up and went down to
Egypt, and they stood before Joseph. And when Joseph saw Benjamin
with them, he said to the ruler of his house, bring these men
home and kill or slay and make ready, that is, kill a calf for
dinner, actually for lunch, because he said they're going to be dined
with him at noon. And make everything ready, for
these men shall dine with me at noon. Joseph saw them, but they didn't see Him. He saw them, but they didn't
see Him. And I'll tell you something,
before we ever saw the Lord Jesus by faith, He saw us. He fixed His eternal
loving grace on us before the world ever was. He saw us in
the purpose of God. And He loved us with the Father
with an everlasting love along with the Spirit. Joseph saw His
brethren. Christ Jesus saw us. He has always
had His eyes on us. right from everlasting. Joseph saw them. He saw them. It was a look of love. It was
a look of concern. He saw them, but they didn't
see Him. He knew them, but they didn't
know Him. The Lord knoweth them that are
His. and let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from
iniquity. He knows us and He sees us. There's a portion of scripture
in the Gospel of John chapter 1 where the Lord called Philip
and Philip told Nathanael and the Lord came to Nathanael
And he said, I saw you under the tree. I didn't see you. But he said,
I saw you, Nathaniel. I saw you. And you think about
before the Lord brought you to Christ in true faith, When you
didn't see Christ, you didn't look to Him for salvation, you
had not seen something of His glory, something of His worthiness. You hadn't seen the necessity
of His work of redemption. You hadn't seen Him with the
eye of faith. Before then, He saw you. He saw you in your kitchen. He
saw you on the job. He saw you wherever you were,
wherever you went. He's always had an eye on His
people. He saw us. And then notice this,
what Joseph did. He told his chief steward in
the house, I want you to take care of these men. Look at what
he says in verse 16. When Joseph saw Benjamin with
them, he said to the ruler of his house, bring these men home
and slay and make ready. These men are going to dine with
me at noon. I want you to feed them. Now
you get everything ready. And look at verse 17, and the
man did as Joseph did. And the man brought the men into
Joseph's house. Now he's not there, at least
not so as they can see him. He's been watching, but he's
been watching in a place or position where they have no knowledge
that he's there. So the man brought the men into
Joseph's house in verse 18. They were afraid. because they were brought into
Joseph's house. And they said, because of the
money that was returned in our sacks at the first time, are
we brought in that they may seek occasion against us and fall
upon us and take us for bondmen and our ashes. They gonna put
us in prison. I know how this is gonna wind
up. These are very pessimistic men.
They had no optimism among them. Is this going to turn out bad?
I'm telling you it's going to be bad. They had no idea they were coming
to the house of mercy. No idea. They thought it was
a house of judgment. Look at verse 19. They came near
to the steward of Joseph's house. And they communed with him at
the door of the house. This steward, this ruler. See,
he's a picture of preachers. Preachers of the gospel. What's
our job? What does the Lord say to the
preachers of the gospel? Feed my people. Take care of
my people. He's always watching just like
our Lord Jesus is watching tonight. And His command to me and to
every preacher of the gospel who stands this evening or Sunday
or whatever day it is that they preach, His command is, take
care of my people and feed them good. That's what He says. Preachers are those men who are
forerunners of Christ Jesus, just like John the Baptist was. See, Joseph is going to make
an appearance here, but not yet. The way will be paved and made
ready, as it were, by a steward, by a servant. One who rules in
Joseph's house just like the preacher of the gospel has the
rule over you in spiritual things to guide you and direct you. Verse 20, they said, We came indeed down at the first
to buy food, and it came to pass, when we came to the end, we opened
our sacks, was going home. Behold, every man's money was
in the mouth of his sack. Our money in full weight, and
we brought it again in our hand. And other money have we brought
down in our hands to buy food. We cannot tell who put our money
in the sacks. And he said to them, Oh, is he
going to rake them over the coals? I can't tell you how many times
people have said to me, boy, you really stepped on my toes
this morning. And my general response is, I
wasn't aiming for your toes, I was aiming for your heart. He said, peace be unto you. Watch
it. Fear not. And then notice his language. Your God. Now this is an Egyptian
now, who rules in the house of Joseph.
He says, your God and the God of your father hath given you
treasure in your sacks. He said, I had your money. By
order of Joseph, of course. And he said, wait right here. And he goes and gets Simeon and
brings Simeon to them. This man, he pictures a preacher
of the gospel whose message is one of peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. We preach that one who is the
peacemaker. We don't say you need to make
your peace with God. You can't do that. Our Lord Jesus,
he made peace and he is our peace by the blood of his cross. Children of God, the Lord never
been mad at you. Never been angry with you. He's always been pleased with
you because He sees you in Christ Jesus. Peace be to you. Oh, wouldn't it be wonderful
if by His Spirit He would speak now to some dear saint in here
or out there watching? your heart's troubled, circumstances,
situations, sickness, need, whatever it is, wouldn't it be wonderful
if by His Spirit, He said to you, now, peace be to you. And nobody can speak peace, really,
but the Lord Jesus. He's the one who gives peace. You say, well, so He's going
to take away all my troubles? No. The famine continued. But even in the midst of the
famine, in the midst of the trouble, he says, peace be to you. Peace
be to you. Well, these brothers, they're
afraid. And I think when we first, when
the Lord is drawing us in Himself, we're fearful. This is a holy God. This is a
God who, He's not going to put up with sin. The wages of sin
is death. I'm a sinful being. You become
fearful. I'm a wretch. If that preacher
knew what I was like in my heart, he wouldn't be talking about
peace, he'd be talking about judgment. Let me tell you something,
the way you are in your heart, that's exactly the way this preacher
is in his heart. Hey, we all cut from the same
cloth. We all dug out of the same dung
hill. It's not one maggot better than
another maggot. We're all worthless dead maggots. But the Gospel says, Peace be
unto you. Christ said, My peace I give
unto you. In the world you're going to
have tribulation, you're going to have persecution, but I give
you my peace. This is a peace that passes all
understanding. And even in the midst of the
most terrible circumstances you could ever imagine, yet in your
heart you can still be at peace. Be at peace, my soul. Yeah, there's a famine, but my
Lord's the Lord of the famine. And He's the Lord of all the
difficulties that I have. They were afraid. I know we don't really know the
full extent of our depravity. And then when we think of God,
it's a fearful situation. But we have a peacemaker. Here's a holy God over here. And here I am, a sinful man.
But there's somebody who stands in the middle. And he made peace. God's satisfied. God's satisfied. My sins have
been punished. And the Mediator is going to
deal with me. And He does deal with me over
sin. He shows me something of what
I am. And I run to Christ Jesus for
forgiveness, for righteousness, out of my need. He took these men into Joseph's
house. Into Joseph's house. For the
men were at first filled with fear, because their consciences
were troubled." Tell you what, if your conscience
is angry with you, you don't need anybody else to accuse you. I tell you, God can trouble your
conscience. These men thinking back, not
only about the money, What they did to Joseph. Oh, what we did
to our brother. Ready to sell him into slavery
and some of us said, let's just kill him. And that's been eating away at
their conscience. Thank God for a conscience that
hasn't been seared with a hot iron. a tender conscience. Well, here's the third thing.
Instead of the punishment, they found kind hospitality. Some say this Egyptian was converted
through the ministry of Joseph. In fact, Calvin Some of you who
read commentaries, and I read several, everything that I had
anyway, and Calvin amongst a couple of others, suggested that this
Egyptian had been converted in the household of Joseph. Maybe. Maybe not. I don't know. I do notice he didn't say our
God. He said your God. That would
trouble me just a little bit as to whether he was converted
or not. But I'll tell you what is apparent
to me is that Joseph in the house, he spoke very highly of the God
of Abraham and Isaac and of his father Jacob. So much so that
the ruler of the house knew who Joseph believed, and he knew
what Joseph believed. That's good. That's good. So he says, peace be unto you. No harm is going to come to you
in this house. This is not the house of vengeance. This is not
the house where we get even. This is a house of mercy. And the man brought the men into
Joseph's house, look at verse 24, and he gave them water and
they washed their feet. He gave their asses, provender.
He's providing for their needs. He gave them water. Be refreshed. Be refreshed. The Lord gives
the washing of water by the Word. And then we have the opportunity
to come, like we come together tonight, like some of you are
watching at home or wherever you are tonight. And it's like
the Lord says, be refreshed. Here's the water of life for
you again. Given to you by means of My servant. You know, the Lord tells His
servants, comfort ye, comfort ye My people. And then, verse 26, Joseph comes
in. Joseph comes in. He makes his
appearance. And when Joseph came home, they
brought him the present, which was in their hand, into the house,
and they bowed themselves to him to the earth, and he asked
them of their welfare, and he said, Is your father well? The
old man of whom you speak, is he yet alive? And they answered,
Thy servant, our father, is in good health. He is yet alive. And here's the fulfillment. of
Joseph's dream. And they bowed down their heads
and made obeisance. And then we see how tender-hearted
Joseph is. He lifted up his eyes and he
saw his brother Benjamin. Now remember, this is his only
full brother. Born to his mother. Same mother,
same dad. All the sons got the same dad,
but got different moms. This is truly his brother Benjamin. His mother's son. And he said,
is this your younger brother of whom you spake unto me? And he looked at Benjamin. And in my heart, I hear a greater than Joseph
saying to me, God be gracious to thee, my son. Isn't that sweet? That's the
first thing he says to me. That's the first thing after
all these years of absence. God be gracious to thee, my son. Does the Savior say that to me? He does. And Joseph, kind of like we're getting a
little bit now, he made haste. Tears began to fill his eyes. For his bowels did yearn upon
his brother, and he sought where to weep. He entered into his
bedroom and shut the door. And he wept. And then he washed his face.
He went out. He refrained himself and said,
put the food on the table. Set on meat. Set on bread, he
said. What that means is, bring the
food out. And oh, what a banquet it was.
And I'll tell you, our Lord Jesus, he brings us to the banquet house
of mercy. Oh, what the gospel is a feast. It's abundantly spread. Come
and eat and drink the wine of the gospel. You can drink regular
wine, get drunk on it, but the wine of the gospel is so exhilarating. It fills the heart with gladness.
Eat and eat and eat again. Drink and drink and drink again. And verse 32, and 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 might not
eat bread with the Hebrews, for that's an abomination on the
Egyptians. In other words, there are three tables set. One table
is for Joseph. Nobody gonna sit at his table.
He's the crown prince. And at another table are his
brethren, the Hebrews. And at yet another table, the
Egyptians, because the Egyptians are not going to eat with the
Hebrews, and the Hebrews are not going to eat with the Egyptians. They have different cultures
and different food. The Jews, the Hebrews, ate foods
that the Egyptians wouldn't eat because they worshiped the animals
from which the meat came. So they don't all dine at the
same table. And I'll tell you what, in Christ
Jesus, Jews and Gentiles who are one in Christ, we dine at
the same table with the Savior. We're like my fiddler chef. Bring
him in, David says, set him at my table. You eat at the king's
table. And you see, that's where we
dine. That's where we eat, at the king's table. And then watch this. And they
sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright,
and the youngest according to his youth. And the men marveled
at one another. How does he know these things?
He said, Reuben, you sit here. And he went right down the line
and said, now Benjamin, you sit right there. They said, man,
why? He got us all in order. He has, Christ has an infinite
knowledge of you and of all of his children. Here's the last thing, look at
verse 34. He took and sent messes unto
them from before him and said, serve these men. Boy, don't you
know that? That was such a wonderful meal.
But Benjamin's mess, He got five times as much food as any of
the other brethren. And they drank and were merry
with him. It's like Benjamin was the guest
of honor. He's the guest of honor at the
table. And Joseph said, load him up with food. And I'll tell
you what, for all of the Lord's Benjamins, It's like we're the
guests of honor at his table. He says, feed my children abundantly. Feed my brethren. And that's
what the preacher of the gospel is supposed to do. And the people of God feast,
and then they come back again for another feast. And we ask
God every time to Provide us a good meal, Lord, through the
steward of the house, preacher of the gospel. Well, that's closing
prayer.