Open your Bibles if you would
to Genesis chapter 42. Genesis chapter 42 will continue
where we left off last week. Now in our study in the life
of Joseph, we saw that Joseph's brethren came back to Egypt to
buy food because the famine was great in their land. We saw that
in the first of this chapter. And they told their father Jacob
that unless they took Benjamin down to Egypt with them, that
the trip that they were making was fruitless, was fruitless. Because the man had said, the
man being Joseph had said, you need to bring your brother down
and you won't get anything unless I see his face. We also saw that
Judah had agreed to be surety for Benjamin. He said, I will
be surety for him of my hand shalt thou require him if I bring
him not unto thee and set him before thee then let me bear
the blame forever and we saw that in this situation Judah
typified the Lord Jesus Christ who who is our blessed surety
he's our blessed surety beloved the surety of his covenant people
the surety of all those whom the father hath given him and
it's his responsibility to bring us before the Father, to bring
us before the Father safely. And he will do that. He will
not lose one sheep, not one sheep. And he from everlasting undertook
to answer for his people in the great office of surety. Ponder that. He from everlasting
undertook to answer for his people in this great office as our surety
in the place of his people. He has fulfilled all righteousness
that was demanded of us before God. He's fulfilled it all. He
is our righteousness. He is our righteousness. And
he has expiated all the offenses against us by his substitutionary
death upon the cross. And he has pledged, as Judah
has said here, to bring all his people and set them before the
Father. When he said, I'll not lose one
of them, that's what he's saying. I'm gonna bring them all. I'm
gonna bring them all. And no man, remember, no man,
that's including ourselves or any other, can pluck us out of
his hand. No man. No one. Oh, what a great surety we have.
Let's start our study today with reading verses 11 to 14 in Genesis
chapter 43. And their father Israel said
unto them, if it must be so now, do this. Take of the best fruits
in the land, in your vessels, and carry down the manna present,
a little balm and a little honey, spices in myrrh, nuts and almonds. and take double money in your
hand. And the money that was bought
again in the mouth of your sacks, carry it again in your hand.
Pair adventure, it was an oversight. Take also your brother and arise
and go unto the man. Notice singular, the man. There's
only one place where we can go. One place where we sinners can
go to have the forgiveness of all our sins. And that's in Christ,
our heavenly Joseph. Only one place where we can buy
corn. And we buy it without money and without price. It's given
to us. Just like it was given to the brethren. Joseph's brethren
earlier. They found all that money in
their sacks. All that corn was free. All that corn was free. Take also your brethren and rise
and go again unto the man. And God Almighty give you mercy
before the man. And he may send away your brother,
your other brother, and Benjamin. If I be bereaved of my children,
I am bereaved. So we see in verse 11, look at
what Jacob says to his sons, if it must be so. It must be
so. Once again, all things happen
according to God's sovereign plan and purpose. They're ordained
by God before time began. Therefore, we can marvel that
Jacob responded to the perfect sovereign will of God by saying,
if it must be so. If it must be so. Jacob was the
head of the family, and we know from our studies last week that
he was very reluctant to send Benjamin down to Egypt. He was very reluctant to let
him go with them. But he really had no choice.
He really had no choice. He had been hemmed in by God's
sovereignty, hadn't he? He'd been hemmed in by God's
sovereignty. And he had to allow Benjamin to go down to Egypt.
If he did not let Benjamin go, then they would all starve to
death, wouldn't they? They'd all starve to death. And he knew this. And notice,
though he has some instructions for them, He says, do this in
verse 11. He gives his son some specific
instructions by saying, do this. They have very little left, but
know what he tells them to take are the best fruits of the land
in your vessels. Carry with you, carry down to
the man a present. A little balm, a little honey,
spices, myrrh, nuts, and almonds. So we see again that Jacob and
his family, they had some things to eat, but they had no bread. And bread was a staple in the
diet of the people at this time, just like it is still a staple
even today. Bread to the body is what Jesus
Christ is to the soul of the believer, for them. Bread to the body is what Jesus
Christ is for the soul of the believer. He's the true bread
from heaven, isn't He? Christ is the true bread from
heaven that every believer needs to live. It's He who sustains
us and that every believer feeds upon continually as we journey
in this world. So bread was to them like Christ
is to the believer. We must have it. We must have
it. We must have Christ. We must
have Him. We must have Him. And we know
that our great God is the divine provider. We know that He causes
the rain to fall upon this world, providing food for who? The just
and the unjust. He provides for both. He provides
for both. But all what He provides for
His justified people in Christ is far more abundant than what
He gives the unjust. Far more abundant. They do not
receive the heavenly blessings that we receive in Christ. Here's a question to all who
will hear this message. What profit is there in the things
of this world if you lose your own soul? What profit is there
in the things of this world if you lose your own soul? And what
would you give in exchange for your soul? There's nothing we
can give God in exchange for our soul. Nothing. Nothing. Absolutely nothing in this world
and absolutely nothing that we do. So beloved, how thankful we should
be How thankful we should be for
the honor of assembling with His saints. We get to assemble
with God's people. What a blessing. We get to assemble
for public worship. We get to sit under the preaching
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And our great God is
pleased to feed us from the green pastures of His Word. He feeds
us, doesn't He? If my words are the only words
you hear, you won't get anything from it. But if the Holy Spirit
takes those words and feeds your soul as a believer, right? Oh,
it's honey, isn't it? Oh, it's so wonderful. It's so
wonderful. And we preachers, we proclaim
what we've learned in our study that's blessed us. We feast on
the Word just like everybody else. And it's absolutely wonderful. Beloved, this is our heavenly
manna, isn't it? Christ is our heavenly manna.
This book speaks about Him. It testifies of Christ. It proclaims
Christ. It tells us who He was in glory
and who He is, God. It tells us of He came to this
earth as king, and died and bled as a substitute of his people.
And then it tells us where he is right now. Tells us what he's
done, and now it tells us where he is. He's in glory, beloved.
Seated at the right hand of the Father. And so we get the honor
of public worship, to gather together. And how precious God's
grace is to every believer in showing us our need of our heavenly
corn. Think of that. In our natural
state, we had no idea that we had need of the heavenly corn. Did you have any idea in your
natural state that you had need for the bread of life, which
is the Lord Jesus Christ? Did you have any idea? No idea
at all, did we? In our natural state. We just
didn't. We just didn't, but praise God
that he reveals to us our desperate need for Christ. And we do not see our need of... We do not see our need in our
natural state. We just don't. Until we are bought
to the point where we see our need. See, Jacob was bought to
a point where he realized, if I don't send Benjamin down, we're
all gonna starve. We're all gonna die. And so he
sends his son down. He tells him, take a little present.
What's our Lord's command to Peter? Feed my sheep. Feed my
sheep. This is also the command from
the Lord Jesus Christ to all his preachers. We're to feed
the sheep of God. And how do we do it? With the
green pastures of his word. We preach and proclaim the gospel,
and the Holy Spirit takes those words, and oh my, he illuminates
the scriptures, and God's people are blessed by the preaching
of the gospel. by the preaching of the gospel. We see here in
verse 12 that Jacob tells his sons to take double money in
your sacks, in your hand. And the money that was bought
again in the mouth of your sacks, carry it again in your hand.
Pair adventure, it was an oversight. So he tells them, take double
what you would normally take, because maybe the prices went
up. You never know, right? That's what some commentators
said. They said maybe Jacob thought the prices had went up a little
bit, because it's now two years into the famine, beloved. And
so he says, take double and take all the money that was in your
sacks, take that too. Take that as well. Take that
as well. And we know that, and look what
he says, carry it again in your hand. Pair adventure, it was
an oversight. So he says, take that money that
was in your sacks, just in case it was an oversight. We know
it wasn't no oversight, was it? We know it wasn't any oversight.
There was no oversight when that money was put in their sacks.
Oh my beloved, there was no oversight at all. But they didn't know
that. It was a deliberate act of kindness
by Joseph. It was a deliberate act of kindness
by Joseph, the ruler of Egypt. who had the right to do, now
think of this, he was the ruler in Egypt, and what did he have?
He had the right to do that which seemed good in his sight, didn't
he? What about our great God? He
can do whatever seems good in His sight, can't He? He can. You see how Joseph pictures our
great Savior, beloved. Oh my. And Joseph's brothers,
they did not know that what they had received was a blessing from
their own brother. They had no idea. All they knew
is he was Zaphnaphaneh. That's all they knew. They didn't
know he was Joseph. All they knew is this man, we've got to
go to him or we'll get no corn. We don't know who he is, but
he's the ruler. That's all we know. That's all
we know. The very one The very one who
they hated without a cause. The very one they sold into slavery
is the very one who has blessed them with that money. Not just
with the money, though, with the corn that would sustain them,
right? Yeah. The very one they just tossed
into the pit. And remember, in our study, they
heard his cries, and they just turned a deaf ear to him. The
very one. Oh, what grace. Who have we sinned against? Our Heavenly Joseph in our natural
state, haven't we? The very one we turned a deaf
ear to in our natural state. Oh, what mercy, beloved. What
mercy is on display. My, oh my. So with Joseph's brethren,
we have a picture of the natural man's hatred for Christ in their
hearts. And this includes all the people who come into this
world, including God's born-again, blood-washed people. In our regenerate
state, we breathe God's air. Think of that. In our regenerate
state, we breathe God's air. We walk on his earth. We drink
his water, because this is all his. It's all His. We eat His food, not only taking
all these things for granted, but filled with enmity, the scripture
says, towards God in our natural state. And yet He has mercy on
us. You know why? Because we were
the divinely loved ones from eternity. Isn't that amazing?
Oh, it's amazing. It's truly, truly amazing. So
Joseph typified Christ, the exalted God-man, He's the one who has
all the keys to the storehouse to all the heavenly blessings.
They're all in His hands, in the hands of our heavenly Joseph,
the Lord Jesus Christ, our elder brother, beloved, our elder brother. And He bestows His blessing or
withholds His blessings, both physical and spiritual, as it
seems good to do in His sight. He's God. He can do whatever
He pleases. And His spiritual blessings are
reserved only for His elect, those He redeemed, those He purchased
with His own precious blood. Oh, beloved, always remember
that everything comes from our great God's sovereign hand. Always
remember that. Everything. The air we breathe,
the ground we walk on, it's all His. The beauty we see in nature,
it's all His. It's all His. It's all his beloved. And when we are born again by
the Holy Spirit of God, then we humbly bow before our heavenly
Joseph, don't we? We humbly bow before the one
we shook our fist at. We humbly bow before him. Humbly bow before him. And what
do we do? We give him all the glory, don't
we? All the glory for all the blessings that he's pleased to
shower down upon us. Now in verses 13 and 14 we read
where Jacob said to his sons, take also your brother and go
and arise unto the man and God Almighty give you mercy before
the man that he may send away your other brother and Benjamin. And then he says, if I be bereaved
of my children I am bereaved. So we know that Jacob was reluctant
to send Benjamin down, to let him go, but here in the end he
He has no choice. Again, he's been hemmed up by
the sovereignty and the providence of God. He has no choice. And let us remember that it was
God's purpose for Jacob and his family to go to Egypt, to go
to Egypt and eventually become slaves to the wicked Pharaoh.
And then he would deliver them with his almighty hand. And the
famine is what's forced Jacob to send Benjamin with his sons
to buy the corn. They needed the corn to survive.
Oh, how we need Christ to survive, don't we? You ever think of how
did I do it? How did I ever do anything before
Christ? Well, you know, I got the answer
for that. He kept us. He kept us even before we were
saved, beloved. Isn't that amazing? because we're
his sheep from his eternity, we're his divinely loved ones
from eternity. He preserved us. That's amazing. That's absolutely
incredible. The great love that Christ has
for his bride is, you can't measure it. You can't plumb the depths
of it, beloved. You just can't. You just can't. And think upon this As we study
the life of Joseph in the Holy Scriptures, we are seeing by
divine revelation the predetermined purpose of God unfold right before
our eyes. We are seeing that in Joseph's
life. And not everybody can see this,
beloved. Some people just read it and go, wow, he's a pretty
lucky guy. No. No such thing as luck. No such thing as luck or chance.
Now we are seeing the predetermined will of God being unfolded before
our eyes in Joseph's lives, in his life. It's incredible. It's absolutely incredible. And
we again know that nothing happens by chance, and this was true
of Jacob and his sons, and it's equally true of us in our lives. Bring it right home. Bring it
right home. Everything that happens in this
short time upon the earth was predetermined by God himself
for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ for the glory of his amazing
grace and for the eternal good of his chosen people and Remember
the pit that we were in remember the pit that we were in that
he took us up. Oh My and Magnify our great God for his amazing
grace. Give him all the glory Give him all the glory give him
all the glory The hearts of man are in the hands of our sovereign
God. They're in his hands. And like
a river, he turns them to wherever he pleases. And we see here in
our text that Jacob, again, was shut up to God's sovereignty. He's shut up. He has no choice,
right? He has no choice other than to say, take Benjamin. He's
shut up to God's sovereign mercy. And Israel, Jacob did not know
what the outcome would be. He thought Joseph was dead. He
thought Joseph was dead. And he knew that Simeon was in
captivity. And we see then that all his
other sons were about to leave him too. Think of that too. All
his other sons were about to leave him. And he didn't know
if they were going to come back. See the dilemma he's in. There's
more to it than what we what we when we read over it surfacely.
There's a lot more to it. He's thinking I've lost. I've
lost Joseph Simeon's in captivity. And now all my other sons are
going down. Oh, my. But he shut up to the sovereignty
of God, beloved. And he said in verse 14, the
end of it, if I be bereaved, which is deprived of my children,
I am bereaved. Let's read verse 15. And the
man took that present, and they took double money in their hand,
and Benjamin rose up and went down to Egypt and stood before
Joseph. Again, they don't know who he's
standing before. And we see that Jacob's sons did exactly as their
father had instructed them. They went down to Egypt and stood
before Joseph, and they took double the money, and they took
a present. Now, Benjamin wasn't a child either at this time.
Benjamin wasn't a child at this time. No, he'd be either in his
late 20s or early 30s. He's not just a little boy. He'd be in his late 20s or early
30s. And he probably had led a sheltered life, beloved. He
probably had led a sheltered life due to the death of Joseph. And Jacob would have been overly
protective of him. He would have been. because he's
the only other child of the wife that he loved. So therefore, Jacob would not
have allowed Benjamin to venture too far from home. And look at
this, he can't just say, well, I'm going to Egypt, Dad. His
dad has to say, you can go. That's how it was then. So now think of this, too. If
he had lived a sheltered life, Going down to Egypt, he'd be
excited. I'm gonna see all the, he'd see things that he hadn't
seen. Big, huge cities, a whole new culture. My. So it'd be like an adventure
to Benjamin. And then he also probably looked
forward to seeing Simeon again. His brother. Now let's read verses
16 to 17. And when Joseph saw Benjamin
with him, he said to the ruler of the house, bring these men
home and slay and make ready, for these men shall dine with
me at noon. And the man did as Joseph bade,
and the man bought the men unto Joseph's house." Now the last
time that Joseph had seen Benjamin, Benjamin was just a little boy.
So he'd see a great change in Benjamin. He'd see a great change
in Benjamin and his little brother in his appearance. And imagine
the joy that flooded Joseph's heart to see his brother. To see his brother again. He'd not seen him for over 20
years, plus, 20 plus years, beloved. Over 20 plus years. I remember
seeing my brothers for the first time after 12 years. And it brought joy to my heart.
Just to see them in the flesh, I'd talk to them on the phone,
but to see them in the flesh again, bye. But I could imagine after 20
plus years, that's a long time. But always remember that our
great God's timing is perfect, beloved, it's perfect. Now Joseph
would have been working close to the granaries when his brothers
came and stood before him, but we see that instead of selling
them corn, they come to buy they come to by before Joseph, Joseph
tells his servants in Egyptian, his servant in Egyptian, to bring
these men to his home and slay and make ready. For these men
shall dine with me at noon. Now Joseph's brothers, again,
would have been perplexed at this. They could not speak the
Egyptian language. Remember last time they spoke
to Joseph, they spoke through an interpreter. So they would
not have known what Joseph said to his servants. They came before
him to buy corn. Next thing you know, they're
being ushered away. And how could they have known that Joseph had
just given the order for his brothers to dine with him? Again,
remember the last time that they stood before this man, who they
did not know was Joseph. They'd been convicted of what
they had done to Joseph, and they were expecting God's judgment
to fall upon them. And now they're being ushered
away from the ruler of Egypt, and they do not know why. They were not expecting blessings,
they were probably expecting something bad to happen to them. And this is true of every born-again,
blood-washed saint when we are under Holy Spirit conviction,
when the Lord has drawn us to Himself. We know that we deserve
to be punished for our sins, but we get exactly the opposite
of what we expect. We get the opposite of what we
expect. When our great Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, reveals
Himself to us, we have a full pardon of all our sins, don't
we? Oh my. And we learn that the wrath of
God to us fell upon our substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. All because
on Calvary He took care of our sin debt when He offered Himself
as a sacrifice for the sins of His people. When He laid down
His life, the great substitute when he shed his precious blood
and purged our sins beloved from God's sight notice verse 18 notice
they're afraid look at verse 18 and the men were afraid because
they were bought into joseph's house and they said because of
the money that was returned in our sacks at the first time we
the first time are we bought in that he may seek occasion
against us and fall upon us and take us for bondmen and our assets
so they're afraid they're afraid that they had been brought to
Joseph's house because of the money that was left in their
sacks. And so that this ruler of Egypt
could take occasion against them. That's what they think. They're
afraid. They're thinking, what's going
to happen to us now? Is he taking us there to fall
upon us? Is He taking us there to take
all our possessions and turn us into servants? And they had no idea therefore,
and they were afraid and perplexed. Now let's read verses 19 to 22. And they came near to the steward
of Joseph's house, and they communed with him at the door, and said,
O sir, we came indeed down at the first time to buy food. And
it came to pass, when we came to the inn, that we opened our
sacks, and behold, every man's money was in the mouth of his
sack, our money in full weight, and we have bought it again in
our hand. In other money have we bought
down in our hands to buy food. We cannot tell who put our money
in our sacks." So we see here Jacob's sons, they're already
thinking, well, we're here because of that. So now they're giving
their defense. Now they're giving their defense to Joseph Stuart. They believe they're pleading
for their lives. And take note that this servant of Joseph speaks
the Hebrew language. Because they're speaking to him
in Hebrew. This servant speaks the Hebrew language. He may have
been the one who was the interpreter last time, we don't know. last
time they stood before him. But obviously he was a very high-ranking
servant for Joseph. And we see that he speaks the
language. And he's an Egyptian. He's an Egyptian. And we see
that Jacob's sons gave a true account of what happened, didn't
they? They gave a true account. And we know in our previous studies
that when they came the first time it was to buy food and they
had no clue that all their money had been put back in their sacks
until they stopped at the inn And they opened their sacks and
they went, what in the world? Oh my. And so we see they brought
all that money back that they found in their sacks to show
that they were not being deceptive or dishonest. Now look at verse
23, and he said, Peace be to you, fear not. Your God and the
God of your fathers hath given you treasure and your sacks.
I had your money, and he bought out Simeon unto them. Take note of verse 23 here, look
at this. In our study on Wednesday, I
mentioned a quote by Brother Scott Richardson that if one
is a believer, it'll leak out, right? You'll tell others. You'll
tell others about what we believe. Take note this Egyptian man's
words, look at this, this is an Egyptian man's words, look
at this. And he said, peace be to you, fear not, you're God. All he knows about their God. You're God. The God of your father
hath given you treasures in your sacks. I had your money, and
he bought Simeon out unto them. He tells his brothers there,
peace is shalom. It means peace and tranquility in the Hebrew,
shalom. He says these wonderful words,
look at these other wonderful words, fear not. Oh my. Remember Mephibosheth before
David? Fear not. And through the Lord Jesus Christ,
we hear the words, fear not. Fear not. Oh my. We see here that this Egyptian
who was a servant of Joseph had some knowledge of the God of
the Hebrews. He had some knowledge of the God of the Hebrews. We
know that Joseph would have been a faithful witness of our great
God to his family and to the servants of his household. And
they find out from his answer that they are not being accused
of deception or they're not being accused of being dishonest. And
Joseph's servant says, your God is the one who has given you
treasure in your sex. Let us never forget, beloved,
that it's God himself who commands the light of the gospel to shine
in our hearts, to give us the knowledge of his glory in the
face of Jesus Christ. It is he who puts treasure in
these earthen vessels. He puts treasure in these earthen
vessels. in the sacks of our mouth, if you will, one John
Gill says, in the sacks of your mouth, if you will, that we will
know and understand the excellency of the power of our great God
and know that that is all of Him and not of us. And we see in verse 23 that there's
a joyful reunion as Joseph's servant brought Simeon out unto
them. And he's released. And he comes
by order of Joseph himself. His servant would not have taken
the liberty to release Simeon if it had not been commanded
of Joseph. So let us look upon these great
events, knowing that as we read these, these are all coming to
pass according to God's sovereign will. Let's read verses 24 and
25. And the man bought the men into
Joseph's house and gave them water, and they washed their
feet, and he gave their asses for vendor, and they made ready
the present against Joseph, came at noon, for they heard that
they should eat bread there." So we see that it was Joseph's
servant that brought them into the house, into Joseph's house,
and he was quick to show them hospitality, wasn't he? He was
quick to show them hospitality, special hospitality. He'd been
directed to do this. He'd been directed to do this
by Joseph. He gave them water that they
might wash their feet, wash the traveler's dirt off their feet.
He also took care of their animals, feeding them as well, feeding
them. And note in verse 25 the phrase,
and they made ready the present against Joseph came at noon.
This is in reference to the present that Jacob had instructed his
sons to take down to the ruler of Egypt. And they must have heard that
he's coming soon. He must have heard that he's coming soon to
dine with them. And we see that Jacob's sons
want to present the Egyptian ruler with the present from their
father, trying to appease him if he should be upset with them. So we have seen today that Joseph's
brethren were driven by need. They needed corn to survive,
to go and see Joseph, whom they did not know was their brother.
And we've also seen that their fear has been changed to relief.
Their fear has been changed to relief, knowing that they were
not going to be accused of stealing. And now we see there's joy at
them being reunited with their brother. Oh, look at that. Need. God shows us our need. Relief. That all our sins are forgiven
in and through Christ. In joy. Joy. Joy. Joy unspeakable we have
now, don't we? We who are the people of Christ.
Oh my. We're showing our great need
when we're drawn to Christ. We tremble in fear before him,
and then we hear the words, fear not, and oh, the joy that floods
our hearts, beloved. Glory be to God. Glory be to
God. Heavenly Father, we thank you for allowing us, again, the
honor and the privilege of gathering together in your name. Oh, Lord,
we who are your people, what great mercy you have shown us,
what great mercy you have shown us, our great God in and through
Christ Jesus, our Lord. And, oh, you spared not your
own son, but you sent him to die, to die as our great substitute
on Calvary's cross. Oh, greater love hath no man
in this than the man laid down his life for his friends. And,
oh, Lord Jesus, you laid down your life for your people willingly,
willingly. You came here to die. Came here
to die in our place. And, oh, you're raised again
for our justification. And, oh, we marvel at this. Glory
to your name. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.