The name of the message is Corn
in Egypt. Corn in Egypt. Genesis chapter 41. We'll be
reading the last two verses. But first of all, I'd like to
have a little introduction now. In our study so far, we've seen
how our great God has exalted Joseph to the position of Prime
Minister over all of Egypt. The only one over him is Pharaoh.
And Pharaoh has said, everything's in your hands. Everything's in
your hands. He's only answerable to the king
of Egypt. And Joseph was the only fit person.
Also, we're saying he was the only fit person to open the storehouses. As he had prophesied about the
famine and no one else was able to interpret Pharaoh's dream,
but Joseph did. And how did he do it? Well, he
did it by the power of God. He did it by the power of God.
because God gave him an understanding of Pharaoh's dreams. See, it
always goes back to our God. It always goes back to him. Joseph
had planned the crops and the storehouses, and he purchased
the corn when it was at a really reasonable price, because it
was plenty for seven years. And it had been stored up in
these storehouses all across the land of Egypt. And beloved
of God, only the Lord Jesus Christ Only the Lord Jesus Christ is
qualified, is fit and qualified to open the storehouse of mercy
to sinners. He's the only one. He's the only
one. Joseph, being a type of Christ,
he was the only one who was fit to open the storehouses in Egypt.
But our Lord Jesus Christ, He's the only one to open the storehouses
of mercy, of God's mercy to sinners. Because He's the one who's full
of grace and truth. full of grace and truth, and
innumerable blessings are in him for the believer. We can't
number our blessings, beloved. We can't number them. In the word of God, the second
person of the Trinity foreknew the fall and famine of human
nature. And the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit purposed
and planned. They purposed and planned in eternity the everlasting
covenant of mercy whereby they would save a people. They would
save a people, all purposed and planned by God, and then executed
by God. And all by his almighty power. All by his almighty power. And
then the word of God became flesh. After it was purposed and planned,
at the appointed time, at God's appointed time, the word of God,
the second person of the Trinity became flesh and dwelt among
us. wealth among us, bone of our
bone and flesh of our flesh. You came in the likeness of human
flesh and obeyed the law in order that his people might have a
perfect righteousness before God, in order that we might be
redeemed and saved from our sins. And he died on Calvary's cross
that we might all be justified in God's sight. Because we can never justify
ourselves, can we? Before God. And it is the Word of God, Christ,
who filled the storehouses of God's blessing with grace and mercy for us.
And we come and feast, don't we? We come and feast, beloved. We saw our need, we're starving.
And saw our need and He draws us. The Holy Spirit draws us
to Christ. And only Christ has the wisdom
to distribute the spiritual blessings of God. He alone is the bread
come down from heaven, isn't he? He alone. And the only place where food can
be found for bankrupt sinners is in Christ. Nowhere else. And the food amongst the spiritual
famine of this world can only be found in Christ. And he has
storehouses, gospel churches, placed where he will. And God's
people, we come and feast, don't we? We feast on Christ. And only he can open the storehouse,
only he can give us an understanding, eh? Only he can give us an understanding
of who he is. Only he can feed us. only Christ,
and Christ alone. The Lord Jesus Christ, our heavenly
Joseph, opens the storehouse of grace to Jew and Gentile,
to Jew and Gentile, to bond and free, to barbarian, Scythian,
bond and free, and whosoever will, let him take of the water
of life. You know, the famine in our world
right now is universal. Oh, there's a famine. And the
command to repent and come to Christ is universal. It goes
out there, doesn't it? It's universal. The command to
repent and come to Christ is universal. And you know what?
The scripture says He is able. He is able. He's able to save
to the uttermost all who come to God by Him. He's able. We're seeing today's message
that we have no ability. unless God moves in our lives
and intervenes in our lives. Our last study we left off at
verse 55 of Genesis chapter 41. We looked at verses 56 and 57
this morning, where we have seen Joseph open the storehouses and
all the nations come to Egypt for corn. All the nations. There's
a spiritual, there's a famine. And all the nations round about
them. Seven years. Seven years of famine. But there's corn in Egypt. There's
corn in Egypt. And this famine was again not
just great in Egypt, it was great in all the lands. Look at verse 56 and 57 of Genesis
41. And the famine was over all the
face of the earth. And remember who sent this famine. Our God is sovereign over all
things. He sent the seven years of plenty,
and He sent the seven years of famine. Look at this. was over all the
face of the earth. And Joseph opened all the storehouses
and sold them to the Egyptians. And the famine waxed sore in
the land of Egypt. There was nowhere else to go
to get food except to Joseph. Look at this. And not just as
the citizens of Egypt and the people of Egypt go to Joseph,
it says in verse 57, and all the countries came into Egypt
to Joseph for to buy corn because the famine was so sore in all
lands. See, word had went out, beloved,
there's corn in Egypt. And it went out by the sovereign
power of God. And there was only one place
where you could get corn during this famine. And they would make
bread and all kinds of things from the corn. And so take note, as we've seen
all through the study, the unfolding plan and purpose of God in sending
Joseph down to Egypt? We see here that in these two
verses of Holy Scripture that the Holy Spirit continues to
reveal to us the purpose of God in sending Joseph down to Egypt.
See, Joseph, when he was thrown into that pit, had no idea what
the Lord had in store for him, did he? Thirteen long years later,
Now he's exalted by our great God to the second in command
over all of Egypt, and everyone has to come to him if they want
corn. Joseph again went down to Egypt,
was sent down to Egypt to manifest the sovereign almighty power
of God in delivering his people from Egyptian bondage. Because
remember, he sent down to Egypt, and Jacob we're going to see
in later study, he's going to come down with all of Israel, And they're going to be in bondage
for 400 years. And at the appointed time, God's
going to deliver them from that. All according to the plan and
purpose of our great God. And he will deliver them from
the bondage which they're replaced in. And what will that do? That'll
bring great glory to our God. Great glory to our God. And by
God's will and purpose being worked out, We see that word's gotten back
again to Jacob. Look at verse 1 and 2 of Genesis
chapter 42. Word's gotten back to Jacob.
He's heard. He's heard that there was a place
where corn could be purchased. And this is good news. This is
good news. You're in a famine, this is really
good news. They have a need, don't they? And just like everyone
else had a need and they went down to Egypt. to see Joseph. Those who didn't go down to see
Joseph probably perished. But oh, good news. Good news has come during the
famine. And it can't be kept secret, can it? Can't be kept
secret, beloved. No. Therefore Jacob had heard
about the corn down in Egypt, possibly from those who are traveling
back through where he lives. to go back to their homes. They may have purchased corn
already and they're heading back home. Imagine through the caravans
too, the caravans, different trade caravans, word would spread
real fast. There's corn in Egypt. There's
corn in Egypt. Let's read verses 1 and 2 of
Genesis chapter 42. Now when Jacob saw that there
was corn in Egypt, Jacob said unto his sons, Why do you look
one upon another? And he said, Behold, I have heard
that there is corn in Egypt. Get you down thither and buy
for us from thence, that we may live and not die. And note in
verse 1, Jacob says to his sons, Why do you look upon one another?
What are you doing staring at one another? You ever heard that? You ever heard that from your
parents? I heard that from my parents sometimes, with my brothers. What are y'all
doing? We're looking at you, get going and do that. Oh my. They're looking upon one another
and they're not able to help one another, are they? Out of
the state that they're in. They're not able to help one
another. They're all in the same boat. They're all in the same
state. Hopeless. Helpless. And not one of them could provide
for the needs of the whole. Not one of them. This is us in
our natural state. This is us in our natural state,
beloved. We're born into this state, helpless, hopeless spiritually.
And our spiritual needs are not going to be met by any of Adam's
race. You can't meet my spiritual needs
and I can't meet your spiritual needs. No. Not at all. I can't even meet my own spiritual
needs. Neither can anyone in this world.
We must go to the one place, the one person, where all our
spiritual needs are met. And that is the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the Lord Jesus Christ. God incarnate in the flesh and
all that a sinner needs. All that a sinner needs is found
in Christ. Everything. Everything a sinner
needs is found in Christ. So we see Jacob tell his sons
that he's heard there's corn in Egypt. He tells his sons in
verse two to go and buy some, that we might live and not die. That we might live and not die.
Now again, this is all being planned and purposed by our great
God, and it's all coming to pass according to his divine power.
That's always important to remember. All by His divine will and power.
This is all occurring. Now we see it being executed,
beloved. Planned and purposed, now we
see it executed by God's sovereign will. By His power, and take note again
that there was only one place and one person they could go
to. for corn. Everybody was answerable to Joseph. Everybody. And at his command the corn was
distributed and given to whom he pleases. Now the difference with grace
is the Egyptians and others had to purchase this. Our salvation
is free. But it did cost. And the cost is the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The precious blood of Christ.
Doesn't cost us anything. Are you thirsty? Flee to Christ. Are you hungry? Flee to Christ.
Do you see your need, your desperate need to be saved? Flee to Christ. He's the only hope for sinners. And our dear brother Jacob, he
knew that this was a matter of life and death. He knew that,
didn't he? And he tells his sons, you must
go down to Egypt. Well, the gospel preacher stands
and says, flee to Christ. He's the only hope for sinners,
or you're going to die in your sins and perish and spend eternity
in hell. Come on, there's only one hope,
and that's Christ. And you know what it is that
brings men and women to Christ? It's the goodness of God that
leads men to repentance. The fact that when we stop and
think that he left heaven for us, the word of God, that he
left glory for us to redeem us from our sins, the king of glory,
the one who has all power and majesty did that for me, Oh my, what a Savior, what a
Redeemer is Jesus Christ our Lord. So we can see again very
clearly that the purpose of God in bringing that famine upon
the land, and remember, this was all an exercise of His almighty
power. All an exercise of His almighty
power. He alone again bought the seven years of plenty, in
order that the storehouses might be filled, And He alone again
by His almighty power has bought this famine, this great famine
to come to pass. Again, that His will and His
purpose might be accomplished. And again, He had purpose to
get His people down to Egypt, didn't He? He told Abraham that. And Joseph goes down before His
people to keep them alive. To keep them alive. Our great God, He sends His preachers
where there's sheep, and He sends His sheep to the storehouses,
doesn't He? He does. Where the Gospel's being preached
and proclaimed, and it's all purposed and planned and executed
by our great God. There's not one person here today
who's here by accident. It's planned and purposed by
God. It's amazing. And it wasn't by
accident. that you who believe were where
you were when you heard the gospel. That was all planned and purposed
by God. That you would flee to the one
storehouse, the one who has all blessings, the heavenly Joseph,
the Lord Jesus Christ. All planned and purposed by God
in eternity and executed in time by his almighty power. And what
can we say but praise be to God. Praise be to God for his glory. My. Turn if you would to Romans chapter
10. Romans chapter 10. Look at this. We've read this many times, but
I'd like us to read this. Now, God's preachers have been
enlightened to these two truths that are woven throughout the
word of God. Number one, man's responsibility to repent. of their sinful ways, and believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, confess in Him as their Lord and Savior.
Every man and woman is fully responsible for their sin. And number two, the absolute
sovereignty of God in the salvation of His people. Look at this in
Romans 10 9-15, that if thou should confess with thy mouth
the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that God hath
raised Him from the dead, Thou shalt be saved. Look at that. Thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever
believeth on him, that's Christ, shall not be ashamed. For there's
no difference between Jew and Greek. For the same Lord over
all is rich unto all that call upon Him. Remember, in the body
of Christ there's neither Jew nor Gentile. We're one in Christ.
We're one in Christ. That's what that's bringing forth.
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved. What a glorious truth. How shall they call on Him in
whom they've not believed? And how shall they believe in
in him of whom they have not heard, and how shall they hear
without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent?
As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach
the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things.
So again, two things that every gospel preacher, two things that
are interwoven throughout the word of God, man's responsibility
to repent of their sins in the sovereignty of God and salvation. God commands all men everywhere
and women everywhere to repent. That's man's responsibility.
And beloved, it is God who grants repentance unto life, all by
his sovereign power. And this magnifies the sovereignty
of God and salvation. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord, we saw there, shall be saved. It's the responsibility
of man to call upon the name of the Lord. The promises unto
you and to your children and to all that are far off, even
as many as our Lord shall call, Acts 2.39. And then the sovereignty
of God and salvation. He must first call us. He must
first call us, or we'll never call upon Him. How shall they
call on Him in whom they've not believed? How are they going to call on
God if they've not believed on Him? You know how? As many as were
ordained to eternal life believed. The sovereignty of God. God, the Holy Spirit regenerates
us, we're born again, and he gives us faith to believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. And then we spend the rest of
our days on this earth praising his name, and we'll spend all
of eternity praising his name. Oh, what a great God we have.
What a great and remember this, my sheep hear my voice and they
follow me. There's the sovereignty of God.
In salvation. And how shall they hear without
a preacher and how shall they preach except they be sent? So
both the responsibility of man and the sovereignty of God are
clearly taught in the Holy Scriptures, beloved. And gospel preachers
must declare both truths. We must declare both truths.
Let's go back to Genesis 42, we'll read verses 3 and 4. And Joseph's ten brethren went
down to buy corn in Egypt. Verse 3, But Benjamin, Joseph's
brother Jacob, sent not with his brethren. But Benjamin, Joseph's
brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren, for he said, lest
peradventure mischief befall him. So let us remember the last
state we saw Jacob in. Turn over to chapter 37. Let
us remember the last state we saw Jacob in. When Jacob had
been told that Joseph was killed by wild animals. When his brethren
lied to Jacob and told him, well, Joseph's dead. And we'll see the reason why
Joseph held Benjamin back. We'll see why. Look at this,
Genesis 37 verses 34 and 35. And Jacob rent his clothes and
put sackcloth upon his loins and mourned for his son many
days. Oh, at the announcement that
Joseph had been killed by wild animals, he went into deep mourning,
beloved. rent his clothes, put sackcloth
upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days. And then look,
and his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he
refused to be comforted. None of the other, and none of
his other children could comfort him. And he said, for I will
go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father
wept for him. Oh my. Little did he know that
he was going to see him again, eh? That's for a future study
though, but oh my. He thought he was dead. So last
we see Jacob is in mourning and this is why he says, I'm not
sending Benjamin down there. We see there Jacob is stricken
with grief in those verses over the thought that Joseph had died. So much so that he couldn't even
be comforted by his other children. And then now think, now we're
in Genesis 42, and 13 years have come to pass, and he still remembers
what happened. He's not taking Benjamin. They're
not taking Benjamin. He's not going to send his youngest
son with his ten brothers because he has a fear of losing him too. And always remember that all
that we're reading here is all predetermined by God. And His
will is being executed right before our eyes. His sovereign
will and purpose. This is why I love this study
of Joseph because we see right in the right down into the life
of Joseph and how the Lord is just moving. And He does the
same for us, beloved. He guides us, directs us, takes
care of us. He says, I'll never leave you
nor forsake you. This is all predetermined by
God. It's come to pass according to His mighty will and all by
His almighty power. And these brothers did not know
it, but they'd be facing their brother who they'd sold into
slavery. They didn't know it. They didn't
know it, but they will be. And all this will occur according
to the purpose and plan of God. And they won't recognize him
because the Egyptians then, they put all kinds of stuff on their
face. And remember, he looks totally different than he did.
So they won't even recognize him. But he recognizes them,
we'll see. Oh my. God's people, when we're dead
in sin, we don't even recognize Christ. We don't even know him. But he sees us. He knows where his sheep. Oh,
my. He knows where his sheep. Now think of the conviction that
would come upon these 10 wicked brothers. We'll see that later
in future studies, that their hearts will be gripped with fear
when they stand before Joseph. When he reveals himself to them,
when he makes himself known to them, they'll be gripped with
fear because they know they hated him and sold him into slavery
and little do they know now the one that they hated and they
sold into slavery is now exalted to the highest position under
Pharaoh, but the highest position, prime minister over all of Egypt
and all the affairs of Egypt are in his hands. They're all
in his hands, all of them. He's in full control. And again, this is what God does
when he regenerates us, his chosen people. All of us at one time
hated Christ without a cause. hated the Christ of the Bible, but now we rejoice to see His
face. We rejoice to see His face. And
remember that there is nothing that can be or has ever pointed
to in the life of our Redeemer that was even objectable or questionable,
let alone a cause for hatred. And yet he was hated without
a cause. He was despised and rejected,
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He was perfect, without
flaw, the sinless, spotless lamb of God, and man hated him. Man
hated him. Everything about him was pure
and good. in his life and in his death. The law of God, he
upheld it. Perfectly. Perfectly. For us. Perfectly. He obeyed and exemplified it. He did everything that was demanded
of God for us. The doctrine that he taught was
pure doctrine. And His works were works of mercy,
weren't they? They were works of mercy. He
was kind and tender, and He went about doing good, beloved. And yet He was hated for it.
Yet He was hated for it. And there was no cause for it.
The Lord of glory was hated of all men in this world, and He
still is. Natural man does not love Christ. They may love a Christ of their
imagination or a God of their imagination, but they hate the God of the
Bible. I've told you many times when
I was confronted with an electing God, when I was in religion,
I got so mad. So mad. I stormed out of the
guy's office. Oh, how prideful. But now I love
the fact that God is an electing, choosing God. Because I never
would have chosen Him if He hadn't chosen me. And it's the same
for every one of you. Every one of us who are God's
children. It's amazing grace, beloved.
It's amazing mercy. And He's hated by men without a cause
and that's exactly how He saves sinful men and women who hate
Him. Without a cause. You know how He saves us? Freely
by His grace. Freely by His grace. Saves us
without a cause. There's nothing good in us. But God in His mercy and His
grace saves His people from their sins. This is amazing grace. This is matchless grace. And it's God and God alone who
must convict us of our sinful enmity that's in our natural
heart against him. And against Jesus Christ, his
son, against his glorious gospel. And before a godly soul will
grip our hearts and make us aware of how helpless and hopeless
we are, only the Holy Spirit can reveal that to us. And that's when we see our need.
when God shows us our need. Before that, we see no need for
Christ. We see no need for salvation. But when God shows us what we
really are before him, oh, we see our desperate need. He makes
us aware again of our hopeless and helpless estate before him. And he gives us a new heart that
bows to God. And that believes the record
that he's given us in the scriptures. And trusts Christ. And he's our
exalted king, isn't he? And what do we do? We confess
him as Lord, don't we? We confess him as Lord. There's
only one place where God has ordained that hopeless, helpless,
bankrupt sinners can come and get bread. Only one place. Just
like there was only one place in Egypt to get corn. One person to go to. And that
was Joseph. There's only one place, beloved,
that hopeless, helpless, bankrupt sinners can go to, and that's
the Lord Jesus Christ. And again, he's the sinner's
only hope. There's no other hope. Turn, if you would, to Acts chapter
four. We'll close with this. This one man, Christ Jesus, God
incarnate in the flesh, is the only place where starving sinners
can find bread. The only place. And you know
what? All this was planned and purposed
by our great God in eternity. And the fact that He came down
and redeemed us from our sins was showing us that that which
God has planned and purposed, He executed by His almighty power. And we're going to look at that
this morning, the power of God. We're actually going to be looking
at it this morning and tonight. It's incredible. We cannot even
fathom the power of God. You know, we get but a little
glimpse of it. Just a little glimpse, beloved. Oh, my. Look at Acts chapter
4, verses 10 to 12. Be it known unto you all and
to all the people of Israel that by the the name of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead.
And how did He raise Christ from the dead? By His almighty power,
beloved. By His almighty power. Even by
Him that this man stand here before you all. This is the stone
which was set at Nod of you builders, which has become the head of
the corner. Look at this. Neither is there salvation in
any other. No other. No other. One place
to come. One person to go to. For there
is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must
be saved. That's it. One place. Oh, may
God give you grace to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and
to know that there's salvation in no other but him.