No way sometimes to enter into
the message without just reading the chapter. It's a lot of reading,
but let's look at it together. In Genesis 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's corn in Egypt. Get you down, thither. And buy
for us from thence that we may live and not die. It's a matter
of life and death. He said, what are you doing sitting
around looking at each other? They were probably talking about
what are we going to do? And look into one another. We
can't help one another. There's corn, it's life and death.
Go get some of it. And Joseph's ten brethren, verse
three, went down to buy corn in Egypt. But Benjamin, Joseph's
brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren, for he said, lest
peradventure mischief befall him. Jacob never got over what
happened to Joseph, did he? He never got over it. And the
sons of Israel came to buy corn among those that came, for the
famine was in the land of Canaan. And Joseph was the governor over
the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the
land, And Joseph's brethren came and bowed down themselves before
him, but made himself strange unto
them, and spake roughly unto them. And he said unto them,
Whence come ye? And they said, From the land
of Canaan, to buy food. The word there is the defenselessness. You're looking for a weakness
in the land. And they said unto him, Nay,
my lord, but to buy food are thy servants come. We are all
one man's sons. We are true men, and thy servants
are no spies. And he said unto them, Nay, but
to see the nakedness of the land here come. And they said, Thy
servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land
of Canaan. And behold, the youngest is this
day with our father, and one is not. And Joseph said unto
them, that is it that I spake unto you, saying, you are spies.
So hereby you shall be proved. By the life of Pharaoh you shall
not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither.
Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and you shall
be kept in prison, that your words may be proved. Whether
there be any truth in you, or else by the life of Pharaoh,
surely you were spies. And he put them all together
into ward three days. Or under guard, is what that
means. And Joseph said unto them the third day, this do and live,
for I fear God. If ye be true men, let one of
your brethren be bound in the house of your prison. Go ye,
carry corn for the famine of your houses. But bring your youngest
brother unto me, so shall your words be verified, and ye shall
not die. And they did so. And they said
one to another, we are verily guilty concerning our brother,
in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us,
and we would not hear. Therefore is this distress come
upon us. And Reuben answered them, saying,
spake I not unto you, saying, do not sin against the child? And he turned himself about from
them, and wept. And returned to them again, and
communed with them, and took from them Simeon, and bound him
before their eyes. Then Joseph commanded to fill
their sacks with corn, and to restore every man's money into
his sack, and to give them provision for the way. And thus did he
unto them." He's not going to take your money. Come and buy
without money, and without price. And they laid their asses with
the corn and departed thence, and as one of them opened his
sack to give his ass provender in the end, he aspied his money,
for behold, it was in his sack's mouth. And he said unto his brethren,
My money is restored, and lo, it is even in the sack. And their
heart failed them, and they were afraid, saying one to another,
What is this that God hath done unto us? And they came unto Jacob
their father, unto the land of Canaan, and told him all that
befell unto them, saying, The man who is the Lord of the land
spake roughly to us. And we said unto him, we are
true men, we are no spies. We be 12 brethren, sons of our
father. One is not, and the youngest
is this day with our father in the land of Canaan. And the man, the Lord of the
country, said unto us, Hereby shall I know that you are true
men. Leave one of your brethren here with me, and take food for
the famine of your households, and be gone. And bring your youngest
brother to me. Then shall I know that you are
no spies, but that you are true men. So will I deliver you your
brother, and you shall traffic in the land. And it came to pass,
as they emptied their sacks, that, behold, every man's bundle
of money was in his sack. And when both they and their
father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid. And Jacob,
their father, said unto them, Me have ye bereaved of my children. Joseph is not, and Simeon is
not, and you'll take Benjamin away. All these things are against
me. And Reuben spake unto his father,
saying, Slay my two sons, if I bring him not to thee. deliver
him into my hand, and I will bring him to thee again. And
he said, my son shall not go down with you, for his brother
is dead, and he is left alone. If mischief befall him by the
way in which you go, then shall you bring down my gray hairs
with sorrow to the grave." Now there's a lot here we won't see
tonight, and we may bring several messages, even Chapter 41, we're
not through with yet. We'll look at some of that tonight.
Chapter 42, there's so many lessons in these chapters. When Jacob
speaks of the famine in these first verses, we're reminded
of the circumstances under which this famine came. He said, I've
heard there's corn in Egypt. And we remember why this famine,
this grievous famine, came and had the circumstances under which
it came. God revealed through Joseph that
there would be a famine. And by the wisdom of God, through
Joseph, Joseph manifesting the wisdom of God in and unto Egypt. If he hadn't done that, everybody
dies. If God doesn't reveal through
Joseph the truth, everybody dies. But by God's wisdom, given to
Joseph, not only the wisdom to understand the dreams of Pharaoh,
but to do something about it. By that wisdom, Joseph had all
authority and in famine, plenty to eat.
And the spiritual teaching here is clear and beautiful, compelling. You and I have never experienced
famine in this earth, so it'll take some careful consideration
here to understand what was taking place. Can you imagine what would
happen if God were simply to dry up the skies and deny us
any water for just a few months? It would take longer now than
it would have then for things to begin to fall apart, but it
still wouldn't take long. It wouldn't take long. And just
to give us an idea, turn to 2 Kings chapter 6. 2 Kings chapter 6 and verse 25. Give you an idea of what happened
at times of famine like this. This is not the same famine.
But just to give you an idea of what it might have been like,
what it surely was like, Second King 625, there was a great famine
in Samaria. And behold, they besieged it
until an ass's head was sold for four score pieces of silver. And the fourth part of a cab
of doves dung for five pieces of silver. Have you eaten any
doves dung lately? You might someday, probably not,
but you might. If it gets bad enough, you will.
And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there
cried a woman unto him, saying, help, my lord, O king. And he
said, if the lord do not help thee, whence shall I help thee,
out of the barn floor or out of the winepress? There's nothing
in the barn floor. There's nothing in the wine press.
And this teaches, this King is setting forth a truth here that
we're to see in our text. If God doesn't do something about
this, there's nothing that can be done about it. That's one
of the teachings of this famine here. How am I going to help
you? I'm the King and I can't do anything about it. The greatest,
most powerful, most effective, most able man in this world can
do nothing about your problem. God's got to do something about
it. And the king said unto her, what
aileth thee? And she answered, this woman
said unto me, give thy son that we may eat him today, and we'll
eat my son tomorrow. So we boiled my son and did eat
him. And I said unto her on the next day, give thy son that we
may eat him. And she hath hid her son. And it came to pass, when the
king heard the words of the woman, that he rent his clothes. And
he passed by upon the wall, and the people looked. And behold,
he had sackcloth within upon his flesh. He didn't even answer.
He didn't say anything to her. What are you going to say to
that? He's the king, and he's helpless
in the face of this horror. And this just gives us a glimpse
of our spiritual condition before God. We're helpless and hopeless
and desperate. And it's a horrific condition. Even when there's plenty to eat
and drink in this world, Men and women are in this condition
in a much greater sense than earthly famine. Spiritual famine is not describable. It can only be compared to what
we're talking about, earthly famine. In earthly famine, God
reveals the evil of men's hearts. Over that glass of water right
there, would you kill somebody for that right there? Not today,
you wouldn't. But what about a couple of months
from now? What about six months from now? If God lets you go,
just that right there, how much would that be worth? It'd be
worth everything you have if you had to have it. And you see
how this reveals our condition spiritually before God. He reveals
the evil in our hearts in earthly famine, If God did withhold his
water for a time, and it's his water, if he gives you some of
it, thank him for it. We take it for granted, don't
we? That's his gift, from him to you. But if he did, for a time, just
a little while really, the great depravity of man would be revealed,
even to us, to a great extent. And God always sees the spiritual
condition of man. in the plenty that we enjoy in
this world? Here's how God sees us. God saw
that the wickedness of man was great in the earth. You think it's horrible what
we read there in 2 Kings? If we could see ourselves as
God sees us for one second, just a flash, it'd probably kill us. You reckon? The wickedness of man was great
and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was
only evil continually. Nothing but things like that.
Evil, vile, wretched. Man didn't see that because it's
what we can't see the imagination of the heart, but God sees it.
God sees us on the inside. We can't see that, but by God's
grace, we trust him concerning ourselves. We know what we are
because he tells us what we are. And this famine pictures our
spiritual condition also in that we are utterly shut up to God. Shut up to God. That king said,
what am I going to do for you? Am I going to go to the barn
floor and get you some wheat? There's not any wheat in there
and I can't produce any for you. God's going to have to do something
for you and for me. As long as God gives water, there
are things that men can do to use that water to his advantage.
Man can go on imagining that he doesn't need God if he makes
it continue to rain. You know, we'll water our crops
with it and we'll have plenty to eat. We'll raise our cattle
on it. We'll buy bottles of it in the store because we've messed
up the water so bad you can't hardly drink it. But as long as he keeps giving
water, we'll go on thinking we don't need it. But if he dries it up, if he dries it up, we'll be like
that king. The only one that can help us
is God. You can't do a rain dance and
make it come. You can't produce any. There's
none to be found. God's going to have to give it.
Do you see the spiritual truth? Spiritually speaking, man is
deluded in similar fashion. As long as God, you know, doesn't
reveal to us our true condition, man can engage in religious activities
and live according to his own moral standards. And imagine
that he doesn't need the sovereign God. He'll just make a decision. He'll just decide something and
he'll be fine. Me and God got a good thing going. He has the impotent God of religion
and he's perfectly happy with that God. But did you know that one of
the greatest blessings that God can bestow upon a sinner is to
send famine in the heart? Famine in the heart. Famine to the soul if he ever
shuts us up to Christ Like that king and that woman were shut
up to God to give him water the one thing they had to have If he ever shuts us up to Christ
we'll thank him forever for it, that's a blessing Otherwise we'll
go on thinking we have plenty You see, while we imagine that
we have plenty to drink, the words of Christ are meaningless.
When he said in that last day, the great day of the feast, it
says, Jesus stood and cried saying, if any man thirst, let him come
unto me and drink. That doesn't mean anything to
you if you're not thirsty. But if the famine has come to
your soul by God's grace, You've seen your true condition. God has dried up every other
source of help. Like that woman with the issue
of blood. She went to every doctor she
heard of and spent everything that she had. And she was worse
than she was before she spent everything she had. And then
she went to Christ. He dries up every other source
as he had in our text. And Joseph says, then, then if
Joseph says, come to Egypt, there's plenty. There's plenty to eat,
plenty to drink. And what do his words mean then?
They're not meaningless anymore, are they? They're life. They're
life. Jacob said, I hear there's corn
in Egypt. Corn. We haven't seen corn in
a while. Go down there. Why are you sitting
there looking at one another? You can't help one another Sitting there watching one another
get skinny go buy some corn God sent famine to the prodigal
son. Did you know that? Probably like me you've read
right over that I didn't notice it in the text in Luke 15 11
look at it A certain man had two sons. And
the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion
of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his
living. And not many days after, the
younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far
country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that
land." That's what God does. He's going to bring his son home.
How's he going to do it? He's going to send a mighty famine. And he began to be in want. Oh,
that's what, that's what grace looks like. You're not satisfied
anymore. There's a need. You're not satisfied
with yourself, with your own righteousness. with your own
condition. He began to be in want, and he
went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent
him into his fields to feed the swine, and he would fain have
filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat. And no
man gave unto him. Oh, before the famine came, he
never would have thought of eating. Have you ever seen what pigs
eat? It mentions husks here. That's
just representative of their food. He wouldn't have thought
of eating that, but then famine came. And there wasn't anything
else to eat, and that pig food started looking pretty good.
And you know what happened? It made him sick in his stomach
to think about that. Here I am, I'm fixing to eat
what them pigs are eating. And my father sits at a table
full of wonderful food. delicious, nutritious, wonderful
food. And I forfeited all of that. And he said, I'm going to get
up and go home. He came to himself by the grace
of God, and he said, How many hired servants of my father's
house have bread enough and despaired? And I'm starving to death. It
doesn't make much sense, does it? When God sends famine, it
doesn't make sense. Before that, it makes... I'm
fine. I'm doing fine. Really? Famine will bring you to the
source of life. The Lord Jesus Christ. Famine
simplifies things, doesn't it? It simplifies. He had a lot of
things to do until He lost everything he had, and the great famine
came. It made everything simple. Instead
of thinking all about the riotous living he had planned for that
day and that night, all the things he was going to do with that
inheritance, all of his fair weather friends that I'm sure
were happy to help him spend his money, all he thought about from that
time forward. How am I going to live? How am
I going to survive another day? Very simple. And it shows all
of the folly of all of man's inventions, doesn't it? What
good is all the stuff that we have? If there's famine, I enjoy my stuff. You know, I
enjoy this electronic stuff, you know, that I have. I can't
eat that, though. And that doesn't matter to me
now. I don't want to eat it. I don't need anything to eat. I got plenty
to eat. But the fact that I can't eat that would become important
if I didn't have anything to eat. You see what I'm saying?
All of our inventions, all of the things that we treasure,
all of the things that mean something to us, They're meaningless, they're
worthless when God sends famine. I got a nicer car than you got.
Yeah, but do you have anything to eat? If there's famine, it
won't matter who got the nicest car in here, will it? It won't
make a hill of beans worth of dinner. And there was some submission
involved here in receiving life from Joseph. In Genesis 41, 42,
it says, Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand and put it
upon Joseph's hand and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen
and put a gold chain about his neck. And he made him to ride
in the second chariot, which he had. And they cried before
him, bow the knee. And he made him ruler over all
the land of Egypt. He went around in that chariot
all over the country, and they said, bow the knee, bow the knee,
bow the knee to Joseph. Are you hungry? The only one
with bread is ruler over all, and you'll bow to him if you're
gonna eat. Isn't that right? He's ruler. Every knee shall
bow, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. to the glory of God the Father. Romans 10, 9, that if thou shalt
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart
that God hath raised him for the dead, you'll be saved. Are
you hungry? You need to be saved? Confess
with your mouth, open up your mouth and say, he's the Lord
Jesus. You'll be saved. Joseph was their brother. And the idea of bowing to him
was not palatable to them before. And this was a stumbling block
to many concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. They said, isn't this
the carpenter's son? We know his mama and daddy. We're
not going to bow to him. We're not going to listen to
him, obey him. He's one of us. Yes and no. He's one of us in a sense. Joseph was their brother, but
they called him in verse 10 of our text, Lord. And you will
too, if you're going to eat. In verse six, it says they bowed
down themselves before him with their faces to the earth. And he was their Lord. He was
their brother, but he was their Lord, too. He was the ruler,
and he was their only hope. The Lord Jesus Christ said to
his disciples, you call me Master and Lord, and you say, well,
that's who I am. Why is it important to emphasize
that? Because the entire issue between
you and God, between the sinner and God, is who's going to be
God. That's the whole issue. And if you ever see the Lord
Jesus Christ as he is, that issue will be settled for you forever. From that day forward, it'll
be settled. Here's what you need to know.
Here's what Peter, Peter was preaching in Acts 2 36. You know
what he said? He said, I want all the house
of Israel to know assuredly. There's something you need to
know that God hath made that same Jesus that you nailed to
a cross, both Lord and Christ. Christ, the Savior, the anointed,
the one come to die for the sins of his people and redeem his
people, and Lord, Lord and Christ. I accepted Jesus as my personal
Savior. I don't know much about that.
I don't even know what that means to you. I don't know what that
even means. You don't see that in the scripture,
do you? You find that for me in the scripture? What you need
to know is God has highly exalted him, the one that you crucified,
the one that you were born despising. He said, I've set my king on
my holy hill. Bow to me. Acts 14, be it known unto you
all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from
the dead, even by him, that this man stand here before you whole.
This is the stone which was set at naught of you builders, which
has become the head of the corner, the chief cornerstone. God's
raised him up and made him Lord and Christ. And neither is there
salvation in any other. Are you hungry? Are you starving
to death? There's food. You know who has it? The Lord
Jesus. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth, the Lord Jesus. And believe in your heart that
he's who he said he was. That God raised him from the
dead. This Jesus of Nazareth, this carpenter's son. You'll be saved. Neither is there salvation in
any other, for there's none other name under heaven given among
men whereby we must be saved. It says in our text in Genesis
41, 55, and when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people
cried to Pharaoh for bread, and Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians,
go unto Joseph. What he saith to you, do. In Luke 9, 35, there came a voice
out of the cloud saying, this is my beloved son, this Jesus
of Nazareth, this despised one and rejected of men, that's my
son. Hear him. Hear him. Now think about this. Pharaoh said, what Joseph says
to you, do it. In other words, hear him. He's going to say something to
you. You hear it and do it. That's what God said concerning
his son. Hear him, hear him. If you go
to Pharaoh, he says, go to Joseph. If you go get corn yourself,
you're a thief and a robber. The only way to get some corn
is to come to Joseph. One way, one way. You brothers
of Joseph, you're gonna have to bow to the
very one that you despised and rejected. Have you done that? Have you thought about that?
The very one that you rejected, And the very reason that you
rejected your brother Joseph was because he told you the truth
of his preeminence. He told you the truth of his
lordship over you. He told you that you're gonna
bow your knee to him one day and bow you will. Every knee
is gonna bow. And when he did, you know what
you said? You remember Joseph's dreams
and how they said to him, here's what you'll say too. Will thou
indeed reign over us? And they said, we'll throw you
in this pit and we'll see what comes of your dreams then. And
we nailed the son of God to a cross and said, we'll see about this
king of the Jews. And it was in that very character
that they rejected Joseph as ruler, as sovereign, as Lord
over them, as preeminent. And they hated him for it. And
now they've got to bow or die. This is the gospel now. You won't
hear it like that in many places. That's the gospel. In what character did we despise
our Lord Jesus Christ? Matthew 27, 29, when they had
platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head and a reed
in his right hand, and they bowed the knee before him and mocked
him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews. They stripped the Lord
Jesus Christ and put that sign over his head saying, this is
Jesus, King of the Jews. And they nailed him to a cross. Paul said, if you confess with
your mouth, the Lord Jesus and do it with faith in your heart
that he is who he said he is. You'll be saved. The one you
mocked as Lord, you're gonna have to confess in your heart,
honestly before God, that he is indeed Lord. What must I do to be saved? Believe
on the Lord, Jesus Christ, and you'll be saved. How blessed of God is the sinner
who knows the Lord Jesus Christ as both brother and Lord. We see our own experience of
grace in this too, in that Joseph hid himself from his brethren
for a time. Isn't it interesting that he
knew exactly who they were and they had no idea who he was? What a beautiful teaching here.
He revealed Himself to them when? When He got good and ready. Paul said, when it pleased God,
He revealed His Son in me. But before He did, even before
He revealed Himself to them, He gave them everything they
needed. He did everything necessary. for their salvation. He said,
here's some corn. And he put their money back in
their sacks. Have you ever wondered how in
the world did they not know their own brother? He wasn't just a
kid. I'm sure when they threw him
in that pit, he was probably a teenager at least. They were
out keeping sheep and doing work. How could they not know him?
That's a good question, isn't it? You know what another one
is? How is it that you don't know
God? He created you. He's revealed himself in this
book. And Joseph, in a sense, he stood
right there in front of his brother. He wasn't wearing a mask, was
he? He spoke roughly to them. But he wasn't wearing a mask.
In a sense, he revealed himself openly to them. He sat there
and talked with them. But they did not know him until he said
unto them in a later chapter, I am Joseph. And our Lord reveals himself
that way, doesn't he? By speaking directly and plainly to his sheep,
revealing himself. You remember when the disciples
thought that was a ghost walking around out there on the water? And the Lord said, don't be scared.
It is I. That's what he did for me. We've already seen how that it
was by the wisdom and authority of Joseph that the people had
something to eat. Now think about this. By his
wisdom, God gave him some wisdom concerning this dream and some
wisdom as to what to do about it. To create storehouses and
to save up all the corn. Don't just eat it and waste it.
Save it up. There's going to be seven years
of famine. Joseph was the one with the wisdom. and the authority. Because of his wisdom, he was
given authority. Now think about, look at it in
Genesis 41, 39. Let me read it to you if you're
not there or if you're there, look at it. And Pharaoh said
unto Joseph, for as much as God hath showed thee all this, there
is none so discreet and wise as you are. And we saw in verse 43 already
a while ago how that Pharaoh made him ruler over all the land
of Egypt. He took a ring off of his hand
and put it on Joseph's hand and put him in the second chain.
And they went around saying, bow the knee, bow the knee. And
he said, nobody will lift a finger in this whole country without
you. You have all authority. And listen to this. What a beautiful
picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to Paul in 1 Corinthians
1 23. He said, we preach Christ crucified unto the Greeks foolishness,
but unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ,
what the power, the authority and ability of God and the wisdom
of God. We see both in Joseph. He had
the power, he had the authority and he had the wisdom. And the
only way you're gonna get something to eat is to go to him. What
a picture. Joseph, in so many ways, sets
forth our Lord Jesus Christ. What did Paul say is the wisdom
and power of God? Christ crucified. We preach Christ crucified. One thing to the Jews, another
to the Greeks, but to all Jews and Greeks who are called by
God, Christ crucified the power of God and the wisdom of God.
How can God be just and justify sinners? The question of all
questions, Christ crucified. The ability, authority, and wisdom
of God to save sinners like you, Christ crucified. That's why
we preach him. Your problem is simple. And the
solution is simple. Paul said, I fear lest you be
removed and deceived from the simplicity that's in Christ. Famine simplifies everything,
doesn't it? I think I need a lot of things,
but really, in famine, you find out what you really need. Your
problem is simple, and the solution is simple, and everything else
is just foolishness. Theologians are arguing this
very night about supra, infra, and sublapsarianism while sinners
are starving for a drink of water. It's not complicated, my friends. Your problem is not complicated
and the solution is not complicated. Religious people like to split
hairs and try to define the indefinable and dissect the Hebrew and the
Greek. And you want to know what the
greatest sermon ever preached is? Here's the greatest sermon
ever preached right here. If any man thirst, let him come
unto me and drink. It doesn't get better than that.
It doesn't get simpler than that. Everything else is a distraction.
Are you thirsty? That's the question. If you are,
come to Christ and drink. Paul faced death every day in
order to preach this message. Do you know how the scriptures
describe Paul's gospel? In Acts 17.3, here's a summary. Here's a description of what
Paul preached. It was his custom to go into the synagogues in
every city that he went. This was his custom. Opening
and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered and risen
again from the dead, he must needs have. If you're going to
be saved, if you're going to eat, if you're going to drink,
if you're not going to die, if you're not going to perish in
your sin, Christ must needs have suffered the just for the unjust
that he might bring you to God. Are you going to see God? Then
Christ must needs have suffered. And here's point number two.
This Jesus that I preach unto you is that Christ. I would to God that my gospel
would be characterized that way. Christ crucified. By God's grace, let me identify
Him. And call upon sinners as He did
to come and drink. Come and drink. And everybody
that's thirsty, they'll come. They'll come. When people came
to Joseph, and think about this, May God bless this to our hearts.
When people came to Joseph and said, there's no water where
we're from. Without water, all of our crops are dead. We've
got nothing to eat. We're starving to death. Think about who it is they were
telling this to. In Genesis 37, 24, his brothers
took him and cast him into a pit. And it just happens to mention
in the Word of God that the pit was empty, there was no water
in it. Joseph knew what it was to be
without water. And so when these desperate people
came to him, he was not only wise and powerful,
he was compassionate. Think about this, when a sinner
comes to the Lord Jesus Christ and says, I'm thirsty, you're
coming to the one who spoke from the cross and said, I thirst. He knows where you are. When
a sinner comes to the Lord Jesus Christ, can the Lord Jesus understand
what it is to be burdened with sin before God? He is the one who cried, my God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Come to him. He has all authority,
all power, and all wisdom. And he knows where you are. I don't know how to say it except
the way Paul did. We have not an high priest which
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmity. He suffered everything that we
have suffered and so much more yet without sin. This is the one that says come
to me. Come to me. We suffer temporarily in this
world a few light afflictions because of our sin. But he suffered
the wrath of God against our sin. The infinite wrath of God. The just. The Holy Lamb of God
suffered for our sins. For the unjust. that he might
bring us to God. He calls to us, Adam, where are
you? But he knows exactly where we
are. He knows where we are. He calls unto us, come, let us
reason together. Come unto me and drink. Come and buy without money and
without pride. He knows what we need, doesn't
he? Come and drink. Come, let us reason. We need
wisdom, don't we? We're fools. Despising our only
hope. Paul said, you've forsaken your
own mercy. We oppose ourselves. We're so
stupid. We shake our fist in the very
God that made us and the only one that can help us. Come, let's
reason. We're in famine and don't even
know it. We're drying up and dying and think we're going to
live forever. And he says, come to me and drink.
Come by without money and without price. Why do you give yourselves
for that which is not bread? Why? And he knows what else we need
too. He says, come to me and rest. Are you laboring and heavy
laden? come to me and rest. The one
that calls to us, come. He's all-powerful. He has all authority. He is the
omniscient, all-wise, all-knowing God. By God's grace, He's my brother.
He's my Lord. And my brother, one day he revealed
himself to me. He said, I'm Joseph. And he said, though everything
you did was evil, God is good. Everything you did, you meant
it for evil. We nailed the Son of God to a cross. That's evil. But God did that. for good. Why? To save much people alive. Are you one of them? I think
about that more and more. I've preached to some of you
for years now, a long time. It's impossible to preach this by God's grace, let me say that.
It's impossible to preach it without my heart going out to
you. I pray that The Lord Jesus will
reveal himself to us as he is and cause us to come
to him and bow, bow the knee and drink and eat and rest and
all of the things that he calls us to all found in him. Let's bow together.